IceShine

II

I am staring at them without believing my eyes... Why? Why are they here? How did they find this place? I can feel the panic rise in me, under their intent gazes.

"Aren't you from our school?" asked Miranda, looking at me bewildered.

I stay quiet without knowing what to say... So I did what I know won't help much, but still it's my only chance... turn away from them and run.

But John runs behind me and quickly caught up with me. He takes my arm and turns me to face him. Immediately, his eyes find mine and captures them. We stay like that for a long time. I can’t stop looking at his beautiful eyes.

Then, we hear someone clear their throats, and turn towards Miranda, who is standing there looking at her brother with a smirk on her lips.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have more important things to discuss..."

At the end of her sentence, she turned her attention to me and her eyes have a mischievousness to them. At that I just roll my eyes.

"What exactly do we have to discuss?"

I say exasperatly.

"Actually... considering your... powers... absolutely nothing with me and John."

Then she takes my arm and starts running, with me right behind her.

…

When she finally stops running, we are outside a beautiful house. It has two floors, and it's made out of bricks. It has many windows, but before I could notice anything else, Miranda pulled my arm and dragged me inside.

When we get inside, Miranda continues to drag me towards a room with couches and a huge fireplace at one corner… meaning it could only be the living room. Its walls are a light blue and it seems quite cozy.

Miranda puts me to sit on one of the couches, winks at me, and then goes out of the room. I stared at her speechless. John comes inside a few moments later, and looking at my shocked state, he chuckled.

"Yes, that's how she always acts..."

I turn my eyes to him. He is leaning against the door frame, and looks at me with a crooked smile.

"I see..."

Then an awkward silence settles between us, while we just stare at each other. I clear my throat and break eye contact with him.

"Why did she drag me here?"

He just smiles, and comes to sit next to me on the couch.

"You'll see... Don't worry, we won't kill you. Do you want anything to drink while we wait for her?"

I sigh and reply without looking at him, afraid that if I do so, I won't be able to articulate even one word.

"No, thank you."

Then the silence returns. But he won't stop staring at me. I ignore him and focus my gaze out of the window, looking at the trees.

A few moments later, Miranda comes inside and I give her the coldest and meanest look I can muster. But when my gaze falls on two people behind her, my eyes open wide.

"Mom, dad... Here is Lila, our new classmate."

The middle-aged couple just looks at me in wonder, and I distinguish the wet eyes of the woman. What the hell?

The woman seems to be in her 40s, and she's quite petite, with big blue eyes and light brown, short hair. She wears a long brown dress with some beige leaves over the top of her stern, matched with brown boots.

The man is so tall, that I've got to elevate my head a lot to look into his eyes. He's quite intimidating, and has an air of strictness in him. His hair is total black, while his eyes are in the same honey color as his brood. He wears black trousers, with a white dress shirt, and black dress shoes.

"I can't believe it... Are you really sure it's her?"

The woman says, ready to cry.

"Yes, we're sure... We saw her using her powers..."

Says John, nonchalantly, from beside me. Okay, what the hell is going on here?

"Oh, you should just have seen her! She was totally amazing, whooping that monster's a*s!" says Miranda, excited.

"Watch your tongue, young lady!"

Said the man, quite strictly… yeah, definitely strictness overload.

"But Daddy, I can't explain it any other way!"

Says Miranda and stucks out her tongue at the strict look her father gave her. But me, having enough of all this s**t, just sands up and turns to look at them.

"Excuse me for interrupting your little conversation, but I would be glad if you would stop talking about me, while I'm in the same room!"

The couple turns and focuses their eyes on me again. The woman then smiled at me, and says with a gentle tone.

"Please sit. We'll explain everything..."

I look at her for a little while. I sigh and sit down again next to John. Miranda sits in the big armchair, and their parents sit to the couch just opposite me.

"First, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Fiona Korlin, and this is my husband Jason Korlin. It's really nice to meet you."

Korlin? Now that I hear this again, I believe that I have heard this name before today… I try to seem polite and smile at her.

"Likewise. My name is Lila..."

"Handbond..."

Sir Jason interrupts me, my smile falls and I feel my eyes bulge out of their pockets. How in the world does he know my name? I give him a suspicious look and say:

"How do you know my name?"

He just gives me a crooked smile, like the one that John gave me earlier. I see the resemblance...

"Lila... we knew your parents..."

Says Fiona and my world seems to fall apart with only that sentence...

"How..."

"Your father was one of my best friends from childhood... we knew each other since we were in our diapers..."

Says Jason calmly and I feel myself tremble.

"We know about your powers and you being the Selinor..."

Oh, boy... this is gonna be a hell long day!

