With his hands behind his back, Alex paced back and forth on the busy sidewalk in front of an old-style building with the sign "Becky's Shoppe" written in fancy letters over the storefront. He had told Dahlia to meet up with him here today after school, but now she was nowhere to be seen. He stopped a while, scanning the busy streets before him. Cars rushed by, bikers biked past, and pedestrians walked by, each one's mind occupied with their own purposes and missions for the day.
He whipped his phone out from his pocket and looked to see what time it was: four o'clock. Why was she taking so long? Just then, a voice behind him said, "Know what you're missing?"
Alex turned around to find Dahlia standing directly behind him. Folding his arms, he asked, "And what's that?"
She took out her own phone. "My number. Would help to keep in contact, so I could've told you that some jerkwad held me up on the way here. Asking all sorts of random questions."
Alex's eyebrows narrowed in alarm. "What sort of questions?"
She shrugged. "I dunno. Like I said, random ones. He was some tall African dude, didn't seem like he was all there. Probably a witch doctor or something."
"Hm. Anyway, let's get inside the shop. See if our Callers show up as they said they would."
They headed into the shoppe, but only after Dahlia made sure they really had exchanged phone numbers. Inside, it was much quieter. Only a few people were inside the shoppe, and most of them were over at the coffee house area of the building. Alex had always liked this shop because of the nostalgic vibes it induced, especially on overcast days like this when there wasn't much to do outside. Mainly old people came here now, and to see the elderly persons lounging in the brown wooden chairs with a coffee mug in one hand and a newspaper in the other gave a feeling of being back in the old days for a split second. No phones, no TV being wached, just the newspaper and a cup of coffee. Sometimes they'd even put down the newspaper and strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to them. Maybe it was someone they knew from another store down the street, or the local book club. Perhaps even an old high school friend.
But there was no time today for nostalgia appreciation. He was here on important business, and he was eager for the Callers to show up.
"What if they don't show up?" asked Dahlia.
"Then they lied, and we'll know not to trust them. But they'll show up," he said confidently. "You drink coffee?"
"Mhmmm," she replied in a long, drawn-out fashion.
He shot her a look. "What?"
She shook her head disarmingly, suppressing a grin. "I thought you didn't like me."
He rolled his eyes and walked over to the ordering counter with her following close behind. "Yeah, but just because I don't want to date you doesn't mean I'm not a gentleman. My parents still raised me well, you know. I'm not going to just get myself a coffee without asking you if you want one too."
She nodded hugely. "Of course, of course."
They grabbed their coffees and headed over to one of the tables by the window. Alex took a seat first, and was expecting her to take the seat directly across from him. But instead, she sat down right next to him, uncomfortably close.
He inhaled slowly, staring straight ahead. "You know the seat in front of me is open, right?"
She looked at it, acting confused. "Uh, yeah. What about it?"
Alex slowly turned to look her in the eye. "So why do you have to sit here?"
She looked blankly at him as if the answer were obvious. "Yeah, it's not like you're my Carmator or anything."
He broke his superior act, saying exasperatedly, "Yeah, but others don't know that! What if someone from school walks in?"
She sidled up even closer to him, causing him to scooch down his seat even further. "Well, we can't hide it forever."
"Love at first sight always just melts my heart," said a cool feminine voice behind them. Walking over to their table was a tall Asian woman with short black hair and dressed very fashionably in lace-up boots, expensive jeans which fell to just above her ankles and a strikingly white long-sleeved blouse tucked in the jeans around a jewel-studded brown belt. Without missing a beat, she stopped walking and crisply took a seat in front of the two young Carmators. Directly behind her was Saint Farnon, looking exactly the same as he did yesterday. As was usual, he had a bubbly bright smile on his face. He took a seat right next to the tall woman.
"Well, Alex," said Farnon with his hands spread out in front of him, "I see you took it upon yourself to believe!" He turned to Dahlia. "And so did you. Wonderful stuff. As Callers, one of our least favorite things to do is beat some sense into you guys and force you to believe us."
He didn't receive a laugh at this. Nervously, he chuckled. "Only a joke, of course. But seriously, it does make it so much easier on us that you believed so easily. That means that today we'll be able to take you on a grand tour of the Nest, kind of give you a more detailed idea of what goes on there and in the Carmator world."
The Asian woman reached across the table and held out a long, slender hand toward Alex. "Saint Yvonne Tao. I'm Dahlia's Caller, and Farnon's Carmator."
Alex took the hand and shook it, glancing over at Farnon. "Lyra, Alexander Lyra. Wait, you're with him? The size difference is hilarious." Quickly he caught himself. "I mean, not in a bad way, of course. It's just interesting. If I had seen you two walking down the street, I never in a million years would've guessed that you were together."
