The Child Inside Their Soul Was Seen

Asaya was bored. Ova and Willow had gone off to go find the other flags, and she held her own pink flag under her arm as she impatiently tapped her foot on the dirt ground. “Man, this is no fun. I want to watch a fight. Tell me what’s happening, Elkan.”

Her creation was standing right beside her with a smug look, arms delicately wrapped inside his large sleeves as his long ears wiggled in amusement. Asaya should really just be glad her flag would never get taken away so long as he was with her, considering he could keep them moving around so that they’d never run into anybody. It was a surefire way to victory, after all, and that was what was most important. Although, if she wanted action, he supposed he could give her that too.

“Of course, my lady. Ova and Willow have just met Halla and Viper. Hm… Viper doesn’t seem to be doing much, but Willow put Halla under a hallucination. She doesn’t appear to be handling that too well…” Elkan remarked casually, staring off into space as he kept check of everyone’s energies. “Hm. Nemara and Druyn went straight for Spike’s group, and she has their flag levitating in the air high above them. A clever tactic, you’ll have to defeat her if you want to get it down. You won’t be able to casually or secretly steal it that way.”

“Huh? Couldn’t Halla, Druyn, or Viper do it, though?” Asaya remarked in response, invested in Elkan’s deadpan storytelling as she gave her reasoning. “Halla can fly, Druyn can jump up really high and just grab it, and Viper can elongate his snakes to reach it and take it, right?”

“Hm, I have a few things to say to that, my lady. Halla’s large form isn’t exactly subtle, Druyn is Nemara’s teammate this time around… otherwise it might be plausible, and Viper can’t extend his snakes that far up, as he does have a limit.”

“Maybe if Viper climbed a tree and then reached for it?”

“Your creativity never ceases to amaze me, my lady.”

“That’s a compliment, right? That sounds kind of backhanded,” Asaya frowned, at the same time Elkan relieved an amused smile.

“Take it however you want to,” he shrugged carelessly, before he scanned the field again, emerald green eyes traveling all around the field as he took in the different positions. “Hm. I don’t think anyone knows where we are or is paying attention to us. Nemara is overpowering Lumis and Clementine, while Druyn is targeting Spike… hm, these don’t seem to be good matchups. Nemara is far too flexible in her attacks while both Lumis and Clementine are solely close-range fighters. Not very compatible at all. Spike would be the only one who stands a real fair chance against Nemara, since he can match her long-range capabilities, but Druyn is keeping him too occupied to do that. This feels a bit unfair to watch.”

“Ahh, well, Nemara’s always been amazing,” Asaya grumbled, crossing her arms tighter around herself as she squeezed the flag. “Gets on my nerves. Why is she so perfect?”

“Hah. In every way except her personality, right?” Elkan laughed with a jeer, and Asaya met him at his level to laugh as well.

“Yes, exactly! She has such a pretty face until she opens her mouth!”

“Hehe, I wonder what she’d do if she heard you say that,” Elkan chuckled to himself, slightly sinister with his words as Asaya gave him a questioning look. She was about to ask what exactly he meant by that, slightly taken aback that he’d given that much thought towards Nemara’s character when he was usually so self-centered and selective with the people he focused on or cared to remember. Although, she suddenly froze when his face stiffened, his sleeves shuffling slightly as he moved his long cuffs to cover his mouth, a habit he often had when he was trying to hide any discontent. “Well, that’s not good.”

“Huh? What’s not good? What happened?” Asaya immediately fired out, Elkan’s light green brows furrowing slightly. His whitish green hair was flowing gracefully down his back, and a few loose strands moved as he shrugged his shoulders up and down, examining the energy field with more intensity than before.

“Willow doesn’t look to be doing so well,” he explained after a short moment, tilting his head to the side behind his sleeves as he stared off into the distance, and Asaya quickly looked that way to find dark purple and black waves rising up from the trees, circling a wide area as it slowly began to thicken. And Elkan’s words were heavy in her ears as he acknowledged, “It looks like they’ve lost control. A pity. They have such a strong power, it’s a waste they don’t know how to harness it properly.”

