The Sankari Legends Book One: The Scars We Hide

A week went by with no word of Asher or Marina. Alec and Alia both wanted to go look for them, and I admit to wanting to go myself, but we were still grounded. Layne’s team was chosen to head the search instead.

My gunshot wound had healed up pretty well. Since my powers gave me an increased healing factor, I was recovered before Alia or even Megan, though why I was confined to the infirmary while they ran around was beyond me. I was sitting in my room, waiting for Tyler to come help take me back to my dorm room when the twins and Megan walked in.

“Hey Gutshot!” Alia said cheerfully. Alec and Megan snorted as I groaned.

“Please don’t call me that,” I muttered. Alia simply snorted.

“That isn’t going to happen,” she snarked, dropping into a chair beside my bed. “You can thank Tyler for the name.”

“Thank Tyler for what?” Tyler asked, striding into the room. He tossed me a pair of jeans and a green shirt. “There, go put on some normal clothes.”

I smirked as I ducked into the bathroom to change. I could hear Tyler started up a casual conversation with the others about our recently renewed memories. Most of what he said involved Alia drunk flirting with me while I pretended to be drunk at mine and Tyler’s graduation party last night or asking about Alec and Megan’s not-relationship.

I walked out of the bathroom just in time to witness Tyler doing an impersonation of Alia drunk. Alec and Megan were both doubled over with laughter… Megan holding her shoulder in pain. Alia herself tried to look indignant, but we could all see the laugh she was failing to hide.

“Tyler,” she said as seriously as she could. “Unless you want two prosthetic arms, I suggest you shut up now.”

Tyler held his hands up in surrender. “Right, right. Sorry. But in all seriousness, Megan, have you explained any of this to them?

Megan’s face flushed. “No, I haven’t yet. I was waiting until we were all healed up some but I guess… well, now’s as good a time as any.”

“Before you jump into explanations,” Tyler said, “I’m going to duck out. I already know the story and… well, I figure it’s best the four of you talk about it without me. I’ll just go grab lunch with Emmalie and Nicki, and then come back. You guys want me to bring you anything?”

We all shook our heads, the light mood quickly dissipating. To be honest, I wasn’t all that hungry anyway.

Tyler nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him. I sat back down on my bed and gestured for Megan to sit beside me. Alia waved her hand from where she was still seated at the head of the bed and a chair slid over by Alec, who promptly fell into it. Megan hopped onto the foot of the bed so that she was facing us and crossed her legs. Finally, taking a deep breath, she began to explain.

“The truth is that we really have been together since Alia, Alec, and I started at the academy. We were all three in the same first-year training course and put on a team together. Sabin you were brought in as our team strategist that year.”

“That’s what we remember now,” Alia said. “But what about the memories we had before you fixed them or whatever happened.”

“Those were fake memories. Everything before our third year that was replaced… I made those up.”

“But why?” Alec asked.

Megan took a breath. “A little bit before our third year began, I ran into Brittany in Aelston when I was down there doing an IGS intern tour with Tyler. It was our last day there, and we didn’t have any meetings or anything, so I decided to walk around the city while Tyler visited with his brother. While I was walking, I ran into Brittany. Somehow, she pulled me into a takot vision and convinced me that everyone at the academy had found out about my powers and the fact my dad was a konna.”

“Even though I had already told you guys about my powers, the consequences I saw in my vision were so horrible… I don’t really know how or why, but it triggered my minnen abilities. Without meaning to, I rewrote the memories of anyone I was even acquainted with at Edil.” Megan paused, then added quietly: “I didn’t even know I could do that.”

We sat in stunned silence for a few seconds, not really sure what to say. Megan pulled at the fabric of her pants nervously, looking at all of us for any sign of understanding.

Finally, Alia spoke.

“What I don’t understand is how Alec and I both had flashbacks of our real memories while we weren’t suppose to have those memories.”

I frowned at her, not remembering her mentioning anything about having flashbacks. We all knew Alec had… since that’s what triggered Megan fixing everyone’s memories in the first place, but I didn’t know anything about Alia having flashbacks as well.

Then there were those memories I had had. The ones about the twins training together. I shouldn’t have been able to remember that, but I had.

