(Klarion's POV)
I woke up slowly, my head was pounding, my throat felt like I'd swallowed glass, my chest was on fire, the rest of my body was throbbing as my hands slid across the silky soft fabrics of my sheets. The smooth material woven from the clouds themselves and the bed, a large plush king size fit for, well, a king. The soft comforting hold of my pillows holding my head tenderly like a loving mother cuddling her newborn. The sheets draped over my body were warm, unusually warm and I noticed with a weak grasp of my second hand that a fuzzy heavier blanket had been added. I feel a cool material placed over my head as one of the handmaidens places a wet cloth on my forehead. Her soft voice shushing me back to sleep, I wanted too, I really did. The bed was so soft, the pillows all but begging to rock me back to sleep and the promise of her words to watch over me while I slept. It was all really good, perfect almost but my fingers slid out, expecting to feel the soft warm ball of fur beside me hand. I was half surprised she wasn't laying on my chest but when my fingers only felt more sheets my eyes flew open. The soul crushing realization of last nights events came flying back to me in an instant.
The fight, the pain, the vortex, loosing Teekl.
"Teekl" 'I scream desperately.
All of it hit me at once and I felt my body convulse, then recoil as I snapped upwards, the fire in my chest acting up as I tried desperately to find Teekls energy source. My eyes flew around the bed, a large black bear fur blanket was added over me and even though I remembered I could help smacking the blanket, like a stupid child hoping my familiar would magically pop out of the blanket and come back to me. I had smacked the sheets a few times, twisting and turning, trying to ignore the pain in my chest as I smacked some more before a pair of hands were on me, pushing me back down as the frantic nurse tried desperately to subdue me.
"Master Klarion, you're badly injured please stop moving!"
"Teekl!" I yell and am forced down again.
In my struggle I finally notice white bandages wrapped around my naked torso and right wrist, an IV was stuck into the skin and held with tap as black and gold liquid flowed down it and into my body. I wanted to stop, my chest felt like it was on fire, black liquid was to seep through the wrap on my chest as each turn ripped out the stitched muscles and what ever else Nabu hit. My chest felt like a elephant was sitting on it and during the struggle I'd ripped out the IV but besides the pain, the need to breathe and heal my body the need to find Teekl was greater.
"Lord Klarion please calm down!" A second female voice shouts, grabbing hold of me as well.
During my struggles three more nurses had come into the room, forcing me back to the bed like I was nothing more than a child.
"Release me!" I scream out "I must find Teekl!"
"Klarion!" my fathers loud voice boomed, shocking both myself and the nurses as he portals into the room, activating a seal to hold to to the bed. I feel a burning pain than nothing as he freezes my limbs with old magic. Magic, that I didn't know.
Enraged I lashed out, activating my powers in an attempt to force them back, but my other half, currently lost in god knows were wasn't around and the other half of the power, the balance, was gone and my powers snapped back at me instead. Traveling five times as fast. My body broke, my back arching up on pain like I'd felt only a few times before, my eyes wide open and my mouth gasping for air that my lungs wouldn't take. I could feel warm liquid running out my mouth, my eyes and my nose as my unbalanced magic turned on me.
"Klarion!" My fathers concerned voice yells, and suddenly all the pains gone. All the warm liquid, all the pain, all the fear, the hands of the nurses.
I pause, panting slowly as I look around. We were on his astral plane.
Damn it.
"Release me father!" I yell, enraged that I'm all too powerless in this state "I must find Teekl!"
"Do not raise your voice at me boy!" He booms once more, a gist of wind pushes against me and I'm forced back a few steps. I wanted to yell, to scream but I hold my tongue, bowing my head in respect of my father. The wind calms down and the light sky returns to a calm blue "Your trust in that beast has always been your down fall."
I bite back the comeback. His voice was like Nabu's and I couldn't help but anger at the tone.
"He is not a beast father he's my-"
"Familiar, I know" he cuts me off, his voice was less than pleased "you and your brothers obsession with these creatures is beyond me..."
