Solflare: The Painter's Secret

Hurricane dust swelled up at the front of the Castle of Soul. It engulfed both Leon and Aurelian, who stood there with arms stretched.

"Where faith decays and saints are buried..." Aurelian whispered, grinning.

The intensity of the dust increased as the dead clouds above split in two.

Leon began shaking, unable to stand still as the ground beneath his boots began shaking.

"Aurelian, stop!" he screamed, but Aurelian didn’t listen.

He only turned to Leon and smiled. "Domain Expansion: Cathedral of the Fall."

In an instant, the dust formed black pillars around them. Everything, including the surroundings, began to reshape on its own. Light bounced at every angle, blessing the new land with a divine presence.

Aurelian closed his eyes for a moment, then exhaled sharply. Leon stood there, mouth open, face pale.

’Where are we?’ he wondered as he whirled around, trying to figure out where they were.

At that same time, Liu Yan walked out of the Castle of Souls, hands brushing her chin. When she reached the front of the castle and stopped, her face went pale.

Countless mixtures of black and white feathers were dancing right where she had seen Leon and Aurelian a few minutes ago.

"Where did they go?" she asked, swallowing hard.

"LEON!" she screamed the name so hard that debris began falling from the walls.

Without hesitation, she dashed back inside, wanting to inform the rest.

Just as she closed the upper chamber’s door, black bird-like creatures with long fangs sprawled across the castle’s roofs.

They sniffed the pointed stones, then raised their heads to the sky with a scream.

...

Inside the Cathedral of the Fall domain, Aurelian walked Leon from one pillar to the other. He showed things humans weren’t supposed to see.

"Why are you showing me these after telling me no human can see this and have a wonderful life?" Leon asked, moving a step back when they reached a pillar that had a dragon head carved in it.

Aurelian looked at the pillar, then turned to Leon. He didn’t answer. He simply shook his head, then placed his hands at his back.

With one breath, the ground beneath Leon’s boots moved like a sea wave and carried Leon forward.

Aurelian placed a hand on Leon’s shoulder, then whispered, "You’re not a human as you think."

Leon’s eyes went dead. He pushed himself again, but the ground brought him closer without him even knowing.

"What do you mean by ’I’m not a human?’ A human gave birth to me, raised me, and took care of me throughout my entire life."

Aurelian shifted his eyes to the pillar, then inhaled deeply.

For two minutes, Aurelian didn’t say a thing. He simply replayed Leon’s own words.

Leon moved a few meters away from Aurelian, then went and sat on a two-foot pillar. He had watched the pillars, and the one he chose to sit on was the shortest. It had no words written on it as the others did.

Leon cupped his face, then looked at the ground. ’Is he saying I’m not a human? Then are my parents also not humans? What about Lily?’

Lily, Li Mei, and Andrew’s faces flashed into Leon’s mind as he tried to figure it out.

He loosened his hands from his face, looked at Aurelian from a distance, and back at his palms.

’The golden light. The golden sword. And the sentinels?’ The visual imprint of all those he thought about flashed into his eyes, causing his heart to beat faster.

...

"He’s as stubborn as I imagined," Aurelian whispered and neared Leon.

He extended his right arm to Leon, then waited. "Come, let me show you one last thing."

Leon hesitated, then stood up without grabbing the hand. "After that, we are done. You will have to take me back from here."

Aurelian led Leon to two stone pillars that were as dead as the clouds clouding the skies of Tartarus. He pointed at the pillar and turned to Leon.

"Do you remember ever seeing the faces drawn on these?"

Leon moved closer to the pillar and focused on the figures on the pillar one after another.

At first, he only saw five giant figures that seemed to be guarding something. But as he looked deeper, his eyes went soulless.

"I see them in my dreams," he said, stumbling back.

Aurelian nodded once and pointed at a figure that had no face, only a swirling space that seemed to carry everything in it. "What about this?"

Without a second glance, the faceless being that merged with Leon’s body flashed into his eyes. "No, that can’t be possible."

