A/N:
Are you guys ready for the next part of the gang's adventure?
I'm gonna continue putting the disclaimer here just be sure that everyone is aware of where this story originated.
This story isn't 100 % mine. I have transformed it into a story from an interactive story app called Choices (an app I am completely obsessed with atm) and the creators are Pixelberry Studios.
So here's my disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the plot of this story. All recognizable content belongs to their respective owner. No copyright infringement intended. Names and places have been changed for the purpose of Fanfiction.
{Chapter 7}
I sat on the swaying bridge high up in the Kaarii village with Victoria's limp body in my arms. "Vicky, you gotta wake up!"
Her slight frame suddenly became heavy in my arms, and I knew that she was gone. "Victoria! Victoria, no…"
A crowd began to pour out of the audience hall following Jacorel's coronation, and the rest of my group crossed the rope bridge to join me.
"You okay, Princess?" Edward asked me when he saw Victoria in my arms and the tear streaks on my cheeks.
"Oh, no … It's Victoria!" Tanya exclaimed.
"She just collapsed! I d-don't know…" I stammered out.
Kate rushed forward and knelt next to Victoria's body. "Easy, Bella. Lie her down."
We gently placed her on a wooden platform, and Kate took a moment to check on her. She froze, and I noticed her tearing up, and it only confirmed what I already knew.
"It's her Rotterdam's. The final stage is a coma," Kate said, and I looked at her in cautious hope.
"You mean she's not dead?"
She put a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Not yet, but she very well may be."
Furball nudged Victoria with his nose, trying to wake her.
Garrett looked at Victoria's body with a sad and befuddled expression. "I don't understand. She said she had months still to live!"
"We went through the portal, remember? We lost six months. If it sped things up, then … then she's probably only got a few hours left at the most," Kate said softly.
I shook my head. "No…"
Edward placed his arms around me, and I turned and buried my face in his shirt. I felt him kiss the top of my head but my tears couldn't be stopped.
"The vine that had intertwined with her branches has woefully pulled her down. I grieve for your loss, Catalysts, " Harrvel said with genuine sadness in his eyes.
"I did not know of her illness. I am sorry," Emilyne offered her condolences.
"We can't just give up!" Tanya exclaimed, completely distraught. "What about those plants on the roof of The Ethereal? The ones that healed Alistair's cut!"
Kate shook her head sadly. "Those healed wounds … but this isn't an injury. The syndrome's part of her genetic physiology."
Benjamin turned to Jacorel. "Jacorel, please. You have to help us."
Jacorel looked at Harrvel. "There must be something we can do."
Harrvel bowed his head solemnly. "There is one possibility … but all of our elyyshars, including your mother, have forbidden seeking it."
I looked up from Edward's shirt and frowned. "You owe us! We saved your village!"
"Hell yeah, we did. How about showing a little gratitude?" Peter agreed with me.
Jacorel nodded. "Our people are in your debt. But more than that, you're my friends. We will do everything we can to heal her." He turned back to Harrvel. "Go on. As elyyshar, I command you. Tell us everything you know."
"Legends speak of a crystal of tremendous life energy, hidden somewhere in the tree of Elyys'tel. Our ancestors called it the Island's Heart. The Heart is responsible for all of the prodigious growth you see around you. Its touch is said to renew all living things"
Peter nodded. "So we find this Miracle-Gro or whatever and give it to Victoria. Piece of cake."
Emilyne shook her head sadly. "The Heart exists to nurture the tree, not us. The legends warn us to never seek it out."
"I'm afraid Emilyne is correct. Its power is beyond what any one individual can command," Harrvel said. "Besides, the Heart is … not of this reality. It can only be found by those who walk between dimensions."
"You've gotta be kidding," Rosalie said angrily.
"As Catalysts, it is possible for you to enter that realm. But the journey is a perilous one," Harrvel continued.
Leah frowned. "We're not afraid of danger."
"Um, speak for yourself," Benjamin replied.
Harrvel locked eyes with Leah. "It is not mortal peril I speak of. But you may become … lost, wandering the veil for eternity."
Alice stepped forward. "We've gotta do this for Victoria. We're her only chance."
"No more talk. Where do we find this thing?" Leah pushed.
"We must enter the Root Burrows. There lies your path to the Heart," Harrvel said cautiously.
"Lead the way," I told him determinedly.
