Chapter 5

・Enlightenment ・

The majestic melody of a piano danced around the homey ambience of the Silvis residence’s linear, wooden, themed cottage home as the heavenly scent of freshly baked cookies snuck in through the doorway of the kitchen into their cosy living room where a young boy of 10 or 11 sat basking in the comforting heat of the sun that blazed down through the open window onto the, now toasty, Ardabil patterned carpet. His ears melting to the sound of his father’s piano, that sat in the far corner of the room, each note sending him to a place of comforting, inner peace, allowing his mind to focus upon his schoolwork which rested against the bristles of the carpet in front of him.

Just then, the aroma of cookies grew as the boy’s mother, Mrs Silvis, entered the room, placing the plate of steaming treats on a table in front of the windowsill where the cool breeze could quell their heat.

“Oooh, my favourite! I love chocolate chip!” Exclaimed the boy, jumping up from the carpet in an energetic, frog-like leap and grabbing one of the cookies off the plate.

“How was school today?” Asked his mother, taking off her apron and folding it over the rest of the chair that sat under the table. “I didn’t get to ask you when you dashed right past me in the kitchen a few minutes ago.”

“It was great. There was a new girl today, her name’s Emily, she just moved here.” Said the boy, cookie crumbs tumbling from his mouth and onto his shirt.

“Oh?! Well, and? Did – you make friends with her?” Asked his mother in concerned anticipation.

“Of course.” Smiled the boy, prompting his mother to sigh in relief as she gleamed up at his father who returned her smile as he walked over from the piano, placing his hand on the boy’s head and fluffing up his hair.

“And – how’s your grades?” Asked his father.

“I got ten out of ten on all my tests today!” He exclaimed energetically.

“That’s my boy! What about sports day next week? You think you can win?”

“Mmm, I’m not sure.” He laughed.

“Agh, I’m sure you’ve got it-”

-KNOCK – KNOCK – KNOCK-

Suddenly, the sound of someone pulling at the front door knocker, interrupted them.

“Oh, who could that be!” Sung his mother, hopping off back through the kitchen to the front door, where, on the other side, stood Emily, twiddling her leg around to bide time, with her hands behind her back, holding a basket full of sandwiches.

Her white summer dress fluttered faintly in the wind as she hummed a quiet tune while awaiting the door to open, in which it did a second later, with a chime-y creek.

“Oh!” tittered Mrs Silvis in surprise. “Let me guess… Emily?!”

The girl blushed, squishing her face together as she smiled. “Uhm, my mother said I shouldn’t bring anything for you, but… as a thanks to Nectar for being so welcoming I- uh…” She said, now holding up her basket filled with sandwiches.

Mrs Silvis went pale white in shock as her jaw dropped before tightening up in an energetic smile. “Oh - my… Y- You’re so kind.” She laughed, a tear teetering at the edge of her eye.

“Nectar!” Called Mrs Silvis before turning back to Emily in a whisper. “Why don’t you and Nectar take these and go have a picnic in the park, Hm?” She said smiling.

Nectar leapt around the corner, halting dead in place as he set his eyes on Emily. His heart fluttered in excitement. “Emily!” He exhaled with a compassionate face of glee.

“Hi, Nectar.” She said softly, her strawberry blonde ponytail shimmering in the suns reflection as it waved with the wind.

“Go on out and have a picnic with Emily, Nectar. She came all this way with sandwiches and everything.”

“Huh?! But- I haven’t even finished my maths homework yet!”

“I said go on and have a picnic with your friend. Go - on!” She said, haphazardly pushing him out the door with a smile; Nectar chuckling as it shut behind him and the two of them began making their way through the town towards their destination.

Most of the town itself was visibly overgrown with upkeep in areas you’d expect like the town centre and school but houses and cutaways onto side trails were mostly surrounded with verdant appendage due to its secluded and off-grid location restricting out of town workers and governments from frequently helping.

Nectar’s mind was made up on their picnic location. An enclosed spot that overlooked the local lake, surrounded by arching trees and rich plants that shaded them from the direct sting of the sun.

After arriving, the two of them sat on the lone bench and relaxed, admiring the view that left their twinkling eyes unable to peel themselves from the reflective disc of shimmering diamond blue ahead of them. Those dancing ripples from the aquatic life it housed caused the blending of a myriad of colours: blues, greens and the whites of the clouds, all mingling in a way that gave the body of water a sense of sentience. Truly allowing it to live up to its name of ‘life’s mirror’.

“It’s so peaceful…” Muttered Emily, throwing the crusts of her sandwiches to the ducks that had somehow appeared without Nectar realising.

