Wind and shade cooled them under the big old tree. It was early afternoon of the next day, and Kar had found Isa and Nat, sitting on the ground there with their backs against the wall of the small hut.
"Almost time to say goodbye to everything, isn't it?" Kar said, sliding down to sit on the other side of Nat from Isa.
"I still can't believe we're really leaving." His sister said softly, staring out at the main village road where people were preparing the caravan for departure. What few things Nat, Isa, and Kar were bringing had already been loaded up on Aldwin's wagon train.
Nat nodded her head, then rested it back against the wooden boards behind her and closed her eyes. The wind rustled her hair. She looked at peace. Kar was just happy to see her like this, awake, without pain. It still seemed a dream. He reached in his pocket and gripped the shard Aldwin had given him the day before. He'd kept it on him, as the other man had told him to. Last night had been the best sleep he'd had in a long, long time.
Kar pulled it out of his pocket and fiddled with the glowing, blue fragment of crystal in his lap. Isa stared, and Nat opened her eyes and turned to look at the shard too, as if she had sensed its presence.
"So… I have some questions." Kar said.
"I'm sure you both do," Nat replied, "and it's past time I gave you some answers." She coughed weakly and took a measured breath. "It's hard for me to know where to begin. So I guess, just ask away, and I'll answer."
Kar felt a flutter in his chest.
Isa broke first, "Ok, so like, you are our aunt, right?"
Nat laughed, then had to hold up her hand as she broke into another coughing fit. "Yes, I am. And my name's actually Natalie, too. I'm your dad's little sister. I've told you both that before. But it's true."
Isa's face lit up with that innocent, bright-eyed smile of hers. "Ok, good because I was worried that, you know, maybe you had abducted us or something because maybe you couldn't have kids? I don't know."
Kar found himself laughing along with his aunt.
"No, I did not abduct you. Or rather, in a way I did, but only because your mother asked me to." A pained expression eclipsed the smile on Nat's face. "It's… a very painful memory. Why we left. So, let me start with some basics, and we'll go from there, ok?"
Kar and Isa both bobbed their heads, enraptured. Kar hoped this would provide the answers he most wanted to know. Who were they really? What had led them here all those years ago, to Riftwater? And how were these crystals able to heal them? Why were they even sick?
"You both were born in the City, in Iridess." Nat began, "In the upper part, north of the Rift. That's… the safer area, where the Guardian Enclave is. Things weren't all destroyed up there in the Cataclysm. At least, not to the degree that the Lower Ruins were."
Kar knew about the Rift, and the Cataclysm that had created it. Everyone did. After the calamity, the survivors of Iridess had fled to the out-lands, to places here, like Riftwater. They had formed hovels and settlements where they could eke out a living and survive. But all the stories also talked about what Iridess and civilization there had been like before its downfall. Just a little over a hundred years ago, the City had been a thriving metropolis, home to tens of millions. Water there had run freely, homes were heated and cooled through all seasons. Lights that never burnt out had lit every corner. The greatest tales, however, mentioned the people who lived there. The Guardians—as they had been called—who wielded incredible powers and abilities.
Kar had never believed in those fantasies. Looking down at that glowing shard in his hands, however, he couldn't help but begin to wonder.
"Guardian Enclave?" Kar echoed, "Are you saying the Guardians are real? Like in the stories?"
Nat made eye contact with him, then nodded. "They are."
"Whoah," Isa said, "do they have all those powers people say they did? Like, can they fly and shoot fire and lighting from their hands?"
"They could do those things—and many more—before the Cataclysm. Not so much anymore. But they have a few abilities they can still use."
"Did you ever see any Guardians?" Kar asked.
Nat held his gaze. "I was one. Your parents were too."
Kar's eyes widened, and he noticed Isa's jaw drop.
"Are you serious?" His little sister almost shouted, the pitch of her voice rising.
Natalie reached out and placed a hand on each of their forearms. "I've told you your parents name's before, Rathael, and Serena. I know they would both be proud of you two, and so happy to see how you've grown up."