As Harrvel shuffled off, I paused and looked back at Victoria's motionless form. I took her hand and squeezed it. "Hang on, Vicky. Just hang on."
Jacorel gently scooped her up into his arms. "While you seek the Heart, I'll find a proper place for her to rest. Benjamin. Be careful."
"Good luck, Catalysts. You will need it," Emilyne said, and I gave her a grateful nod.
We followed the old Shaman through a series of dark, winding tunnels inside the very base of the tree. We had been walking for almost half an hour when Alistair spoke up with an irritated tone.
"Harrvel, how much further? Do you even know where you're taking us?"
"Patience! We are almost … There!" He pointed with his staff at something in front of us.
At the end of the tunnel, a massive tangle of roots blocked the way. Silvery droplets fell from cracks in the wood and collected in a small puddle.
"Uh … that's not lookin' so good. You guys might wanna get your tree checked out," Peter said, frowning at the 'leaking' roots.
Harrvel smiled. "To the contrary, the tree is quite healthy. Imbibing its sap will allow you to enter a transcendent state, opening your eyes to dimensions beyond those normally apparent."
"Whaaaat? Sign me up!" Emmett exclaimed with a grin. He bustled toward the dripping roots.
"Whoa, whoa. You expect all of us to drink that stuff?" Edward asked incredulously.
"The Heart is trapped between the world we know and all other realities that converge upon this location." Harrvel glanced at Edward, amused. "Perhaps you know another way to manipulate dimensional boundaries?"
"Nope," Edward replied sheepishly.
Furball sniffed at the mirror-hued puddle with curiosity.
"Have you tried drinking it yourself?" I asked the Shaman, just a little bit scared.
"Of course. But the sap no longer has any effect on us Kaarii. Our ancestors were the first to partake of it. Over time, the revelations of the sap changed our people, making us as we are today." He stared into my eyes. "It should still work its wonders on you, however. Or so we must hope."
All of us shared a silent look, telling each other that we were ready for it.
"Let's do it," I said, nodding. "I'll go first."
Harrvel untethered a silver chalice from his belt and lowered it to scoop up the sap. He offered it to me, and I slowly raised it to my lips.
"Alright, here we go."
I took a big gulp and handed the chalice back to Harrvel. The sap tasted unlike anything I'd ever known. Simultaneously sweet and bitter … burning and soothing.
"Is it gross?" Benjamin asked.
"It's actually not bad. Just … weird. It's almost like it's … everything at once."
One by one, the rest drank from the cup. When everyone had finished, we stood in the dark, looking at each other in anticipation.
"Harrvel, should we be, uh … feeling something?" I asked.
"Hm. Perhaps it may take a moment. The legends were rather vague, to be honest."
Kate glared at him. "Wonderful. We don't even know what poison we just drank."
"Let us return to the surface to consult the ancient texts."
We headed back up the winding roots of Elyys'tel and out through the base of the trunk.
Rosalie grumbled to herself. "This crap better kick into gear. Victoria needs us to—"
Suddenly, my vision shattered into a million facets filled with impossible color, as if I was looking through some sort of kaleidoscope prism.
"Whoa!"
"Anybody else seeing this?!" Garrett asked.
"It's hitting, dudes … it's hitting!" Emmett exclaimed.
I looked around and as I turned, the shapes around me started to spin. The world seemed to refract in an infinite recursion.
"Harrvel, what are we looking at?" Leah called out.
When she didn't get an answer, I turned and saw that the Shaman was gone.
"I think we're in the space between dimensions!" Tanya said.
"It's so beautiful!" I said in awe.
"I've never seen colors like this," Leah agreed with the same awe.
"It's like we're seeing the code of the world. How it all really is under the hood," Rosalie said.
Kate shook her head. "I'm sorry, no! I so did not sign up for this Wrinkle in Time insanity. I just wanted to spend a few days on the beach, but noooo. That was too much to ask!"
"So what the hell do we do now? The part of the movie where the good guys start hallucinating usually doesn't end well," Benjamin said.
Alistair nodded. "Agreed. Tread carefully. And Tanya, please stay next to me."
She smiled at him. "Okay, Alistair. I'll keep you safe."
"Huh—no, I mean I'd keep—never mind."
"I dunno what y'all are freaking out over. This is dope!" Peter said.
"Preach," Rosalie agreed.
