Skye Silver & The Soul of Fire Vol.1

It was clear by now that the border to the Cave Region was not nearly as far away as it had been before. I was able to see more Caves and more defined details about the caves, now more than ever. Approaching the Cave region almost looked similar to what the Mountains would look like if we were walking in the opposite direction only instead of Mountains they were all Caves. I could see the Volcano clearly now which must have been covered by the clouds when we first arrived in Astral or I may have seen it from the mountains at the beginning of our journey.

I was becoming overwhelmed with joy as we neared the Cave Region. The entire journey across Astral was a struggle and lessons well learned. At the beginning of the trip I was taking hours just to burn a few leaves in my hand and now I was powerful enough to trap a Demi-God in a cage and essentially fry his insides. Kitai expressed how much progress I had made in so little time and was thoroughly impressed. Benign and I continued to grow closer to one another in the distance we traveled. However, we were all still curious as to what had happened with Osiris and I. Kitai & Benign had never seen anything like it and they had been on Astral for years.

Benign always being one to ask the tough questions first that everybody wants the answer to once again asked the tough question.

“So what was that?” Benign asked. “Was it the Soul of Fire?”

“I’m not sure,” I responded.

“I’ve never seen anything like it that’s for sure,” Kitai added. “The power was God-like.”

“Yea, your hair turned into burning flames!” Benign blurted.

“What?” I yelped in shock. “What do you mean?”

“You didn’t notice?” Kitai asked confused.

“No of course not,” I replied. “What happened?”

“Well I’m not sure if it was the Soul of Fire that made an appearance or the power of your father Fugaze coursing through your veins but there was a much stronger vibe coming from you. It was like your strength had tripled itself instantly” He explained. “Your hair turned to fire and I’m quite sure there were flames slowly leaving your eyes when you turned to face us.”

“It was pretty dope,” Benign said smiling.

“Thanks,” I replied smiling. “But I have no idea what it was.”

“Were you thinking of anything when it happened?” Kitai asked.

“I can’t recall anything,” I answered. “I just remember him charging at me and grabbing his arms. Everything else is kind of a blur.”

“Well, that might be for the best because that was scary.” Benign joked. “There was like a barrier of fire around you two! I’ve never seen so much prana be used for one move in my life.”

“The best part is that it somehow didn’t drain you completely.” Kitai added, “I thought you would fall unconscious after that move for sure.”

“Well, I am exhausted,” I replied. “I can feel that now.”

“I bet!” Benign blurted.

“Lucky for you the border to the Cave Region is not very far now,” Kitai explained.

“I can’t wait!” I responded.

We were walking for about another hour or two before the exhaustion really kicked in. I could feel my eyelids getting heavier. My legs were burning and it wasn’t the Soul of Fire. I was sure that I was walking slower than we had been previously. Even though I could see the caves near I was so tired it was simply a hallucination most of the time. I sounded like the boy who cried wolf every time I thought we were meters away. At one point Benign even played along to boost my morality. It was clear, I had gone from excitement to exhaustion and Benign thought it’d be nice to cheer me up even if for a moment.

“Is that…?” I said. “No, I must be hallucinating again.”

“Not this time!” Benign said excitedly.

“What! Seriously?” I responded.

“Yea,” He said smiling. “The border to the caves is just ahead.”

I was so filled with glee that before they could say anything I began sprinting to the border. I was running fast, faster than I ever had. I was finally running fast enough to make the sand rise under my feet like other Demi-Gods. I ran faster as the view drew closer and more vivid.

However, the view that was so close seemed to be moving further back again. I kept running but instead of with excitement it was nervousness that fueled me. I was scared I couldn’t make it and I feared for the worst if I didn’t make it. As the view gained more distance away from me I began to lose confidence and slow down when I could hear Kitai and Benign racing to catch up to where I was.

“Hey, I was just kidding!” Benign yelled ahead as they both laughed at me. “I didn’t think you would run off, and that fast.”

“That’s not funny!” I exclaimed. “I’m really tired we haven’t seen a town for miles and its so dark.”

“I’m sorry” Benign smirked. “You just looked like you could use a good laugh. Or run.” He continued laughing.

I couldn’t be angry with him because it would take too much energy that I didn’t have. Plus Benign was right, his little joke gave me enough energy to not only run and cover more distance faster but enough to run as fast as the Other Demi-Gods and cover a lot more distance.

“Actually its great that he did that,” Kitai said.

He had walked ahead of us and was staring ahead.

“What makes you say that?” I asked as we walked to where he was.

He pointed directly in front of himself. “That is the real Cave Region less than a mile ahead.”

