Chapter 2
Gaea awoke to find herself in complete darkness. She felt a damp coolness all around her, but her body was warm as if there was a warm breeze blowing only around her. She opened up her second sight to see that she was encircled in a blanket of Element Fire meant t keep her safe and warm.
{Well…if I was captured they want me alive. That could be good or bad. But where am I? What twisted place is this? I guess I'll have to find out for myself…I can't sense where Athena is. What if they killed her?!?}
She attempted to move to turn around to see if her tiger was near her and was unconscious and shielded, she wouldn't be able to "feel" her bonded if that were the case. As she did so pain surged in her muscled as they protested to the movement. She gasped and cursed under her breath and tried to uncurl again, slowly this time. It took five minutes and a lot of patience before she was uncurled enough to be able to sit up with out crying out in pain. The Earth beneath her was solid but unfamiliar. It was made of a soft stone polished till it was smooth. There was chunk of it lying beside her as she had painfully discovered and she used it to help prop herself up. She still could not see anything so she began to blindly reach around her, hoping t find something to indicate the presence of others or a clue as to where she was. She found a few more boulders and many small pebbles before she gave it up as a lost cause.
She propped herself up on a boulder again to assess her current physical condition. {Nothing seams to be broken, well that's a plus. A few bruises and pulled muscles but I would have expected that after a fight. Where is Athena? I still can't sense her…}
:Athena? Smallone? Where are you?: Gaea called out quietly into the nothingness surrounding her. She hoped that something nasty hadn't heard her desperate call to her bonded. She felt something stir in the back of her mind, then she felt Athena's presence like a candle in the dark that encircled her.
:Smallone, where are you?: Gaea called out again, but louder this time for she knew that Athena was at least alive. She opened up the shields that had protected her from Athena's pain when they had been attacked, how days ago? She felt the same soreness and stiffness that she herself felt and aches in places she did not hurt.
:Athena. Don't move, I'm coming to you. Hold on.: Gaea demanded. {I hope she's alive enough to hear and understand me. Not that she'd obey me anyway.}
She got up, rather painfully and followed her empathy to where her bonded lay some 10 feet away. {If I had just gone on a little farther, wouldn't have to risk being over heard.}
:We won't be overheard, I promise.: Came Athena's voice, relaxing some of Gaea's extremely tense back muscles.
:How do you know for sure? Are you okay? Where are we?: Gaea, seemingly unconsciencely, spat out all her questions out at once. Athena could feel a variety of emotions raging in her chosen. Fear, anger, anxiety, compassion, thanks, it was a storm that she would have to help calm down. She waited a moment for her loved one to find her and fuss a bit before she spoke.
:I'm fine. Don't strain your self. Just breathe, and listen. Do you remember those stories that I told you about the abused gods and their bonded leaving Douleur. For good?:
:Yes, I remember.: Gaea answered, not knowing where her friend was going with it.
:Well, I got us out. We're in a place where no one can hurt us, for, they know not that we are here. It is a place where all five of the Elements come together to create what's known as a solar system. A star with a planet or two revolving around it.: Athena explained, she got the impression that Gaea didn't understand what a solar system was. :Like Douleur. Douleur was a planter revolving around a star, thus creating a solar system.:
Gaea sent a mental picture of what Athena had just described.
:Yes. It is not inhabited, so we will not be disturbed. However, it has no water for plant life anymore. I was destroyed when a neighboring star collapsed. It won't happen again. But you will need to use your mage talent to make our new home inhabitable.: Athena wasn't sure how Gaea would take that last part and threw up her shields just incase her bonded decided to attack her mentally for even mentioning her and mage talent in the same sentence. But no attack came, just a puzzled feeling.
:But I'm a journeyman, what can I do? I gave all but the most primitive powers up…they're gone!: By now Gaea was utterly confused by all of this and nothing made sense.
:Dearheart, let me tell you something that I have held inside for a very long time. One of my gifts is foresight, however…:
:Then why did you warn us that mom and dad were going to die!!! You should have told us!!! People could have been saved!: Gaea yelled anger and anguish bubbling up inside her, tears threatening to stream down her face as they had almost 10 years ago.
:Dearheart calm your self, f I had known I would have said something. But, I didn't. Things happen and they happen for a reason. If I were meant to know about something, the Elements would have allowed me to see it, or in some cases, feel or sense it. Your powers are not gone, they are simply dormant. They still reside inside of you, what you saw when you exhaled your powers was the residue from all the workings that you had created and your sadness turned in to magic. It was an illusion that I created because I had sensed that you would need your mage talent later on. All you have to do is call upon it and it will come. I promise. We can do this, together.: Athena sighed, feeling all the weight of that secret, kept for so long, finally lift and give her a peaceful feeling for a moment. One that she had not had in close to 10 years.