Peter and Rosalie high-fived but their hands passed straight through each other.
"What the hell did I just see?" Edward asked, shocked.
"Dude! Are we ghosts?" Emmett cried out.
"Ha! I'm totally haunting you, Peter!" Rosalie grinned.
"Nuh-uh, I'm haunting you!"
All of us tried to touch each other, but our fingers phased through each other, like liquid.
I snuck up behind Emmett and pushed my arms through his belly, waving my hands around. "Emmett, you're growing extra arms!"
"Whoaaaa! Haha!"
As everyone started to laugh, Emmett stepped back and passed straight through me. In the split second that our bodies crossed, I felt a strange sensation, as if I briefly embodied Emmett, not unlike the visions when I touched a catalyst idol.
"Duuuuuude … did you feel that?"
"Yeah. So weird."
"You guys think that Shaman will let me bring some of this stuff back? You know, for … science," Emmett asked with a smirk.
Garrett spoke up. "Okay, so … I guess we're ghosts right now. But we can't lose track of what we came here to do … wherever here is."
I nodded. "Right. Find this Island's Heart thing, and save Victoria."
"The old man said it was feeding the giant tree, right? It's gotta be somewhere in the city," Edward said.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Leah ushered. "Let's head up and see what we can find."
I lead the others toward Elyys'tel's grand entrance only to find it barricaded with a high wall of sharp wooden spikes.
"Guys, I don't think this was here before," Alice said.
Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Wow, Alice, again with the subtle insight."
I stepped closer to the barricade.
"Bella, be careful!" Tanya cautioned.
"I'll be okay," I reassured. A feeling told me it was right.
I stepped even closer, the wall's jagged spikes inches from my body. I reached out and touched the tip of a spike, and I felt its sharp point pushing back.
"I can do this." I closed my eyes and reached out again and this time, my hand moved straight through the wall, like a ghost. "I'm through! Everybody, come on! We don't just phase through each other. We can phase through solid walls too."
"Sick! Ghost-Bella for the win!"
"Of course it worked. Bella's the only one of you not dumb enough to miss it," Kate complimented.
One by one, the group passed through the spiked wall into the Kaarii's tree city.
"We're inside. Hooray. Now what?" Edward asked with his usual hint of sarcasm.
"We just have to figure out where this Heart thing is."
"Perhaps they can help?" Alistair said and pointed forward. Across the walkway, several Kaarii warriors brandishing spears ran toward us.
"There they are!"
They were shouting in their native tongue, but in my head, I could still understand them perfectly.
"Hey! Fellas! Can you give us a hand?" Edward asked.
The Kaarii raised their spears as they charged.
"Get them!"
Alistair screamed, and then turned away, wrapping Tanya in his arms to shield her.
I closed my eyes, terrified, and in an instant, the Kaarii warriors stopped, frozen, mid-charge. Not even their eyes moved.
"Uh … what just happened?" I asked.
"They stopped moving!" Alice
"Not just them," Leah stated.
I looked around. Everything was perfectly still; the leaves in the wind, the clouds. "I think … time just stopped."
"What the hell is happening? Why were they attacking us anyway?" Kate asked with a deep frown.
"Don't think it's us they were after. Honestly, I don't think they could see us at all. Look." Garrett pointed behind us.
I turned around and saw another group of warriors, frozen in time, their eyes burning with hate.
"They're attacking each other," Edward said, his voice laced with confusion.
"What the hell? Why? It was all peace and love ten minutes ago!" Peter exclaimed.
"The Three Tribes' War," Benjamin mumbled. "The Kaarii talk about it sometimes. Like, a hundred years ago, they had a big civil war over their faith."
"The Faith of the Endless?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. Worshipping the spirit of the island. Listening to the Endless's every prophecy. Freaking out about Raan'losti. One tribe wanted a full theocracy. Another wanted to cast the religion off entirely. It got bad. There was another huge tree city like this. It burned. Those twelve Catalyst Idols we've been finding? Lost. Scattered."
"So that's two tribes. Who's the third?" Kate inquired.
"They're the ones who won," Benjamin continued to explain. "Jacorel's ancestors just wanted peace. They defeated the leaders of both tribes and forced truce. Everything sorta just went … back to normal."
"That's good. They need balance," I said, and Tanya instantly agreed with me.
"I think so, too!"
I nodded. "Seriously. Think how many would've died if every side fought to the last man."
