Paladin's Path

Theon stared forward at his classmates silky short hair that was long enough to cover his brow. Eli had a subtle look that if kept natural some may describe as cute like a normal child.

But to Theon it was just disgusting. An unnerving smirk that didn't show fear for being caught, some anger but not any worry for what had happened.

Blood trickled down from his cracked nose from the punch he received from Ava. Theon was right to find a way to make her tag along. As soon as she met him at the entrance of the school he quickly paced toward the library on the second floor and dragged her back from jumping in right away.

She had an angry look on her face but Theon needed evidence. If he was going to turn in Eli he needed to make sure that everything was caught up until the right point.

And thankfully Eli acted out much quicker and violent than he thought he could. A small dragon came from Theon's right and handed him a phone. His phone which he had propped up in position only a couple minutes before Robin had started making her way to the library.

Theon had captured everything.

Eli now stopped grinning as he seen Theon's phone in his hand handled with delicate care. Instead of putting it away in his pocket he thought of something else. "{Take it to Ava}" And his dragon dashed through the air on its way to his red haired classmate.

Theon seen from earlier that Eli could move through the shadows. 'Well that's probably how he knew how we were at any time without us knowing.'

Eli's gaze turned intense while staring toward the dragon weaving through the shelves. And then he was on the move, Eli bolted, his form vanishing into the shadows as if melting into them. He reappeared in an instant, leaping from one patch of darkness to another closing the distance in seconds.

But Theon was faster and smarter. He calculated the available spots that he could appear from and arrived upon him quicker and then his fist collided with his gut, knocking the air from his lungs.

Theon was different from other people when it came to his natural strength. Since his power was a summon and he gained the traits from them his natural strength and speed was greater even without enhancing it with his Od.

So the sheer force of his hit had sent Eli sprawling backward, skidding across the floor. His smirk faltered as he struggled to regain his balance, his body slightly hunched from the impact. Theon, however, stood tall, eyes cold and calculating, not a word leaving his lips.

The dragon carrying the phone zipped past them, an unspoken signal of urgency as it darted toward Ava. Eli's face finally twisted into real frustration as he moaned while pulling his head back and his eyes rolled upwards. It was an ugly sight to see.

His fingers curled into fists. The flickering shadows around him responding to his anger.

The library once silent and serene, now echoed with the soft hum of Od swirling around the air.

"You're really going to make things difficult aren't you Theon Abara." Eli's voice was sharp and dripping with malice.

He lunged again, this time faster, his body slipping into the shadows effortlessly. But Theon anticipated it. Theon was pulled in a direction and the moment Eli popped back up all that was waiting for him was a sharp, precise kick aimed at his chest. The blow was brutal crashing into a nearby bookshelf.

Books tumbled to the ground as Eli groaned rubbing his chest where the impact landed.

Yet the pain did nothing to wipe the twisted grin from Eli's face. He melted into the shadows once more, this time reappearing behind Theon. Theon's hairs stood on his back as he moved like water twisting with grace. He spun on his heel, his arm sweeping out in a swift arc.

Eli seemed to be catching on to the swiftness of Theon's attacks and barely dodged the strike, his feet slipping back into the cover of his shadows. He appeared again on Theon's left, fist aimed for his ribs, but once again Theon was ready and caught the wrist in mid-air with the same cold precision he had displayed at the start.

Theon was starting to notice something. 'He's not that good a fighter. He's just good at taking pain.'

Theon's grip tightened like a vice around Eli's wrist, and then he could see it. A type of frustration that you could only find in a child.

"You're too slow," Theon said, his voice a low murmur, barely loud enough to be heard over the sound of their breathing.

Eli snarled, trying to pull away, but Theon's grip held firm. With a swift motion, Theon yanked Eli toward him and slammed his knee into Eli's stomach. Eli choked, his body folding over Theon's knee before being thrown aside like a ragdoll.

The way the fight was now, it was like Theon was three steps ahead every time. He remained eerily calm, his movements controlled and deliberate and every strike his opponent threw was deflected or countered before it could even fully manifest.