"It's the only way I can hold my form in the human world, you were the one that made that law."
"Do not mock me boy!" He yells, the wind pushing me back into a wall, I cough up blood as I fall into my hands and knees. I hack up blood and wait to see if there's more punishment, if i wasnt already dying i was certain there would have been "not only have you failed to bring back your brother, yet again." Thunder crackled through the sky "but you made me come get you out of he vortex." I sit down by keep my hands on the ground and my head bent "you are not strong enough to get your familiar, you will rest until you are better than we will look at fixing your mistake."
I glare at the ground, digging my fingers into the dirt in anger. I wanted to yell at him. Why did I have to get my brother?! I was the lord to chaos, not a fucking bounty hunter. If he wanted Nabu back to badly why not cast a law and force him off the human plane himself. He could do that, but he doesn't and makes me do it like I'm some common lap dog not his oldest son. Instead of saying something that could get me killed I nod once, pushing back the tears and find myself falling back to my body. I'm back, moments later. On the bed and alone once more in my room. I couldn't sense any maids outside the corridor but could feel my fathers power on the door. Locked in. Turning my head into the pillow I let myself do something I hadn't done in forever. Cry.
I felt so alone. I couldn't feel Teekl and it scared me more than I wanted to admit. I'd lost him before, a few times when I was younger. Nabu thought it was funny to hide him from me or when we got separated in a fight but I could always feel his presence, calling out to me like a lost kitten. But now, I reached out , expecting someone to be there and falling, reaching and falling until I could do little more but sit there in silence wonder why.
(Sophia pov)
I walked downstairs. Opening the door and walking over to the table. My fingers ran over the smaller fluffy body and run through the usual tests. Taking his temperature, blood pressure, checking the stitches, remove and replacing the gauze, adding ointment and giving him another shot of painkillers. He arrived two days ago and was doing better than we'd hoped, the wound was healing unbelievably fast and in a few days the stitching could come out. I had gone back to alley I found him in and looked all over. Went through the trash, moved boxes and checked the next block over too by nothing. I sighed, running my fingers over his head. The small creature was still out cold, sleeping soundly.
"What am I going to do with you little guy?" I ask, lying my head on my free arm "your owner must be worried sick."
My fingers pause when they hit something sticky. I sit up, pulling my hand back to see this black tar like substance. Did he have an infection? If he did what the hell was it? I pull the cat up and roll him over. Upon closer examination I realize that it wasn't a wound at all but some substance on him. I grab the disinfectant and a cotton ball and after sliding in a pair of rubber gloves gently start wiping the substance off of him. I pause looking at it in the light. I place some of it on a pair of large medical tweezers and squeeze it together, watching the substance stick to the two ends. I place some in the palm of my glove and watch it milt in my glove.
"What are you doing?" Chrissy's voice echoes through the room, I turn looking at her "and what are you holding."
"I don't know, it was on the cat." I state and look back at it.
I hear the snap of a glove echo through the room and seconds later a hand is sliding through the ooze on my palm. She lifts it up, squishing her fingers together and like I had lifts them up to the light for a better look.
"Hmm." She says and lifts it to her nose, taking in a small sniff "this was on the cat?"
"Yep." I say and look back at him
"Did you get any on you." She asks, looking at me because this wasn't and wouldn't be the first or the last time this would happen.
"A little." I state "I'll disinfect in a moment."
"No. Your going to put this substance in a medical tube and disinfect now." She stars handing me the tube "right now." She adds with a soft voice but a firm look.I place the substance in the tube, getting most of it in and hand it back to her before taking off my gloves. "I'll bring this to Conner and see what he says about it."
Conner was our biology teacher and Chrissy's secret boyfriend. It's not like they were breaking any rules, she was 21 but they still kept it on the down low. I was surprised that they'd kept it a secret for so long, I couldn't tell you how many times I'd walked in on them going at were all over each other in every dark corner. But keeping my comments to myself I nod once, running my hands under the tap.
