(A/N) Ok, I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia or even the name Cydonia. I liked the name and am borrowing it from Muse(sorry guys!). I hope you like this story! Pls! I would love some feedback! ^_^

Saline stood on her tiptoes, trying to see over the railing of the bridge. It was fairly high, and she was still fairly short for a nine year-old. Finally, by standing on a rock she had rolled over, she could see over the edge. It was a long drop. It was perfect.

The bullying had gotten worse these last few days and she really was getting tired of it all. She could no longer keep to herself anymore, even that was fuel for the bullies. Thinking about the incident from earlier that day, she started to take off her backpack and unzip it. They had cornered her in the cafeteria. She had started to bring homemade lunches, as they managed to survive better in a box then on a tray from the school. Noting the brown bag, they had forced her to give them what milk money she had in order to keep her lunch. She then had to be content with the water fountain.

The thought of jumping had never crossed her mind, but she had made a paper airplane and was eager to try it out. She had scouted all over town and was now on the outskirts. The bridge she had chosen was just inside the woods and was wide enough with a good breeze. She leaned out and gently threw her plane. She watched in delight as it glided in big swooping downward circles. She was so caught up in watching the plane, leaning over the edge, she didn't hear the bullies approach.

The next thing she knew, she was pushed out over the railing. She wasn't prepared and had no air for a scream. The bullies caught her by her jacket and she hung in the open air for a moment before she was able to use her lungs again. Then she let loose.

The kids laughed. "She sounds like a baby!" They let her hang for a while longer, giving her time to start crying, blubbering for them to bring her back up. They laughed, making jokes about her pleas to live before they finally brought her back over the edge. She was dumped like a sack on the floor of the bridge, where they left her, laughing to each other as they left.

Saline could only lie there, eyes wide in fear, shaking, hugging the ground. She didn't move until after dark and she had finally come out of shock enough to stand up on shaky legs. She stumbled along, a deathgrip on the railing until she stepped off the bridge. As she left the bridge, it got darker due to the trees' foliage. She was soon lost, as she couldn't see the path. She ended up looking at the entrance of a cave. She could see that there was no way she would make it home that night, so she went into the cave, looking for a space to sleep. The cave continued for an unbearable amount of time. There seemed to be no exit, so she stopped and tried to make herself comfortable on the cold stone floor.

She woke up the next morning, amazed that she had slept at all. In fact, she had slept the sleep of the dead. Though she was paying for it, her neck was all sore and she was cold. Standing up, she looked around trying to remember which way she came from. She could see light coming from her left though she could have sworn she had come from the other direction. She shrugged and went in the direction of the light.

Coming out of the cave, she was momentarily blinded by the sun. When she could see again, she froze in shock. This was not any part of town that she remembered. She knew for a fact that there weren't any snowcapped mountains in the distance.

She was standing at the top of a slight hill overlooking a good sized forest. There was a lake to her right, big enough for several large boats to fit in comfortably. She walked forward a little and turned around. She had come from what looked like a stone archway with words written on the top. It said; Here was laid a doorway to a world unknown. She could see a forest on the other side helping to frame it. There was no cave to be found.

After an hour of roaming around, Saline wound up at the lake. Still behind the treeline, she could see a canvas tent had been pitched a little ways from the water. There seemed to be nobody around and she was about to walk closer when someone burst out of the, until then, still water, scaring the living daylights out of her. She hid behind a tree, shaking. She could hear several curses coming from the person in the water as she tried to slow her racing heart. Finally, curiosity got the better of her. When she peeked around the tree, she was startled by what she saw.

It was a boy, maybe two years older than her. He had dark brown hair, kept short, plastered to his head. He wore only a pair of trousers, as he seemed to be doing something involved with the water of the lake. She was too far to see his eyes, but he had a nice, clean face. What amazed her the most was the glowing patterns on his bare skin. They covered nearly all of his chest, arms and neck. As she watched, the glowing faded along with the patterns. One remained, a tattoo around his left hand and wrist of what looked like a gauntlet.

She watched, eyes wide, as he punched the water then stomped out to the tent, spraying water in nearly every direction. Muttering to himself, he searched through his tent for something then sat next to a cold fire. When he pointed his finger at the firering, she jumped as a bonfire the size of a small tree burst out into flames. The boy yelled and scrambled back before saying some frantic words while jumping up and down in agitation. The fire settled down to a reasonable size and the boy sat down hard. He stared at the now tame flames for a moment before grabbing whatever he had pulled out of the tent. She could finally see that he had a book. He riffled through the pages for some time before he found what he was looking for.

"Ha! That's what I did wrong!" he exclaimed. He closed the book slowly and put it beside him, on the ground. He sat back on his hands and watched the flames for a moment, thinking. Then he stiffened. His head whipped around to where Saline was hiding, making her jump back out of sight.

"Who's there!?" he yelled. "Show yourself, coward!"

Saline certainly felt like one at the moment, but managed to peek out again. He was standing now and his left hand was glowing. She cautiously stepped out from behind the tree, holding her hands up to show she was defenseless.

"I-I come in peace?" her voice trembled. The boy looked confused.

"Answer me! Who are you?" he demanded. She looked down.

"My name is Saline Durban. Who are you?" she braved the question. His left hand was in a fist and still glowing. He still looked confused.

"I am Lane. Why can I not sense your magic?" he asked. Surprised she looked up at him. "What magic...?" she trailed off. She had just noticed his eyes. Absolutely mesmerizing. They were a constant shifting of colors, from brown to a most appealing ice blue. He had eyes one could easily lose oneself in. She was doing just that when he spoke again, bringing her back to the present.

"You are not a Magus?" he snorted. "I refuse to fall for that. You must have some way of dampening it so that I cannot sense it." He suddenly changed tactics. "Where are you from?"

