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.”
***