“Aidan?!” I say, completely dumbfounded.

He continues kissing Lamia, his beloved. They stop when Enlil gets in between them.

“Enlil why?” Lamia and Aidan say in unison. Enlil points at me and they look over. Aidan takes one look at my expression and begins laughing.

“The look of shock on your face is priceless, Kallan!” He says, as he continues laughing. Enlil elbows him in the gut. Aidan stopped immediately. He glares and growls at Enlil. Enlil only smiles proudly. Lamia and Terra roll their eyes. This is probably normal and they’ve gotten used to it by now.

“You wanted to train me on my powers?” It comes out more as a question than a statement for some weird reason.

“Yes, we did. By the order of the Mother Goddess, the queen of all life,” Terra says.

I nod.

“Okay, so, who's teaching me first?” I ask.

“Lamia sweetheart??” Aidan says.

Lamia rolls her eyes and laughs. Aidan looks at her dreamily.

“You’re his brother. You go first,” she says.

They keep going back and forth before Terra states that she’ll do it.

“I don’t understand,” I start. “How are you a Fire Elemental Fairy Guardian person thing?”

Aidan shrugs.

“I was chosen at birth,” he tells me.

I thought back to the prophecy:

The first will become a warrior of light

It was talking about Aidan. Fire not only brings warmth, it brings light. So it makes sense that Aidan is the Fire Element Guardian, especially since his personality reflects the warmth and light that fire gives, and shows the burning ferocity of a warrior, bravely defending his kingdom.

“Is Adair still asleep?” Aidan asks, even though he knows the answer.

“Yes. But his color is coming back. He’s improving,” I inform him. “Why are you asking? You and Lamia know this.”

“Yeah, but these two don’t,” he says, pointing to Enlil and Terra. Terra sighs.

“I don’t want him to go,” Terra states, dreamily. I have suspicions that she likes him.

We all look at her. She blushes.

“Anyway,” Enlil starts, “Terra, why don’t you start training him since you volunteered?”

Terra nods.

“Come, Kallan,” she says. She starts flying. I fly after her.

After what feels like forever, we land in a forest filled with all sorts of plants and trees, but they are dying.

“What happened here?” I ask.

“The power of Raiden. It grows stronger by the minute and his reach grows farther,” Terra explains. “We fear the worst…”

I nod in agreement. It’s a popular theory among us now that he’s trying to revive and free the Spirit of Darkness because it makes so much sense. But what could he possibly gain from it? What is there to gain from freeing the very source of evil in Fae? We really need some sort of divine intervention to prevent this from happening.

“What do you want me to do?” I ask.

“Concentrate on what you want to create,” she explains. “Then use your magic to create it.”

I close my eyes and concentrate on trying to make a tree sapling. I feel a warm energy forming my hands and I direct it to the ground. When I open my eyes, a small oak tree sapling is rooted in front of me. I smile.

“Good job!” Terra says, applauding me. I blush. She makes me practice a little more on forming small bushes and shrubs, trying to get used to the feel of my power. Then she makes me sit down and meditate.

“You’re looking a little tired. Why don’t we meditate for a bit? It could also help you tap into your powers more.”

I sit down cross legged and close my eyes.

“Focus your mind. Feel the energy of life inside of you. Let it flow.”

I clear my mind. I eventually tune out the world. The only thing I feel is the warmth of the sun and the cool breeze. But then I feel something else, something different and more… divine. I see visions of the natural world. I can hear the voice of nature calling my name. I feel the very essence of life inside of me. The feeling is amazing. The divine feeling keeps growing inside of me, until it consumes me. I feel it in every fiber of my being, deep within my heart and soul. I keep seeing visions of nature and it’s power flowing through me. The voices of nature are asking me to heal, help, and protect them. The trees whisper ancient wisdom, telling me secrets that no other person knows, like the real name of the Mother Goddess. They tell me of Excalibur’s power and role in sealing the Spirit of Darkness away, before being put in the stone to be wielded by Arthur. They tell me of how the elves and pixies vanished.

Apparently, the Spirit of Darkness, in a last ditch effort to take over Fae, used his immense power to put both the pixies and elves in a deep slumber while he proceeded to obliterate their kingdoms. He was turned to stone by the powers of both life and death combined, and sealed within a deep cave within the ruined land. However the damage was done, the Barren Lands were formed and the Mother Goddess, named Valley, was too weak to use her powers to reverse the effects. And by the time she regained strength, it couldn't be undone due to his power still lingering. The most she could do was contain it and prevent it from spreading.

The bushes and flowers give me encouraging words. Telling me that I can defeat Raiden and prevent the Spirit of Darkness from returning. They say that I will be able to bring back the pixies and elves from ruin and restore the Barren Lands to its former lushness. I don't know how that will be possible given the circumstances. The Mother Goddess couldn’t even reverse it, so how can I?

I hear every voice at once and somehow I’m able to comprehend it all.

I eventually open my eyes and feel both at ease and powerful.

“Ready to continue?” Terra asks me. I nod.

I make more plants in the area. I’m eventually forming large bushes and full grown trees. I’m even bringing dead plants back to life. Eventually, I bring the entire area back to life. I feel so proud. It gives me a sense of hope, a feeling that I didn’t know I lacked until this point. I can tell that the trees and plants are thanking me for healing them. I turn to Terra and she smiles.

“I think we're done for the day,” she says.

“Wait, seriously?” I ask, “that's it?”

“It's sunset Kallan,” she says simply.

She brings up a good point. It's hard to grow plants when there is no sunlight. Not only that but who knows what lurks at night. So, we fly back to the temple.

Terra reveals a secret that is quite surprising to me. But it did confirm a suspicion I had earlier.

“Please don't think weirdly of me, but, I have a huge crush on Adair,” she says.

