PART FIVE: THE DARKNESS
Imani eagerly awaited her parents’ arrival at Blanca and Aaron Alison’s lavishly furnished den and they promptly arrived at the time they had promised they’d be there, with several minutes to spare. They exchanged pleasantries with Blanca and Aaron before Imani exuberantly greeted them both.
When Imani hugged her mother with happy tears flowing from her eyes, she sensed something dark embedded in her mother’s psyche that had been ever-present. Terrified of what it could mean, Imani used her healing abilities to try and make the darkness clutching onto her mother’s psyche dissipate but she was unable to vanquish the shadowy beast.
Not wanting to embarrass her mother before Blanca and Aaron, she smiled brightly at her mother who returned her smile weakly.
“Mr. and Mrs. Alison, my mate and I are forever indebted to you for taking such great care of our beloved daughter for such a long time. It is unfortunate that it had to take so long for us to clear our names but finally, we can have our Imani back home with us,” her father stated.
“It was an absolute pleasure hosting her. Imani took care of us as much as we took care of her,” Blanca stated.
“Oh, is that right?” Flint asked.
Blanca smiled and nodded. “We are in fact very sad to see her go. We have grown accustomed to hosting such a lovely young lady in our home,”
Flint beamed proudly at his daughter. “She really is a great addition to any home. Thank you once more, Mr. and Mrs. Alison. We are indebted to you for your kindness,” he stated and bowed in respect before the Alisons.
Flint picked up Imani’s suitcases and carried them while he and the rest of his family followed behind him. The older Imani tightly held onto her daughter’s hand and Imani felt that darkness hold tighter to her mother’s psyche. Imani was terrified that the darkness would get to her mother and that, eventually, she would lose her mother to it. The Savior squeezed her mother’s hand tighter.
“Bye Imani! You are welcome here anytime you’d wish to visit!” Blanca pronounced jovially.
“Thank you for everything Mrs. Blanca. You’re the best!” Imani stated before running to hug her and Mr. Aaron enthusiastically.
Imani then followed behind her parents and walked upto the front door. However, just as she and her parents turned the door knob and took their first steps to leave the room, they heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs and turned to see Aerlin rushing down to meet them.
The Protector of the Savior of the Dark World had gone into hysterics upon learning that Imani’s parents had been cleared by the government and could therefore, resume being her adoptive parents thanks to the intervention of Oracle Emica. In protest of Imani having to leave the Manor to resume living with her parents, he had ultimately shut himself in his room all morning, refusing to eat or speak to anyone.
“Wait! Imani, please don’t go!” he shouted.
Imani shyly looked away.
“Young man, you have taken great care of Imani while she was living here to which my wife and I are very grateful but it is time for her to come home, where she belongs with us,” Flint gently informed Aerlin.
“She… She doesn’t belong with you… Sir. She belongs with me… I mean, with us…” Aerlin stated shaking his head adamantly.
“Aerlin-” Blanca began.
“Mama, please… You can’t let Imani leave. If she goes then she won’t be safe. The evil one is trying to get her and she… she will get her if she goes. She has to stay here with us, Mama. Please tell them that!” Aerlin desperately pleaded with his mother.
“Sweetheart-” Blanca began.
“No, I won’t! I won’t let you go, Imani. Not… Not again,” Aerlin stated rushing to her side. He grabbed hold of Imani’s hand and held onto it with all his might while he contemplated the meaning of his words. What had he meant by the declaration that he would not let her go again? When had he let her go before?
“Aerlin, honey, please let go of her,” his mother spoke to him firmly.
“No! It will be like… like that day…” Aerlin spoke terrified of the prospect of losing Imani.
The day he spoke of was nothing more than a distantly vague memory and Aerlin was unsure of how he retrieved the memory at all. He had witnessed the Savior rush off to fight the Evil Sage. He had been paralyzed from the waist down by a neurological agent injected into his bloodstream by a poisonous vine and rather than heal him or wait for the poison to be completely cleared from his system, the Savior had rushed in to fight the Sage on her own and in their world, she had fallen and the dark one had won.
Imani shook her head adamantly. “That won’t happen again, I promise,” she reassured her Protector.
Aerlin shook his head. What could it all mean, he wondered? Was the vision he had just had related to him in any way? Was something amiss?
“Imani, what was… what was that vision I saw?” he asked her worriedly.
“It was nothing… Just something from the past,”
Aerlin was so shocked by the vision of that past that he let go of Imani’s hand without meaning to. He did not even register Imani and her family leaving the Manor and instead tried to wrap his mind around what he had just seen, relating it to what Imani had stated.
For several days, Aerlin would ponder the events of that memory and tried to relate it to Imani’s words… It was something from the past but why had he had the memory? Was it his memory or had he been witnessing it from someone else’s mind?
Meanwhile, young Imani settled back home with her family all the while terrified of the ever present darkness threatening her mother’s life. She met with Emica and Nobu and thanked them for all their help in reuniting her to her beloved parents.
“Oracle Emica, I am very worried about my mom. Please help her,” Imani begged of Emica when they spoke privately in the Kandas’ lavish garden.
“What makes you so worried, sweetheart?” Emica asked her gently.
“There is something really, really bad that wants to get my mom, Emica. I think that the Entity is still trying to hurt her,”
Emica turned to look at her Protector worriedly.
“Sweetheart, I shall take care of it with Nobu. We will stay here for a few days just to make sure nothing bad happens to your mom or dad,”
Imani smiled and nodded, relieved to hear the news.
True to their word, Emica and Nobu stayed at the Kanda mansion and during their time there, they endevored to get better insight as to what plagued Imani Senior. On the surface, she was seemingly happy but something was definitely off about her. Her smile seemed forced and even her demeanor betrayed her worrisome psyche.
At first, Emica and Nobu reasoned that the cause of Imani’s unhappiness was that she had had to deal with a lot of misfortunes all at once, from having her daughter nearly being taken away from her, to Mr. Kanda’s sudden stroke and hospitalization, to having a Court Battle against her daughter’s school among other pressing issues. In order to keep her daughter from worrying, Imani no doubt had to keep up a facade and both the Oracle and her Protector saw the need for it.
However, Imani’s mental state began to deteriorate rapidly to an extent where even the forced smile began to disappear. Flint was especially worried about his wife having known about the previous struggles she had faced prior to knowing her true life story. He was worried that if left unchecked, his wife could fall back into the dark depression she had once experienced that had, in the past, led her up-to the ledge.
TO BE CONTINUED…
What darkness threatens the life of the Savior’s adoptive mother? What shall Aerlin, her Protector, discover related to his past? Stay tuned to find out. Links to the previous parts are listed below. Enjoy!
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