Chapter 2: Challenge
Morning. "Today I'm going to leave for school early!" said Bekka. "And maybe I'll see Corinn on the way there..." Bekka blushed. She still hadn't admitted, even to herself, that she liked Corinn--more than just a little.But when she left her house that morning, she didn't see Corinn anywhere. However, she did see... "Jarith! What are you doing here?" Bekka wasn't particularly happy to see Jarith. He seemed like he was always in a bad mood. If he didn't look so much like Corinn, she never would have believed they were related.
"Good morning, Bekka. I wanted to talk to you on the way to school."
"A-about what?" she asked. ~ Oh no, I'm blushing again! And I don't even like him that much! I guess I'm just not used to having a guy pay so much attention to me. ~
"About my cousin, Corinn. You should stay away from him, Bekka." He looked into her eyes. "I'm telling you this for your own good. I don't want you to get into trouble, and Corinn-"
"I can't believe you!" shouted Bekka. "That's a really mean thing to say about your own cousin. He's never done anything wrong, and he's a lot nicer and more polite than YOU are!" She ran towards the school.
"Bekka, wait!" Jarith shouted, running after her. "You don't know anything about Corinn! You have no idea-"
"Leave me alone! What are you, jealous or something? Don't talk to me!" Bekka ran inside Eien Academy, getting lost in the crowd. ~ What a jerk. Why would he say that about Corinn? ~
Jarith looked around the school, but he couldn't find Bekka. "I tried to warn her...I'd better Challenge Corinn soon, before something terrible happens to Bekka. I'll miss this world, but the most important thing is to make sure Corinn doesn't have a chance to hurt anyone. I only hope I've been on this world long enough for my powers to regenerate..." Strange-Jarith usually never even considered Challenging his rival unless he was certain his powers were fully restored-so why was he so determined to stop Corinn so soon? Unless... a thought suddenly occurred to Jarith: what if he really was jealous of Corinn? "No, that can't be! I'm not foolish enough to fall in love! I-I just don't want Corinn to hurt her, that's all!"
It was time for the last class of the day. Jarith and Corinn were the first ones in the room.
"Corinn," said Jarith.
"Yes, cousin? Is something wrong?" asked Corinn.
"I want you to stay away from Bekka. You know you can't stay on this world forever. You shouldn't play with people's emotions like that."
"Oh? And since when did you care about MY business? I might have a perfectly good reason for getting to know her."
"Just LEAVE HER ALONE."
"Why is it so important to you that I leave her alone? Hmmm? After all, she's just another one of the silly little inhabitants of this world... or is she more important to you? Could you be, I don't know, JEALOUS that she likes me better than you, O guardian of the light?"
"DON"T CALL ME THAT!! You know I hate that stupid title. And I am not jealous! You're just being-"
"Corinn!!! I'm so glad to see you!" shouted Bekka as she ran into the room. "You'd never believe what Jarith said-oh. I didn't realize you were here, Jarith...I-"
"Don't worry about him, Bekka," said Corinn. "And I can probably guess what he told you...'Stay away from Corinn, he'll only get you in trouble, this is for your own good...' "
"Yes--how did you know?" asked Bekka.
"He was just telling me to stay away from you," said Corinn "He said I'd just end up hurting you, and he couldn't let me do that, and-"
"Well, you would!" interrupted Jarith. "Have you ever done anything different, in all the years I've known you? Have you ever really cared for anyone?"
"You don't know me as well as you think, Jarith," said Corinn menacingly. "I think we should continue this conversation later."
They sat down in their usual seats, Bekka between Corinn and Jarith, who glared at each other through the entire class. Bekka was starting to feel nervous. She didn't want anyone to get in a fight or anything because of her, and it looked like that might be what was about to happen. She could hardly concentrate on the lesson.
After school, Jarith and Corinn both left quickly. "Corinn, wait!" called Bekka, catching up to him at the gates of Eien Academy. "I-I wanted to walk home with you again, if you don't mind."
"Of course I don't mind, Bekka. I would be delighted to accompany such a lovely young lady-"
"But not without me," interrupted Jarith. "I don't trust you, Corinn."
"Oh, yes. We were going to finish our little discussion, weren't we, Jarith? Very well, then, what else did you have to say?"
