Amethyst 2. Embark ✓ [Editing Now]

22. Scarlet

I had never woken up with another person next to me. I had never felt comfortable whenever anyone was close to me. However, I had fallen asleep with my arm wrapped around Crystal's waist.

My eyelids fluttered open as I gazed at the bright sunlight streaming in through the window. Its rays stopping just a few feet beyond the bed. 

I vaguely wondered if I would be in trouble for staying out the entire night. The thought was dispelled as soon as it came. I was expected to be the delinquent anyway.

Crystal lay beside me, her back to me. Her back rising and falling gently as she breathed. Her platinum hair falling carelessly on the pillow. I moved closer to her, hugging her close as I pushed back a few locks of her hair, taking in her scent. My heart filled with love as I smelled her familiar scent. She stirred and I planted a soft kiss on her sweet smelling neck. My voice sounded low and muffled as I spoke. "Goodmorning, beautiful."

"Mmm," She sighed and leaned back into my body. "Goodmorning."

She turned around to face me, pulling the sheets up to her mouth. My heart skipped a beat when I saw her. "I would kiss you but I have really bad morning breath."

She laughed and shook her head at my words, her eyes twinkling.

I leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "I'm really happy that you're here, Cris," I put my arms around her and leaned over her, whispering in her ear. "I love you."

She looked at me. "I love you too."

Even as she said those words, I thought I saw a shadow pass behind her irises, but I wasn't sure. Maybe I had just imagined because my heart had the habit of automatically assuming the worst.
My heart felt full. Mended. And I wasn't going to let my brain mess with it. Atleast as long as I could help it.

*

It was early afternoon by the time I finally managed to reluctantly disentangle myself from Crystal and return to Asteria. I felt a twinge of sadness when I finally had to part. However, I had my training session at two that day, which gave me just enough time to run back to my room and get dressed.

I was waiting at the school entrance when Azure arrived, floating as if from nowhere. I gave him a little bow even as my mind inadvertently wandered to Aris.

I had barely talked to him after that night on the roof and I felt a twinge of guilt. I had no idea how he was holding up. The episode with his mother had been brutal. But I knew all he needed was some time and space to heal, and I still had my training to throw myself into. Plus, I wasn't good at comforting him anyway. Despite the fact that I was trying to be patient with him, his strange jealousy could only point to one thing. And I was already in love with Crystal.

Thankfully this time, Azure teleported both of us directly on the nineteenth floor. He bowed respectfully and left as I knocked on the door. There was no answer and I decided to open the door and enter slowly.

"The darkness grows stronger."

Helios was sitting ear the window, just like that day. He spoke to an empty room, his ancient voice reverberating around the stone walls. He opened his golden eyes and gazed at me. "Welcome back, Fallen star."

It seemed like Helios was calling me by a different name every time. I walked over to him and sat in front of him.

He took a deep breath and relaxed his meditative pose. I wanted to ask him what darkness he had meant, but before I could, he stood up. "Ezekiel, today we shall be advancing one step further."

I gazed up at him as I followed suit and stood up. "Have I.. attained the previous step?"

"You are able to conjure light at will, even if it is largely restricted around your own aura," He opened his palm and gazed behind me. I turned back and saw to my amazement, an orb of light forming some twelve feet away from us. "I shall be teaching you to absorb Starlight. Something that will help you immensely I believe."

I nodded as he took a step away from me, his intense gold eyes fixed on me. He raised his arms as about two dozen orbs of light appeared in thin ear, bathing the room in a bright light. "I want you to pull the power of light towards you. Keep it sustained within you."

I nodded as he continued. "The light is yours. It is your essence. A part of your existence. Command it and it shall listen."

I fixed my eyes on the orb floating nearest to me and closed my eyes, trying to draw it inside myself. I pulled at it with everything and envisioned it floating towards me and integrating with me. After a while, I felt a surge of warmth in my chest and opened my eyes to see a smiling Helios. "Well done."

I smiled slightly and turned my focus to the second orb of light. It seemed like this was a little more reluctantly to come to me. After some struggle, I finally succeeded in pulling it into myself. I called to a third light. A fourth. It seemed as if with each orb of light entering my chest, I was feeling stronger.

After about twenty minutes of extraction of light form the air, my heart was palpitating with exhaustion. I took deep breaths, wiping sweat off my brow. I felt stronger, but my body was still not capable of handling Starlight. It made sense to me as to why Helios was so bulked up.

