There was light in the forest but not an abundance of it. The colorless trees were tall in length and mighty wide. The crowns of the trees spread wide to entangle branches with one another like a nest of grey snakes without end. The air was cold and motionless. The silence was the only companion in these woods. Silence like this made you feel like the only person alive in the world. At night, this place would presumably be the void itself. Silence in that void would make you pray to hear not a single sound. "Wake up!"
A boy wearily opened his eyes to see the branches high above him. A single glimmer of light peered through the endless tangle. "Get up, Kaen. We grow tired of waiting." The boy, Kaen, rolled off his back and to his knees. His clothes were cheap rough sack. All he had were a vest with a single worn belt securing the baggy top to his figure and a pair of matching patch-worked pants that stopped halfway down his leg. His shoes were of a flimsy leather that had the craftsmanship worn out of them a generation ago. Kaen lifted his head and stood. His smooth jet black hair was a mess, and his creamy browned skin was dry and scratched. Kaen was in a large ditch that looked near impossible for a ten-year-old to climb out. He looked towards the height of the trees. He saw two figures there, peering down at him. Kaen said nothing back. He only stared at the two men through eyes of scorn and determination.
"The boy is no warrior, nor will he ever be. We're wasting our time." Said the younger of the two men. His skin was the same rich bronze as Kaen's, yet his hair was a fierce and luscious curl pulled back into a jet black ponytail. His face was a permanent scowl with a bar tattoo under his left eye that proceeded to run down his cheek. He stood with his arms crossed in growing impatience. "We shame all of us for even allowing this to continue. Father, he will never wield the flames like us-" the man was stopped mid-sentence by a single glare. The other man turned over his shoulder. "You are not the head of this family, Junior. It was I who molded all of you into warriors." the old man turned and looked back at the boy. "It shall be I who decides the fate of our dear Kaen." The older man had had the same type of fierce kinked hair as his son standing next to him, except it was a weathered gray. His eyes were tired, and his weathered face had seen decades of combat. Despite his age, he had the stature as mighty as the oak he stood on. Their clothes were well fit garbs that seemed to be delicately handcrafted.
"Do you wish to cancel the test, Kaen? We can head back to the estate at any time." The older man shouted down to the boy. "No!" Kaen replied without a moment's hesitation. "We can go home if this is too scary for you." the old man tempted Kaen again. The determined boy reassured himself that the estate they lived on would never be his home. "You brought me here to finish this test. And I'm GOING to finish it! I'm not scared." Kaen turned and looked behind to the center into the center of the crater. He gazed upon the black crystal. The surface of the crystal was smooth as still waters and as dark as the sea on a starless night. The crystal was as puzzling to look at as it was confusing. It sprouted from the ground like an unchecked weed. Kaen heard no sound from the ebony quartz. However, when he turned away from the crystal, Kaen could've sworn that it almost made a slight humming sound.
The test was simple: grab the crystal and destroy it. Kaen's grandfather, Gundar, had explained the instructions before leaving the manor to go deeper into the woods. "It won't be a matter of strength," his uncle, Junior, said as he proceeded to join them. "It's a matter of resolve." Neither resolve nor strength seemed to matter in this test, Kaen thought to himself. "The crystal is a conduit for the fire within you, boy. All of us in the Lorrina family have it in some way. All of us have passed this test." Junior reminded his nephew.
Kaen wished his uncle would shut up. He knew he would be like this the moment his uncle decided to tag along. Kaen stepped closer to the black crystal. Through all the silence of the forest, he could hear something faint. It was like a whisper. Dozens of whispers at the same time, over each other, but still quiet nonetheless. He reached closer and closer. With every inch, he dreaded what came next. He felt himself slowing down, but he couldn't outright stop. The crystal in front of him was strange, but behind him was something familiar but much worse. Over his shoulder, he felt the eyes of his grandfather and uncle; he felt their judgment. To even turn back and look would have been a weakness in their eyes. So he continued. Kaen reached out, grabbed the crystal, and was greeted only by blackness.