She gulped. "Uh... America." His eyes narrowed.

"I've never heard of this place before, where is it?"

Now she was confused. She lowered her hands as she spoke. "You know, the United States of America? With the fifty states?It's a continent on earth." Lane didn't appear to understand her as he was still frowning in confusion.

"Earth? Where is that?" She blinked, truly confused now. "Isn't that where we are?"

He gave a half smile and laughed in her face.

"No, this isn't earth or whatever you call it. You are in Cydonia."

Lane watched the girl, Saline, as she made herself comfortable near the fire. He realized she might have seen his poor attempts at magic and blushed. He turned and tried not to stomp over to the water. He put out a spell to catch some fish for lunch. He wasn't in the mood to get back in and find them himself.

When he had two nice rainbow trouts in hand, he set them up over the fire to cook. He glanced over at the girl and noticed that she was watching him. When he caught her, she blushed and looked away. He snorted. What was with her?

"So, Saline, what are you?" he asked. She gave him a blank stare.

"You can't be a Magus, you're too young to know any kind of dampening spell. As far as I know, we're the only ones who look like you."

She could tell he was a know-it-all. "Well, I'm a girl."

He snorted in mirth. "Of course your a girl, I'm asking what species, stupid!"

She straightened her back in anger. It's one thing when bullies called her stupid, but an entirely different matter when a boy who looked just as smart as she was, said it.

"I'm not stupid! If you really want to know then I'll tell you, just make yourself clear about it!" she practically growled at him.

He immediatly stopped grinning and ducked his head. "Sorry."

"If you really want to know," she hesitated. "I'm a human."

Lanes' eyes widened at that. "A-a-a human!?" he axclaimed. "Bu-but your only a mythical being! Your not supposed to exist!"

It was her turn to snort. "Look who's talking. There's no such thing as magic or whatever you are on earth." And certainly not those eyes, she thought. They still transfixed her.

"You said you're a Magus, but you don't seem to be all that in control of your magic." she pointed out, getting tired of his high airs. He stopped sputtering and glared at her.

"You were not supposed to see any of that!" he snapped. "I'm only like this right now, because I'm on my own."

She waited patiently for an explanation.

"I'm on my vox arbitratus, or my journey of power choice." She gave him a look that told him to continue or suffer her wrath. "Uh... All Magus go through it when they turn eleven or twelve, depending on how good they are at that age. We are given enough supplies to last eight days. Two for each element. When we return, we must have an element that has claimed us for it's conduit. If one comes back without one, then that means that person has already been chosen for the fifth and very rare element of the daimon." He paused to shiver a little. "Those Magus usually stay closed up in a place of their choosing and only come out when they are needed. They creep me out."

"Why?" she asked, intrigued.

"It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't already know this stuff, but you'll see when we get back to my village."

"What's with your eyes?" she blurted out.

"What do you mean?"

"Your eyes! They-they change colors every second or so. Why? Were you born that way?" She was very curious about those eyes.

Lane smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, I'm born with them. My whole clan has them." He squinted at her. "Now that you mention it, your eyes are a rather odd color. Like a purple flower."

She immediately looked away. She didn't want him to start teasing her about her violet eyes also.

Lane felt like he had done something wrong, but he couldn't figure out why."Their pretty eyes, don't get me wrong, it's just that I've never seen them before." Saline looked back at him, shyly. "You think so?"

He nodded so hard his hair flopped on his forehead. "Yeah!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Positive? 'Cause all the other boys at school say their witches eyes and bully me about them."

Lane was astounded. Bully a girl? What man in his right mind would do that? "Of course!" he hurried to reassure her. "Their unique and probably hold their own type of magic in them." Now it was her turn to be astounded.

"Magic? In my eyes? What for?" she asked.

Lane was starting to have fun telling her about his heritage.

"Yeah, here in Cydonia, we Magi have power only over one element, plus some rather random spells an such. But, each family, or clan, has a dominant element in their bloodlines. With that element, over the years, their eyes turn to the color represented by it. Like, fire Magi eyes are red. Earth are green. Water are blue and Air are nearly colorless. My eyes are a constant change because my clan has no dominant element. Plus, a few of my cousins were chosen by more than just one during their vox arbitratus."

Saline's eyes had gotten rather wide at that point, Lane was proud to see.

"So, technically speaking. Your clan has the most power?"

He nodded, smiling proudly.

"Then, technically speaking, your clan is like royalty to the other clan's noblility?"

He blinked owlishly. "That's one way of putting it. You're pretty sharp."

"Well, I was ahead of my class in nearly every subject. I got bullied for that too."

He frowned. What had this girl done to be treated so cruelly? Why would nice eyes and a smart brain cause such abuse? Without any experience with girls that needed comforting, he tried his best to cheer her up.

"Well, whoever these people are, they need a sound thrashing! You won't find anyone in Cydonia who will condone bullying of any kind."

She smiled at him across the fire and he found himself blushing, glad that the heat from the fire had already turned his face red.

He cleared his throat then continued. "Tomorrow is my last day on the vox arbitratus, so we can leave once I'm done. I'll take you to my village. I'm sure my Mom would love to take care of you." He grinned. "She's always complaining about how she never got a daughter, just three sons."

Saline hugged her knees in thought. "You're sure she won't mind? I kind of did interrupt your vox thingie."

"Eh...Now that you mention it, they might be a little frustrated, but I think that once they find out you're not Magi and human, they'll forget the whole thing. They might even say that it was meant to be."

She nodded, a little nervous. What was she going to say, and would they like her or just send her back home? After talking to Lane for a couple of hours, she didn't think she wanted to go back. Cydonia sounded really nice.