"It shall get trickier from now on," Helios said as we were down to six orbs of light. "I shall be trying to extract the light towards me, pulling it away form you but you must keep your focus and attract it towards yourself instead."

I bit my lip and nodded, even though I wasn't sure I could do it. I still didn't know why I was the one Asterius in the last millennium and what exactly it meant for me. Al I knew was that I needed to get control of my powers before there was more destruction.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the orb of light again, pulling it towards me. It didn't budge. I could feel an opposing energy to mine, pulling it away from me. I closed my eyes, concentrating hard on it. I put all my focus into pulling the light inside me.

And then it happened again.

I was no longer present in the Sentinel Sognare. I was standing in front of a burning building where chaos reigned. People were running helter-skelter trying to douse the raging flames engulfing the house like a wild serpent. I could smell the burning wood. Could feel the heat. Could feel the dread in my stomach as I gazed helplessly at the building. Something shattered inside me and I couldn't surface. I couldn't breathe. I felt a void in my chest and felt myself ripping apart.

Darkness engulfed my chest and I tore myself away from the vision, concentrating with everything I had on the orb of light. I could feel my body trembling and desperation clawed my insides as I pulled at the light with everything I had.

And it broke free.

I felt it rush towards me and enter me. But I needed more. I needed more light to escape the dark abyss in my chest.

I let out a guttural scream, losing control over my instincts as I called desperately for the light. Devouring it. Trying to frantically fill the chasm. To muffle the razing pain.

I felt a sharp blow to my body and was thrown back, my head crashing against the stone wall. But I didn't feel the physical pain that I should've have.

I was aware of the cold ground as I lay crouched on my knees, panting hard, my brain in disarray. My vision was hazy. My breathing shallow. I gazed down and saw dark crimson blood on my tshirt, making it cling to my body. I wasn't sure if it was mine or his, but the lack of a searing pain in my stomach told me it the latter.

I gazed ahead, trying to make sense of what had happened and saw through my haze, the huge frame of Helios, collapsed on the ground and the lithe frame and vibrant blue colours that I recognized as Azure, crouched over him.

I blinked my eyes, wiping them furiously as I stood up and staggered towards them. I fell to my knees beside them, my blood running cold.

Helios lay on his sides. His eyes closed. His face pale, as if drained of all blood. Scarlet liquid trickled form his nose and ears, his chest raising and falling with deep, ragged shudders.

Azure stared at him, horrified and then back at me. I saw fear. Anguish.

"Azure I-"

Before I could speak, a hoard of Sentinels rushed inside and crouched over Helios. An air sentinel with long silver robes raised her hands as the limp body of Helios floated over to the bed. He looked awfully still. Another Sentinel rushed to his side and extracted a box from his pocket, gently dabbing something on cotton as he started cleaning his perspiring face and clotted blood.

I stood stock still, my heart hammering in my chest. My brain frozen in shock.

Azure rounded on me, his horror had turned to fury. He grabbed my arm and wrenched me out of the room with surprising strength, almost bruising me. I was too scared. Too shocked to complain.

When we were outside he rounded on me. "What have you done Ezekiel? What happened?"

I opened my mouth and l closed it again. My throat felt too dry to speak. "I just..." I took a deep shuddering breath. "I..don't know Azure. I don't..know," I shook my head. "I was trying to extract his light into me. Then something happened-"

"You are a bloodletter," he said, his voice dripping with sudden mirth as I recoiled. "Why did you not inform us?"

I shook my head. "I...I didn't know. I swear! I didn't want to hurt him. I just had this-" I sucked in a breath, wondering if I should tell him about the visions I had been having, "-this..need to extract the light. And..I..." I shook my head, not telling him about the vision. "I don't know how it happened Azure. I swear."

Azure closed his eyes, his thin frame shaking with fury and something else I couldn't unite place. "I will be escorting you back to Asteria. I shall inform you about the future course of action later. You are not disbanded from using your power while outside the Sognare."

I gulped and nodded, still bewildered by what had happened.

"Pray to whatever you believe that he recovers," Azure said, his nostrils flaring. "Or else you would have the blood of the First Asterius on your hands."

He grasped my hand roughly as we teleported, my heart hammering wildly in my chest as fear consumed me.