Obviously, Megan understood something I didn’t because she went on to say:

“I don’t really know why that happened, except maybe the fact that all four of us being together again weakened what my powers had done, letting some memories slip through the cracks.”

The twins seemed satisfied with this answer, but I couldn’t say I was satisfied with the complete explanation. There was something else about this whole ordeal that was still bothering me.

“Megan, I don’t know exactly how to say this,” I started. “But… how much power would it have taken you to alter that many memories?”

She frowned and stared down at her bare feet. “Honestly? I don’t know. A lot. Like, an absurd amount that I shouldn’t be able to access.”

“But you did,” I said.

Megan bit her lip but didn’t answer.

“Megan, does this have anything to do with what happened to Zig? Or the dark energy that almost consumed you?” Alec asked, catching on.

“There… there is something,” Megan said slowly, meeting Alec’s eyes just barely. “But I don’t really understand it myself, and I don’t like thinking about it.”

“What is it?” Alia asked. She was never known to be the sensitive one of our group. It was always directly to the point with her, at least when the focus of the conversation was someone else.

“My powers,” Megan said, letting out a breath. “I’m not really… I’m not really just a minnen.”

“What?” I asked, after a moment’s silence.

Megan shifted her eyes back down to the ground.

“My family power…” she started. “It’s hard to explain. For the longest time, Zig and I didn’t think there was one, since our powers are so different. I mean, a minnen and a shield? Then you throw in Brittany’s takot abilities… well, it just didn’t seem like a possibility. Even when Brittany came to see me, and she would drop these little hints… I didn’t believe her.”

“But then, both Zig and I started to notice these slight… changes in our powers. Suddenly, I was able to see the memories of places and people I’d never been in contact with. I… I saw your memories, even though I hadn’t seen any of you in years.” She took a breath. “Zig realized he could suddenly sense the emotions of people around him. I mean, he had always been good at reading people, but this was different. He could actually feel if someone was angry, or sad, or scared. We wrote each other a lot, trying to understand what was going on. But it wasn’t really until Zig’s graduation mission that things started to fall into place.”

She met my eyes then. Since my first year at the academy had been the same year Zig and his team had graduated, I had of course heard about the mission that placed their team at the top of every other Edil graduation team. I had never heard the full story—no one had—but everyone who had been around the academy at least knew that the Z Squad had surpassed seemingly impossible obstacles to complete their mission.

“I remember hearing about it,” I said. “But no one was ever told the full story… at least, not the one I’m sure you’re about to tell us?”

I raised an eyebrow at Megan, who responded with the faintest smile. The smile faded of course, at the same time she reached up to tug nervously on her ponytail with her hand that wasn’t still confined to a sling. Alec reached over and took her hand in his and squeezed it. Megan glanced at him thankfully as Alia and I shared our own skeptical glances. It was weird for all of us, the fact that the two of them had actually been a couple (even though they had been a surprisingly good fit for each other). After Megan had changed our memories they hadn’t even really been aware of each other’s presence at the academy. Now they (and the rest of us) remembered they had been together, but they didn’t really know how to handle the situation now. In the past few days, there had been a few little moments like this, but even so Alia and I could tell that they weren’t quite as comfortable with each other as they had once been.

“When Zig went on his graduation mission, they ran into some… complications. He lost control of his powers and his team almost got destroyed because of it. After that, he realized there was a lot more to our powers than we thought. So we started in on researching what we could.”

“What we found out scared us, to be honest,” Megan continued. “On my dad’s side of the family, there’s a very… unique family power that’s been passed on for generations. The Curse of the O’Carrolls it’s called—whether it’s a curse for those with that power or for those who go against someone with that power, I don’t know. The point is, this power revolves around the entire idea of seeing what other’s don’t want you to see and being able to make people see what the power holder wants them to see.”

She kept going before any of us could speak up.

“All three of us have these powers: Brittany, Zig, and me. Since Brittany is fully sided as a konna, her powers are fully developed. Zig and I… since we aren’t konna… our powers manifest in a different form. For Zig, he can create shields to protect people, which is what his perception manipulation power is. Him being able to see other people’s emotions is the other part. For me, my powers manifested as my minnen abilities. I see other people’s memories and manipulate them… though I didn’t know I could do that until a few days ago when I fixed everyone’s memories.”

