The Demon Lord And His Hero

The sky had turned black by the time they reached what Akida called the cradle of lightning bugs.

Even before they arrived at the cradle, Syryn was witness to the bolts of lightning that constantly struck the landscape they were making a beeline towards.

"Utsui, are you insane?" Syryn asked again. They were at a safe distance from the lightning bolts. The hard rock that stretched out before them was covered in scores of long ridges carved out by lightning over centuries of exposure.

The hot white and blue bolts of electricity hit the tableland periodically. And closer to the centre of the electrical hotbed, Syryn could make out balls of glowing blue plasma that floated in the environment of lightning.

"Dont worry, I came prepared," Utsui answered and he held up an ordinary looking glove.

"You're going to die, aren't you?" Syryn hollowly echoed his inner voice.

"Nope. As boring as it looks, this is a special magic-infused glove. It'll protect me from the heat inside there but not from the lightning strikes."

"How does that make any difference then?" Syryn asked with frustration.

"I will meditate for an hour, Syryn. My mind has to reach a level of focus where I can discern the changing patterns of the lightning bolts."

Every time a bolt was discharged close to them, it illuminated their faces as clear as daylight. Anxiety gnawed at Syryn even as he distanced himself from Utsui.

"He'll be fine," Akida assured Syryn. "Utsui has come here often to study the lightning. He knows it better than you or I."

"Have you also done the trial?" Syryn asked the guard.

"I have nothing to prove," Akida answered, "to nobody."

Syryn turned back to look at the meditating Utsui. Did he have something to prove or was he just a thrill seeker?

"Kida! Where are the lightning bugs??" Luci asked the guard.

"They're all hiding in their burrows. You have to lure them out."

"How?"

"With these," Akida retired a cloth bag from his pocket and dangled it in front of the redhead. "The lightning bugs like to eat copper pellets. If you throw some near their burrows, they'll come pouring out."

"Neat!" The child held out his palms to receive a few pellets from Akida.

"Syryn, come along with us. Utsui won't be done anytime soon." The guard said to him.

"Coming."

The guard led them closer to the borders of lightning activity. It was a harrowing moment when Syryn strayed too far from Akida and was almost struck by lightning.

"I told you to stick close to me, Syryn. Can you not follow the most basic of safety instructions?" He was growled at by the irate guard. "This is why I hate playing babysitter. Lucien get back here!"

The excited redhead had been skipping ahead of them, following a small white bug that kept emitting a tiny amount of charge ever so often. He stopped in his tracks when he heard Akida's sharp order.

"You damned brats," Akida picked up Luci without any effort. The redhead was safely secured in one hand. With his other arm, Akida yanked Syryn closer to him and to the side away from danger so that now he was between the teen and the lightning bolts.

They walked till they reached an expansive area covered in mounds made of what looked like soil. Hundreds to thousands of tiny holes peppered the mounds that varied in size and height.

"Where did the soil come from?" Luci asked the guard.

"Lightning bugs. They turn the rocks into soil."

"Amazing!" Luci said as he tossed some copper pellets at the mounds.

For a few seconds, there was no movement. Then all of a sudden, a tide of little shining bugs crawled out of their holes at great speed.

"They look like stars!" Luci said in awe. "Can I touch them?"

Akida hastily grabbed the child so he wouldn't do anything stupid. "Lightning bugs have killed avians bigger than yourself, Luci. They're beautiful but dangerous."

"How did that happen?" Syryn asked.

"During mating season, you don't want to get near lightning bug territory. They swarm by the thousands and discharge their energy into the unlucky victim. It's no less than getting killed by the lightning itself." Akida eased up on his grip over Luci and watched the older brother like a hawk. Syryn was plotting and Akida could smell it from afar.

"No," the guard to Syryn.

"What? I didn't do anything."

"Whatever you're thinking. It's a no."

"But-"

"No."

Syryn had wanted to split open a mound so he could take a closer look at how the little bugs lived. Did they lay eggs in groups? Were the eggs bright like the mature bugs? Did they have a queen? Soldiers? He had questions that needed answering. But under Akida's watchful eyes, the brothers were obediently quiet.

An hour flew by and Syryn saw Utsui stand up. The young avian did not spare a look their way as he headed towards the field of lightning.

"Does he not have any last words to impart to us?" Syryn ominously asked Akida.

The guard's glance flickered over to Syryn for once and it returned to the avian who was calmly walking through a death trap.

"Utsui is an avian of steel focus," Akida told Syryn. "If there's anyone who can clear the trial, it's him. He has memorised the pattern and as long as he remains calm, he won't stray off his path and the bolts won't hit him."

"How often do the patterns change?"

"There's no definite answer for that. Sometimes they change in minutes, sometimes hours, days. You never really know. But according to lightning enthusiasts, they change every seven to eight hours."

Syryn was impressed by Utsui's ability to remain calm when surrounded by danger of such magnitude. He could see the avian reaching out to touch one of the blue plasma balls that floated just beyond his reach.

"When was the last time someone tried this?" Syryn asked Akida.

"Last year, and he was killed during it."

Syryn nodded. It was par for the course. "Shouldn't this be illegal?"

"There aren't a lot of idiots trying it," Akida answered. "Even if they do try and get killed for it, we just accept that they were bound to get killed anyway by doing something equally stupid."

"And if they survive?" Syryn didn't particularly think that Utsui was stupid. He believed that Utsui had enough faith in his abilities to carry out the task successfully.

"Then they live to tell the tale of their bravery. But sometimes, desperate avians attempt it so that the emperor will grant them a favour."

Syryn sat on his haunches and watched Utsui walk back out as cool as a cucumber. Was that why Utsui was doing this? What favour did he want?

"Where are we going next?"

"I haven't decided yet."

The teen was content at that moment, happy even. But happiness and sorrow were flip sides of the same coin, and they would all be reminded of that lesson one more time.