Castaway

TRUSTING ONESELF

It was already 2:45 am, and it's been almost two hours since they left. Baron sat on the couch and stared at the door of his storeroom. It's been a tough week for him, sanctifying a lot of water, and it'll only be available for three months after it was buried underneath the ground. The sanctified water three months ago may not be enough if they took supplies more than their maximum.

"We really need to find that book," he mumbled.

"The Book of Historia can answer a lot of our questions."

He straight up from the couch when he remembered something. He went inside his storeroom and rummaged through his bookshelves.

"Where's that little book?" he asked himself.

He found a small book with torn sheets of leather on its cover. It was old, like how much the curse was. There was nothing written on the cover page as well as the inside pages. He took his cellphone and dialed his father's number.

"Hello, dad. I'm sorry if I called this early in the morning," he said when his dad answered on the fourth tone.

"Uhmm, sorry, but Vim is sleeping right now. I don't think waking him up is a good idea," he heard a woman's voice on the other line.

Baron went quiet for a moment.

"Well, tell him I called when he woke up. It's very important," Baron said before he ended the call.

He sighed. He looked at the small book in front of him.

He remembered seeing this one with the Book of Historia before. He thought it was just an old notebook. Getting drawn with its antiquity, he tried to write his important notes on it, but his pen couldn't draw an ink. He even tried to write using a marker, but the same had happened. The intriguing part is every pen and marker he used worked well with normal papers. That's when their father saw him and said, "That's the previous Primo's diary. It was passed down to us along with the Book of Historia. The only one who can write and read the previous Primo's writings on it is the next Primos."

Baron, as a kid, was amazed by that thought and wanted to meet the next Primo and asked him about what's 

written on it.

"Who's Primo, by the way, dad?" Baron asked Vimeon, his father.

"He's someone who's going to protect your younger sister, Baron." Miki, his mother, appeared and smiled at his door while caressing her round stomach.

Baron threw himself back on the couch. He closed his eyes while patiently waiting for his siblings to come home safely.

-0-0-0-

Amaron slit the neck of the Shadow he caught, Devanna still had a few more arrows left on her bag, and Limo didn’t even touch almost everything he packed except for a few knives.

“Devy,” Limo called Devanna.

“Don’t call me that,” she shouted. She was surprised he adopted so much in his new environment that he even called her that.

Limo startled when Devanna shouted. The Shadow almost escaped, but he reached for it, hoping he could stop it. The Shadow squeaked when Limo caught it barehanded. Amaron and Devanna looked in his direction and saw what happened. Limo found its neck and cut it. He purified it using the last bottle of Elixir he had.

“As I was saying, you can have the arrows I bought, Devanna,” Limo said when he stood up.

Amaron and Devanna stared at him.

“What?” he asked.

“You touched the Shadows,” Devanna said.

“Yeah?” Limo stared back at them, confused.

“No one touched a shadow. No one caught it barehanded,” she said.

Limo couldn’t explain things he didn’t even know.

“I guess it’s a Primo’s gift?” Even he wasn’t sure about it.

They didn’t even have enough time to process everything when a black dog suddenly appeared. It has messy fur, and its legs are quite longer than a usual dog. But what made them confirmed what it was was a pair of round bloody eyes gleamed underneath the moonlight that came from the steel grills above them.

“Do we have enough elixir left?” Amaron asked them.

-0-0-0-

"That was easy." Calyx sat on the cold concrete while wiping away his sweat. Cart handed him a towel and saw it was pink with strawberries on it.

"Didn't think you would like some strawberries on your towel, uncle Cart," he teased him.

"Shut up, Calyx. I randomly took it from the drawer since I came late. Give it back if you don't want to use it. It was already a mistake that I offered it to you," Cart told him.

Calyx hid the towel on his back so Cart couldn't take it away from him.

"Go home to your cupcake already. We're done here anyway. I'll go where they are alone, so you could spend the rest of the night with her," Calyx smirked even more while wiping his neck. He didn't think Cart would act like this because of a woman. It was the first time, and he couldn't even believe it. Teasing his uncle Cart with this woman made Calyx having alas against him now he found his weakness.

"Go directly to where they are, okay? I'll call anyone of you when I get home," Cart said.

"Sure, uncle Cart. I couldn't wait to see a baby nephew from you." It was supposed to be a joke, but Calyx saw Cart gave him a sad smile. He realized it was impossible for him for them to welcome another member of a family. Calyx and his siblings were currently the 8th generations, and Devanna already received her cursed mark and met the Primo.

"Move now. They might be still fighting Shadows. Too bad I won't be able to meet this guy with golden eyes." He meant Limo. Cart tapped Calyx back before leaving. Calyx walked to where his siblings and Limo were.

-0-0-0-

Limo saw Amaron took his weird-looking weapon behind him. It was a double-edged knife with two curved blades attached to its hilt. Amaron threw it, and Limo saw it was attached into a chain around 18 feet long.

The Kabal shifted itself into an eagle with sharp claws. Devanna immediately took Limo's arrows and shot them but unfortunately, it was swift than what they expected. It flew over their head, and Amaron was about to throw his knife again when the Kabal tried to scratch his face. Amaron was quick enough and moved away, but instead, it scratched his arms. The blood immediately rushed down, but he tried to calm himself and suppressed the pain. 

"Amaron!" Devanna called him.

"Bring Limo back to the car. I'll handle this." Amaron told them.

"But your arm--"

"Do what I say!" Amaron shouted.

Limo saw Devanna having second thoughts. Even he couldn't let Amaron fight all by himself, especially when a Kabal suddenly showed up.

"How could you purify it then? We're out of elixirs," Limo said.

Amaron didn't respond. He was busy fighting with the Kabal, but Limo knew he was thinking. Devanna also helped him by shooting it with the arrows she had left.

"Calyx will be on his way," Amaron said.

Limo took his pocket knife but accidentally cut himself.

"Aw," he grunted. He saw himself bled and sipped the blood flowing out from his small cut.

He saw the Kabal flew sideways near him. He took the chance and charged himself forward, luckily grabbed its tail. The Kabal shrieked. 

"No, Limo. It'll change itself soon," Amaron told him. 

Limo grabbed its other wing. It tried to get away from his hand, trying to reach him with its beak. 

"Quick!" Limo shouted.

Devanna immediately took his pocket knife and slit its throat before it can turn itself. A steaming hot black liquid splashed on the ground.

"What now?" Amaron asked them while holding his injured arm.

Limo suddenly remembered what Baron told him about the Primo's blood.

"You're not thinking about what Baron told you the other day, are you?" Devanna asked him while looking straight through his gleaming golden eyes.

Limo took his knife. 

"Don't. We're not even sure if it works," Devanna stopped him. 

"It will regenerate and might shift into something soon. What are we supposed to do?" Limo asked her.

"Are we going to wait and slit its neck again until Calyx arrived? What if Calyx didn't have enough spare elixirs?" he added. 

That made Devanna and Amaron quiet. He got the point. It's his own decision and blood anyway.

Limo was about to make a small cut on his hand when someone arrived. 

"What's this noise all about-- What the h*ck is that?"

"Oh, you got an elixir left, Calyx?" Amaron asked him.