Skye Silver & The Soul of Fire Vol.1

“Why would you let him keep the money?” Benign said angrily. “He’s not a man of his word.”

“He got us a lot further than we would have been right now and he only kicked us out because of fear not because he was just being rude. If a God destroyed your planet you’d probably try to stay away from them and their children as well.” Kitai explained.

“Well, I guess if you put it that way.” Benign mumbled. “You could have let him keep one and not all three.”

“Yes, I could have” Kitai agreed. “but now because of me a family gets to eat and I’m happy with that.”

Benign groaned in disappointment. I was actually thoroughly inspired by the kind act Kitai had put on. He was a true example of What a Demi-God or a God should be: Strong, kind, thoughtful, generous and protective of his own. Not to mention Kitai was right. Johnathan had every right to kick us out of his car and he did offer the money back. He meant no harm he was merely full of fear.

Anyway, The sun was now rising behind the mountains behind us beaming its first rays into our backs as we marched forward to the border. Kitai tested me on all the new moves he had taught me to be sure I was proficient as we walked the shoreline once again. I knew he didn’t want me to worry but I could see the nervousness in his eyes. Not fear of fighting but fear of uncertainty. He didn’t know who, when or where but he knew we would have to fight again.

After Kitai tested me on several moves he decided that he should for the last time run ahead to scope the view. He described the border between Rogue Land and the Cave Region as always dangerous because the Cave Region had the most banished Demi-Gods.

“With this border, we can never be too sure.” He said as he ran full speed ahead.

“So you’re almost home,” Benign said.

“Yea, I can’t wait,” I responded.

“Now you’re not going to be holed up in the Royal Cave never to be seen again are you?” He asked.

“No” I laughed. “Why would I do that?”

“Well, I heard all of the Royalty on Astral live like Gods.” He explained. “So you might not want to see me again seeing as how you’ll be getting fed grapes and being fanned with giant leaves.” He laughed.

“Oh come on is that really what it’s like?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” He said “I’ve never been in any of the Royal Family homes. I’ve heard nice things though.”

“Well, when I move in ill send you an invite.” I smiled.

“You would do that for me?” He blushed.

“Yea why not. You’re my 3rd friend from Astral and Kitai and Ms. Cruise have both been inside so why not you?”

“You’re pretty amazing.” He said smiling

This entire trip his Hollywood smile never got old. From the beginning of the trip right down to when I rubbed the cream on his legs. I was like a blushing fangirl in America and he was like Chris Brown, Need I say more?

“You know I never got to really thank you for what you did for me back there with the cream,” Benign said as he cut his eyes at me to see if I was looking at him then proceeded to blush while looking at the ground. “I really did appreciate it in a non-creepy but thanks for saving my legs kind of way. Like if you gave me CPR after I was drowning kind of way.”

I began laughing and I pushed him lightly as he giggled along with me and subsequently grabbed my arm lightly turning me to face him.

“Hey, no seriously I appreciate it.” He said it looking me directly in my pupils and lightly grasping my arm. “No ones ever done anything that nice for me in my life besides Ms. Cruise and Kitai taking me in.”

His normally bright smile was now a stern look. I could tell he wanted me to know how much he appreciated it and that he was sincere.

“Hey don’t worry about it.” I smiled. “I would do that for you 1000 times over.”

He showed his Hollywood smile again and turned forward as we continued walking.

“So do you idolize any of the Gods?” I asked to clear the awkward silence and hopefully learn more about the Gods in general.

“Hmmm, no ones ever asked me that before,” he responded.

“Well, which God do you think is the coolest?” I asked.

“Of all that I know, I would have to say Shamen!” he replied.

“Shamen?” I asked confused as I had not heard of him yet.

I would have looked in the book of Maverick Mythology and read every word by now. However, I feared the Gods possibly watching us now and punishing us for reading all of their stories. So I decided to continue learning as I went on our journey through word of mouth.

“Yea, Shamen.” He continued. “The second born child of the Gods only after your father. Shamen is the God of Trickery and Cleverness. Lucky he isn’t evil like Fugaze no offense.”

“None taken.” I smiled to show him it was ok to tell his story how he felt it and not to sugarcoat it.

“He is a master of tricks and deception like a magician but on a God’s level.” Benign continued. “Rumor has it he’s the only God or being for that matter that can trick Senary The God of Wisdom.”

