05.12.09
Posted in Book I: Rebirth at 10:34 am by admin
“I’m sorry, but you cannot be in the same room as your friend. You have to understand that it could be contagious and we cannot endanger the entire building. We should know in a few more hours if it’s clear to visit her. Feel free to stop by or call us in a few hours,” a blond nurse tells Kyle.
Kyle and Miles are standing at a reception desk in the medical facility of the UPC. After my collapse, I was rushed here to be treated but doctors here haven’t let anyone in my room to visit me. After about five hours, everyone was assigned quarters and were able to rest. Miles and Kyle slept the least and have been in the waiting room for the majority of the ten hours.
“It’s been ten hours, you should have some information by now,” Kyle says, his voice raised.
“I’m sorry, we can’t release any information until we’ve covered everything. Please, give us a call in a few hours. Hopefully we can tell you more then,” she answers, in a light and calm tone.
Kyle turns to leave, with Miles following close behind.
“I’m worried too, but I’m sure Jen’s alright. They just want to make everything is ok before we can see her,” Miles says. “They don’t want us getting sick too. In the meantime, Dr. Anzak said that we should met up with him today. That should pass the time and when he’s done with us, I bet Jen will be out and her self again.”
Under his breath, “But I doubt she’s even sick.” And to Miles, “I know. And I’m sorry for all of this.”
“For what?” Miles asks.
“Just for everything.”
“There’s no way you could have know that this would happen. And I bet the only thing wrong with Jen is a bit of motion sickness,” Miles says, trying to find a way to comfort Kyle.
They walk the halls in silence, while taking a look at their surroundings. In every hallway, the walls are covered with giant windows. It’s not the best view in the world, so it’s hard to understand why they would have windows everywhere. Outside is just sand and sand mountains and sand dunes. The sky is a bright yellow and orange color with an enormous sun in the distance. Even with a bright sun, there is no heat coming through the windows and the brightest of the sun doesn’t get through the glass either. The temperature inside is of a nice cool one. The tile on the ground is bright and shiny and it’d be a surprise that everyone doesn’t slip on the floor.
Instead of elevators to get to the lower and higher levels of the facility, they have teleport pods. Since these portals do not go a far distance, it requires less energy. There’s an on going portal at the end and beginning of each hallway. One is able to see where they are going to just by looking into the center of the portal. A light blue tint can be see around the portal. To the left and the right of the portal are conductors to keep the portal open.
“Doesn’t this require a lot of energy?” Miles questions. “How can they always keep these open?”
Kyle pauses to think. He turns from the portal and surveys the entire hallway. Miles is right, they do need a lot of energy to keep these portals open all the time. Not even a true portal user can keep all these portals open all the time and at the same time. He looks over to the windows. “Of course!”
“What?”
“The windows! They need all these windows to draw in energy from the sun to be able to keep all these mini portals open. But —”
“…but that’s impossible,” Miles pauses, “Actually, at this point, nothing is impossible, but shouldn’t we be getting sick from the radiation?”
Kyle looks over to Miles, “For someone so young, you’re very intelligent. Never stop asking questions.”
Miles slightly blushes, “Ummm, thanks. My mom says that I’m too smart and I should play more.”
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with having fun and being smart at the same time. So anyway, you’re right. If the sun is causing these portals to always stay open, then the people working here should be sick. Unless….unless they’re bodies are immune to the radiation.”
“But we’re not,” Miles points out.
At that moment a tall light blue skin male walks out of the portal. “Oh, hello there. You guys must be the ones that Dr. Anzak brought over,” he says. “My name is Zar-Q.”
“Nice to meet you,” Kyle replies. “How did you know that Dr. Anzak brought us here?”
“This isn’t a top secure facility for nothing. The top ranking personal all know who you are and you’re being monitored on the security vids just for our protection, so don’t take that personal. Take it easy,” Zar-Q waves and begins to walk away.
“Hey,” Kyle walks up to Zar-Q, “Can I ask you something real fast?”
“Sure,” he says and they both stop walking.
“Is the sun powering all these mini portals?” Kyle asks.
“Yes.”
“And why are we not getting sick from the radiation? Portals like these need a lot of power and if that power is coming from the sun, then the radiation has to be getting through those windows in order to active the portals.”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Zar-Q replies, “The energy isn’t coming through the windows, its being absorbed by the windows and channeled into the conduits that are on either side of the portals. It’s a bit technical and unfortunately I don’t have the skills or qualifications to know exactly how it works, but don’t worry, you can’t get sick from it. Well, maybe a headache from walking through it, but you get used to that after awhile. If you want, they have meds to help with the headaches.”
“Thank you. I shouldn’t keep you.”
“Catch you guys around,” Zar-Q smiles and turns and walks down the hallway.
“Well, I think that explains that,” Kyle says to Miles. “Come on, we shouldn’t keep Dr. Anzak waiting.”
———-
Zar-Q enters the medical facility, walking past the young blond, he waves and says, “I’m here to see the girl that was brought in by Anzak.”
“Under who’s orders? I was told that no one was allowed to enter her room.”
“Under Ozama’s orders. I’ll wait here while you call it in if you wish,” Zar-Q says, waiting patiently while the young woman picks up the phone.
“Yes, I need to call this in, procedure as you know,” she says. “Hello, yes, this is Kalila at the front desk of the medical facility. I have,” looking up at Zar-Q…
“Zar-Q,” he says.
“…Zar-Q here and he is here to see the patient that Anzak brought in last night under your orders, may I allow him through?” A pause. “Yes ma’am, I understand, thank you,” Kalila hangs up the phone. “You may enter.”
“Thank you,” Zar-Q says, walking past the reception desk and into the medical facility.
There are no windows here, save for the ones in the patients rooms. Doctors and nurses alike can be seen walking around and busy at work. This facility only treats those who work at the UPC and their guests.
Zar-Q enters my room and closes the door. He pulls out a needle that was tucked away in his pocket. He removes the plastic cover that was covering the tip of the needle.
I begin to stir and I attempt to roll over to my side but I find it difficult to do. I open my brown eyes to see a young man over me. “You’re blue,” is the first thing that I say. My vision is blurry and I am not hunded percent well so maybe the man above me isn’t blue.
“It’s a pale blue, actually, I got the pigment from my father,” he says softly.
“Ah, so you’re an alien too?” I asked, my speech slurred.
My forehead begins to itch and I tell my hand to scratch it, but it doesn’t move. My eyes shift over to my right hand. My right hand that is currently bound to the bed. I squint my eyes, trying to process what’s going on.
“Try to stay calm, you’re going to have to trust me,” he says.
I look over to my left hand, it’s also bind to the bed. My legs, stomach and even neck are strapped in. My heart begins to beat faster as I start to panic.
“Calm down,” he says again.
“What the heck is going on here? Where’s Kyle? Miles?”
There’s an IV stuck in my arm and looking from that needle, I see another one in the young man’s hand. He pulls the end piece back, as if he’s ready to stick the neddle into my skin.
“I’m sorry,” he says, still calm.
‘What are you talking about? Just untie me and I won’t tell anyone that you let me go!”
“I can’t do that. This has to happen. I’m sorry.”
“What has to happen, what do you mean?”
He comes closer with the needle and it seems that there is no way out of this situation. I just hope Miles and Kyle are alright and that they’ll get me out of this place soon.
The young man with the light blue complexion sticks the needle into the IV.
“What is going on?” I ask.
“I can’t, not now, but it will all make sense for you with time. My name is Zar-Q and you have to believe me that I am the only one here that you can trust.”
With that, my vision worsens and I fall into another deep sleep.
———-
Kyle, Miles, Joice, Joe, Tommy and Jasmine are all sitting at a long wooden table with Dr. Russell Anzak standing at the head of it.
“I want to get right to the point of why all of you are here, Anzak begins. “Feel free to ask me any questions that you may have.
No one speaks. All but Jasmine display a look of confusion on their faces.
“You see,” Anzak continues “In this galaxy there is a prophecy that is held in high regard. It doesn’t matter if you trust in science or in magic or in both, this prophecy has been told over the ages and passed on to each generation. It tells the story of entities that are on another plane of existence than our own. They exist as energy and are unable to take human form unless they can find a person strong enough to be a host. A few of these entities abused their right to be one with a human, you see, the human has to give consent to the merger. So it came to pass that no entity would be allowed to merge with a human ever again. The punishment for breaking this rule would be banishment and imprisonment. Of course many broke this rule and they were punished. The scrolls read on that nine entities of power were sealed into nine keys and that one will come from a royal blood line and eight will come from another planet. We have been led to believe that the one that they speak of is Princess Lisa Vid. The planet may be dead, but the Vid blood line lives on and currently her mother, Zinia Vid resides here as an overseer of this land. As for the other eight, we believe that the malfunction here at the portal plant was no accident but a sign. We believe that this is a sign and that we need to harness this power to protect us from what is coming.”
There is a long pause before Kyle speaks, “So are you saying that we’re part of the missing eight?”
“We think so.”
“And what do you think is coming?”
“A shift in realities. It’s written that this won’t take place for another eighteen years, which gives us enough time to train the Chosen Nine and to come up with a back-up plan. Several back-up plans, actually.”
“Wait, written where?” Kyle had to know what was going on. Something didn’t feel right.
“We have a library that is home to several hundred scrolls, if not thousands. These scrolls are ever changing as time continues on. We believe they were written to warn us and to aid the chosen ones in our times of need.”
“Ever changing? How can scrolls change?”
“We don’t know. There’s so many of them and we’ve been led to believe that they were written by more than one person and at different moments in time.”
“Where did you find these scrolls?” Kyle asks.
“Buried under the rumble on a planet known as Crystaltina. A lot of our technology actually comes from what we’ve learned there. We suspect that those ruins have been there since the 1200’s.”
Tommy is the second person to speak up, “So what do you want us to do? We’re just teenagers. I think most of us would like to go home rather than help you guys out with something that won’t happen for another, what, eightteen years?”
“You can’t go home.”
“What?!”
“As I said before, any connection to Earth has been sealed off in order to protect it. I’m sorry, but you can never go back home.”
Dr. Anzak’s last comment was the biggest blow of this conversation.
Jasmine is the next to speak, “I know this is hard to take in, but I’ve been told the same story, and believe me, if we can help save everyone then isn’t it worth it?”
“Save it from what? From who?” Tommy asks.
“We don’t know,” Anzak answers.
“Can we see these scrolls?” Kyle asks.
“Of course,” Anzak stands, “Please, follow me to the library.”
———-
My eyes slowly open once more. Instead of seeing a hospital room I now see a small dark room. There’s some equipment laying around and in the center of the room is something like looks like a bathtub. Inside of this bathtub is some sort of blueish goo. At any rate, at least I’m able to move my head around. But it takes me a few moments to realize that I’m chained to the wall. Moments later the door opens and a lady with long black hair walks in.
She walks up to me and raises her hands. Immediately I am pulled out of my chains, floating inches from her and the ground. “Now tell me who you are,” she says calmly.
Taken aback, I’m at lost for words.
She raises me higher and this time I can feel an invisible hand around my throat.
“Don’t waste my time.”
I struggle to speak, “I don’t know…what you…want me to say….I’m just a kid…”
“No, you’re more than that, now tell me, who are you!”
“Jennifer..I– I don’t know what you want from me….”
Her hand finches back and I’m thrown up against the wall.
“Hook her up, this might take longer than I had originally thought.”
Two men walk towards me and pull me from the ground. One of them is holding a device, looks almost like a helmet, but with wired and plugs everywhere. They attached me to the wall and place the device on my head. It’s heavy and my head falls over due to it’s weight.
“Are we going to sedate her first?” A familiar voice, the blue man from before?
“No. Maybe the trauma will wake her.” She then speaks to me, “You still have the chance to tell me who you are.”
I say nothing. I mean, what is there to say? I can only hope that I will be rescued at any moment. And didn’t that blue guy say something about only trusting him? Why isn’t he helping me now?
“Switch it on.”
There is a computer tower in the corner, one of the guards walks over to it. I try to lift my head, not sure why, whatever is going to happen will. I don’t see any way out of this….He presses the button. At first, there is nothing. Then I start to feel a slight jolt within my mind. It’s faint and it’s more annoying than painful. Five minutes past and it feels like my mind is going numb and then it happens. It’s a quick jolt, followed by a wave of nonstop pain. I try to place my hands on my head, but they’re chained tight to the wall. There’s nothing that I can do but scream.
