Chapter 51

 

Solin’s point of view

 

The demonic figure frowned at me, his eyes narrowing in emotional pain. It was as if he was waiting for me to react first.

I myself couldn’t move – frozen in bewildered shock, a multitude of thoughts cascaded onto my already numb mind. What was he doing here? Why wasn’t he with his family? Why had his future self returned to the past? Why did he look half-reptilian? Why did he look so pained to see me?

“Why are you here?” he asked, grievously.

His voice… it was a low whisper. Quiet, weak – it was not the strong, confident tone of my former friend. Kevin’s entire mood was dreary, like a long-time sufferer of some terrible trauma.

“I can’t… you’ve been here… all this time?” I stuttered.

He sharply turned, leaving me to gaze at his back, with his two huge wings.

“You aren’t supposed to be here – go back…”

“No!” I exclaimed with hurt and firmness.

Still stunned from shock, I pushed past Leon and stood facing him, ready to berate him for deceiving everyone. However, tears were tracing two lines down his face from his closed eyes. He was crying…

“Kevin, what-”

“That name,” he snapped, shaken and distraught, pointing a single claw at me, “no longer has any meaning for me.”

I blinked. Had he really just said that? It was around this point I realised that something sinister was going on – this was, as he had said, not Kevin. My friend linked his name to his identity, and renouncing it was something he would not do.

“Who are you?” I breathed quietly.

“You know who I am – I’ve been back to see you once before.”

I remembered all too well: “On Karnak, in the treetops…the warning…”

“Yes.”

“But you, at least, seemed a little happier to see me back then!”

“I’ve changed.”

“I noticed!”

There was a sudden, awkward silence following my sharp reply. Neither of us seemed to know what to say next, like an unexpected stalemate. It was ‘Kevin’ who found his voice first.

“Leon, make yourself scarce,” he stated flatly.

The human didn’t hesitate in leaving, but he paused at the door: “Do either of you want a drink before I-”

“OUT!” Kevin barked.

Leon darted out swiftly, slamming the door in the panic of his exit. The taller Soul Creature’s anger left as the door shut, and he turned dismally back to me.

“Please, Solin: leave, don’t come back, and don’t tell anyone about me.”

“I’m not going to just leave!” I exclaimed in angry surprise. “We all thought you were dead! Trapped in Oblivion by Anubis!”

He screwed his eyes shut in pain: “That’s supposed to have happened.”

“Why?”

“Don’t question it! It’s to do with preserving the timeline. Trying to bring my present self back would be chaotic.”

“Fine, forget the timeline!” I shouted. “Why aren’t you with your family?”

“I’m not part of that family anymore, Solin,” he snarled. “I’m not who I used to be – I’m just a demon now, hiding from the rest of the universe.”

Demon? Whatever had happened to him over the centuries of the future was beyond my comprehension.

“I’ve changed too much,” he sighed, sitting down, resting his head in his scaly hands. His shoulders shook – he was weeping.

I softened, seeing him so upset and vulnerable. I carefully sat beside him on the unmade bed, reaching out to touch his shoulder. He didn’t react to it.

“You think time stood still for you?” I quizzed softly. “They will have changed too – 16 years to your original race is a long time, right?”

He sniffed, nodding.

“Then why don’t you go back to them, after coming so far to find them?”

“I tried to, but then I realised: they think I’ve been dead all this time. I can’t just …show up! I can’t do that to them.”

“It’ll be easier than you think.”

“What?” he picked up his head, heavily and stared at me intently.

“I have already met them. So have Flyer, Monsoon and Dommur.”

“They’re here too?”

“Yes, and they seem to be ready to encounter anything with our arrival.”

“No, they can’t know either!”

“Enough of this, Kevin.”

“And what did I say about that?”

“I’m calling you Kevin whether you like it or not.”

Another awkward silence, that dragged on. What was he thinking?  What did I need to ask next? Something to make his stubborn self see sense. I had to find the flaw in his argument. And it wasn’t long before I worked it out.

“Kevin,” I began calmly, intent on carrying out my plan to the fullest, “don’t you ever want to see Kristin again?”

He tensed up visibly. It was working well.

“Have you ever loved somebody, Kevin? And have you ever felt that when you were separated, you could never let the chance of losing them slip away…”

It took only seconds for him to realise I was using his own argument against him. He spun on me, enraged.

“Stop…!” he yelled.

“You think you’re the only one who’s been through pain?” I firmly put forward, crossing my arms.

He stormed towards me, towering over my smaller frame menacingly. This was risky, making him angry, but it was the best way to make him see straight. I tried not to look scared of him.

“Don’t! Don’t even pretend that you know what it’s like!” he fumed, pointing at me accusingly.

I prodded his chest with my paw in retaliation.

“I do know what it’s like! I know EXACTLY what it’s like, Kevin!”

He stepped back, bewildered. He obviously hadn’t expected such a defiant reply for me. Plus, he didn’t know my truth, my past…

“What… what are you…?”

“Sit down and shut up, so I can tell you,” I demanded, my rage rising as his subsided.

Stunned, he obeyed slowly, keeping his intent gaze on me. I paced back and forwards in front of him, contemplating where to begin.

“I have been a Soul Creature for nearly 600 years… or is it… oh, I’ve lost count…anyway, before then, when I was a mortal of the shadow race, there was a great war between the reptilian races, that even my species was getting caught in. I had just paired up with my mate, called Islaran. I was still young, you see. Soon after that, the Valedron Empire invaded our world. Both of us were killed in the initial attack. Anubis resurrected me, and after I escaped him, I went to look for the rest of my family. When I found them…”

I blinked a few tears back, chancing a look at Kevin. He was wide-eyed, hanging on my every word.

“…they ran. They fled from me, afraid. They even attacked me to keep me away. To them I was just another of the mysterious demons that had started appearing. The invasion wiped out my former species. The pain was worse when I found out… I was the last one left, and I wasn’t even one of them anymore.”

I paused, swallowing sorrowfully. “Believe me, Kevin. I know what it’s like not be able to go home.”

I stayed facing away from him for a few moments while I composed myself, before slowly turning to see his response. Eyes furrowed in empathy, he stood up, with his tears still clear.

“My God…” he commented despairingly. “You do know what it’s like…”

Without hesitation and filled with understanding, he made one step forward, outstretching his arms. Tears pricked my own eyes again – never before had he looked so welcoming. I cautiously stepped towards him in response. Uncertainty welled up in me. His former display of coldness conflicted with his current state of warmth. Yet, when I was close enough, he pulled me into his embrace.

It had been so long since I had shared such closeness with anyone before… just like with Islaran. This was not like the occasional friendly hug Kevin had always previously given me; this was an embrace of comfort and understanding. After 600 years, it should have felt alien to me… but I didn’t want him to let go. I wanted to be comforted, and to comfort him too.

“You have to go back to them, Kevin.”

“Why?”

From his confused, shaky voice, I could tell he was crying as heavily as I was.

“This is why…”

I pulled away, put both of my black paws around his left wrist, and lifted it up so he could see his hand… and his ring…

“You still have the chance to go back,” I whispered firmly. “Take it.”

Inner pain crossed his expression as his tears continued to flow. He blinked, looked down, and took a shuddering breath. Within a moment, his questioning eyes stared into mine.

“Why are you doing this for me?”

“Because…”

I swallowed, readying myself for the three words I thought I would never get to say.

“…I…I love you.”

 

***

 

 

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