I actually remembered to grab Alan’s Em History notes after that amazing night. Thankfully, Nathaniel not only officially became my boyfriend but also offered to tutor me.
Given his personality, he was surprisingly patient with me as we worked through the material together. He had a way of retelling events of the past that made it easier for me to remember and understand what made them important to the present.
Not to mention, his special rewards were also a great motivator and made the time after tutoring even more enjoyable. Let’s just say that our tutoring sessions always ended on a high note. By early December, my grades had improved significantly, and I no longer had to worry about passing the class.
Like any typical night, we were in the dining hall, enjoying a peaceful dinner with friends, when a chill sent a shiver down my body, as if an icy cold hand had reached down and closed its fingers around my throat.
Instantly, a loud shriek filled the air. A deep and menacing growl reverberated off the walls that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I immediately recognized it. Pryia was back.
Panic ensued, and people scrambled all around us to get out of the cafeteria as quickly as possible, knocking over chairs and tables and clattering dishes and cutlery to the floor.
With a thunderous roar, the dining hall filled with flashes of black lightning that illuminated the eerie shadows of students fleeing for safety, twitching and dancing in its wake. The air grew oppressive and heavy, electrified by dark magic.
Dean was the first to react, teleporting Sara out of the dining hall and returning in an instant to rescue another person cornered by Pryia’s lightning.
Jessica was a blurry streak as she dashed across the room, guiding others through the quickest ways to escape the chaos. An overturned serving station blocked one of the exits.
The rest of us jumped out of our seats, our hands flaring to life with power, ready to leap into action. Amid the broken glass glittering like crystals, Alan reached down and grabbed hold of the overturned station with a steel grip, before hurling it to the back of the dining room as if it were the weight of a textbook. Alan stomped forward, clearing the path from the remains of broken tables and fallen debris.
A handful of students stood their ground against Pryia. With determination in their eyes and power emanating around their bodies, they launched toward the dark spirit before them. Some threw objects with telekinetic force, while others manipulated the elements to counter Pryia’s attack. Another ducked and weaved through the air, fists launching concussive energy while dodging the crackling of the dark lightning that danced around them. They continued their assault, never pausing or faltering as they fought with a ferocity that attested to their bravery.
Celine climbed up on the table and yelled, “Pryia! Let’s fight lightning with lightning!”
Thundering crackles of white lightning coursed through Celine’s fingers, sparking and sizzling with an otherworldly brightness that swallowed the shadows, briefly illuminating everything around it in a blinding flash of intensity every few seconds. The electricity roared and hissed like a snake as it danced in the air, fizzled at her fingertips, and then shot out again with renewed vigor. The air tasted sharp and metallic around me, thickening with static charge and prickling the hairs on the back of my neck.
In a sudden, deafening roar, the lightning clashed like a cosmic battle between two goddesses. Celine’s bright white lightning collided with Pryia’s black lightning in a dazzling explosion of power that threatened to consume us all.
The shock wave of immense force threw Celine backward into a table. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach, and my lungs seized in fear and dread. Celine lay sprawling across the floor, motionless like a rag doll. Finally, she groaned but didn’t get up.
“Celine!” I screamed as I started running over to her.
“Eva, look out!” Nathaniel yelled behind me.
I turned to see Pryia headed straight toward me, her form an unnatural dark mass that undulated and swirled like a black fog. The edges of the inky cloud were smudged and blurred. It saturated the air with a chilly stillness.
Her misty tendrils reached toward me, and my chest filled with dread. I braced myself for impact, forming a barrier of ice as quickly as I could when suddenly, a shimmering shield of gold energy appeared around me. It pulsed with blinding light and crackled with electricity that kept Pryia at bay.
“Dean!” Nathaniel yelled. “Get Celine out of here!”
Seemingly out of nowhere, Dean materialized beside Celine. He grabbed her hand, and before I had a chance to take another breath, they both vanished in a blink of an eye.
Still holding up his energy barrier, Nathaniel turned to me. “You ready?”
I nodded, ice and fire flaring in my hands. “Let’s do this.”
As Nathaniel lowered his hands, the massive barrier that had surrounded us disappeared. In its place, a smaller shield appeared in his left hand, and an enormous blade of translucent golden energy emerged in his right hand. Nearly three feet long, it glimmered with an intricate pattern of sparkling threads along its length and a powerful light that grew brighter as it moved in his hand, emanating a faint hum of vibration.
“Whoa!” I exclaimed, taken aback. “That’s new.”
“You haven’t been the only one training.” He smirked.
I loved the idea so much that I decided to make my own. Palms facing each other, I held out my hands and focused all my energy on the space between them. A bright orange glow arced between my palms, radiating a warmth that spread to the tips of my fingers. I pulled my hands apart, a thin stream of fire stretching between them like a bridge.