Kar felt his throat tighten, and his eyes start to water. He'd always wondered about his mother and father. Wished he could have known them. Nat had told them a few things over the years, but never anything too specific.
"So they're dead?" He asked, surprised to find his voice trembled as it did.
Tears slid down Nat's face, she tried to hold them back, but they burst forth, and she sobbed, pulling a trembling hand back from Kar's forearm to cover her mouth. "I don't know if your father is still alive. I was with your mother when she passed. Something went wrong, one night—" She stopped to collect herself, "Some Guardians are different from the others. I'm not sure if special is the right word, but they have an ability none of the others do. That ability is only found in members of our family, on your father's side."
Isa was sniffling now too, her eyes red, "What kind of ability?"
Nat cleared her throat and wiped away tears with her sleeve. "Have either of you heard of the Source before?"
Kar, then Isa, both shook their head side to side.
"Well, the Source, is what gave life to our world. To Dara. It's also the power that gave the Guardians and other Adepts like them their abilities."
Kar blinked, trying to keep it all straight in his head.
"Something terrible happened that led to the Cataclysm." Nat went on, "The Source became corrupted—contaminated. To protect our world, the Guardians Sealed over it to stop that corruption from spreading. What they did worked, at great cost. The Seal cut us off from the Source's power, and—in the process—set off the Cataclysm which created the Rift and destroyed Iridess."
"That's terrible…" said Isa.
"Ever since that Sealing," Nat continued, "the remaining Guardians have had to continuously repair it. There's always cracks and fissures forming in its foundation. Whatever has corrupted it, is still working to break through into our world. The only Guardians with the ability to repair that seal, as I said, come from our family."
"But what does all this have to do with our parents?" Kar asked, growing frustrated.
"I'm sorry, I'm getting there." Nat responded.
"So, our family was like, special then?" Isa interjected.
Nat nodded, "It's something to do with our bloodline, our heritage. I've never really understood it. But the more time you spend around the Seal, repairing it, the more you're exposed to the corruption. Everyone assigned to the Seal has eventually been driven mad."
"Is that what happened to them then? Our—mom, and dad?" Isa whispered.
Nat nodded, fresh tears pooling in her eyes. "To your father. Usually, it takes a life-time of exposure for the madness to take hold. It can be managed. But that night, one of your uncles was on duty watching and observing the Seal; as one of us always was." Nat cleared her throat. "A fracture occurred. Not the usual small crack but a full breach. Your father and uncles intervened and resealed it. But in the process, something went wrong. Your father killed my brothers. And wounded your mother fatally."
"No…" Kar said quietly, shaking. Isa made a choked sound as she breathed in sharply.
Nat pressed on. "Afterward, they locked him away to keep him from hurting anyone else. I visited him once, but he wasn't the same. He was completely mad."
Kar felt sick to his stomach.
"Before she died, your mother begged me to take the two of you with me and just run away. To get you out of the city so you wouldn't grow up and be exposed to the Seal. She couldn't bear the thought of either of you facing the same fate your father did."
Isa sniffled, fighting back tears, and Nat bowed her head. Kar just shook his head in disbelief. For a long moment, the siblings both just sat there dumbfounded. It was so much to take in, to process.
Kar looked at his aunt in an entirely new light. He had always assumed she had good reasons for bringing them here. And he realized now why she had been so hesitant to tell them. It was horrifying. And she had born the weight of it all these years, alone.
He took her hand. "You saved us."
Isa broke into tears and leaned into Nat, who wrapped an arm tightly around her niece. "I've always wanted to tell you, but couldn't bear to burden you, either. Wanted you to just be able to have a normal childhood."
"You gave us that, and more." Kar said, smiling.
She smiled back, still holding Isa tightly, then closed her eyes.
Kar looked out at Riftwater, the only home he could remember. The one Nat had made for them. He was sad to leave it. Grateful, too. For the years of shelter. For the shade of this old tree. He looked up at it, tears in his eyes. This would likely be the last time he sat under its weathered branches.
Tomorrow they began the return journey to Iridess. Their first home. Why couldn't Kar remember it?