17. A Prophecy

Raymond and Peeta ran into the forest after hearing Eevana scream.

They left Estella in the care of Crimwal and rushed towards where they heard the scream.

There they saw a rather peculiar sight.

Kalos and Eevana tightly held each other as a black flame coated their bodies.

Kalosýni's clothes were ripped to shreds and Eevana's fingers were covered in blood.

"What in the world is happening here?" Peeta exclaimed as he and Raymond approached the burning duo.

"What the-?" Peeta gasped.

Raymond placed his hand and above the fire, but nothing happened.

Peeta did the same but-

"Son of a-! Ouch!" He screamed as he bounced around.

"Hey, Kalos. You alright?" Raymond asked.

Kalos raised his head, revealing two bright blue eyes.

"Hey, dad. I'm alright." Kalos said as he continued to hold Eevana.

Raymond looked at Eevana's face but saw that she was unconscious and different.

"When did Eevana become this… powerful?" Raymond gasped.

Peeta approached Raymond.

"Oh yes, she does look a little less sickly. But don't forget Ray, saepenar can shapeshift. Well, to a certain extent." Peeta said before Raymond smacked the back of his head.

"Not that, you idiot! I mean her darkness... her essence." Raymond said as Kalos stood up with Eevana in his arms.

"Oh, she's got some of him and he's got some of her. If he had tried this on someone less powerful, they'd have popped, hehe." Peeta said as they made their way back to camp.

There, Kalos gently placed Eevana on the seat opposite Estella's in the carriage, but as soon as he let go of her, she awoke.

She looked at Kalos, before hurriedly hugging him again.

Estella looked at the two with shocked wide eyes.

"When did I miss?" She asked cheekily before Crimwal called out to her.

"I think it would be best if we gave them some time alone, no?" Crimwal suggested and Estella carefully hopped out of the carriage with Crimwal's help.

Kalos and Eevana continously clung to each other.

Kalos looked into Eevana's eyes and looked in his.

Eevana saw a maelstrom of power and passion that seemingly burnt all that it touched.

Kalos a deep, but gentle darkness in Eevana's eyes that felt almost welcoming.

Eevana tore off Kalosýni's torn woolly jacket as she silently gazed into his eyes.

Eevana then grabbed one of the nearby blankets and Kalos covered himself with it.

The two then embraced each other as their hearts slowly calmed.

"Uh- I'm no parent, but is it ok for us to just leave them?" Crimwal asked.

"Hehe, yes. Let them be. Kalos is young. He should experience all life has to offer-"

"Yes, like the soul-crushing feeling of heartbreak." Peeta interrupted Raymond.

"You're only saying that because you've never been in a stable relationship," Raymond said as he took a sip from his water skin.

"Shut up! It's not my fault I spent twenty or so years looking for you." Peeta said as he crossed his arms.

"Actually, it is. With your magical potential, you could have been the next eminence, but no." Raymond mocked.

"Hey Raymond, I was wondering, what are-" Crimwal started saying, but-

"Shh!" Raymond said suddenly as he stood up.

Peeta did the same as he looked around cautiously.

Then suddenly a loud explosion came from just beyond their camp.

Raymond and Peeta quickly manifested their respective armours.

However, Raymond didn't summon Reu.

"I have finally found you!" A deep, but strangely inhuman voice said.

The dust from beyond the camp settled revealing a knight clad in glorious gold armour standing next to a smaller, yet equally glorious looking knight. They both wore face-covering helmets, so Raymond and the others couldn't tell who they were exactly.

"Betrayer!" The knight seethed.

Raymond created a not so normal fosblade and pointed it at the knight.

"Let me guess, Eminence Vinaar Feelstrom," Raymond said as he released his darkness.

"I'd prefer it if the betrayer didn't say my name." The knight called Vinaar said.

"Careful Ray, that thing standing next to her is the Meneem," Peeta said.

"The what?" Raymond asked as the two golden knights approached them.

"They called it the Raymond killer…" Peeta whispered.

Raymond sighed before returning his attention to Vinaar, who disappeared only to reappear in front of Raymond.

Their swords clashed and a massive shockwave shook the ground beneath them.

"Get into the carriage and go!" Raymond ordered Crimwal, who gently helped Estella get into the carriage before he hopped into the driver's seat.