"No. It's a mistake to let your opponent survive. It's just giving them a second chance to finish the job," Leah said, completely disagreeing.
"So we're … then? We're in the past?" Alice asked to clarify.
"It sure looks like it. It's not just space that's refracting … it's time too," Tanya mused.
"Hm. And somehow, it seems we can control its flow," Alistair observed fascinatingly.
I focused my mind and slowly, time spooled forward. In slow motion, the first Kaarii groups sprinted through our ghostly forms and collided with the second, locked in a heated battle.
"Are you controlling this slo-mo fight sequence, Bella? Zack Snyder would be proud," Benjamin said with a smirk and nudged me with his elbow.
"Saaarrrrraaaaayyyyyaaaa!"
"Did you hear that?" Rosalie asked and looked around.
I let time resume at full speed and heard it again.
"Saraya! Where are you?"
"Pauluan! I'm here! This way!"
I looked up and saw a pair of young Kaarii warriors running on a distant platform dozens of feet above us.
Leah pointed. "The woman in the skull mask. It's her."
"Queen Saraya … a hundred years ago!" Tanya said in awe.
"Harrvel said that the elyyshars had forbidden going after the Heart. If they knew something about its power, then…" Alistair said suggestively, and Tanya finished his train of thought with a smile.
"Then maybe she knows where it is! Come on! Let's follow her!"
We kept our eyes on Saraya above us and ran along the walkway.
"Hurry! We've gotta keep up!"
Overhead, a Kaarii glider released an incendiary bomb.
"Heads up!" Emmett called out to warn us.
The small bomb exploded. Fire ate away at the wood, collapsing the bridge ahead.
"Crap!" Peter cursed.
I stayed calm and focused, willing myself to reverse time. Everything instantly changed direction. The glider flew backward, warring factions split apart and the bridge repaired itself.
"Hell yeah, Bella!" Rosalie cheered.
"Good thinking. Keep going!" Leah ushered, and soon, we reached another destroyed section of the walkway.
"Dammit, we've got no idea when this happened," Edward groaned.
"Way too far to jump," Leah observed.
"Look! Up there!"
High overhead, an arrow slashed the canvas wings of a glider. The Kaarii pilot struggled to keep control as he plunged downward. To avoid crashing, he flew through the gap between the platforms.
I reached out with my hand and tried to grab the moment and time froze once more. The crashing glider was suspended precisely between the two platforms.
"Sick! Bella got us a stepping stone." Rosalie grinned.
"Nice reflexes, Bella. I'm a little impressed," Leah admitted.
"Just a little? Be honest," I said and winked at her.
"Okay, maybe a lot."
"Hurry, Pauluan!"
Continuing on, I kept my eyes on Saraya as she led the other warrior along a catwalk—
"Bella wait!" Garrett called out, and I looked down and realized he stopped me from running straight off the end of the platform. "This path doesn't go any farther!"
"We've gotta find a way up to the next level."
We all looked around for anything helpful when my eyes focused on a thin, young branch of the great tree.
"Guys, I have an idea!" I focused my will on speeding up time and soon the small, young branch began to grow. "Quick! Grab on!"
Everyone grabbed hold of the branch as it extended out and up, swooping us toward the higher platform.
I let go and landed on the upper level, dusting off my hands.
"Nice job. Now, where are we?" Garrett asked.
I concentrated and rewound the time back to the war. Everything raced in reverse. Then, young Saraya was standing right there in front of us, talking quickly with her companion as civil war raged below them.
"Do not lose hope, Pauluan."
"But the Faithless are trying to destroy all the Catalyst Idols! What if they find the Island's Heart? What if they—"
"Do you really think the Heart from which this great tree blossomed could be destroyed by Kaarii hands? No. It remains beyond our realm. It existed long before us. It will be here long after our people are gone. We must focus on what we can protect … our people." Saraya opened a satchel on her hip and revealed a catalyst idol.
"You have one of the Twelve! Are you handing it over to the Devout?"
She shook her head. "No. It is too much power in either of the tribes' hands. It must be hidden. I entrust that mission to you, Pauluan. Keep it safe, somewhere nearby."
"And what will you do, Raya?"
Saraya handed the idol to the warrior then drew a broadsword of obsidian. "I will bring an end to this." She leaped down to a lower platform and rejoined the fray.
Pauluan darted off nervously.
