Chapter 13: The Secret I'm Harboring
When Calista opened her eyes, a bewildered expression became plastered on her face. She realized that she was no longer lying beside the Forgotten One but rather standing in the bedroom of her old home.
Not this again, she thought to herself. She grimaced as she began to experience the same intense pain that she had felt earlier at the castle.
She slumped over before reaching up to clutch her shirt where her heart would be. With what little strength she had left, she glanced up after hearing sobbing.
Before her, she saw her own nearly lifeless body as a young child. All the color was drained from her face, leaving her skin sickly pale while her parents hovered over her with tears running down their faces.
It was almost as if she had stepped into the past, but she couldn't understand why she was seeing all this now.
Another surge of chest pain caused Calista to let out a loud gasp and crouch down to the floor while beads of sweat started forming on her face.
"How is all this possible? I must be dreaming all this," she said in confusion, pressing her eyelids shut and holding her head.
After a couple of seconds passed, she reopened her eyes, finding herself in Kalias's temple. She glanced to the right when she heard her parents begging while kneeling on the floor at Kalias's feet.
Calista's parents cried while pleading, "Please, Kalias, save our precious daughter. We'll do anything in return," while her father held her in his arms.
A warm smile touched Kalias's face. He stared back at them with his gentle, faint, blue-stained glass eyes as he approached Calista's father without saying a word.
An overwhelming sense of pity filled Kalias's heart as soon as he saw her barely breathing in her father's arms. She was drawing closer to death, causing Kalias's eyes to become watery from such a sight.
Kalias then began to speak softly and comfortingly, directing his words to her, "You poor thing, how unfortunate to be born with such a weak heart that is unable to support your body. I can only imagine the pain you must feel. You're far too young to have your life taken away from you. So why don't I craft you a better one?"
As soon as he said those words, the secret she had been harboring for her entire life, which died long ago with her parents, began to unfold before her very eyes. She had not breathed a word about it to anyone, not even Tristan or Silas.
Kalias smiled as his hand began to emit a faint blue glow while hovering it over the center of her chest. At that very moment, divine energy began to swirl around her faintly beating heart, transforming it into one crafted of crystal.
Afterward, Kalias said gently, "Open your eyes now, child; you should be feeling much better now."
At that moment, as the color began to return to her skin, she slowly began to open her eyes halfway, still sleepy. She then glanced up at her father's face, saying in confusion, "Daddy, where are we? Why are you crying."
Hearing their daughter's voice caught both of her parents' attention immediately.
"I don't believe it; I thought we'd lost you," her father said in disbelief, with tears rolling down his cheeks. Her father then nuzzled his face into his daughter's face while his body was shaking with sobs. Her mom also couldn't contain her tears and wrapped her arms around her husband and daughter.
Her father then turned to look at Kalias with complete gratitude before saying, "We can't thank you enough, Kalias. We'll be forever in your debt. We don't know how we'll ever repay you for what you have done. 'We'll give you anything you want, just name it."
In response, Kalias gave them a gentle smile back while shutting his eyes and shaking his right hand from side to side.
"Oh, no, that won't be necessary. Seeing the child now happy and healthy is a reward in itself. The only small favor I ask is that you keep this a secret between us," he said while placing his index finger against his lips, gesturing for them not to breathe a word of what he had done to anyone.
Suddenly, Calista's eyes widened in horror. The moment she overheard her father say, "You have our word, Kalias; we promise not to tell a soul," the image of Kalias projected in front of her began to crack and shatter into pieces.
"No!" Calista cried out as she attempted to sprint toward Kalias as fast as her legs could carry her. Jet-black shadows engulfed everything in their path around her.
No matter how much Calista's mind screamed at her body to run, she could only move in slow motion. When there was nothing left in her surroundings but pure darkness, she shut her eyes, letting out a scream as the floor gave way beneath her.
But as soon as she opened them, to her surprise, she wasn't falling anymore. Instead, she was standing in the middle of a forest. Suddenly, she loudly gasped as Kalias ran through her as if she were an apparition and not physically there.
She opened her mouth to say "Kal...," but before she could finish what she was about to say, an arrow whizzed past her, piercing through Kalias's right leg, causing him to come crashing down and cry out in pain.
Calista cupped her hands over her mouth, fighting the strong urge to scream over what she was seeing. As soon as she heard two familiar voices behind her, she froze, unable to move as a shiver ran up her spine.
"Hey, no fair, Klive, you stole my shot," Marcus whined.
"Sorry, Marcus, but you're just way too slow. If you ever want to beat my archery skills, you've gotta be faster than that," Klive smugly said.
Calista started to tremble, not wanting to turn around. She knew they were directly behind her because of how loud they were talking. Her lips quivered, and she felt sick to her stomach when she heard the voice of the man she'd grown up with and known for most of her life.
"That's enough. You've done well. I'll take the rest from here." Calista overheard Silas say to Klive and Marcus. Silas passed right through her as Kalias had done and walked over to Kalias, who was still lying helplessly on the ground.
"Trying to run away just like that day? You're such a coward! We haven't even finished our little conversation yet. But I wouldn't expect anything less coming from you," Silas said. Rage burned in Silas's eyes as he drove a knife through Kalias's other leg, causing him to scream in agony.
"Now, where were we then," Silas said in a voice dripping with contempt. Silas held the same knife that he had stabbed Kalias's leg close to Kalias's face, smearing some of the god of peace's own blood against his cheek.
Silas brought his face closer to Kalias's while menacingly staring directly into Kalias's eyes before saying, "I may consider making your death a more painless one if you come clean and admit to me what you've done."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kalias said in a confused voice with fearful eyes.
"Don't lie to me! How can you even live with yourself for what you've done? My eyes don't deceive me. Our father was a good man. He didn't deserve to die the way he did!" Silas hissed.
"He was kind and always put the people of this kingdom first. My family and I loved and worshipped you, including myself," Silas spat in a voice dripping in contempt, causing Kalias to tremble.
Upon hearing Silas's accusation, Calista's eyes widened in disbelief. No, Kalias wouldn't do that; he would never do such a thing, she thought to herself.
Silas took a slight pause to try and contain himself before continuing to speak. "You can imagine my surprise that day when I woke up in the middle of the night from the sounds of a scuffle."
"As soon as I cracked open my bedroom door, I came face to face with a tall, hooded figure exiting from my father's room with your face and eyes," Silas snapped.
"I swear to you, my king, that I am innocent. I did no such thing. I'm the god of peace, not violence," Kalias said with his serene face plagued with pain.
"Do you honestly expect me to believe your lies and take me for a fool? I'm going to rid the world of all you gods so that you won't be able to harm anyone again. I'm finished talking to you," Silas said before plunging the knife into Kalias's chest.
"No, please stop! You're killing him!" Calista screamed as she ran over, trying to grab onto the hand that Silas was holding the knife in. She tried to stop him from stabbing Kalias, but her hands passed right through him.
Silas's eyes lacked a reflection as he plunged the knife repeatedly into Kalias's chest, causing blood to splatter onto him.
"When will this horrible nightmare come to an end!" Calista cried out, feeling as though she was about to vomit as she collapsed to the ground.
Calista placed her hands over her ears as Kalias's cries of agony rang in them, and she wanted more than anything to drown it out. Tears streamed down her face since she could feel each jab of pain that Silas inflicted on Kalias searing through her body.
Silas, if only you would have realized that you ended up killing both of us, Calista thought to herself as everything around her began spinning before fading to black.
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