Finding Darkness

Brayden was suddenly woken up as the wagon he was riding in was suddenly halted; hitting his head on an egg crate would tend to do just that. Normally, he would have ridden on the drivers bench with his father and mother seeing as he was the oldest child, but since the local village had discovered his aura, he had been regulated to the interior of the wagon in favor of his younger sister. He put on a convincing front, acting like he didn’t care when in reality, it cut him deeply. Not long ago, a local aura sensor within the village church discovered his dark aura and proceeded to announce it to everyone within the community. Obviously it was not common or accepted for one to have a dark aura, and soon the whole community started to question him and his family. Not that his family held any authority in their community, but they were well respected and his parents were not about to lose that. So here he was, riding in the back of the wagon so that his family's image could remain intact. He was close enough in age to start thinking about life on his own and honestly, he had considered leaving in the middle of the night and starting on his own elsewhere, but he had no idea where to even go.

Today his family was traveling into the village to attend a special event the church was putting on. A high sage had come all the way from the capital of the kingdom with a handful of aura sensors to census all the aura users in the kingdom and to recruit aura users into the church. Obviously there wasn’t much thought as to what would become of him; his parents were more interested in what the aura sensors would have to say about his younger sister. His future consisted of either staying in a community that didn’t quite trust him or run off and start a new life elsewhere, either option was not exactly exciting. After watching his parents help his sister from the wagon, he jumped out the back and followed behind his parents while ignoring the judgmental stares from the rest of the people there. They found their way to the line for the church’s event and waited patiently for their turn. It didn’t take long before Brayden was standing before the church’s aura sensor. As expected, the sensor had not found any sense of aura coming from his parents or sister, but the look on the sensor's face as soon as she placed her hand on his forehead said it all.

“This boy is your son?” the sensor, whose name he had recently discovered was Elisa, asked his parents.

“He is,” is all his father managed to say. Brayden was expecting the worst but was actually surprised by what came next.

“Your son presents an unusual aura and possibly the presence of another,” Elisa said. Both his parents and himself were a little awestruck.

“We would like your permission to take the boy with us back to the capital and try to discover what other aura may be present within him.” This ordeal got the attention of a few others within the community and now he was the news of the town once again.

“You want to take him with you?” asked his father with a little too much emphasis on the ‘him’. Brayden gave his father a scowl as soon as he finished saying it.

“Indeed. It is our duty to correctly sensor all of the kingdom's aura users, and how complete would our job be if we didn’t discover what else this young man is capable of.” Brayden didn’t much care for what was happening here, but maybe this was the chance to get away that he was hoping for.

“If it is the will of the church, then who are we to get in the way,” his father said as he looked down at Brayden. For the first time in a long time, his fathers gaze had a hint of hope within it, as if he was hoping they would find something to redeem the dark aura that was already present. Brayden had never doubted whether or not his parents loved him, but there was the ever present fear of any aura that wasn’t positive that had troubled his parents as well as every other close minded person within the community. The fact that the same community that watched him grow up a respectful and honest boy suddenly viewed him as some suspicious creature really ate at him.

“I want to go with them,” Brayden said to his father, knowing that there would be no argument and that the community would see this as a positive sign. Although this brought his family standing up a bit, he did this more for himself as a way to escape the oppression of the community.

“Fantastic. If you would follow my aid to the caravan, we will sort out the rest with your family,” Elisa said. Brayden turned to his father and mother and gave them both a hug. His father broke free from the hug and knelt down in front of him, hands on his shoulders.

“I know it’s been a tough go here recently Brayden, but please remember that you mother and I still love you, and remember to show your respect and bring honor to our family. You're close enough to be a man of your own, and you're now responsible for your own decisions. Be the man I know you can be,” his father said. It was a pretty standard leaving home speech, but it still brought a tear to his eyes. He gave his father a final hug before following the aid to a row of wagons a handful of yards away. He didn’t look back once, not because he was a man and shouldn’t show emotion, but because he didn’t want to see the faces he might never see again.