"Help! Help!" Kaen was calling out, surrounded in darkness. The laces on his green tennis shoes were untied. His green and white striped shirt was dirty from smoke and wet from his tears. "Mom?! Where are you?" Kaen cried out, walking through the darkness. The pitch-black void was endless, yet he could hear the flames all around him. "Kaen?!" a woman's voiced called out. Kaen spun around; he tried to sift through the black silhouettes. "Mom!? Mom!" He was searching in a dizzying whirl, looking for his mother. He found her.
A glowing violent orange that flicker and rose. Kaen ran towards the light, only for it to morph into a blaze as he grew closer. Kaen was upon the fire, or rather, the fire was upon him. "Everything's gonna be okay, sweetie. I just need you to do one little thing for mommy, okay?" Kaen's mother said from under a pile of debris in the heart of the fire. "What do I do?!" Kane tried to shout over the roaring flames. "I need you to b-" Kaen's mother was cut short before she could give her instruction. What looked like a man turned from the corner between the darkness and the flame. The man wore rough leathers that had seen many battles and a dusty cloak that was tattered to shreds on his left side. The mere sight of the man choked Kaen to tears that were too afraid even to leave the boy's eye. The man's left arm was made entirely of metal. Strange joints and jagged steel swayed as he moved as if the hunk of metal was made of flesh and blood. Despite the abomination of war hanging from the man's shoulder, it was the face that horrified Kaen the most. The man's face had plenty of scratches long healed. All expect one.
The man's left side of his face had a hole where his cheek should have been. As he spoke, Kaen could easily see his teeth and his cheeks moving and flapping with every word of his scorched voice. "Now you didn't tell me you had a son, Cinder." the metal man said. "Stay away from him!" Cinder snapped despite her predicament. The metal man looked Kaen up and down in a disgusted amusement. "Your BOY is more of a welp, I'm afraid," he said in a gleeful tone. The man lifted his metal arm to reveal it's a claw-like hand.
Each metal finger looked like a talon from a predator bird that had no equal. "Why don't I do you a favor and help you start over, Cinder? No need for a woman like you to have a well for a son." The metal man reached back as if to wipe away Kaen's very existence with a swipe. Cinder rattled as fast she could, "Everything's gonna be fine, baby! All I need you to do is b-" but Kaen turned away to run. He turned away from the flames and away from the metal man. And in doing so, he turned away from his mother.
Kaen awoke, looking up at the branches again. His head was still dizzy. The little speck of light was right where it had always been, but it was growing dim. Kaen stood. The crystal was still there, and Kaen was in the same spot he awoke in before. His grandfather and uncle were there looking down at him. He didn't know how much time had even passed. Hours? Minutes? Days? Nothing ever made sense when he touched the stone nor when he awoke. " Try again, boy." Kaen's grandfather, Gundar, said in the same unwavering tone he had used to when he asked if Kaen wanted to go home.
Junior chimed in with, "This is too much for him. I see it in his eyes whatever the crystal is showing has hike frightened like his father." Junior looked at Kaen with the same eyes as the metal man. He had looked at him like that ever since Kaen came to live here. "He doesn't have a warrior's heart, father. Without a spark, he'll die a pointless death out there." Junior's words cut a cord that made Kaen snap. "I don't care what you say. You're not a warrior. You're just a bully!" the boy said in a single exhilarating breath. "Excuse me?" Junior asked, more in shock than in rage. Kaen began to repeat himself, "I said your not a warrior-" A loud crash and wave of heat washed over him. It happened in a flash.