"No!" Vinaar said before swinging their sword in the carriage's direction, sending a massive amount of magic energy towards the carriage.

The lump of energy raced towards the carriage, but since three of Kalosýni's necklaces were inside it, the carriage and its passengers were unaffected by the resulting impact.

With the crack of a whip, the carriage slowly took off.

"Where's Kalos?" Crimwal asked as he carefully drove the carriage down the path towards Eslaf.

"He and Eevana are asleep. Deeply asleep." Estella said as a loud explosion came from far behind the carriage.

Crimwal looked backwards and saw that the sky behind them was dark and what was once a hill that overlooked Eslaf, had become a crater.

"Oh, my goodness!" He muttered as the carriage sped along.

Estella tried her best to awaken the sleeping Kalos.

"Kalos!" She called out, but both Kalos and Eevana were in a deep sleep.

Estella tried gently pulling on his cheeks but nothing happened, so she tried slapping him as softly as she could but even that didn't work.

The carriage then came to a sudden stop.

Estella looked outside and saw that they were surrounded by knights.

There were so many that Estella couldn't even count them.

None of them said anything as they slowly approached the carriage.

Estella then began frantically beating Kalosýni's back as she held in her fear.

Kalos then suddenly awoke. His face met several of Estella's punches.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Estella pointed outside and Kalosýni nodded without a second's hesitation. He dashed out of the carriage as the knights were getting ready to impale the defenceless Crimwal.

Kalos saw that the knights wore the armour of the servants of the order of Eirini.

He decided it would be best if he didn't kill them so he let out a wave of his aura, but to his surprise, none of the knights fainted.

Yes, some of them trembled a little, but they were all still conscious.

Kalos then decide to kick thing up a notch. He wore his magical armour and summoned Reu before releasing a good amount of his aura.

The knights then began passing out. Well, all but one.

A knight who looked slightly different from the others remained standing as he nervously pointed his spear at Kalos.

"What are you?" The knight asked.

Kalos looked at his gunmetal grey armour and his sword, before returning his gaze to the knight.

"My name is Kalosýni Yulrun." He said proudly.

"Who?" The knight asked with his head slightly tilted in disbelief.

"He shall be your lord to serve." Kalos heard Eevana say. He turned around to find her gracefully exiting the carriage, but she looked way different from before.

Her face was relatively the same, but her head was different. It was covered in long magnificent horns and her long black hair coiled around those horns.

Her body was covered in an organic black gown that highlighted her curves while maintaining a graceful appearance.

Her skin, although even paler than before, had a healthier look to it, but beneath her gown, Kalos could see a myriad of tattoos. Her eyes were almost completely black and her feet were shoeless.

Kalos looked but couldn't find her antennae, this resulted in him letting out a faint sigh.

Eevana joined Kalos by his side and they both face the single conscious knight.

"Saepenar!" The knight screamed as he pointed his spear at Eevana.

Kalos didn't like that, so he swung Reu diagonally and chopped the knights spear in two.

The knight scurried backwards before creating a fosblade.

"Taste the cold steel of justice, monster!" The knight said as he charged towards Kalos at full speed.

Kalos lowered his stance to attack, but before he could even move, Eevana gracefully moved past Kalos at an incredibly high speed.

She then tripped the knight, dragged his across the ground and placed her foot on his back.

"Wow!" Kalos exclaimed as he ran to Eevana's side.

She opened her arms, half afraid that Kalos wouldn't accept her new form, but Kalos grabbed her and lifted her high into the hair.

"Umm… who's the lady?" Crimwal asked Estella, whose head was peeping out the carriage door.

"I think that's Eevana," Estella said while shooting a look of envy at her.

Crimwal sighed before looking back at the ex-hill they'd come from.

"Oi, I think you should go check up on your dad," Crimwal suggested.

Eevana genlty patted Kalos on the cheek before he put her down.

"It's ok, go. I'll look after them." Eevana said with a smile.

Kalosýni's face reddened slightly, but he charged on nonetheless.

He read somewhere in the red book that the first eminence true eminence was able to increase his speed by sending light magic to his legs.

Kalos tried this, but it worked a little too well and sent him crashing into the side of the crater.

Raymond and the others stopped fighting.

"What the-" He gasped after seeing his son run into the crater.

"That boy…" Raymond said as he placed his hands on his waist.

Vinaar looked at Kalos, then back at Raymond.