My heart feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest and my head burns and it seems like this pain goes on forever when suddenly it stops. I’m highly surprised that I didn’t pass out from the pain. I slowly pull my head up and my eyes meet the bathtub. The goo begins to boil and a hand reaches out from within the mess. My vision begins to fade in and out as I can see a head now. My own head begins to sway and it’s harder for me to hold it up.
The tall lady speaks, it’s hard for me to understand her words, “Get the clone out of there and get her ready to join the others. We can’t have them missing their friend, now can we?”
———-
The group walks in silence towards the library. They pass through several portals to reach it.
They reach a set of double doors, Doctor Anazak pulls them open and adds, “I have a few things that I need to take care of. There is a communication device at the desk, please feel free to ask the receptionist to call me if any of need need anything. I’ll also set up living quarters for you all, it will be better than where you had slept last night, I assure you.”
With that, Aznak leaves. Kyle walks off on his own to inspect the scrolls. There must be over a thousand in this room, and with so much technology, why not just convert the written words to a computer? Looking at all the scrolls, that could takes years, if not decades. The shelves are stacked high behind the receptionist desk, where a young man sat. He was busy looking on his own computer screen to notice Kyle looking up at the walls of written text.
Kyle then started to walk, noticing that the scrolls are separated by years. It starts from 12?? and ends at the year 2012. The logical thing to do would be to look at the very last scroll, but he stops half way and pulls a random scroll out. It’s dated the fall of 1996 and mentions a school outside of space and time. It didn’t make any sense to him and he places it back and walks a little further down the line. He pulls out another, dated 2004. This one mentions a connection back to the real world and to another planet. He pulls out another and another, and each scroll is so cryptic it’s no surprise that the people here can’t figure out what’s going to happen in eighteen years. He then finally decides to pull out the last scroll.
The realities are about to shift. Whatever you do, you need to get everyone together and I mean everyone. I thought I could do this on my own, but I just can’t.
Kyle can’t make sense of the last scroll. He then hears the doors open again and Miles talking. Kyle sees me standing there, or at least I wish it was me. He looks back down at the scroll and he’s about to put it back when he notices added words:
Time doesn’t run in a straight line. It’s a random act of events. Completely chaotic yet there is a balance. See past the balance.
“Hey there!” Jen says.
Kyle places the scroll back and looks at Jen, “Hey, feeling better?”
“Yea, I just needed a lot of sleep and the medicine that they gave me cured my nausea. So what have you guys been up to?”
“Anzak says that we can’t go home, ” Miles says, with sadness in his voice.
“What? Are you serious?”
“But,” Jasmine walks up, “but we have the chance to save everyone.”
“Huh?”
Jasmine then goes on to tell Jen what Anzak told them. “So now we’re in this library that apparently tells the past and the future.”
“Okay, this is a lot to take in,” Jen says. “I mean, we were at a mall before this happened and now we’re on another planet and supposedly we’re the ones that saves it? Right?”
“Oh, excuse me,” the male receptionist joins the group. “The Doctor just called and wanted me to show you this scroll.” He hands it to Kyle. “Feel free to sit at one of the tables to read it.”
They do just that, sitting at a round table the seven all look at Kyle as he reads, “It’s dated the year 1994…’This will be the year where the first group will meet. This will be the first line of defense for what’s to come. There will be nine in total: The one who can change his face, the defender, the mind controller, the princess, the bomb expert, the robot engineer, element of sound, element of electricity and power, the element of fire and time. The reality will shatter and break if not stopped. This will take time, lots of training and a lot of help from everyone.’ That’s it. I was actually expecting more.”
“You think it means us? Jen asks.
“I believe it does,” Jasmine says. “Why else would they keep us here and show us all of this?”
“First group, I wonder what it meant by that,” Tommy wonders.
“And why us?” Joice adds.
“I’m going to look at more scrolls,” Kyle says, standing and walking towards the wall.
“I’m going to see if your r0ooms are set up yet,” Jasmine says, standing and heading towards the door. “I’ll be back in a few.”
“Wait, I’ll go with you,” Joice follows.
“Wow, this is so illogical,” Joe says to Miles, but more to himself. He stands and starts to skim through some of the scrolls.
“You okay,” Jen asks.
“No, I want to go home,” Miles says.
“Me too.”
Hours pass before Jasmine and Joice return.
“Our rooms are ready,” Jasmine says. “Joice and I took a look at them and they are very nice, just like a small apartment. It isn’t here at the UPC, but in the city. On the other side of this building you can see the city through the windows, it’s really beautiful.”
“But it’s not home,” Miles says.
“Jasmine and I talked for a while and she’s right, we have to do this if we can save so many lives. I mean, how many peopole get this chance. And maybe afterwards we can go home,” Joice says.
“In eighteen years?!” Jen exclaims, “That’s a long time for us to be away from our family and friends.”
“It’s just a sacrifice that we need to take. I suggests we all rest up, Anzak told Joice and I that we start our training tomorrow.”
With that Jasmine and Joice leave the library, followed by Joe, who begins talking with his sister as they leave.
“I don’t like this,” Tommy comments.
“Me either. We just need to stay on guard and stay together,” Kyle says.
“But I don’t trust them either. Ever since Joe and Joice showed up on that planet, I had a strange feeling about them,” Tommy adds.
“Well, that means we just need to keep an eye on them as well,” Kyle answers back. “Come on, lets get some rest.”
They grab a map from the receptionist before heading out to their new homes. They walk through several portals before reaching the front doors of the UPC. In the lobby are several larger portals.
“Excuse me, we’re new here and we’re not sure where to go,” Tommy asks a short brown haired woman.
“Let me see your map, please,” she takes the map and points out a series of numbers. “These numbers must be dialed into the computer and then you press your finger into the scanner and it will take you home as soon as you walk through the portal. Since this is your first time, you will need to create an account with a password. This will only allow you to enter your home. You can adjust it to invite others into your home, but you will have to do that once you get there. Follow me over here, you can use this terminal and portal to set things up.”
“I guess this beats taking a Taxi home,” Tommy says.
Jen turns around and sees the view that Jasmine was talking about, “Hey guys, look over there…”
It’s a giant city within a giant shield. The building glow yellow and orange, to match the sky, it almost looks like the city is made out of gold. The buildings seem to touch the sky, or at least the top of the shield.
“I guess that shield protects the city from sand storms and the heat,” Kyle points out.
“Wow, it really is beautiful,” Jen says.
The four stare out into the city for a little while longer before retiring to their personal apartments.
Permalink
01.21.09
Posted in Book I: Rebirth at 1:09 pm by admin
Everything is still black. The last thing that I remember is walking down a hallway and then Kyle grabbing my arm.
I can’t seem to wake myself up and I fall into a deep sleep filled with dreams…
The first dream begins with a young entity by the name of the Hymn of Saturn. Entities and Gods who live within the stars are stars themselves. They fly around as star dust, talking telepathically with each other. Being the entity that can destroys lives and worlds with just a simple thought, it’s no surprise that Saturn has no friends. So much power, yet no one to share it with, such is a life of a powerful entity.
One day, war broke out between the Gods. They were fully aware of Saturn’s powers and they wanted to abuse them. Few of the other righteous Gods could not let this happen. If the power of the Dead Planet indeed fell into the wrong hands, it would mean the end of existence itself. They had to hide this power in a region far away from the battles between the Gods and entities.
Three regions were far away enough from the turmoil and unaware of such power that it would be very simple to hide Saturn. So the Gods summoned an entity that it’s sole purpose was to protect Saturn from any and all harm. They did not want to know the location of Saturn, so they informed the entity to send her to one of the three chosen planets.
This entity is given a crystal which is to be used to trap Saturn. The crystal is placed in the center of the entity.
The entity makes its way to Saturn. Once it finds her, it telepathically says, “May I have a word with you?”
“You actually want to speak with me?” Saturn replies back. “And you’re not afraid of me?”
“Now who could be scared of such a beautiful entity such as yourself?”
Saturn had to laugh at this. Entities all looked the same, like a transparent cloud surrounded by stardust, whereas Gods could transform into a physical form, be it human or animal.
“I’m glad that you find me funny, few do,” the entity says. “Look, I’ll be blunt with you,” changing the subject since it knows that time is a factor, “I need to take you away from here. If I don’t, it could mean the end of everything.”
“Let the end come, then,” with this, Saturn begins to float away. “The end came to me long ago.”
“How can you say that don’t you want to learn new things and discover new worlds?”
“No,” she says bluntly.
“…” the entity lost with words and can only follow Saturn. He slowly takes out the crystal. “What happened to you to make you think such terrible things?”
“It doesn’t matter where I go, people would only hide from me. I don’t fit in. Maybe the end would shake things up a little bit, huh? Now leave me alone. You don’t know me.”
The entity does not comply with Saturn’s words as he follows her, ever watching. “It’s not just the end of the world, it could be the end of everything. It could mean that everything turns into the void. If you come with me, I could help you to obtain a physical form. Then you would be able to explore new worlds. Places filled with people that are unaware of power and magic. Does that interest you in the least bit?”
“Are you still here? I thought I told you to leave me alone.”
“Are you making fun of me?” Saturn pulls away and files away at a faster rate. “I can’t take physical form, I was created like this, and this is the way it has to be. I was cursed from the get go, so now if you don’t mind, I would like to welcome the end of existence alone.”
“I am so sorry that I have to do this,” the entity says. It begins to fly fast towards Saturn, so fast in fact, that Saturn cannot react. It’s as if it’s teleporting in and out of space to reach her. The entity sworn to protect Saturn slams itself into Saturn, and the crystal begins to absorb Saturn.
The entity flies on for what seems like forever, deep into space and far away from the battles caused by the Gods and the entities. It approaches a planet and as it comes closer to the land, the entity transforms into human form. It takes form as a young human male, the crystal clutched in his hand. He stand in front of a small hut on a beach. Through the small window he can see a couple. He opens his hand and the crystal begins to float on it’s own. He blows air at the crystal and stardust begins to fly out of the crystal and into the female in the hut.
Five years and nine months later, a very hyper active Anya Page Vid steps on to the sandy beaches of South Palm Tree Shore. Her bright brown eyes look up to the sun and she smiles. He father steps behind her and places his hand on her shoulder.
“Are you going into the water today?” Matthew Vid asks.
“Nah, I might just sit and relax today in the sand,” Anya says, looking up to her father. “Where’s mom at?”
Ozma Vid is at home, studying the DNA of her daughter. She knows that her daughter possess some sort of power that a normal five year old should not have. Her plans for her daughter are of the sinister kind. Ozma stands, letting her black hair fall to her waist. Her dark eyes shine bright in the dim light as she goes over her plan in her head. The door opens and enters Matthew, a very kindhearted man says to his wife, “So are you going to spend time with your daughter today, or should I tell Anya the same thing I tell her each time that you don’t want to spend with her?”
“Oh Matt, I was just on my way out the door,” Ozma answers.
“You know that’s a pack of lies. She is your daughter, and you haven’t even spent an hour alone with her since her birth.”
Ozma walks out of the room, ignoring Matthew entirely and meets up her daughter, who is now lying down against a palm tree. Matthew, on the other hand, did not follow. For a while now, he suspected that his wife had been up to something and now was the time to find out what it is. He begins to pull out files of paper work and gasps in horror to come to find that his own wife has been studying their only child. He speed-reads over most of the material, in a rush to not get caught by Ozma. “My daughter is not of this world. I have done several tests that bring me to this conclusion. She holds within her a greater power that no one could fathom,” Matthew, reads, “I must have this power. I yearn for it.” Matt places the paper back in it’s folder. “Who in their right mind would perform tests on their own child?” The thought of it made Matthew sick.
On the beach, Anya does not move upon her mother’s arrival.
“Hello, daughter.”
“Hi.”
An odd moment indeed, is happening on this tropical beach. Here you have a mother who wishes to extract a power from her daughter and a daughter who just wants a mother to love.
“Nice weather today,” Ozma says, trying to break the tension but with no avail.
“It’s like this everyday, mom,” Anya turns around to face her mother and is shocked to see the complexion on Ozma’s face. “Why is your skin so pale?”