But Eli kept going on, he wasn't finished. He dropped into his shadows again and under Theon's feet was a mass of black swirling around. He wasn't worried.

So far the fight was tame in his opinion, he hadn't even had to use his power yet.

"I wonder how Jon's doing." then he started to hear Eli's voice emanating from the shadows. "All alone waiting for his next orders from his master like a good dog."

Was he trying to get a rise? Theon could feel something bubbling but he wasn't about to act stupidly because of it.

Theon felt something bad was coming from the shadows so he jumped and dashed forward to one of the untouched corners but it was only a split second later when black touched the grounds causing him to panic.

"You can't outrun shadows." A dark and sadistic voice chattered out.

"Don't Move!"

For an instant Theon's mind felt like it was clouded over and his body was stiff and out of his control. He could see a hit coming from Eli and was fully capable of blocking it but his body wouldn't move. It was like he couldn't command it anymore.

'Control.'

Theon took the hit and his head smacked off the wall behind him. He then took another hit to the ribs, a small dragon came and tried biting at Eli's hands but he backed away and then Theon gained full control of his body again.

'That was unpleasant.' Understatement. The feeling of losing all function and surrendering to the will of another, it was more than unpleasant, it was downright disgusting and made him feel vulnerable. He felt a pang of hurt thinking of what Robin would have been put through.

A power like that in the hands of someone like Eli was wrong. It shouldn't exist.

Without wasting a moment, Theon closed the distance between them in an instant. His fist connected with Eli's jaw in a thunderous blow, sending the smaller boy into another row of shelves. The impact was violent, the crash of falling books echoing through the library like thunder. Eli groaned, blood now trickling from the corner of his mouth, his earlier confidence finally cracking.

"You're a clever one Theon. Or maybe I was just too stupid and should have dealt with you a bit earlier." Eli started to walk slowly in circular motion.

"I didn't even get to prove myself yet. I'm going to have to do something big before meeting them." Eli spat out the sentence and even though he was staring deeply at Theon he didn't seem to be paying much attention to him. His mind was elsewhere.

Theon didn't know what he was talking about. He was a little shocked at the thought that Eli could be doing this for someone else, for some recognition. It was silly and Eli didn't seem to notice it.

"Our power is a reflection of our souls. So we should put it on display as much as we can since we have been blessed to do so." Or maybe Eli was stuck in the ways of a crazed lunatic.

He laughed as he melted back into black and shook the room. The dim lighting stuttered as Eli then came out of his shadows behind Theon, Theon turned quickly and delivered a powerful chop that was going for the neck.

But the ease at which it went through shook his heart for a moment, not because of the belief that he may have killed him. But instead at the melting blackness and swampy feeling he was receiving as the form of Eli burst into black inky shadows.

A throaty laugh was heard behind Theon as he tried to turn again only to loose his footing and start to fall backwards.

Eli saw his opportunity and Theon could only block and endure with his toughened body. But just as Eli was about to start clawing at Theon's face, they both could see and feel a looming dark presence behind him...

One that Theon was happy to finally see after all this time.

"Never thought it could be you." Jon's voice was laced in a cheerful violence that he was struggling to hide.

Theon felt relief. Relief that his message got across and he is now finally seeing his friend in good spirits.

Eli's smirk faltered and twisted into something wholly negative. His bloodlust radiated off his skin and merged with his Od, then Jon's did too.

Eli stepped back away from both Theon and Jon.

Jon was upon Theon in an instant and helped him get back up on his feet.

"You struggling?" He teased causing a smile to appear on Theon's face.

"As if. He just got slightly lucky." Theon laughed it off while glaring back at Eli, his own Od spiking and swirling around his body. Theon's mind stopped for a second. "Where's Ava by the way?" he whispered.

"She's outside with Robin already, they sent me here." Jon answered back quickly before dodging a hard back book flung at him with Theon joining by ducking low after dodging the books thrown by Eli Sazaki's shadow.

It was then that Theon saw something that he made sure to be aware of.