She drew her hand back and nodded with tightly pursed lips. "Yeah, don't worry, it is a bad thing, so no offense taken."
Farnon laughed. "Don't worry," he reassured the two teenagers, "She loves me to death."
Dahlia picked up her coffee cup, saying before she took a sip, "Yeah, I can tell."
"So what's the deal?" asked Alex. "You guys can just show up wherever you want?"
"If our caller is there, then yes," Yvonne answered.
Alex looked unsettled. "Well that's sure spooky. So all the more reason to get dressed real fast in the morning before school so I don't get caught without drawers on."
Yvonne smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "And that's why we do gender-specific Callers. Female Callers for female Legionaires, and male Callers for male Legionaires. Of course, we're a different breed of human, but we're all still human and at the Nest a safety policy is our top priority and that includes anti-assault measures and procedures."
Alex blinked. "Ok, now it's beginning to sound like I belong to some bigwig corporation."
Farnon shrugged. "In a way, you are. We all are. We're not autonomous as Carmators; we respond to the Legionmaster, and the Legionmaster responds to the committee of Legionaires."
Intrigued, Dahlia asked, "Who's the Legionmaster?"
Farnon's voice lowered as he answered her. "Legionmaster Konstantin." He looked around confidentially before proceeding. "Big Russian guy, never seen him fight but I've heard he packs a mean punch. Not a guy you want to mess with. He started out as a Delve, so a front-runner in the Legionaire army, but was unmatched by any other in strength and power."
Yvonne rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Yes, because they're definitely going to be fighting him. Why do you need to say all this? Just tell them he's a good Legionmaster, and he's the head of the Nest!" She turned to Alex and Dahlia. "You can think of Konstantin as the president of the United States. He's the man in charge, though he's not a sovereign. Legionmasters are voted into place by the committee of all Legionaires. He's been our best one yet; the Nestburns have never been so effectively kept at bay than when Konstantin took over."
Farnon nodded. "Yup. And to parallel, the boss of the Nestburns is the Burnmaster. Burnmaster Davu is the current Burnmaster. Real nasty piece of work. Tall African dude with golden bracelets, earrings, and jewelry. But they say that when in his true form of power, he takes on the form of a burning red skull. Some say he's even more powerful than Konstantin when in that stage." Here, he paused to shrug. "I say cool, because at the end of the day, the armies are what matter. And us Legionaires are most certainly more powerful on the frontlines right now than the Nestburns."
Alex shook his head in confusion, feeling overwhelmed at all the sudden information. "Wait, what do you mean by 'frontlines'? So we actually go to war and stuff on battlefields?"
Farnon looked all around him, gesturing broadly with his arms. "This, Alex, is the battlefield. The entire Saga, the entire world. So no, we don't all go head-to-head, army-vs-army. But we fight individual battles all over the world. We go to England, Finland, China, Russia, all sorts of places. All those people you saw appearing and reappearing in the Nest yesterday? Those were all Legionaires coming back from missions all over the world. Missions to maybe full-on confront a Nestburn in a battle to the death, maybe to ward off a band of Nestburns trying to cause trouble for a Legionaire station in the deserts of Mongolia, etcetera and etcetera." He pointed a stubby finger back and forth between Alex and Dahlia. "And that's what you two will be doing soon too, once we get you fully settled in and trained."
"I don't get it," interjected Dahlia. "What's the point of it all? Like, what are we even trying to do? 'Save the world' just seems too general."
Yvonne placed her elbows on the table and clasped her hands in front of her face as she considered this. "Well, you see, ultimately we're all trying to preserve the Fistomin. What the Nestburners really want is to destroy the Fistomin. You see, Nestburners are basically evil parallels of Legionaires, right? Except that we have one thing they don't: Carmators. And they want to get rid of Carmators. Because Carmators can only reside in human relationships, and of course, being anti-human, that's exactly what the Nestburns don't want. See, the Fistomin is what gives Carmators all their power; it's what preserves the pull of love for Carmators, the power in their touch, and the connection of their hearts. Destroy it, and you destroy Carmators. But only once the Chief Carmator is killed can it be touched. Chief Carmator still alive? It's literally and truly invincible. Nothing and nobody on this earth can destroy it."
"Exactly," Farnon interrupted. Ignoring the look of annoyance from Yvonne at having been interrupted, he continued for her. "Which is why right now, ultimately, I guess you could really say that the Legionaires and Nestburns are all in a race to find the Chief Carmator. Whoever finds him or her first is really the one who holds all the power. And Burnmaster Davu would like nothing more than to catch the Chief Carmator as soon as he can, preferably when the Chief is young, so that it's easy for him to kill him off quick. Then, the Nestburns launch their full-scale attack on the Legionaires to destroy the Fistomin once and for all."