Since Ozma spends her entire time indoors, her complexion has turned into an ivory white, almost sickly color. “It’s just the light, dear.”
Matthew tries in vane to reach an old friend of his, Stahn Crystaltina, the ruler of the planet Crystaltina, while his wife is still away. He punches in the planet code for Crystaltina on an monitor made for communication and in an instant a young child, maybe of the age of 12, appears on the tiny screen. “May I help you?”
“Ah, Celestria, is the King available?” Matthew asks the young adviser to the King.
“Just one moment, Mister Vid,” Celestria answers, punching in to transfer the call.
Within a minute, King Stahn is on the screen. “How are things, dear friend?” Stahn questions.
“I need a favor, your majesty. My daughter, I need to hide her somewhere safe.”
The king looks at Matthew, concerned and asks him, “What is the matter?”
“I’m not sure, but my wife wants to extract some sort of power out of Anya. I need to keep her safe, you must understand this. I’ve found paperwork and test results. She must have been testing on my daughter while I was at work.”
King Stahn hesitates for a moment. Without a child of his own, his kingdom does not have an heir. If he adopts Anya, that problem would be solved. But what of this power that this young child holds, could it ruin or give hope to Crystaltina? And besides that fact, this child is not of his own blood, what if it brings up complications later on in life? But he has know Matthew Vid for a long time and he trusts his friend. “Alright, bring this child to me. We will discuss this matter more, once the two of you have arrived,” the king answers.
“Oh thank you so much, your majesty.”
Later that night, it slowly begins to rain. Anya walks into the small hut to join her parents for dinner. But what Matthew failed to do earlier, was to clean up all outgoing calls from the Planet Dialer, which means that Ozma knows of Matthew’s plans to take Anya away.
“I made a necklace out of shells today,” Anya says happily, unaware of the events to unfold later that night.
“That’s nice dear,” Ozma says keeping her gaze fixed on Matthew. “What else did you do today?”
“The usual, lie in the sun, swim for a few rounds and trying to be creative,” Anya laughs.
Matthew begins to feel uncomfortable due to Ozma’s stares. He glances over and he sees hatred in her eyes.
“Ozma,” he stammers, “is something the matter?”
“Not at all,” she answers.
One of the shutters opens up wildly, due to the windy conditions outside.
“I’ll get that,” Anya jumps up and tends to the open shutter.
Matthew and Ozma both look at each other and then over to Anya. They both rush out of their chairs and towards their child. Matthew is the first to grab her, and father and daughter break through the cheaply made grass hut.
“If I lose you, run. Far away from your mother, do you understand?” Matthew tells his daughter.
“What’s going on, I don’t understand.” Anya wonders, a little shaken.
Ozma makes it out of the ruin hut and reaches Matthew and Anya, who are still on the ground. Ozma kicks Matthew in the stomach and makes Matthew lose his grip on Anya. Anya runs off a few feet and stops to look back. “Come daughter, I will take care of you,” Ozma beckons.
Matthew spits up blood and then manages to trip Ozma to the ground. He then tries to stand to reach Anya.
“The hell you’re going to take her away from me, Matthew,” Ozma says, now kicking Matt in the back, making him fall once again.
“Why…what’s going on?” Anya begins to cry as she takes another step back.
“Get out of here!” Matthew manages to say.
Then, as Anya is about to turn around, a portal opens behind her. Filled with bright blue colors and swirling wind, Anya turns around and looks deep into the portal. “What is this thing? Where—did I do this?” she stammers.
Matthew has the power of Portal Jumping, an ability that he was born with long ago. The portal leads to Crystaltina. “Go, honey, it will be alright,” Matthew cries out.
Ozma, now in hot pursuit towards Anya, is only a few feet away before she trips on a rather large stone, buried in the sand. Ozma falls just short of Anya, which knocks the young girl into the portal and to the other side. On the other side of the portal, Anya falls from the sky and lands hard on the marble steps of the Crystaltina Castle.
The dream goes black and within an instant another one takes it’s place.
“Okay,” Celestria, who is training to be a powerful cleric, says to a now seven year old Anya, “Hey, are you listening to me, your young highness?”
Anya is currently looking out of the window of the castle, out into the forest and lost in a daydream.
“Miss Anya, this is a very important study, you do realize this, don’t you?” Celestria tries again, but seeing the only way to get Anya out of her spell, is to throw something at her. Celestria tosses a piece of chalk and hits Anya square in the forehead.
“Ow…what was that for teacher?” Anya cries out, rubbing the area that now holds a nice little red mark.
“I will not have a student who fails to pay attention during an important lesion, understood?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Now, what is the proper concentration time to produce a simple fire spell?” Celestria asks, while writing a formula on the board.
“Why can’t I just go to Vane?”
“Why can’t you answer the question?”
Anya snaps her finger, and above her thumb, appears a tiny flame. “Three-point-five seconds, now why can’t I go to Vane? I’m sure I would have better luck there. Sorry, but I can’t see you as my teacher, not really.”
“Excuse me”
Anya stammers, “Err, I mean I’ve known you since I came to live here and now you’re my teacher? It feels a bit strange, that’s all. I mean, you’re not that much older than me and here you are, trying to teach me things that are common nature to me.”
“Standard rules states that all new students of Vane must have some sort of knowledge in the art of magic and must be at the age of ten. As I recall, you fall short by three years. And common sense and knowledge does not cut it with the board,” Celestria mentions.
“But my father is King, shouldn’t that go for something?”
Celestria sighs and shakes her head, “You can’t keep using that excuse all the time, Miss Anya. Remember you are not of the blood line as he.”
Now frustrated, Anya slams her hands on to her desk and then storms out of room, but not before saying this to the fourteen year old cleric in training, “I don’t want you as a teacher, I just want a friend to talk to. I’m tired of being so overprotected!”
Anya was found on the footsteps of the Crystaltina Castle the night her biological father saved her. She had a concussion and was in a deep sleep for a few weeks. Once Anya awoke, her memory of what conspired before had vanished from her mind. King Stahn, Anya’s adopted father, had told her most of the story. He told Anya that she was sent by her birthfather Matthew, from the planet Vid, because the planet was endanger of falling apart. Not entirely the truth, but what would happen if you came out of a deep sleep, on an unknown world and was told that your own mother was out to kill you and extract some sort of mystery power for her own gain in the universe?
Two years have past, and Anya’s been a bit sheltered from everything around her and without a friend in sight. And the only person that might turn out to be a friend is the one trying to teach her magic.
Anya makes her way outside and towards the coast that lies behind the castle while Celestria heads to the King’s throne room to discuss matters about Anya. “She’s so high strung about going to Vane, that her mind is clouded to the whole picture. Do you think she could handle their teachings at such an early age?” Celestria asks.
“She will come around and she will learn the art of patience,” he replies.
“But why must she be so sheltered. I understand that she is the heir, but do you feel that this……” But Celestria is cut off, something that is uncommon with the King.
“Fine.”
“Your majesty?”
“She will do as I command and will head to Vane.”
“But sir, you….”
“…leave me be,” he scowls.
Anya makes her way to the ocean’s shore and steps into the warm water. Then, a chill passes through the air and takes hold of Anya’s brown hair. She turns around and looks up to the castle. She knows that something is wrong and runs back home.
Celestria makes her way out of the chamber and closes the door behind it. Appearing in the shadows, behind the King’s chair is a tall figure, with a pale completion and dark black hair. “You did well, my Lord, she will cause no trouble while she is away.”
“Do you think I was too hard on Celestria?” questions Stahn.
“Not at all,” Ozma answers.
Anya comes rushing into the castle and slides on the marble floor and right into Celestria. “Whoa, what’s the hurry?” Celestria asks, still a bit shaken from her conversation with the King.
“I felt…I felt something and I knew I had to come over,” Anya manages to get out.
“Your father wants you to go to Vane.”
“He does? But I thought I had to wait?” Anya says, forgetting about her sudden wave of fear.
“It seems he’s changed his mind,” Celestria says dryly.
“Is everything okay?” Anya asks, looking up at Celestria with a puzzled look in her brown eyes.
“Of course everything is okay,” a female voice says behind Anya.
Anya turns, and is instantly frightened. She steps back and ends up in Celestria’s arms. “Who? Who are you?”
“I’m a good friend of your father’s,” Ozma sayings, with a devious smile. “And I’ve heard the wonderful news that you have been admitted to Vane.”
Celestria then looks up at Ozma, almost suspecting something. “Why haven’t I seen you around here before?”
“I come from a distant land.” Ozma answers. “Now, you two had better get ready for dinner. Little Miss Anya heads out in the morning.”
Anya tries to back up even more, but doing so now, makes Celestria take a step back. Celestria gets the feeling that these two know each other somehow. “We’ll take our leave now.” Celestria takes Anya by the hand, and almost walking backwards, they make their way upstairs and to Anya’s quarters. “I know her, I swear, I just can’t remember from where!” Anya exclaims, now in her room with Celestria. Anya hops on to her bed and grabs a pillow, holding it tightly.
“Maybe she’s from where you came from,” Celestria says, sitting next to the young heir.
“But where am I from? The only thing that dad told me was that I’m from some planet called Vid. And I don’t even remember that place or why I was there.”
“You need to calm down before you have a breakdown. Come, lets get ready for dinner, okay. Maybe we’re both overreacting here.”
At dinner, the four are sitting at a very long wooden table within the dinning hall. The room is quiet until dessert rolls around. “Dad, why the change of mind all of a sudden, I mean, weren’t you the one who wanted me to stay here and learn some magic spells before going to Vane?” Anya asks, pushing her plate aside.
“I think that you are ready,” he answers.
“I’m seven; I’m the only one here who thinks I am ready. The rest of you guys have been holding me back, telling me over and over again to wait.”
“Now come dear, you underestimate yourself,” Ozma says.
“And who in blue moon are you anyway? Coming in here acting like you’re my mother, what’s your name anyway?” Anya yells out.
“Anya, mind your manners, I did not teach you to be so rude at the table,” King Stahn scowls.
“No, it’s alright; she deserves to know who I am at least. My name is Ozma.”
Now of course Stahn knows who his good friend Matthew was married to, but due to a very powerful mind control spell, he is unaware of the person that is sitting with him at the table.
“Ozma? Hmm…sounds a bit familiar to me,” Anya says shaking her head and obtaining a headache out of the blue. She places her hand on her forehead, which is starting to get a bit hot. Anya pushes back the chair, which falls to the ground. “I’m leaving.” She then runs out of the dinning hall and up to the bathroom.
“I think I should follow her,” Celestria stands, “If you would excuse me.”
“I am sorry for my daughter’s behavior, she not normally like that,” Stahn says, shifting in the chair. “Maybe going to Vane will do her some good.”
“I agree,” Ozma stands and walks behind Stahn, giving him a shoulder massage. “Then we would have the kingdom to ourselves, without any of these kids getting in the way.”
“Are you alright?” Celestria asks, concerned as she walks into the over sized bathroom, hearing Anya losing her dinner.
“Its her…it’s my mother! I remember now, we have to get her out of her now! Urg…”
“Are you serious?! Okay, we need to take the proper precautions here.” Celestria grabs a pail of water and walks over to Anya. “But why doesn’t the King know this? I thought him and…” she stops.
“And who? You mean my real father?” She slowly stands and splashes her face with the water. “They were friends.” Anya spins around, her face a lighter shade of color, and storms back towards the dinning hall. Slamming the doors wide open, she enters and cries out, “You killed him, didn’t you? And you tried to kill me as well? Are you’re back to finish the job?”
“What are you talking about Anya?” Stahn says, seeming a bit concerned for the well-being of his adopted child.
“Now you must have had a tiring day, and look at you, you do not look well, you should rest,” Ozma makes her way towards Anya.
“You stay away from me. I don’t know what you did to father, but once I figure out, you had better be gone from here,” Anya runs out of the room and towards her bedroom.
Celestria follows Anya back, “What are you doing?”
“Where’s the armory?”
“Seriously, what are you doing? You’re way too young to handle something like this on your own. Even I can’t handle this, we need to get help.”
“We don’t have…” A loud and powerful ringing begins to sound out in Anya’s head right before passing out on the floor.
