A Small Spark

Stephen

Some guy, not a murder with an axe as anticipated, was standing at the door. Behind Stephen, Julie mentioned that his name was Dimitri. While she was talking, Stephen could not help but notice the slight awe in her voice when she was talking about this guy. Stephen instantly did not trust this guy. Julie was his.

Dimitri held the translator in his hands, letting Stephen know that he could understand them. He asked Dimitri what he wanted. In reply, he pulled up his sleeve on his right forearm. Stephen stopped. It was the same tattoo he had seen on those two guys in the cell next to theirs while they were in the prison. Three dark rings around his arm.

Stephen inquired what the tattoo meant. “That is what I wanted to speak with you about,” the man answered. Without being invited, Dimitri entered room and began talking about something called the Lykoi. Stephen, in his mind, likened the work of the Lykoi to ninja assassins. He had always wanted to be a ninja assassin, as most people do at some point in their lives. Other than the ninja assassin work, it sounded as though the group of people worked to help the people of Atlantis, something that Stephen admired. “We protect those that cannot save themselves,” Dimitri told them. “We are like the Rising, only we don’t let anything get in our way.”

“Quick question,” Stephen interjected. “Why do you want us? You don’t know us.”

“I know more than you might think, Stephen,” Dimitri stated. “I think your…talents could be useful to the Lykoi.”

Stephen was about to tell him that he did not think it was a good idea, but then Dimitri continued. “I can teach you so much. I can train you how to fight. How to use a sword, a bow, knives, a bellum–”

“A what?” Mason interrupted, echoing the confusion they all felt.

“A bellum,” repeated Dimitri as though that cleared up any of the confusion they had.

“What in the world is a bellum?” Dimitri stared at them for a moment, his own surprise and confusion flickering across his face.

“You don’t know what a bellum is? What do you fight with on the Surface?”

“Ah,” Mason replied, throwing his hands up into the air, mock exasperation reverberating through his words, “and now we’re talking about gun violence. I’m telling you, this conversation is never-ending.”

“What do you say?” continued Dimitri, ignoring Mason’s comments. “Join the Lykoi?”

Mason looked excited over the prospect of joining this organization. It did sound appealing. And if Mason was considering this, then maybe it was right way to go. After all, he had good instincts. Stephen could feel himself starting to give in, but then he remembered the true reason they had even come to Atlantis. He sighed.

“Thing is,” he said, meeting Dimitri’s eyes, “we’re really only here in Atlantis to find my parents, not get caught up in some Atlantean war.”

Dimitri opened his mouth to reply, only to be covered by the sound of someone yelling outside. Dimitri’s face contorted into a look of nervousness before melting into a cocky, half-smile. His eyes glanced over to the window before looking back at the three of them. “Look, I kind of need you to make this decision fast.”

Stephen frowned. The commotion from outside became more discernable as a woman screeched Dimitri’s name. He winced, but the smile did not fade from face.

“Dimitri!” screamed the voice, “I will end you! Get out here!” Dimitri turned and drew his sword. He said nothing more to Julie, Mason, and Stephen as he ran out the cabin. Stephen looked back at Julie and Mason, only hesitating a moment before they all raced out of the cabin, following Dimitri to the commotion. In his haste, Dimitri had left the translator on the ground. Julie picked it up and held it, bring it with them.

“Are you kidding me right now! They’ve been here for a day, Dimitri!” a girl shouted at him. Stephen strained to see her face but taller men than her had quickly formed a circle and blocked her view.

“What? When I see talent, I like to make the most of it,” Dimitri replied. There was a roar from the crowd. Stephen glanced up at Mason, who was tall enough to actually see what was happening.

“Dude,” he said, excitement in his voice, “she slapped him. Do you think they’re taking bets? Because my money’s on the girl.”

“Who?” But the girl continued before he could reply.

“This is not about him and you know it. Leave him and his friends alone!”

“And what is it about, Mari?” Dimitri taunted. And suddenly, like a ton of bricks falling down on him, Stephen knew who the girl was.

He pushed his way through the crowd, forcing them all out of the way. He did not see, but he knew Mason and Julie were following him like a the faithful friends they were. He stopped at the front of the crowd. But the woman’s back was still to her, he could not see her face.

“Dimitri, what do you want?” she sounded annoyed and exhausted. The two were slowly circling one another. Dimitri replied something but no one heard it. Her eyes had fallen on Stephen, her eyes widening a little comically. They stared at one another for a moment. And Stephen really could not believe what he was seeing. There she was. She looked like him. Same eyes, same nose, same chin. There was only one difference between them: their hair. Stephen’s was brown to her auburn. He understood now what they had meant when they said that Stephen and Amaris looked alike. He could see it for himself. They could almost have been twins. He blinked as though this were all some sort of dream. But when he opened his eyes, there she was. His sister. Amaris.

Stephen, forgetting about the impending fight, strode forward a little and told her his name. She blinked at him, gave a small nod as though it was common knowledge. She turned her attention back to Dimitri, who had begun to taunt her.

Stephen stumbled back a little, the knowledge that his sister did not care much for him fell onto his shoulders. He had hoped that she would want to meet him, to get to know him like he wanted to know her. Apparently, she did not care to know about him. Well, shoot.