"Who is that?" He asked.

"That's-" Raymond opened his mouth to say.

"The son of eminence Raymond!" Peeta boldly announced as Kalos stumbled onto his feet.

"Hey, dad!" Kalos greeted.

"Hey lover boy, get over here," Raymond said and Kalos walked over to him.

Vinaar shook their head.

"It matters not. Face me, traitor!" He roared.

"Can't dad just apologize?" Kalos asked as he raised Reu.

"Impossible! Nothing will return the lives he took!" Vinaar said as they charged towards Raymond.

"Kalos!" Raymond yelled and the world was cast into darkness.

Peeta panicked and ran to Raymond' side.

"What is this?" Vinaar asked as he looked for where the darkness ended.

"You will not find whatever you're looking for. This is my son's power. He is something much more than an eminence. I wouldn't be surprised if he was something closer to what could be called a true herald." Raymond said as he dusted off the ash and dust off his armour.

"Impossible!" Vinaar said as they tried their best to push away Kalosýni's power.

Kalos then fell forwards and his face hit the ground.

Raymond looked at Peeta.

"Why didn't you catch him?" Raymond asked, but Peeta was too busy cowering behind him to move.

"There's no way I'm approaching that freak!" Peeta yelled.

"It's ok, dad! I'm just feeling a little dizzy." Kalos yelled.

Raymond turned to Vinaar.

"See? This is what I have to deal with every day and don't call him a freak!" Raymond said with a sigh. He then took Reu from Kalos and paced around Vinaar and the Meneem.

Vinaar extended their hand and reached out into the nothingness.

[Vinaaren Eexel!]

They yelled, summoning a glorious sword from the void.

Raymond raised his eyebrows as he slowly continued to pace around his opponents.

Then, in a flash, Raymond, Vinaar and the Meneem began a frenzied battle.

Raymond simultaneously deflected attacks from both of his opponents.

"What is this?" Vinaar asked as they continuously tried ripping Raymond to shreds.

"That isn't your Eexel," Vinaar said as chunks of their armour were blown off by Raymond's attacks.

The Meneem wasn't looking too good either as Raymond's attacks gradually chipped pieces of its armour off as well.

"You're right. This is Kalosýni's Eexel." Raymond said as he struck Vinaar's armour, sending large bits of it flying everywhere.

Peeta then returned to the fight and landed several blows on the Meneem.

This shattered it into several pieces, leaving Vinaar to face Raymond and Peeta by themself.

Vinaar backed away.

"What? Is that all you've got? They don't make eminences like they used to." Peeta said even though he had taken the least amount of hits and had dealt the least amount of damage.

Vinaar raised their hand to speak but was interrupted by a yelp.

"Your eminence! Your eminence! The dark lord has risen!" A knight cried as he tumbled down the crater.

Raymond and the others watched as he painfully rolled down the crater before coming to a stop at Vinaar's feet.

The knight then saw the broken pieces of the Meneem and Raymond standing on top of them.

"Ah! Your eminence, the dark lord has risen!" The knight yelled.

"Calm down, Quintin. Where is he?" Vinaar asked as Kalos got up from the dirt.

The knight known as Quintin saw Kalos getting up and his jaw dropped.

"There he is!"

Vinaar looked at Kalos who shook the dirt off their armour.

"He is the dark lord?" Vinaar asked as they pumped light into their Eexel.

"No. Definitely not." Raymond said while crossing his arms.

"Lair! I saw a saepenar standing by his side and-" Quintin said before seeing Eevana on the crater's edge.

"Sorry Kalos, I took my eye off of him for a second and he ran away." She said as she slowly made her way down the crater.

She stood beside Kalos in the muddy crater.

"See?" Quintin said.

Vinaar then pointed their sword at Kalos, which made Raymond's darkness flare wildly.

"The prophecy said a dark lord would rise, but it failed to mention that he would be born from the seeds of the loins of an eminence," Vinaar said as the magic in the air reached a suffocating level.

"What do you mean? What prophesy?" Raymond asked.

"I'm not obligated to speak with a traitor!" Vinaar said.

Peeta then noticed something.

"Umm… Raymond… you might wanna see this." Peeta said as he pointed at Eevana.

Raymond slowly approached Eevana and saw that her body was covered in tattoos.

"Oh, my goodness-" Raymond gasped.

"What is it?" Kalos asked.