Several hours later, and now it is the middle of the night, Anya finally wakes up in the infirmary. She must have passed out due to all the excitement going on. With a high fever, Anya tries to stand up, but fails and falls back to the bed. “I need to warn dad…” Anya is able to stand up on her own and makes her way out of the infirmary Anya then, in an almost zombie-like state, walks to Ozma’s temporary quarters. Anya slowly opens the doors and sees a sword on the wall. She takes the sword in hand and heads towards Ozma’s sleeping body. Anya struggles with the sword at first, as if fighting with herself but as soon as she can get the sword over her head the lights in the room turn on and Ozma’s eyes are fixed on Anya’s. “Now you’re going to get it.” The guards of the castle invade the quarters and pull Anya back away from Ozma and retrieve the sword from Anya’s surprisingly strong grasp.
The next morning, Anya is under heavy guard as her father talks about her fate.
“Oh come, you don’t believe she was doing it at her own free will. That sword is way too heavy for someone like her to hold, let alone hold above her own head,” Celestria pleads.
“She was seen by Ozma and by several trusted guards, Celestria. I don’t like this as much as you, but she tried to kill Ozma,” the King says sadly.
“Don’t you think those guards were there faster than usual? I mean, the alarms didn’t go off. The only thing that happened were the lights coming on,” Celestria says. “And she’s seven!”
“You fail to heed my words, the girl is clearly jealous of me,” Ozma adds in. “She needs to be taken care of to the full extent of the law.”
“I need to think about this,” Stahn says, “Please leave me.”
As Ozma passes Celestria to leave, she laughs to herself, and knocks into Celestria’s shoulder. Celestria turns to see Ozma’s back leave the room.
“May I, sir?” Celestria turns to face the King once more.
“Yes, Celestria, you may.”
“You know in your heart that the actions of Anya were not her own. I feel that she does need to be taken away from here for her own safety. I will join her in Vane and I promise to keep a good eye on her. I also believe that your mind is clouded by something or someone. But that is a matter out of my league at the present time. I hope you’ll do the right thing in this matter. And I mean the right thing by your heart,” the young cleric turns to leave, but before she does, the King speaks.
“Take her, Celestria. And do not return until you feel the time is right.”
Again the dream begins to fade out just to have another one take it’s place.
“Did you actually finish Dr. Strem’s report for elemental class yet?” Celestria asks, sitting at a small desk in the Library of Vane.
“Of course I did, now let’s head outside, it’s a nice day,” Anya says, trying to pull Celestria’s arm away from her pen and paper.
“You always want to go out, why not study for a bit?”
“Because I already did that, come on Cel, you need to live a little,” Anya winks. “You can’t spend all of your time behind the books.”
In the three years away from the castle, Celestria and Anya have become very close friends and, to Celestria’s surprised, Anya has learned a great deal and is capable of using magic with ease.
“Didn’t you want to talk to the combat arts teacher anyway?” Celestria tries to weasel her way out of spending time away from her studies.
“Yea, but he’s at lunch right now, but fine, I’ll go outside all by myself and I’ll tell you how great it was when I come back,” Anya says, sticking her tongue out at the almost full-fledged cleric.
The sun is bright and high above the planet of Crystaltina and with the birds singing, its just one of those days that you would hate to miss out on. To get back to the main land, you have to take a teleporter, since Vane is one large mass of land floating in the sky, with a school on it. And then you have to take a ride over to the Dorter Trade City, which is the closest city to Vane. Also known as DTC, it is the trade city at the docks, where all sorts of life come and go to do their trades and other sorts of business. Anya enters the city to the left, as she always does, and just walks around, mainly to hear what news is going on within the kingdom. No one knows that she is the heir, so it is safe for this ten-year old to walk freely around the port city.
While not pay attention, Anya bumps into someone who is walking in the other direction. “Ow, hey, watch out!” Anya cries out, almost meeting the ground with her rear.
“Sorry, I was just watching the sky,” the boy says.
“Its not like it’s going anywhere, you know,” Anya jokes. “I’m Anya.”
“Nice to meet you,” he bows.
“Is that really necessary?” Anya asks, placing her arms on her hips.
“Not really, just wanted to see your reaction to it,” he jokes back.
“And you are…?”
“Heh, the name’s Dryden.”
“Never seen you around here before, did you just get in?” Anya asks.
“Yea, Steve and I just moved here about a week ago.”
“Who’s Steve? Your brother?”
“No, my wannabe father, that’s who he is.”
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“…..don’t worry about it. Once I get old enough, I’m leaving this place to become an adventure or maybe something with elementals,” Dryden says with pride.
“Wow! That sounds so amazing. Do you plan do go on your own?” Anya asks.
“What other way is there?”
“I don’t know, maybe having your own group of followers, or something. Don’t you think you’ll get lonely?”
“Me, nah, I can handle it on my own you know, I’m going to be famous, people will know me for my amazing quests.”
“Uh-huh, whatever you say, mister adventurer but what I want is to be apart of something, like a traveling band of heroes,” she laughs.
“Dryden, get over here and finish your chores, you ungrateful excuse for a son,” Dryden’s father shouts from a far.
“Ouch, I guess that’s your cue to leave, huh?” Anya says.
“Yep, it was nice meeting you, maybe we can talk again sometime,” Dryden says, waving while walking towards his home.
“Yea, I’m a student at Vane if you want to stop by,” she calls out, and then more to herself, “hope to see you again.”
“So the King is finally getting married?”
“Yea, I heard my sister-in-law talking about it this morning.”
“The news is all over the country-side, where have you been?”
As the many people walk past Anya, she picks up on the news of the town. But her father, getting married, this was something out of the blue and something that Anya didn’t want to worry about any time soon. It seems the ordeal with the sword and Ozma blew over. Anya’s guess was that it was a way to get her out of the castle. But for what gain, what does Ozma get out of marrying her adoptive father? Yes, he his King, but lets face it, this isn’t a highly populated and highly advanced world. At any rate, what if this news was true, Anya had to see for herself.
“Celestria!”
Celestria jumps up and hits her head on the overhead lamp. “Ouch, can you give a little warning when you do that please?”
“Dad’s getting married!”
“What?!” Celestria exclaims, hitting her head again.
“Do you want something for your head?” Anya asks, trying not to laugh.
“I’ll be fine, so where did you hear this, anyway?” Celestria says, sitting back down.
“Well, I was in DTC where I met this boy…”
“…wait, you met someone?” Celestria says in a sly voice. “And a boy at that?”
“Uh-huh, anyway, after he left, the usual people were talking about the usual, and dad’s wedding came up,” Anya says, trying to get Celestria up from her chair. “We need to check this out. What if this is Ozma’s plan? We need to save dad.”
“And what if there isn’t a plan, do you remember what happened before? You were lucky to get out of there before they threw the death penalty on you,” Celestria preaches.
“Oh come on, you and I both know that I’ve been trained, so that mind control mumbo jumbo won’t work on me,” Anya says, with a great amount of certainty.
“You do know your level is much lower than that of Ozma’s, right? So even though you’ve gotten a bit better with your mental defense, it’s not going to matter that much. And you’re still a kid. Sure, you’re levels above many, but you have a long way to go still.”
“Must you?”
“Yes, I must. Looking at the reality of things isn’t your forte.”
“Well, fine, let’s just go anyway. Dad’s around, so everything should be fine, he won’t let anything happen to me,” Anya says, finally winning Celestria over. “I’ll be alright, don’t worry.”
So the two young girls head over to the castle by the cover of night. They walk right up to the gates, though, feeling that sneaking in, wouldn’t be the best way to go about this.
Two guards stand outside the gate.
“I have the right to pass,” Celestria declares.
“Ah, Celestria, it is so good to see you again. And is this the young princess?”
“Indeed, and do not worry, she is in my care.”
“You may pass. The King has been awaiting your return for some time now, as I hear it.”
The massive double doors open and a cool, fresh breeze passes the two as they enter the castle of Crystaltina.
“Do you know where he might be?” Celestria looks down at Anya.
“Where is always is, the main throne room. Or the garden, but with Ozma around, I doubt it,” Anya says, walking a bit faster. “Let’s go.”
The two enter the throne room, and indeed, the King is there, with Ozma sitting in a chair to his left.
“Aw, Anya, Celestria, it is good to see the two of you again,” Stahn says, standing. He walks over to his daughter and gives her a hug, which feels a bit empty, soulless if you will. “How is school going?”
“Great. Learning a lot there,” Anya says, looking over at Ozma with a cold look in her eyes.
“That is great to hear,” he says, “and have you heard the news? You will soon have a mother, Anya.”
“I can hardly wait,” she says sarcastically.
The next set of dreams seem to come in as a rush.
The church’s bells ring and the doves are released as King Stahn of Crystaltina and Ozma, the newly appointed Queen and wife, walk down the isle and into a horse-drawn carriage.
“They look happy,” a boy says
Wearing a light purple dress, Anya spins around to see a not so dressed up Dryden.
“You were invited?”
“Well,” Dryden says, rubbing the back of neck, “not really. But I figured that you would be here, and I had nothing to do today.”
“And why would you think something like that?” Anya questions.
“Because you go to Vane, only royals and those with gold go there.”
“Hey, what can I say,” Anya shrugs “for some reason, they actually think I’ll pay attention in class.”
“Do you?”
“Only during the parts where I can blow or beat things up.”
“Are you happy?” Dryden asks.
“Why do you ask?”
“It is your father’s wedding, right?”
“So?”
“Are you happy today?”
“No. Until she’s out of my life, I won’t be.”
“Sounds like me when I think about my pops,” Dryden looks away to the ocean. “Well, if you need any help, just let me know.” He starts to walk off’. “I know how it is,” he adds.
“Why are you being so nice to me, you don’t even know me.”
“Small universe,” and he takes his leave.
Celestria walks up behind Anya, “So is that him?”
“Him what? We’ve only talked a few times and it wasn’t anything major,” Anya says, looking towards the direction in which he left.
Over the next several months and into the next year, the King and Ozma are away on vacation, while Anya, Celestria and the royal guards are left alone in the castle. The two young magic students still attend Vane, but are now living off the campus. News hits the streets once again, this time; it is for the birth of Serge, son of Ozma and Stahn.
“He has blue hair, where is the logic in that, I ask?” Anya laughs, now sixteen.
“Be nice, you’re an older sister now, maybe you should act like it,” Celestria replies back.
The two are walking along the port city, killing some time between classes. “I’m happy and all, but, we still need to figure out this whole Ozma situation. There’s no way she loves father and it makes me feel sad for my brother.”
“I heard Markus talking and he said that the three of them should be here within the next few days. They’re waiting for Ozma to recover,” Celestria says. “We had better hurry; we’re going to be late for class.”
“I just know that Ozma is up to something, this just doesn’t make any sense.”
The two friends split off to go to their classes; Celestria to her alchemy class and Anya to her physical attack magic class. The class size are relatively small since the school is located in a low population area and many who wish to attend, cannot due to lack of gold.
“Okay class, today we will be heading into the woods for some sparring and we will be going over some techniques that were talked about throughout the year. We will be going over a few new things as well. After the first hour of regulated class time, if you must leave, please inform me before doing so. For our new students, please pair up with someone from the class who has been here for most of the duration.”
“So I guess I’m stuck with you then, huh?” someone from behind says.
Getting out of her seat to leave, Anya turns around to see Dryden standing there.
“Are you following me or something?”
“Nah, you’re not my type.”
“Right. So what are you doing here then?” Anya asks as they walk out of the class and head for the teleportation link-up center. It’s a high tech area where students and teachers of Vane can travel around the planet in an instant.
“Just trying to learn a few new skills.” Dryden answers.
“I thought you’re father wasn’t going to let you come to Vane? What changed his mind?” Anya steps into the portal and ends up in lush forest miles from the school. She takes in a deep breath and the smell of pine makes her sneeze.
“Well, he doesn’t know. Promise me you won’t tell him,” Dryden says as he makes his way to Anya’s side.
“No worries.” Anya says, with her back facing Dryden she quickly sends her arm and fist towards his face. He blocks it and holds her arm for a second.
“Anya!” the teacher yells.
“Sorry, just messing with the new meat,” Anya says, “Umm, you can let go now.”
Dryden slightly blushes as he lets go of Anya’s arm and they head towards the rest of the class.