-Quack-

The aroma of natures vast colony of vibrant flowers left a fine freshness in the air as the light tingle of the wind brushed over his skin. Nectar found himself uncontrollably smiling. His soul and spirit were one with the soothing waves of the lake, a complete oasis of serenity. He felt nothing in that moment could disturb the calming flow of his soul.

“Nectar?” Asked Emily as she tossed the last of her breadcrumbs for the ducks and folded her napkin away that she had been using to catch excess crumbs.

“What is it?” He replied, a simple smile on his face, his eyes gleaming bright rays of satisfied happiness. It couldn’t have been clearer how fulfilled this moment made him.

“I’m new here, so—I was just wondering… About today… Uhm –

Nectar felt an impending discomfort.

“So, how come the rest of the class -was ignoring you?”

. . .

Depression instigated solitude infected him like a slow antagonising poison, reaping his happiness straight from the pours of his skin as sorrow’s venomous sensation submerged his body into numbness. His smile straightened out and his mind snapped upon his heart sinking down his chest to the sickening sensation of a bad memory that began making waves through his mind.

* * *

The bustling voices of children rumbled around the yard as Nectar and Emily stood by the far gate, chatting and passing time while they waited for the dinner hall to clear out.

“You’re lucky, I heard they were serving pancakes today as desert.” Said Nectar.

“Really? My old school never used to even bother serving desert.” Chuckled Emily, before suddenly they turned their attention to one of their classmates who came running over.

“Hey, Emily come check this out!” He called over, wafting around his hand in the air.

“Oh—Sure…?” Said Emily, as her and Nectar began walking to him before suddenly, he scoffed a chuckle, placing his rotten fingers on Nectar’s shoulder as he gazed down on him with his pompous eyes as if he were nothing more than an irritating, inconvenience.

“Woah… Nectar, I was- talking to Emily…”

His words smothered Nectar in a heavy blanket, his movements stiffed, his breath shortened – only managing to mutter a single word.

“O-Okay.”

* * *

“So, where did you live before coming here, Emily?” Asked one of the girls in the huddled group that had formed around Emily.

“I’m from, Heidon, so sort of your neighbours but not really.” She laughed.

“Yeah, she’s from the same place I’m from, isn’t that cool?” Exclaimed Nectar with a gleaming smile.

The room silenced. Everyone looked at him with a blank face before shooting callous glances amongst themselves.

“Thanks for that, Nectar. We didn’t know.” Scoffed one of the older boys sarcastically, glaring daggers into his soul as Nectar’s whole body tightened in abysmal embarrassment.

“So, what’s it like there Emily? Is it nice?!” Asked one of the boys as they all turned their attention back to her.

* * *

These agonizing moments.

‘Did I say something weird?’

Brought back his memories of where it started.

‘From now on—I’ll be quiet.’

That memory, from that day. The day in which Nectar came to the conclusion that, no one actually cared about him-

* * *

‘They said—they’d be here…’

The rain stampeded down onto the already wet, muddy forest floor as the chilling bite of the cold air nibbed at him.

‘Did they not wait for me? But – they said they would...’

‘Where did they go?’

The rain drops slithered off his head as he stared down into the ground, the coldness was a reminder that he was alone. Alone in a cold, empty world, until… Suddenly – the bombardment of rain against the back of his head ceased as the slight radiance of warmth met his back and the pitter patter of rain against an umbrella prompted him to turn behind him-

The conclusion that no one cared about him—no one… but them…

Nectar’s father stood looking down to him with eyes of full of relief.

And with a gentle smile, seemingly on the edge of tears uttered:

“It’s time to come home, Nectar.”

Suddenly the heart piercing metallic sound of his and Benji’s blades colliding erupted in the air.

‘That’s right, it’s time to come home.’

Stumbling back against Nectar’s strikes, Benji floundered his sword around in a panicked attempt to repel the oncoming assault.

‘I can’t do this!’

He felt his heartbeat in his throat as even breathing became a gut-wrenching chore.

‘I can’t do this!’

Sweat uncomfortably stagnated at his brow as he struggled to manoeuvre against the rigid road below, while concentrating on slamming his sword into Nectar’s to intercept his attacks.

‘I can’t-’

Then, suddenly, Benji’s lungs tightened in a brisk gasp as he felt his back foot slip onto a more defined surface. Glancing behind him, Benji saw that Nectar had pushed him all the way out of the village as they began to enter the forest.

His blood zipped around his body as a metallic feeling stiffed his muscles as he turned in panicked disarray, making a mad dash for the forest, away from Nectar.

Benji’s mind raced at 180MPH as images of his life splattered his cognitive vision. Silvia, those detestable images of her lifeless corpse dragging across the ground contrasting to her optimistic smile as Benji felt an essence of powerlessness envelop around him.