Kaen was stuck in perfect stillness. He slowly turned his head to the right to gaze upon the impossible. A scorch mark that was black as goals from the hottest fires simmered mere inches from Kaen. Junior looked down at the boy. The sunlight cast a shadow that made Junior more of a silhouette than a man. The only thing that wasn't a silhouette was Junior's eyes. They had the red glow of a righteous fury that knew no restraint. Junior spoke while heat rose from the glowing red suns that were his eyes, "You test me in ways only my sister has, boy. Do not expect me to be as forgiving with you as I was towards your mother." Kaen couldn't muster a word. He wanted to tell his uncle off, but it would have only made him look more like a coward. It was better to look quiet and appear unfazed by this godly display. Junior continued, "Perhaps the problem isn't with your writer of a father. Perhaps it lies with your mother. She must not have been a warrior either." Before Junior's words could cut Kaen further, a single word stole all authority. "Son," Gundar said with no inflection as he turned over his should and looked at Junior. "You will not speak ill of your sister, my daughter in my presence ever again." as Gundar spoke, the heat was rising off of his body as wisps of flames. The flames were so hot that they were a reverent blue. Junior stared at his father, trying not to show weakness. Gundar was trying to show restraint. And feet below them was Kaen was ant staring up at two lions. "I'm scared," Kaen muttered beneath his breath. Something inside of him clicked. He said it louder this time. "I'm scared," he said as he stood upright and regained his posture. The two lions up above had not noticed that Kaen turned around and dashed toward the crystal. He swiftly reached for it and was greeted by that familiar blackness.
Kaen was in the void again. He stared at his mother, trapped within the flames. He knew the metal man was about to turn the corner. The flames were hotter now. Kaen waited as the metal man was upon him again. He had said all the same words. His mother was trapped, and she was saying all the exact phrases as before. The only thing unsaid was the part Kaen needed to hear most. He knew what this place was trying to show him. This was HIS memory, after all. His mother, Cinder, spoke through the roaring flames, "Everything's gonna be okay, sweetie. I just need you to do one little thing for mommy, okay?"
Kaen responded through his tears, "It's okay, Mom. I know, Mom." The metal man reached his vicious claw above Kaen like a sickle over rye. "I need you to be brave, honey." Cinder said through a distressed smile. "I want to brave, but I'm scared, Mom." Kaen almost choked as the truth left his lips. Kaen's words stopped the metal man's hand mid reap. "It's okay to be scared, sweetie. You're just a boy, my baby boy. You can be brave, and you can be scared. That's fine." Cinder reaffirmed, "You can be both." Kaen felt a weight on his shoulders ever since this night. He felt like he had to pretend to be the man he thought his mother needed him to be. Kaen breathed more comfortably now that he had confronted the truth. The metal man faded to dust. His mother, the fire, and even the shadows gave way to a tremendous flash. "I can be both."
A chaotic swirl of energies erupts from the center of the crater! The ominous purple light of the crystal collided and danced against a new light or fiery orange. Thunderous drum-like explosions swallowed the precious silence of the forest. Gundar and Junior felt a gust of wind accompanying the rush of lights. It felt both warm and nostalgic to the men. All of the illuminations, blasts, and sound stopped as suddenly as they'd began. At the center of the crater was Kaen in clinched awe of what just happened. The crystal shattered inside Kaen's grip into dust. He was free from the memory. The boy felt so relieved. He felt like his mother was with him in a way. He had hadn't felt her presence since that night. Kaen turned and looked at his uncle and grandfather. The look of shock on their faces gave Kaen a genuine smile. He looked in his hand at a fragment of the black crystal. He closed his palm. A faint pop came from inside his closed fist. Kaen opened his hand to see tiny bursts of fire that made a popping sound like kindling on a spit. The crystal was turned to dust, carried off on the breeze. His uncle looked shocked, but his grandfather only looked intrigued. "What kind of power even is that?" Junior asked in frustration. "We shall test it in due time. For now, The boy has earned a rest," Gundar decreed. Kaen stared at the light show in his hands. He imagined this must have been how his Mom felt to do something like this. The thought of his mother lingered for a second in the boy's mind and heart. The challenges he'll have to face in this world are daunting, and he has every right to be afraid. Somehow, accepting that fear has made him more comfortable than he's felt in a long time. Perhaps this was the beginning of a new path.