“Okay, I hope everyone has found a partner by now. Today we’ll be going over simple tech spells and how to defend against them. Later on we’ll work on duel tech attacks. This might be a bit tricky for all of you, because in order to perform perfect duel tech, both people involved must share a bond, be it personal or common and it requires a lot concentration. You also have to remember to mix the right elements. You cannot mix ice and fire and expect something good to come from it. But be creative with it.” The students then go off in pairs to separate locations.
“So, show me what you got,” Anya says, leaning against a tree.
“What about you? You should have more experience since you’ve been here longer,” Dryden cracks his knuckles.
“You would think that, huh? But before we start, you do know that this is physical magic, right? You can’t just shoot a fire spell at me, the spell has to be apart of you, an extension, if you will. Here, let me show you,” Anya stands straight and then makes a run for it, extending her leg and within seconds a fire can be see at the base of her leg as she kicks a tree.
“Fire elements, huh?”
“I’ve been trying to work on this earth spell, but I keep coming up short.” Anya says, walking back. The tree falls behind her.
“What type of spell?”
“It’s where I slam my fist into the ground and it generates a bomb under ground that travels a few feet towards its target, But all I can get is a few rocks to stir up,” She shrugs her shoulders.
“Maybe I can help with that. Teacher was talking about duel techs; maybe that type of spell can only work when two people are involved.”
“Could be, but didn’t you hear teacher saying about a bond between the two? I mean, we’ve only talked here and there and the rest of the time you’re working on your father’s farm.”
“We could try, I mean, what harm could that do?”
“Alright, but if you get hurt….” Anya trails off.
“Okay, slam you’re fists into the ground and at that moment I’ll summon a bolt of lightning and we’ll see what happens.”
“But that’s not a physical attack.”
“Oh come on, it’ll be cool to see either way.”
“You know, you’re right. I don’t know why I’m protesting this, I’m sounding like Celestria. Heh, okay, lets try this.”
Anya slams her fist into the ground as Dryden sends a bolt inches from her. The attack backfires and sends Anya flying a few feet backwards. Dryden rushes over to make sure Anya is alright but she isn’t in sight. She then jumps down from a tree branch and they begin to spar.
Three hours later, Anya is drying her face off near the hot springs that are behind the castle. “There you are! Class got out two hours ago, where have you been?” Celestria walks up to Anya.
“In class.”
“Really? That doesn’t sound like you.”
“It was field study today and I was showing a new kid the ropes,” Anya replies, covering her face with the towel while leaning back in the chair.
“And this new kid just so happens to be…”
“..and what are you getting at? I have better things to worry about. They’re coming home tonight!” Anya says, desperately trying to change the subject.
The King and Queen arrive in the early morning with their new son. For the next five years, things are pretty normal around the castle and the city as well. There has been no accidents or talk of a rebellion. It seems that Ozma has turned over a new leaf with the marriage and the birth of a son.
The summer of 1250 finds Dryden leaving Vane. You can’t lie on your application and once you’re found out, you are removed and chances of coming back are slim. His father found out about taking classes and kicked him out of his home. Not wanting to tell anyone about this, he left the city. Anya’s been climbing the ranks as far as physical combat is concerned and Celestria is one year away from being a full fledged priestess; at least in the eyes of the Vane officials. Serge is now four and a half and a magical prodigy.
Hidden in old ruins of a lost civilization, Dryden has made this area his home. On this day, a woman in a dark cloak is meeting a fallen knight of the kingdom by the name of Reed. He is dressed in odd clothing that looks to be made out of metal. This covers his entire body, leaving only his face and thick red hair visible.
“I need this boy but he is protected by this young woman. I need her taken care of. I don’t care how you do it, but make it so it has no ties to me or the kingdom. Understood?”
“Yes. And my payment? You do know what it is, correct?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll have your Omni once you are finished. There’s also a crystal that she wears under her shirt, I need that as well.”
“That’ll cost you extra,” Reed says in a low husky voice.
“You’re in no position to say such things. Just get it done.”
The two part as Dryden stands there…
“Another round of rum for my dear friends!!” Anya raises a glass. “Two more weeks and we graduate to upper level students! It never ends!!”
“Hey, you wanted to go to Vane, you remember that.” Celestria laughs.
“How was I supposed to know that lower level takes so many years to pass and then there’s more? What happened to fast education? Getting people on the field faster, you know?”
“No wars. So they can train people for a longer amount of time.”
“When was the last time this place saw war anyway?”
“Don’t remember, actually. The records don’t go that far back.”
“Do you think there are more worlds out there?”
“Heh,” the barkeep chimes in. “Do you know how many times that question is asked once someone has enough rum in ‘em?”
“And?” Anya says, leaning over the table top.
“And what?” he says.
“You’re going to have to excuse my friend,” Celestria says, grabbing Anya by her hand. “Come on; let’s get you some air and water.”
“What did I say,” she slurred out. “He must know the answer if he gets that question all the….”
The windows of the tavern shatter as balls of fire rain inside of the establishment. The fire grows at an alarming rate; customers are gagging on the smoke.
“Everyone get outside!!” the barkeep screams as the ale bursts into flames behind him. The front door begins to burn, blocking the only way out.
“Cel, can you do anything?” Anya yells over the roar of screams and fire.
“I–I can’t there’s too much smoke, I-can’t concentrate,” she stammers, looking for a way out.
Anya rushes to the door and jumps into the fire, breaking the door down in the process. This clears a path for the patrons to run out. For many, it was an action too late. Celestria runs out, coughing and leaning on her knees, she looks around for Anya. She spots a group of people in a circle and she rushes over. Fearing the worse, she pushes the people aside and to her shock, Anya is sitting on the ground, perfectly okay.
“You okay, Cel?”
“Yes–I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Anya stands, this wasn’t your—ow! My head!!” Anya places her hand on her forehead and takes a step back.
“Anya!!”
“Man, I’m going to have a hangover tomorrow.”
Celestria pushes Anya, “That is not funny!”
“Sorry,” Anya sighs and looks on at the fire, which has taken a few lives and the wooden building itself. “Excuse me; did anyone see who did this?” Anya yells out to the crowd of onlookers.
No answer.
“Oh come on, in the highest trade city on this side of Crystaltina and no one saw a thing? Don’t be afraid, we need to fight this!”
“Mam’am,” a man from the tavern speaks up.
“Yes? Did you see something?”
“You jumped into a fire and you are not hurt.”
“Ummm…well you see…”
“She was sent from the Gods!”
Anya slaps her forehead in frustration, “Ow. Look, no I’m not. I’m a student of Vane. My cleric friend here placed a shield on me, to protect me. I assure you, I am as normal as the rest of you. Now, anyone, please tell–”
“She was sent by the Demons!!!”
“Oh geez, come on people, you can’t actually believe…”
“We had better get out of here Anya,” Celestria takes Anya’s hand and they begin to walk out of the city. “They are going to follow us, we can’t go home right now,” she whispers to the young princess.
“You can’t be serious. Don’t they know about the magic school?”
“Many still don’t believe it’s natural to use magic, at least not to help people. We need to lose them and hide somewhere.”
“Oh, like that’s going to be easy,” Anya turns around to see a medium sized mob following them.
“This isn’t going to be pretty in a few minutes, Cel…”
“…just keep walking.”
“A run might do us some good, you—”
A bolt of light hits the ground between the two friends and the mob. Dryden appears and walks towards them. “She saved some of you today and this is how you thank them?!”
“She’s a demon!”
“Follow us and you’re all toast. This is your only warning,” a dark cloud begins to form over the towns people.
“Do you think that’s necessary?” Celestria asks.
“Run, I’ll keep them off of your backs.”
“Come on,” Celestria takes a firm grip on Anya’s hand as she begins to run.
“Hey wait, he might need our help–” Anya tries to say as she looks back.
Giving the two a head start, Dryden summons a series of bolts to hit the ground in front of the people before taking off as well.
After about an hour, Dryden finally catches up with the two, “Come on, to the ruins, we should be safe there for a while.”
“Ahh! Thanks for running up at us like that, I could have hurt you,” Anya says. “Can we wait a few minutes, Celestria needs a break.”
“No, I’m fine, we need to keep going. Are they still following us?”
Dryden stops and turns around, “I don’t know. I think I scared them a bit, so I doubt they’re close by, but who knows. We need to hide for a while to be on the safe side.
“What we need to do is to head back home. We need to tell father what happened and I need to make sure that Serge is alright,” Anya says, “You two head to the ruins and I’ll meet you there later. I’ll be alright.”
“No, I’m not leaving you alone. We don’t know who attacked the tavern but I have a feeling they were after you,” Dryden says, walking over.
“Hold on, you vanish and then all of a sudden you return just as this happens, seems a bit fishy to me,” Anya says.
“You don’t think he had something to do with this? Anya?” Celestria says.
Silence.
“Guys?”
“I do know who did this,” Dryden mutters.
“I knew it!”
“I didn’t want to tell you, not just yet anyway,” Dryden pauses.
“Spill it,” Anya crosses her arms.
“My father kicked me out of the house after he found out that I was going to Vane. I didn’t want to face you guys, so I went off on my own. I found these ruins to the west where I made camp. One day, there was a meeting of two people there and one was telling this assassin to kill someone. It seems like this person had something of his and was using it for her own purpose.”
Anya runs off towards the castle.
.
“I knew this would happen, that’s why I didn’t want to—” Dryden says.
“I’ve found it hard to keep anything from her.” Celestria says, turning for the direction that Anya took off in.
Anya, after running back home, finds the castle unguarded. Trying to catch her breath, she makes her way to her father’s throne room. She runs in, finding her father on his throne, “Father, you’re okay!” Anya says with a sigh of relief. “Listen, there was an attack in DTC today, and I think…father?” Anya takes several small steps towards her father. At the foot of the throne, Anya looks at her father and begins to cry. “I’ll get her for this,” Anya clutches her fists and falls to her knees.
“Sister?”
Anya turns to see her younger brother in the doorway. “Hey there!” She calls out, quickly drying her eyes. “Father wants us to go to his summer home. He’s got a surprise for us there. Are you up to the trip?”
“Really?! I’ll pack!” Serge rushes out.
Anya stands and takes one last look at her father. Somehow she needs to hide her brother while she looks for Ozma. There’s no mistake that it was her who did this.
Anya makes her way to Serge’s room, “Hey, you ready?”
“You bet! Are mom and dad coming with us?”
“Nope,” she tries to hold back the tears, “it’s just you and me.”
“Kay!” Serge happily runs out of the room and straight out of the castle.
Anya knows that it’ll be a long time before she returns to this place again, if ever.
It’s been a few months since anyone has seen or heard of Anya and her brother. The kingdom is in chaos and it seems that Anya has been charged for the murder of the king and the kidnapping of Serge. Ozma has taken over as the ruler of Crystaltina and has ordered the capture of the fugitive. Celestria has left the castle and is now studying and living in Vane. Dryden has been searching for Anya but has not succeeded.
“Sister, when can we go back home?” Serge questions.
“I’m not sure brother; we might have to stay here a bit longer”
“But why? Doesn’t father love us anymore” he looks up with his father’s blue eyes.
“Of course he does! It’s just that he’s busy with the kingdom at the moment,” Anya lies. It’s been hard for Anya to tell her younger brother the truth and feels that the lie would have to hold just a while longer.
“What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Something is wrong, I just know it. Please don’t lie to me.”
Sighing, “Lets go for a walk. The breeze will do us some good,” Anya says, a bit shaken knowing that she’s going to have to tell her brother the truth eventually.
“I didn’t want you to know this, especially at such a young age, you must understand this,” Anya finally says.
“It’s okay. I have you for a sister; I can be strong for the both of us.”
And then Anya breaks down in tears, “Father passed away and I fear that Ozma is the one to blame. She tried the same when I was a child. My original father sent me here to be looked after by the king and to keep me safe from Ozma. I think she’s coming after you.”
Serge says nothing as he hugs his sister.
“I hate to break this up,” a man calls out, “But you need to leave from here.” A man dressed up in a strange looking blue armor walks up to the two. The only thing visable is his face and his black hair.
Anya pushes Serge behind her, “Get out of here.”
“I do not mind doing so, but in order for me to do that, you two need to come with me.”
“And you are?”
“That is not important right now, but I can tell you that I know what Ozma is planning and she has sent someone after you. The longer we stay here; the chances of him finding you here become greater.”
“And how do I know that you’re not the one after us?”
