Chapter 12: Fake
Alethea felt like Zentran had punched her in the stomach. Fake? How could that messenger bird be fake? “It can’t be fake. That’s Kejuta’s handwriting,” she insisted.
“It does look like Kej’s, but I’m telling you that she didn’t send this. Someone forged her handwriting,” the Ilmarian of Seasons told her. “You were supposed to be at Llinos around that time.”
“You must be mistaken. I was never in Llinos!”
“No, I’m not. I was with Kej when she got your message that you just arrived there,” he replied, shaking his head. “Now that I think about it, have you ever received any messenger birds from me?”
“No, not recently; the only messenger birds I got was from Kej. Why?” However, she has a hunch on what her colleague was implying and was already dreading what he was going to say next.
“Well, I sent you some for the past few years, and you supposedly replied to me.” Zen then waved his hand and produced a messenger bird. “In fact, I got one right here. This was from a couple months ago. Tell me if you’re the one who wrote this or not.”
She took the messenger bird from his hand and read its content:
I’m doing fine so you don’t have to worry about me. Like I told Marika before, I need to focus on hunting down the Dalenthi before they can cause any more trouble so I can’t afford to take a break.
The Ilmarian of Truth stared at the letter in shock. It couldn’t be!? That was her handwriting, and it did look like something she would have written except she never wrote that letter. Nevertheless, it would explain why the Ilmarian of Fate didn’t let her rest one single bit. Looking at Zen with disbelief, she told him, “I didn’t write this. Someone else did!”
“That’s what I thought,” he said. “Now do you believe me? Someone must have pretended to be Kejuta and tricked you into thinking it was her. That same person did the same thing with us by pretending to be you too. And who knows how long this has been going on!”
Alethea’s hand began to tremble as she gripped Zentran’s messenger bird. Does it mean that she was following an imposter’s orders the entire time? The blood from her face drained at the sudden realization. “Wait, if that’s true, then-”
“Priya!” Her heart stopped as she slowly turned around to see Corwin, who was grinning from ear-to-ear, sprinting toward her – unaware of the danger he was about to face.
Corwin wanted to laugh. Even though Priya had a head start, he still managed to find her. She probably thought she could evade him by changing her disguise, but what she didn’t know was that he could still track her down with that ray of light engulfing her like a halo. Bet she didn’t expect that! However, that ray of light intrigued him. When he first saw it, he was confused on why it only appeared over Priya. That was until he discovered her secret identity. His hunch was confirmed when he saw another ray of light beaming down on Priya’s Sendoan companion, whom he suspected to be the God of Storms.
“Hey, Priya!” he continued to shout as he waved his arms and continued sprinting toward the two gods. He could now see them clearly standing amidst the trees. Both of the gods were facing each other; Priya’s back was toward Corwin while the God of Storms was facing toward him. As soon as she heard his voice, Priya immediately swung her head toward the direction of his voice. He laughed again as he suddenly leaped right in front of her.
Beaming, he declared, “I bet you didn’t expect me to find you, huh?” However, his smile faltered when he noticed the reactions on the two gods’ reactions. Priya’s face has a sheer look of horror while the God of Storms stared at him, stunned. “What? Did I do something wrong?”
The Sendoan’s expression suddenly darkened. Stepping in front of Priya, he put on an offensive stance and growled, “Stand behind me, Thea! I’ll take care of him,”
“Zen, wait! You don’t under-” Before Priya could finish her sentence, the God of Storms moved his right arm forward, launching a lightning bolt toward him. A bewildered Corwin could only stand there, frozen to the spot, as it headed toward him. As the lightning bolt crept closer to him, it suddenly dawned on him why Priya changed her disguise to meet her colleague. It wasn’t so that he wouldn’t be able to find her, it was to prevent the God of Storms from finding him. Now he was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it.
As soon as Zen hurled the lightning bolt, Alethea made a drastic move. Flying over him, she rushed over to Corwin. She has to stop this somehow, or otherwise, she couldn’t live with herself. Just as the lightning bolt was about to hit him, she landed right in front of the lightning’s path and unfurled her wings, activating the barrier just in time. The hairs on her arms raised due to the intense electric atmosphere, but her barrier managed to stop the blast much to her relief. Behind her, she could hear Corwin whispered in awe, “Priya…”
On the other hand, Zen was bewildered. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Thea!?” the Ilmarian of Seasons demanded.
“I could ask you the same question,” Argus grumbled. Alethea didn’t answer because, to be honest, even she was baffled by her action. Why on Samara did she go out of her way to save the Lashival even though she now knew that the order to spare him was false? It was as if her body sprung into action without her thinking about it.