Eli's shadow was on the spot Jon had landed as Eli closed in on him and then he ordered. "{Don't move.}"

Jon stopped moving and Eli went to throw a solid hit toward him but Theon jumped in the way with his heel aimed right for Eli's head. Eli slipped it and ducked into his shadow before reforming again by the edge of one of the remaining bookshelves still up within the section they were still in.

"Don't let him step on your shadow." Theon spoke in a low voice to Jon who nodded putting the pieces together on his own.

"He controls whoever's shadow he is touching or basically merging with,"

"Exactly." Theon confirmed. Eli's power wasn't just manipulating shadows to move or attack. It was far more insidious. He could control people with their own shadows, something that could catch many off guard.

With their newfound understanding of Eli's abilities, Theon and Jon shifted side by side. They had learned enough about Eli's capabilities and now their would be no more tricks. Eli's smirk returned but there was much hesitation behind his confidence now.

"Well this got interesting." Eli sneered, clearly trying to recover his bravado as the shadows writhed around him like living entities.

Jon's eyes narrowed, his stare lowering. "You've had your fun."

Theon's hands crackled with energy as his Od flared, his keen gaze focused on Eli's every movement. "We're done playing around."

Eli darted forward, his form blending with the shadows as he attempted to close the distance once more, his aim precise, target Jon. But this time Jon was ready. He pivoted on his heel narrowly avoiding Eli's hand while jumping only a short inch while stretching his hand with blood dripping from his fingertips firing off slicing through the air at Eli.

Eli barely managed to dissolve into the darkness, dodging the attack by a hairs breadth. And as he reformed, Theon was there, his fist charging with energy as he anticipated Eli's reappearance. Theon's intuition honed in on the exact spot where Eli would emerge.

The second Eli's form flickered into existence by the bookshelf, Theon's fist collided with his ribs. The force of the blow sent Eli crashing back to the wall with a grasp of pain, the impact cracking the wood behind him.

"You can't keep slipping away Eli." Theon muttered in a cold voice remaining steady.

Eli snarled, scrambling to his feet. He tried to retreat once more but in with hot and steamy quickness Jon was at his position with his blood formed as tendrils shooting forward and wrapping themselves around Eli's ankles knocking him off balance.

With a single sharp movement Jon pulled, and Eli was sent tumbling to the floor unable to dissolve into the shadows in time.

Theon was already moving, dashing forward as Eli struggled to regain his footing. Theon's kick struck Eli in the gut and Theon could tell with the amount he has delivered already he must have caused some bruising.

His kick lifted him off the ground sending him airborne. Jon followed up instantly, his blood tendrils lashing out like a whip, striking Eli mid-air and sending him crashing through a window into the courtyard only a floor below.

The cool night air flooded into the room and without hesitation, Theon and Jon leaped after Eli, landing gracefully on the cobblestone below. Eli groaned struggling to stand as blood dripped from his mouth. His shadows flickered weakly around him.

"Still want to keep going?" Jon's teasing voice was harsh, his calm veneer cracking with the violence simmering beneath.

Eli's response was a wicked snarl, but he was clearly outmatched. He was stuck breathing heavily. Theon started moving forward to him with a bigger dragon flowing around his right side ready to attack.

"Stay down Eli." Theon's voice was commanding.

Eli's eyes darted between them, he wanted to escape but his want to be the one standing over the two boys was greater. Eli wanted more.

Theon remembered something that slipped out of Eli's mouth earlier.

"By the way did someone put you up to this Eli?" he asked hoping that there still might be a glimmer of goodness in the boy.

Eli cackled as he looked back up at Theon with a confident glare as if he knew more than him. Something that Theon would be in search for, why was that look so conniving.

"They only show up to those worthy. Future leaders. Scum like you will never feel their grace."

"Seems he's going all loopy." Jon spoke up from behind him as he silently walked up to stand beside Theon.

Theon took a moment to think to himself though. Eli was a believer in the Seven Pillars, he even believed they were still out there somewhere in the real world. But if that were true why would he think what he was doing was something that they would approve of.

So he took a gander.

