We made our way down the path again like before, but this time we were both silent. He had shared so much earlier. He just kept talking, but now I got nothing from him. And more than that, his face was looking so strange. He kept contorting it like he was trying so hard to control what was going on up there in that tricky mind of his. I couldn’t stop myself from staring.
“What? Do you just really enjoy looking at me?” he remarked quickly and then tightened his face again.
“You keep making such weird faces,” I informed him. I was about to ask him if he really wanted to continue traveling the path with me, but I stopped myself. I was too worried about giving him an out. What if he took it? Even though I had planned it that way when I first left, I did not want to be alone anymore.
I watched as his face started to relax some. His pace was as fast as ever so he had to know that others were getting closer to us again. I really wanted another break, but reasoned against it. Instead I took out another piece of a protein bar and ate it quickly. I no longer offered any to him. He never accepted it when I did, plus now I wasn’t even sure if he ate, or what he ate.
“So what do they call you anyways?” He just looked at me when I asked this. “You know, with your ability to be a shadow bat.” He laughed slightly at this comment. His laughed seemed more pained now, more controlled.
“Well it depends on who this ‘they’ is. This kingdom used to call me the devil. I rather liked that nickname.”
“And others like you, what do they call you?”
“Many a traitor, others a poor soul.” His words had come out slowly and in a low voice. Normally a person would counter a comment like this and say ‘I’m sure that is not true’, but in this case it probably was.
“I meant what is your kind? Like not human, right?” He looked at me again and then quickly back at the path in front of us as we continued to walk. I guess I had put my foot in my mouth with that comment. I mean maybe he thought of himself as human?
“I thought you meant my name, not my species.” Clearly I had said the wrong thing yet another time. I seemed to really like putting my feet in my mouth. I mean I already had forgotten that his name actually wasn’t Calypso. That was just something I came up with for him.
“Right. Calypso is my name for you. Are you comfortable enough with me now to share your real name?” I tried speaking gentler this time.
“That wasn’t my reason. Truth is my names were always given to me at different points in my life. That is how it works with my ‘kind’ as you had said.” He was smirking at me now. Good, so I hadn’t really hurt him. He was just being typical Calypso, even though we were both more wary of each other now.
“See that is why I wanted to know what those like you are called. So that I don’t say things that offend you.” His smirk grew with this last comment of mine.
“All this knowledge will not make things any easier,” he warned me. But there was just something about his smirk. It was like he was still egging me on.
“I know there are more like you Calypso. At this point, knowing more won’t hurt me either.” There. Now I dared him.
“Sigil.”
“Sigil,” I repeated. The word wasn’t exactly ringing a bell, but it wasn’t exactly unfamiliar either. “Is it Latin?” It reminded me of Latin. “Like sigillum meaning to seal?” It only kind of was making sense to me. I needed him to connect more of the dots.
“Trying to show off again I see.” I rolled my eyes at this comment. He sure was a snarky bat. “It is derived from that yes.” He seemed hesitant so I turned to face him and to really watch his expressions or lack there of. “Sigils are particular beings, maybe angels maybe demons...they are seals of power.” It was weird. I had not noticed him doing this before, but somehow it seemed like his words were coming out differently. I could not put my finger on how, but something was off.
“So you are like this container of magic?” I asked him and his eyebrows burrowed immediately.
“Not magic.” His tone was harsh, and then it slightly changed as he explained further. “Power, spiritual power. We do not use any of that magic crap.” Hmm, so there was some kind of magic involved somewhere.
“Okay not magic, but a Sigil. And I call you Calypso, but you have had many names.” I was just recapping all this new information for myself, but he was taking it all in as well. It really was a lot.
For a while after this conversation we both kept quiet. I was just absorbing it all as I tried to wipe any signs of fear from my face. Sure this all was a bit scary, but that was not just because of him. It was everything. Apparently there was spiritual power and magic and creatures in my kingdom that for all these years and I had no idea. How was all this kept from me? And more than that, did my mother know all about this? In my memory she did not seem surprised by the fog tiger and that woman. She seemed so sure for some reason, and sad. Maybe she even felt some pity for this pair in front of her. Did these creatures...I mean Sigils...did they deserve our pity? Were the fog tiger and the woman the ones that needed pity? Or should the pity be reserved for those coming up against them?