“Is that why you like him because he’s the only one who can outsmart your teacher’s father?” I asked smiling sarcastically.

“No, that’s not it at all.” He laughed. “I just think the power to be able to trick and deceive anyone is pretty dope. Tricking someone can really come in handy in the middle of a fight especially if you’re a master at doing it already.”

“So its the art of deception that peaks his interest?” I asked.

“I guess you could say that.” He smirked.

“So what if I told you I was deceiving you right now.”

“What do you mean?” He still smirked but now his face was clearly confused.

I leaned closer to him until our faces were inches apart. I closed my eyes but only to make my deception look real and make him truly believe what I was about to do was real. When I could feel the air from his nose touch my face from heavy breathing of nervousness I opened my eyes to see his eyes completely shut as he was leaning forward to make his lips meet mines. However, he was thoroughly embarrassed after standing there with his eyes closed and lips perked for a few seconds before opening his eyes to realize that I had tiptoed away and was now a short distance away from him walking backward and laughing. When he snapped out of his trance and noticed He rushed to catch up with me smiling and laughing.

“That’s not right.” He said.

“But its what you like,” I responded with a smirk.

“I like your style, Skye Silver.”

“And I like you… I mean I like being with you… I mean…”

Lucky for me I saw what looked like Kitai coming back into our view.

“Oh hey look there’s Kitai!” I said as I ran in his direction and away from the ball of emotion I had just become.

Benign gave me butterflies there was no other way around it. I could play tough and act like I wasn’t interested but deep down I knew and now he knew. I had just gone from ball in my court to Benign scoring all within the span of seconds. I was simply unable to keep it together around him no matter how hard I tried eventually I would blush or flirt or something to give away how I felt about him.

As I got closer to who I thought was Kitai the figure changed. It wasn’t Kitai that I had spotted in the distance. As a matter of fact, I had no idea who the man was. He was tall and had a dark skin tone. Also, he had waves in his hair and the water droplet on his forehead. His eyes were actually blue and dead set on me. I stopped in my tracks when I noticed it wasn’t Kitai. I turned back to face Benign and he had begun running in my direction.

He was running faster than I had ever seen him run almost as fast as Kitai when he ran ahead of us. The air behind him was visible and the sand below his feet was rising as if a rocket was flying over the sand. I turned back around quickly to understand why Benign had begun running at this speed. Just as I completely turned to again face the Demi-God from the islands that stood in the small distance there was what looked like a long water spear flying in my direction.

The water spear transformed into ice as it gained distance towards me. Before I could think I used my X shield. The head of the spear pierced the shield, however, The entire spear melted simultaneously. I dropped my X and Benign made it to my side.

Benign and I both now in a Mexican standoff with this New Demi-God and Kitai still hadn’t returned. I wondered how Kitai had walked right past him or if he had seen him at all. We were on the shoreline after all, there was only water and sand in the distance so it would be easy to spot a person. Nonetheless, Kitai had yet to return and it was up to Benign and I.

“Who are you!” Benign exclaimed. “What do you want?”

He shifted his eyes from me to Benign. “I am Osiris Rain, Rogue Demi-God of The Islands!” He replied.

All this time I was so worried about another Demi-God from the Desert Region approaching us I hadn’t realized that we were close to some of the islands as well.

“So what do you want!” Benign yelled.

“Well not you,” he responded.” Launching another of his water spears at Benign.

Benign dodged it with ease and they both stared each other down like they had just started what would become a long rivalry. Both squinting their eyes like Clint Eastwood in the movies. Benign then ran towards me and Osiris scanned the surface watching him.

As Benign was running to me he made a notion of expression in his face that I somehow understood. When He got close enough I swung my arm towards Osiris releasing a blast of flames. Osiris Launched a huge shield of water from the nearby ocean, however, just as my fire and his water were about to collide Benign came blowing my fire making it larger and more ferocious. I could see the slight panic in Osiris face just as the flames covered my view.

The flames quickly blew through the water shield essentially burning Osiris to a crisp, or so we thought…

As the flames calmed we could see Osiris spinning in a full circle faster than any ballerina or dancer you’ve ever seen. There was a visible ball of air around him that was swallowing the fire and extinguishing it.

