18 Listlessness

Telavera strapped in her sword and slowly approached the grieving brothers.

They had carried Niu to an inn on the outskirts of the city; the inn wasn't harmed by the explosions. There he was placed on a tabletop, his brothers seated at his side.

Telavera had no idea what to say. When she thought about the eager-to-help youngster that she explained her whole plan to, she could only think that she was to blame for what happened.

"We thought that we would be able to find our way home from here. I asked around. No one knows where our village is." Rie sniffled, his face flat on the table.

"You should cover him up. Let whatever remains of his spirit rest in peace." Telavera said this because she knew the proper rites for a burial, however she had never felt such grief when saying those words.

"Why are you still here?" Rai glared at her after she said that.

"I..." She didn't know what to say. Her head sank. She couldn't look them in the eye, so she looked over at the still unconscious Visk.

She sighed. She had what she came for, but why could she not leave?

"Mom, Dad, I couldn't protect him." Rie fell into despair and voluminous crying once more.

"We were supposed to protect each other. We both failed." Rai retracted his glare from Telavera, reaching over for Rie to take his hand.

"We have to send him off. She's right." Rie wiped his eyes with his arm.

Rai furiously shook his head.

"No. Just... Just give me more time." Rie knew that Rai would continue to fight the overwhelming negativity within him. He would refuse to let those emotions out as long as his older brother was there with him.

Rie bitterly smiled and stood up. When Telavera saw that he was giving Rai some time alone, she grabbed tufts of Visk's hair and dragged him outside.

She and Rie stood in silence, staring at the sky or the not-so-distant sea.

People were still gathered there, unsure of whether to return or now. Scattered on the outskirts of the city were also the people that had been blown away by Rai's last explosion.

Standing there, they could just barely hear Rai's stifled cries. They were like the angered roars of a wounded beast that was vowing, in its own way, to take revenge on what wounded it.

Rie remained quiet for a while.

"How will we find him?" Rie suddenly asked.

Telavera seemed to be waiting for this question, and slowly shook her head with a sigh.

"I don't know. Vaeyon has eluded us for a long time. However, if he resurfaces, we will definitely find him-"

"That's not good enough!" She gasped.

"Niu was ...taken... from us. There are no if's. We will find him whether he wants to be found or not." Rie took his time to carefully enunciate. He wanted Telavera- no- he wanted the earth, the sky and the sun to hear his words clearly.

That was his promise and he intended to make good on it.

The door opened, revealing Rai. He held his brother close, having covered his body with his own robe.

"We will find him. And he will pay." Rie walked over to him, helping him with Niu.

"Will you bury him?" Telavera's eyes never left the limp body in their arms.

"Yes."

She helped them. Dragging Visk along with her, she took them to tranquil spot up a hill. It overlooked both the mouth of the river and the city.

She then helped them dig the grave. They carefully wrapped his body up and then laid him down in it. When they were finished and the hole covered up, Rai took out his short sword. He laid it flat near the grave then hurriedly stood and walked away.

Rie took a moment as well, then he went with Rai.

Telavera looked at them but said nothing. She knew that she shouldn't follow them.

When she thought about it, even though they wanted to find Vaeyon, if her people couldn't then they surely couldn't. So, she decided to say nothing and let them go.

Strong motives oftentimes forged strong warriors.

They vanished from aight before long.

She remained there until sunset, silently meditating.

Telavera saw that Visk was waking up again, so she struck him on the head a few dozen times to knock him out again.

She sighed.

"Kid. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten you involved. I guess I should have kept in mind that you were a kid first and foremost. Even though you did come from the other ...world..."

She seemed to be on the verge of realization.

Indeed, she was. Her expression brightened a great deal and she shot to her feet.

"You're from another world!"

Telavera knew that people from other worlds were usually given overwhelming abilities and the like, but Niu didn't seem to have any powerful skills.

No.

What he had, was his brothers...

Immediately, Telavera remembered something else.

"Fushi Fuli!" Telavera's eyes then widened to a point that was not humanly possible and she exclaimed in shock.

"...and they would deliver him. With no life, but a body made to contain it all." Telavera finally connected all the dots.

The story that she had heard many times before, taught to her by a senior.

Telavera belonged to a sanctum that dealt in everything spiritual. Their mission was to enforce a higher law, one that ensured spirituality was not used in unorthodox ways, and that those that did so were punished.

