Unveiling

The Rebel Achkerian

Sitting inside the car, Celestine glanced at the sceneries outside, seriously thinking about the incident in the glass hall. Something isn't right, she thinks. How could Vex made up that barrier? He's not there at that time. How could it happen? How could Cascade acted mercilessly? What's wrong? What happens? Something is wrong, but I couldn't figure it out! She thinks.

"You know what, Abby? We should have visited your grandmom before that chaotic feast", Quasi's comment interrupts her thoughts. Celestine looks at him as he drives seriously.

"It's you who did not agree at first..remember?"

" Hey Cel, you're quiet there", Quasi notices her silence, he looks at her in the rearview mirror.

" Nothing, I am just thinking, " Celestine replied.

" What are you thinking?", Abby looks at her.

" Like if you guys are ready to give up your powers for the sacred stone's sake"?

" Well...my mom agreed on that! She doesn't care about our gifts! She feels it's so little that it doesn't matter", Abby said pouting.

" And I guess the oldies of Auribus clan are like my mom. " Abby sighed.

" How about your siblings"? Quasi asks.

" My brother's decision is influenced by mom". Abby replied. She sounds serious and sad.

Celestine looks at her. She's not giggling now. She's a happy adventurous type of person but now she's sounding depressed.

"Oh I see... unlike my brother Dylan", Quasi said.

" Why what about Dylan?" Celestine interrupted the two.

" My 9-year-old brother doesn't want to give his powers to the sacred stone". Quasi answered.

" My family and the rest of Auribus agreed to give it except me", Abby said.

" Me too, I think it's not a good idea", Quasi replied.

" Yeah, really not good."

" Not that it's a bad idea guys, I think Cascade is lying," Celestine commented.

They gazed at her.

" You felt that too?", they said in chorus.

" Yeah...so let's find out if it's valid."

They arrive in a large old white rustic house that's set in the countryside. They were told to go upstairs and wait for Abby's Gran in the library instead of in the living room. Though wondering, they obeyed what the housemaid had told them. The library looks old. They could sense the aroma of books, dark interior, with long couch on the sides and black wooden table in the center.

" Why would my Gran asked us to wait here?", Abby commented.

" Because no Auribus or prophets could hear and sense us in this room",

A voice from their back replied to Abby.

" Gran!", Abby runs to her and wraps her arms around her waist.

Adaia is an old lady with, slim figure, a strict-looking face, and short wavy hair.

Adaia proceeds to the table, sitting in front of them, " what brought you here..kids?", she asks.

" Gran meet my friends...this Celestine..and Quasi", Abby said pointing to her two friends.

" They're both Astral", she adds.

" Oh, an astral", there's a tone of surprise in Adaia's voice.

" But I could smell that you're not!" Adaia looking at Celestine straight to her eyes.

" huh?"

Celestine chuckles in disbelief. What is this old lady is saying? All my life I've lived my astral abilities. She thinks.

" Acher is in chaos right?" Adaia asks.

" How did you know Gran?"

" I know it would come!", Adaia said with a raised eyebrow, " Cascade's true face can't be hidden for long", she said.

Celestine glanced at Quasi and Abby. It's obvious they're surprised, even her but she wants to dig out more. It has been forbidden for long in Achker to see people like Adaia, like her, are considered as rebels and no one is allowed to talk to the rebels. That's what Cascade told them. But with the recent incidents in Achker, they're in doubt about which sides are true.

" There are so many things you kids didn't know about Achker. The rules...the goals...and that sacred stone! " Adaia said flexing her hands sophisticatedly.

" Sacred stone?"

" yeah...the thing where you invested your hopes for all your lives....is fake!", she said.

They felt like they just heard a bomb. Their mouth loosely hangs open in shock.

" It's dangerous to make up stories like this! No wonder no one in Achker is allowed to talk to people like you!", Celestine said to Adaia.

" You're reckless!", Celestine said.

Adaia looks intensely at her for a few moments, then she curved a silly smile, " reckless?", she mutters.

" You know what's reckless?" she said leaning forward gazing directly at Celestine.

" Reckless is when you're so naive to trust every person who comes to show that they care. You're the exact definition of reckless!", Adaia said to Celestine.