"He's taking off with the idol!" Tanya cried out.
We jogged after the Kaarii warrior until we saw him stop. He looked around for anyone watching, unable to see that we were right beside him through the interdimensional veil.
"No one else knows about this alcove … it will have to do." He brushed aside a layer of moss and vines to open a small hole in the tree's bark and stashed the idol inside before running off. Tanya reached for the idol, but as her hand approached, time warped around her and revealed a solid sheet of bark.
"Wha … in the present, the opening must've grown over! The idol's trapped!" she said desperately.
"Tanya, we were just walking through walls. You can still reach inside!" I told her.
Tentatively, Tanya reached forward. Her hand disappeared into the tree and emerged holding the idol. "Look! I got it!"
She handed me the idol, and like before, as soon as both of us touched it, I was catapulted into her past. I found myself in a classroom back at Hartfeld.
Professor Diaz adjourned the biology class, and Tanya hurriedly packed her things.
Strangely enough, I was able to hear her thoughts. "I've got just three minutes to get to Econ 203! Then T.A. office hours for Quantum Mechanics before I have to meet with my group for our engineering project! Oh, I hope I make it!"
She got up and rushed to the end of the row, when—
"Oof!"
She bumped straight into Alistair. "I'm so sorry!"
"It's … all is forgiven. I just wanted to, aheh … here. You dropped this." He handed her a pen engraved with the name 'Tanya Denise Miller.'
"My pen! You found it! I lost it weeks ago!"
Alistair cleared his throat, looking embarrassed. "Hrm. Right. I just found it now. I wasn't … holding onto it for the right moment or something preposterous like that. What I mean to say is, you should keep better track of your things!"
Tanya smiled wide. "I will! Thanks! Gotta go!"
"Oh. I—very well then."
Tanya darted down the staircase when she saw a crowd gathered around the front of the room.
"Diaz graded our papers! Come get 'em!" Emmett bellowed through the classroom.
Tanya wriggled through the crowd and took hers. She looked at the red markings circled on the front page. 'B plus. I know you can do better than this!'
"B plus? It can't be … I—"
"How'd you do, Tanya? An A, as usual, I guess?" Garrett asked as he walked up to her.
Tanya stuffed her paper into her bag before Garrett could see. "Heh … Sorry, can't chat! Gonna be late for Econ!"
"Man, what I'd give for your 4.0. Congrats!" Garrett complimented her genuinely.
Tanya hurried out of the classroom and rushed across the empty quad. Her professor's words echoed in her head.
"What am I gonna tell my mom? I should just be honest, right? She has to accept that I'm not perfect! That I'm never gonna be her! That I'm never gonna take over the company! That I'm a … a disappointment!"
Hot tears flooded her eyes, blinding her. She squeezed her fists, fingernails digging into her palms. Then she saw it … Professor Diaz's car, a modest sedan resting in the parking lot, and she frowned.
She dropped her bag and picked up a temporary signpost from a nearby construction zone. She smashed it into the hood of Diaz's car.
"You know I can do better? You know I can do better?!"
She smashed the trunk, the side view mirror, the door panels.
"Well, I can't, okay?! I can't do any better! Aaaah!"
She threw the signpost. It punctured the windshield, shattering the glass. The noise snapped Tanya out of it, "Oh my god … oh no, no, no, what have I done?! I have to turn myself in! But then what will my mom say? She'll … she'll…"
Tanya felt her hand scoop up her bag and her legs take off at full sprint, fleeing the scene of the crime.
She ran. She didn't know where to. She didn't know how far. She just ran.
I was pulled forward into what appeared to be the next day in the library. Tanya was studying, but I could still hear her thoughts and all she could think about was what she did the previous day. She could hear whispering nearby.
"Yo, Rose, did you hear someone totally whaled on Professor D.'s ride? Was it you?" Peter grinned as he came into the room.
"Pfft. I wish. They don't know who it was yet?"
Someone tapped Tanya's shoulder.
"Hey, Tanya? There are a couple cops here. They wanna talk to you," Kate told her kindly.
"Huh?"
"Yeah. What do they want? Did you see who banged up Professor Diaz's car?"
Tanya swallowed. "Yeah. I guess I did."
Tanya walked toward the pair of police officers. One of them held something small and silver. An engraved pen. Written on the side: 'Tanya Denise Miller.'