…well, that was one way to look at it. But when Asaya wathched that swirling monstrosity, it made her mind begin to think. All of that power, all of that pain... Willow's deep self-loathing that was ingrained into the very pits of their being... everything she'd seen in them until now, until this very moment...

“Hold the flag,” she demanded, shoving the pink stick right into Elkan’s chest as she began to walk forward, every step with unshakeable purpose. “Stay here and don’t let anyone get it. I’m gonna go help.”

“Huh? You, help?” Elkan scoffed in disbelief, immediately going forward to tug on her shoulder to bring her back, which she stubbornly pulled away from. It made him scowl, and he couldn’t help but give a demeaning glower as he snarled, “What do you think you can possibly do? Get yourself hurt?”

But Asaya just jerked herself further away when he tried to grab her again, giving Elkan a forceful glare as if in warning. “I can always put you away for now,” she threatened coldly, her creation’s eyes widening in shock that she’d even suggest such a thing.

In Elkan’s mind, he just didn’t understand. The goal here was to win, wasn’t it? So why was Asaya risking herself just for some pathetic mop who avoided her? To even think of suggesting she erase him from reality for a time just because he was focused on the goal! Seriously, what was her deal?

He was so shocked he barely noticed it when she started running towards the growing madness, and by the time he saw that she was already gone, he merely cursed and whipped himself around, chucking the annoying pink flag onto the ground before staring at it.

Stupid flag... stupid Asaya, stupid trial.

But... he had a job to do. And Asaya had asked him to care for it. She might be acting difficult, but she'd trusted him to do something... so he begrudgingly bent down and picked it back up, before stalking off in a random direction where no one was. Although, that wasn’t very difficult to find, considering everyone was all crowded in one place. He was determined to at least keep this flag safe and possibly win the trial for her while he was at it. Let's see if she threatened to put him away again!

But Asaya couldn’t help the way she ran. Her mind was running with her, working fast as the spiraling black vortex became closer and closer. It seemed to cage Willow in its grasp like a monster trapping a victim in its jaws, and she finally, finally began to understand what she couldn’t before. Why Willow was so scared of themselves. Why Willow rejected their power, despite how beautiful it was. And Asaya looked on at the mass of dark energy, hallucinations brewing in its toxic mass as she began to reach out. Her fingertips brushed the madness, and in her cool, stable mind, she felt the pain behind it. She felt the loneliness, the grief. She felt the loathing, the fear, the chaos.

And she wasn’t the only one standing there. The rest of the class had already been gathered, barely dragged out just in time by Lumis’ quick thinking, who’s powers of perfection turned his rusty sword into the exact thing they all needed… hooks and wire. The hooks latched onto everyone's clothing and threw them out, of the building vortex although the sacrifice was that he’d been left inside… along with Halla, who’d already been unconscious. Two people were in already danger, and as Nemara watched her old friend touch the edges of the dark inferno, she felt furious beyond all belief.

Just what did Asaya think she was doing?! It didn’t matter what kind of broken relationship they now had with each other, that was insane, and you better believe she was going to do something to stop her! Nemara walked forward, about to reach out and grab Asaya’s shoulder, when suddenly, a large white feather came flying at a fast velocity to land right in front of her foot. It stopped her, its precision deadly as she repressed a tremble, only to carefully look up and see Pegasus flying above her, the meaning in her eyes clear. Leave her be.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

But… but how could she do that?! This was Asaya they were talking about, the girl that meant absolutely everything to her, whether the other realized it or not! How could she let her put herself in danger? Nemara would never be able to forgive herself if a single hair on Asaya’s sweet head was ever harmed, not when she’d had the ability to prevent it.

Except, suddenly, a crystal-clear voice rang out amongst the raging chaos, and Nemara suddenly understood what Pegasus meant. Asaya had figured it out. The method to navigating Willow’s magic wasn’t fear, or suppression, or hatred. It was… understanding. And the key to understanding such a power was recognizing that it was a reflection of the soul. Some people forget that simple fact that they’re taught in their youth, too caught up in either grandeur or usefulness, but to Asaya, it was how she understood both herself and others. And Willow’s soul… it was hurting.

