Snippet 1: The Time Wielder, The Eye #1
"Are you afraid, my child?”
The quiet question sent a chill down Ella’s spine. Ignoring it, she stared straight ahead as Saion continued to circle her, feeling his gaze on her. She calmed down her rapid heartbeat before shaking her head, in response. “No.” Her answer was simple, as she desperately attempted to forgo any emotion.
“Do you lie?” He stopped walking, taking a place behind her.
“No.”
A humorless laugh left the man, if she could even call him that. Ella felt ill prepared for this trial. Of course, Athos had informed her of what was to come, but this was nothing like in training. This man hardly seemed to lack the kindness that the books described of the entities.
“Then why do I think you a teller of untruths?” he asked.
“Because I’m sure most people who visit you are.”
“How so?”
“They truly are afraid of you.”
“But, you’re not?” There was no surprise or anger in his voice. He was asking her a genuine question.
“I see you differently.”
“And, why is that?”
One of her hands lightly clenched at her side. The small movement had him swiftly moving in front of her at the speed of light as he stared into her eyes. He appeared different than he did when she first entered the Zorin Cavern. Instead of the dark hair and green eyes, Saion had switched it to blonde hair and brown eyes. Another face that he had stolen from someone who thought they were powerful enough to face him without fear.
“Because the only thing to fear is fear, itself.” It’s a mantra that has been installed in Ella’s head as soon as she was born. She’d believed it all her life, and that wouldn’t change now.
“Is that what Athos has taught you?”
“No,” she answered. “My mother.”
“Ah, your mother always was incredibly optimistic. It’s what brought about her early demise.”
Hearing his words makes Ella frown a bit before she quickly wiped the expression from her face. She knew better than to show her true feelings. Thoughts began to circle through her mind, piles of questions, yet she knew that she didn’t have time for them all. “You knew my mother?”
“Everyone knew her, whether it be by her mortal name, Cleo, or her keeper name, Vyana.”
“What happened to her?”
“My child, that is not the reason you sought me out, is it?”
Ella knew that he was right. Athos had not sent her here so that she could dig further into her mother’s untimely disappearance. But, she couldn’t shake the fact that she thought he knew what happened to her, that Saion could tell her every detail. But, he wouldn’t. She didn’t need to ask him to know the truth. He knew why she was here. “And do you believe it?”
“Believe what?”
“That there’s nothing to fear in this world?”
“There are many things to fear.” Saion contradicted her, as he began to walk again, pushing his cloak out of his way. Her words sparked an interest in him, something to think about. “Fear is an instinctive emotion. It’s what keeps mortals out of trouble. But, mortals aren’t the only ones to feel it.”
“The underworlders do as well?”
“Hm,” he answered.
“And the entities?”
“Everything in the world has something to be afraid of.”
“What is your fear?”
“Do you have means to use it against me?”
Ella shook her head. She was shocked by his words. The entities are supposed to be all powerful and mighty. None of the books or scrolls that she read revealed any possible fears that they might have. And why would they fear something anyway? What could hurt them? Her eyes widened with curiosity.
“You’re deviated from your task, once more.”
She was surprised from just how often her mind would wander to other things once she was within his vicinity. But she wasn’t mad at herself. There was little that Saion didn’t know, and she couldn’t help but to want to gain a bit of that knowledge for herself. Still, she’d have to return for another chat when there wasn’t as much weight on her shoulders. “You’re right.”
“What did you come for, my child?”
“The Eye of Evermore Sight.”
“And you think you are worthy of such a thing?”
His question wasn’t degrading, nor was he stating a stance. Just as everything he’d asked until then, it was genuine. Saion just wanted an answer. She swallowed. “I think that I was chosen,” she stated, pushing her shoulders back. “And I believe there’s reason for that even if I don’t know that reason.”
“So, you consider honest that you were justly chosen?”
“Everyone has a destiny.”
“Another teaching?”
“Yes.”
Saion nodded. “Even if you are deserving, who says that the world is?”
Hiding the confusion she felt, Ella stared at him as he glided past her. Several thoughts swirled in her mind although she didn’t voice them. “To play devil’s advocate, who says that it isn’t?” she asked him, her voice strong.
“I do.”
His cold answer made her heart drop, as he walked away from her eyesight. If he didn’t believe that the world was worthy then he wouldn’t give her the artifact. If Ella was unable to get the artifact then her trial would be for nothing. She wouldn’t be able to continue. She would have failed not only herself, but the entire purpose. She couldn’t let that happen.
“Then, why do I think you a teller of untruths?” she asked, using the words he’d told her earlier.
He chuckled. “Because as an Egrite, you believe what you want to believe instead of what is in front of you. The same is with Higrites. It’s a flaw you all possess.”
“I disagree,” she told him. “You care about the mortal world. You don’t want to see it corrupted.”
“This is not a question of what I want, but what all Methulans deserve. They have launched themselves into this chaos. They have doomed themselves and their world.”
“But, it’s not all mortals,” she argued. “Most are good, but the actions of the evil few seem to outweigh those of the rest. Will you punish all for a crime that only a few committed?”
“It is not I who inflicts the punishing. It is the doing of the mortals themselves,” replied the entity, changing complexion once more into a translucent green. “Such terms, good, evil, are in the eye of the beholder, self-imposed beliefs. I ask yet again, how does someone who has not experienced its true nature and makes such fallacious remarks pretend they can wield the power of the Eye?”
Ella chose to remain silent. She sensed Saion’s rhetorical question. Athos had warned her of the tricks entities played. Causing doubt, they would manage to sneak into one’s subconscious and take over. Losing control, disorientation would follow and fear would soon kick in. The entity would then take over and the forsaken soul would abandon its owner and increase the repertoire of transformation of the entity and its power.
“You are not ready,” Saion eventually concluded. “The banyan has not borne its fruit.”
As eerily as he emerged he vanished into the chromital wall of the cave, leaving Ella’s gaze piercing through the darkness in the lilac flicker of the crystal bracelet on her wrist.
“Dammit! I thought I had it,” she muttered to herself with frustration. And what was that about the banyan fruit? She traced back her conversation with Saion to find clues that would reveal where she had missed the mark. Was it the dialectical back and forth with the entity? Her own ego? Her desperate attempt to forgo emotion and mask fear which left her inflexible?
She was not ready, he concluded. What most annoyed her was that he was right. She had lied. She knew she did not feel any tug. She knew within herself that without it she would be unable to wield the power of the Eye of Evermore Sight. Without it, her mother’s spirit would remain trapped.
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