I tried to think about how this fog tiger was different from the Sigil in front of me. There was only one real difference: that fog tiger had not been alone. He had that woman working with him. So did that mean that Calypso had worked with someone else when he rebelled against this kingdom? And if so, where was that person?
Eventually Calypso suggested I take a rest. I knew we would have to continue soon and I was a bit tired, so I did not argue. I settled myself this time on the floor. I figured that same dream would come to me, and I really did not want to fling off of a boulder again.
“You were expecting me.” The shadow bat was standing in front of me again underneath that darkened sky. “You do not seem as taken back by me as last time.”
“I have some questions for you,” I told him.
“The right questions I hope this time.” Ugh. Even though it was just in my dream, this shadow bat really did seem just like Calypso.
“When you attacked the kingdom, where you alone?” It was weird to see this shadow creature look surprised, but somehow it did.
“Why have you not asked him this?” the shadow bat countered.
“Who?”
“…Calypso,” it said slowly.
“But you are Calypso, right?” The shadow bat said nothing. “You can get into my dreams. We have become connected somehow.” These were statements not questions, yet I still found myself searching his face to ensure that I was right.
“Yes.”
“I can feel it, this connection to you...to you in this form. It is much stronger when you are like this, but it is still there when you are in your human form out of my dreams.”
“Well, this is a dream. And I am in this form.” He kept emphasizing the word ‘this’ as he explained.
“So why not present yourself like this out of my dreams. That way I can really test it.”
“I can’t.” The shadow just waited while watching me. “I do not have enough power now to appear like this outside of your dreams. I need a strong power source. ” There was a bit of sorrow to his words now. I felt like I should stop at this point, but I was finally getting somewhere. So I pressed forward.
“But you were able to before. Like when you rebelled against the kingdom. So what changed?” I waited but got no answer, so I decided to share my theory. “You see when I was younger another Sigil had come into contact with me. I had forgotten it for a while, but now I remember. And this Sigil was huge and angry and on the attack. It also had a human with it, a woman. She was just the same, angry and on the attack.”
“The darkness had gotten to her.” What in the hell did that mean?
“Darkness?” I waited again, but got no response. “Please, I need to know more, my mom…”
“Yes I saw your memory,” shadow bat Calypso added softly. “It happened during your dream so we were still connected…you see this may be something you do not want to know, but I will continue if you are sure.” I nodded. I needed to know more. “ We Sigil can come in forms of both angels and demons, meaning that some of us have good intentions and others bad just like humans. In order to act either way, Sigils need a power source, a human with spiritual power. The stronger the Sigil is, the stronger the source’s power potential needs to be. Sometimes if the Sigil’s use of power exceeds what the power source can handle, darkness starts to take over and can in fact affect the Sigil as well. Their intentions and judgment become clouded and can be influenced or overtaken.” That is what must have happened. The way my mom was talking...she must have been trying to help the woman who was overtaken. That must have been it.
“Is that what happened between you and your power source? Is that why you guys started a rebellion, because darkness clouded your judgment?”
“Like I said princess, you have the wrong idea about me. My power source and I...well, we knew what we were doing. I was the strongest in the region. I was the only one who could overtake this kingdom and I almost had done it.” I watched as the shadow bat’s expression changed again from tense to soft. “But my source, he was not strong enough. I used more than the power potential he had to offer, and so we were captured.” I could feel my chest rising and falling as it was getting a bit harder to breath. I knew what was coming. It was obvious what had happened to this ‘power source’. “He, unlike me, could be harmed easily without me in this form directly by his side, so they did just that. And then they trapped me here, without a source, without any power potential to tap into. And so no way out.” His eyes were still piercing as I looked into them, but there was this strange softness to them now. He was alone. All this time he had been alone.
