The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

The Potential

[Sophia]

Days went by. The twins ended up staying with us longer than we thought, which was fine at first. Our couch can easily seat up to four people. But when all four of us have large wings... it becomes a bit less roomy than you think and I easily grew tired of squeezing myself to the very end of the couch. I could tell Apollo felt the same since his wings were the largest, but he didn't say anything. Eventually, I took the twins out to the tree house to prove that they were perfectly safe out here, but they were welcome to drop by the house any time they wanted. The twins only felt relieved when I thoroughly searched the area, before climbing back up and making themselves comfortable inside.

A few more days passed after that. I can't tell you how relieved I was to get the couch back. Things felt a bit more quiet. The air outside is getting colder as winter sets in. Or... more like half-winter. We don't get snow. But all the trees and most of the plants just turn brown and die as the rest of the humans start dressing their own homes in bright, colorful lights and decor for the holidays. But it feels way too soon for that...

Anyway, a few more days later and the twins dropped by one afternoon. They've actually been coming over more frequently to get out of the cold, which we could understand. And we never ran out of things to talk about. Both Apollo and I were concerned about them getting cold at night, but they said it wasn't too bad. But Apollo and I knew from experience... Even with all the blankets we gave them, it can still be pretty rough. I decided to go out and take a look at the tree house just to get some ideas to see how I could improve it. I actually had to zip up my jacket for once because it was so chilly.

When I made it to the tree house, I climbed up and took a look inside. The old chair was put up on the desk to make more room on the floor where all the blankets were strewn around. The floor... wasn't exactly the cleanest and some of the corners of the blankets reflected that. I knew we could always wash them, but the open window and door frame didn't exactly stop more dust and leaves from flying in. I stood there and thought for a moment. But I was quickly interrupted by a sound coming from behind me. I turned to see a familiar face popping out of the pond. I huffed my wings downwards and jumped from the platform, accidentally kicking up dirt in Teri's face.

"Hey! It's been a while. Are things... doing okay?" I asked awkwardly.

"Oh, yeah. Everything's fine. Just been really busy. I just wish there were an easier way to tell you I'm coming up without having to go all this way and hope nobody notices I'm gone..."

"Yeah, that is kinda a long way for you to go..."

"Well, I guess it really isn't that far, it's just tedious is all. I'd go as far as the lake, since that would be easier. But then that would mean you'd have to come all the way out there just to see me."

"Yeah, and that would practically be just as far, huh?"

The two of us sorta went off on a tangent for a while until I asked Teri if she wanted to come to the house with us to hang out, but she said she didn't exactly have time for that and only came up here for one thing. The both of us climbed up to the platform of the tree house and sat down.

"So... this is probably going to sound weird, but... do you still think about that day, Sophie? When we went to rescue Apollo and that... thing showed up?"

I averted her gaze and nodded.

"Yeah... Honestly, I think we all do... We haven't really talked about it since. But... yeah, I still think about it."

"Yeah, well... that was... really scary... But, afterwards... the thing that scared me more is that... even though I had my Mother's weapon with me... I... I didn't really do anything to help."

"What? Yeah, you did. You tried to fight it off when I went to get Apollo out."

"Sure, but... not really. I... I just remember standing there... I mean, I knew one day I'd had to face something like that at some point. To protect you and the rest of my people. But when we were actually there....." Teri slowly shook her head. "I had no idea it would be like that... I mean, you and Apollo fight off those... Shadovian things. I only saw them once that day, but... that thing..... Sophie, how do you fight those things all the time?"

"Well..... we've been fighting those things... pretty much since we were kids. We didn't really have a choice. If we didn't fight them, they'd just kill us. Me and Apollo..... we didn't really have a home. We didn't have anywhere else to go. We couldn't tell anybody about them. Even after we found the house and started living there, we always kept coming back here........ I guess we just, sorta got used to it? I mean, Apollo and I have the power and the ability to fight them, so after a while... they honestly just get more annoying to deal with. They're still scary, but having to fight them is the annoying part..."

Teri looked down at the ground.

"Do you... remember the first time you ever came across a Shadovian?" she asked.

I looked up at the sky, trying to remember. Trying to think... But I felt awkward taking too much time to think, so I just said, "I'm not sure. I don't really... remember that far back..... I think they've always been around. We've been fighting them for a long time..."

"Hmm... okay. Well... the real reason I came up here was because I wanted to ask if... if...."

I tilted my head to the side in confusion, waiting for her to answer.

"I was wondering if you could teach me how to fight?" Teri blurted out. I was a bit taken aback.

"...Wait, really?"

Teri nodded confidently.

"You and Apollo have more experience fighting these things. My... my Mother... taught me a lot... but she wasn't around long enough to teach me how to fight properly. And even though I thought I could try doing this myself... it's clear now, that... there's still a lot I have to learn... so, I thought... maybe you or Apollo could teach me something I don't know."

"I..."

"And maybe if all of us learned to fight, we wouldn't be afriad of those things anymore! They wouldn't stand a chance against us. And if that... thing... ever comes back again, we'll be ready. I... I just want to be ready for whatever comes instead of standing around and not doing anything. So... what do you think?"