I looked forward and I could tell this time it was real. The front of it looked like a giant wall stretching from the shoreline to as far as the eye could see. There was one opening in the wall as a clear entryway into the Cave Region.

“Don’t mess with me,” I said with a stern look.

Kitai smiled at me. “Skye Silver you are almost home.”

I smiled as bright as I could. I would have run again but I didn’t have enough prana to run with super speed nor enough base energy to run normally. I released a huge sigh of relief and we began walking towards the entryway.

About 10 minutes later we were within close range of the Cave region. We could see two men that seemed to be guards standing at the entryway. The wall was tall like the Great Wall of China but not nearly as smoothly built. Instead, it mirrored that of the side of a mountain.

We approached the entryway and both of the guards that were previously at ease stood to attention. They wore matching black garments with red fire emblems on them. Also, the flame emblem on their forehead had what seemed like opened doors on the sides of it. They held spears as tall as they stood and they were no short men.

When we finally made it to the entryway about 10 meters away the Two guards leaned their spears in direction of each other.

“Halt who goes there!” One of the guards yelled.

“It is I Kitai Cruise of the Caves!” Kitai responded. “Accompanied by Benign Star and Skye Silver.”

There was a silence for a moment. You could hear the wind blowing and water from the ocean brushing up on the shoreline as well as crashing against the Cave Regions walls. The night sky was full of stars as the Cave Region gave off little light allowing for the skies to be illuminated.

“You may enter!” The guard shouted.

The two guards both shot back to attention in sync with their spears pointing to the sky. We began walking into the entryway and my stomach began turning flips. I was so nervous I couldn’t speak, just follow behind Kitai as we entered my new home.

Finally, inside the Cave Region, I was stunned to see the first town we entered nearly in ruins. It looked like some of the lawless towns in Rogue Land with few cars like near the desert region. Most of the buildings were made from a bunch of random stones sealed together like an old well. There were people sitting on the street very obviously homeless and struggling. I couldn’t stand the sight of what I was seeing. We were on a land Full of Demi-Gods and people from other planets yet they still had similar problems to humans in America.

“What happened here?” I asked. “It looks no different than some cities in America.”

“Its one of the towns the that were overthrown by The Guerrillas,” Kitai answered. “They take control of the town and tax people to live here. When some of them can’t afford to stay they are forced into the streets out of their own homes. They could move to another district and set up shop but the people here love their district and are to stubborn to leave.”

“What! Why doesn’t my mom banish them?” I inquired.

“Because them is half the population of the Caves,” Benign answered. “There would be no manpower to fight for the caves if another region attacked.”

“Half the population!” I exclaimed. “but how?”

“Well as you know, not everyone in the Region was happy about your mother the lover to Fugaze, who was the reason we are all here being Queen. So the Region was practically split in two with half being loyal to the queen and the other half creating their own loyalties.” Kitai explained.

“So does that mean half the population wants to kill me?” I asked.

I always had a knack for asking straight to the point questions. They force direct answers that are hard to sugarcoat, like being asked a yes or no question and answering with “maybe” or “I don’t know.” It gives away the answer almost every time. However, Kitai was usually bluntly honest about everything with me and this was no different.

“I’m sure they would love to but,” Kitai said as I swallowed my saliva in anticipation for what he would say next. “they wouldn’t attempt to fight you for the same reason they wouldn’t fight the queen. They fear how powerful you may be.”

“And after what we just saw you do to Osiris I’d say their fear is in the right place.” Benign joked.

“You have nothing to worry about Skye,” Kitai assured me.

Kitai suggested that we stop and sleep in the town for the night because the Royal Cave was across the Region and we had already been traveling through the night on the last of our energy. We agreed to rest for a few hours to regain our strength, energy, and prana for the final stretch to the Royal Cave where my mother was.

We stopped in front of a small mom and pop restaurant that was 3 floors tall but skinny like the ones in Japan. The restaurant looked closed but Kitai insisted that we go in. When we entered there was a bar to the left with a brick stove behind it. The bar reached halfway through the restaurant. The back of the restaurant were tables set for guest. I could see the restroom door in the very back of the room as well as a stairwell not far from it.

The restroom looked closed on the inside as well with the exception of the dimmed lights being on.

“Are you sure we should be here?” Benign asked.

“Give me a second,” Kitai said.

Just as he spoke a small girl with long curly black hair and beautiful brown skin peeked from behind the bar. She was around 4 years old and held a small teddy bear in her hands. Her eyes were brown and full of life. When she smiled it was such a genuine and innocent smile it could make you smile no matter how bad of a day it’s been.

