Hello! This is the next chapter. I don't know how many more there will be. Enjoy!
Chapter Four
We all live, we all die. That does not begin to justify you. It's not what it seems, not what you think. No I must be dreaming. It's only in my mind, not real life. No I must be dreaming… Evanescence-Bleed
Dahlia awoke to the feeling of something cold and wet gently dabbing patches of stinging burning skin. She slowly opened her eyes. A woman with shockingly dark skin and almost no clothing stood over her, holding a ragged wet cloth.
"Asake. A Nohanel Panua. Alatrostiva a sijen?" she said in a questioning tone. Dahlia raised an eyebrow, then looked over to see Mahad lying on the ground next to her.
"Do you speak English?" Dahlia asked the woman. A look of sudden understanding crossed the woman's face, and she left the room.
Dahlia took a moment to observe her surroundings. She and Mahad were in a small circular hut, surrounded by jars of strange concoctions and plants. The roof of the hut had several holes and gaps in the wood. Sunlight filtered in through them. How long had they been unconscious for, Dahlia wondered.
A man suddenly entered the room, pulling a long dry grass curtain open.
"A welcome. I a am Izaro. I do not a speak the you're a language—ver—very—very a well," he stammered.
"I am Dahlia, and this is my friend Mahad," she said slowly. Izaro gave them a gap-toothed smile. "Can you tell us what happened?" Dahlia asked. "Yeah, where are we?" Mahad chimed in.
"You a are a in Nohanel Panua. The wind gods tried a to kill your a strange bird-like cre—creature." Dahlia and Mahad exchanged confused glances. "Bird-like creature? You mean my ship?" Mahad asked.
Izaro frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "I a do not know the terms you a prefer. Oh, and I was a have important a question to ask. Do a you—are a you spirit people?" he asked.
Dahlia searched her mind for an answer. "Spirit people. Please describe them to me?" she asked. "A spirit people have the gifts of a the sun gods. They a can use a the sunlight in a many different the ways," he tried to explain.
Dahlia suddenly understood. "Mahad, I think he's asking if we're seijin." Mahad nodded. "No. We are not spirit people, but we know a few." Izaro flashed another smile.
Dahlia tried to sit up. Pain surged through every muscle and bone. Her breaths turned into sharp pained gasps. She quickly relaxed her muscles again, allowing her body to gently fall backward.
"You should a not move. You are a bo—both badly a injured. Well, I a must leave. Our a healers should will a return a momentarily. Go—od bye," he said, leaving the room as quickly as he had come.
"I'm not sure, but I don't think we're anywhere near Puerto Angel, Dahlia."
"Where could she have gone?" Lena asked herself silently, staring at the horizon as the sun began to lower. Splashes of dramatic red, yellow, and orange color covered the clouds near the sun, like paint an artist had carelessly smeared over his work. It was a comforting sight—it meant that Evora wouldn't be able to use her powers in a few hours. She had always loved sunsets. Mahad, however, never really took the time to appreciate nature. Mahad…
The very thought of him made her throat ache. There were only two possibilities: either he had been captured by the Sphere, or he had been killed in some horrible crash. She knew he would have returned home by now if he had run away.
"Mahad, you always knew what do in situations like this. What should I do?" she asked the dry air. Talking to an imaginary version of her brother wasn't going to help, she decided.
Cortes had ordered her to stay inside and keep the doors locked, and now she was bored as ever. Lena was always on edge, expecting Evora to leap out from nowhere and attack at any moment. Luckily, no ships had taken off in the past few hours, which meant that she couldn't have gotten off the block.
Lena was unsure of her intentions. Knowing her twisted mind, there was no telling what she could do.
"Waiting for me to come and kill you?" Lena spun around in her seat. As if Evora had heard her thoughts—and actually may have—she approached Lena.
"How did you get in?" Lena demanded. "Your upstairs window."
Adrenaline began coursing through Lena's veins. "You know, I didn't come here to kill you—just to get you out of my way."
Without warning, Evora reached a glowing bright blue hand up. Lena felt something strange buzzing through her like electricity. She gathered as much energy from the sunlight streaming through the window as she could and shot it back at Evora. She seemed to stop the mass of glowing bright energy in midair and backfire it.
Each time it shot between them, it grew a little. In a matter of seconds, the ball of energy was as large as Lena's front door. The two girls stared into each other's eyes furiously. Evora showed no sign of weakness. Lena, however, felt as if she'd collapse to the floor at any moment. She knew she couldn't hold on forever…
Then, something amazing happened. Lena pushed into the energy, imagining it striking Evora and sending her flying back, but Evora did the same. It burned through both of them like fire. Lena and Evora fell to the floor, unconscious.