"It's not burning or funky smelling so I don't think it's toxic." I state and receive a snort in reply
"Yeah because everything poisonous smells bad."
"Okay name me one poisonous thing that doesn't smell bad."
"Laundry detergent." She snaps back as I was now scrubbing my hands with strong yellow disinfect that doctors use.
The little scrubby turning my fingers and palm red. I roll my eyes as she dumps some on a towel and uses it to clean down the apparently not clean cat. What I was wondering was how the hell we'd both missed it before, I swore I'd checked him head to toe in the examination.
"It's only poisonous if you drink it." I state
"You didn't say you had to drink it." she snaps back just as quickly
I cock my head in agreement as I wash off the disinfect and soap up once more to begin the process once more.
"Once more should be fine than go and eat something because I know you haven't."
She pops the sealed tube in her bag
"I'm going to Conner's to get what ever this crap is looked at." She walks over, grabbing my cheeks in her thumb and forefinger "if you feel even the slightest bit different CALL ME."
She growls darkly as yet again I'd had a habit of pushing my physical health aside for other things.
"Okay." I state and receive a kiss on the forehead
"I'll be back in a few hours."
I nod once and wash off the soap, while I did this I look back at the cat in the mirror. Watching it's little chest rise and fall.
"Why do I get the feeling I've just opened Pandora's box?" I whisper and shake my head when I realized he won't answer.
(Chrissy's POV)
"Where did you find this?" Conner asks, I pause looking up at my boyfriend.
He was leaned over a microscope, gloved on and his fingers on the small dial. I bit my lip and tried to banish all the naughty thoughts running through my mind. God he looked sexy in his lab coat. Memories of me wearing that lab coat follow after and I blush, clearing my throats as I realize he's still waiting for an answer.
"It was on the cat that Sophia brought home." I answer in a semi relaxed voice. I shake my head and continue pouring the drinks.
"This was on a cat?" My head snaps up and I place the mug on the counter
"Why? Is it toxic?!" I ask and rush over "please don't tell me it's toxic, Sophia got some on her hand."
He chuckles... im freaking out over here and he chuckles. God I could kill him...
"I don't think is toxic babe." He stated and slides back "take a look." I place myself on his lap and pull my shoulder length blonde hair over my shoulder and look in. The black stuff seemed to be moving and stopping then moving again "I'm not sure what this is to be honest ." He stated hands on my hips "it moves like a symbiosis yet it's not and everything I've placed it on resolved with in a few minutes." I pull back as he places the next slid under the micro scope and I look in "this was a leaf that I placed it on, nothing special just an elm leaf and look at it."
"It looks like it's eating it." I state and pull back when he tugs gently, he spins the lens to a stronger one
"That's what I thought to but look at this." I lean forward "the leaf isn't decinegrating like I thought it's actually changing and shifting into something else." I watch as the leaf cells absorb the black liquid and change, shifting and milling into something new before vanishing."
I lean back.
"But Sophia got some on her hand." I whisper like someone had just died.
Was my best friend from birth going to die on me? Was I about to lose her because she was to kind? What twisted fate was this. "Well we can bring her in and take some blood samples but other than that I can't do much until I know more." He sighs and writes more stuff in his lab book
"did she say anything about it."
"No she didn't." I sigh and stand up "she only said it seemed harmless, as both the cat and her seem fine."
"I think I want to take a sample of he cat too." He states and writes some more notes "if this started from him I might need something to make an antidote." He pulls off his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose "I can take this up with my friends at work, unless you want to wait?" He looks at me "this could be really bad or really good but at the moment I can't tell."
I place the cup of tea in front of him and sit on the stool beside him, quietly blowing away the steam.
"Okay, should I call Sophia in then or are you coming over?"
"I think I should head over."