However, thinking back to her time as a youth, she remembered that the master of the sanctum, the woman that raised her, had told her one bedtime story consistently.

The story of the Spirit in the Sword.

With great haste, she grabbed her sheathed sword and struck Visk on the head so hard it exploded. Then, she slammed it into the ground. The earth was ruthlessly dug out, straight down to Niu's dead body.

She dove into the hole, grabbed him up, then scurried out again. This time she didn't stop. She left in the direction of the setting sun, arriving at the shore before long.

"Damnit!" She roared.

With Niu hung over her shoulder, she pulled her sword out of the sheath. An explosive energy threatened to burst forth from the sword, but it kept back.

"I'm sorry, Fuli." She stared out at the sea.

"I won't be holding back anymore. Not ever again."

"Release!" That energy rampaged through the arm that held the sword then wreaked havoc in her body. However, it was not unbearable.

She took a single step, appearing miles away atop the water. She continued running, moving so fast that she didn't have time to sink.

She ran across the ocean, destination in mind.

She had to get back to the sanctum. If she was right, then Niu's second chance awaited him. However, she was running out of time.

Waves were continuously cut down by her powerful steps and still-increasing speed. She caused the sea behind her to part. As the parted sea crashed back together, the froth rose up in a mess of bubbles and salt, even with a few unfortunate fish that were too close to the surface.

Telavera could see the empty horizon zooming past her, until she eventually saw land. Her speed rose sharply once more, this time the water beneath her feet began to boil. She raced toward the shore, leaving massive trenches in the sand and a scorching trail as she moved through the trees.

The terrain changed before her eyes, from the fleeting image of a jungle, a flash of a swamp, a few seconds of grassland and then nothing but sand.

Telavera was beginning to lose patience. Sword in hand, she tightened her grip. Her speed increased once more, but it was even more drastic. Her body seemed to stretch out as her speed was multiplied by what seemed like an infinite amount. There was no longer any sound, nor did her movements affect the world. She became invisible to the eye.

She finally saw that she had arrived at her destination, but upon seeing it she felt a wave of pain in her head and a sudden drowsiness arose.

She instantly bit down on her tongue.

"Not yet! Please, body, not yet!" She screamed.

Her speed rapidly fell, arriving at what it was at the start. She slowed down even more.

She had arrived at a dome-like structure that occupied a beach. It was actually built along the shoreline of massive, solitary island.

The top of this dome seemed to be both glass and metal. Telavera leapt but was barely able to reach the top. She found the nearest glass section and swung her sword.

Three strikes in one instant!

The glass shattered and she stepped down, falling directly over a nonchalantly walking priestess. Her robes were much too large for her body, yet she remained poised and dignified, even seeming proud.

Telavera was soundless in her descent, so the woman only knew she was there when Telavera came crashing down.

The tiled floor cracked under her, due to the height at which she fell from, and the woman was unprecedentedly startled, yelping.

Telavera had no time to care. She stood straight, pupils jumping from one place to the next. She scanned the area then ran off again.

"Telavera?" The woman, confused, stared at the cracked tiles and then the direction that Telavera ran off to.

Telavera traversed the narrow halls, wide halls, stairs and went through various double doors.

When the second wave of pain hit her, and a even stronger urge to sleep crept up on her, she reached where she wanted to be.

Four people were gathered around a rotating ball of light. It's light manifested as a stream of spiritual energy that flowed into the four people.

Telavera acted as if she didn't seem them.

"You? Why are you here?" The four women all noticed her come in, one of them surprised behind her mask.

"Telavera! Get out! You'll have your turn to try to absorb it later you--" Before that other person could finish speaking, Telavera struck her with the pommel of her sword. The blow to the woman's stomach was solid, then followed up by a strike to her temple.

Telavera had already walked past her as she fell to the ground.

With Niu, she walked straight up to the ball of light.

"What are you doing!?" Another woman had only just realized.

"Who gave you the authority to do this?" As soon as she asked her question, the woman who was at first surprised saw a sharp blade arrive at her throat. She said nothing more.

Telavera took Niu with one hand and pushed him into the light. His wrapped up body seemed to have dissolved into it, but it was actually taken into another space.

The women couldn't understand. They had tried corpses many times, but everything had been reduced to ashes by that ball of light.

After doing that, Telavera ran off again. She went back to where she entered from, dove up and out then remained standing on the roof.

Finally, she sheathed her sword. The last thing she knew was that she was in pain and dreadfully sleepy.

Then she passed out.

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