"Everything is possible, Leon Storm. Son of Andrew Storm," Aurelian said and laughed in a devilish tone. "If your father is a human, why was his body not found at the crash site of the Granum Tower?"

Sweat began dripping from Leon as the six-year-old news of the crash flashed into his mind. "No! No!! No!!!" Leon screamed so loud that debris began falling off the two pillars.

The more the dust fell off the pillars, the more things Leon had seen or dreamt of became visible.

Aurelian closed in on Leon, then placed a hand on his back. "Don’t worry, you will be fine after I’ve taken you through all the training you need to reclaim your lost powers."

He lifted his eyes to the pillar, then smiled.

In a flash, the swirling dust that had engulfed them earlier appeared when the divine land collapsed and vanished.

Leon inhaled deeply when the swirling dust calmed. As he looked at his hands, his frantic heart calmed. "Whatever you told me isn’t true."

Aurelian just looked at Leon and walked past him without saying a word.

...

Two days flew by, and Leon still hadn’t accepted the claims. During the two nights, all he dreamt of were the sentinels and the vast landscape they were guarding.

During the days, he sat at the center of the upper chamber, studying the scroll.

On the third day, as everyone woke up, Leon and Wu Ze weren’t around.

Liu Yan turned to An Lang. "What did you do this time?"

An Lang’s head snapped back, with a shock-filled face. "I didn’t do anything. At least he’s gone for good."

Just as the two were arguing, Aurelian entered the lower chamber. "What are the two of you doing here?"

Liu Yan turned a confused face to Aurelian. "Why?"

Aurelian looked at An Lang first, then shifted his gaze to Liu Yan. "They are on their way to get the Starfire Opal."

Without hesitation, An Lang rushed forward. ’This time too, he wants to take everything for himself. I won’t allow that.’

Liu Yan watched An Lang rush out blindly. "How long have they been gone?"

"Just an hour ago," Aurelian said, then smiled. "If you want, I can show you where they are heading and the path they took."

"Sure."

Liu Yan nodded as she listened.

Aurelian pulled out a sheet from his pocket and began drawing lines on it. "This is the path they took. But," he paused, then created another circular dot, "this will make you reach them early."

He handed the rough map to Liu Yan.

"Thank you." Liu Yan bowed, then rushed to the door.

"But be ready to face anything on the shortcut route."

"I will," Liu Yan answered in a firm voice and dashed out of the chamber and the castle itself.

...

Ten kilometers away from the castle, lizards with metal skin got hurled and scrambled on the ground. They hissed before running off.

"Are we still not there yet?" Wu Ze asked. She swung her sword, clearing the green blood from it.

At the front, Leon pulled out the scroll and began comparing where they stood to what was on the map.

"No. It’s left with a few minutes." He confirmed and placed the scroll back in the bag he was wearing.

They walked another mile, then stopped at the front of a vast stone wall.

"Are you sure you know where we are heading?" Wu Ze asked, shifting glances from the wall to Leon.

"This is where the scroll points us to."

"Fine. Then it brought us to a dead en—"

Before Wu Ze could finish her statement, the walls folded inward on their own.

Blue light seeped from it at first, then cleared.

Wu Ze threw a shocked glance at Leon. "We are not going through that."

Leon didn’t respond. He simply smiled, then took his first step into the new path.

Wu Ze became extremely restless as she was left alone at the front of the wall.

Bone clicking sounds echoed from the top of the wall, followed by a loud howling sound that shook the wall itself.

"I’m not staying here." She moved even before she could finish her statement.

Large, monstrous figures remained at the side of the path walked. Some were a combination of a monkey and a serpent. Others were unidentifiable things.

Just as Wu Ze walked past the monkey-faced figure, the stone jaws opened.

"Leon, wait for me!" Wu Ze screamed out the name and set out running.

The figure kept on peeling itself away from the wall. When Wu Ze vanished from its sight, the eyes glowed red. Soft vapor escaped from its opened mouth, while thin fiery lines snaked around its shoulders.