Yet again, I was hurled through time and space.
Suddenly, I was on a ledge overlooking the magma chamber of Mount Suerte.
"Tanya, hurry!" Alice cried out.
"Come on, what are you waiting for? You said you could do it!" Kate pressured.
"I can! At least … I think I…" Tanya delicately explored the wiring of a small electronic box. On one side, a red LCD timer counted down: 0:00:58 … 0:00:57…
"If you don't hurry up, Cullen's bomb is gonna kill us all!" Peter said panicked.
"Heavens, will you all shut up? Tanya can do anything! She'll get us out of this!" Alistair said confidently.
"I—"
"You can do this, Tanya. I know you can do this." Garrett said in an attempt to be encouraging, but Tanya snapped.
"I can't, okay?! I can't do it! I can't be what you want me to be!"
"Tanya, we did not mean to—" Alistair tried, but she was too far gone.
"I can't do better!" Tanya picked up a rock and smashed the bomb, over and over.
"Tanya, stop!" Garrett yelled in fear.
"I! … Can't! … Do! … Better!—" She bashed the device one more time. The bomb clicked. The display skipped to 0:00:00. "Oops—"
The world whited out.
When the blinding light faded, I found myself looking into Tanya's eyes. "We found another one, Bella! Isn't that wonderful?"
"This is all well and good, et cetera … but we are still no closer to knowing where the Heart is!" Alistair reminded us.
"No … but we know when it is!" Tanya said happily, completely different from the Tanya I'd just seen in the vision. "Saraya did say that this tree grew from the Heart, right? We just have to rewind time to when it first started to grow!"
"A tree this big? We're talking thousands of years, at least!" Garrett said.
"Alright then," I said and readied myself. "Everybody, hold on … I'm taking us back."
Time reversed, the sun moved back across the sky. War reverted to peace. The buildings around us were deconstructed. The city of Elyys'tel slowly retreated down the great tree's flank.
Time raced faster.
I caught a glimpse of disheveled people in tuxedos and gowns roaming the rainforest.
"Whoa, check it out! Humans!" Rosalie exclaimed.
On the horizon, enormous container ships sailed toward us, their hulls emblazoned with a swirling logo.
"Cullen International. Those are my father's shipping vessels."
Soon, the sea was on fire. At the horizon, a Venezuelan oil tanker was cracked in two, its black blood spilling forth. Nearby, an American destroyer exchanged torpedoes with a trio of German U-boats, and fighter propeller planes were dogfighting overhead.
"World War II. This has gotta be the Battle of the Caribbean." Edward told us.
The world moved even faster. The epileptic flashing between day and night became a steady dim light too fast for my eyes to catch, the sun and moon side by side in the sky. Pirate ships swarmed the bay before us. The manor on Sharktooth Isle unbuilt itself.
"Those must be Angelique's peeps," Emmett said, nodding toward the pirates.
The large galleons gave way to narrow, oared canoes covered in palm leaves, beaching themselves on the sands.
"This must be the Mayan explorers. We've gotta be around 1000 A.D. now," Garrett thought aloud.
"Let's go, Bella. Faster!" Kate encouraged.
I focused. Everything blurred. The island's very coastline fluctuated, warping in tidal erosion. And finally, the colossal tree of Elyys'tel began to shrink.
It continued to shrink away. It turned into a normal-sized tree.
At last, the mighty tree was a sapling, shorter than me.
"Now!" Benjamin called out but I kept going. The tree slipped entirely into the ground.
"What in the heavens are you doing?" Alistair asked me with a confused expression.
"There's something I want to see," was all I said, not breaking my focus from rewinding the time.
I watched as the sea grew darker and colder, Glaciers encroached, snow piled around our legs as the ice age claimed El Jardín.
I caught a flash of a saber-toothed tiger prowling the dead land, and still, I kept going back, diving deeper into history.
"Where are you taking us?" Benjamin asked next to me.
"The beginning."
The island shrank away beneath our feet. Lava poured up the slope of Mount Suerte, back into the withering volcanic cone.
A pterodactyl flew overhead.
The island was now just the small smoking tip of the volcano peeking over the waves. We floated in the warm, prehistoric water, but our clothes remained dry.
Cetus swam nearby.
At last, the volcano was entirely gone, and I stopped rewinding.
All of us were underwater and feeling the currents dance around us, yet we were somehow able to talk and breathe.