“I get it. It’s lonely, right?” she smiled sadly, her soft voice echoing through the chasm in front of her, desperately hoping the other was listening. “I understand. Having power without purpose is scary, isn’t it? It makes it hard for people to reach you. But I’m still going to try, okay?” she told the dark fortress, before she took one small step inside. And then another. And Asaya found herself wrapped in the screams and cries of a small child clawing at the ground, desperate for someone to find them, to see them.

“It must’ve been difficult all this time, huh?” Asaya voiced aloud, unsure whether or not she was talking to herself as she pushed forward, the dark winds trying to push and reject her from the space she was fighting to be in. “I can see why you’re scared. This power can be dangerous. It’s strong, and it can be overwhelming to use. I see that, but—” she paused as a sharp black spike jabbed at her mind, trying to pry her open to force her to see what Willow saw. But Asaya merely let it pass, keeping her breathing calm and center as she gave a small smile, accepting the attack with grace.

“I get it. You want someone to see you, don’t you?” she spoke to the magic, and she felt Willow’s soul reacting to her as the winds began to calm, just a bit. “You want someone to see what you see. You want someone to understand what you experience. That’s why your soul latched onto this power, because with it… you can show people the type of hell you’ve been living since as long as you could remember. Is that right?”

The winds reacted harshly to this, and a loud, screeching voice hollered eerily through the darkness, painful in Asaya’s ears as it screamed, “NO!! SHUT UP!!”

Although it was cancelled out by a soft person’s cry, Willow’s frail voice croaking in the darkness as their voice shook terribly. “No, no… I’m sorry…” they trembled, eyes wide as they clutched the trunk of the tree with all of their might, forehead knocking into the hard bark as they trembled and tried not to cry. “You, you’re right… I want people to understand, but it only hurts them… I’m sorry, I know I’m wrong, I’m so sorry… I promise I don't want to feel this way, I know it's selfish... I don't, I don't deserve to be seen at all, I... I'm so sorry,” they sobbed out, and Asaya could almost feel the way their chest must be shaking. But…

“Why are you apologizing?” Asaya threw out there, pausing briefly in the swirling darkness as she stopped to listen to more of Willow’s soul, it's sheer beauty utterly captivating inside this dark hell. “You shouldn’t apologize for wanting to be seen. I think everyone wants to be understood, don’t they?” she spoke, and as if reacting to her very words, the black vortex cooled ever so slightly, the winds turning soft and curious as they poked at Asaya’s mind. In reaction to her question, whether voluntary or not, Willow’s soul was listening. And so she continued. “You know, Willow, have you ever thought about what you wanted to do with your power? I know it seems too scary to use it, and you probably don’t want to, but… I think that would be a waste.”

Its attention caught all over again, the winds circled Asaya even further, crawling over her skin as it hissed out, voice distorted and curious, “Why? Because it’s powerful?”

“No, not that,” Asaya corrected gently, accepting the way the power rested on her shoulders as it probed her mind, accustoming itself to the feeling of her soul with great comfort. And Willow, who was still leaning tightly against the tree, felt the entire shape of their world crumbling the moment Asaya gave a small hum, voice pristine and pure as she spoke sincerely, “Because it’s beautiful.”

“What?” Willow gasped, the winds finally lessening enough for Asaya to move forward, as if giving her permission. “B… beautiful? No, no, you’re mistaken, it’s not…”

“Why isn’t it?” Asaya questioned through the darkness, following the sound of Willow’s broken voice as she maneuvered around trees, the darkness so consuming she could only see a few feet in front of herself. “You could let anyone see anything with your power. I don’t think it’s as cruel as you believe it to be. You could help a blind man see, a deaf person hear. If someone was struggling to sleep, you could let them have a comforting dream. If someone is upset or scared, you could give them a happy vision to calm them down. Your power is a beautiful tool, Willow. It’s kind, and gentle. But only if that’s the purpose you give it,” she smiled, finally coming in sight of the crumbled person on the forest floor. Their eyes were glowing a bright lime green, their dark skin stained red with puffy cheeks and chapped lips. “So I’ll ask you again, Willow. Have you ever thought about what you want to use your power for? Right now, to me, it looks like you're just drifting. You don’t have any direction, you don’t know what you want to do with it. But, if you were to give your power a purpose… a purpose you truly, truly want it to have… what purpose would you give it?”

