Her eyelids were heavy. She can feel thick fluid oozing from her forehead. She thought she was having those usual nightmares where she is awake but not able to open her eyes. Then, she was cold until she felt a bit of warmness touch her forehead.
Then little by little, she heard a familiar voice repeatedly calling her, "Emy…Emy"
Dmitry saw the girl's eyes move in response to his call through the shut eyelids. With his finger pads, he wiped the blood that was sticking on her eyes. Emy's eyes felt lighter after, enabling her to open them.
The young man knelt beside her, inspecting her from head to toe.
"There is a glass shard that hit your forehead. Thankfully, it's not that deep." Dmitry explained. Emy assumed that the glass shard came from the broken windows.
Dmitry continued, "I know you're hurting, but you need to tell me. Is anything severe right now?"
Emy took a minute to assess herself. She shook her head.
The young man stood from where he knelt. He removed his coat and draped it unto Emy's body. Smoothly, he glided his arms behind Emy's shoulders and knees then carried her out of the broken-down vehicle with ease.
"I---I can stand!" Emy screamed in embarrassment.
Dmitry chuckled, "I know"
"Then put—put me down!"
Dmitry, with a confident face disobeyed, "Nah..Don't want to."
The pair started to move away from the wreckage.
Seeing that there is nothing that will stop Dmitry from this embarrassing act, Emy kept quiet and tried to distract herself with their surroundings. Genuinely being curious, she asked, "Where are we?"
Dmitry, without looking at her replied, "Takang".
They were within a void, or in the old tongue, a Takang. Emy learned what a Takang is from her grandfather and others who are training her, but it is her first-time actually walking inside it.
Takang is the 'point where the mortal realm and the underworld meet'. Emy wondered how such a place could exists. If it did, what would it look like?
Emy observed that at the beginning, they were just like in the ravine. A creek on one side and a dense forest on the other. However, what is different is the silence. There was no sound of gushing water from the creek. No breeze that rustles the leaves of the trees and the shrubs. She looked above and she thought that there must be something wrong with her eyes as she saw two full moons.
'Is it night?' she asked herself. To confirm, she looked at her wristwatch.
"Don't bother Princess. In the void, there is no time."
Emy was about to ask a question, but she felt Dmitry suddenly kept still. It was as if he was waiting for something.
"Shh.." Dmitry hushed and with his chin he nodded for Emy to look in front of them. From the bushes came out a four-legged, two horned animal. 'A deer?'
But this was not just any regular deer. It was thrice as large as the regular one and its whole body, even until its hooves was white as snow, to the point that it glowed in the dark and there was a white glowing ring that decorated its piercing eyes. Its horns were like varnished pinewood. The magnificence of the creature made Emerald gasp which seemed to bother the large deer.
Dmitry sighed and Emy looked at him with an 'I'm sorry' eyes.
As if Dmitry knew what was coming next, he knelt without letting go of the perpetrator in his arms.
The deer turned and walked slowly towards them. When it was near, the deer sniffed them, first Emy. Dmitry held her tight and whispered, "Don't shout, keep still.". Never did Emy expect that at her age, she would hear those disciplining commands intended for naughty kids. Then the deer turned to Dmitry and sniffed him. As if it did not sense any ill intention, the deer turned and walked away from them.
Emy sighed and Dmitry stood up and continued to walk. Thankfully, the intimidating creature was far from them already, as Emy exclaimed her concern as she remembered something important,
"Jade?! Jade?! Her car fell also. No! Dmitry let's go back!" she squirmed in his arms.
"Shh..calm down.."
"How can you tell me to calm down! My sister, I need to find her…she might—she might—no!" Emy will not think about it. She does not want to think about it.
Sensing that Emy started being anxious, Dmitry called out his Kowadja, "Shalang,"
And as always, the gentle fireball swarmed around them. Again, Shalang was able to calm Emy.
The young man stopped once again and looked at the girl in his arms, "Princess, I can't believe you don't know what you just did."
Emy looked confused. Dmitry continued to explain, "Your Kowadja came out and coiled around Jade's car. Just like how Elder Ziron's Kowadja broke our fall, yours managed to save them too. So have confidence that she is alright."
"She came out? But I don't remember calling her."
Dmitry looked at the young girl and commended, "You never stop impressing me Princess. It makes me proud to be your trainer."
Emy was grateful that it was a bit dark where they are right now or else, she could never hide the blush spreading in her face.
"We will find them, right?" Emy interjected.
"Of course. Your grandfather will kill me if I don't return both of you alive to him."
The reply was made to sound like a jest, but Emy did not find it funny. "He—he will also be sad you know, if you're not—not alive—that is."
Dmitry only replied with a smile. He continued to walk.
"For the meantime, we need to treat your wounds. Let us find somewhere to rest."
Dmitry walked a little bit further. At the end of the rows of trees and bushes, there was a large body of water reflecting the two moons. It was a water dam.
There were few familiar wild animals, known locally, sipping water from the edge of the dam. Emy was yet again left speechless as she also saw other unfamiliar creatures doing so. Creatures just like the large white deer they met ago. But her curios observance was interrupted as a loud rumble and flashes of light came from above.