"How far back did we go?" Alice inquired and looked around at the deep-blue nothingness surrounding us.
"My best guess based on the lifeforms we saw? About two hundred million years," Tanya replied with wide eyes.
I allowed time to drift forward.
Everything was peaceful … quiet … and then with a massive boom, the ocean floor opened in an enormous fissure far below us.
"What is that?" Emmett exclaimed in fear.
Blinding red light from the earth's mantle shone out and rippled in the depths.
"This has gotta be it," Leah said. "The beginning of the island."
Tanya looked beyond baffled. "But how … what … how did that happen? There was no quake … no plate movement!"
Alistair looked just as bewildered next to her. "Tanya's right. This doesn't seem natural."
I had seen what it was I wanted to see. Now we all knew that the mysteries of the island weren't something that had anything to do with what humans had done to it. It stretched a lot further back than that. Back to its very birth.
It didn't give me any true answers, and I wasn't sure if I'd ever find out as I doubted any living creature knew what exactly happened when El Jardín came to be, but I still felt better knowing what I now knew.
So I fast-forwarded time again, back to the birth of Elyys'tel.
Everyone fell silent.
"That … that's gotta be it, right?" Garrett nodded toward the ground.
"Cap, for once, I think you're onto somethin'," Edward said with a teasing smile.
Before us was a small nest of bone-white roots. Encased inside it was a brilliant light, brighter than any I'd ever seen. Even in full daylight, I had to shield my eyes.
"It's … so beautiful," Tanya awed.
"You found it, Bella. We can save Victoria!" Kate said elatedly.
"Yeah, but how are we supposed to get it? We know where it is now but what about in the present?" Emmett asked, which caused Tanya to clap him on the back.
"But, Emmett, we do know where it is in our time."
"Oh good … wait, we do?" he asked with a frown.
"Do you see those bone-white roots the Heart is surrounded by? There's only one place we've seen those in Elyys'tel … The Throne Room!" she exclaimed.
"You're right! The throne in the audience hall is made of those same bone-white roots!" Alice said.
"At the very center of the tree. It's a logical conclusion," Alistair agreed.
"Come on, then. Let's get back to the present and grab the Heart!" Garrett said.
I fast-forwarded time. A sapling grew out of the nest of white roots, then into a small adult tree. "Grab on, just like before!"
Everyone crowded around the young tree, climbing up its branches as it streaked skyward. Everything we'd seen played back at super-speed. Soon, the tree reached full height, and we watched as the city was constructed below us.
We reached our time, and I stopped the fast-forward.
We ran over to the throne room, phasing through its heavy wooden doors. Inside, the prism effect was stronger than ever, the room seeming to repeat infinitely.
"This is kinda making my head hurt," Emmett complained.
"Hang on, we're almost there!"
The throne sat in the center of the room. An extradimensional light beamed forth, shining through the roots.
"There it is."
I knelt before the throne and reached forward. My hand passed through the roots and I felt my fingers close around something. "I … I feel it!" What I was touching felt like everything at once … rough and smooth; burning hot and freezing cold; round and sharp. I pulled my hand back, and it emerged holding a ball of pure white light. "I've got it!"
"Uh, what's it doing?" Benjamin asked cautiously, looking at the light.
Its light intensified, engulfing everything.
"Whoaaa!"
In the blinding light, Edward took my hand. "You still with me, Princess?"
"Yeah," I told him through gritted teeth, and I winced against the light. It bathed me completely. And finally it faded away. The audience hall was back to normal. Everyone stared at the Heart in my hands, a pulsing ball of pure light.
"Astonishing! I didn't think you had a chance of—Ahem … I mean, well done!" Harrvel said with a gaping mouth.
"Stick around, Jumanji. Nothing's impossible when Bella's on the job." Edward said with a proud smile as he looked at me.
I noticed Emilyne standing watch over Victoria in a secluded corner of the hall.
"We recovered the Heart. What now?"
Harrvel delicately took the Heart from me and walked over to Victoria. Its pulsing grew stronger as the Shaman placed it beside her head.
"Now we wait … and hope." Harrvel lowered his head in prayer.
Emilyne hesitated for a moment, and then followed his example.
"Dudes, I think I'm gonna need some fresh air after those shenanigans," Emmett said, puffing his cheeks as he exhaled sharply.
