11 Danger? (2)

Savyrran's father had thought her trick in how to immobilize an opponent during one of their many training sessions. She had tried many times to use that trick on her father however that crafty old man was a lot faster than she was. Due to this, she had only been able to try it on Lokirrak during one of their spars. Ever since Lokirrak manifested his essence two months ago, he would not stop feeling invincible. He thought he had become even stronger, which he had but Savyrran's little skill rendered Lokirrak paralyzed and unconscious for a long time.

With a quick succession of her fingers on her brother's spine and waist, Ovandarrak suddenly went limp and fell in Savyrran's arms. Savyrran heaved a huge sigh relief. In the beginning, she thought of taking her brother back inside the house but she discarded that idea instantly. She feared Ovandarrak would soon wake and then disappear entirely. Hence, she decided to carry him on her back and then take him directly to Doctor Avor. Maybe once the doctor was done looking after her brother, he could come back to their home and take care of her parents too.

"Hang in there, little brother. Everything will soon be alright." She said more to herself than to Ovandarrak. She was so confused about everything that was happening. The day had started as a good one. She had had so much fun with her family at the tournament during the day. And now, everything was falling apart.

A series of loud voices jolted Savyrran out of her deep thought. She had been so occupied by her own thoughts that she had not seen the events playing right before her. In a distance not too far from where she was currently standing, she saw a long queue of children all moving in one direction. They seemed to be looking at nothing ahead of them and they were all just moving like mindless creatures. There were dozens of these children all within her age group or lower. There were some of them who were even around two years old.

Savyrran's eyes widened in amazement. This was exactly what had happened to her brother. She recognised a few of the children in the queue however, one stood out among them.

"Markka?" The name came flying out of her mouth louder than she had anticipated. Her friend, Markka, was one of the children being taken by who knows what. That was Lokirrak's cousin. What was happening?

Savyrran could hear the voices clearly now. It was the sound of other children calling out to the lost children. It suddenly dawned on Savyrran that she and Ovandarrak were not the only victims here. Every child in the town was in danger.

Savyrran heard someone calling her name from the distance. She knew this voice. She turned towards the direction of the voice and she saw Lokirrak Roggo running towards her.

"Loki." She said, feeling relieved to see someone she knew in a conscious state. "What is happening?"

"I don't know. I don't know." Loki began sobbing, and tears flowed freely on his small brown face. "My little sister… She is missing. And Markka, she's gone with those children. I don't know where they are going. I kept calling her but she won't listen to me. And… And… I tried calling my parents. But they won't wake up either. What is going on, Savyrran? Why is this happening?"

Savyrran placed her right hand on Loki's puffy afro. Then she began to pat him gently. Her heart ached from seeing her friend so sad. If her brother had gone missing too, she wouldn't know what to do. She felt the previous rage suddenly washing over her again. But she had to keep calm. Anger would not solve anything now.

"Loki, we will find Varran and Markka and all the other children. And we will stop whoever is doing this, okay?" Savyrran took Lokirrak's hand. The afro haired boy was a few months older than the twins, however, he still looked up to Savyrran like she was the older one. After all, even though Savyrran had not yet manifested, she was still able to beat Lokirrak whenever they dueled.

"How do we do that?" A deep voice asked startling the two children. About seven children approached Savyrran's group. The night's air was cold and yet, the children were too overcome with sadness and fear to notice. The oldest among them was around fifteen years old. He was the one who had spoken in that deep voice.

Savyrran knew him. That was Kasko, the son of the baker. He brought them bread every week. For reasons unknown to Savyrran, Kasko's presence in their home became more often then before. And it was not to deliver bread. Whenever the older boy came, he would ask for tips about physical training techniques. She did not understand why someone so much older than her would be asking for tips from her. If he wanted to learn, why was he not asking her father instead, after all, she learned everything from him.

But of course, Savyrran did not argue. If Kasko wanted to learn, then she would teach him. That was what she did. It became something like a ritual for them to meet everyday after school to train. And through that, the two became very good friends. Since Ovandarrak did not partake in any of the physical training, it felt great that she had someone to train with. Not only was Kasko steadfast in his training, but he was also quite intelligent. In a way, he reminded Savyrran of Ovandarrak.