" Gran.."

Celestine lost for words in a moment. She couldn't argue more.

"The real sacred stone does not exist in a physical world, nor in this world of humans or another realm, no one knows where is it" Adaia explains to them. There's certainty in her voice.

" If you'd like to see it yourselves then find for that lost history of Achker!", Adaia said, her tone is challenging them.

" Lost history!"

" But everything is there in the castle's library!"

" Not! a page in the Achkerian history was ripped off and every generation was forbidden to have a glimpse of it!

" Why then?"

" Because if they will... They're gonna see the difference between light and dark."

" What?"

Adaia glances at each of them, " You thought you were in the light but you weren't!", she sounds mocking.

" Achkerians have spent so much time in the dark that you have forgotten what light looks like," Adaia explained.

Silence.

They couldn't say a word.

Why does everything she's saying seem to penetrate my soul? That it makes me eager to dig more? to see more? Why Adaia is saying all these? Celestine thinks.

"Uhm... Gran, what was the forbidden history of Achker?" Abby asks hesitantly.

" Discover it yourselves", Adaia answered smiling.

" How can we not know the light, when we are already walking in the light?" Celestine interrupted.

Adaia rsoe from her seat. She feels challenged by Celestine's question.

" Celestine, the moment when Achkerians embraced Cascade, that's the time you began to embrace the darkness. All of you are waiting for your soul's fullest state? That's not gonna happen! Adaia said to her.

" Besides...there's an apocalypse approaching when that happens your souls will die together with this planet!", Adaia adds.

" Apocalypse?"

" Yeah...and Cascade know that! That's why he pretended that the sacred stone needs your abilities when it's him who actually needs it!"

" him?"

Abby raises her hands, " wait! Gran...this is all too heavy to absorb, " she mutters clutching to her head looking shocked and confused.

But Adaia continued.

" Only those who aren't pure Achkerians can survive the apocalypse."

" aren't pure?"

" yeah...like the astral clans...Cascade knows that, don't give up your abilities to him. He'll be using the abilities he'll gather for his clan to survive!" Adaia explained to them.

Quasi sighed a relief. At least I have a chance. He thinks.

Now, it's making sense! Celestine thinks.

Imagine how we lived our entire lives in Acher, with this stigma that Astrals aren't as special as the prophets all because our parents are ubralo? But now Adaia is telling us that creatures like us are more blessed contrary to what we believed for long. Celestine said to herself.

" What happened in the Polaris feast has long been set up by Cascade. The prophets had foreseen this event and they have kept it secret. They know that their clan is the first to be in danger which is why Cascade schemed to lose the sacred stone's energy so he could get everyone's ability. I think he is aiming to become more powerful than the apocalypse, becoming one is the way he sees he could save his clan" Adaia explains to them.

"How can this happen?" Celestine mutters.

She remembers the first time Cascade taught her how to use her power. He had always been patient and gentle. Every time she and Abby does nonsense or violate some rules in Achker, he's there to defend them from Felon's fury.

How could someone like him turn quickly into a monster? I trusted him and looked up to him despite his being snobbish, despite the feels that he's hiding something from me, besides...the people in Ackher! They've been like a family to me! Celestine tinks.

" Kids...Achker isn't a land that would make way to your fullness rather it's a farm! And Cascade is going to harvest you all...there!", Adaia said.

" How come you know all these?" Celestine asks in furrowed brows.

" Because I'm in that ripped page of Achker's history!" Adaia replied.

" You're an Auribus too?"

" No..Dear...we're not!" Adaia said glancing at Abby.

" Abby...our lineage isn't just Auribus.." she said turning to Abby.

" We aren't pure Achkerians? How come? "

" Yeah.."

"And you dear" ... Adaia sniffs Celestine's hair

" You're more than an Astral. Do not give up what's in you" Adaia said to her.

Celestine feels like her bones are frozen in perplexing emotion. Fear, shock, and relief.

I guess my whole life is a lie. And my name is the only truth I am sure of. Celestine said to herself.

" Find the lost page of Achkerian history...all the answers to your questions are there!", Adaia said to them.