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Eyes of Amber: Atelo's Past |
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In retrospect, I got a little carried away with this one (compared to Kaelia's, that is). sweatdrop Once I started, it just started to flow, and I really got into it!
But regardless of Yumi's mind-explosion, Element Children, please read. ^^
~*.................................................*~ Atelo. Was he dreaming again? The little three-year-old was too young to even ask that question. In his naïve eyes, everything was a waking dream, indiscernible from reality. Where am I? Where’s Mama? Don’t be afraid, Fire-spirit Atelo. What? Afraid? I’m not afraid of anything! In his slumber, Atelo’s little hand squeezed and his small brow furrowed as that strange, sweet longing overtook him. We’re all waiting for you, Fire-Child. Come. Come and meet with us. We have work to do. But watch out. There’s someone trying to hurt you. Hmph! No one is gonna hurt me! Suddenly, before the boy’s dreaming eyes appeared a great inky blot that came rushing towards him, swifter than a diving falcon. He barely had time to gasp before it was upon him. Nooo! Though Atelo kicked and thrashed, the shadowy thing overwhelmed him, filling his eyes and ears and mouth and nose until there was nothing but the darkness, the great shadow. He could make something out through the black. Someone was walking towards him, laughing, but the laugh made Atelo’s blood run cold. It was a woman, with crimson eyes and silver hair. “Kill him.” “Ahhhhh! Ahhh! Ahhhhh!” “Atelo! Atelo-chan, wake up!” The child suddenly jerked awake, his eyes snapping open to focus on his mother’s pale face leaning over him. Adele’s long, unbound crimson hair spilled forward around him like a warm curtain, protecting and comforting him. “Mama!” the little boy cried, sobbing. He reached up for his mother, and she wrapped her arms around his small frame, rocking the child back and forth. She stroked his equally as vibrant shock of burgundy hair gently, whispering to him comfortingly. “Shhh, shhh, Atelo-chan.” They sat like that for many minutes until Atelo’s sobs died down, but even as he clung to his mother, she began to cough violently. Great, rasping coughs that shook her thin frame and drew even more pallid color from her cheeks. “Mama, you okay? You still coughing lots and lots.” “I’m all right, Atelo-chan. Thank you. Now, what was wrong? This is the third night in a row you’ve woken up screaming. Is it the same bad dream?” Atelo recalled his horrible nightmare and shuddered, nodding. “Bad dream. Bad, bad.” Atelo’s mother frowned for a moment before her features softened, smoothing her beloved son’s hair back from his forehead. “It’s not real, Atelo-chan. Everything’s all right. I’m here, my little baby, and everything’s all right.” Atelo nodded, eyes beginning to grow heavy again with sleep. He reclined back into his bed and let his mother bring the blanket up to his chin. “Mama…someone’s calling me. I’m…supposed to…go somewhere and…meet someone.” The woman was quiet. She looked at his sleepy face and let out a breath that would’ve been a sigh on any other woman and smiled tenderly. “My little Atelo…whatever your fate is, you must obey it. I love you, no matter how far away you will go.” She watched her son fall asleep again, his little eyelashes fluttering closed, and began to cough again, but even the sound didn’t wake the boy up. He’d grown used to it in these past three weeks.
