The Kingfisher

XXVI : Arden

Arden's eyes cracked open just to close once more.

Sunlight peeked through the tight windows of the prison wagon, casting light upon the boy's firmly shut lids. He raised a nearly limp arm to shield himself from the blinding glare, yet it was abruptly tugged to the ground before it could reach his head.

He snapped one eye open. His wrist was chained to the bottom of the coach. Of course.

The carriage swayed left and right like a rocking boat, making Arden's stomach turn. Was it hunger or vertigo? His body's needs had become vague as more time passed in this cursed mission. Because it was a curse, one that would break him in the end.

The boy had never been so sure of failure. Just a few hours ago he felt alive, invincible. He had conquered his past and found purpose in the future; what more could he ask for? Yet nature was against him. He had become weaker, slower. He neglected the mission, too. What had this quest done to him? Or rather, the crew?

A groan sounded before him. He didn't bother to seem surprised as his gaze bored into Ailyn's fatigued one. The girl glanced around, taking in her environment, and slumped back down to sleep some more. Even she had accepted defeat.

But defeat could not borrow her mind yet. Arden shoved his boot against her leg. "Wake up."

Ailyn grimaced, popping her lids open to glare at the boy. "We're going to die anyway. What's the point?"

"Since when are you so quick to give up?" he queried, genuinely perplexed. The girl always tried to be positive, or at least cared. Had her physical health not been the only thing that transformed during that evening?

"Everyone has changed a little," she snapped back, averting her gaze back to the bouncing chains beside her.

Arden tried to avoid her remark. He knew he had become different, and he didn't need a petty noble to remind him. "Speaking of change," said the boy, shifting his weight to lean towards her shrunk frame. "What on earth was that?"

Ailyn pursed her lips. The boy would have been confused, too. This mission was bizarre already, but after that day's events they had turned a whole lot weirder.

The girl before him was a light manipulator. That was what he had always known. Yet when they were under attack she didn't produce light. Darkness flew out of her and soaked the room in a shadow much darker than Kage's. Arden shuddered at the thought, and the hair of his arms was hoisted up by the reminder of the shade's feel. It wasn't just immobilizing in the sense he could not see; it was a crippling kind of darkness that stifled his lungs and pricked his skin. His limbs had felt frail, and it was a miracle the Seyali soldiers ever even took them all out.

The princess dabbled with her nicked fingers. "I don't know. It cost us the battle, I know—"

"Can you do it again?"

She looked up, her eyes jaded. "I can't. I don't think I want to."

But Arden thought otherwise. She was the only one not affected by the lack of light she had created. In fact, it reinforced her, both physically and mentally. Had she not been stunned over her discovery, they would have won by a long shot. "You can try, Ailyn," he said. "We might still—"

"I said I don't want to," she hissed, rubbing her palms against her forearms. It was clear she was disturbed by her power more than anyone. "I don't want to trifle around with nature's laws. What I did back there was not light manipulation, and I don't plan to cross that line again."

"Then what was it?"

She hesitated at first. Then, she sighed. "I think —— it might have had to do with energy. Life essence."