"Only one thing: leave Bekka alone. You've ruined too many people's lives on too many other worlds. You don't know how to really care for anyone, all you can do is manipulate people. So leave her alone," said Jarith.
"Other peoples' lives on other worlds?" asked Bekka. "Corinn, what's he talking about?"
"It's not important, Bekka," replied Corinn. To Jarith he said, " You can't tell me what to do. And I think it's Bekka's decision if I should leave her alone or not. Don't you, Bekka? Would you really never want to see me again?"
"No, of course not!" said Bekka. "But what are you two talking about?"
"If you're not going to leave her alone, then I have no other choice," said Jarith. "Corinn, Child of Darkness, born out of eternity, I Challenge you. To the eternal battle which rages in the stars, I Challenge you. Accept my Challenge, or forfeit this existence."
Corinn's eyes narrowed. "If that's the way you want it, then?Jarith, Guardian of the Light, born with the infinite universe, I accept your Challenge. But only if you accept my conditions."
"What? Conditions? You can't-" said Jarith.
"These conditions are perfectly legal. Here are the rules," Corinn said, pulling a scroll out of thin air. "Paragraph ten, line seven: The Challenged has the right to insist that a third person be present for the Challenge, so long as this does not occur more than twice every hundred thousand years."
"All right, fine. Who's your third party?"
"Why, none other than my lovely lady Bekka."
"WHAT?!?" shouted Jarith. "Listen, the whole reason I Challenged you was so that you would stay away from-"
"I know," replied Corinn. "A little ironic, don't you think? But perfectly legal."
"Umm, would one of you mind explaining what the heck is going on?!?!" asked Bekka. "I mean, you're talking about all this stuff, and a hundred thousand years, and what you said, and then Corinn made that paper appear, and-"
"Corinn and I are not exactly what we appear to be," replied Jarith. "We've been alive, in one form or another, since before the beginning of time."
"What's this...Challenge, that you were talking about?" Bekka asked.
"I represent Darkness, and Jarith there represents Light," answered Corinn. "We've been fighting since the beginning of the universe. In all those eons, neither one of us has ever really won. Maybe neither one of us ever will. I've invoked a condition that's not used very often; so now you have to be present, willingly, for the battle to take place. I'm sorry we didn't have more time together, Bekka dear." He turned to Jarith. "There's one more condition I'd like to mention: first you have to catch me!" he said, shimmering and disappearing.
"What...where'd he go? Corinn? CORINN?!" shouted Bekka.
"Why, that little...oooh, he makes me so mad..." muttered Jarith. "Now I'll have to go looking for him, who knows where he went...and then-"
"Jarith? Excuse me? What about ME? Don't I have to be there, when?"
"That's right...I'm never going to catch up with Corinn, not if I have to drag you along-"
"Drag me along? If that's your attitude-well, let me tell you, I don't really want to be with you, either..."
"That's not what I meant!" protested Jarith. "I just meant, well, I won't be able to teleport long distances, like Corinn probalby just did, I'll have to hope there's a starship passing nearby. We'll have to travel on commercials starships, and you have no idea how expensive that could get, and-"
"Star...ships? You mean, in outer space? Really? I get to ride a spaceship? Wow!" Bekka said. "I just wish I could be with Corinn..."
"Why?" asked Jarith bluntly. "He's just going to get you in trouble. In fact, he already has. It's because of him that you're mixed up in this whole thing anyway. He's using you so that he doesn't have to fight me yet. He doesn't care about you, or what could happen to you."
"I-I guess you were right..." admitted Bekka. "This is pretty serious, isn't it. And I'm right in the middle of it all. I'm sorry... before, when you told me to stay away from him, I-I guess I thought you were just...jealous, or something."
"What? Jealous? Of HIM? I'm not, I, uh, look, I just don't want him to hurt you!" protested Jarith. ~ That sounded pretty lame, even to me...~
"Oh, sure," said Bekka slyly. "Well, we might as well be civil to each other, if we're going to be looking for Corinn together. Shall we get started?"
"Right. Hold my hand." Jarith said. Bekka looked at him, surprised. "For the teleport," he added. "Unless you wanted to get left behind."
"Oh! Of course." Bekka grabbed Jarith's hand. They shimmered and disappeared.
Image Gallery: : Characters: : Theme Song: : Link "Darkness and Light"