“Kitai!” She yelled running towards us as fast as she could with her bear in hand swinging along.

She was so small her footsteps hardly made any noise as she ran across the unpolished hardwood floor. She wore a small short sleeved dress that reached down to just above her feet exposing her unicorn slippers.

“Hey, Milan!” Kitai said as he kneeled down opening his arms to invite her for a hug.

She dove into his arms like best friends that hadn’t seen each other in years. She hugged him tightly like she never wanted to let go of him. He was practically pulling her off of him so he could see her face to face and talk to her.

“Milan, these are my friends Benign and Skye,” Kitai said.

“Hi!” She said smiling full of energy and joy “I like your skin, it’s like the Queens and one day I’m going to be a Queen too.”

“And you will be a great one,” I responded with a smile of my own.

“Milan where is your father?” Kitai asked as he stood back to his feet.

“He’s in his office I can go get him,” she said as she began running past the tables in the dining area of the restaurant in the direction of the stairs.

“Who is she?” I asked as she disappeared into the stairwell.

“She’s a friend of mines daughter. He owns this place.” Kitai answered.

“Well, I hope they have some food cooking upstairs. I’m starving.” Benign said.

“I’m hoping he’ll allow us to stay here for the night. No Guerrillas will come near this shop.”

“Why not?” I asked.

Surely there had to be a logical explanation as to why The Guerrillas would take over an entire town and skip certain places.

“Because of him,” Kitai said turning away from us and back towards the stairwell lifting a water shield in the process.

A fireball came flying from the stairwell hitting Kitai’s shield before extinguishing. Then there were about ten small rocks that came from all corners of the room in our direction. Kitai threw his arms in front of him blasting a fire so intense that the rocks simply crumbled to ash on the tables below them before they could reach us. Suddenly a sink behind the bar near us began spraying water on us like we were standing under a fountain.

“Gotcha!” a man yelled from the stairwell laughing.

Kitai began laughing as well and walked to meet him in the middle of the dining area. Benign and I stood behind both confused and wet from the water sprinkling that had now stopped.

“My man Steven!” Kitai said as they came in for a hug patting each other on the back.

“Where the hell have you been?” Steven asked smiling. “Its been nearly a year since you came to this part of town.”

“I’m actually traveling through with some friends and we kind of need a place to stay,” Kitai answered. “Just for a few hours.”

“Well, any friend of your is any friend of mines.” He said, “Let’s meet them.”

They began walking over to Benign and I. Steven was just a mere few inches taller than Kitai and wore a bandanna as well. His hair was a small afro with a scruffy beard to compliment it. He was the same brown complexion as Milan and she obviously shared several of his facial features. He had a small gap between his front teeth as did she.

“Guys this is Steven a friend of mines since my teenage years.” Kitai introduced. “This is Benign and…”

“Skye Silver!” he answered before Kitai could finish reaching his hand for a shake. “Honor to meet you, young princess.”

“Likewise,” I said as I shook his hand and he moved his hand over to shake Benign’s as well.

“Steven here is actually a master of 3 elements already and he got them one by one. That’s why no Demi-God will ever bother him.” Kitai explained.

“Yup only one out the group so far!” He gloated.

“Only because of my mission to protect Skye,” Kitai responded. “I’ll have it soon enough.”

“But until then, who’s top dawg?” Steven asked.

“You got it,” Kitai said laughing.

“Ok so bad news and good news,” Steven said.

“Give me the bad first.” Kitai implied.

“I have rooms” Steven answered.

“Well, that’s great what could possibly be the good news.” Benign entered.

“Just kidding that was the good news.” Steven laughed. “The bad news is that I only have two vacant at the moment. So I don’t know if you guys want to rock paper scissors for a bed or something.”

“Hey, we appreciate it” Kitai said. “We’ll take them and figure it out.”

“Alright I’ll go fetch the room keys,” he said as he turned to walk back to the stairwell.

“Do you fight all your friends when you see them?” I asked.

“Actually yes, Kitai replied. “If there is a sneak attack on me but it is harmless I can be sure that it is a friend and not a foe. Also, it keeps my friends and I all extremely vigilant to our surroundings.”

“It works,” Benign assured me. “When you first start he’ll catch you every time. But over time you will be more vigilant and his sneaky attacks won’t be so sneaky anymore as well any other sneak attack. You’ll always be on your toes.”

It actually made total sense. It was a tactic that made sure they were on guard at all times no matter what friend or foe.

We waited a short moment before Steven returned with the keys.