(Klarion pov)
I opened my eyes once more. To an empty room and an empty bed, my fingers scraping along the soft sheets not the orange fur I'd lived with for more millenniums than I wanted to count. That little fur ball showed me more kindness than I deserved, in my heated rage I'd often blame Teekl for things out of his control. Calling the cat horrendous names and throwing things at him once and a while but even so, under all that hate the cat would comeback. Crawling on its belly in case I decided to throw something again, Teekl would slid across the floor, freezing every time I looked in his direction and when I'd look away he'd move once more.
I'd turned it into a game by now, snapping my head quickly in his direction and watching Teekl freeze, watching this the smile would come on my lips, no matter how hard I tired and eventually Teekl would end up on my lap, nudging his head into my palm in a sort of a apology that I should have been giving him. He'd lick my hand or my wounds I'd received from my father and wait while they healed. He'd been with me through everything and this is how I repay him, by losing him in some random dimension.
I sighed running a hand through my head. Where should I even begin? The vortex had an infinite amount of realms, and hundreds of multi dimensional realms onto of that and different versions of the worlds on that. Fathers charms were still on the door and I still wasn't powerful enough to find my familiar. The sickest joke was I couldn't and probably wouldn't be strong enough to find Teekl without Teekl.
This seemed to be the greatest sort of karma.
God, sometimes I hated being the lord of chaos. Sometimes I wish my father hadn't created me from the fabric of the universe. I always was and always would be the son he never wanted. And I would always follow his words, trying and failing to get any sort of approval from him. I curled into the pillow of my bed, the silk sheets wrapping around my sweating body. I felt like half my life was gone and it got worse each day. I wanted to sleep, to force myself to sleep. Wait a few days until dad gives me the approval to find my familiar, I only hope I still have enough magic to do it.
"Teekl..." I whine into the pillow.
(Sophia pov)
"Ow." I state in a flat voice, looking at the man stabbing a needle into my arm.
I was sitting in the kitchen while professor Conner took a sample of my blood, he'd taken from some the cat and moved on to me.
"Well it wouldn't hurt so much if your stop moving." He answers with the same annoyance I sent his way.
I sigh once and slam my head into the table, not hard but enough to show I wasn't happy to be doing this.
"Sophia the more you move the more I'll miss your vein." Professor Conner states once more, I lift my head up and look at him with the most bored expression I could manage. Seconds after I feel a hard slap to the back of my head my head hits my arm once more.
"Ow fuck!" I groan and rub the back of my head
"Sophia you were exposed to some unknowns substance stop bitching and let Conner take your blood. Do you wanna die?"
I look at her and sigh, clenching my fist to push out my larger vein. Conner smiles softly, tapping my arm a few times and slowly pushed the tip in. It still burned but I held still and let him take his samples. First a small one and then a larger one a few times before pulling out the needle and pushing on the small hole with a cotton ball. I hold the cotton ball myself and let him clean up, he labels the vials and places them on the table before pushing some onto a slid. Just a drop before squishing two pieces together and slide them under the microscope. Chrissy removed the cotton ball, placed another one in its place and taps it to my arm.
"See, that wasn't so bad." She teases and slides the cap on the needles before placing them in a sealed bag to be disposed of at the university. Conner says nothing, just scribbling notes on his note pad and humming to himself every few moments and scribbling more. I wasn't sure if his silence was better or worse than knowing what he was writing.
"Well?" Chrissy asks after a moment, the silence finally getting to her
"I'll have to run a few more tests." Conner says with out looking up.
"So I'm dying right." I state and take a sip of my tea "I have to take a few more test is every doctors way of saying your dying but I want to be certain that your dying."
"No, it just means I need to take a few more tests." The annoyance was back, now on his face and voice. A tone that brought a smile to my face as I knew I was getting under his skin.
"But it's not good either right?" Chrissy asks "because if she was fine you'd say she was fine and you didn't, you said you needed to take more tests which means she could be sick, but how sick."
"Chrissy!" I snap, cutting her off Chrissy has a nervous habit of babbling when she got nervous or stressed and now she was both "Relaaax." I drag the word out to calm her down.
