It took a lot of effort to direct my magic at the monsters and not the light mage to my right.
Control yourself Kael. You'll get to kill her soon.
It was cruel I'd been chosen for this mission. While I do get to kill her at the end, I have to spend weeks with Alara knowing who her mother is. What Liora Solwyn had taken from me.
I sigh as I look at Alara. "Guess we better test your theory then." I charge forward before becoming a shadow. Shadow Surge was a powerful ability, but it took a lot of energy and was nearly impossible to do without extreme training. I moved quickly under the Rift monsters before jumping up from below one and stabbing its underside with my sword. Alara throws a bolt of light at it. I look away as the energy explodes in a burst of light. When I look back, the creature isn't healing. It's dead.
With her theory proved correct, it was time to kill the rest of them. The shadow beneath one rises up and turns into a solid black crystal object that stabs through the monster's underside. Dark spikes were one of the forms of dark energy. Just as the gash begins to heal, Alara launches a set of blades made of pure light.
A monster jumps on my back. Alara rushes up to my side and stabs it with a dagger. I slice its head off with my sword, and it doesn't recover. I glance at her. A minutes ago she'd been arguing with me about lightmares.
"Saved me?" I drawl.
"I want to be the one to kill you," she replies simply. We both turn towards the last Rift monster. Its growling while eyeing us down. One eye is a dark void while the other is a blinding white. I form an orb of pure dark energy in front of me. Alara creates a similar orb, except its pure light. Then something strange happens.
A small string of my darkness floats to her light. The light meets it halfway. Then, the two orbs fly out of our hands in to the middle. They form a colour similar to that of the Rift monsters. A combination of black and white. But instead of fighting like on the monsters, they are at rest.
Alara recovers from her confusion before me and launches the energy orb at the Rift monster. It explodes, leaving behind the strange blood. So light and dark energy attract each other. I'd need to check with the Umbra scientists and more experienced shadow mages to confirm, but I'd never heard of anything like that happening.
"We need to get going," Alara says. For once, I agree with the Lumina and nod. We'd wasted enough time with these Rift monsters and arguing. We continue walking silently through the scarred world created by the Rift. As we walk, I notice her lips are still parted in that same way, as if she's about to speak.
Why am I looking at her lips?
So many had lost their homes when the Rift was created, both from my people and the Umbra. Even more had lost their lives. What it was was still a mystery. All we know is that both the Umbra and Lumina had the same prophecy. It couldn't be a coincidence.
The prophecy said it would grow. So far, it had been growing just as the prophecy said. Nobody even knew how much it'd grown. The distance was too large and it'd expanded too quickly for us to know. I'd been told the journey to the Rift itself could be anywhere from three days to two months. Seeing as I can't see the Rift at the horizon after hours of walking, I was afraid it'd be the latter.
And so I've been walking for hours with an Umbra. Kael Veyrath. Shadow mage. Killer. The person I'd sworn to destroy. He took everything from me. But as the hours went by, I got bored. Bored on a goddamn mission in the Riftlands.
"I'm bored," I say out loud without thinking. I pray he doesn't think killing me would be entertaining, though killing him certainly would be.
"Bored? Look at this place. If you take away the monsters this'd be a pretty nice place," Kael says.
"You think this place is nice?" I snort. "I knew you were insane, but now I know that you've truly gone mad!"
"Listen. Its silent here. Peaceful, even. At least it would be without the constant threat of the Rift monsters."
"Never thought an Umbra would enjoy peace," I remark.
"Let's spend a few minutes not arguing. You are right that Umbra are chaotic. The cities are loud and crowded. Here I can finally here my thoughts." His voice is calm and even. Each word feels deliberate. His lips move precisely. It's like a melodic like a poem, calculated like a hunter.
We're silent for a moment. Silence. His hair blows lightly in the wind. It doesn't seem untamed anymore, but like a chaotic art piece. His eyes are looking out at the horizon, glowing a silvery shade. And I find myself agreeing with him.
"It is peaceful," I whisper, almost more to myself than to him. He doesn't respond. We just keep walking through the barren wasteland. For a few minutes, I forget about the killer who walks by my side. I focus on the silence.