Celestial Saga: Exiled To Earth III 15 Stage Fifteen: Secrets

STAGE FIFTEEN: SECRETS

Kirin opened his eyes in the middle of the night, unable to fall asleep. Keon and Alaric were sleeping soundly on both edges of the king-sized bed, while Freyja's spot, beside Kirin, is empty. For the past few days, he noticed that Freyja has been s.p.a.cing out much more than usual.

Kirin didn't know what to do, whether it would be better to comfort Freyja, or just let her be. Especially after seeing how she completely transforms to someone unrecognizable, warped with hatred for the phreinians that took her away from home.

But Kirin was growing impatient. He stood up and snuck out of the window, and soon found the girl sitting under the moonlight, with her long sword beside her. He tried to sneak up on her, surprising the girl. But Freyja's reflexes were unlike what they used to be. Although not enough to match Kirin's speed, she managed to grab her sword by the time he showed himself. "Impressive" Kirin praised, sitting beside her. "You are thinking of that phreinian, aren't you?"

"Kirin… if you don't mind, I want to ask you. Do you think it's wrong to kill?"

Kirin was caught off-guard. The question was unusually harder to answer than he thought, especially for someone like him who already took countless lives even before they met. The answer should be easy, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Of course, it's not." Freyja said.

"But sometimes, we have to" Kirin finally managed to get words out of his mouth.

"Why do we slaughter animals, plants? Why is it okay for humans to do that for the sake of survival? Because those animals are weaker? Then, should they have been born stronger than humans, it'll be the other way round." Freyja continued.

"If humans kill animals for food, and they think it's okay because the animals are incapable of reason and speech, because they are weak, then can we also say that Celestials can slaughter humans and phreinians and those who are weaker than they are?" Freyja looked at Kirin with big, moonlit golden eyes, radiating both the curiosity of a child, and certainty of a king.

Kirin now know where this will lead. "Who knows." Was all he could say.

"Kirin, I am scared." Freyja said, suppressing her trembling hands, clasping them together. "I'm scared of myself. Because, it felt good, as if a part of my hate was washed away."

Kirin clenched his fists. "Is that why did you kill her?"

"I have to. I am the Lenfiare—"

"IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT!" Kirin shouted, standing up. "More than anyone, I know that you can't bear hurting others. That, you'd rather hurt yourself than those around you!"

"Then maybe you were wrong, Kirin. Maybe there is a 'me' that neither of us know about."

"THEN SHOW HER TO ME!"

Freyja was surprised, seeing a tear roll down Kirin's face. He grabbed her hand and held it close to his heart. "Try it Freyja. Try to kill me and show me that side you are so afraid of." Freyja's daze was completely dispelled, panic took over as she pulled her hand away from him. "Kirin, I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"

"If you hadn't killed that phreinian, she would have killed you, me, Keon, Alaric, everyone in that s.h.i.+p, and most likely, even more, just so she can fulfill her wish to open a dimension to wherever." He began. "She lost, we won. That's life. We just had to fight, to survive. Can you really blame us? Can you really blame yourself?" Freyja was rendered speechless.

"Had you not killed her, I would have. Or Alaric would have. Or Keon, or one of those pirates desperately fighting for their lives."

Freyja took a deep breath and sank her face in his chest, wrapping her arms around him. "Don't go, Kirin."

~ o 0 o ~

2 months pa.s.sed since their last encounter with the phreinian, Freyja, Kirin, Alaric and Keon are now travelling through a forest, heading towards a coastal city on the western Graut Kingdom in Di Continent. For the past two months, there was never a peaceful week for the four. a.s.sa.s.sins kept on attacking them out of nowhere, fighting has become a routine. As expected, even before they reached the coastal city, they sensed a strong presence stalking them. They prepared for yet another encounter, but when the 'lurker' showed itself, there were no monsters nor a.s.sa.s.sins. From the surrounding bushes and trees, over twenty medium-sized birds suddenly rushed towards them. As soon as the birds touched their weapons, the birds dissipated into thin air.

"What the h.e.l.l are those? Birds?" Freyja shook her head. "How creative the enemies can get… really."

"They aren't illusions and that's for sure." Keon commented.

"Keon is right, they must have been summoned and were suddenly called back." Alaric commented.

"But for what purpose? To entertain us? Let's just get going or we'll miss the s.h.i.+p tomorrow." Kirin, like his usual composed self, led the way through the vast forests. In a few minutes, they finally got out and reached the coastal city. They searched for a hotel to spend the night in, and bought tickets for tomorrow's departure. They replenished their supplies, changed their clothes and finally got their long-awaited rest for the night.