Nevertheless, she was still determined to defend Corwin even though she wasn’t exactly sure of the reason. Folding her wings behind her back, she looked at her colleague straight in the eyes and began, “Zen, you got to listen to me. He isn’t as dangerous as we thought.”
“Not dangerous!?” Zen stared at her incredulously as he waggled his finger at Corwin. “Haven’t you forgotten what he did to Resphyr?”
“I know, but…” The Ilmarian of Truth took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to explain it, but he’s different from back then. I know this sounds crazy, but I think we shouldn’t kill him.”
Zentran stared at her as if this was the first time he’s ever seen her because he composed himself. Staring hard at her, he screamed, “Don’t kill him? He’s the Lashival for crying out loud! Kej has ordered us to kill him on sight no matter what, remember? Now get out of the way and let me finish the job!”
Alethea shook her head. “I won’t let you kill him,” she declared as she summoned Aerius’s Spear. “If you want to kill him, you have to go through me.”
“Don’t be stupid, Thea! He almost killed you the last time we fought him; you barely survived by the skin of your teeth,” her colleague growled.
“I know what I’m doing, and I refuse to let you lay one finger on him.” She wanted to tell him how the Lashival in his past life refused to kill her when he had the chance, but she knew that Zen wasn’t going to believe her. He was being obstinate although she was acting the same like him at the moment. She was going to protect Corwin no matter what; not even Zen could stop her. “Argus?”
“Yeah, yeah, but I have a bad feeling about this,” the Parasitic Duermon muttered as he formed her armor.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Zen’s eyes widened with disbelief when he saw her armor emerging out of her body before he quickly recovered as he became serious. “Fine, have it your way, but don’t expect me to go easy on you.”
“I should say the same to you too,” she retorted as she aimed her spear at him. In spite of her calm exterior, she was inwardly panicking. How did it come down to this? Fighting with Zen over the Lashival’s life? By going against him, does that mean she’s betraying her friends? If so, then she would definitely face some sort of punishment from Kejuta for her insubordination, which was probably having her powers sealed – permanently.
At first, no one dared to move. She and Zen just stared down at each other as they waited to see who would strike first. Most likely, he was reluctant like she was about this confrontation. Maybe he doesn’t want to fight me because of my heritage, she thought, recalling how obsessed he was about her Aerian culture. Just as she was thinking that, he abruptly struck.
“It does look like Kej’s, but I’m telling you that she didn’t send this. Someone forged her handwriting,” the Ilmarian of Seasons told her. “You were supposed to be at Llinos around that time.”
“You must be mistaken. I was never in Llinos!”
“No, I’m not. I was with Kej when she got your message that you just arrived there,” he replied, shaking his head. “Now that I think about it, have you ever received any messenger birds from me?”
“No, not recently; the only messenger birds I got was from Kej. Why?” However, she has a hunch on what her colleague was implying and was already dreading what he was going to say next.
“Well, I sent you some for the past few years, and you supposedly replied to me.” Zen then waved his hand and produced a messenger bird. “In fact, I got one right here. This was from a couple months ago. Tell me if you’re the one who wrote this or not.”
She took the messenger bird from his hand and read its content:
I’m doing fine so you don’t have to worry about me. Like I told Marika before, I need to focus on hunting down the Dalenthi before they can cause any more trouble so I can’t afford to take a break.
The Ilmarian of Truth stared at the letter in shock. It couldn’t be!? That was her handwriting, and it did look like something she would have written except she never wrote that letter. Nevertheless, it would explain why the Ilmarian of Fate didn’t let her rest one single bit. Looking at Zen with disbelief, she told him, “I didn’t write this. Someone else did!”
“That’s what I thought,” he said. “Now do you believe me? Someone must have pretended to be Kejuta and tricked you into thinking it was her. That same person did the same thing with us by pretending to be you too. And who knows how long this has been going on!”
Alethea’s hand began to tremble as she gripped Zentran’s messenger bird. Does it mean that she was following an imposter’s orders the entire time? The blood from her face drained at the sudden realization. “Wait, if that’s true, then-”
“Priya!” Her heart stopped as she slowly turned around to see Corwin, who was grinning from ear-to-ear, sprinting toward her – unaware of the danger he was about to face.
Corwin wanted to laugh. Even though Priya had a head start, he still managed to find her. She probably thought she could evade him by changing her disguise, but what she didn’t know was that he could still track her down with that ray of light engulfing her like a halo. Bet she didn’t expect that! However, that ray of light intrigued him. When he first saw it, he was confused on why it only appeared over Priya. That was until he discovered her secret identity. His hunch was confirmed when he saw another ray of light beaming down on Priya’s Sendoan companion, whom he suspected to be the God of Storms.