Willow blinked at her almost pathetically, sitting themselves up on the tree as they stared at Asaya, wide-eyed and trembling. Their panic hadn’t subsided, and as they crawled a bit closer to the girl standing in front of them, they groveled on the ground, eyes welling up with more fresh tears as they admitted miserably, “I, I want to help… help people! But I can’t, I can’t… I’m a horrible person, and I’m dangerous, and broken, and I, I'm horrible and I, I… I can’t…” they strained out, voice hiccupping as they broke out into a fit of coughing, chest heaving and neck jerking as they nearly collapsed, only for Asaya to quickly kneel down and support them.

She brought their head onto her shoulder, gently stroking through the messy strands of grey hair as she soothed them, Willow instinctively struggling to get out. This wasn’t right. They might taint her with their ugly darkness, with their flaws and defective traits... they might hurt her if she got too close, they could cause her pain, they didn’t want to cause her pain, they didn't want to hurt her, they didn’t—

“You can,” Asaya’s voice suddenly cut through the storm, and Willow’s struggling ceased as they suddenly fell limp, unable to move as their jaw quivered up and down. “You can help people. If that’s the purpose you want your power to have, then it’s that simple, right? I think that purpose suits you,” she smiled, gently rubbing her hand against their back as Willow’s voice caught in their throat. “You’re a kind person, Willow. And I see a lot of potential for your power to be kind, too.”

Potential… potential to be kind. Willow felt like their brain must not be processing words correctly, because… no had ever said that before. Everyone always told them they had the potential to be strong, and the potential to be dangerous, but… never kind. It felt like a breath of fresh air had finally wafted over them for the first time in a long time, and Willow suddenly felt like they could finally breathe again as their arms instinctively moved up to claw at Asaya’s back. Their eyes were wide and their lips were trembling, and their mind was desperately trying to process those simple, simple words. Simple words that had never been said to them before, but simple words they’d desperately needed to hear. Words that said they could be kind. Words that said they could be gentle. Words that confirmed they were seen.

It felt like a miracle. The entirety of Willow’s emotions were suddenly on full display as they began to cling to Asaya with all of their might, greedily trying to get as much contact and comfort as they could possibly receive as they broke down in her arms, messy tears crawling down their face as they wailed, the child inside their soul having finally been seen for the very first time. The resentful, misunderstood voice that had been haunting them ever since they awakened their power finally subsided, and Willow’s mind felt crystal clear as the dark vortex dissipated in an instant, whisps of dark and purple waves disappearing and fading back into their soul as the crowd gathered, stunned the powerful display.

They watched Willow cry into Asaya like they’d never cried before, and they watched Asaya cradle them like they were the most precious thing she’d ever held. Nemara watched, eyes wide at the scene before her, as she let everything sink in, as she watched the girl of her past hold and comfort someone that wasn’t her. As she watched her save someone who needed saving, like she always used to.

Asaya had always been like that. She saw the pain in others and felt the need to reach out, like a flame guiding the way for those lost in dark, deep caves. And like moths drawn to that bright, shining flame, people followed her, and Nemara was no exception. Because right now, more than anything, she longed for that embrace. She longed to be cradled in Asaya’s gentle arms, to have her hair be stroked while soft, loving whispers told her everything was going to be okay. Nemara wanted that more than anything else in the world.

Though, right now, she supposed she could still be happy. Because if Asaya still had the light in her to extend her hand to others, then that meant she was still the Asaya that Nemara had fallen in love with when they were kids. And for now, knowing that was enough to keep her satisfied.