Alex was hooked, and he wanted to know more. "But what exactly is the Fistomin?"
"You've seen it already," Farnon said with a twinkle in his eye.
"I have?"
"Oh yes, old boy. You most certainly have. Remember that big ol' ball of green light at the center of the Nest? It hung by a chain from the viny ceiling?"
Alex remembered it well. It was what gave the entire Nest all its green glowing light. "I do. So that's the Fistomin? Why leave it out in the middle of everything, bright as day if it's so important?"
Farnon shrugged. "As I, er, dear Yvonne said, the Fistomin is invincible before the death of the Chief Carmator. So as long as ol' Chiefy is still alive, it's perfectly fine to leave it out in the middle for everyone to see. If the Nestburns do succeed in killing the Chief Carmator before we get to him or her, however, then we'd make doubly sure to protect it at all costs. But we're hoping the Chief is matured by the time anyone finds him, anyway. Once fully matured, it's said that the Chief Carmator will be unmatched in power by anyone else."
There was a moment of silence as the two teenagers processed all this information. Almost as an afterthought to what Farnon said, Dahlia commented, "I'll bet the Chief's own Carmator would be pretty powerful then, too."
Farnon shook his head. "Chief doesn't have one."
Alex cocked his head. "Huh? How can someone be a Carmator when being a Carmator inherently means you have to have someone else as your soulmate? Isn't that paradoxical?"
Yvonne nodded with a mysterious smile on her face. "It would be, yes. Except that the Chief Carmator's Carmator is every other Carmator of the opposite gender."
Alex drew back, offended by this so-called Chief already. "So what, this guy can just steal any Legionaire girl he wants, then?"
"Presuming he's a man," Yvonne clarified.
"More or less," Farnon replied with a chuckle. "If the Chief is a guy, every female Carmator has the ability to be attracted to him. If the Chief is a girl, every male Carmator could be after her."
Dahlia spoke in a low tone to Yvonne and Farnon, as if Alex couldn't hear her. "Look, he's already getting jealous that some Chief dude is going to take me from him. Is he madly in love or what?"
Yvonne displayed another one of her flashy smiles that was full of perfectly-lined teeth as she shot Alex a teasing look. "I daresay yes, Dahlia Esmerelda. Just be glad you got yourself a good Carmator." She looked pointedly at Farnon, who seemed oblivious to it. Either that, or he purposely refused to acknowledge the jab.
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Dahlia Esmerelda? That's your middle name, Esmerelda?"
Dahlia nodded. "Mhm, that's it. Yvonne likes calling me by both my first and middle name. She'll be calling me 'Dolly' before she knows it, though. All my best friends do, and I think she now qualifies."
Alex closed his eyelids halfway in a bored stare. "Uh huh, that's what you said to me just earlier today. Apparently everyone's your best friend. Anyway, Esmerelda's a better name than Dahlia. I think I'll call you Ezzy from now on."
Dahlia pulled a horrified face. "Ezzy? Heck no. That name sucks. And what's wrong with Dahlia?"
Alex gave her a pitying look. "Hate to break it to you, but it's a terrible name. Saying it over and over again is just tough on the tongue."
Farnon stood up from his seat. "I forgot how cringe teen flirting is. Yvonne, dear, give me a holler when they're done. For now, I must get back to the Nest. Konstantin wanted to have a chat with me about that red lining on Alex's symbol. He wasn't available yesterday, so I'm having the talk with him today." He touched his forehead to the two others. "Ciao, lovebirds, catch ya later."
Alex had forgotten about the unsettled reaction Farnon had showed when seeing Alex's red heart symbol that etched itself on his chest yesterday. Turning to Yvonne, he asked, "Why is that bad? The red lining, I mean? Do only Nestburns have red symbols?"
Yvonne nervously shifted in her seat. "Well, it technically goes against Legionaire policy for me to explain such things to you, seeing as I'm not your Caller and Farnon is."
"Yeah," said Alex irately, "and the guy just up and left. So for now, I might need to hear it from you. The Legionaires can stick it up their noses. It's not like you're giving me information on how put my hair up into a braid or some girly junk like that. No, I'm just asking about colors."
Yvonne pointed at Alex, looking at Dahlia. "You have a feisty one on your hands here, Dahlia Esmerelda."
Dahlia winked at her. "I can tame him. Trust me."
"Ok, here's the problem," said Yvonne, turning her attention back to Alex. "Yes, your symbol should have been green. But it's not. And neither Farnon nor I have ever had a client—that's a young person in need of introductions and explanations like yourselves—who displayed a red symbol. Of course, we have connections with other, more experienced Callers but they also said they had never had such a symbol show up. Always green for all their clients. So it's concerning. But we know for a fact that you're a Legionaire Carmator, since the Fistomin confirmed it."