"That is… a message," Raymond said.

"From who?" Peeta asked.

"I don't know. It looks like a warning of some sort." Raymond said, prompting Kalos to look at Eevana's body.

He saw countless markings that read:

[The song has been sung

Serving as attestation for the coming apocalypse

Humanity has cast a shadow so dark

That the pits of Nar' Agrun overspill

Its darkness imprisons all but one

And kneels at creations supposed eclipse

His gaze will touch humanity's mark

And he'll enact his will

So, raise your flags and stand as one

Use your courage and wits

To stave off his army's march

Lest your numbers be reduced to nil

The song has been sung

Fear the coming of the autarch]

Kalos looked into Eevana's eyes.

"Any idea what any of this means?" Kalos asked.

"No." She said.

Kalos nodded lightly.

"What do you think dad?" Kalos asked as Vinaar helped Quintin up.

"Not sure. But one thing's certain and that's you're not the dark lord. First of all, it says that he'll come from Nar' Agrun." Raymond said.

"Yes," Kalos said to Vinaar who disappeared in the next instant.

Raymond rushed to his son's side and kicked the air beside him, in that instant, Vinaar's head popped up there, only to be kicked.

Vinaar's helmet was sent flying off revealing a blood-covered face.

"What the-" Peeta exclaimed as Vinaar tumbled.

"The eminence is a girl?" Kalos gasped.

Vinaar crawled up to her feet, further revealing her feminine features. Her thick brown hair hung freely and her soft pink, but bruised lips caught everyone by surprise.

Raymond looked at Peeta.

"Did you know that the eminence was a woman?" Raymond asked.

"No," Peeta said.

"What is the meaning of this?" Quintin yelled.

Vinaar was bleeding from all over and her armour was in shambles.

"Listen… I can explain." She wheezed.

Raymond and Peeta looked at each other again.

"Hey, think we should leave these two…" Peeta suggested

"I agree," Raymond said as the two slowly turned around to leave.

Kalos and Eevana followed closely behind as they climbed out of the crater.

"And where do you think you're going?" Quintin asked as he created a fosblade.

"We're leaving," Raymond said as Vinaar painfully coughed.

Quintin pointed the sword Vinaar.

"No, you're not. It would seem we have two treacherous eminences and it is my duty to destroy all who oppose the order." Quintin said.

Vinaar looked at Raymond with what Raymond could only assume was a pleading experience.

He gave her a questioning look as he had no idea what she wanted.

Vinaar sighed in defeat as she stood up.

"Calm down Quintin. I still am the eminence. We shall retreat for now." She said as she walked out of the crater.

"And why should I listen to you?" Quintin asked.

Meanwhile, Raymond and his group were already halfway up the crater.

Vinaar looked around. All of her men were probably dead and her right-hand man was throwing a paranoid fit. She sighed and walked over to Raymond.

"Ahem! Traitor! I order you to take Quintin and I back to Eslaf Retnec." She ordered, but Raymond and company ignored her as they emerged from the crater.

There they saw their carriage along with a worried Crimwal and Estella.

Kalos ran over to Estella's side and checked her for injuries, Raymond and Crimwal hopped onto the driver's seat and Eevana hopped into the carriage along with Kalos, Peeta and Estella.

Vinaar looked behind her and saw the outraged Quintin silently watching Raymond's group.

"Isn't that carriage property of the order?" Quintin asked, his voice hoarse from all of the yelling.

"Mmm? This? Don't worry, we didn't steal it." Raymond said as the carriage slowly took off.

Vinaar and Quintin then noticed that their men had been piled up onto each other in the distance.

"Don't worry, they're still alive," Crimwal said.

Vinaar looked at Quintin, who scoffed as he walked towards the pile of men further down the destroyed path.

"I don't know why you're upset. What's wrong with me being a woman?" Vinaar asked.

"It's not your gender that upsets me. It's the lie. I mean… why?" Quintin asked as they made their way down the path.

"The high priests weren't very supportive about my claiming of the titie. They barred me from revealing myself completely are 8 completed my training." Vinaar said.

Quintin stopped.

"That... doesn't matter. I'd have followed you regardless." He said.

"Oh?"

"I'm still frustrated. The you and the high priests should have been more honest with us. Are you still going to keep your identity secret?" Quintin asked.

"No. I think it's time everyone knew."