“You’re just going to have to trust me,” the man answers. “Look, I’ll answer all of you questions once we’re away from here.” He beings to walk away. Anya looks at her brother before taking his hand and they start to follow the mysterious stranger.
After a few hours later, the group of three end up in a secluded valley. “We can set up camp here and start again in the morning,” the young man says.
“Where are we going exactly?” Anya questions.
“I have a place that is underground. It’s a three day walk from here. You should be safe there while I hunt down Reed.”
“Is that the guy that is after us?”
“Yes. Ozma has promised him something in return for your capture. He will not stop until he gets it.”
“What’s your name?”
“Omni.”
“Not from around here are you,” Anya says, sitting on the ground.
“No. I came here in exile, hoping that I would be free from all of my past ties,” Omni answers. “But you can never run from the past.”
“Why are you helping us?” Serge asks, sitting down next to his sister and letting out a yawn.
“I’m not sure if you remember this Anya, but when you were born, you had an entity trapped inside of you. The crystal that you wear around your neck ties you two together. But since it’s been so long, I’m afraid that the bond could be stronger now and it might not need a physical object. This entity is extremely powerful and was once hunted by the Gods. This is why it was sent down here, to be hidden and protected. Somehow Ozma learned of this power and she tried to extract it from you. At such an early age, the process would have killed you. Giving up on you, she tricked your father to conceive a child, hoping for the same result. It didn’t, but your brother does hold some sort of energy that Ozma wants to harness. You both need to learn how to control your power and to learn how to contain it. There is a chance that this entity can take over your body and we cannot have that to happen.”
“How-how do you know all of this?” Anya stammers.
“There is highly advanced technology in this underground base. I don’t know how it got there but the place has been deserted for sometime. You can take a look around the place once we get there if you wish.”
“But that still doesn’t answer the question, why are you helping us? What’s your angle?”
“I need to stop Reed. That is my only purpose. I’m not a hero, nor do I wish to be. You two just happen to be thrown into the equation. The plans have changed. Don’t worry; you’ll make it out just fine.”
“Why are you after him?”
“He’s my other half.”
“You mean he was apart of you?”
“Not quite. Its not the same like it is for you, he was never apart of me. But we share a bond. If he defeats me, he will have all of my power and he will be harder to stop.”
“What does he want it for?”
“Just to be more powerful, that’s what everyone wants in this world. No one really has a purpose these days. It’s a shame really, this area is so peaceful, untouched by what is really out there and what is to come. There’s no drive here. Heh, maybe that’s why you’re really here. We’ll talk in the morning, I’m sure this is a lot for you to take it right now.”
The next four days, the three walk in mostly silence. They finally make it to the underground base. It is several yards underground and it is clear that it wasn’t placed here by the current residents of the planet. The doors slide open, reveling a musky smell and white marble walls, floors and ceiling.
“Make yourselves at home, I’m not sure how long you’ll be here,” Omni replies. “Some of this equipment is used on my planet, but it’s still far advanced from what I’ve seen. There are records of people in the database, but none of it means a thing to me.”
Anya walks up to, what seems like a computer from a modern world, “That’s called a Comp Desk, but like I said, it’s far advanced than what I am used to. You can enter anything you wish to know in the search bar. If it’s in there, the comp will find it. If not, then you’re out of luck.”
Anya sits and looks up at the comp, in total disbelief, “I wonder where this thing came from, hmmm…” She then types in: ‘Where did you come from?’
||file not found.
“Who put you here?”
||file not found.
“What is you main function?”
||To provide information that is needed at the present time.
“This thing isn’t much help is it?” Anya calls out.
“You have to be specific with it. It’s very sensitive,” Omni says, while packing a bag. “You two stay here, hopefully I will return.”
“Wait…you’re leaving now?” Anya stands and walks over.
“Yes. I’ve brought you here, now I must find Reed.”
“And what about us? You tell me all about this master planned and then you take off? What if they find us? I mean, I’ve been trained in Vane, but what you’re talking about, I’ve never even heard about, not even at the magic school. You can’t leave like this.” She sighs, and with her hands at her side, “Train me before you go. You mentioned that I have to train my body to be one with this entity, then do it.” She walks back to the comp desk and sits.
She types in ‘enity’.
||Most common in a spiritual form, entities are the front runners in time of war, especially within the God realm. They hold incredible power of life and death. They are not allowed to interact with humans and if such an act happens, the entity is either destroyed or exiled. There has only been two accounts of entities reaching the human world.
“And you say that this place has been here for a long time?” Anya questions, feeling a bit shaken.
“Its safe to assume so,” Omni walks over, “Why do you ask?”
“When were you created?”
||file not found.
“When were you built?”
||file corrupted.
“Who built you?”
||file corrupted.
“Now this is getting strange, it’s as if someone deleted its origin,” Omni says.
“Ozma”
||open file: OZMA? Y/N
“Heh, I didn’t expect this,” Anya says, pressing the yes button.
||Ozma. Originally born in the pre-era, she is the birth mother of Anya Crystaltina (1st incarnation). She sought out the ultimate power of that time.
||data deleted.
||date corrupted.
“What does that mean? First incarnation? But the books at Vane spoke false of that. Is this some sort of sick joke?” Anya stands, knocking the chair over.
“Maybe you should rest, I don’t think you’re ready for this.”
Omni stays to look after and to train Anya. He feels that Serge is still too young to be trained, so he watched along the sidelines as Anya is trained in both mind and body. Each day, she asks a question into the comp, only to get more questions in return.
A blue shock wave is hurdled towards Anya. She jumps into the air and fires off a Flare spell towards Omni. “You need to learn more attacks. An enemy will be able to get around fire based spells in no time.”
Anya lands and punches the ground. Once. Nothing. Again. Still nothing. “Use your emotion to fuel the energy within and then release it. Let it flow.”
She slams her fists into the ground once more and a charge is created. A burst of energy flows underground and hits Omni, sending him flying backwards. Anya runs over, “Are you okay?”
“Yea,” he then grabs her arm, lifts her up into the air and then into the ground, back first. “Don’t walk up to your opponent like that. You need to learn another form of transportation. A faster way to get away in case this happens.”
“Another form? What do you mean?” She stands.
Omni begins to fly around the parameter.
“How is that possible?”
“Technology from home. My metal boots allow me to fly because they have boosters built in. It makes me harder to hit and it allows me to travel faster. Try to hit me.”
Anya tries for several shots, but fails.
“I can’t help you with transportation powers, but you can hit me if you concentrate hard enough.”
“I could use a magic spell that’s fast enough to attack you, but I can’t hit you with my own fists.”
“Why is that?” Omni asks.
“Why, because I can’t reach you, that’s why.”
“Not good enough of an answer,” he says. Don’t let minor things hold you back. Try it again.”
Anya runs up towards Omni again, but he takes to the air once more. This time, Anya grabs his boots and pulls him back to the ground. She then delivers a set of fist attacks and then a roundhouse.
“Better.”
“Remember, flow like water. That’s all you need to know,” Omni says on the day that he is set to leave.
“I want to come with you.”
“No, you have to stay here and look after Serge. He needs you right now.”
“I can send for someone to watch over him while he’s here. I need to go with you,” Anya demands.
“I know…I’ll return in a week. You better be ready by then.”
Anya sits in front of the computer, typing the same key over and over again.
“Sister, Omni is coming back, right?”
“Yes. He’s bringing an old friend to look after you while we’re back at the kingdom.”
“Can I go with you too?” Serge asks.
“I need you to stay safe, so you have to stay here until we return.”
During the time that Omni is gone, Anya spends most of her time working on her powers outside and from time to time on the computer. She’s given up on trying to find its origin.
While at the computer one day, she begins to play with the purple crystal that is around her neck.
“Crystals.”
||Crystals were thought to contain entities and special powers that a normal human would not be able to contain. There have been many accounts of crystals with a high power source, but only one with an entity.
“Serge”
||Younger brother to Anya Crystaltina (1st incarnation). Thought to be one of the key elements to extract entities from their spiritual form. All plans to extract this power failed, the end result was death.
“…….how…?” She types in her brother’s name again.
||Younger brother to Anya Crystaltina (1st incarnation). Thought to be one of the key elements to extract entities from their spiritual form. All plans to extract this power failed, the end result was death.
“That can’t be the same person then…” She then types in Omni.
||Orgin unknown, but records show that he was after a man named Reed. All records of Omni were lost after his death saving the entity known as Saturn.
||Saturn. Also known as the Hymn of Saturn. She was an entity sent down by the Gods and a protected was assigned to her. Saturn was trapped within a body of a baby at its birth and remained trapped until an accident occurred. Records lead many to believe that it happened right after the death of Serge Crystaltina.
||data deleted.
||data password protected.
||data corrupted.
Anya runs to get her brother, “We need to leave.”
“I thought Omni was coming back?”
“We can’t wait for him, we have to get out of here.
“Sister, you need to calm down, what happened? What did you learn?” Serge tries to speak with Anya.
Anya sighs, trying to regain some composer, “Listen, you need to stay here —” Anya is then interrupted by a loud sound coming from above.
Moments later the doors open and enters a man in red armor.
“Omni?” Anya slowly says.
“Sorry, miss, but payment is due, now if you please,” the man in red beconds with his hand.
“Serge, run!”
Serge ducks behind a few equipment that has been long covered as Anya take a step towards her opponent.
“What do you want with us?”
“I don’t care what she has in store for the two of you, I want Omni,” Reed answers.
Reed rushes towards Anya airborne, trying uppercut Reed, Anya fails and gets hammered with a series of energy blots from Reed’s mechanical arms. Anya falls to the cold marble ground, hitting her head. She tried to stand, but cannot. While on the ground, she fires off a few fire spells, all hitting Reed in vain. He ignores Anya and flies over to Serge’s location.
“Dammit, stay away from him!!” Pissed off at herself for not being able to defend herself and Serge against Reed, Anya stands.
Reed turns and shoots another energy blot towards Anya, this time it is deflective by a shield. Anya then runs towards Reed, kicking him on his side. Big mistake on Anya’s part since he is made out of metal. A loud thud can be heard as she falls to the ground yet again.
“You have to use magic,” Celestria calls out, casting another protective spell around Anya, as well as Serge. “You’re going to end up breaking your own bones if you try to hit him!”
Serge tries to get away, but Reed is able to pick him up by his shirt, holding him up.
“Care to attack me now? Now move.”
Standing in the way of Reed and the exit, Anya does not move. Her fists catch on fire yet again as she tries to find a way to attack Reed without hurting her only brother.
“You’re taking too long,” Reed laughs, and now using Serge as a shield, flies towards Anya and at the last moment, throws him towards Celestria.
He lunges his fists into Anya’s stomach as she tosses the fire from her fists into his upper chest. Anya coughs blood as she holds her balance and tries for another fire attack, Reed takes a step back and a part of his arm retracts as a small missile, pointing square between her eyes. She ducks and delivers a fire kick to knock him down as he launches the missile towards Serge and Celestria. Anya gasps and tries to rush over, but Reed is too fast as he teleports towards the two, grabs Serge and then vanishes. The missile then explodes against a shield protecting Celestria.
“Come on,” Anya yells, making her way to the door. “He’s taking Serge to the castle.”
“Right I’ll catch my breath later,” Celestria says, as she follows Anya to the exit. “Are you alright?” Celestria asks as they reach the surface, but she does not get an answer as Anya is angrily in the face of Omni.
“Where the hell were you?! That Reed guy was here and he took Serge!”
“I was afraid he’d show up here, that’s why I was making my way back–”
“I’m heading to the castle to get him back,” Anya says, walking past Omni. “Come on Celestria.”
“You can’t do it on your own,” Omni yells out.
“And you show up right as he’s gone, a bit fishy to me.”
“Bad timing and I am sorry for that, truly.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You’re going to have to learn to trust in people as well as yourself or you;re as good as dead,” Omni says, following behind.
They mostly run in silence until they’re about 68% of the way there… “There must be a faster way to get there, I mean, he just disappeared into thin air, he could be at Ozma by now.”
“It’s a trap, they won’t touch him until you get there.”
Anya stops, “Then, then there’s nothing I can do, is there? Either way I’m trapped,” she sighs. Come on, we’re almost there.
Two guards meet the small group at the main gate, “Only her highness may pass orders from the Queen.”