Megan took a breath and looked at us, as if searching for some kind of sign of what to do. After a few seconds, she spoke again.

“The thing is… since these powers come from my dad’s side, they’re connected to our konna selves. The more we lean towards the konna side, the more our powers increase. If we lose control of either side, our powers go out of whack. That’s what happened to Zig on his mission. He didn’t tell me the full story, but I suspect Brittany was probably involved. Either way, Zig almost turned. It took his whole team to pull him back.”

She shifted nervously before continuing.

“When Zig and I fought Brittany last week, he… delved into his konna side to be able to use his powers offensively. Because of that, the dark energy almost consumed him.”

“And the same thing happens to you?” Alec asked. “Or did happen. When you created those boxes?”

Megan nodded. “I didn’t know I could do that, but when I created those boxes to hold the konna… I wasn’t conscious about what I was doing as far as using dark energy. I guess I should’ve paid more attention, but at the moment I was just thinking of keeping us safe.”

“I probably didn’t help,” I admitted. “I pushed you to create those barriers.”

“No, Sabin. I can’t blame you,” Megan said, shaking her head. “You didn’t know what would happen.”

“Still, I should have listened to Nicki. She knew something bad was going to happen, but I didn’t listen.”

“Sabin, it’s nothing we could’ve predicted,” Megan said. “It’s a constant struggle for me and Zig to keep the dark energy inside us in check. He’s only lost control twice, and this was really the first time I’ve lost control. The konna side… it doesn’t like being smothered. Every sankrin has a bit of darkness in them, because that’s just how people are. Everyone has the option of doing good or bad. My dad is proof of that. He was a konna who decided to do good. Some sankrin choose bad, like some of the Commanders here. But for kalahatis – those of us who are half konna-half sankrin – our choices don’t come as easily. Some kalahati can make it off with little difficulty, if they have a power that works well no matter which energy it’s fueled by. But some, like my siblings and me… our power has to be fueled by dark konna energy, otherwise it’ll never reach full potential. It’s always crying out to become stronger, and it responds to our emotions. Zig and I… we’ve worked years to figure out how to minimize our inner battles but sometimes we just slip.”

“So wait,” Alia said. “Every time your eyes flash between colors…”

“That’s my two sides fighting each other,” Megan answered. “The same thing happens to Zig, and even Brittany, when she was younger and less of a psychotic witch. It all has to do with which energy is more in control at the moment.”

“Energies…” Alec said. “I don’t understand what this is all about. I mean, yeah, I can sense different energies and people’s change in energy, but when it comes to the differences… what are dark and light energy?”

“It’s probably because elementest powers are different and aren’t fueled by the different energies,” Megan said. “And the differences in energies aren’t really something taught in full detail, just because there hasn’t been a need for soldiers to know about them.”

“A fact that will probably change soon,” Alia muttered, interrupting her. Megan shot her a glare, but continued to speak.

“But basically there’s konna or dark energy, and there’s sankrin or light energy. The energy you powers use depends on which side you take. As you probably figured out, too much dark energy to a sankrin can be fatal because it literally drains their energy. Same for a konna and light energy. But kalahatis aren’t affected by that. We can use either energy, but the energy we use often determines which side’s mindset we follow.”

“Which is why the tainted bullet had more effect on me than you,” I said, barely remembering what Megan had said while I’d been bleeding out on Commander Mecah’s office floor.

“Well, that and the fact you were shot in the gut and she was only shot in the shoulder,” Alia supplied. I sent her a look, to which she only grinned in response before she looked back at Megan. “What I don’t understand is that your eyes change a lot - or at least they have in the past few weeks - but you don’t seem to lose control of your powers that much. Like you said, a few days ago was the first time you’ve ever experienced something like that.”

Megan shrugged as much as her shoulder would allow her. “I don’t pretend to understand it. Maybe since my power is already an uncontrollable sight, it isn’t as affected? Because what caused my reaction to the dark energy was when I created those projections.”

Alia didn’t seem convinced with Megan’s explanation, but she didn’t press the issue. Instead, she started snickering.

“What are you laughing at?” I asked.