‘I can’t save anyone. I can’t do anything right. I can’t even give Nectar his one wish.’

Benji felt his strength absorbed from his body as running became harder and harder and no matter how hard he breathed he just couldn’t muster up the determination or energy to push himself.

Nectar stood in place, watching as Benji pantingly stuttered into the forest.

“H-He’s running…” He muttered in a state of astonishment.

-tsk-

Nectar sharpened his brow as his eyes burned in vexation, the handle of his sword making seams in his hand as he gripped it with intensity. Then, pulling back his arm and lining up the point of his weapon with Benji, Nectar walloped his blade forward, slicing straight through the air.

The hairs on Benji’s neck raised as he turned to a whistling woosh barrelling from behind him. Just as he did, his eyes glossed over the glimmering steel of Nectar’s blade for half a millisecond before he felt himself yanked off his feet as the point of the sword pierced through the clothing just above his right shoulder and into the trunk of the tree behind him, pinning him against the fuzzy, moss ground.

Trying to calm his sporadic panting, Benji focused on deep breaths as the sound of Nectar’s boots hitting the puffy, hollow forest floor approached, acting as a reminder for his inevitable, impending end.

‘Why try fight it?’ Thought Benji. ‘All my life I’ve fought it and all it does is pin me right back down, where I came from.’

The constant stinging pain in Benji’s amputated arm was an agonizing reminder of Athena which added to his assortment of piling mistakes, indirectly igniting torturous memories of all his other failures.

“Benji…” Muttered Nectar, finally arriving up to him.

“I’m missing something…” Said Benji breathlessly.

“Hm?”

“I’ve lost something, ever since I lost it, I’d had this unquenchable craving to reclaim it. But, since I lost my arm, I think I lost something else with it.”

“The unknown, my arm and with it – my determination.”

“What are you getting at?” Questioned Nectar in perplexion.

“I’m saying I can’t give you what you want, and I can’t give myself what I want, because I lack the determination to do so. I can’t fight for myself anymore, so what’s the point?”

Nectar sighed as the erratic rumbling of leaves in the wind filled up the air.

“What do you want, Benji?” He asked.

“I keep messing up… I don’t want to make the same mistake for a third time…”

“Will you stop with that…” Exclaimed Nectar in moderate disgust, kneeling down to Benji’s level. “All you ever talk about is what you don’t want to happen, ‘Oh I hope this doesn’t happen.’; ‘It’d be a real shame if this happened.’ – Benji… I asked you what you wanted. Be greedier. Stop hoping for something to not happen and start going out of your way to prevent it.”

“Nothing will happen for you, unless you act towards it.”

Nectar stood back up and pulled his sword from the tree, releasing Benji from his confines.

“Well, Benji? What do you want?”

Taking to his feet, Benji grabbed his sword, that was to the left of him, and gripped it.

“I want to stop Athena from going through the same torture I went through. I want to stop myself from making the same mistakes. And I want to reclaim that part of myself that I lost.

Nectar smiled. “That’s better, Benji.”

“That was round 2 out of 3 – I hope you’re ready to take the final round seriously.”

“I’ll give it a go.” Said Benji with a smirk.

The tides of the wind calmed to a tranquil silent breeze as the rustling of tree branches hushed to a halt and Benji found himself focusing solely on what he wanted.

‘I can do this!’

Inhaling in a constant rising tone, readying his stance, Benji wiped the static sweat from his brow.

‘I can do this!’

The slow gritty crunch of his shoes sliding against the dry, dirt ground as he held his sword pointing to the floor at his right hip.

‘I can-’

Benji burst forward, flicking his sword out as the metallic shudder reverbed through Nectar’s hand upon Benji smashing their swords into one another, Nectar’s arm was knocked away, leaving his body wide open for Benji to lunge his knee into his stomach. Wide eyed, Nectar froze in mental shock, hunching over himself, as Benji bounced back to wind up another blow while Nectar was left staggered.

‘-DO IT!’

Benji pounced forward – sliding his back foot behind his front – and, powering forward with its momentum, struck his front leg up into Nectar, sending him catapulting back, off his feet, with a snapping side kick.

Benji’s raging glare of determination impaled Nectar’s soul as the two met eye to eye in that split instant of Nectar being taken off his feet. In that moment, everything felt like it revolved around them in their blitzing bubble of energy, and whatever stood outside that, came to a standstill.

-THUD-

Nectar hit the ground behind him, laying on his back against the mucky floor, he looked up through the leaves of the trees at the sky, as a raven hovered in the air above him.