Alex nodded slowly. "I see…I think. Well, whatever it is, I hope I don't just get killed in my sleep tonight by Legionmaster Constantinople or whatever his name is, just because I have a red mark and not a green one. I sure didn't ask for a red mark." He turned his head to Dahlia. "What's your symbol? It was also green, I assume?"
Dahlia sat up straight and brought her face close to his. She pointed to her eyes. "Watch my eyes."
Alex looked into the dark green eyes for a few seconds, but nothing happened. He was beginning to feel awkward, just staring into her eyes. What if one of the guys from school walked by the window and saw him staring longingly into Dahlia Tanklin's eyes? Sure, they were pretty, but the guys wouldn't accept that. He would be eaten alive. He was about to look away when he suddenly saw the dark shades of green deep in her eyes begin to swirl. As they swirled, they got lighter and lighter by the second.
Amazed, Alex continued to look as he watched the color positively swirl out of her eyes and onto the dark skin of her eye sockets. The color spilled in three short spikes down her cheeks, then stopped right at her chin. Across her forehead was where the neon green lines of color met, and then intertwined with one another in twirl after twirl until the image of a flower was etched on her forehead.
Stunned, Alex looked over at Yvonne. "It's a dahlia! Mr. Feyner has bushes of them at the end of one of his lawns."
Dahlia tapped her forehead, rolling her eyes at him as she leaned back again. "Bingo, genius. My name is Dahlia, and the flower of my symbol is a dahlia. It only makes sense."
"I mean, does it?" he contested. "Let's be real, what are the odds of that?"
Yvonne narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "Yes, I too thought about that. It really could be that her symbol came about based off her name. After all, nobody can honestly claim to know why symbols are chosen for each Carmator. All sorts of reasons and conditions could change it from birth, who knows?"
"Yeah, it's weird," responded Alex. Then, he realized that might sound like an insult to Dahlia. "I mean, the symbol is pretty, but the coincidence is weird."
Dahlia beamed and hugged him tightly. "Aw, he said I'm pretty!"
Alex detached himself from her and got up from his seat. "Sure, that's definitely what I said. Anyway, I have to go. I told Mom I was going to be out with the guys for a bit after school, but I don't want to keep my parents waiting for too long."
Yvonne also stood up. "Yes, and I should be showing Dahlia around the Nest if she has time for it." She grabbed Alex's shoulder before he turned to leave. "Oh, and remember, Alex, if you ever want to visit the Nest at any time, you can always just put your hand to your Carmator symbol and will to go there. You just have to believe, and it will happen."
Alex nodded. "Sure thing. Not sure if I want to be there without Farnon, though, so I probably won't be doing that any time soon. You never crash at a new person's house without your friend who knows the place there with you. Golden rule, of course. But thanks for letting me know."
He grabbed his coffee and headed out of the shoppe. As he walked down the busy streets, he was surprised to find that his step was light; lighter than it had been in weeks. For some reason, he felt good. Maybe it was because he was finally beginning to understand everything. He wasn't fighting the Carmator idea anymore. Somehow, he was actually beginning to like it. It was weird, because it was all still so brand new. He was sure most other kids would be freaked out by all of it, especially since it had still only been yesterday that he found out about it all. But he was content with it, and he had a burning desire within to put the Nestburns down. They deserved to be crushed, and they deserved to be eradicated.
With confidence in his step and determination in his eye, he strode into the busy crowd and was soon lost to sight.
About the Author
Elazar J. Fredenburg is an eighteen-year-old author from the Bay Area, California. If he's not shooting hoops with the guys, making a point-and-click puzzle video game, or writing new compositions on the piano, he's probably at his desk writing the next installment of his latest book series. Writing all sorts of novels in genres ranging from grand fantasy to sci-fi to romance, Elazar just enjoys writing, and enjoys giving other people the pleasure of reading his writings. If he can put a smile on your face from a character's joke, get your heart beating as the protagonist chases down the antagonist in a deadly dangerous pursuit, or bring tears to your eyes from the heroic death of a noble character, then he's satisfied enough. Elazar writes to move audiences and perhaps inspire them to create their own worlds in which they can mold characters, nurture plotlines, and write something worthy of being passed on to the next generation.
He currently works on his web novel, Carmators, which can be found on WebNovel and other online writing platforms. The biggest endeavor he's had in the genre of romance, he's excited to hear what readers think of it and hopefully publish many more seasons in the future.
Elazar can be found on both his subreddit and discord server, where he daily engages with readers and turns an ear to any feedback or critique they might have. Feel free to join now and tell Elazar what you think of his work!
Discord: discord.gg/JJg2pgvmaN
Subreddit: www.reddit.com/r/EJFBooks/