It seems to the trick as like a child Chrissy sits on the couch, stick straight, hands folded in her lap as she looked at me for what to do next. I rolled my eyes and sat down, ignoring the weird look Conner sent Chrissy and took a sip of my tea. I groan and rub my temples, feeling a headache coming on.
"Sophia, are you alright?" Conner's voice asks but I can hardly focus on that as the room starts spinning.
(Chrissy's POV)
"Sophia are you alright?" Conner asks, my head snaps up as Sophia's body slumps backward.
I shriek, jumping forwards, doing a belly flop on the floor but my arms catch Sophia's body and most importantly head as she falls off the tall bar stool. Conner is there moments after, his hand on her head. His eyes widen as he slides his fingers to her neck, before putting his head over her mouth
"Damn it she's not breathing." He states
"Fuck Conner do something!" I yell loosing my composure completely.
Sophia had always been the calm one, the one that kept a level head in tricky situations. She was the younger sibling and here I was loosing my cool when I should be the one in charge. Conner pulls me back, tilts back her head and starts CPR. I wanted to move, wanted to do something but I sat there, half in fear and half in confusion. One moment she was fine and the next she fucking keels over and dies?! What the hell was going on?!
"Christina!" Conner yells again, snapping me out of my thoughts "Call 911!" He yells at me, I scramble up to grab my phone off the counter.
My fingers were shaking so badly I could hardly unlock my phone.
(Sophia POV)
I was floating.
Floating on air, the kind of weightless floating you do when your half asleep. When I came to I was still floating, Conner was over top of me, pushing down on my chest.
"Come on Sophia breathe," he kept chanting it over and over.
I turn my head to see a hysterical Christina on the phone, God that'd be a mess to deal with. I wanted to call out, to tell them I was fine but I couldn't because when I moved a different me moved. My other body, Conner and Chrissy stayed put, reenacting a play that I was watching from a far moments before the floor gives out and like falling down a trap door I find myself somewhere else.
Then before I could even scream I was standing, in a large lush library with thousands of books. My head tilted up to see the rows upon rows upon rows of books, I could walk for hours and not see an end to it, a part of me wanted to walk into the lush library but before I could the door closes, blocking my view and I turn to see a smaller library with a lush chair and a fire place roaring away. the crackling of sparks as they fell towards the carpet before vanishing, like being in a trance I walk toward the fire, slowly, carefully, enticed by the flames like a child with a infant looking at their parents for the first time. With a particular large spark I jump, snapping out of the trance and turn, finally noticing a head sitting in the lush chair before me, I move closer trying to see a face but each step I take feels heavier than the next and this force wraps itself around my chest, pulling me backwards as I try to move forwards, the person was so close, so close I could touch them and then I'm falling. Falling through a sea of clouds, out of the library and back to our apartment.
My eyes snap open as I gasp, my chest arching in pain and the need for oxygen and I find two people kneeling over me with a defibrillator and a blue air pump. Seconds after hands are forcing me back to the ground as paramedics tell me to stay still and not move. They go on to ask questions, asking my name and age, my birthday and what city I was living in but all I could focus on was my sister, clinging to Conner's chest like her life as ended.
"Sophia." Chrissy sobs in a cheerful misery, clutching to Conner's chest so hard her hands were turning white "she's alive!"
(Klarion's POV)
I sat in my Astral plane, contemplating what to do. I'd already combed though my collected knowledge five times. The knowledge of all my millenniums on this world and sigh. The book sliding from my hands and is magically gone before it hits the floor. None of this was helping. I sighed, closing my eyes and leaning towards the fire, hoping it would give me some sort of help but instead of peace I find my eyes snapping open. Feeling the presence of another so close. Had Teekls presence found me?!
"Tee-" I shout and stop, when I find myself staring at an empty room.
Ooooh, Sophia just entered Klarion's astral plane, Interesting...
Peace out Lovely's!
xxxxTheJonesStoriesxxxx