Kerash! “Atelo Staynos! That’s the last time you break my pots, little rascal! This time I’m going to take you to your mother for a good and proper beating!” The little boy just laughed and ran, as fast as his little legs could carry him, away from the old woman whose planting pot he’d broken for the fourth time with his thimble ball. The old woman shook her hands in his direction but couldn’t make pursuit. “Not at the speed the little scamp is going,” muttered the elderly woman, and shook her head angrily. The red-headed child skipped down the road, bouncing the thimble ball up and down merrily. It was hard to believe that he was the same boy he’d been last night, shivering and crying with fright. In the daylight, he was Atelo Staynos, Adele Staynos’ tiny, mischievous, hotheaded imp of the Hotaru region in the large town of Western Lantern. “Hey, Ate’o-chan! You broke ol’ Akati’s pots ‘gain, didn’t ya?” Atelo turned to see four-year-old Niyo, a bright-eyed, chestnut-haired little girl who was his partner in crime. The boy beamed proudly. “I did!” “Your mama isn’t gonna be happy! Hey, is Adele still sick?” Atelo sobered significantly, the grin wiped right off his face, and nodded gravely. “The doctor who came three days ago didn’t help?” “Nuh uh.” “That’s bad,” Niyo said bluntly, but when she saw the sad gleam begin to creep into Atelo’s eyes, she shook her head. “Aww…don’ worry. She gonna be fine. Now, let’s go!” Atelo blinked, and then he began to smile again. “Yes! Let’s go play, Niyo-nee-chan!” “Hang on a sec. Before we play today, there’s something weird I wanna show you.” “Weird?” Atelo contemplated this with wide eyes. “Yeah, show me!” “Come on.” Atelo bobbed behind Niyo, dodging the current of adults who floated past without even glancing at the two small children. He looked up at the sky as he walked. It was almost noon. He’d have to go back to his mother soon. She’d be getting worried, even though all the town’s children, from three to teenagers, all ran around the town without the worry of their parents. His mother was really quite protective of him, more so than any other parent. “Here we are!” Niyo turned and grinned at Atelo. “What is this? The Fireplace Inn isn’t weird!” Atelo said accusingly. “Lackwit! What’s weird is inside! Come on, come on!” They walked in the shadow of a returning guest of the inn, and no one paid them any more mind than they had outside. This wasn’t to say that if they made nuisances of themselves, they wouldn’t be kicked out. “Follow me,” hissed Niyo, and Atelo obeyed. They were going towards the pub section of the inn, and the boy balked. “Hey, wait, Niyo-nee-chan, we not allowed in there!” “We won’t go inside. Just take a look! They were there a few minutes ago!” “Who?” “The shiny-haired people!” A chill ran down Atelo’s spine, but he wasn’t familiar with this emotion. It was fear. He ignored it and kept going, making his feet move by planting them forward a little at a time. Niyo positioned the two just behind a curtain where they could see without being seen, and poked her head around the great red folds while Atelo waited. “There! There they are! They keep talking to all these people, but—” Niyo giggled, “—no one wants to talk to them! Take a peek!” Atelo hesitated, but Niyo gave him a curious look and he reluctantly gave in. He stuck his head out of their hiding spot and scanned the room with his amber eyes. Instantly, his gaze landed on them. He’d never seen anything like them.. They were so much more… thorny. He couldn’t describe it. A tall, burly man and a willowy, shimmery woman. They didn’t fit in the room in the least, even aside from their foreign clothes. Even if they had had the latest Western Lantern fashions, there was no disguising their faces. They were beautiful, in a terrible, cruel way. Their hair was, indeed, shiny, but the female’s gleamed a brilliant platinum while the male’s was more of a wisp of smoke that curled on his head. Their skin was pasty, as if they hadn’t set foot in the daylight before. Their features were sharp and feral, and he noted their eyes had a slight reddish tinge to them as they darted about. It was apparent that they were looking for something. They didn’t just ask people, though; they subtly grabbed them and blocked their ways out. But it was also obvious they’d been doing this for awhile, and were at a dead end, judging from the frustration on their faces. They looked restless, like a pair of starved wolves caged, pacing and itching to draw blood. “Don’t they look like human leeches right out of a scary story?” giggled Niyo, obviously fascinated by the terrible strangers. “You know, the ones that have fangs and suck blood and all. Maybe that’s why they don’t go out during the day, because they’d burn right up in the light!” “How d’ya know they don’t go out?” Atelo asked, feeling more and more frightened by the minute. “I heard the inn keeper saying how strange they were. He said they stayed inside in the day and went out on the town all night.” Atelo apparently couldn’t hide the dread he felt from appearing on his face, for Niyo took a look at him and went, “Whatsa matter with you?” “N-nothing,” stammered the boy, and stood. “I’ma go home. Mama’s gonna be lookin’ around for me, I know. See you later, Niyo-nee-chan.” “Bye, Atelo-chan,” Niyo waved, but she didn’t follow him out. Instead, she stayed behind the curtain. A part of Atelo wanted to reach for her and drag her out after him, but she was too big, and he knew her well enough to know that if she wanted to stay, she would stay. Atelo let her be, but there was a gnawing sensation in the pit of his stomach that ached with the thought that he’d never see her again.
