There was something in the air today,
a strange kind of stillness.
It rained in Düsseldorf after many days of sunshine—
but not the kind of rain that chills the bones.
It was warm.
Soft.
A spring drizzle.
And still, it felt unusual to me.
Having grown up in Lebanon,
where warm weather always meant dry skies,
I am still surprised—decades later—when spring rain comes.
The warmth and rain…
Feeling one drop of rain was like seeing one ant. You always knew there was more to come. Kayle felt the first drop of rain on his forearm, the second on his wrist. And within the span of those two drops, he knew his morning was ruined. He hadn't brought a coat of any kind to keep the rain off, and as the day had been one typical of a pleasant spring, he hadn't believed he'd need one. He wished he had one now. Planning ahead had never been his forte; he was reckless and impulsive to his fiery core. Time might change that, but so far it had not.
A year now, he'd been away from his surrogate home--that strange place of magic and mystery that he had once despised. The stone walls that made up the castle of Haven Spires had once felt more a prison than anything, but even over the years those had become warmer and more inviting. He had found people that cared for him, and as much as that shocked him, he had learned to love it, and to love them in turn. Selene, the empath with an affinity for the moon and water, had become an adoptive mother to him, and taken him under her wing. It was ironic, he thought, considering just how different they were. He, a creature of demonic origin and fire, being nurtured and loved by a god-blessed human with control over water...it shouldn't have worked, but the time they had spent together proved to him that it did indeed work.
He missed her, more than he would admit, but there were days he found himself longing for her sage advice or even her motherly scolding. He had spent too long without a mother, and it had nearly broken his psyche. Then he found her, or perhaps she found him, he wasn't sure. They were united and he had a motherly figure once more, someone to lead him along life's winding and blinding roads. She had helped him establish his powers, had helped him touch his core and tame his flames. She had set him down the path that he now found himself on. If he ever saw her again he would thank her, in his way.
If there was one person he truly missed with all his heart it was the girl Tehya. She was a stranger when they had met, and under the circumstances of their meeting he was surprised things turned out between them the way that they had. She was a foreigner to his world, having fallen through some type of magical portal in her own world, only to land well...right on top of him. It had snapped his temper and he had retaliated harshly against her, but his guilt got the better of him and he began the process of making amends. It wasn't that much longer before they discovered their feelings for each other, somehow she could see more than the demon bastard he was, and he could see more than the duty bound woman she was.
They both saw something in each other, and took hold of it, dragging it out for the other to see. They were both temperamental, and quick to snap at each other, neither of them being one to be dormant when provoked. Their strong personalities often had them butting heads like rams, but in the end things worked themselves out and they were better for it. Kayle sighed and shook his head, which was now soaked from the downpour. Had he lost track of reality so easily? Strange, he wasn't normally one for day dreaming, but something about the rain on his skin had made him nostalgic for home and the people who still held sway over his heart.
But it was because of them that he had left. After the confrontation in the Labyrinth, Kayle had learned some very hard truths, and it was these truths that told him he needed to leave. He had no doubts that Selene could have taught him much about his power, but he thought even her knowledge would be limited when it came to a demon's flames. That power was something he had to learn to temper and control on his own, it was his own trial by fire. But that had just been one facet to his leave, the other he believed to be much more important. Seeing that apparition of his father in the basement, feeling his power break his body and splinter his bones...that had made him rethink a great many things.
He had thought that he had some power, but in the face of a true demon, he wasn't even a flea. In the face of that monster that he fought with, whatever power he had was nothing. For the first time in his life Kayle had felt true fear, not of dying, he had wanted death so much when he was younger, but fear that he wouldn't be able to save those that he had come to care about. If he had died then, he had no doubts that the monster would have gone after Selene, or Tehya. After he survived his trial in the Labyrinth that seemed it wouldn't have been the case, but he had no way of knowing that when face to face with his foe.
And so he had thought, long and hard, about just what would happen if his father were to have found a way into Haven Spires, some chink in the school's defense to exploit. Kayle wouldn't have been able to stop him as he was, perhaps Hugo might, but he had no idea how far that man's power extended. If he left the school then perhaps he could draw his father's eye away from them, focus it on himself once more as he had for years before. By removing himself from them, he thought he might save them. It had only been a year since he had left, and he had accomplished almost nothing but putting distance between him and his friends. He had learned little more about his power, and even less about his father, but that wouldn't stop him from continuing on his quest. Why should it? He had faced worse obstacles and conquered those. This was just the next mountain for him to claim.