"They show up to those who are worthy? Well you seem to have lost your worth then right." Theon spoke as if it were a fact not simple question. He looked down on Eli with a cold menacing glare as if he were nothing.

No matter what, even if Eli was being coerced into this, he still chose to carry it out the way he did so he doesn't mind making him suffer if only through words alone.

"You have a unique power but failed at putting it to any real use. You snuck around without taking any action and then showed yourself to someone who is so far ahead of you in me."

Eli didn't have his usual smirk, he lost the bravado and the blood trailing his face made him look like a pathetic lost child. He was losing composure.

"And to make it even worse your false angels haven't shown up to save you. No divination to help you out of this situation is there." His face twisted into a hateful glare at Theon's words.

Theon then brought up the phone that his dragon captured earlier when Ava had initially punched Eli across the library.

"I've deleted most things damning to Jon on here but everything else will be brought to the right people." Eli didn't even look phased at that. Had he even thought he had done anything wrong?

He muttered something in a low hum...

"What was that?" Jon asked.

"Fuck You!" he spat out. "Go die!." His Od spiked and both Theon and Jon backed away preparing to fight back. But as Eli tried getting up he spat out a huge amount of blood deeply hurt and wounded from the battle he just had.

No matter what Eli wanted he was not getting it tonight.

"You're too hurt and don't have as strong of an ambition." Theon's voice was softer as he let out that last part... "Just stop, so we can bring you to the medical wing already. It's not like you have to die."

The silence in the air was palpable. Neither Theon nor Jon moved, they had stood staring down Eli who was on his knees chest still heaving up and down until he violently shook his head.

He hiccupped while snorting loudly and lifting his arm to his face. There were no tears but he snivelled while silently saying... "I have nothing, and I have no one."

The tenseness that was there was now gone as it had looked like Eli had finally realized. There was no out, no one coming to save him and he had been utterly defeated through every step of the way.

For a moment, the courtyard was silent, only the sound of Eli's laboured breathing filled the air. Then as if the weight of defeat finally crushed him, Eli slumped to the ground with his Od dissipating into the night.

The fight was over.

Theon didn't move a muscle. He could still hear a calming down heartbeat of Eli to signify he wasn't going to die. Even with all the bad things Eli had done in their short time at the paladin program, Theon didn't want him to die.

He didn't want him near the people he cared about as he is now.

Theon also thought about Jon, someone who wanted to get away from the life of killing, he didn't want him to suffer with the thought of contributing to another life being stolen.

"He's alive you know."

"Yeah I guess I assumed as much." Jon stuttered but didn't take his eye off of Eli, he kneeled down while putting one hand over his arm in deep thought.

"Theon."

Theon looked over to his friend.

"Thank you."

"We're friends you know... so you don't have to thank me for something like this."

He didn't know what he was saying, it was just the strong emotion dripping out of him now. The words he said just felt like something that should have been said. But in the moment, Theon didn't feel like talking much...

For some reason, he felt sad.

Heavy footsteps is all that was heard from behind the two boys. A tall and broad man with dishevelled grey hair and a thick grey beard stopped behind the two boys. His Od emanating a thick shadow for battle.

He was Gregory Knox.

"You two boys are to follow me."

______________

'I wanted a saviour.'

The black haired youth was coming to his senses but kept his eyes closed after realising that no one was there to see him wake.

Eli was chained to a hospital bed with a suppressant seal attached to his forehead as well as his cuffs, only one was needed to suppress his entire flow of Od but it was probably for safety measures, he understood it.

He didn't dream this time. Eli didn't know what was going to happen to him but he knew that he wasn't going to enjoy any bliss, he wasn't going to sleep to have similar dreams that gave him a feeling of being wrapped up in a warm coat of care and affection with the promise of... validation.

Eli's memories of his past were murky, filled with echoes of silence and neglect. He was too young to remember his parents faces, their voices had already long since faded into the background of a forgotten melody, leaving behind a faint trace of warmth. A warmth that was swiftly taken away from him.

After their deaths, he was left with an uncle who's life was crumbling like ash in the wind. Fresh from a bitter divorce and lost custody of his children, the man carried a heavy weight of grief, anger and apathy that even Eli could notice in his young mind at the time.