“How was your morning, Atelo-chan?” Cough, cough. “It was good, Mama. You should eat s’more. You always make me eat lots when I get sick.” “Oh, no, Atelo-chan. You go ahead and finish the soup. You’re a growing boy, and you need it more than I do.” A frown, and then obedience. “Well…all right.” A pause, and a scraping of wooden utensils against wooden bowl. “What’s the news on the town, Atelo-chan?” It was their daily ritual. Even before his mother had gotten sick, Atelo had always run off to play in the morning. He’d always been so proud to report back to his mother all the things he’d seen. However, today, he hung back, picking at his soup carefully, but, as always, he obeyed his mother. Adele was the only one he obeyed, in truth. “Ah, not that great. Niyo-nee-chan showed me something weird.” “Oh yes? What was it?” “These…these scary people.” “Scary people? How do you mean, Atelo-chan?” She was frowning herself, now. She looked tense, even through her tiredness. Cough, cough. “Have some more, tea, Mama. It always helps my coughs.” “Yes, yes, Atelo-chan. Thank you. But please tell Mama who these scary people were.” “Weird scary people.” “Atelo.” His mother’s tone had something strange in it, an urgency he’d never heard before. Atelo looked up, and his mother’s gaze tore into him. “They…they had…silver hair.” A sharp inhalation. Atelo’s mother stood so abruptly that her chair toppled over. “Mama? What’s wrong?” “Atelo-chan. Pack your things. We’re going.” “Going where, Mama?” His mother forced a smile, and her long red hair hung in front of her face, shielding her rather than him this time. “On a trip. Come on, we’ve got to hurry.”
“Mama! We’re going too fast!” gasped Atelo an hour later. He didn’t understand his mother in the least. It was obvious that when he’d told her of the terrible silver-haired people, she’d gone mad. They’d thrown together their scant belongings and fled the hut as quickly as Adele could move. They’d even borrowed Ybzo’s horse, though they hadn’t even asked him. She coughed now, pulling her son closer to her as she urged the beautiful steed into a canter. “Nevermind that, Atelo-chan. Just hang on. We’ve got to cover as much ground as we can, all right?” “Why?” “Well, to get to where we’re going, of course. It’s just that we’ve got to get to the place before nightfall. It’s very important.” “Why?” “You ask too many questions, scamp. Just sit tight.” They were heading for the Hawksong Mountains. Atelo could see very plainly the great twin peaks of the mountains as they rushed along in the woods as fast as the horse could carry them. He hugged the bundle of their effects close as tree branches whipped past, when suddenly, he felt the same, strange, tugging longing in his heart. “Who’s calling for me?” Atelo asked aloud. His mother heard, and smiled faintly. “It’s your siblings, Atelo.” “What, Mama?” But she wasn’t truly speaking to him anymore. She held the reins firmly in her right hand while she grasped for the past visions she’d had of her son with the left. “I dreamed about you, when you were conceived. A Fire boy, that’s what I was going to have. And it’s true, you’ve got the Gift. All you need is the right moment to have it bloom. You’ve got the other three, too, of course. I… I told Utelo all this, but…he didn’t understand. I just pray that that’s not why he left us…” Atelo was quiet, tired of asking why and what and how. All he wanted was to sleep, and so, somehow, even on the rocky canter of the chestnut horse, he was lulled to his dreams.
There he is. How happy! I just hope that he will be safe.
Wisps of the wind wafted past him, smiling. The earth underneath his feet seemed to guide his steps. The droplets of water on the plants around him winked in the sunshine.
Something in him answered, something that wasn’t 100% Atelo Staynos. Something ancient, beautiful, and white-hot. I come, siblings.
“Hreeee!” Atelo jerked back to the present as the horse reared, its forelegs churning the air frantically. His mother said a bad word he’d only heard from the most rough of travelers and somehow managed to keep both herself and Atelo from falling off. Something was in front of the horse, frightening the beast. Adele pulled Atelo off and slid down after him. The horse, riderless, turned and galloped away as if there was a great bear in front of them. But all Atelo could see was a gleam of silver hair. His legs, wobbly from the long and hard ride, promptly collapsed underneath him. He sat there for a heart’s beat before shakily standing like a newborn fawn. The mother doe stood in front of her young one protectively, drawing a pouch from the saddle that Atelo hadn’t seen. “Foolish wench. Do us a favor and stand still. It will be just as effective in preventing your death,” the silver-haired woman said, smiling pleasantly. Atelo shuddered as her pearly teeth suddenly sharpened into rows of dagger-like teeth. “A Shifter, neh? I am not concerned.” Adele’s features didn’t change for a moment. Her face was impassive, cold and serene as a frozen lake. “What chance does an unGifted idiot like yourself have against the two of us?” inquired the man, his face equally as still as Adele’s. “I have more skills than you will know,” the woman said, smoothing auburn locks behind her ears. “Heh.” Atelo barely had time to hear the woman’s chuckle before she was upon Adele. Atelo whirled to see her long white fingers wrapped around his mother’s neck like small boas, squeezing mercilessly. Surprisingly, Adele didn’t even blink. Her hand was on the woman’s own neck.