"hmmm…that might be our way out of here." Dmitry said while studying the sky.
Just as how the loud rumble scattered the animals and creatures of the night at the edges of the dam, Shalang, Dmitry's Kowadja became flustered as well. It was too late for Dmitry to call the fireball back, as it flew away from them and towards the thick forest beside them.
Instead, Dmitry followed his Kowadja into the forest until it came to a stop at an opening of a cave. After making sure that its master was able to follow it, Shalang flew gently back to Dmitry's shoulders.
"Good job," Dmitry commended.
Dmitry finally put Emy down. After trying to look inside the cave, Emy asked, "Is it safe?"
"The Elders, I suppose, are the ones who are responsible for the rumble a while ago. I guess they are trying to open the void. But with those noise, who knows what will be bothered by it. It's safer for us to be in the cave than out there."
"But…but how about Jade?" Emy shouted.
Dmitry started to walk towards the cave while pulling Emy's arm, "Ivan is with her. I think that man is smart enough to do the same,"
Knowing what Ivan's work is within the family, Emy could not help but worry even more for her sister. "Ivan? But he is just a driver and a gardener!"
They were already inside the cave and Dmitry's chuckle echoed.
"Princess, you should have learned by now that in this world of ours there is more than what meets the eye."
Emy wanted to ask what he meant, but she saw Dmitry eyeing the cave. The cave was not a deep one. Without any light, they could see its end. Seeing that it was empty and safe, Dmitry led her to one corner where a huge rock can serve as her chair. He rearranged his coat covering her body to warm her more.
"Wait here." Dmitry commanded.
Dmitry stepped out of the cave while leaving Shalang behind. The fireball went to the top of the cave's mouth and spread its flames downwards, looking like golden fiery strands. It was the same fiery strands that acted as a barrier previously at the cabin in the forest.
After fifteen minutes, the fiery strands seemed had a door opened for its summoner. Dmitry came back with firewood which Shalang lit.
The warmth of the fire made Emy realized how cold she felt. Then it even began to be uncomfortably hot when Dmitry stood in front of her and lifted her chin. With his handkerchief soaked in water, he wiped the blood that oozed from the girl's forehead.
Being embarrassed by her own thoughts from Dmitry's misleading actions, she remained still and tried to distract herself with other thoughts, "Does Ivan have the gift? He has been working for us for almost ten years now. He never seemed out of the ordinary."
"Really? Hmmm...I'm not sure if he has a gift. But the man looks like he has something up his sleeves. Elder Ziron might have a hunch too, that is why he is keeping the gardener around. "
Emy was not convinced that Ivan might be one of them. But there is something in Dmitry that makes her trust his intuition. Maybe because of the days they spent training together and how he had tried to always keep her safe, Emy now had some form of trust for this cousin of hers. Besides, if Ivan might be able to keep her sister safe, then she will put her hopes in him.
Seeing that the blood was completely wiped off, Dmitry stopped and threw the handkerchief in the fire.
"I hope you are right to imply that Jade is okay."
Dmitry moved to the other corner of the cave, across Emy, behind the flames. He remained standing, leaning on the cave's wall with his arms folded. The flames dancing in his light brown eyes.
"I don't have any siblings. There were no children around my age in the village where I grew up in. So, this bond you have with Jade, I am fascinated by it, or rather, I'm envious."
Feeling that the atmosphere became heavy, Emy chose her words, "Most of the people I know see me as the heir of Kandas first before anything else. My grandfather, Rue, and-and even my parents. Sometimes I even feel that my parents care for me not out of love for their child but out of responsibility since the heir is their daughter.
"Jade…what Jade makes me feel is quite different. I am sure you know that my twin has a weak heart. Ever since we were children, she had always been sickly. At first, I envied her. She acquired genuine attention and love from our parents, from our cousins, and even from my friends. But then every time I see the scars on her chest, I realize that Jade did not choose to have those affections."
The air around became heavier. Dmitry stared at Emy who looked sad as she stared on the burning wood while she continued, "Have you heard about the old tradition that if one of the twins become sickly, they should be separated or else, both might die? The sick one being taken care for by another family."
Dmitry nodded.
Emy laughed, "I'm glad it's not being done anymore. I think the sick twin does not deserve to be separated from its true parents. Sometimes, it makes me think that during those time while we were in the womb, I took a part of her life. Why would I be strong, and Jade be weak? Why do I have the gift, and she doesn't?"
"I have their affection out of their responsibility towards the heir of Kandas. Jade has their affection which evolved from pity for a girl robbed of a life by her own twin. Both of us see those affections as false. The bond that we have for each other is the only thing that is true."
These thoughts were bottled up inside Emy for a long time now. Her heart felt a little bit light after voicing them out. As Emy felt years of collected anxieties and physical fatigue from today's incident, she leaned her body and head back against the rough and cold wall. Unknown to herself, she had closed her eyes and had slept.
After a minute or so, her body relaxed and Emy fell to the cool ground without her waking-up. The fire burned all the wood and died out leaving only the fiery stands at the mouth of the cave as the light in the dark.
Dmitry remained still, staring at the sleeping girl, " 'You took a part of her life'?"
Within the cave, his silent laughter echoed, "My sentiments exactly".