Leigh found himself engulfed in darkness, slowly sinking deeper and deeper into the unknown.
He felt his consciousness wavering, threatening to fall into a deep slumber. But he knew unconsciously that if he were to sleep here, he would never wake up again.
Then he heard it again.
Whispers.
Sad whispers, angered whispers, negotiating and contemplating, but he didn't know what they talked about.
And again the voices seemed to quiet down.
Yet this time, a single voice seemed to have thought of something.
A voice so tired and hurt, yet so prideful and strong at the same time could be heard. It seemed to gather all of it's strength to utter one last sentence.
As soft as silk, as abrupt as an explosion, as cold as ice and as warm as a summer day. The words seemed to contain all emotions.
"You are free now."
Leigh didn't understand why, but he felt like a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. Like a restriction was finally lifted from his body.
He felt himself regaining some energy. As he looked up, he spotted a little dot of light in the distance.
He tried climbing up to it, but it was harder than he thought.
Trying again and again, he felt himself coming closer to the light, until finally, after all his struggles, he reached it.
***
"How is he today", Adamas asked Lina.
"Still the same, but he is breathing." She answered while she caressed Leigh's head.
"Its been a week already", Adamas stressed out. "The chief woke up 4 days ago, so why didn't he wake up yet?"
The big young man felt weak. His best friend was laying on the bed in front of him. All the potential that generations of Kowa leaders dreamed of, and he still couldn't help his friend.
"Its alright Adamas, Harkon told me that this is normal, although its longer than expected. Leigh is a special case, so its still within expectations."
"What do you mean by special case?", Adamas asked with his head hanging low.
"It means that he can fulfil his duties better than anyone else in the future.", Harkon said while entering the bedroom.
He heard the question, and that was all he was ready to share with the young man.
"Chief!", Adamas greeted Harkon.
"Hey kid", Harkon answered in return.
Just as Harkon was about to say something, he felt something happening to his body. Adamas felt it as well, and so did Lina.
The feeling stopped, and just as Lina was about to speak up about that weird sensation, the sound of gasping could be heard from the side.
Panting and grabbing at the air, Leigh woke up.
Harkon, Lina and Adamas looked at him, and he looked back at them.
"What happened?", Leigh asked in a weak voice.
"What you ordered.", Adamas answered.
"Good."
Leigh wanted to feel relieved, but he didn't.
"Can everyone give me and Leigh the room please", Harkon asked.
Lina and Adamas nodded.
Before leaving the room, Lina gave Leigh a kiss on the forehead, and hugged him tightly.
Adamas also gave Leigh a big hug, and then left the room with Lina.
"Now that we are all alone, let's speak", Harkon said.
"Your first experience, how was it?", the father asked expectantly.
The 5 big families passed down their powers in a gender-specific way, meaning that the Emrys always had a male heir, and the Seher always had a female heir for example. That's why only Harkon could understand what Leigh was going through.
"I didn't see it coming. My ears started to buzz, and I think I heard whispers or something.", Leigh recounted, "Moving felt a lot easier, and everything was slower to me. I think I couldn't hear anyone talk until I realised that I entered the trance."
"That does sound familiar. But you said you heard whispers?"
"Yeah, I heard them then, and I heard them again in a dream I had before I woke up", Leigh said. "Was I not supposed to hear them?"
"I'm not sure. Everything else was expected, maybe this is because it's you?", Harkon said.
"Again with this…", Leigh sighed.
"Whether you like it or not Leigh, you are special, even to the Emrys. I expect situations even I can not explain, but know that I will be there along to way to help you out son."
"I know dad."
"So did those voices tell you anything?", Harkon asked all of a sudden.
"That we are free now.", Leigh said. "And then I felt something changing inside of me, like a rope binding me was cut."
Shocked, Harkon looked at his son.
Looking at his father's expression, Leigh couldn't help but ask.
"Did you feel it as well?"
"Yes. In fact, all 3 of us felt it right before you woke up.", Harkon answered while rubbing his chin.
"Do you know what it means?" Leigh asked.
"Not the slightest clue. But since it felt good, it should be a good thing right?", Harkon said.
"Maybe"
With that out of the way, Leigh suddenly remembered why he got into a trance in the first place.