Alia shook her head. “Nothing. I was just thinking… You know, when we were little kids growing up in Satama, I never expected things to turn out like this for us. I mean, none of us would’ve expected Megan or Zig to be half-konna with power control problems, or for Brittany to turn into a psychotic witch as Megan so eloquently phrased it.”

“I guess it is pretty funny when you think about it,” Megan agreed quietly. “I mean, before we left Satama I never planned on joining the military.”

“Me either, honestly,” Alec shrugged his shoulders. “I mean, I had thought about it, but I had never considered it as something I would actually do. Alia on the other hand…”

“Yeah, yeah we all know I had bragged about joining the military and kicking everyone’s asses,” Alia cut in, a smirk dancing on her lips.

“You bragged you would be the best out of anyone, if I remember correctly,” Megan countered.

“Well then you should remember correctly that I pretty much am one of the best,” Alia responded smugly. She grinned brightly but then her smile faltered. “Of course… that was when everyone expected me to be an elementest.”

Her last sentence was so quiet, it could barely be heard.

We sat in silence for a few seconds, Megan, Alec, and I all staring at Alia in shocked confusion. Alia rarely showed her changes in emotion like that.

“Where did that come from, Als?” Alec asked.

“Where do you think?” Alia asked, her voice filling with bitterness. “We were just talking about how elementests don’t use the same energies that other powers do. Well I’m from a family full of elementests. How come I’m the only one whose powers use these energies?”

“Alia, it’s not… it’s your fault you didn’t inherit—“ Alec started, only to be interrupted by his sister.

“Shut up Alec,” Alia said. “I don’t want to hear it. We all know it doesn’t make sense. We all know it’s not my fault. So I don’t need to be told it’s not my fault.”

She glared at Alec until I finally cleared my throat.

“Als, we get that. We get it isn’t your fault. Just like Megan, who did inherit her family powers. It wasn’t either of your faults, and none of us can really explain why this happens,” I said. “But maybe one day we’ll figure it all out.”

Alia rolled her eyes at me. “Gee, thanks for the cheesy motivational speech, Raider. But as Megan said, elemental powers aren’t fueled by the same energies that other powers are. So how is it, that I come from a family full of elementests but somehow I am the only one who doesn’t inherit elemental powers and has to rely on these different energies?”

“We don’t understand why, Alia,” Megan said. “We don’t know why.”

“Actually…”

We all looked up to see Nicki, Tyler, and Emmalie walking into the room. Tyler and Emmalie were looking at Nicki with a fair amount of shock. Nicki, who had spoken, was moving her gaze between the four of us, lingering longer on each of the twins.

“I have a theory for why Alia is a telekinetic,” Nicki said. “It’s a bit of a wild guess, and you guys probably won’t think it’s very likely, but I think that this is what the dreams I’ve been having lately are pointing to.”

We all exchanged glances before I spoke up.

“What is it Nick?”

“There’s… a prophecy. It’s hard to explain, and I unfortunately can’t tell you the whole thing right now, but—“

“Wait, I’ve heard about this,” Megan said. “Brittany… that night we stayed at Inon, Brittany invaded my dreams. She spoke about a prophecy that mentioned four. She didn’t tell me anything about these four other than what the prophecy would happen to them: one fails, one loses, one turns, and one dies.” She looked at Nicki for affirmation, her stance rigid. Alec reached up and took her hand, squeezing it gently. Megan’s shoulders relaxed slightly.

“What does this prophecy have to do with us?” she asked.

Nicki glanced at Emmalie, which I found surprising. Even with our renewed memories, I still hadn’t met Emmalie until a few days ago. Sure, Tyler knew her, which gave me some comfort. But the way Nicki and her seemed to have a silent conversation in just one look… it was as if they shared a huge secret from everyone. Which made no sense at all.

Nicki bit her lip as she turned back to us. “The prophecy,” she said. “It’s known as the Prophecy of the Return the Sankari. It predicts the… well the return of the four Sankari.”

“Or, the calling of four new heroes to become the Sankari,” Emmalie added. “That’s a common interpretation of it at least.”

“The Sankari?” I asked, trying to keep my skepticism out of my voice. Nicki had always loved those old stories about the great heroes and what not, but I’d never really found much time for them myself. But I didn’t want to hurt Nicki’s feelings now by completely shutting down her ideas.