Grasping the spear of fire in my right hand, it lengthened to six feet, and the point tipped in a hot, angry orange with tendrils of white curling around it like wings and swirling flames that crackled and billowed along the shaft.
In my left hand, I conjured an ice shield, a smooth and curved arc of thick ice, glinting with a faint blue light, with cold, sharp edges along the top and bottom to better deflect incoming strikes.
“Copycat,” Nathaniel quipped with a smile.
Nathaniel and I stood side by side, ready to face Pryia. My powers shifted inside me as if they were bracing themselves for the fight.
Pryia charged at us, her eyes black with hatred and malice. She unleashed a wave of dark lightning, aiming to obliterate us both. Nathaniel reacted quickly, blocking the attack with his shield and then thrusting and parrying his sword with dazzling speed as if he were wielding a real blade instead of pure energy.
With a powerful heave, I hurled my fire spear at her, watching as it flew through the air and struck its target. Quickly I formed another, gripping it firmly in my hand before launching it like a javelin, again and again.
As we moved in against her, Pryia unleashed wave after wave of destructive black lightning that threatened to knock us off our feet. But with every strike of our assault, we drove her further back, our combined magic finally wearing her down. I could feel the strength coursing through my veins. It was as if we had become one being, a single force of nature.
We managed to push her toward the back wall of the dining hall, and I boxed her in with a wall of flames that she couldn’t pass through. Nathaniel raised his own barrier as a backup.
With one last burst of dark energy, she disappeared in a swirl of black smoke, leaving behind a mangled mess of concrete chunks, broken furniture, and shattered glass.
With a flood of relief, Nathaniel and I collapsed to our knees in exhaustion. A wave of pride washed over me as I realized all my relentless training paid off. I’d stood up to the evil spirit and held my own alongside Nathaniel. We were safe… at least for now.
Nathaniel’s back was angled slightly away from me as we both panted and, in the dim light of the room, a strange glow emanated from his right shoulder. I stepped closer to get a better look, something underneath his shirt catching my eye.
Curious, I pulled the sleeve of his shirt up. Nathaniel had the same warped Christmas tree birthmark in the exact same place I did, but his vibrantly pulsed like a mesmerizing beacon with a soft golden hue.
I gasped, staring at Nathaniel in shock. “You have one too? Why is it glowing?”
“Look.” His eyes were wide with astonishment as he pointed to my own shoulder.
I twisted my neck behind me to glimpse a faint light that ebbed and flowed underneath my shirt. As I pulled the fabric out of the way, an aureate light shimmered from my shoulder with a luminous warmth like a soft sunbeam that cast an ethereal glow as both of our birthmarks illuminated the room.
“What is happening?” I asked in disbelief.
My fingers instinctively flew over my birthmark, and just as soon as I touched it, the glow dissipated. When I glanced over at Nathaniel, the same soft golden light radiating from his back was also gone, leaving just his birthmark.
Nathaniel and I hurried down the dark halls of Empyrean Academy’s administration building, our footsteps echoing through the empty medieval corridors.
We had barely caught our breath after Pryia vanished before we rushed to the Healing Center, where Alan had taken Celine. Fortunately, her injuries were minor, and she was in good spirits, but they were keeping an eye on her for a few hours just in case.
We were still visiting her when Professor Braddock’s urgent summons came through. The images from the fight with Pryia were still fresh in my mind, not to mention our glowing birthmarks, which I still hadn’t talked to Nathaniel about.
I thought back to the Founder’s Ball when he commented about my birthmark as we sat by the fountain. If he’d known all of this time, why hadn’t he said anything or even mentioned it since? As that night replayed in my head, confusion and frustration bubbled up inside of me.
“Here we are,” Nathaniel announced, stopping before a colossal wooden door adorned with intricate carvings of mythical creatures. He knocked twice, and Professor Braddock beckoned us inside.
Though a row of florescent lights dangled from the ceiling, the Vice Chancellor’s office was dimly lit by a single lamp that sat on a large antique desk, casting shadows on the stone walls. Behind his desk hung a world map, its paper yellowed and edges frayed with age. The room smelled of musty books, which lined one of the walls, and burning wood from the crackling fireplace.
“Please, sit down,” Professor Braddock offered, gesturing to a pair of high-backed chairs opposite him. His eyes twinkled with concern as he studied us, his fatherly demeanor giving me a small sense of comfort amidst the chaos.
“Thank you for coming so quickly,” he began, folding his hands on the desk. “I understand you’ve been through quite an ordeal tonight.”
Ordeal felt like an understatement, but I simply nodded, unable to find my voice. I glanced at Nathaniel, noticing the tension in his jaw and the way he clenched his fists in his lap.