Evora watched as Robin fell to the floor, clutching his head and crying, "Oh, oh, it hurts! What did you do to me?" The tiniest giggle escaped her lips, but her smile quickly faded when she heard approaching footsteps. Master Nithan shook his head disapprovingly.
"Evora, that is no way to treat a student. Come here," he barked. She stood, petrified with sudden fear. "No," she murmured. Master Nithan crossed his arms, angered by her defiance. "You come here right now!" he yelled. "No! I won't go with you!" Evora hissed through gritted teeth.
Master Nithan stomped over, but stopped halfway at the sight of her glowing fingertips. "Don't come any closer," she growled, threateningly holding up a hand. Robin scrambled up to his feet and darted to the back of the room. "I don't want to hurt you, but right now it seems that I have no other choice," Master Nithan said.
Blue light shot from Evora's fingertips and hit Nithan, pulling him up off the floor. "Leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone!" Evora cried. "Control yourself! Control yourself, Evora!" Master Nithan shrieked.
Finally, Evora let the harnessed energy escape from her fingertips. She carefully lowered Master Nithan to the floor and fell to her knees before him. "I'm sorry, master. It won't happen again." Yes it will, she thought to herself with a mental laugh………
Evora walked down the hallway slowly and casually. As she walked, several pairs of eyes followed her. One child whispered, "Freak," to his friend, and another shouted, "Don't come anywhere near us!" Evora forced a smile.
"Don't worry. I would never hurt any of you," she said reassuringly.
"After what you did to Robin, I find that hard to believe," a teenaged girl said angrily.
She, along with three boys, came over and stood in Evora's path. She stopped walking and looked the girl in the eye. "Excuse me, I need to get by," she said. The girl snorted.
Suddenly, something hit Evora in the back of the head. She clumsily staggered and fell. Her body hit the hard marble floor with a loud smack. Before Evora had time to stand up, or even speak, something struck her in the stomach.
The air exploded from her lungs and her stomach clenched in a ball, threatening to heave up her lunch at any moment. She felt something repeatedly hitting her face. All she could see were bright flashing lights. After being kicked repeatedly in the back, she could hardly feel anything.
"Please! Stop!" she cried, sputtering blood. The girl gave her a final kick in the chest, then walked off, laughing quietly.
Evora spent what seemed like hours just lying there on the hallway floor, blinking away spots, tasting blood. Her stomach suddenly heaved and she gagged, and almost everything she had eaten that day came spilling out onto the floor in front of her. The putrid smell was unbearable, so she rolled onto her side. Every part of her screamed with pain at the slightest movement. Evora prayed that someone—anyone—would eventually find her and help her………
"I think it's time for her to "graduate". We feel that she might be a danger to the other students. I think she would be better off with you as her personal trainer," Master Nithan explained. Oslo nodded in agreement.
"Very well. I will take her tomorrow night." The final words echoed in Evora's ears.
She kicked the wall angrily. It seemed that as life carried on, it only became worse. First her parents were killed, then she was taken to the hell that was guardian school, where she was overworked, constantly yelled at and punished, and now, beaten by other students. Now, she was going off to train with Oslo, the biggest idiot in Skyland. He was an insult to seijins everywhere—no, he was an insult to nature.
Nonetheless, Evora left school the next evening. No one bothered to say goodbye. She entered the Monolith that night. The entire ship was full of vast large rooms, something Evora had grown to hate over the years. "Get used to it," she said to herself. She knew that she'd be spending a lot of time there...
"Mommy, I'm going to miss you," Evora said sadly. Her mother placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair comfortingly. "You'll be fine, dear," she said sweetly. "I know you'll succeed."
Somehow her words weren't comforting, not even the slightest bit.
"Mommy, I thought there weren't any blocks here," she said, suddenly noticing the block below them. Her mother frowned, coming to the window to see for herself. As Evora had said, there was a block below them.
"That's strange," she muttered. "There weren't supposed to be any blocks for miles. Unless…"
"Don't move!" the tall angry-looking man yelled. Evora hid behind her mother's legs, peeking around to watch. The strange man held a gun, aiming directly at her mother.
"Marcus Farell. It's been a long time. Can't we talk this over?" Caroline said arrogantly. Marcus didn't move or flinch even the slightest bit.
"Don't… Move…" Caroline smirked. Evora could only stare, petrified with fear. Millions of thoughts swam through her head at a dizzying pace. She was terrified, not quite sure what to do or believe anymore. She was only a child after all.