"Kasko." Savyrran said. "Do you know what's going on?"

"No. I'm looking for Jari."

"Your little brother is missing too?"

Kasko nodded. His eyes were red from crying so much. It seemed several of the children had been crying too.

Suddenly, something clicked in Savyrran's mind. Every one of the children here had manifested their essence while all the children who were in a trance were still too young to have manifested their essence. Ovandarrak had not manifested either, this was probably why he had been acting strangely too.

No, this did not sound right. If that were the case, shouldn't she be in such a state too? After all, she had not yet manifested her essence either. The more she thought about it, the more confused she became. But Kasko confirmed her doubts.

"Something is happening in this town. Someone or something is calling out to children and from what I can see, it is happening to children who have not yet manifested their essence. Whatever did this also put all the parents in the town in a deep sleep. Our parents have no idea what's going on." Kasko explained.

"But I haven't manifested my essence yet." Savyrran said quietly, not understanding anything at all. She had only a few days until she turned five years old; only then would she manifest her essence.

"That is certainly strange." Ayani said in a soft voice. She was twelve, but her tiny build gave her the appearance of someone younger. "But I don't think this is only happening to our parents. My sister fell into that same deep sleep as my parents. She is sixteen years old."

"So is my brother too. He is also fifteen." Another boy added.

Kasko frowned as he scratched his curly black hair shaved so close to his scalp. Did they have everything all wrong then? No, there must be an explanation for this. But he was fifteen years, so why was he not in a deep sleep like the others. Wait a minute. Kasko's dull brown eyes twinkled when he suddenly thought of something. "Ayani, your sister has awakened her soul armos, has she not?"

Ayani immediately nodded. "Yes."

"And what about you, Duro?" He asked the other boy.

"My brother has awakened too."

That was it. Kasko thought. The deep sleep was not just affecting their parents. It was affecting everyone who had awakened their soul armos. The only reason he was still here was because he had not yet awakened. He turned fifteen about a month ago, and yet, his soul armos was still dormant. It seemed something that caused him so much grieve had actually saved him this time. But was he really safe when his town was in grave danger? Whatever was trying to harm them had effectively taken out all those capable of fighting back. What were a group of weak children like them supposed to do? Even if they had manifested their essence, they could not possibly go against something that was powerful enough to cast such a spell on a wide scale. He was totally at a loss at what to do, and for the first time that evening, Kasko felt completely helpless.

All the other children expectantly looked at Kasko for guidance. He was the oldest among them, and naturally, they saw him as some kind of a leader in this predicament. If he did not come up with a plan, all the other children would end up being lost forever.

"Why? What is it?" Ayani asked. Kasko was trying so hard to look strong in front of all those children. If he broke down in front of them they would lose all hope and he did not want that to happen.

"Whoever did this is trying to steal children who have yet to manifest their essence. Then he put those capable of fighting with their soul armos into a deep sleep to stop them from fighting him. I think we are all alone."

"But… But what about Mayor Danjo? And Master Bufan?" Loki said with disbelief. All his life, he had heard about how powerful these two were. How was it that they could do nothing when they needed them most? "But they have the yellow essence. Surely they are strong enough to stop all these."

"If Master Bufan and Mayor Danjo were here, do you think the children will be going missing just like that?" Kasko asked harsher than he had intended to.

A fresh batch of tears began to overflow on Lokirrak's face. He sobbed silently to himself as he looked away from Kasko.

Kasko bit his lips. He lowered his eyes, feeling guilty for snapping at the poor child. He had not intended to be harsh to Loki, but sometimes his anger got the best of him.

"Alright, that's enough of all that negative talk." Savyrran said as she gently held Lokirrak's hand. She had been listening to all this back and forth and she had had enough. While they were here wasting time, the children were going one after the other. They had to do something as soon as possible. If they were on their own, then they had no other choice. The safety of Coast Town was in their hands.