Chapter 10: A New Beginning

Rays of light slipped through the curtain covering the window. Bix blinked slowly before sitting up, stretching her arms and feeling quite content. For the first time in a long time, she actually had a good night’s rest without any nightmares.

All my nightmares have been defeated, she thought to herself with a shy smile as she swung her legs off her bed and stood. The five of them had used the snow globe to return back to the Monastery, and Bix had passed out from both exhaustion and relief that everyone was home and safe. Now, she couldn’t wait to start the new day and see the world with new worry-free eyes.

Once she was dressed, she left to find the others, but when she opened her bedroom door, Akan fell into her room. He had been sitting with his back to the door and had fallen asleep. Wide-awake, he stood with a large smile on his face and held Bix tightly. “How are you?” he murmured against her hair.

“Never been better,” she whispered softly, and it was true. She felt like a stronger person for facing and conquering her nightmares. “Thank you for helping.”

“We’ll always help you, Bix,” he told her before putting her at arms length so he could look down at her face. He promised, “I will always be there for you.”

“As will I,” she promised him, and in that single moment, both of them knew that they were promising something much more.

After several heartbeats of silence had passed, Bix whispered, “I still can’t believe it’s over.” She glanced away for a second before looking back, almost ashamed for asking the question that had been plaguing her. “With all that power, why didn’t you take it?”

Akan lifted a brow. When Bix had gone to sleep, the twins and Ki had talked about it, relishing and reliving the feats that they had performed. The power had been overwhelming and amazing to hold. It was a power that held a wealth of frightening promises possible through shear force and willpower.

But, in no way did they want it.

Akan ran a hand through his hair, almost embarrassed. “Growing up, we had always dreamed of having so much power. We didn’t want to be victims in the slums anymore. It was our dream to be the strongest so that we would never have to fear anything anymore.” He broke off, his gaze drifting to out the window before continuing, “But now… we’ve found something that we want even more…”

Bix waited and prompted, “Which is?”

He looked down at her and smiled, “A home. It’s something we wouldn’t trade for literally all the power in the world.”

Bix let out a small gasp and swallowed. “I understand.”

Akan let out a small laugh, “And Nix understands. She’s off to go find her new home, too.”

“What?”

Akan paled and scrunched up his face as if he had just made the biggest mistake in his life. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything.” He had barely finished his sentence before Bix ran by him to find Nix. He added weakly, “She’s in the courtyard.”

As she ran towards her destination, Bix could hear loud laughter and cheering, which meant she was probably in the right direction. She stopped in surprise, still hidden in the building when she saw her sister.

Nix had a large smile on her face, as if she hadn’t literally been dead the day before. She was dressed in her skimpy armor, but what caught everyone’s attention was the tattoo showing devotion to Dwayna on Nix’s scalp.

Nix’s bald scalp.

“Did it hurt, Nix?” one of the monks asked Nix shyly.

For a brief moment, the smile wavered on her face as she was lost in the past. She recovered with an even brighter smile. “Hurt? It hurt fiercely! It’s probably the most painful thing I have ever done!” she told the monks around her that were gasping with shock and hero-worship. “But you know what? Only us monks are strong enough to go through with it!” The monks around her cheered for her, crying out that they couldn’t wait until they were covered with tattoos just like her. Bix left the shadows of the building and caught Nix’s eye. Her sister waved herself away from the students before sashaying over to Bix.

“Nice haircut,” Bix greeted.

Nix laughed and Bix couldn’t help but notice that even without the hair, her sister was breathtakingly beautiful. “It’s an old style I decided I want to use again.” She grinned mischievously. “I’m pretty sure I’m Rika’s new best friend.” Both of them glanced over to Rika who was waving a razor, encouraging the next monk wanting a shaved head to come over. “Since I let her be the one to shave my head, all the other monks want her to do it, too.”

Bix couldn’t help but laugh. When the moment passed, she accused lightly, “Akan said you’re leaving.”

Nix looked at her silently, tilting her head slightly, a slight smile on her thoughtful face. “I have something for you. Close your eyes, and put your hand out,” Nix instructed her.

Bix felt Nix put something in her hand and opened an eye to peek. She frowned when Nix curled her fingers around the rock in her hand. “I don’t understand. You’re giving me your pendant?”

Nix still held her fingers closed around her own. “Yeah. Although it really was yours in the first place,” she pointed out. “This whole experience made me realize that while I was trying so hard to remember my baby sister… I completely missed the fact that she grew up into a strong young lady who doesn’t need a big sister around to protect her.” Bix opened her mouth to disagree, but Nix gave her a stern look. “Instead, I want you to keep this…” she let go of her hand “so that you’ll remember me.”

“I won’t forget you, Nix. Not this time. Aren’t you still an instructor here? Why are you leaving? Where will you go?”

Nix let out a giggle and shrugged, “Clearly Headmaster Amara just can’t take a joke. I merely suggested that the Monks boycott healing for a while, and just because they took me seriously and actually did boycott healing, I’m officially not an instructor anymore.”

Bix tried to stop her smile from appearing and failed.

Nix turned over to where Akan was standing next to Ki. They were both watching Rika cut hair as if it was the most important job in the world to her. While she was cutting, she even suggested adding different colors, which some of the monks actually considered. “Instead of being stuck in the past, I realized it’s time that I look forward and be the monk that I should have been.” She looked back to Bix. “And maybe, I can find a family that wants me instead of trying to make the family that I do have like me.”

“You’ll always have me,” Bix pointed out.

Nix smiled brightly as if Bix had just given her a priceless gift. “Thank you.”

When the threat of tears passed by, she said, “You know, there’s this place called Elona where it’s sunny all the time.”

“A place where skimpy outfits are practically required?” Bix teased.

“Yes!” Nix laughed. “I’m thinking that maybe I’ll find my new home there.”

“I hope you do. Although I’ll miss my big sister.”

“Well, maybe when I find my new home… you’ll visit me?”

Bix nodded wordlessly, a sad smile on her face. “I’d really like that.”

It was later that evening, when everyone had gone back inside and Nix had gone off on a new adventure that Akan finally got to give Bix her Wintersday present. They sat alone in the courtyard underneath a cloudless sky dotted with sparkling diamonds.

“I’ve got a present,” Akan told her as if it he had just told her the greatest secret in the world.

Bix had been leaning against him and involuntarily stiffened. She tried to make her voice calm instead of sounding panicky. “Oh?” was all she was able to say comfortably.

Akan nodded excitedly while Bix was trying to control her breathing. She had faced her worse nightmare… she could handle whatever gift Akan had decided to give her.

“Close your eyes,” he told her. Bix was glad that in the dim light, he couldn’t see that she had completely paled.

It’s the thought that counts, she reminded herself over and over in a litany. He doesn’t mean to keep giving me living embodiments of my worst fears, she reassured herself, trying not to scream when he put the gift in her hand.

Wincing, she tentatively opened one eye. Seeing what it was, she opened the other, and her vision wavered as tears gathered.

Akan looked crestfallen, “You hate it? I’m sorry, Bix.”

Bix shook her head and clutched the gift to her chest. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”



The end