Turning his head towards his father, he was overcome with immense shame and sadness.
"Father, the kids, I…"
Tears started to fall from Leigh's eyes.
'Obey the Emrys' was a simple rule, it meant that all orders made by the Emrys must be followed. It also meant that all the mistakes would be the responsibility of the one who ordered them.
Meaning that if something happened, it happened because of the one who ordered them.
In other words, 3 kids died because of Leigh's incompetence.
Even though he protected the village, and saved a lot of lives, the lives that were lost were those of children, something the village does not take lightly.
"If you feel that you are incompetent, than I am 10 times worse for not being able to be there for you all", Harkon said.
He grabbed his son and hugged him. And against his will, tears fell down from Harkon's eyes as well, because the village was his responsibility, and he didn't fulfil his duties that day.
They comforted each other for a while, and calmed down.
"Now that the sobbing is over, let's get down to business", Harkon said.
"I'll be frank with you dad, I want revenge, and I think I should lead it.", Leigh said.
"Agreed", Harkon nodded, "You protected the villagers in my absence, so I will let you handle this however you see fit. Just know that with the freedom of choice come the responsibility of the consequences."
"Thank you father", Leigh thanked from the bottom of his heart. He wanted redemption from his mistake with the children, and this was his opportunity to do so.
"When?", Harkon was curt and straight to the point.
"In one day, I will leave with a selected army.", Leigh answered.
"How many?"
"10 000 soldiers. 30 shadows. 2 family leaders, all heirs."
"Hmm", Harkon wasn't sure about that last part, "All heirs is a risky move son, that means you put 2 bloodlines at risk."
The big families could only birth 1 heir per generation, the heir could have siblings, but they wouldn't inherit the same amount of talent. If somehow the heir died, another would be birthed by the parents.
If the parents died, and there were siblings, for some reason one of the siblings would be able to birth an heir. But that meant that until that child matured, the village would be deprived of one of the 5 powers.
"It means I'm that serious about this.", Leigh said, "They were able to support everyone during the fight, and some of them will most likely want to prove themselves after the losses we suffered."
"The Egri heir.", Harkon nodded.
"Her, but the others as well. I know them, and what happened to us is a defeat in their books.", Leigh knew his friends. Because they were just like him in that aspect.
It had to be a total victory to be counted as one.
"Alright. Like I said before, this is your choice to make.", Harkon trusted his son, and wanted to let him seek out his own victory.
"This time we shed tears dad, but there won't be a next time"
Leigh was determined to make it that way.
Harkon wanted to say something, but decided against it. His son wouldn't listen to him anymore than this. It was a tendency Leigh inherited from his father.
Leigh stood up from his bed, but was still a little weak in the legs.
His father supported him by taking Leigh's arm over his shoulders, and walking out the bedroom into the living room, where they met up with Lina and Adamas.
"What's up big guy", Leigh said.
"What's up little guy", Adamas laughed said in return.
"We need to start packing soon", Leigh got straight to the point.
"Alright, when do we leave?", Adamas answered, because he knew Leigh's temperament more than anyone else.
He knew that if his friend ever woke up again, he would go chase his enemies to the ends of the earth. He was hoping that was the case, because he himself wanted to do the same.
He needed to.
"Tomorrow, and I need you to round up some people for me. I will give you a list of things to be done, so get it all done for me."
Leigh knew exactly who he wanted to bring with him, so he proceeded to write down all the people he wanted with him as well, and gave the list to Adamas.
Adamas looked at the list, and then asked an unexpected question: "Will we be able to go through that foggy path though?"
Leigh looked at Adamas, surprised that he thought that far ahead, or was even capable of it.
"Not using your usual musclebrains today?", Leigh taunted.
"I'm sorry? Speak up a bit more. Your voice is still weak after screaming like a bitch a couple of days ago.", Adamas taunted right back at Leigh.
"Pfff"
"Hahahaha"
The boys would often joke like this, and Leigh's parent didn't take offense in the foul language, knowing that the boys deserved some slack after what they went through.
Leigh calmed down and then looked at adamas before replying.
"Something tells me that that path won't be a problem anymore."
Adamas shrugged his shoulders, took the list and went out to prepare.
Leigh looked at Adamas' departing figure, and stood up to prepare himself for the coming day as well.