12 Bring Them Back

Every pair of eyes landed on the little girl who was effortlessly carrying her brother. Savyrran had quite the reputation among many of the children. Even though she was so young, they still recognised how strong she was. Though she had no essence yet, she was still able to keep up with them mostly because it seemed as though the pressure from their essence had no effect on her at all. Over time, they had come to accept that dueling with her was a complete waste of time. Even if someone was stronger than she was, she never gave up.

Kasko knew that from experience. One of those days when Kasko came to Savyrran's home to deliver bread, he saw her hard at training. Kasko had heard rumors about how strong the little girl was but had not really believed them. How was a child who had not yet manifested their essence able to evenly match or even overpower older children with essence? The story felt like one of those tales people liked to make up to keep themselves entertained. But that particular morning at the Tharks' household changed Kasko's perception completely.

The girl was practicing some really difficult training techniques that even he had difficulties with. Some of them were also techniques he had not yet learned. Not only was she doing them, but she was doing them with ease. What Kasko did not know was that Savyrran had been learning to do these since she learned how to walk and had only mastered them after about three years. As someone who loved to train, Kasko saw the need to draw closer to the girl to learn from her. Once in a while, Fani even helped them with their training, but Kasko learned almost everything else from Savyrran. After about seven months of rigorous training with the girl, Kasko could feel how much his strength had grown by leaps and bounds. When a month passed after his birthday and his soul armos had still not awakened, he asked Savyrran to increase the difficulty in their training hoping that somehow, it will trigger the awakening. In all of this, the Savyrran had been completely patient with him.

"Did any of your siblings say anything about some music playing?" Savyrran's question drew Kasko's wandering mind back to the present.

"Varran and Markka did." Lokirrak admitted, biting his lips. His face was a complete mess from all the tears. Only a short while ago, before this whole disaster happened, Lokirrak was playing with his sister and cousin when all of a sudden the two asked him if he could hear any music. He had never heard a thing. Before he could say so, Varran and Markka lost their usual liveliness and then they mindlessly left the house without saying another word to him no matter how much he called after them. In a panic, he rushed over to his parents, however, no matter how much he tried, his parents would not wake up from their sleep. In fact, initially, he thought they were dead until he met Kasko who explained to him that his parents were only sleeping.

"Music?" Kasko asked. He had no idea about this. As for him, he was not with Jari when the whole thing happened. He was done with his usual mental training in the middle of their compound that evening when he heard so much noise outside. As he usually did, he went inside the house to call Jari so they could see whatever was going on. However, his brother was nowhere to be found. His father on the other had collapsed in his bakery. Thankfully, his step-mother was visiting family in Ahn Bayari. If there had been any music, he simply did not know what it was. What did that have to do with anything?

"Before Ovan went into trance, he told me about some music. I didn't hear anything, but he said he did. Ovan would never make things up. I am certain this music has something to do with everything that is happening." Savyrran explained. She was sure of this, however, she did not know how music could do something like this. Maybe this was no ordinary music. Was this a soul armos? She knew nothing about soul armos. Ovan knew more than she did. If Ovan were awake, she would have asked for his advice. Savyrran closed her eyes so she could focus. Her brother could not help now and there was no need to cry over something she had no control over.

So, she looked to the next best person who could tell her what she wanted to know. "Kasko, do you think a soul armos did this? Is it possible to have some kind of music soul armos?"

Kasko did not blink for what seemed like eternity. Savyrran had come to know that whenever he did that, he was deeply thinking. If she did not know Ovandarrak, Savyrran was sure that Kasko would have been the most intelligent child she knew.

Kasko nodded, finally blinking. "That is possible. Do you think this is a spell from a soul armos?"

Savyrran nodded. She had a strong feeling it was.

Kasko smiled for the first time that evening. It was the first time they had had any kind of clue. "If that is the case, there is a high chance that whoever is using this spell is doing so with a weapon type soul armos. What do we do Savyrran?" He may be the oldest here, but he actually looked up to Savyrran. As part of their training, the two had sparred on multiple occasions. Kasko himself was very strong due to his diligence in his training. Moreover, he had an advantage over Savyrran as a result of his orange essence. However, whenever, they sparred he had to go all out, at his peak strength just so he could land any decent strike against her. Even against children his age with the orange essence, Kasko did not have that much difficulty. Thus, he felt no shame in asking for Savyrran's help.

Once again, all the children cast their attention towards the small but tough looking girl with dreadlocks. Anyone who saw this scene would be puzzled as to why so many older children were looking up to a five year old.

"We can't do this on our own. We need Master Bufan and Mayor Danjo. But we have to assume they are also affected by the spell. So what we have to do is to break the spell."

"How?" Kasko asked.

"Whoever is doing this must be close by in this town. How else would all those children hear the music? I'm sure we did not hear it because the spell was useless against us. Kasko… Ayani, I need you two to find wherever this music is coming from and stop it at all cost."

"What?" Ayani protested, her face warping in shock. "How are we supposed to do that?"

"Your essence. The children are still under the control of the music." Savyrran pointed towards a small line of children fading in the distance. "If this is the spell of a soul armos then there must be essence lingering in the air. Right? That should help you trace it to the source. Kasko is an orange and he is the strongest and most experienced one among us, he can trace it. Ayani, I want you to go with him because you are strong too and he needs someone to have his back. Can you do that, Kasko?"

Kasko did not for a second believe that he was the strongest one here. But he trusted Savyrran. Also he knew he could trace the spell back to its source. He had been sensing traces of it while looking for Jari. After a while of thinking, Kasko nodded. For his brother, he would do anything. "We cannot let anything happen to our town."

Savyrran nodded in approval. "Ayani?"

"Okay. I'll go." Ayani finally agreed.

"What about us?" Lokirrak asked. He wanted to do something too. Even if this was dangerous, he could not possibly sit by and let his sister and cousin come to harm. What was the use of having power if you could not protect your family?

"Lokirrak, you will have to go to Mayor Danjo. You have to ran as fast as your orange essence can take you. And you, Duro, you will go to Master Bufan. Now we are assuming that these two are also asleep, so Kasko and Ayani, we are counting on you to break that spell as quickly as you can. Once the spell is broken and they are awake, you tell them everything that has happened. As for the rest of you, you are coming with me. Now go."

Without wasting any time, streaks of red and orange lights flared around the children and the pupils of their eyes changed colours according to their essence. Within a blink of an eye, Kasko, Ayani, Lokirrak and Duro were gone, all ready to do their task. Only three of the children were left behind with Savyrran. "We are going to bring back the children who have not yet been taken."