“Look, I hate to constantly be the one out of the loop,” Alec said. “But Alia and I weren’t raised on the same stories you guys did. Our parents followed the Einothian religion.” He glanced at his sister who nodded in agreement, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Not to mention the four years he spent in Einoth,” she added. “Even living in Valta I never heard those stories. All the elementests there still follow the Einothian traditions too. So could someone could kindly fill us in? Starting with what the hell is a Sankari?”

“Sankari means hero,” Nicki started. “The Sankari are known as the greatest heroes who ever existed.”

“They basically ended the original war between the konna and the sankrin,” Emmalie said. “Surely you’ve heard of that at least.

Alec looked at them blankly, still not really understanding what they were saying. Alia shook her head.

“Look, despite living in Valta, which is a territory of Sankruus, I know, Mom’s family has only been there for a couple of generations. And the village is so far removed that they never really bothered to learn all of the old Sakruunian legends.”

Emmalie gave an impatient huff, to which Nicki responded with a harsh glare.

“Basically, when Sankruus was founded, it was originally founded with two political parties,” Megan explained, jumping in before Emmalie totally lost her patience.

“The konna and the sankrin,” Emmalie supplied, though her voice was terse.

“Right,” Megan agreed. “Back then, no one had powers like we do now. It wasn’t until some of the konna leaders were… exposed to the dark energy we now associate with the konna that people gained powers.”

“They were actually given or led to the power by the Deceiver who was corrupted by the energy himself,” Nicki clarified. “In retaliation, the sankrin leaders were given the light energy by the Creator, who wasn’t corrupt.”

“The exposure to these two energies created the division we have between the konna and sankrin today,” Megan said. “And also gave the people powers.”

“The Great War started shortly after,” Nicki said. “Lasting nearly one hundred years, it was the struggle for who would be the ruling group: the sankrin or the konna.”

“The Legend of the Sankari is set at the very end of the war. According to legend, the war was decided by the sacrifice of four young sankrin,” Emmalie said.

“The legend also references what Nicki says this prophecy says,” Megan concluded. “It says that when it seems the konna will finally come to power, the Sankari will return to finish what they started… clearing the world of konna.”

“I fail to see what this has to do with me being telekinetic,” Alia remarked.

Nicki bit her lip. “Well… you see…”

Alec frowned at the three of them, but mostly at Nicki.

“Wait, you aren’t thinking we’re these ‘Sankari’, are you?” he asked. Alia snorted loudly at the question. Megan and I didn’t even try to hide our shock. We exchanged brief glances before looking back at my sister.

Nicki’s eyes widened, but not necessarily with surprise. At least, it wasn’t entirely surprise to me. To people who weren’t related to her, it probably just looked like one emotion on her face, but I couldn’t miss the faint twinkle in her eye, or the slight quirk of her lips that suggested a grin. I realized then that Nicki did suspect a connection with this Sankari prophecy and us. Which wasn’t really something that I was excited about.

Dude, I don’t need to be a telepath to read that look on your face, Tyler said. But before you call your sis out on this, think about it. Is now really the best time to bring up the possibility of the fate of the world being placed on your guys’ shoulders?

I frowned, irritated at Tyler’s logic. You’re probably right, I muttered, which was an interesting thing to do over a telepathic conversation.

“I can’t say anything about that yet,” Nicki said. “But I do think that this prophecy has something to do with why Alia’s a telekinetic. I just… don’t have enough information to really explain how yet.”

She gave a small smile that stopped Alia from speaking up in protest. Instead, she slunk further into her chair, muttering something about “unhelpful sights”, which earned her a glare from Megan.

“That’s not all though,” Emmalie said brightly.

“It’s not?” I asked.

Emmalie grinned, a mischievous grin that only increased my wariness of her.

“Mmmm hmmm,” she hummed. She looked at Tyler and Nicki, who gave her puzzling glances before seeming to realize what she was going on about. They nodded, which Emmalie took as the sign to go ahead.

“See, while we were at lunch, we happened to… overhear some information about the search for the missing elementests, and theories on what the konna could want in Einoth. Funny enough, it relates to an Einothian legend I’m sure you’re pretty familiar with, Alec. An old story about how elementests get their powers.”