His uncle, riddled with his own demons turned to bad habits, seeking solace in the haze of alcohol and gambling. Eli, a child too small to defend himself but too loud to be ignored, was often cast aside.

The solution to this for Eli's uncle was simple yet cruel. He locked him away. A random box, a closet for when he got too big for a simple box, or any dark corner even when Eli had begun to quiet down, it just became a habit so he could at least say he didn't completely lash out and beat him.

But darkness soon became Eli's prison, and it was in those spaces, enveloped in darkness and fear that Eli learned to hate the dark.

It was suffocating, pressing against his skin like cold, clammy hands. In those moments when the air became thin and his thoughts grew more frantic, he wished for a saviour.

It was in those moments he so badly wanted for someone to pull him out of that blackness, someone who cared enough to reach into the void and bring him into the light. But every time it happened, no one shown up and the hope he clung to began to disappear.

Until one night, when the darkness felt deeper than before, something within Eli stirred. It was subtle at first, a strange pulse that echoed through his bones and it just kept growing. Suddenly the darkness didn't feel so scary anymore. It bent to his will, moulded into the shape he wanted, protected him.

For the first time in his 12 years at that point, Eli was in control.

The shadows that had once terrorized him were now his allies. And in that moment Eli stepped from the darkness into a room that stayed the same in front of a changing Eli.

But that wasn't all. Eli was always told he was meant for more. Not by anyone close to him, but by the maiden of his dreams. In his dreams, he was never alone. He would find himself standing on water, clear blue water that reflected the beautiful starry sky of the light evening with the thick scent of jasmine.

And there in the center of it all, was her. A woman, ethereal and not only her figure but her presence always seemed otherworldly before him. Her long platinum hair cascaded like a waterfall of midnight, flowing down touching the bed of water that was strangely always dry.

Her face was something he could never see clearly, or maybe he did and whenever he woke he would forget it as it was something that normal worldly people like him can't perceive properly. Her features were shrouded in light, making her seem like a distant memory and yet impossibly near. But her presence was unforgettable, a deep beauty so profound that it lingered in his mind long after he awoke.

Warmth was radiated from her very being. The warmth he had always been denied felt as if it were wrapping around him like a blanket of affection and care.

It was her who had told him about them, the seven pillars. And even more than that she was one of them.

When she spoke her voice was like the wind, soft and commanding.

She told him that he was a chosen one, a prophet even, and that he could be someone who brought salvation and protection to the world. In her voice there was a promise.

It was there that Eli could finally hope, a feeling he had long since buried. In her words he found validation and in her presence he found the comfort he needed, the feeling of being chosen.

There was nothing dreamlike about it, but he would still wake up, in reality doing what he felt he was supposed to do. He felt a calling, a destiny had awaited him and he needed to prove himself. Dominating a class of future paladin was a way he believed could be prove worthy. Eventually he would be directed down the path, a path to the land for the chosen.

But now, as he lay defeated and broken, Eli knew he wouldn't dream again. There would be no more promises and no more warmth to envelop him. The light he had felt was fading and the darkness was returning but even greater this time. This time mixed with a cold void that seemed to come with failure and loss.

He had been promised greatness and been told he was chosen, but now he knew better. No dream was going to save him this time. It was time for the darkness to consume him again, he was cold.

__________

Theon was sat in the office of Juniper Fay and instead of the usual jokey expression and giddy eyes, she was dead serious in both tone and presence. Her golden appearance seemed darkened after a retelling of the events that led up to this from Jon's side.

Robin frantically told her side of events to the older and bulkier man Greg Evans as she and Ava had seen him leading both Theon and Jon away with Eli being carried with care to the medical wing.

Theon briefly caught on to the disgusted and shocked look that appeared on Ava's face before he and Jon went to their meetings first. Separate so one story at a time could be told without any influence.

Jon went before Theon and then Ava went in ending it quickly before finding her way to wherever Robin had been taken looking distraught and taken aback seemingly fighting back tears forming at the edges of her eyes.