“Now the bigger room is on the third floor and it comes with a King Size bed,” He explained. “The smaller is on the second floor and has a Queen Size in it.”

“Great thanks again, bro! we’ll be out of your hair in the morning.” Kitai replied.

“Hey, as long as you need a room you have one here brother,” Steven said smiling. “Now excuse me while I go make sure my daughter isn’t playing with fire trying to find her powers.”

Steven walked back up the stairs and faded into the darkness.

“Ok so Benign & I will take the bigger room and you can take the smaller room.” Kitai offered.

“No way!” I said smiling. “You heard the house rules rock paper scissors.”

“You’re joking,” Kitai said as I raised out my fist.

“His words not mines.” I replied.

Kitai took a deep sigh but you could tell he was not angry. Before he could agree Benign had accepted the challenge and taken his chance.

“Best of 3!” Benign interfered.

“You got it,” I replied.

He raised his fist up to mines and we stared each other in the eyes both with a sinister smirk. Kitai stood aside genuinely interested in the outcome and of course, a little nervousness showing but hardly any. Kitai was good at concealing his fear or nervousness. He always said if they see you panic, they know they have the advantage but if you never panic they will never know how down you are until you die. Nonetheless, I could see the slight worry of sharing the smaller bed lingering through his dark brown eyes.

“Rock, Paper, Scissors Shoot!”

We both threw our hands to the center mines revealing paper and Benign holding scissors. He mimicked cutting my hand as a quick victory celebration. I could see the relief in Kitai as his shoulders slightly slouched down.

“Rock, Paper, Scissors Shoot!”

Again we launched our hands to the center. I chose to go the paper route back to back and Benign switched to the rock. I balled his hand in mines and looked at Kitai as his nervousness flooded back into his eyes.

Rock, Paper, Scissors Shoot!”

Our hands hit the center again and I again chose paper and Benign chose paper as well. I could hear Kitai’s acute exhale of relief and I saw Milan coming down the stairs. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and gazed over at me smiling. I winked at her and smiled back as we went once more.

Rock, Paper, Scissors Shoot!

Benign held out his two fingers expecting to surely beat what he thought would be paper. Only to realize that I finally switched and had chosen Rock this time. I slammed my fist on his two fingers and smiled at Milan as she giggled at the outcome. Benign wallowed in defeat and Kitai covered his face in shame.

He handed me the key to the larger room and I headed for the stairs giving Milan a high 5 as I entered the stairwell and faded into the darkness.

When I finally reached the third floor and opened the door from the stairwell there was a long hallway. There wasn’t much art on the walls but there were pictures of Demi-Gods that had been there or that knew Steven I assumed. Some of the pictures were a canvass of an old battle or war and some were simply signed portraits.

I reached my room and opened the door to see the massive king size bed calling my name. For a moment I felt bad that Kitai and Benign would share the smaller room however the moment I made contact with the mattress that guilt sailed away. I was so tired I didn’t remove any of my clothes or shoes. I knew Kitai had not set a time for us to awake but I assumed he would set the wake-up call again. I had just enough strength to walk across the room and climb in the bed which is precisely what I did.

Mere hours later there was an extremely loud bell sounding off that nearly scared me out of bed. The sound was as loud as a train horn in America. I was sure if we were close enough to it the vibrations from the impact could probably rattle the building.

I rolled out of bed holding my ears and walked up to the window. When I peered outside I could see people running. Some were running into houses and some were running too far down the street to know where they were heading. Confused and frightened and rushed to the front door opening it to reveal Kitai and Benign just approaching my room.

“We have to go!” Kitai said.

“Whats going on?” I asked as I swiftly followed them down the hall to the stairwell. “Whats that loud bell sound?”

“Every district in every region has a bell to ring that alerts the town of intruders,” Benign explained.

“Intruders like The Guerrillas?” I asked.

“Yes, but not in this town. Its someone worse,” Kitai said.

“What can be worse than someone taking over the entire town?” I asked.

“Someone taking over the entire Region,” Kitai responded.

We rushed down the stairs to the first floor where we found Steven and his daughter behind the bar. They were watching people run past their shop through the front window. We walked over to where they were and began looking out as well.

“I haven’t seen people this scared since the 1st battle between The Guerrillas and The Cave Region Forces in the center of the Cave Region,” Steven said.

“Yea, whoever it is they are clearly a force to be reckoned with and the people of the town know it.” Kitai agreed.

“Who do you think it is? I asked.

“I’m not sure” Steven responded. “but you guys better be careful while traveling through the region today, they could be anywhere.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Kitai asked. “We could use some people like you in or near the Royal Cave, not on the outskirts of the region.”