Alec blinked before seeming to realize what Emmalie was talking about.

“You mean the Elemental Source?” he asked. “That’s not a legend or a story. It’s a real thing.”

“But it does have a legend around it, right?” Emmalie asked.

“Yeah,” Alec said, frowning. “When the lands were still young, and the Creator still walked among the people, four of the Creator’s chosen followers, who he had tasked with the job of caring for the elements, traveled to the northern land that had yet to be inhabited. That land would become Einoth.”

“I remember this story,” Alia said. She picked up where her brother left off: “In the northern land, the followers discovered the four-sided lake with the island in the middle of it. That island is where the four of them decided to live. The island they named Koti.”

She said the word with awe in her voice. I didn’t know much about the Einothian traditions and beliefs, and I couldn’t recall either of the twins being very religious at all, but I did know that “Koti” was a sacred concept for Einothians.

“As the years went on,” Alec continued. “More people found refuge around the lake. Eventually, they began to draw the attention of power hunters from both the sankrin and konna sides. There had been rumors about the elemental powers, and how strong they were. Both sides wanted them for themselves. The four followers knew it was only a matter of time until they were captured. But when that day came, the people who lived around the lake stepped up against the hunters and protected the island.”

Alec paused for a breath. “After that, the followers decided to bless the people who lived around the lake. So they created the Einoth barrier. Then they all poured their power into a source that would grant anyone within the barrier elemental powers, as well as their descendants. It’s said that source is still located on the island in the middle of the lake, on Koti, but it’s impossible to get to.”

“That must be what the konna are after,” Megan said after we were quiet for a few minutes. “They want the Elemental Source so that they’ll have elementests on their side.”

“Do they not have any already?” I asked.

Alec shook his head. “The elementests of Einoth are too stubborn to get involved with the problems in Sankruus. It’s very rare for one to decide to leave to go live in Sankruus, let alone decide to join in with the fight. Most of those who do, join because they’ve been victimized by konna in some way. Obviously, the sankrin don’t have any reason to bother them.”

“What about elementests that aren’t from Einoth?” Tyler asked.

“They don’t care much either, to be honest,” Alia answered. “I mean, they care more than those from Einoth, but speaking personally from my experience with my mom’s family in Valta, they don’t worry about much accept how much fish they’ve got for the day, or if a storm is supposed to come in soon.”

“The thing is,” Megan said, “since elemental powers aren’t driven by which energy they use, elementests have more of a choice for which side they want to support.”

“So they always choose the sankrin side, if they pick a side that is?” I asked.

“As far as I know,” Alec said with a shrug. “I mean, it’s possible that somewhere along the line the konna have recruited elementests, but it must not have been anyone from Einoth, otherwise they would’ve infiltrated it long before now.” He paused for a second. “But there is another reason they would want to get to the Elemental Source.”

“What is that?” Alia asked.

Alec met his sister’s eyes. “To destroy it.”

We were silent for a few minutes before Tyler finally cleared his throat and spoke up. “And destroying it would be… bad?”

“Best case scenario all the elementests will lose their powers,” Alec said hesitantly. “Worst case scenario is that destroying the Elemental Source will kill everyone with an elemental power… possibly even everyone who has elemental blood in them.”

Alia expression turned to one of shock as she looked up at her brother, realizing that the inclusion of those with elemental blood meant her as well.

“So basically, we really don’t want the konna getting their hands on that,” I said. “Someone should probably let the Z Squad know.”

“They know,” Alec said. “They, uh… they actually called me in the other day. I’ve already explained this to them.”

“They called you in?” Alia asked. “But I thought they didn’t want any of us involved?”

“They don’t,” Alec said. “But since I’m really the only elementest in the military at this point, or at least the only one from Einoth, they needed my help.”

“So wait, are you joining their search?” Megan asked. I could tell she was trying to be casual about the question, but her voice still carried a hint of worry in it.

Alec shook his head. “No, they said that it’s better for everyone if I go ahead and graduate. After that… who knows?”

Relief crossed Megan’s face.

“So until graduation then,” Megan said. “That’s all we can do now anyway. We graduate, and worry about the rest after.”