Castaway

HIS FIRST MISSION

The sun was almost down, and Baron started preparing for dinner. Calyx slept the whole day after an all-nighter mission with his uncle Cart. Devanna was already fixing her bow and arrows. She wanted to help Baron preparing the dishes. Limo was still outside the cabin practicing the knives Calyx lent him.

“Hey,” she called Limo.

Limo stopped what he was doing and turned around when Devanna called him.

“Rest already. We have another day tomorrow,” she said.

“I’ll have my final round before I rest,” he said.

Devanna let him and found her way inside their house. Limo stared at the target. He recalled what Calyx has been teaching him for the past few days. He knew he’s still new to this, and his body only started to adopt all these new activities.

He put all his focus on his target, took a deep breath, and threw the knife with less force than he used to since his target is near. The knife went through the target’s neck and pierced the tree behind it. His eyes grew bigger, and he found joy in that shot.

“You’re doing great lately,” Amaron remarked.

“Thanks,” he said.

Amaron sat on a log behind Limo, watched as the moon slowly started to say hello with its army of shining bright stars.

“You know I don’t trust you yet,” Amaron told him. Limo was a bit surprised but didn’t argue.

“I don’t know if this happened to the previous Primos, but what’s your primary reason why you accepted the gift and suffered the curse with us?” Amaron asked him.

Limo looked at him and saw him being serious with what he asked. He knew he and Devanna would die if he didn’t accept it. He would gladly embrace death since he has nothing left, but seeing Devanna that time, asking for his help, he thought that maybe he would try to help her before crossing the next life.

“I believe in your sister. If you don’t trust me, then trust her decisions. You know what will happen if I didn’t awaken,” he said.

“Yeah, I know. She’ll die.” Amaron looked down at the ground, trying to think what he would say next.

“I know this is just me being selfish, but I would rather accept her death instead of seeing her carrying the burden of this curse. I know it is hard for her, for us,” he added.

Limo felt something inside him burned up. His fist curled, and he knew he would do something bad but tried to stop himself. He was never a short-tempered guy, and that felt something new.

“Aren’t you just being a coward trying to save yourself?” Limo asked him. That came out from his mouth. Amaron looked at him. He saw Limo’s face was red, his eyes narrowed, and his brows furrowed. He made Limo mad.

“Nice. Now I had my answers. Thank you for having a short talk with me.” Amaron tapped his back and went inside of the cabin ahead of him.

Limo was left there standing, confused.

-0-0-0-

Limo woke up in the middle of the night. He heard people running around on the wooden floor downstairs. He sat up from his bed and saw his door suddenly opened. He saw Calyx dressed up with his jogger pants and gray hooded jacket. His face showed something happened, and that explains why they were so loud.

“We got a call from Cart. A swamp of Shadows was seen at River Avenue and Meek Street. Wear your clothes and fix the things you’ll need. This is your first mission,” Cart told him.

He blinked twice and immediately took his pants and sweater on his cabinet. He took the set of knives Calyx gave him, and the bow and arrow Devanna made. He went down and saw everyone was waiting for him. Amaron, Calyx, and Devanna are all prepared, but Baron still had his pajamas on.

“Okay, everything is set up. Let’s go,” Amaron announced.

“Is it okay for Baron to leave him behind?” Limo asked Calyx.

“Yeah. He’s stronger than you thought. He could handle himself,” Calyx answered.

“No, I mean, I thought all of us would go?” he asked again.

“We couldn’t let Baron into a mission. If anything happens to him, we will lose a precious soldier. No one would sustain us with medicines and, of course, elixirs,” Calyx said.

He thought Calyx got the point. Anyone could replace anyone on a mission, but no one could replace Baron.

“Besides, aren’t you confident enough with this team?” Calyx smirked.

He looked at Amaron and Devanna, who’s walking ahead. He could see from his training that they got quite the skills, and Calyx is just as great at them. Limo followed their lead until they found something hidden underneath the broken branches and leaves. He saw a car covered in brown and thick fabric.

“Wait, is this yours?” Limo asked them.

“What do you think will help us bringing you here and getting us out of the woods?” Amaron asked him.

“Though the route we took earlier made us carry you in a funny way you couldn’t even think of,” Calyx laughed, remembering how they carried Limo in their cabin.

“Come one. We got to hurry,” Devanna told them.

They went in inside the car. Amaron drove while Devanna sat on the passenger’s seat, which made Calyx and Limo sit in the back seat.

-0-0-0-

They dropped Calyx on a sidewalk. They decided he would accompany Cart on River Avenue. Limo had to go with Devanna and Amaron since it was his first mission. Amaron parked the car beside a lamp post.

“We don’t need to eliminate them all. We have limited supplies. Just purify those that we can,” Amaron instructed them.

“If things go out of hand, run for your lives. I mean it to you two. Don’t hesitate to attack. You know these Shadows are quite wild,” he added.

They hoped out of the car and made turns until they reached the area. Amaron jumped from a high old concrete down to an underground tunnel.

“Amaron!” Devanna shouted when a Shadow suddenly greeted them.

-0-0-0-

Cart saw Calyx waiting for him in an abandoned clinic at River Avenue. He was already purifying some Shadows when he met him.

“You’re late, Cart,” Calyx told him.

“That doesn’t sound right. I’m still your uncle,” he said.

“Relationship doesn’t matter when you’re late. It’s the time,” Calyx said, emphasizing the last word.

“What are you, my wife? My girlfriend doesn’t even care about me.” That was supposed to be a joke but turned out quite true.

“Really? I thought Cart Feidon was the most handsome man in every girl’s eyes?” Calyx started to tease him while closing the lid of the elixir he brought.

Cart went quiet and looked through his thoughts to find the right thing to explain it.

“Well, I thought so, too.” Calyx was supposed to laugh at him when a Shadow suddenly appeared behind Cart.

Cart immediately felt the presence and pulled out the katana attached to his belt. He sliced the Shadow in half, and Calyx immediately opened his bottle of elixir and purified it.

“Wow, you slit his neck on point!” Calyx exclaimed.

“Of course, after this, I’ll tell you something I just found out about these Shadows,” Cart told him.

“Can’t you tell it to me now? Why being suspenseful?” Calyx laughed.

Cart narrowed his eyes and smiled at his nephew. Calyx stood up when he finished purifying the Shadow.

“Shadow’s neck can be only found in a specific place when they’re attacking and coming directly at you,” Cart started.

-0-0-0-

“Limo!” Amaron called him when he bumped into the wall and hit his head with a pipe.

“Devanna, check Limo,” he ordered his sister.

Devanna immediately ran towards him and found him conscious. She helped Limo got up while his hands were still at the back of his head.

“Why did you fall?” Devanna hid her laugh.

“I thought that Shadow was going to attack me,” Limo said.

They both looked at the Shadow that was supposed to attack Limo, but he had it stabbed in between its bloody eyes with Calyx’s knife. It couldn’t move and stayed there without doing anything. They slowly went near it, and Devanna slit it in half using the knife.

“Come on, give me the Elixir,” she told Limo.