“M-mama!” Adele didn’t answer. She merely peeled the woman’s fingers off calmly and stepped away with ease. The woman collapsed. “Tye!” The man was by his partner’s side in a heartbeat, kneeling over the woman’s prone figure carefully. His hands ran over her corpse with the utmost precision, and at last, his eyes narrowed as he stood slowly. He threw the poisoned needle that had been in the woman’s neck at Atelo, but Adele was too quick and jerked her son out of the way. “So, you are what you say. Tye rushed in too quickly, without thinking. It was always her weak point, and now, she pays for it.” “Hmm. And you will not, Shadow man?” “Nay. I will not. You will find me much more difficult to kill, seeing as how you are the one who will die, as will your son.” “Trite words.” Adele reached into her pouch with one hand, but as she made this move, there was suddenly a great shadowy blob that came racing along the ground like black smoke. Atelo screamed and fell back, shaking all over. It was the creature from his dreams! Quick as lightning, Adele threw needles at the thing. They flashed silver as they flew directly into the darkness, sticking out of its black “skin”, but the creature was undeterred. It was unstoppable, and it was surging forward towards them, a grim, demonic head forming. It stopped in front of them, and opened its mouth with a screech that almost made their ears bleed. Atelo scrambled back, kicking with his feet until he was behind his mother. “Mamaaaaaaa!” Adele scooped up her son and leapt backwards. Atelo squeezed his eyes shut, but not fast enough to miss the creature’s face turn from satisfyingly victorious to puzzled. He cracked an eye open, but Adele was moving them again. She leapt with all of her might and landed with Atelo behind a boulder. Blam! The creature exploded in a dazzling light works blast, the needles having glowed once and then detonated. Atelo sat in his mother’s arms, shivering, paralyzed with terror. Adele’s breath was coming in fast, short pants, and her coughing was beginning to return. She pressed her sleeve against her mouth and hacked. “So.” The man’s voice was deathly low. Atelo cringed in fear. “You come armed with His weapons. I see. When I was sent on this assassination mission, I was told it would be a simple civilian kill. The murder of an unGifted woman and a boy child. Effortless. “Alas, it is obvious that I was lied to. Be aware, though, that you may have petrified my Shadow-wielding, you have not frozen me. My talents do not lie only in my Gift.” Adele controlled her coughing and peeped around the boulder. But the Shadower’s talking had all be a distraction. The Shadow-wielder had been moving. The woman’s eyes scanned the forest quickly, but not quickly enough. A shadow moved in front of them. “Ahhh!” “MAMA!” The shadow had been the man. And now, his long, dark blade had driven right through Adele’s stomach. Her long crimson hair spilled forward like the dark red liquid that was dripping forth from her wound. Atelo stared, horrified, and began to cry and grab at his mother desperately. His mother stared at the Shadower, her eyes beginning to dim. “Don’t.” “You really are something. Here you thought that you could defeat a highly-trained assassin, an agent of the Great Lady of Darkness, all by your unGifted self. And now you think that by simply telling me not to, I will spare your son. You know as well as I do that he is one of Them. His death is necessary to mighty Exaltäe.” The man looked down on her, and there was a hint of respect in his eyes. “However, you did make a valiant effort. Well fought, Adele Staynos. I will remember you. A rare thing for my victims.” “No.” Adele was struggling now, her eyes rolling back. She gripped the steel with both her hands, panting and coughing weakly. “No. You cannot have him. He belongs to the Unseen One.” A fire was beginning to burn in the woman’s eyes. “Your Unseen One is a myth, little Adele,” the man said pityingly, and began to drive the sword deeper. Adele groaned and gripped the weapon harder, blood beginning to ooze from the self-incurred cuts on her hands. “You cannot have him!” The silver-haired man smirked and slammed the sword all the way to the hilt, and stepped back to enjoy the spectacle. Something happened then. Something that Atelo would never fully understand, especially not as