"Pair that with a drink or three, and you got yourself a partner," Edward said and clapped him on the back.
The group began to file out of the room. Rosalie remained in place, staring at Victoria.
"Yo, 404. Servers go down or something?" Peter called for her. "Come on, you haven't made fun of me in, like, five minutes." She remained silent. "Or maybe you're just too lame to think of a good burn! Ha! … What? No comeback?"
Rosalie turned around, and I saw an incredibly pained expression on her face. She marched out of the room.
"Huh?" Peter looked after her, completely confounded.
"We should check on her."
Rosalie was at the opposite end of an adjoining catwalk by the time I emerged from the hall. She leaned against the railing, her gaze falling to the sandy beach below.
"What did I do? She's never like this!" Peter said worriedly.
"You should go talk to her. Like, actually talk. About what's on her mind."
"B-but—I dunno. I dunno if she wants things to get … real like that. At least not with me."
"Peter, she needs you right now," I told him.
"You're right, bro. I'm being a wimp." He squared his shoulders and wandered over awkwardly and sat down beside her. I was just close enough to still hear them talking. "Uh. So … that was pretty wild back there, huh?"
"Go away."
"Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say … thing is, I—"
"—It's not fair."
Peter turned to look at her. "Huh? What's not fair?"
Rosalie sighed. "All of this. Victoria's only ever been kind, and generous, and giving. She's so freaking perfect and pure, it's annoying! And look what happened to her. Look at her luck. And then there's me. Why am I the one who's alive?"
"C'mon. You're not all bad. I mean, I saw you pet a puppy once."
"I'm a jerk to everyone, and you know it, Peter!"
He nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, yeah, that was after you fed it a snail."
"People like her shouldn't be struck down by life while people like me coast by! When the rules are rigged, you walk away. That's how I've always played."
Peter and Rosalie fell silent.
I noticed Sether leaning out of a window nearby. He spotted the two of them and came running up. Giggling, he wrapped his arms around Rosalie.
"Roa-ly"
"What the—"
"I missed you!" Sether said, still hugging her.
Rosalie frowned but ruffled the Kaarii child's hair. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Bleh! Now go play, squirt."
"Bye-bye!" Sether scampered off.
"At least there's one person whose life I bring joy into," she grumbled.
"More than one."
Rosalie whipped around and looked at Peter in shock. "What?"
He nodded. "Yep … I think that Shaman dude has the hots for you."
She grinned. "Pff!" She playfully shoved Peter.
"Careful. You don't wanna go one on one with me, noob. But seriously, look. Life isn't fair. But that doesn't mean it's rigged. It's like in an RPG. You can level yourself up as much as you want … but in the end, some things come down to a dice roll. In football, you can train hard, come in with a rock-solid game plan … then the ball bounces the wrong way, and it's all over. But is that gonna stop you from playing the game?"
Rosalie frowned. "Hell no."
"And if your luck goes south in Gods and Warlords, what do you do?"
"You prepare for the worst … make the most of your chances … and work your ass off to keep your team together," she said without hesitating.
"That's what I'm talking about!"
Peter and Rosalie did a complicated, multi-step fistbump-handshake combo.
"Heh. Haven't done that in a while," he said, grinning at her.
"You still remember it," she said, surprised.
"Come on, Ro. Of course I remember it."
They quietly stared at the moon together, side by side … until Rosalie rested her head on his shoulder.
"What made you come over here anyway?"
"Bella convinced me. I thought you were just gonna punch me."
Rosalie looked over her shoulder and saw me watching. I quickly averted my eyes and pretended to be looking at the stars.
"Well, there's still time for that."
I left them there on the bridge and headed back inside the grand hall only to find the room empty.
"Hello?"
Victoria was nowhere in sight.
"Huh? Where'd they go?"
Harrvel peeked out from behind the throne. "Catalyst! Run! Save yourself!"
A hovering figure descended from the darkness above.
"Where is it?"
Each word sent a shockwave through my body, causing me to fall to my knees.
"Oh god … Victoria? W-where's what?"
Victoria cradled the glowing Heart in her hands. Her eyes crackled with green energy.
"The other half. What have you done with the rest of me?!"
A/N:
Okay, so is Victoria possessed now? And we found out why Tanya's dossier photo was a mugshot. Do you think she will snap again? And the island's start is a mystery in itself? Well, damn...
Until next time,
Stay Awesome!