“A couple of faculty members have brought it to my attention that you both experienced a reaction during tonight’s incident.” Professor Braddock paused, waiting for us to respond.
“Yes,” Nathaniel started hesitantly. “Our birthmarks… began to glow.”
“May I see it?” he asked.
We both pulled up our sleeves to reveal the dark purple marks on the back of our right shoulders.
Professor Braddock glanced at them and nodded. “Just as I thought. That’s why I asked you here. There is something very important that I need to share with you.”
My stomach churned with anxiety as I waited for him to explain what it all meant. “Can you please tell us what’s going on?” I finally blurted out, my curiosity getting the better of me. “Why do we have the same birthmark? And what do they have to do with all of this?”
Professor Braddock looked at me with concern as he prepared to reveal the truth, the weight of his knowledge bearing down on him. His face reminded me of the day I was in the hospital, the day he revealed I was an Em. I braced myself for another life-changing revelation.
He reached for a hefty leather-bound book from his desk. His fingertips ran over the gilded script on the front cover before flipping it open to reveal a bright red ribbon bookmark tucked between the yellowed pages. He turned the book around to show us a page with an illustration of our birthmark.
“The Elysium Arrowhead.” Professor Braddock pointed to the page and took a deep breath. “According to the ancient Empyrean texts, it is the symbol of the Elysium Warriors. The mark of the Elysium Arrowhead, or your birthmarks, signifies that you are both the prophesied Elysium Warriors of your generation.”
Elysium Warriors? Wasn’t that what Pryia was? I blinked, trying to comprehend the enormity of his words. I glanced at Nathaniel, whose expression, however, remained stoic and unreadable. Elysium Arrowhead… wait, didn’t Nathaniel say our birthmarks looked like an arrowhead?
The professor continued, “The Elysium Warriors are destined to protect this world from those that threaten the balance between Ems and humans. It is believed that these warriors are fated mates, bound together by duty and love that transcends time itself.”
My heart raced as I processed this information. Fated mates? Destiny? These concepts seemed fantastical, far removed from my reality, and yet, here we were—the same glowing mark on our skin.
As the burden of Professor Braddock’s words settled over me, I looked at Nathaniel, wondering how he was taking the news. His expression seemed concerned but otherwise stoic and entirely unfazed. He wasn’t nearly as shocked by this revelation as I was. That’s when the realization dawned on me.
“You knew,” I blurted out, my voice edged with accusation. “You knew about this, didn’t you? You knew about our birthmarks. You even said mine looked like an arrowhead. You knew that we’re Elysium Warriors, and you never said anything!”
Nathaniel hesitated, then sighed reluctantly. “Yes, I knew,” he admitted, avoiding eye contact.
“Why didn’t you tell me?!” I exclaimed as I balled my hands into fists in my lap.
“Enough,” Professor Braddock interjected, his tone firm but gentle. “This is not the time nor place. But I will say that you must learn to work together, trust one another, and communicate openly. Only then will you be able to harness the power you both possess and fulfill your destiny.”
I clenched my jaw, struggling to swallow my indignation. “I still don’t understand what this has to do with the attacks?” I asked. “Celine told us about Pryia. Wasn’t she an Elysium Warrior too?”
Professor Braddock leaned forward, concern etched across his face. “Now that we know who the two of you are, I believe that Pryia’s spirit was awakened by your arrival at the academy, Evangeline. She must have been targeting the two of you all along, perhaps hoping to destroy you to prevent future Elysium Warriors from fulfilling their destiny.”
“Destroy us?” My voice wavered as fear gripped my chest.
“What can we do to stop it?” Nathaniel asked, determination hardening his expression. “How can we protect ourselves and everyone else from her?”
“For now, focus on your classes and training,” Professor Braddock said firmly. “I assure you that the academy administration is working diligently to devise a plan to handle the evil spirit. Until then, I cannot stress enough how important it is for both of you to stay out of danger.”
“Understood,” Nathaniel agreed solemnly.
I exhaled slowly, uncertain if waiting around for the academy to come up with a plan was the right answer. But one thing was painfully clear—our lives would never be the same again. We were bound by fate, and whether I liked it or not, our destinies were now intertwined.
As we left the office, my mind became muddled with exhaustion and the weight of this newfound destiny. It was past midnight, and we hadn’t rested since the attack at dinner. I didn’t want to think about anything anymore.
“Are you angry with me?” Nathaniel asked suddenly, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Of course, I’m angry!” I snapped. “You kept this huge secret from me, Nathaniel! But I don’t want to talk about this right now. I’m sore. I’m tired. I need to take a shower and go to sleep.”
For once, I was the one stalking off into the night and back to my dorm room.