I averted Teri's gaze and smiled nervously.

"Well... y-yeah, I think there's a few things I can teach you. I'm sure Apollo might be able to help too! I mean... I don't really know anything about how to fight with a trident, but I bet we can figure out how!"

"Really? Sophie, that would be really wonderful! I can't thank you enough for this!"

Teri hopped down from the tree house, going back towards the pond.

"Hey! Where are you going?" I called out to her.

"Sorry, I don't have much time to stay! That's all I wanted to ask you about. But I promise, I'll be back soon! I'll try and see if I can't establish a schedule so I can come up to train with you without anyone knowing I'm gone. Oh, and tell everyone I said, hi!"

And with that, Teri jumped into the pond and I watched her disappear before I could say anything.

"Okay..... I guess... we're going to start training..." I said to myself.

When I came back told, I told everyone else what happened and they all agreed that teaching Teri to fight is a great idea. And the twins jumped on it too, agreeing that they also don't want to stand around doing nothing while Apollo and I fight for them. If those Shadovians are going to be a normal occurrence around here, then it was about time we stop sitting around and start getting to work. If all of us can fight back against them together, they definitely wouldn't be able to push us around anymore.

I admit, a part of me was actually a little excited to start doing this. All we had to do was wait until Teri was available on a regular basis.

The rest of the day passed by. Late that night, I was lying on my bed, watching a video on my phone. When it ended, I connected the charging cord to it and set it aside. But right next to it lay my crystal, glowing softly in the darkness. I reached out to it and held it in front of me, fidgeting with it as I began to think.

I've had this thing for so long.

I thought about what Teri asked me.

When was the first time I saw a Shadovian? Or fought one?

As I began to think, pieces of an old memory slowly came back. I'm not sure if this was the first time, but it was probably the earliest memory I have...

It had to have been before I met Apollo... I don't remember him being there. I remember as a tiny kid, I just wandered around. Exploring stuff, looking at things... That's right... I still had my bag with me. The satchel I found just a while before... It had the crystal inside. I had to keep picking it up every time I walked because the strap was so long, it would drag on the ground. I carried it everywhere I went.

I remember I saw a weird looking bug on the ground and I was so fascinated by it, I just stood there looking at it. I don't know for how long though... I never touched it or tried to pick it up, I just... stared at it.

Man, I was a weird kid...

And then... that's right, I thought I heard something behind me and when I turned around, I thought I saw something staring back at me. I remember a pair of eyes blinking from within a bush in the shade. I thought I heard another sound. I thought I saw something move. And I did. The eyes moved through the bush and the outline of a body came into view. I just stood there, staring back at it, not moving an inch.

A pair of red eyes. There were no pupils.

It's body... as black as shadows.

I didn't know what it was at first. I thought it was an animal of some kind I had never seen before. I wasn't sure if I should've been mesmerized or scared. I was almost too afraid to move. I didn't want to scare it off. We just... stood there.... probably three feet from each other... just... staring.

I remember I wanted to try reaching out to it, but I was too afraid to move. Did I move...? No, the creature approached me first, I remember now. That's what made me afraid. It was like the creature was just as curious about me. It took a few steps forward, really slowly, until we were just inches apart. Even though we were in broad daylight, the creature almost looked like... a living shadow.

Oh... that's right..... Now I remember...

Like the child I was, I held my arm up to try and pet it. I moved slowly so I wouldn't scare the creature. I remember it looked from my face to my hand. I was reaching for the top of its head...

And then it bit me.

It bit my entire hand so hard and it made me scream so loudly. I heard it growl and I felt it tug, which made it hurt more. I slapped its face with my other hand as hard as I could. I must've hit its eye because it eventually let go and I stumbled backwards, dropping my bag and seeing that something fell out of it.

The crystal.

I was holding my bleeding hand and crying as the creature stepped over, seeing the crystal and leaning down to sniff it. I remember... hitting it again, telling it to stay away. It was mine. The creature barked at me loudly, scaring me more and I grabbed the crystal. I tried to run, but I only tripped over myself as the creature approached me, growling angerly. And then... that's right... there was a bright flash of light and my hand holding the crystal felt really heavy all of a sudden and when I looked over at it..... it wasn't a crystal anymore... it was a crystal sword. I think the both of us were surprised.

In a panic, I tried to stand up and swing the sword as hard as I could. It was so heavy, but I felt it make impact and the creature howled. I managed to stand up and I remember screaming and swinging wildly until the creature barked at me before running off deeper into the forest. My arms were shaking so much trying to hold the sword. I remember looking at it after a moment and thinking this had to be some sort of magic.

My thoughts were interrupted when I accidentally dropped my crystal onto my chest and I quickly picked it back up again. I almost couldn't believe I had nearly forgotten about that time...

Was that really the first time I saw a Shadovian?

Or... was that the first time I ever saw my crystal become my weapon?

I..... I'm not sure.

I exhaled and set the crystal beside my phone before getting comfortable in my pile of blankets and pillows, keeping my wings above the blankets as my head turned towards the window. I fell asleep soon after.