CALLIBRA: THE CURSED EYE OF ARAK

CHAPTER NINE

                      CAVES OF EFLIE

Isaias woke up to see himself laying in the cave, just like he slept off last night. He looked above his head and saw the Callibra —shining as bright as the first time they found it.

He sat up and he could feel his entire body ache. He was having a difficult time telling which one's better —sleeping in the dirty Mandrin quarters, or sleeping on the hard, sharp sands of the cave. 

He got up to his feet and stretched a little. He yawned a couple of times as he walked out of his cave. 

“My first morning outside the mandrin quarters, and not forced to work,” He muttered. He walked into the cave next to his, which he believed Elvio slept in.

“Elvio?” He whispered in shock of what he saw before him; Elvio was human again. He was lying naked in the cave.

“Elvio, You... You're—”

Elvio woke up and turned to him. He had no idea what was actually happening. He had just gained consciousness.

“Iasias? Why are you up so early?” He asked, and Isaias’ mouth was still wide open. It dawned on Isaias that Elvio wasn't even aware of the fact that he was back to being human.

From the way Elvio spoke, Isaias could tell he was not fully conscious yet. 

He got up even before Isaias could try to say another. 

“No! Elvio, you don't have—” Isaias said as soon as Elvio got up to his feet. He noticed Elvio was trying to throw himself up into the air. He probably thought he still had his wings. The fact that he just woke from sleep made him do things even without thinking. 

Too late! Elvio landed on his back after launching himself into the air —thinking he still had a pair of wings. That was unfortunate.

“. . .Your wings anymore,” Isaias said really slowly to complete his earlier statement. 

“Sorry,” Isaias whispered between laughs as Elvio screamed out of the excruciating pain from falling back to the ground forcefully.

“You are human now. You don't have wings anymore. That was what I was trying to tell you,” Isaias said between chuckles. 

“Yes! Yes! I'm human again, we are both human! Thank goodness, I can feel my skin again,” Elvio said as he rushed, hoping to embrace Isaias, and Isaias moved aside quickly. 

“I think you should get yourself some clothes to wear first,” Isaias said, drawing his brows together.

“Yes! Right!” Elvio replied,and they both laughed. 

“Do you think that others might have transformed too? Do you think we are all back to being human?” Elvio asked, and they both looked at each other quickly, receiving the same thought at the same time.

“There's only one way to find out, right?” Isaias asked, and they both rushed out of the cave. They walked into the next and saw that Dalmatius was also back to being human. 

“Dalmatius, Dalmatius, wake up!” Elvio called to him and he groaned. Waking up, he opened his eyes and looked at them in shock.

“Catch this!” Isaias shouted to him as he cast a tiny rock towards him. Dalmatius caught it.

“What's this?” He asked —raising his hand to his face to see what Isaias tossed to him. He flipped the rock from one side to the other, rolling it in his hands and not even realising anything.

It took him several moments to realise that it was never about the rock, but his hands. His mouth dropped open the moment he looked at his hands again. 

“What do you see?” Isaias asked, and he screamed out in excitement.

“Yes! I'm human again. Elvio is also human now. How come I didn't notice it when he walked in?” Dalmatius asked, and they laughed.

While they were talking, everyone else probably heard the noise and woke up as well. From their different caves, scattered across the land, they came out, walked into Dalmatius'—confused and seeking answers, at the same time exited.

“We are all human again,” Dominick whisper to their hearing as he walked in with his arms stretched wide, and glancing down his body. 

Silence flooded the room as they all became quiet all of a sudden. Their moods changed instantly. 

“Why are we all quiet?” Catullus asked.

“Catullus, I don't know if everyone here is also wondering about the same thing, but I'm quiet because...I don't know if we should be glad about this. Is it not selfish of us to be happy because we are free and are human again when others are still entrapped behind the walls?” Isaias asked, and everyone nodded.

“We are glad because we are human again, but how do we save those who are in captivity if we are no more the fire-breathing beasts? How do we fight against their supremacy and get our people back?” Isaias said, and they all showed concern in their expression.

“I know this sounds like we are giving up on our humanity, but we need to be that beast, we need to be that creature, we need it in order to be able to save our people,” Isaias said, and they nodded.

“I think you are right, being exited about it makes us selfish. We should find a way to get back into that thing and find a way to reverse the curse after our people are rescued,” Elvio said, and they all agreed.

They were distracted from the conversation as they heard a loud sound coming from above the cave —a sound of heavy object moving through the air, and pushing the air downwards, causing the sands in the midst of the caves to give way.

They all move outside quickly, and they saw a dragon hovering high up in the sky. 

“Who else, if not Cicero?” Dalmatius said, and Isaias looked at him.

“What is he doing here? I thought he declined when we asked him to join us,” Dalmatius said to Isaias and he said nothing.

“You bunch of cowards!” Cicero said as he landed —covering them from the warmth of the morning sun with the shades of his wings. 

“What are you doing here?” Isaias asked, moving to the front and leaving everyone behind.

“Someone isn't here. I wonder who it is, missing,” Cicero intoned. 

“You haven't answered my question, Cicero,” Isaias said in a low, but angry tone. His jaw clenching. He knew Cicero always exempted himself from everything good. He wondered what bad he had brought along this time.