It was at that moment Benign and I both knew we were not going up against just any Demi-God.

“That was impressive,” Osiris said.

“You haven’t seen anything yet!” Benign shot back.

I’m not sure what possessed him to say that considering we haven’t seen much from him either except that he can manipulate water as well as air. However, I was sure he was just showing confidence and I did the same focusing my prana to my clenched fist revealing the flames.

Benign burst into a sprint toward Osiris. He always wanted to test his opponent in hand to hand combat before getting into the Natural Resource Manipulation part of the fight. He had explained to me earlier how a lot of Demi-Gods relied solely on their powers rather than actually training on the basics of fighting. If he could beat them in hand to hand it would be easy to defeat them.

The two clashed and made what looked like a bubble of air that grew large and simultaneously burst. Osiris was proficient in his hand to hand combat as the two went blow for blow for a few seconds before Benign came flying out of the clash near the ocean water. He was slow to stand and clearly hurt. Benign initiated the conflict but had lost the first battle.

Osiris was not like the villains in the movies. He wasted no time explaining his evil plan or gloating on the downed opponent. He walked up to Benign and lifted his hands revealing the large hands in the ocean similar to what Kitai had done. He then made the motion like that of squeezing a water bottle in your hands and the water arms rushed from the ocean wrapping Benign like an anaconda. They then snatched him off his feet and pulled him back into the ocean. Without thinking in a panic I ran to the ocean and dove in after Benign.

Now completely submerged I could see Benign fighting to free himself but the hands were still holding him. I swam to where the hands were holding him attempting to free him to no avail. There was nothing to attack, it was like the entire ocean was simply holding him under.

I looked him in his eyes and could see hope fading from them. His eyes were red and he tried to crack a smirk underwater at me. A water bubble came out of his mouth showing that he could not hold his breath for much longer with the water pressure from Osiris squeezing him like he was 40 meters down. His smirk faded and he closed his eyes.

With my heart racing faster than it ever has and my adrenaline through the roof, I swam back to the surface to see Osiris still standing in the same position with his hands still clenched. I swam back to the shore as fast as I could and the moment I reached the shoreline and my hands were out of the water I raised both of my arms firing a massive fireball out of each hand. They seemed to make a curve as they traveled, however, they still landed directly where my eyes were set on Osiris.

When he noticed the first fireball he released his clench to use a sort of circular shield like Captain America but it was made of water. Just when the first fireball in front of him was extinguished the second made contact and he dropped his shield stumbling over. When he fell over I could see who I was sure was Kitai this time running full speed ahead in our direction.

I knew he would fight Osiris once he was in the distance so I sprinted back to the water and dove in again. However this time I only swam about 10 meters down before I was being pulled backward. I came flying out of the water with what looked like a water rope lasso tightened around my ankles. I could see Osiris controlling the rope from the shorelines as he launched my body sky high.

Finally, Kitai was in attack distance and began throwing multiple fireballs. Osiris released his hold on me when he heard Kitai approaching. I fell from the sky and crashed into the water. The impact was so fierce I went into shock for a moment. My eyes were wide open but I was motionless and sinking. When I came back to I instantly began swimming downward. Osiris had dropped me near where he pulled Benign in. I swam down about 15 meters before I could see Benign’s lifeless corpse slowly sinking. I swam to him as fast I could threw his arm around my shoulder and began swimming to the top.

I felt like it was the longest swim I had ever done. I was slowly losing my breath and felt the water pressure on my chest tightening. Under the beautiful blue ocean was dark and seemed endless. Benign’s weight didn’t help the already difficult rescue mission but I was determined.

Finally, I reached the top and the first breath I took made me feel like I had been suffocating for days. I began swimming to the shore where I could see Kitai battling with Osiris. The fight must have been intense because they were much further than we were originally and were and still battling.

When I reached the sand I immediately began doing CPR on Benign. I had never done it before but I paid attention in health courses and saw it done in movies a lot so I took my chances. Initially, there was no response from him. He laid there with his eyes closed as I pushed on his chest and pinched his nose while trying to breathe life back into his body. My tears now ran down my face with the water from my hair. I couldn’t hold the tears back as I continued pressing on his chest when all of a sudden water came busting out of his mouth.

He began coughing and I turned him on his side to allow the water to fully leave his lungs. He was gasping for air as I patted his back lightly.