She darted out form behind her mother and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Marcus didn't seem to notice. Caroline sighed. "You know..."
"Let my husband and I go or he dies!" Caroline hissed, holding tightly onto the young man, aiming a gun at his head. Marcus sighed.
"Very well. Let go of Wayan now," he said.
The boy, Wayan, ran over to Marcus and stood next to him. "Go," Marcus said to Caroline.
Evora was shocked. It was as if her mother had forgotten her existence. She ran off quickly, not noticing her.
Evora looked at Marcus and suddenly noticed something. He was pulling out his gun again. Eye glued, she watched as he aimed it up and fired…
Caroline let out a deafening shriek as she fell forward. "No!" Evora cried, bolting up from her hiding place. She ran over to Marcus and grabbed onto his arm. He looked down and grabbed for her, but she slipped out of his reach.
Evora could only concentrate on running. Running, and escaping this horrible place. The sound of Marcus bounding behind her forced her to run faster. She was running so fast she felt that her legs would give at any moment. She dashed around the corner of the narrow hallway, only to see a dead end ahead of her.
"No!" she cried, turning back to see Marcus. He shoved her rudely into the corner.
"Stay there or you'll end up like your mother!" he growled. Evora sobbed and covered her eyes. She sensed the sudden presence of another person.
"Marcus. Did you—" "Yes, Cortes. I killed her. I—I didn't have a choice." There was nothing but pure silence for a moment.
"Who's this?" The other man, Cortes, asked. "I think this is Dahlia's sister. She—" "Where are my Mommy and Daddy?" Evora interrupted. Cortes gulped, unsure of how to explain it to her.
"They're dead," he said softly, a hint of shame in his voice.
Lena jerked awake, her eyes darting back and forth. She looked at the window and could see only stars and the faint glow of the moon. She rubbed her head, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Evora had snuck into her house, they had fought, and then… Then what?
Lena wondered if all those strange scenes she had witnessed were from Evora's memories, or if they were just illusions. They had all seen so real. They had all felt so real. She had seen them from Evora's point of view, through her eyes…
"Good a morning, friends," Izaro said. Mahad opened his eyes and tried to focus and adjust to the lighting. Dahlia looked as if she had been awake for hours.
"Would a you two like a come a see our home a?" "Yes. We would love to," Dahlia said, before Mahad
had a chance to speak. He rolled his eyes at her.
"Very a well. A follow me."
Mahad was bored to death as they passed by hut after hut and tent after tent, but he didn't complain. Dahlia, on the other hand, was ecstatic and excited to hear whatever Izaro had to say, despite his terrible English.
They finally stopped at the bottom of a hill and took a break.
"Next we a will see Senaceanas a." Mahad sighed. "What is Senaceanas?" Dahlia asked, fascinated. "It is a the—the a home of a the water gods."
Mahad snorted. Izaro constantly raved about the beloved sun gods, and the sacred water and fire gods. He laughed each time Izaro mentioned them, but Dahlia held back and pretended to believe him.
They stood up and began climbing up the hill. Mahad kept slipping and sliding on the loose earth. By the time they reached a flat piece of land, he was covered in dirt, and his clothes were torn and ripped.
"We a need to just a climb these rocks and we a will be there a," Izaro said excitedly. Mahad found a good handhold and pulled himself up. Swinging his other leg over, he rolled onto the grass. He stood up, dusted himself off, and looked ahead. His jaw dropped instantly.
"Mahad, what's—wrong…" Dahlia stood next to him.
They both stared in awe at the vast never-ending expanse of shimmering blue waves. They could just barely see a line of trees off in the distance.
"Do a you like?" Izaro asked. Mahad could only stare, mouth agape. "I've never seen so much water in all my life," he said finally.
"Ah, yes a. The gods of a water like a space. So a do their friends the a tree spirits. The a tree spirits—" "We'd both love to hear about the tree spirits, but we want to explore first, okay?" Dahlia asked. Izaro flashed them a smile. "Very a well."
Dahlia suddenly grabbed Mahad's arm and pulled him off to a cluster of trees.
"What?" he said, ducking under a thick branch. "Mahad, there's no way all of that water is legal," she whispered to him. He nodded nervously.
"And these people obviously don't work for the Sphere." Dahlia shook her head in confusion.
"What I don't get is how they've managed to hide a lake for all these years. The Sphere has to have discovered it by now." "But why would they just abandon all of this water?" Mahad said.
"I don't know, Mahad."