…

Long ago, there was a flourishing kingdom. It was beside the sea, with a view of a whole forest, that separated it from other kingdoms and made it cut off. The kingdom owed its flourish to magic, and to the people who could control it: the Elemental Warlocks. The Elemental Warlocks were those humans who were born with the ability to control the magic in one element of nature. Humans in the majority were born with abilities like these, so it was really rare for someone to be born without magic at all.

The royal family was chosen by an essential condition: the heir to the throne was born with two types of magic in him. That means he had the ability to control two types of element. They were named the Selinor, and this ability was given to them by heredity. They ruled their kingdom with power and gentleness, and the people, even those who were not Warlocks, loved and respected them. But, as always, things were not gonna stay peaceful for ever...

When the humans who could not use magic learned of ways to conduct it, they started to think that they could do everything. They came in contact with other no-magic humans from other kingdoms and learned that only they knew how to do it.

So they tried to speak to the king to expand their kingdom across the whole world known to them. But the king had none of it... He thought that they wouldn't be welcomed by others for their powers and it was better for the kingdom to stay how it was… hidden. He didn't want to use magic at the expense of innocent and powerless people. The other Elemental Warlocks agreed with him, and they continued to live their peaceful life.

But the no more magicless people had other plans. Magic gave them the idea that they were unbeatable. And they decided to overthrow the king and his family, to take the reins of the kingdom and take over the world. But they were too small in number for them to win against strong Warlocks. So they infiltrated the neighboring kingdom and recruited other magicless humans, and taught them how to use magic. When they came back to the kingdom, everyone was celebrating the birth of the new prince.

Then, they understood who was going to be their first target: the newborn prince. If he were dead, then no one could stop them. They began the attack immediately after they got inside the walls of the kingdom. One would think that the Warlocks would be more powerful, but they underestimated their enemies.

You see, the Warlocks were able to use only one element. But the humans, could use more because there was no specific kind of magic in them. When they started to fall one after the other, and the situation was so bad, that even the king was badly hurt and dying, they understood that they had lost and did the only thing they could: protect the prince.

The king ordered his arch commander, who was also his best friend, to protect his son with his life, and then died in his arms. The commander then took the strongest Warlock with him, and the child's nanny, who was also a Warlock, and went inside the forest. There, they found a cave, and made a gate to another world, where the prince would be safe. Or so they thought... Because the leader of the humans had followed them to the gate. And he was still trying to kill the last prince...

…

"Many years passed, and these people lived their lives peacefully in that new world. And even though some got estranged, the arch commander's family stayed close to the prince's family, protecting the prince's descendants, from the ones who want to kill them…"

"Yeah, Sir Jason, I know that story all too well... Where are you going with this?"

I say exasperated... He stares at me with a serious gaze, and then he gives me a melancholic smile.

"You're the prince's descendant... I guess you know that, right?"

Oh, yeah, I know really well who I am, and who I am supposed to be. I have been trained by my father since I was 4.

"Yes... I am the Selinor."

Then silence settles for a while, and I start thinking... And then, it clicked. I remember my father talking about a really close friend of his, who was living far away. He had told me then, that when I grow up, I should be really close friends with his kids... Then, I didn't understand why I should be friends with someone my father wanted me to be.

I was never good at making friends, so that meant me being uncomfortable with someone that my father wanted me to supposedly be "BFF" (his words, not mine)... And now why were they here? Why weren't they here 2 months ago, when my parents died? And why John, and Miranda should become my best friends?

And, at this point, I remember my letters… the letters I sent over those two months on that name, that suddenly, was more than familiar… Korlin.

At that, my eyes shot open and I looked at everyone in turn, and staying focused on Mister Jason.

"You're that commander's descendant, right?"

Sir Jason looked at me and smiled... and this time it was a genuine one. I let my back fall on the back of the couch, and let my gaze focus on the small table that separates the two couches. He lets the silence settle, but after a few minutes he breaks it.

"I'm so sorry that I wasn't there when he... died..."

And that's what makes me explode. I stand up and scream at the top of my lungs.

"Why? Why weren't you here? He used to talk about you so much! He always said that if I wanted something and I couldn't talk to him, you would always help me, even if we haven't ever met each other!"

"Lila..."

I hear John call my name, but it's far away... I'm far too gone.

"Just tell me, why!? Why, after all the letters and all the calls I made you, not only you didn't show up, but you didn't even answer me!"

Fiona stands and comes to me.

"Relax, my child... Come and sit down. You're hyperventilating..."

Her words really soothe me for some reason. I let her sit my body on the couch and I try to control my breathing... This is harder than I thought…