“So you need another spiritual being strong enough to get out?” How did he expect to find that? Was I meant to look for one once he helped me escape?
“Still asking the wrong questions I see,” was the response I got. It was like he was just trying to be impossible.
“What am I supposed to ask then?”
“Come on princess, think about it. Think about what you just remembered. Think about what you have learned, about what you have seen. What is wrong here? What is off?” He was approaching me again in this giant form forcing me to look up at him. “Think princess! It is time to realize!”
And then I was back on the cave floor. I quickly sprang to my feet and looked around me. There was Calypso leaning against the cave wall. He was staring off somewhere. I rushed over to him and practically slammed my body into his. His hands quickly were on my forearms steadying me.
“Good you are up. We can continue.” He let me go and started to move. I quickly grabbed at his arm and tried to pull him back towards me. He, however, was too strong and sturdy so instead I fell forward and against him. This did make him stop though and turn around. “What is it now?”
“Don’t do that! I need to know. What were you hinting at in my dream? I need more answers.” My words were flying out of me. I felt myself start to shake yet again. I was doing that a lot lately. His response was to put his hands back on my arms to try to keep me still. It did kind of help with some of the shaking. “Calypso…”
“I do not know what you are referring to,” he told me in a softer voice. How could that be? He had been there in my dream. And it wasn’t just me dreaming about him. He had been there himself. I was sure. I mean I could still feel a bit of that invisible connection. I could still feel that pull to him.
“But you were in my dream. I know that was you and not only my mind making it up. You even admitted it.”
“Yes...but that was me in my other form.”
“So then you do not remember what we spoke about?” Was he somehow not connected to his other form?
“Not completely. I was stuck in this daze, but I could feel I was there. I could even feel your emotions, but the details are blurry. Now can we please keep moving? We really need to." With that he released my arms and started to walk forward. I, on the other hand, just trailed behind him so I could think more.
Somehow Calypso in his human was disconnected from his shadow bat form. Somehow his shadow bat form would come to me in dreams to tell me things this Calypso wouldn’t. Why not? He said in my dream that I already knew why and that I just had to think about it, about everything. Well, he was right. Something was definitely off. Whenever this shadow bat told me something, I would have these revelations about things that should have been obvious such as what really happened to my mom. Yet it was not until he was practically yelling at me, making me think, that I would get it.
“Calypso,” I called out as I sped up to be at his side. “In my dream you said something, many things actually...but something about me having to think on my own.” He just nodded and went back to looking forward as we walked on. “You also said things about knowing about my mom, about that woman with the fog tiger, about your partner. Apparently you need this great spiritual source to get out of here, and when I asked about where to find this, you told me to ask a different question.” I took a deep breath before going on. “There is something about me, isn’t there. I mean I have no power, no abilities, and yet somehow we came together. Somehow we are connected, and somehow there is always something off...at least recently. It is like these small things that use to be normal now seem weird. Just small things, but still.” He still just nodded. Jeez. “Say something!” I shouted as I reached for him. He finally looked at me.
“Why do you think that could is?” There it was again. Something was weird about how he was speaking right now. I stopped in my tracks. It wasn’t normal. The way he was talking, but how? He slowed and turned around. He made his way cautiously towards where I was. “It is my turn to ask you a question princess,” he told me as he was almost on top of me. “Think about this whole time whenever I answer you quickly or about sensitive things. Think about how you got all those answers from me so easily.” I didn’t understand what he was getting at. “Think about how everyone else acts around you. I’m guessing there were never any secrets kept from you.” I mean, yeah. My guards always told me everything up front or...maybe just weren’t around if they were trying to hide something. “Now my question is princess, this whole time that we have been talking, has my mouth been moving at all?”
That was it. I stared right at his mouth and it never once opened or shut. It formed no words or sounds. I instinctively touched my mouth as I thought about this. How in the world was I able to hear him right now? How could I know what he was thinking like this? No way…it couldn’t be. Was I… And that was when I lost my footing and then felt something hard against my body as everything else around me went black.
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