Grace for The Fallen

Answers

Ariston Nox

   Theron hated me. I could tell. I could practically feel the ire rolling off of him whenever he so much as glanced at me. So, I didn’t have much of a tour. I saw a huge lake and a beautiful forest, and the houses were all so beautiful and unique, but I didn’t get the time to enjoy it. Theron’s stomping gate didn’t leave much time for scenery appreciation. I almost had to jog to keep up, and I was by no means short.

   “So…” I started.

   “No,” he snapped.

   “Oook,” I shut my mouth with an obnoxious snap, knowing that it would annoy him. I could see the muscles in his jaw working, but he didn’t turn around. I grinned and began whistling. Loudly, and very high-pitched. But I immediately stopped when I saw him wince and clasp his hands over his ears. Oops. He whirled around.

   “Could you not!” He snarled. I met his eyes.

   “I’m sorry,” I said calmly, “I didn’t know that it would hurt you,”

   “Yeah? Well, you probably would have done it anyway, even if you had known. All you humans care about is hurting us. Isn’t that right?” He stalked off without waiting for an answer.

   “Not all humans are like that,” I whispered.

   “Well, all the humans I’ve ever seen have tried to kill me. So, I would beg to differ,” he stated this in a dismissive, offhand way, but I still saw the way his shoulders tensed up when he talked about it, and immediately felt a surge of pity for him.

   Suddenly, without warning beyond a slight tensing of his shoulders, Theron spun around and lashed out, grabbing me by the throat and slamming me bodily into the hard packed ground beneath me. The movement was so fast that I didn’t even register anything before I was suddenly on the ground, blinking the black spots dazedly out of my vision.

   Theron’s snarling face appeared just inches away from mine, the sheer dominance of his anger almost making me whimper.

   “Listen closely, human,” he spat, his brown eyes glowing with rage and his sharp canines flashing in my vision, “I don’t need, or want, or appreciate your pity. I don’t need pity from the likes of you,” my throat was beginning to throb, but I didn’t dare move or speak.

   “This is my first and only warning. I will not be so lenient the next time. The only reason that you are still alive is because your Elf friend seems to trust you and care for you. For now.”

   With that cruel statement, he let go of his tight grip on my neck and stood up, leaving me to get up on my own. I sat up slowly and winced, one hand rubbing my back and the other going to my neck. I would have bruises in both places, I was sure.

   “Come on, human,” Theron snapped, “We don’t have all day.” I got to my feet and almost fell over again. I guess near asphyxiation would do that to you. I looked up at Theron and my eyes widened slightly. It hadn’t just been in my head. His eyes were actually glowing.

   “How did you…” his snarling cut me off, “Never mind,” I sighed.

   The rest of our ‘tour’ was… quiet, to say the least. I didn’t talk, and Theron certainly didn’t.

   When we finally came to a stop in front of the Lou’s house, I almost breathed a sigh of relief. By the slight smirk that appeared on Theron’s face, I could tell that he knew exactly how I felt. I still had to ask him about that. How had he known what I felt? I opened my mouth to ask him, but was interrupted by the banging of a door being opened too quickly.

   “Ky!” Lydia squealed, and jumped into his arms. His demeanour changed immediately. His shoulders relaxed and the smirk on his face turned into a small, genuine smile.

   “Hey, Dia. Miss me?” He asked, shifting her in his arms so that one of his hands was free and bopped her on the nose. She scrunched her nose and nodded, grabbing his finger and bopping his nose back. I smiled a bit at the interaction. It seemed that Theron did have a heart after all. Lydia turned to me.

   “Hi, Ariston!” She greeted, and waved at me. And just like that, the furrow was back between Theron’s eyebrows. I ignored him and gave Lydia a grin.

   “Hey, Lydia,” I returned. I decided that this would be the best mood that Theron would ever be in, so I turned to him.

   “Theron, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions?” Always best to be polite.

   “Oh, he won’t mind,” Lydia spoke before Theron could refuse, and I had to hide my grin. Thank you, Lydia.

   “How did you know what I was feeling?’

   “My gift,” he grunted brusquely. I nodded slowly.

   “Why were your eyes glowing?”

   “They do that when I get mad. You’re lucky that that was the only part of that particular gift that I showed.” I gulped, but Lydia just laughed.

   “Ky, stop scaring him,” she giggled, then turned to me, “That gift makes Ky stronger whenever he’s mad. He punched a hole through a tree once,” she stated, then giggled like this was the most amusing thing in the world. Being on the receiving end of that gift, I found it less so. “Ky has more gifts than anyone else in The Valley.” I smiled at the obvious pride in her voice.

   “Yeah, well, still not enough for the prophecy,” Theron grumbled.

   “Uh,” I scratched my head, “Prophecy?”

   “Ooooh, can I, Ky?” Lydia bounced in his arms while Theron nodded and smiled at her.

   “But not the whole one,” Theron cautioned, looking at me with undisguised mistrust. I sighed internally.

   “So, basically,” Lydia started, “There’s this prophecy. It comes from when the humans and the Elves… betrayed each other. Well, that’s what they tell you, isn’t it? Anyway, the prophecy says that an Elf will come who has… how many was it?” She asked, turning to Theron.

   “It’s not really clear. Somewhere above ten.”

   “Well, an Elf will come who has more than ten gifts, and they are supposed to save the world!” She threw her arms up at the last word, but I was confused.

   “Save it from… what?” I asked, turning to Theron. He glared at me, but sighed in resignation when Lydia elbowed him in the gut and started to explain.

   “It is said that an Elf will come who will have great prowess. He or she will be sent to find the key to bring the humans and the Elves back together… or risk the humans destroying the world,” he was glaring at me the whole time.

   “But… how? Why? Surely the humans wouldn’t want to destroy the planet that they too live on?”

   “One doesn’t really know what goes on in the minds of humans. Of course, the most likely solution is that nothing goes through their head at all.” I sighed and decided not to respond to that one. I had too many questions.

   “Do you know what this ‘key’ is?”

   Theron simply gave a sharp jerk of his head that I took to mean ‘no’, but Lydia decided to respond.

   “The Skrul is gonna tell the Elf when they go to him to unlock their gifts,” she explained. I nodded.

   “Who is the Skrul?” Lydia shrugged.

   “Nobody knows,” Theron still seemed reluctant to talk to me, but Lydia motioned him on, “He’s been here for as long as anybody can remember, and before that. Whenever a new Elf comes into The Valley, they go to him and he tells them their destinies and unlocks their gifts. The humans that happen to impose their unwelcome presence on us tend to just get their memories wiped and sent on their way. If we’re feeling generous.”

   He ended off the sentence with an evil smirk and I involuntarily gulped. Lydia just sighed and hit Theron on the head.

   “Hey, that was painful,” he whined, and I couldn’t suppress a grin.

   “You deserved it, Ky,” she replied unmercifully. She looked at me and smiled, “Don’t worry, he’s just messing with you.”

   “Um… ok. First off,” I looked at Theron, “Daetheia would never let that happen. She would never hurt me. Second,” I turned my gaze to Lydia and looked at her questioningly, “Ky?” Lydia giggled.

   “His nickname, silly. I couldn’t get one from Theron, so I got it from Kynig. Clever, wasn’t it?” I nodded and her proud grin grew wider.

   “As for your first point, I wouldn’t be so sure,” I looked to Theron to find nothing but brutal honesty in his pleased brown eyes, “Nobody has ever come back from the Skrul with an ounce of love left for the humans.” I shivered as I looked into his eyes and tried to push my uncertainty down. Eight years of friendship couldn’t vanish just like that.

   Could it?   

-Rebecca Underwood