“Hey, Priya!” he continued to shout as he waved his arms and continued sprinting toward the two gods. He could now see them clearly standing amidst the trees. Both of the gods were facing each other; Priya’s back was toward Corwin while the God of Storms was facing toward him. As soon as she heard his voice, Priya immediately swung her head toward the direction of his voice. He laughed again as he suddenly leaped right in front of her.
Beaming, he declared, “I bet you didn’t expect me to find you, huh?” However, his smile faltered when he noticed the reactions on the two gods’ reactions. Priya’s face has a sheer look of horror while the God of Storms stared at him, stunned. “What? Did I do something wrong?”
The Sendoan’s expression suddenly darkened. Stepping in front of Priya, he put on an offensive stance and growled, “Stand behind me, Thea! I’ll take care of him,”
“Zen, wait! You don’t under-” Before Priya could finish her sentence, the God of Storms moved his right arm forward, launching a lightning bolt toward him. A bewildered Corwin could only stand there, frozen to the spot, as it headed toward him. As the lightning bolt crept closer to him, it suddenly dawned on him why Priya changed her disguise to meet her colleague. It wasn’t so that he wouldn’t be able to find her, it was to prevent the God of Storms from finding him. Now he was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it.
As soon as Zen hurled the lightning bolt, Alethea made a drastic move. Flying over him, she rushed over to Corwin. She has to stop this somehow, or otherwise, she couldn’t live with herself. Just as the lightning bolt was about to hit him, she landed right in front of the lightning’s path and unfurled her wings, activating the barrier just in time. The hairs on her arms raised due to the intense electric atmosphere, but her barrier managed to stop the blast much to her relief. Behind her, she could hear Corwin whispered in awe, “Priya…”
On the other hand, Zen was bewildered. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Thea!?” the Ilmarian of Seasons demanded.
“I could ask you the same question,” Argus grumbled. Alethea didn’t answer because, to be honest, even she was baffled by her action. Why on Samara did she go out of her way to save the Lashival even though she now knew that the order to spare him was false? It was as if her body sprung into action without her thinking about it.
Nevertheless, she was still determined to defend Corwin even though she wasn’t exactly sure of the reason. Folding her wings behind her back, she looked at her colleague straight in the eyes and began, “Zen, you got to listen to me. He isn’t as dangerous as we thought.”
“Not dangerous!?” Zen stared at her incredulously as he waggled his finger at Corwin. “Haven’t you forgotten what he did to Resphyr?”
“I know, but…” The Ilmarian of Truth took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to explain it, but he’s different from back then. I know this sounds crazy, but I think we shouldn’t kill him.”
Zentran stared at her as if this was the first time he’s ever seen her because he composed himself. Staring hard at her, he screamed, “Don’t kill him? He’s the Lashival for crying out loud! Kej has ordered us to kill him on sight no matter what, remember? Now get out of the way and let me finish the job!”
Alethea shook her head. “I won’t let you kill him,” she declared as she summoned Aerius’s Spear. “If you want to kill him, you have to go through me.”
“Don’t be stupid, Thea! He almost killed you the last time we fought him; you barely survived by the skin of your teeth,” her colleague growled.
“I know what I’m doing, and I refuse to let you lay one finger on him.” She wanted to tell him how the Lashival in his past life refused to kill her when he had the chance, but she knew that Zen wasn’t going to believe her. He was being obstinate although she was acting the same like him at the moment. She was going to protect Corwin no matter what; not even Zen could stop her. “Argus?”
“Yeah, yeah, but I have a bad feeling about this,” the Parasitic Duermon muttered as he formed her armor.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Zen’s eyes widened with disbelief when he saw her armor emerging out of her body before he quickly recovered as he became serious. “Fine, have it your way, but don’t expect me to go easy on you.”
“I should say the same to you too,” she retorted as she aimed her spear at him. In spite of her calm exterior, she was inwardly panicking. How did it come down to this? Fighting with Zen over the Lashival’s life? By going against him, does that mean she’s betraying her friends? If so, then she would definitely face some sort of punishment from Kejuta for her insubordination, which was probably having her powers sealed – permanently.
At first, no one dared to move. She and Zen just stared down at each other as they waited to see who would strike first. Most likely, he was reluctant like she was about this confrontation. Maybe he doesn’t want to fight me because of my heritage, she thought, recalling how obsessed he was about her Aerian culture. Just as she was thinking that, he abruptly struck.
