Chapter 50
Solin’s point of view
My arrival had, understandably, flustered this
human. Yet, was it luck or just coincidence that I had come across a human who
already knew this strange presence? Speaking of that presence, it was very
strong now – strangely familiar, yet eerily different.
The human now had the door open, and I
followed inside, materialising when he closed it behind us.
“Woah!” he cried out. “That still freaks me
out, appearing out of nowhere.”
“What is your name, human?”
“Um… Leon. What’s yours?”
“Solin… now where is this Soul Creature?”
He raised an eyebrow: “Oh, so that’s what you
guys are!”
“Just go get him!” I snapped.
He held his hands up defensively and moved
backwards towards a closed door. Carefully, he knocked on it.
“You in there, buddy?” he called inside.
A faint yes drifted from the closed room. Leon
slowly opened the door, revealing a dark haven in which a single creature,
shrouded in a black cloak and cowl, sat perched on the end of a bed. I gasped
as I sensed the power emanating from his Aversion – once again, strangely
familiar, yet eerily different.
Leon walked in front of him and whispered
short explanations to him. The creature stiffened, inclining his head.
“… had no choice … it trapped me …” Leon
continued, as I caught snatches of the exchange.
“…you let her in?”
“…didn’t want to get killed… how do you know
it’s female…didn’t mention that yet…”
“… met before… recognise her Aversion…”
“…what’s a-?”
“…I’ll explain … but not now…”
The creature now stood up, at least 7 feet
tall, the lengthy cloak falling around his shoulders. He pulled his cowl back,
and turned. My yellow eyes widened to their full extent at the visage before
me, dumbstruck. In a sudden, enlightening rush, I realised what had happened,
memories of words creeping from years long past:
“I’m not the Kevin you just argued with. From
my point of view, that happened over 300 years ago.”
“You’re…”
“…from the future,” he finished for me.
“It can’t be!” I breathed, staring back at
him. “K… Kevin?”
Brian’s point of view
“So who is this Zakkar guy, anyway?” I
quizzed, looking to Flyer as he perched on the arm of the couch.
“He was a Soul Creature – a spirit like race.
He was a very close friend… and a saviour.”
I perked up: “Saviour?”
“Many years ago, many of my friends, and more,
were captives – slaves. Then he came. Zakkar was thrown in with us, but he
refused to take it quietly. Within a year of that, he helped us rebel and break
free. We moved away and founded a new empire.”
Flyer paused pensively. I could see how much
the loss of this ‘Zakkar’ meant to him.
“We couldn’t have done it without his help.”
He added. “He sparked the rebellion in the slave mines. We would have all been
executed for trying to escape, were it not for his boldness. He saved hundreds
of us.”
“Sounds like a real hero,” I commented.
“To many, he was.”
An awkward silence prevailed as I fumbled
around in my head for a topic of conversion.
“So, erm… Solin – is she a Soul Creature too?”
“Yes,” Flyer confirmed. “And another good
friend of Zakkar’s.”
“Hmm…” I muttered, “I thought she seemed very
distressed when she came back. Zakkar meant a lot to her then?”
“I’d say he did.”
“Was there something going on between them?
You know…”
“Not that I know of!” Flyer chuckled. “But I
wouldn’t expect so. Zakkar was strangely resigned to never go that far. He made
friendships, but never relationships.”
“But Solin didn’t feel that way?”
“No. Though she has never actually admitted it
to any of us, she fell for him.”
“Tough break, huh?”
“Indeed…” Flyer sighed.
AJ’s voice interrupted further conversion.
“Bri, you in here?”
“Yep!” I called back, peering over the back of
the couch towards the door. Flyer looked too.
“Howie and I are goin’ to see a movie. You
wanna come, Rok?”
“Nah, I was just-”
Flyer cut me off very sharply: “What did you
just call him?!”
“Rok,” AJ replied, perplexed. “That’s his
nickname.”
“Rok of Ages?” Flyer added, growing anxious.
“Does that mean anything to you?”
“My tattoo,” I answered, frowning. “But you
bandaged over it when you helped AJ and I a few days back.”
Flyer used his teeth to rip off the bandage on
my left arm.
“OW!” I complained. “Hey!”
The small alien merely stared at my nearly
healed arm bearing my Rok of Ages tattoo. Flyer then proceeded to splutter and
mumble, more to himself than to us.
“Then you…… but we…… that’s why she wanted……
we shouldn’t have taken it literally…… but then it doesn’t matter…… but then
they don’t…… oh, dear…”
Burying his head in his wings, he moaned in
confusion and revelation.
“What’s wrong?” AJ quizzed, as puzzled as I
was.
“When we first got here, Solin told us to find
some clue about Zakkar… we had to find the Rok of Ages. We thought it was some
kind of stone monument – we never realised it referred to a person!”
“So what does that mean, then? Where do I come
into it?” I asked, bewildered.
Flyer left my question unanswered as he once
again argued with himself: “It probably doesn’t matter anymore…… but it’ll
still be important to him…”
The flying creature jumped onto my arm, and
asked with increasing urgency,
“Brian, do you have a photograph of your
extended family – with aunts and cousins?”
“Yeah, over here… I think…”
I carried him over to the photograph hung on
the wall. It had my family on it: my parents, my brother and me. It also had
Aunt Anne, and her three sons, including Kevin. Flyer seemed to take an
astonished interest in Kevin. I thought it was because he wasn’t around for him
to meet.
“Wondering who he is?” I half-smiled. “That
tall guy was my cousin, Kevin. He, uh… he was killed years ago. Oh, and if
you’re wondering why my uncle isn’t on that, it’s because-”
“-he died 26 years ago… on August 26th…” Flyer
finished the sentence for me, leaving both AJ and I shocked and scared.
“How the hell-!” AJ exclaimed.
“The one we came looking for… Zakkar wasn’t
his real name – it was only a title.” Flyer pointed at Kevin on the photo with
his wingtip. “He’s Zakkar!”
AJ blinked stepping back: “OK, getting a
little freaked out…”
“Flyer, the person you’re looking for can’t be
him,” I explained. “My cousin died 16 years ago.”
“No,” Flyer said with finality.
I cocked my head and frowned. This had to be
some huge mistake.
“His mortal body was killed… but his soul
survived…” Flyer exclaimed.
“You mean he was some kind of ghost?”
“More than that,” Flyer corrected. “A Soul
Creature… a spirit, but alive… not like a ghost.”
“How?” I gasped.
“Anubis… the one who trapped him… he is
another spirit race – the Ancients. They have some kind of legend of a great
warrior, called the Soul Warrior, who would save civilisation from peril.
Anubis was chosen to find this warrior, but he went mad with power. He resurrected
dead souls to try and find the warrior, but every attempt failed. Zakkar was
the last attempt before the other Ancients stopped Anubis. Yet he was
different… as Anubis tricked him into accepting the resurrection as a way to
get home, when he really was just using him as his experiment…”
We both gaped at the alien, unbelieving.
“Now I understand why Solin told me to find
you…… but now it doesn’t matter what happened…”
“And all this time… he was trying to get…
home?”
“It was all he thought about…” Flyer sighed.
“To be denied after coming so close… doesn’t bear thinking about…”
***