he sat there sobbing. But his mother…she did not die as she should have from her wounds. Instead, her eyes began to burn even brighter, and she screamed. “Unseen One, I have served Your will. Now, please, give me the strength to help my son!” There was a dim glowing on Adele’s hands, and then… She stood. She ripped the sword from her abdomen, and the wound sewed itself together tightly as if it had never been. Atelo stared. The assassin stared. What goes on? “Hyyyaaaaagh!” Too stunned to react, the assassin only barely managed to stumble away from the needles thrown at him. Two grazed him, on his leg and on his arm, and he fell, the paralyzing effects taking place. Adele stood there, breathing hard. Atelo’s stare hadn’t left his mother, not for an instant, and he thought in that moment that she looked like a goddess of war, her long russet hair cascading around her face like a bloody halo, her stone expression, and the Shadower’s sword in her hand with her own blood dripping from the tip. She had never been so beautiful to him. “Mama?” he breathed. “Look away, Atelo-chan,” she said softly, and advanced towards the Shadower, brandishing his weapon in her hands. Atelo obeyed, and hid his eyes with his trembling hands. He never saw what had become of the silver-haired man. Never did he care to know.
His mother’s arms were warm around him once more. Atelo felt bone-weary, but he didn’t know if he’d ever be able to sleep again. Not with so many terrible images haunting his eyes. All he could think of was the embrace he rested in. His mother’s pale arms…they would never be so innocent and gentle to him again. Not when they had killed two people. Atelo closed his eyes and pressed his face into his mother’s shoulder and hair as he clung to her, breathing in her warm, sweet scent. It didn’t matter to him. Adele had become strong, and she’d done it all for him. “Here we are, Atelo-chan.” Atelo’s eyes peeled open. They were in a glade. He thought he heard voices up ahead, but he wasn’t quite sure if it was his imagination. He couldn’t escape the sudden longing that swept through him, however, along with those voices that whispered in his ear. You made it. How glad we are. Yes. Yes, I am here. “Mama?” Atelo’s query was curious. How had she known where to bring him? Who were these…beings…that spoke to him? What was going to happen next. Adele crouched and untangled herself from Atelo’s grasp. She faced him, eye-to-eye, and there was a solemn look in her eyes that Atelo hadn’t seen before. It was serious, and yet so heartwrenchingly sad that he almost started to cry again. “Atelo, my dear heart. This is the threshold, Atelo-chan. This is your journey now.” Her hands were shaking as they pressed him to her one last time. Her body was shaking again, but this time it wasn’t from the coughs. “Atelo, sweetling, you must be brave, understand? Whatever happens, my heart will be with you, and so will the Unseen One. Don’t forget this, understand?” Atelo was confused. It was almost as if she was saying goodbye. But this was impossible. His mother was always with him. Why would it change now? Something wet fell onto his hair. “I love you, Atelo-chan. So much. Keep going, no matter what.” “I love you, too, Mama.” The sense of urgent longing began to stir within him once more, distracting Atelo from his mother’s strange antics. She noted this and pulled away. “Go, Atelo…Atelo-kun. You are a big boy now. Go shock and awe the world, my Child. My beautiful Element Child.” Atelo looked at Adele, her oval, pale face and amber eyes that mirrored his own, her long red hair, her love. She slowly turned him away from her and gave him a little push. “Go, sweetie.” “But…you’ll be right behind me, right, Mama?” “That’s right, dear heart. I’m right behind you. But don’t turn around, all right? Never turn around.” One last obedience. Atelo stepped forward slowly, and then eagerly. He was going, towards his destiny. Somewhere he realized that he could not hear his mother’s footsteps, but at the time, it didn’t matter. For in a few moments, he saw a shock of bright blue hair, a mismatched pair of eyes, and a flash of gold and green. And he knew he was home.
It was only when he met Aneh’ta that he thought of his mother again.
Yumi_Kotoba · Sun Dec 09, 2007 @ 04:35am · 0 Comments |
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