After taking a warm bath, Freyja went out to see Kirin first. She didn't have a reason, she just wanted to see him before she sleeps. Just by seeing Kirin's face before she sleeps gives her a peaceful and quiet rest, thus, it became a habit already. "Ki-rin!" She shouted surprising Kirin, who's sitting in the Hotel's lounge by himself. "Aren't you sleepy?" She asked cheerfully.

"Aren't you? You're still awake. Those two are already resting, you should too. Do you want to sleep together?" He asked and Freyja shook her head. "I'll be fine on my own, our rooms are adjacent anyway. I just wanted to see how you're doing. After all, we're sure to face quite a lot of enemies once we get going again." Freyja was about to leave and return to her room, when she saw a cut on Kirin's right hand. "Kirin, your hand."

"It's just a scratch, no big deal."

Freyja sighed. "Hey, it's not good to leave wounds open. They're still p.r.o.ne to infection." She scolded before taking Kirin's wounded hand. "I'll close the wound, okay?" "Yes, please do." Kirin replied with a sweet smile. Freyja closed her eyes and summoned the healing guardian, Aria. The healing white aura covered her hands. However, the moment she touched Kirin's wound…

"ARGH!" Instead of the wound healing, it began bleeding even more, causing Freyja panic. She jumped away from Kirin, afraid that she's done something to him… and yes, she did. Kirin began sweating, his wound worsened and above all, the mere contact of her aura made Kirin wince in horrible pain. The Kirin who can tolerate a beating, poison, who is severely accustomed to physical pain is twitching by mere contact with Freyja's aura. This is something she has never seen before. Her white aura heals everything, as far as she knows.

"ARIA! WHAT DID YOU DO TO KIRIN!?" She shouted, and Aria s.h.i.+fted to his human form at once. "Lenfiare, I did as I was told, I healed Kirin with my aura." He replied with his usual blank grey eyes.

Freyja wanted to touch Kirin, but she was overcome with fear. "Kirin…" She didn't know what to do, she herself, began sweating hard. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry."

"The contact with your white aura must have reacted with the dark aura inside of Kirin. That is the only plausible answer I can give. Forgive me Lenfiare." Aria explained, to calm the girl down.

"But why!? I healed Keon before, and he didn't get hurt! Before, I used to heal Kirin's wounds too, so why is he having this reaction now!?" Freyja demanded for more answers, but Aria could only give her a.s.sumptions. "This is the first time you used my aura to heal Kirin, ever since you returned, Lenfiare. Six years ago, you only had a fraction of the awakened white aura in you. It's a different story now. I'm sorry, I really cannot answer you, Lenfiare. Forgive me." Freyja sighed. She has no right to blame Aria, he is only following her orders. The one who hurt Kirin is her, though unintentional, it's her.

"I'm sorry to snap at you like that, Aria. You can go back now." She called Aria back before hesitantly touching Kirin. "I'm sorry, Kirin."

Kirin's wound stopped bleeding. The pain slowly faded away. "The dark aura is the negative counterpart of the white aura. Don't blame yourself, it's only natural. My dark aura is much stronger than Keon's, we both know that." Kirin ruffled her hair with a smile, trying his best to appease her guilt and confusion. Instead, Freyja took a bandage and some antiseptics to dress Kirin's wound.

"You studied science in your world, didn't you? Don't worry, either way you're great." Kirin complemented, but Freyja remained quiet. "Aren't you going to ask me why? Aren't you thinking of something? Why my aura had that kind of reaction?" Kirin seriously asked, feeling his heart pound in fear. After all, he has a very good guess why his body reacted that way.

"Because I'm the one who killed your father, Freyja. I'm the one who's sent to kill you too." He thought.

"I won't ask." Freyja's reply surprised him, and took the heavy feeling from his heart away in an instant. "It's just that the dark aura you have is stronger than Keon's, that's it. We don't need to ask questions about this. But I promise Kirin, I may not be able to heal you with Aria, but I will do everything in my knowledge, in my power to help you." She hugged Kirin tight, and he did too. "Good night Kirin, I'll go to my room now." She stood up, waved goodbye as if everything's been solved before locking herself up in the next room.

"Do you want to hear another answer Lenfiare?" Astrid's voice shook Freyja from her empty gaze at the ceiling. "I have… another answer." Freyja felt her heart race. She wanted to know, badly. But there is something else she wanted more than that: to stay beside Kirin.

"I don't want to hear it Astrid,"

"As you wish Lenfiare."

~ o 0 o ~