“Its alright, I knew this would happen anyway,” Anya says, about to enter the castle.
“Am I not allowed in,” Celestria chimes in, “I am apart of the court, am I not?”
“Sorry Miss Celestria, we cannot let you pass.”
Anya turns around to say something, but she notices that Omni is missing. “Cel, I’ll be fine, don’t worry.
Anya enters the castle alone. She can hear her footsteps as she makes her way to the main throne room. Wanting nothing more than for this event to be over, she pushes the door open and within the throne room, she can see her mother sitting on the throne. To her left, Serge, floating in some sort of a tank.
“You’re always late to the rescue, aren’t you, daughter? He didn’t have much, but even a little power is better than nothing,” Ozma says, without remorse.
Anya begins to cry as she falls to the ground, on her knees she looks up at her mother, “You’ve taken everything away from me, I won’t let you live any longer.”
“You won’t do it, you’re far too weak and careless to handle the likes of me,” Ozma laughs as she beings to cast a mental attack. Anya grabs her head in pain and her vision beings to flicker in and out.
“You won’t beat me……..” and then a change in her voice and demeanor, “Mortals are foolish to control me, and you are as foolish as they come,” Anya looks up, with a dark purple gaze. She pounds her fists into the marble floor, creating several tremors that can be felt miles away. Then a dark orb begins to form in front of Anya, right before casting it towards Ozma. “No one will trap me again!” After casting several dark matter orbs towards Ozma and the throne room in ruins, Anya turns to leave, without checking on Ozma or her own brother. She makes her way towards the exit, killing anyone in her way. She destroys the main doors and walks outside. Stabbing the two guards with a small sword, she notices Celestria. “Run if you value your life. I do not want to kill you.”
“Anya, what’s gotten into you? Where is Serge? What happened—” Anya raises her hand, “Leave now and do not follow.”
Anya walks past Celestria and heads towards the woods.
A few days later, Omni reaches Anya. “I know that you are no longer the Anya that I met months ago. The entity within her has finally emerged, so I must now stop you before you cause chaos within this plane of existence.”
“Funny, I don’t see an army behind you,” Anya says, “Oh and call me Saturn. That poor girl won’t be coming back anytime soon.”
“This is your last warning, leave this body and return from where you came from,” Omni states, charging his arms.
“Aw, don’t get worked up over me, I promise you, this will be quick and painless,” Saturn replies, teleporting in and out towards Omni, her fists glowing a dark reddish color. Before he can react, Saturn hits Omni in the face several times over before taking a step back. Placing her hands together, an orb appears and grows as she separates them, but before she can attack Omni once again, a bolt of lightening strikes at her feet. Saturn turns her head and says over her shoulder, “Not you again.”
“I gave you the chance to live a normal life,” Dryden yells out.
“Guess you failed at that because last I recall, a normal life isn’t being suppressed within an empty shell.”
Ignoring her words, Dryden begins to walk closer to Saturn, “Leave this body and I promise you I will make it right.”
“She can’t be trusted!” Omni says, who is ready to attack.
“Just wait a second, please, this isn’t her fault, neither Anya nor Saturn,” his gaze does not leave that of Saturn’s, “Come with me,” he sticks out his hand.
“Please, don’t feed me your lies,” Saturn turns her body towards Dryden and casts a dark mist that begins to engulf him. Then she teleports inches from Omni and releases the dark orb at point blank range.
Omni flies backwards and knocks over several trees in the process. Saturn makes her way to the fallen Omni and is about to deliver the final blow, but as she does, the spell is deflective.
“Anya, stop this nonsense!” Celestria cries. We’re your friends.”
Rolling her eyes as she turns around, “Why couldn’t you have just listened to me earlier, huh, I swear, is everyone here that dense?”
Dryden shakes his head and walks over to Celestria, “You need to leave; Anya isn’t in control of her actions anymore. This is something I need to take care of on my own.”
“Clearly she isn’t, but what’s going on here? Why is she acting like this?” Celestria asks, while Saturn is firing off spells after spells, trying to break Omni shield.
“Tell me why you left us! Tell me why you weren’t there when she killed Serge? You talk of trust but look where that leads to!”
“Anya! Leave him alone!!!” Celestria runs over, trying to cast a Stop spell, but it’s no use. Anya turns and tosses a flare spell at Celestria, who is slow to react from the spell and is pushed down to the ground.
“We’re going to have to attack her at once!” Dryden yells, a bright yellow aura now surrounding him, “I’m sorry Anya, but this is the only way.”
Omni, now on his feet, runs towards Saturn, as does Dryden, they both release powerful spells, one of thunder and lightening and the other of pure energy beams, they collide into Saturn at the same time. She tries to push the spells back towards the casters, but fails and she falls to the ground. The two do not let up their attack even after she falls. After several minutes, the ground beings to rumble and shortly after, pieces of the planet begin to hover around Saturn, she bangs on the ground several times and on the fourth go, two shock waves are sent towards Omni and Dryden. She stands, her clothes ripped and blood coming from several parts of her body, Saturn closes her eyes as a dark purple aura surrounds her body. “I told you to leave me alone and let me enjoy the end of existence, and now it has come to this, Dark Emancipation!” The air becomes thin around the parameter as the aura expands, covering Omni, Dryden, Celestria and three quarters of the forest. The giant light can be seen from afar as Saturn falls to her knees, everything around her has been destroyed.
Five years have passed since that day. The Crystaltina castle lies in ruins, only to be occupied by pirates and the likes. Vane lost its funding and had to close and most of the business in the DTC had to close down. Many of the villagers died of hunger shortly after that, while others searched for other lands. After the closure of Vane, many sought the teleporter, in hopes to head to another world.
Anya was never the same after that day, even though she had no control of what was going on, she was aware of what had happened. She never did resurface and Saturn, for the most part, walked the lands alone…
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01.14.09
Posted in Book I: Rebirth at 9:12 am by admin
I’m not even sure if I slept last night. I do know that eventually I slid down against the wall and sat down on the ground and closed my eyes. But it doesn’t feel like I actually slept. As soon as I closed my eyes is as soon as I can feel the sun on my eye lids. I try to process what was told to me last night by Kyle. It didn’t make any sense, none of this does. Why would robots be after me and why would he be sent to protect me? Who is this person anyway? How am I able to trust him? Yes, he saved Miles and I but how can I trust someone who won’t tell me the whole story? What is he hiding? My stomach begins to turn as it makes some unusual sounds. I haven’t eaten since right before the mall was attacked so it doesn’t come as a surprise that I’m hungry. But something is making my stomach grumble and not too long after I begin to smell food. It’s hard to pin point what it is, but it smells like pork.
I slowly open my eyes and several feet away I can see Kyle around a small fire. Above said fire, hanging between two branches and being held up by what looks like string, is an animal with similar characteristics of a wild bore. My stomach begins to hurt more as well as my head. If I don’t eat something soon, I highly doubt I’ll be able to do anything.
“Something smells good out here,” Joice exclaims as she walks out of the cave. She looks over to her right to see me on the ground. Stretching she says, “Sleep well?”
I shake my head and stand. The blood seems to be rushing to my head as I begin to brush off the dirt and leaves that have found their way to my blue jeans.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to sleeping in the wild,” she says.
“Hopefully we won’t have to. I really think we should try to look around the area,” I tell her, eager to not spend another night outside.
“We’ll wait for everyone to wake up and then we can start to prepare to look tomorrow. Don’t want to start looking around without having a plan,” Joice begins to walk towards Kyle, calling out, “Did you catch that thing on your own?”
Looking up from the bore, “It wasn’t that hard, actually. You guys haven’t tried?”
“Fish diet. It’s the easiest thing to catch around here,” she says with a laugh.
My stomach tells me to walk over, but my legs refuse to move. It’s a mixture of hunger and fear. Could Kyle really be trusted? Could anyone here be trusted? Sure, it seems that we’re all in this together, but is that really the case? Unfortunately, it’s not like I can run away from here. Joice is right about one thing, if we’re going to look around, we need to be ready for anything. But how can a bunch of teenagers and a kid be ready for whatever the wild could dish at them? My legs begin to wobble as my eyes begin to water, this isn’t the time to break down, but with all that’s happen so far, it’s hard not to.
“Morning, Jen,” I can hear Miles say.
If for anything, I need to be focused for Miles.
“Hey there,” I say, trying to sound normal. I blink a few times, trying to force back the tears.
“Did he cook breakfast?” Miles asks.
“Yep, seems so. Good thing to, because if we’re having fish again, I might have to go veggie and start munching on leaves.”
Miles laughs, “Yea, I want to see that happen.”
We start to walk over, my legs still feel stiff, but I try to make the most of it, and hopefully it’s too not noticeable.
Once we get to the area, Kyle is cutting up the meat with a sharp bone. “Best to eat it while it’s still hot and fresh.”
“How did you manage to get this for us?” Miles asks.
“I used to hunt in Virginia with my dad. Of course we had guns, so it was a bit more of a challenge without one,” Kyle answers. It’s hard for me to tell if he’s telling the truth or not. He stands, “I’ll get the others.”
Several minutes later, we’re all around the fire eating with our hands. For the most part, it’s quiet while everyone eats.
Once most of the meat is gone, Tommy finally says, “So, we look around tomorrow then?”
“Don’t see why not, ” Joe says, adding “We need to make sure that we have enough make weapons and fruit that won’t spoil in a few days. We need to make sure we start out at sunrise. It’ll give us enough sunlight and time before we have to set up camp.”
After breakfast and cleaning up camp, we break off into groups to get the supplies that we will need to start our journey tomorrow.
“Since you three seem to know each other, why don’t you guys head out to find fruit and we’ll head out to find items that we could use to make weapons since we know the immediate area somewhat well,” Joe tells us.
“But we don’t what if we get lost?” I ask.
There is a pause before Joe answers, “Tom, why don’t you go with them? Joice and I will be okay getting the supplies.”
“You sure? I think the larger group should get the bulk of the items. Getting fruit won’t be that hard to do,” Tommy says.
“Alright, aright, we can stand here all day trying to make two groups, I swear it feels like we’re in school, Tommy, Joe, and Kyle, you guys get the bulk of what we need. I’ll find fruit with Jen and Miles. Better to have more muscle getting the wood for the weapons anyway,” Joice says, already making her way away from the cave.
Miles and I follow, trying to keep up with Joice. She finally slows down after several feet.
“Sorry about rushing off like that,” she says, turning to face us. “But if I didn’t do what I did back there, Joe would still be trying to figure things out, he’s just that anal.”
Not really in the mood to say anything, I begin to look up and around at our surroundings. It’s a mixture of different types of tall hickory trees and other types of trees that I don’t recognize. It’s these trees that hold a purple and reddish type of fruit.
Pointing up to said fruit, I ask, “So is that what we’re looking for?”
Joice and Miles both look up. “Yep,” she says, “that would be it. Haven’t really given it a name yet, but it does taste like an apple and a peach. Trust me, it doesn’t taste that bad.”
Walking over to the tree I look up to locate the fruit. “Be ready when I toss them down, okay?” I call over before starting my climb up the tree. Even with stiff legs, I still feel comfortable climbing a tree. Back home there is a large mango tree in my back yard that I would climb almost everyday. I would just stay up there for what seemed like hours. This tree is no different from a mango tree, nice large branches to grab onto. Now that I think of it, I might just sleep up here tonight instead of the cave. Reaching out, I grab a piece of fruit. Earlier, Joice had gone back into the cave to grab a backpack. It’s safe to assume that we’ll be using her backpack to carry the fruit. After several minutes have past I call down once again, “How many more do you think we’ll need?”
“Five more should do it, just to be on the safe side,” Joice calls up.
I climb to the top of the tree to grab the remaining fruit. I am several feet up now and I can see over some of the trees. I reach out to grab the final set of fruit and drop them down. I pause before heading down, admiring the scene in front of me. I can see the beach and ocean in the distance and in the other three directions nothing but tress and ruins.
I start my climb down, but then I stop abruptly.
Ruins?
Did I just see ruins?
I climb back up to the top, all the while hearing Miles calling out for me. Squinting my eyes against the sun, I look south east and it looks to be ruins of large structures, at least that’s what I think it is from my position.