“You haven't answered my question either,” Cicero said to him, and Isaias looked to the ground with his jaw clenched. Isaias did not know if Cicero was talking about his father, but he didn't want to give him the pleasure of telling him about his death. 

“Yes! Amyas, the coward who wants his son to be a coward just like him,” He said and Isaias raised his head furiously, tucking my hair behind my ear. 

“I will slit your throat the next time you say such things about my father,” Isaias said in a low, but cold, voice. 

“Amyas is dead,” Dalmatius said, walking forward to stand by Isaias.

“Haha haha haha!” Cicero laughed at the news Dalmatius gave him about Amyas. . .

“Is this supposed to be funny?” Elvio said to Cicero —walking forward to stand by Isaias as well. 

“It is funny when you warned people about going to a place, but they don't listen and get themselves killed,” Cicero said between laughs. 

“As you can see, you are the only one laughing here, and I think it should be a sign to you that you don't belong here,” Isaias said to him and he stopped laughing.

“Shouldn't you be worried about how to get yourself out of that creature? As you can see, we all are human again,” Catullus said to him and he chuckled.

“Why should I be worried? I think I already know how this works,” Cicero said, as he transformed back to his human self. 

He doesn't exhaust a minute before shape-shifting back into a dragon.

“I just have to decide which one I want to become at a time. It is quite easy,” Cicero said as he embraced the dragon in him —Allowing it to dominate his humanity once again.

Atticus tried it and he also shifted into a dragon, and returned to his human self. 

“He's right! It really works,” Atticus whispered to us in shock.

“Its good to know we have full control over what we choose to become. Thanks for letting us know. There are a couple of caves left. You can get yourself one if you decide to stay,” Isaias said to him, turning his back against him —walking passed the others — walking towards his cave. 

“I'm not here to join you cowards in hiding behind the caves!” Cicero shouted to Isaias, and he halted. 

“I will be going back to finish what I started last night, Iasias!” He yelled and Isaias turned. Isaias brows knitted in uncertainty. He was not sure what Isaias was talking about. 

“What are you talking about?” Isaias asked, and he laughed.

“How simple can I make it? I just said I'll be going back to finish what I started yesterday,” he said and Isaias turned around walked closer.

“What have you started that needs finishing?” He asked —almost whispering, his brows meeting.

“What you couldn't do, what you all couldn't do,” he said, and they all looked to themselves to see if anyone understood what he was trying to say.

“What is that?” Isaias asked.

“Not being a coward!” He shouted—releasing streams of saliva from his mouth. 

“What have you done Cicero? What have you done?” Dalmatius asked, and he laughed.

“I succeeded in killing one of the sisters. I killed a witch yesterday, and I enjoyed watching them cry over her. Now, it is their turn!” Cicero said in excitement.

“No, tell me you are joking,” Isaias said, and he chuckled.

“It's too good to be true, right? I understand. She was the same one who was in the field with the other young witch; Amaia, I think that was the name her sisters called her,” Cicero said, and he stopped talking the moment he noticed the look on their faces.

“How could you? How could you Cicero? How could you take a girl's life and be proud of it? Have you no shame?” Isaias yelled at him and he laughed.

“A coward can only give birth to a coward,” he said. 

“Amyas was a coward, but I thought you'd be a bit different. I can see you have led all these people into believing that killing the witches is a bad thing to do,” he said.

“Of course, it’s outrageous, Cicero! We are not the witches! What difference do we make if we are also as barbaric as they are? We are not as cruel as they are. Those people, they've lost their feelings towards other humans, but we are not them. We still embrace our humanity!” Isaias said and Dalmatius backed him up.

“Have you completely lost what makes you human? For you to have been able to kill a witch shows that she was defenceless. How could you do such a thing, Cicero?!” Dalmatius shouted, and Cicero laughed.

“Why do we need to be this creature if we don't have intentions to war against the witches, why don't we just submit ourselves at their feet and let them trample us,” Cicero said and they all remain quiet in a count of seconds. They were left speechless for a while. 

“Our plan was to break out our people, and not to wage a war against the witches! We are not monsters, we are not murderers. Yes! We are double-sided now, but it doesn't have to be this way. We don't have to let the beast in us take a better part of us! We could break the Mandrin quarters and free our people somehow. I do believe we can achieve this without spilling anyone's blood,” Isaias said, and a few of the people behind him nodded. 

“Do you think the witches are going to allow you to get through to the walls without a war?” He said, and Isaias looked to the ground.

Isaias looked up at him again and said, “It doesn't have to be this way! If there's going to be a war, we shouldn't be the one to start it! There are the cruel ones, not us!” 

“You just started a war, Cicero, and I hope you will enjoy how it ends,” Isaias said and he laughed.

“Yes! And at the end of the battle, I'll slay you for making me look like a monster in front of all these people,” Cicero said, and he threw himself into the air, flapping his wings to maintain balance. 

“I'll be on my way to Vocí! In case anyone of you cowards decide that I have a better plan to deal with this than your coward of a leader. I'll see where you lead them, Iasias!” Cicero said, as he flew away.