“What happened?” He asked.

I fell over onto my rear with relief.

“Looks like I got that kiss after all” He smiled.

I giggled a little and tossed a little sand at him.

“Ok,” Benign said as we both stood up. “Where is this water head?”

I pointed to Osiris and Kitai battling in the distance and we began rushing to his aid. When we neared them we were both surprised to realize they were actually fighting on water and not sand. They both had the Water Manipulation power and could walk on water.

In the midst of the exchange, Kitai landed a thunderous kick to Osiris ribs so powerful the contact burned his shirt and sent him skimming across the water back to the land where we were. I thought of a trapping move Kitai had taught me on our journey where I Could use my fingers alone to create a circular fire cage around someone. Just as Osiris body hit the shore and slid past us, I slammed the inside of my palms together with my arms in front of me in Osiris direction. As the strings of fire appeared out of my fingertips I touched them together with my palms creating an igloo shape with my hands. Subsequently, fire came shooting out of the sand around Osiris forming a ball of raging fire trapping him inside.

Osiris stood to his feet and dusted the sand off of himself as he gazed at the trap he was in. Kitai rushed from the water to our side and we all approached the trap that held Osiris.

He was attempting to focus his prana so he could use water from his hands to extinguish the trap. However, the fire surrounding him was far too hot for him to conjure up any liquid from inside the trap.

“Who sent you?” Kitai exclaimed.

“No one sent me you fool.” He scowled back at Kitai.

“Well then what do you want with us?” Benign asked.

“I already told you” Osiris looked at Benign with a chilling stare only a killer could have. “Not you!” He yelled as he threw both of his hands up and slammed them down as fast as he could.

I could hear the sound of water approaching from behind us like we were standing with our backs to a hurricane. I turned to gauge what was a 10-foot wave coming swiftly in our direction. We all dodged the wave but it was only a move by Osiris to extinguish the trap from the outside.

With the cage of fire extinguished Osiris was now floating above where he had just stood on what seemed to be a cloud. Kitai ran for a small stretch and jumped in the air blasting fire out of his hands and feet flying directly towards Osiris. The two clashed in mid-air and were battling it out in what seemed to be an evenly matched hand to hand combat fight.

After waiting for too long and watching them fight above Benign came up with an idea. He figured if he used his Power of Air Manipulation to launch me into the air I could hit Osiris with a powerful attack with the element of surprise.

We followed under the two for a moment until finally they had seemed to pause for an intermission and began talking to each other. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but I was sure it wasn’t over and so was Benign. We positioned ourselves behind Osiris as the two continued their conversation in the sky.

“Fly with your arms to your side” Benign instructed. “Don’t do your move until you’re within striking range or he will hear you before you make it.”

“I got it,” I assured him.

“Now go back and get a head start.” He said.

I ran about 25 meters in the opposite direction and then turned to face him. I held a thumbs up to signal if he was ready. I hoped Kitai would also see from his view and hold him there long enough for me to reach. Benign clasped his fingers together at about knee level. His left leg in front of the right he was in stance and ready. I ran to him and without even feeling my foot actually touch his hands, his arms flew upward and I was soaring like a bullet through the skies.

I was flying so quickly I could hardly keep my eyes open and I could see visible wind around me beginning at my head and ending near my things. I kept my arms down as I promised Benign until I was in a striking distance. I was sure Kitai saw me flying in their direction by now but they were still not moving.

When I was within striking distance I focused all of my Prana directly to my right hand and threw my fist ahead of my body. The flame on my fist was so intense I was sure I looked like a rocket flying at an angle.

Devastatingly, Osiris flew upward in the nick of time leaving Kitai directly in my path. By the time Kitai could process that Osiris had dodged the move and look back down to see where I was there was a fist full of flames burying into his chest.

Kitai and I both flew into the nearby water which luckily the impact brought Kitai back to consciousness. He snapped out of his shock only a few feet underwater and we both swam back to the top. When we reached the surface Benign had a tornado coming from his hands that he was using trying to pull Osiris out of the sky. Kitai was too hurt to fight from the punch that had surely fractured some bones.

“Stay here!” I said. “I’m going to help Benign

He nodded in approval as he held his wound that was a branded imprint of my fist slowly healing.