I quickly begin to climb down the tree, mostly jumping down from branch to branch until I reach the ground. “I saw something,” I say, as soon as I jumped down from the tree.
“What?” they both answer back.
“I saw ruins, or I think they were ruins, that way,” I point south east.
“Seriously?” Joice says in a shocked tone.
“Yes, unless it was my imagination, but I am pretty sure that I saw something out there.”
“Lets head back to the cave and let the others know.
Meanwhile, back at the cave, Kyle, Tommy and Joe are sharping sticks with rocks to make weapons.
“I really hope this isn’t a waste of time,” Joe says.
“We can’t just stay here and hope to be rescued,” Tommy answers back.
“We’ve done well so far, I just don’t want to head off and we end up worse than our current situation.”
“You actually think it could get worse than this?” Tommy laughs.
“Yes,” he says with a serious look on his face.
“If you’re that worried, you can stay here at the cave and wait for us to come back. Personally, I’m tired of waiting around for something to happen.”
“I’ve actually considered it,” Joe admits.
“Hey, Jen thinks she’s found something!” Joice yells out while we walk towards the cave.
All three turn to look at us.
“What are you talking about, sis?”
“Go on, tell them,” Joice nudges me.
“I was up in one of the trees and I saw ruins, I think.”
“Ruins? How far out?” Joe asks.
“Not sure, maybe a good two hour walk? Maybe three.”
“But what good are ruins?” wonders Joe, who goes back to sharping the end of a stick.
“Maybe it could give us a clue to where we are?” Kyle points out.
Or you could just tell us where we are, I say to myself. Why is he acting so daft about our location when he’s told me that he knows where we are?
“Or a clue as to why there’s no one around,” Joe shoots back.
“Look, if you’re so negative about heading there, why don’t you stay here and we’ll head over there now. It shouldn’t take us that long to reach it,” I say.
“No, we need to wait until tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“It’s safer.”
“It’s still early afternoon. We should have plenty of light to head there, make camp and then we can head back to your safety blanket tomorrow morning.”
“Listen, you can head off,” Joe stands and looks at me, “But I am not risking the group. We’ve been here long enough to know a little bit about the area.”
Not well enough to know that they are ruins nearby.
Giving in, “OK, we’ll leave tomorrow.” I decide to turn around and head towards the beach.
“Joe,” Joice pipes up, “You really should go easy on her. I was the same when we first got here.”
I reach the beach, sitting down against a palm tree, I look out to the ocean.
I just can’t sit around and wait. Sure, it might not be the smartest thing to do, going out on a whim on something that I might have seen without the entire group, but how can I be sure that we will go out tomorrow? Maybe Joe is just stalling. Wouldn’t make any sense to stall when there’s nothing around here. Sure, a cave with a shield, that’s it. But for how long can that thing keep us safe?
“So it’s not just me then.”
Without turning around, I can hear Kyle behind me. “Not just you what?”
“That’s noticed a changed in Joe’s attitude. Sure, it’s understandable that he wants to go out tomorrow as planned, but he’s been acting different. Course we just met this guy so this might be how he acts. You know, anal if someone tries to change their plans.”
“Is that suppose to be a joke?”
“Yes?”
“So why not just tell them where we are?” I ask, changing the subject. “Why bother to mention that we can learn where we are from the ruins?”
“It’s better if you learn on your own.”
“And why is that?”
“I have my reasons.”
Grumbling under my breath, I decide not to press this issue. “Do you mind, I’d rather be left alone.”
The rest of the day drags on slowly. I spend most of my time at the beach, both resting and a salt water filled bath. Kyle is no where to be found after I dismissed him, Tommy continues to make extra weapons for us, Joice decides to grab some weeds and grass to add to our meals and Miles listens to Joe go on about his seventh grade chemistry class.
I decide not to return to the cave at dusk, but instead I head to the tree that I climbed earlier in the day. On the way up to the top, I bite into the fruit that I had gathered earlier in the day. Not too bad, Joice was right, it is good. So I head on up, finding a nice branch to sleep on, which just happens to be the highest branch with a view of the ruins. I begin to close my eyes, I guess my swim in the ocean drained me more than I had thought.
I can see an old town, maybe late seventeenth hundreds or eighteenth, its hard to get a sense of time here. Wooden houses are lined up in a row against a dirt path. Across from them is a large wooden building, perhaps a pub. To the left of that are docks with a few ships tied to it. Beyond that, the sea. I can see a sign in the middle of it all. I try to read the parchment but I can’t understand it. I know it’s in English, but I can’t register on what it says. I hear a loud bag. I turn around swiftly to see a small building behind me on fire. It’s not a home. Maybe another pub or a shop? With this being a port city, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is another pub. There’s a small crowd forming in front of it. All of the faces are blurred. The front door bursts open. I can see three people and one of them is holding another, a blond it seems. A bright orange glow seems to be consuming the small building as the four exit. I squint my eyes to try to see the faces, but all I can see is their hair, blurred, just colors. There’s two brunettes and one with black hair. They rest the blond on the ground. This person doesn’t move.
I can feel a cold wind on my cheek. I can’t tell if it’s a dream or real. I turn over, my arm drops and swings slightly
The old town scene begins to fade to black. It’s hard to see what’s happening now. The crowd starts to turn away from the burning pub. There are spikes of explosions, most likely from the spirits. The scene is harder to see as patches of black begin to cover several different areas.
I can feel heat now, it’s morning. I jolt myself awake as I attempt to shake the sleep from my mind. The dream from last night, still with me, as I descend down. I rush over to the cave, and thankfully everyone is still there.
“Sleep well,” Joice calls out, grabbing her backpack from the ground, then adds, “We were placing bets to see what time the two of you would head back to the cave.”
“Huh?” Puzzled, I ask, “What are you talking about?”
“Oh don’t act all innocent, you and Kyle both didn’t sleep here last night.”
“I slept in a tree. Alone. Wait, Kyle isn’t here?”
“Nope. We figured….”
I cut Joice off, “Just stop right there.”
“So you’re not….”
“I said stop it.”
Laughing, “Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Joice says. “Do me a favor and grab the other backpack. Joe and Tommy are getting the weapons. Once Kyle gets here, we’ll head out. And he had better hurry, Joe hates it when his schedule is interrupted.”
“Heh, yea, I got that impression of him yesterday.”
“Alright, are we ready,” Joe asks as he, Miles and Tommy exit the cave. “Wait, where’s Kyle?”
“Don’t know, no one’s seen him since yesterday,” Joice answers.
“Great, well, we can’t wait here for him to show, sorry, but if we’re going to do this, we need to leave now,” Joe says.
“Sorry I’m late,” Kyle yells out, walking up to the cave. “Breakfast took longer than I had hoped this morning. You guys sure made fishing easy.”
“Good, grab some of the sticks from Miles and we’ll head out,” Joe tells him.
“And where were you,” I whisper to Kyle.
“Beach. You should see the sunset.”
“But…”
“Yes, I left when you asked. Went for a walk before I went back, but by then you were already gone.” Looking at Miles, “So how have you been?”
“Joe and I were talking about his classes. I think I’m learning a few pointers from him,” Miles says eagerly. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to walk up front with him.”
So we set off on our journey to the unknown. Miles, Joe and Joice head the front, Tommy walks solo in the middle while Kyle and I trail behind.
“So did you sleep better than last night?” Kyle asks after thirty or so minutes have past.
“Slept in a tree,” I answer back.
“So that’s a no then?”
“Huh, oh, no, it was great.” I start to have quick flash backs to my dream. Shaking it away, “What about you? How was sleeping on the beach?”
“Great, actually.”
Another thirty minutes of silence from the back half of the group. I can hear Joe go on and on about his subjects in school up front. Joice must have gotten tired of all the school talk and is now walking with Tommy.
“Want me to carry that?” Kyle asks, regarding the backpack.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“You sure?”
“Yep.”
“Hey,” Joe yells from the front, “You guys want to stop and rest?”
“I’m good.”
“Nope.”
“Lets keep going.”
“Alright, thought I’d ask,” Joe says.
Another hour.
“I would have thought we’d be there by now,” I say.
“Hopefully we’ll get there soon or Joe might start to have a panic attack.”
I laugh slightly.
Another hour.
My head begins to throb.
“Hey guys, we’re almost there, look,” Joe calls out, pointing ahead.
I look up from the ground and I begin to see ruble up a head. It’s still hard to make out what these ruins once were as we walk past broken marble and stone.
“You think we’ll find some answers here?” Kyle asks.
Before anyone can answer an unfamiliar voice speaks up, “I sure hope so, we’ve been here for days and we haven’t found a single clue.”
We all stop in our tracks. Ahead of us stands two people. One older, maybe in his thirties, redish hair, stands about five eight and the other, much younger, around sixteen long dark hair that is past her waist and could be of Asian decent.
“My name is Doctor Russell Anzak, this is Jasmine Kuntz I found her and another about a month ago on this planet.”
“So you know where we are?” Joe asks.
“No, but I can get you all out of here and somewhere safe.”
“And how do we know it’s safer, do you know this guy?” I whisper over to Kyle.
No answer.
“Hello, anyone there?”
Still no answer.
I look over to Kyle and I see him staring at the two, like he’s trying to analyze who they are.
“Where did you two come from anyway?” Tommy asks. Seems he’s a little fishy on the two as well.
“I am originally from the planet Vid, but I left there as a teenager once the world wars started. I used to volunteer at the university as a junior archaeologist but soon after I discovered some very interesting parchment, I had to move to get away from all of the fighting. I am a man of science and magic, not a fighter. I ended up on the planet Zerron where I dabbed in almost everything and anything I can. Not to brag, but I was the one who discovered the manner in which a person could travel from one spot to another in a matter of seconds. You are looking at the man behind the Universal Portal Company on Zerron.”
“Who?” asks Joice.
“That answers my question, they are not locals,” Dr. Anzak laugh
“You’re making this up!” Joe cries out. “How is that even logical?”
“Then how do you explain how you are here? Jasmine?”
The sixteen year old takes a step forward, “I’m from Southern California. I was walking down the street when in an instant I was here. A few weeks later another kid appeared. Shortly after, Dr. Anzak showed up and told us what had happened. He then took us to Zerron, healed our wounds, fed us and even offered us jobs.”
“Why not offer you a trip back home?” Kyle asks.
“That’s no possible. You see, it was a malfunction. We have a top notch team working on why the system malfunctioned, but from what we have gathered, a virus was downloaded into one of the programs to cause the portals to become unstable and to open up in several different locations on an unauthorized planet. We’ve fixed the problem and a seal was made to make sure that no portal would open up on Earth ever again. Or not until they become more advanced,” Dr. Anzak explains.
“So we can’t go home?” Miles asks, sadden by the news.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t risk another malfunction. Now, if you will follow us back to Zerron, I can explain more there.”
“But you just said that you’ve been here for weeks,” Kyle says, remembering what the Doctor said when they first appeared.
Jasmine answers, “We came back here to these ruins to investigate a matter that might be linked to the parchments that Dr. Anzak found when he was a teenager. Like he said, we should head back to Zerron, I’m sure all of you could use a good night of rest.”
Doctor Anzak pulls out a device from his pocket. “I must warn you, once we cross over, you guys might get a slight headache. We do have a remedy for that, so no worries.”
He presses a bottom on the small remote, followed by a series of button combinations. Within a few seconds the same popping sound that I heard in the mall can be heard again. Then suddenly I can see a hallway in front of us instead of ruins.
“If you will, please follow me.” Dr. Anzak walks through the portal as the rest of us follows.
“Stay close to me and no, I don’t know who they are,” Kyle finally answers back.
We walk through the portal and within an instant, we are standing in the middle of a hallway. We stand on white tile with tan lines running though it. To our left and right are windows that shows us our new surroundings: sand. Just sand.
“Now, if you follow me to the decontamination room, we need to run a few tests to make sure no one is sick and that there is no risk to anyone in this facility. We’ll also take care of any nasty headaches that you may have gotten from walking through the portal.”
It seems like we’re walking forever down the same corridor as my head beats harder and louder. My vision starts to get fuzzy as I trip over my own feet. I am able to regain my balance but not before Kyle notices.
“Are you alright?”
My ears begin to ring and its hard to hear anything at this point.
“A–Jen, are you alright?” Kyle grabs me by my arm, yet I can’t feel his hand.
Then everything goes black.
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