So when Theon went in he received a suspecting look from the woman sat by her desk furiously typing away at her computer. "Please sit."

Theon sat across from her and began wishing that maybe her desk were thicker to keep her at a farther distance from him. She was angry, not at him he could feel but that didn't matter. Angry people sometimes lashed out at those undeserving and stepping on the path of an overseer of an entire school of future paladins doesn't seem like the right move.

"Before I say anything else." Her voice delicate but laced with an eerie calm. "I want to thank you Theon Abara." She spoke delicately with a muted look on her face blending well with her soft appearance.

Theon blinked, momentarily thrown off by her words. A "Thank You." ... he expected that he would have to wear her down with his own reasoning before he received that.

"You don't seem all too surprised." She noted, her eyes narrowing slightly as if she were trying to read deeper into him. "You did right by stepping in for your friends. What Eli was doing was truly despicable."

"Right." Theon replied quietly, his voice steady. He didn't elaborate, not yet as he knew there was more coming.

Her eyes locked onto his and her hands stilled locked in place. "But, you still need to understand something Theon. You're not a paladin. Not yet anyway. Not even a rookie."

"Being on a campus filled with actual paladin, you should have informed staff if you suspected something was wrong." She said, her voice maintaining an unsettling calm. "Instead you acted on your own, risking yourself and others and causing unnecessary damage."

Her words stung, but not in the way a typical scolding might. It wasn't about being scolded, it was the fact that he still doesn't think he had done anything wrong and doesn't think there was much he could have added on to change the situation. It didn't matter to him, so he sat with a cool silence as her words rained down on him.

"I didn't know of Eli's ability to sneak into shadows but I knew he could observe without being noticed so I thought that telling someone would only lead to a bad outcome and his escape."

"That's understandable Theon but you guys are still just kids and if Eli was any worse or maybe like that intruder you guys had at the start of the year than maybe all four of you would have been dead by now."

Theon did get her worry, if Eli had been as skilled as someone like Charlie Liber had been then maybe he and Jon along with the other two would have died. But even then, that was just never a thought in his mind.

'What about Jon?' He didn't know if that was normal. Death was such a normal thing that happens in this world all too often with the great powers that are at play so. Even when Jon had told him of his possible high death count he reacted sure but he didn't think much of it. He didn't care.

"You're not in trouble." Her tone of voice changed and seemed to soften after sensing his air of absentmindedness. "This isn't about punishment. You did what you thought was right, and in the end you did help in saving Robin. For that I am grateful. But Theon... Try not to carry the weight of all decisions alone. That is what the whole program was built for from the beginning."

Her words hung in the air as Theon stayed silent trying to look anywhere but her. But eventually his eyes set on hers and what he seen in reflection... was a respect, or perhaps a look of concern. He wasn't sure but he felt it.

Theon stood knowing the conversation was over but there was still something lingering on his mind.

"Can I ask..." She rose her eyebrows, "... What's going to happen to Eli now?" Whatever happened happens. Eli would probably deserve it.

Ms Fay thought on that more deeply before answering him.

"Eli... what happens to him depends more on what just happened today. With his power there is a chance that he has done worse or similar in the past so there will be an evaluation done by the necessary authorities before he is sent away to prison to serve his time."

Prison at such an early age. And for an awakened like him it certainly won't be as simply as juvenile. He will be locked away for a long time. And Theon didn't even think of what he could have done in his past before this incident, with his power he could have gotten away with so much.

Well... 'Sucks to be him.'

That was it, it was hard to feel for Eli in anyway. Theon just wanted to know if he was going to stick near them or not. He was also interested in the steps that are taken but Ms Fay didn't expand on that so he didn't ask.

He walked out to see Jon waiting for him. They greeted each other and the two of them had left the grounds and silently walked back to their dorms after receiving word from Ava that everything is fine with Robin and she will be staying overnight under safe guard.

Theon thought back on the look Juniper Fay was giving him, a flicker of sadness in her burning yellow eyes...

'Try not to carry the weight of all decisions alone.'