Amaris looked back at Stephen, her eyes finding his as though it were some sort of necessity. And, in her distraction, she barely missed dodging Dimitri’s sword. What was happening? Stephen wondered, panicking as he ran out to defend his sister. He simply could not take this any longer.

The was, in Stephen’s mind, he was used to looking out for his younger sister. If someone was attacking Rosie, he would have to stop them. It was part of his duty as her older brother. A duty that he enjoyed and did not take lightly.

So, upon seeing the guy, who had just been trying to get Stephen and his friends to join his group, he knew that he could not just stand idly by. He ran forward, disarming Dimitri and throwing him onto the ground in a display of power, strength, and duty.

Stephen glanced back to his friends. Mason had simply raised an eyebrow, hiding his impressed look with a demeanor that displayed disinterest. Julie, on the other hand, had a mixture of worry and pride flickering across her face. Stephen smirked to himself, Julie would always worry about him. He was proud of himself for what he had done. He had protected his sister, a woman who he barely knew. It was his duty, after all, as the older brother to protect her.

But then, Stephen turned back to look at his sister. Amaris strode up to him, a fury in each of her steps. Her face, unlike Stephen’s friends, did not hold pride or awe. Instead, she looked angry and annoyed, like Stephen had done the complete opposite of what a good person would do.

It did not make sense to him. He had protected her. For, while Stephen had great practice at being an older brother, Amaris was unaccustomed to having someone watch over her. She was not used to having a brother.

She bent down and retrieved the discarded sword. She held it up and tightly as though Stephen was about to attack her as well. But Stephen would never do that. She was his sister, after all, he would never attack her. Didn’t she know that?

Someone from the crowd called out to her, but she ignored him. Her grip on the sword lessened as she handed it to Stephen. Uncertain, he took it. Without a word of explanation, Amaris drew her own life. “I don’t understand,” Stephen told her, as Amaris raised her knife defensively.

“You fight me,” she ordered. Stephen’s eyes shot up. He could not fight her! She was his sister. And more than that, he did not know a single thing about fighting, he was a rather peaceful person. This was far and beyond his level of understanding and comfort zone.

Before Stephen could utter a word of argument, Amaris stepped forward and attacked him. Quickly, Stephen side-stepped away, backing out of her line of reach, his eyes darting between the knife in her hand and the look on her face.

Stephen looked back at the crowd. Perhaps, one of them would be able to help him. Whoever had shouted out before at them certainly did not agree with whatever Amaris was doing. Perhaps, they would be able to help him out.

His hope died quickly.

“Never take your eyes off of your opponent,” she instructed.

Stephen turned to face her once more. She had stepped to his right, and the two of them began to circle one another. Stephen shifted the sword in his hand, trying to find a comfortable way of holding the weapon. He had never held a sword before (or at least a real one) and was unsure of it. “Hold it tighter,” she ordered, “and higher.”

Was this some sort of fighting lesson? Amaris swung her knife down, and he easily blocked it with the sword. The side of her mouth twitched as if she wanted to smile but refrained. Instinctively, Stephen stepped backwards again. He had completely forgotten about the crowd of people watching them until they started moving away.

Amaris did not hesitated for a moment. She jumped forward, thrusting her knife at Stephen. He tried to dodge, but he was far too slow. The knife grazed his shoulder. The wound stung, causing him to cry out in pain. He wanted to take a moment to assess the wound, but he was wise enough to know that Amaris would not have granted it to him.

In anger and annoyance, Stephen knew it was his turn to attack. With as much effort as he could muster, he swung the sword, hoping for something spectacular to happen. A smirk once again appeared on her face, and she shook her head at him.

“You swing like that,” her accent was thick in her words, “you are going to get an innocent killed.”

“How then?” Stephen threw back in anger. Her smirk disappeared replaced by a mysterious and creepy smile. Was this all some sort of sick game to her? Instead of answering his question, she lunged forward and stabbed Stephen with her knife, injuring his other shoulder. Some sister she was.

Stephen pulled the knife from his shoulder. Julie raced over to him. Stephen told her to stay back, that this was his fight, but she did not care. “Leave him alone!” she shouted to Amaris. Amaris’ eyes, once more, filled with anger and annoyance. She retrieved another knife from seemingly her hair, but Stephen wondered where the knife had really come from. After all, this woman was smart enough to know to keep sharp objects from her hair, right?

While Stephen was still contemplating this, Amaris raced over and grabbed Julie, pinning her against on the cabins. She held the knife to Julie’s throat. Rage flared inside of Stephen as he ran over to them, forgetting completely about the pain in his shoulder. “Let her go!” Stephen roared.

And while Stephen had never been a particularly violent person, he did not hesitate before swinging the sword at Amaris, trying to draw her away from Julie. The sword only grazed her arm, but she let Julie go. Jules coughed and stumbled into Stephen’s arms. She was trembling, her fear personifying itself.

Stephen turned to demand an answer from his sister, but she was looking at him with a sad expression.

“Do you see?” she inquired. “Family means nothing here.”