I think about Terra and Adair having a wedding and eventually having children. The thought makes me rather uncomfortable at first. But the more I think about it, the more I like it and it begins to grow on me. Adair and Terra being together as husband and wife. A small smile creeps onto my face.

I don't even know if Adair is even looking for a girlfriend. He's usually so absorbed into his studies to really pay attention to anything related to romance and girls. He heals people but that's about all he ever pays attention to regarding other people outside of family and castle staff. Out of the three of us, Adair is the most mature, even though he's the middle child. Aidan is the oldest and I'm the smallest, destined to save Fae and Earth from Raiden’s murderous hands.

The very thought of that pure evil bastard pisses me off. I hate him. Someone like him needs to be stopped for good before he can free the Spirit of Darkness and cause Fae to fall into ruin.

Terra began to speak to me again, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Do you think it's weird?” she asks.

“What? No not at all!” I reply with a smile, “I find it to be pretty cute actually. You two would make a pretty good couple.”

Her face lights up instantly.

“You really think so?” she asks me excitedly.

I nod with a smile in response.

She sighs dreamily, most likely thinking about Adair and dreaming of the wedding she wants to have with him. What am I talking about, she is dreaming about him. I laugh silently.

When we arrive back at the temple, the first thing I see is Aidan and Lamia kissing profusely. Enlil is off to the side, away from the makeout session.

“Couldn't keep them apart for long could you?” Terra said.

Lamia and Aidan stop. Their faces turn as red as Aidan's wings.

“Well, uh, how- how- how did everything go?” Aidan asks, smiling, pretty embarrassed.

“He's a fast learner,” Terra reports. “I was quite surprised.”

Aidan walked up to me and pulled me in a side hug and pinched my cheek.

“That's my baby brother for you! A really fast learner!” He lets my cheek go and he stops hugging me.

“I'm not a baby! I'm 17!” I retort, brushing myself off.

“Yeah, I'm thirty. So you're still my little baby brother. Adair would agree.”

I groaned.

“He's 27,” I gripe, annoyed.

“Actually he's 28 now. His birthday was last week,” Aidan told me.

I didn't know that. To be honest, I never really knew when his birthday was. He never really talks about celebrations and I don't think he ever told me when his birthday was even though I’ve known him for basically my entire life. Or maybe he did and I just forgot or wasn't paying attention. Some brother I am geez.

I shrug.

Aidan and I flew home.

On the way home, we talked about Terra.

“Hey Kal,” Aidan started, “did you know that Terra has a humongous crush on Adair?”

“Yeah,” I replied, “she told me.”

“Did you also know that everyone knows about it?” he said.

“How?”

“It is literally the worst kept secret in the history of Fae. Adair knows about the crush too,” he explains. “However, she doesn't know that Adair knows.”

I start laughing.

“What does he think about it?” I ask.

“He doesn't really mind. But he does get annoyed by it sometimes.”

“Is she a stalker?” I asked.

Aidan burst out laughing.

“No, actually,” Aidan starts, “Adair actually visits her sometimes to discuss healing remedies and stuff along that line.” He suddenly gets really excited, “I have to tell you something.”

We stopped flying for a bit. I leaned in, curious about what he wanted to tell me.

“Adair has a huge crush on her, too!” He said, “Terra doesn’t know about his crush on her, neither does anyone else. Just us two.”

A goofy smile crawls on my face and we start laughing again. Then we continue flying back to the castle.

***************

Raiden flies into the barren lands and up to a large cave on the side of a hill. He winds his way through the tunnels of the cave being able to see perfectly in the darkness. In the end he sees a dim light leading to a large corridor with ornately decorated stone doors. He opens the doors and walks in. At the end of the room there is an ornate throne, made of stone. In it is a wispy, shadowy figure of a person with glowing purple eyes. Behind the throne, on an altar, is the stature of a person, the Spirit of Darkness, encased in his tomb of stone, awaiting freedom to wreak havoc and destroy Fae.

“I apologise for the delay, my liege,” Raiden starts, kneeling in front of the shadowy figure on the throne. “I ran into some trouble while I was leaving.”

“Define that,” the shadow says in a cold, dark voice.

“Hametsu has returned,” Raiden starts.

“I see,” the figure says, narrowing his eyes. “I take it your duel plan was a failure?”

“Not entirely,” raiden says, looking up a little bit. “The fool Oberon is currently on his deathbed. He should die within the week. And when he does, the savoir Kallan will be crowned king.”

“The boy is pathetically inexperienced. But he should not be underestimated. After all, he harbos the power to defeat me for good. You must be careful Raiden,” the shadow says. “He could easily kill you.”

“I am aware, oh great one,'' Raiden says, bowing his head.

“Good. Now then, about that pendant. I assume you came up with something to get it from him?”

“I humbly ask for your assistance for that, my great master,” Raiden says. “The boy is smart for his age. Some of my spies and my best assassin were captured by him with relative ease.”

The shadow is not impressed; he glares at Raiden. Raiden feels his master’s glare and grows nervous, fearing punishment. The shadow sighes.

“Looks like I also underestimated him,” he mumbles. “But, I do have a plan to get the pendant from him while causing vast amounts of pain and suffering.”

“What must I do?” Raiden asks, looking up.

The shadow gives a sadistic grin and laughs slightly.

“”I’m glad you asked. Now then, listen carefully.”

As the shadow tells Raiden his plan, a grin grows on Raiden’s face. The more he listened, the wider and crueller the grin became.

“Do you understand?” the shadow asks Raiden.

“Perfectly, my lord.”

“Then go, and do not fail me.” the shadow orders.

Raiden gets up and leaves the room, closing the doors behind him. The shadow smiles a cruel grin.

“This will be entertaining.”