It’s distant squawks igniting the memories of that day, that dark gloomy sky, that brittle incessant breeze and that overwhelming conviction of loneliness that surrounded Nectar’s dismal reality.

* * *

Standing within the forest that now took a viridian shade under the shadow cast down by the graphite rain clouds above – he whispered…

“I did it…” A single sliver of rain dripping onto his downturned head.

“I- did it…” He muttered in a whimper as a tear rolled down his cheek.

The rain began to pick up and power down upon him as he stood in the centre of his mess; the bodies of his unconscious classmates surrounding him as the scene immortalised itself in his mind.

A static sense of solitude embodied him as if he stood alone in an infinite void of black, before suddenly, Nectar felt a warmth hover above his head and the pitter of rain decrease to a muffle; sharply spinning around – Nectar turned in excited anticipation-

“Da- d-”

The piercing numbness of the lashing rain suddenly eclipsed the illusion of warmth as Nectar stared down the empty, dim forest trail ahead of him. Overwhelming realisation that he was, in this moment – completely alone, surrounded by his fears, left his emotions floundering as he dropped to his knees with his hands to the dirt, breaking down into a bawling weep.

“I- I did it…”

Sniffling through his tears, Nectar wiped his eyes and fell back on his calves to look into the sky above him, where the distinct squawks of a raven caught his attention before suddenly, he snapped back as he heard the footsteps of Benji dashing towards him through the forest.

- “GET UP!” -

Roared Benji as he leapt up into the air and stabbed down his sword at Nectar who flipped himself back over his head and onto his feet, bouncing away from Benji as he took to a fighting stance, holding his sword across his body.

Lunging up from the ground without a second to spare, Benji slashed at Nectar who blocked it with a sturdy grip, a clanging chime rung throughout the forest as Nectar took a moment to hop back. Benji zipped round his sword in his hand to a frontal grip as he held it high above his head before striking down at Nectar again who redirected it with an overarm block; their swords screeching as they slid off one another.

‘This is it. This is the person I wanted to fight!’

Nectar skipped away, as Benji passed him, with footwork like a boxer; twirling his sword behind his back while stalking Benji’s movements like an eagle, calculating his next move as rapid thoughts scurried through his mind.

‘Are you watching?’ Nectar asked himself.

Their swords clashing as they passed one another.

‘Please be watching!’

The scraping of their shoes across the gritty dirt ground as they fumbled through the forest.

‘Tell me you’re watching!’

The silver edge of their blades swiftly slashing through the air, only to just barely graze over their target.

‘You’re watching right?’

Nectar’s racing blood pumped around his body faster than his mind could manage it.

‘This is it!’

Tears of erratic excitement from an overflow of emotion swelled in the corner of his widened eyes as he grit his teeth and tightened his jaw to combat the pulsing drive of adrenaline that viciously charged through his veins.

‘This is my moment – Drey!’

* * *

The ticking clock on the wall inside the infinity cult main office suddenly stopped as Hugh and Drey sat drinking tea and coffee at a table.

“That shit’s broken.” Scoffed Drey, taking a puff of his cigarette.

“Ugh, I’ll have someone replace it later. Gimmie an update on the demon.”

“Athena’s in the café still. She went out the front earlier n’ talked to Nectar for a bit but she went back inside and has been n’ there for a while.” Said Drey in his rough tone.

“What about Nectar, should you not be checking in on him?” Asked Hugh.

“It’ll be fine. Although, if he comes back with even a single scratch on em after facin’ someone with one arm…” Drey clicked his tongue jokingly.

“What does he even want from you so bad again? I forgot.” Chuckled Hugh.

-tch-

“Somethin’ bout his parents an’ breakin’ em out of jail.”

“Jail?” Questioned Hugh. “What did they do, you know?”

“Accordin’ to him, nothin’. ‘Wrongfully accused’ as they say.”

“Well? What do you want to do when he gets back? Just kill him?”

“Agh, he’s not even really that skilled but… If he comes back in good condition, I’ll take him on and teach em a few things. However, that is if he comes back. I was joking before but, one arm or not, Benji is still Benji, the kid trained day in and day out.”

“I don’t know what you see in Benji. He’s nothing but a screw up with a useless ability. I still can’t believe I wasted my time with him for all those years, just for him to freak out at me.”

Drey side glanced over at him with a rebuking gaze.

“Athena ain’t moved in a while… Honestly, I’m thinkin’ Benji blabbed.”

Hugh sigh as he scratched his chin. “Want to make a move then?”

“Sure, I’m itchin’ for a fight with a demon. No use in tryna be secretive anymore ‘bout it if she knows we’re after ‘er. It’d be better to do something now before she gets reckless.”

“Alright then, well – let’s get going.”