I rushed over to Benign throwing fireballs ahead of me at Osiris. Now on alert for sneak attacks, he easily threw them off course with his wind Manipulation. However, it took his focus enough for Benign’s tornado to get a stronger hold of his cloud and pull him down further. When I reached where Benign was I began throwing fireballs into the tornado from the bottom. Osiris being the clever Demi-God he was made the cloud he was flying on rain through the tornado putting out the fires just before they could reach him.

“You have to try something else,” Benign said as he struggled to maintain the tornado holding Osiris.

I had learned moves but not many for a flying opponent. I rushed from Benign’s side to get a different angle at Osiris and try a different move. However, when he noticed me peering at him he formed two long water spears in his hands that reached past his feet and touched the cloud he levitated slightly over. The two spears both froze into ice before my eyes and Osiris began spinning. The cloud beneath him vanished and he began spinning full speed below directly into Benign.

“Benign Look out!” I yelled.

Benign swung his arms from the upward position down in the opposite direction of where Kitai laid. Releasing the tornado from his hands and essentially throwing Osiris across the sand.

Benign and I ran over to Osiris who was clearly hurt from the blunt landing on the sand and I again trapped him inside the cage of fire. Only this time Benign assisted with a trap of his own. By using his Wind manipulation he was able to push the cage of fire hosting Osiris further away from the water that he used last time to break free.

“He can use water near him,” He explained. “but not when it’s this far away in a heated cage like this.”

“Great so what should we do with him?” I asked.

“I say let’s just take him out,” Benign answered with a stern look. “There’s no place in the world for a guy like him besides planet mercury under your fathers ruling.”

Osiris looked at me confused. “You’re the daughter of Fugaze!” he asked in an aggressively curious manner.

“Yes, I am,” I shot back. “I wonder what my father would think of you trying to kill his daughter.”

“Please” Osiris pleaded. “Forgive me, I had no idea you were a descendant of the Gods!”

You could tell his fear was genuine. I had never met my father and had no clue if he remembered me or not but simply being the descendant of a God is enough to make other Demi-Gods and superhumans shake in their boots.

“Let’s leave him, he’s pathetic.” Benign said as he turned to walk towards Kitai.

I turned to looked at him one last time.

“Please don’t leave me out here like this ill die.” He said.

“You should’ve thought of that before you tried to kill us,” I replied.

“I understand I was wrong and I am truly sorry. I have been in Rogue Land for so many years the sight of someone that could get me out… I just lost it.” He pleaded.

“What were you going to do after you killed me? I asked. “Kill my mother to take her seat on the throne.”

He was speechless which told me everything I needed to know. I turned to walk away from him when just as I took a few steps away I could hear a plastic bottle crackling behind me. I turned to face Osiris who had taken a bottle of water out of what must have been hiding in his pants the entire time.

The moment he opened the bottle of water what should have been merely 20 ounces burst out of the bottle as gallons of water extinguishing the cage from the inside. He charged at me full speed while growing one of his water spears in his hand. I immediately threw up my X shield and his spear pierced through just touching my nose before completely melting.

I’m not sure what came over me at that moment but I grabbed Osiris by his forearms with full confidence and with what I’m sure was a fire in my eyes. He gazed into my eyes and began screaming aloud as if his insides were melting. I could feel the Soul of Fire raging stronger than it ever had inside of me. I kept holding him and staring him in the eyes until my hands burned through his sleeves and into his skin. Finally, his screaming came to a halt and his head slouched over. I released his arms and his corpse collapsed in front of me.

I took a deep breath and suddenly the fire had calmed. I turned to see Kitai and Benign standing behind me flabbergasted by what they just saw. Who was I to blame them when I wasn’t even sure what I had just done. Well, thank the Gods for great friends who take your sanity with your insanity.

“Whew, glad I’m not the one she’s interested in,” Kitai said giggling.

Benign just blushed in his manly way pushing Kitai to the side. “Shut up.”

“What do you say we go home now?” Kitai suggested.

“I think that would be a great idea,” I agreed.

“Hey, Kitai you might want to put some of Cameron’s cream on that print Skye gave you,” Benign joked.

“Let me know how it goes when she sets your hair on fire in your first argument,” Kitai struck back.

“Guys I’m right here!” I interfered.

We all had what was a much-needed laugh after our last encounter and continued on our journey up against the shoreline.