“As tempting as that sounds and as much as I would like to accompany you guys in your travels I can’t risk taking my daughter out there right now,” Steven responded. “Besides who would run the shop if I left.” He smiled.

The bell finally came to halt and there were no more people running through the streets. Steven suggested we stay for a while to ensure the intruder was no longer in the district we were in before we left. We agreed and he prepared a meal for us while we waited.

I could smell the scent of pizza before he even opened the oven door. I didn’t think I would see any pizza on the Land of Astral but I guess some things are simply too good to not be universal. He explained how he had traveled all over the world trying new foods and pizza was simply his favorite food of them all which is why he brought it to the small district in Astral.

The pizza he brought over to us was huge like a Chicago Style Deep Dish. His daughter Milan sat next to me smiling with excitement as he neared the table and placed the pizza in the center of it. There was steam bursting out of the hot pizza as Steven cut slices through it.

The pizza was so fresh the moment he attempted to pull a slice out to place on Milan’s plate the cheese stretched like when breaking mozzarella sticks in half. Milan giggled at the sight of the stretching cheese.

After he gave a plate to Milan we all went in order of the way we were sitting starting with me and ending with Steven pulling our own slices. The pizza tasted as good as it looked coming out of the brick oven. With the perfect amount of sauce, cheese and meat I always thought the Deep Dish pizza would be too much but Steven had proven me wrong. It was one of the best tasting pizzas I ever had in my life. The moment I bit into it I questioned why deep dish pizza was not just as popular as the thin sliced pizza.

“Wow, This is amazing!” I complimented the chef.

“Thank you,” He responded “Its actually our most popular pizza and the name of the shop.”

“It’s called Astralian Gods Pizza?” I asked as that was the name of the shop.

“Well, Astralian Gods Deep Dish because we have the thin version as well. and only Demi-Gods of Astral can actually finish eating it.”

“I believe it,” I responded.

The pizza wasn’t just a deep dish. It was wide and rectangle it looked like it could feed a family of 10 comfortably. The pizza was so large it could only fit on certain tables in the restaurant.

“Where did you get your inspiration?” Benign asked curiously. He was always thinking about where he would travel in the future.

“None other than Chicago, Illinois!” He laughed. “They’re famous for it so I learned from the best of course. Only I have the ingredients that only a Demi-God of the plains or Islands would be able to grow and them, not so much.”

“See I told you guys.” Benign said to Kitai & I. “America is famous for all the cool stuff.”

“Oh of course,” Steven agreed. “but with the good will always come bad.”

“Couldn’t be more truthful than that in America.” I thought to myself. “Just compare the 44th President to the 45th.” I shivered just thinking of that analogy.

We sat and ate for a while until the town had seemed to come back to life as the intruder was no longer in the area. However, it was time to continue and hopefully finish our journey. We all thanked Steven and said our goodbyes. Milan wanted to hug all of us one by one before we left out the door and of course, we were happy to.

When I kneeled down to hug her she whispered in my ear.

“Hey, will you ever be coming back?” she whispered.

A tear nearly fell out of my eye as she hugged me tighter like she had done Kitai when we first arrived. I was touched by how innocent and sweet she was but devastated that she had to grow up in this type of environment. My heart yearned for her.

“You bet I will,” I replied.

I released my hug and she did the same. Then she smiled at me and handed me her teddy bear. I looked at Steven and he nodded his head in acknowledgment to take her offering.

“Thank you,” I said smiling brightly.

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you when you come back,” She smiled while waving.

The three of us exited the shop and started out down the road. I stared at the teddy bear for a while unsure why she had given it to me but sure that I would keep it. I opened Benign’s book bag where the Book of Maverick Mythology still was and stuffed the teddy bear inside.

“That’s a good place for it,” Kitai giggled.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“That teddy bear is an agreement for her. If you tell her you’ll be back she gives you her favorite teddy bear for good luck on your journey and you have to bring it back to her or her dad will come to find you.”

I froze for a moment. Just the thought of having a Demi-God with 3 Manipulations coming after me is a horrifying thought.

“I’m just messing with you.” He laughed “Well about the Steven coming after you part not the teddy bear being an agreement.”

I exhaled with relief. “Well, no problem on that. I told her I’m coming back and I am for her and that pizza.” I replied.

We all laughed together and continued toward the Royal Cave. Luckily the intruder alarm woke us up earlier than we probably would have waken up because the sun was still high and shining bright and we were well on our way. I was Rested, full of food and ready to finally meet my mother.