:So your saying that al I have to do is call upon it and it will awaken? Just like that?: now something's made sense. Like the fact that she could make mage lights (balls of light that lit up a small room brighter than 10 candles could) that would last for as long as she felt like keeping a room bright. No journeyman could hold a mage light up past 12 hours without exhausting their stores of energy. {Interesting. I can't believe that she kept that a secret from me for so long. That must have taken a lot of strength and will power on her part.}
She took a very long moment that seemed to take forever, to regain face and strength. She looked Athena in the eye, searching for confirmation of all the information she just received. She opened up her empathetic gift and searched Athena's inner most soul for answers. When she found what she needed she nodded and looked away.
Gaea took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. She eased her self into a light trance with all the grace and practice of one who had done this everyday for decades. Then in into a deep trance so as to be able to reach the inner levels of her mind most efficiently, wasting as little energy as possible. She found the place where Athena had stored her higher training of mage craft. It was sealed with a need/want spell. This meant that if she ever got herself into something that Athena couldn't get her out of, her powers would open up to her like a flood gate and she would be able to heal, defend, essentially help herself as she once had been able to. She would have all her powers and gifts back at adept level, as they had been before the Great Accident.
She opened up her mind to the seal and poured al her empathetic training into projecting her want to have it open. She heard a rush and then a click. All the power than had been held captive there for years rushed out to over-come her. For a moment her vision was clouded with her mage, empathy, farsight, and healing gifts coming back into adept level.
For a moment Athena thought that the return of her power had overwhelmed her bonded. It had happened to others before. Athena looked away, she could not bear to see Gaea in this state. {She is strong. She will not let her gifts win.}
:Are you ready to start?: Gaea asked, startling Athena.
:Ready when you are Dearheart.: Athena said, attempting to cover her startlement.
It took them both a short time to regain her control over her almost unused powers. It was nightfall before she had everything under her control.
:We might as well get some sleep. I'll hunt in the morning. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.: Athena said exhausted. She had worked as hard as Gaea, for she was in trance helping control the floods of power that Gaea would unintentionally invoke.
:I agree. Good night Smallone.: Gaea said as she lay down next to Athena and drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
Gaea awoke to find herself in complete darkness. She felt a damp coolness all around her, but her body was warm as if there was a warm breeze blowing only around her. She opened up her second sight to see that she was encircled in a blanket of Element Fire meant t keep her safe and warm.
{Well…if I was captured they want me alive. That could be good or bad. But where am I? What twisted place is this? I guess I'll have to find out for myself…I can't sense where Athena is. What if they killed her?!?}
She attempted to move to turn around to see if her tiger was near her and was unconscious and shielded, she wouldn't be able to "feel" her bonded if that were the case. As she did so pain surged in her muscled as they protested to the movement. She gasped and cursed under her breath and tried to uncurl again, slowly this time. It took five minutes and a lot of patience before she was uncurled enough to be able to sit up with out crying out in pain. The Earth beneath her was solid but unfamiliar. It was made of a soft stone polished till it was smooth. There was chunk of it lying beside her as she had painfully discovered and she used it to help prop herself up. She still could not see anything so she began to blindly reach around her, hoping t find something to indicate the presence of others or a clue as to where she was. She found a few more boulders and many small pebbles before she gave it up as a lost cause.
She propped herself up on a boulder again to assess her current physical condition. {Nothing seams to be broken, well that's a plus. A few bruises and pulled muscles but I would have expected that after a fight. Where is Athena? I still can't sense her…}
:Athena? Smallone? Where are you?: Gaea called out quietly into the nothingness surrounding her. She hoped that something nasty hadn't heard her desperate call to her bonded. She felt something stir in the back of her mind, then she felt Athena's presence like a candle in the dark that encircled her.
:Smallone, where are you?: Gaea called out again, but louder this time for she knew that Athena was at least alive. She opened up the shields that had protected her from Athena's pain when they had been attacked, how days ago? She felt the same soreness and stiffness that she herself felt and aches in places she did not hurt.
:Athena. Don't move, I'm coming to you. Hold on.: Gaea demanded. {I hope she's alive enough to hear and understand me. Not that she'd obey me anyway.}
She got up, rather painfully and followed her empathy to where her bonded lay some 10 feet away. {If I had just gone on a little farther, wouldn't have to risk being over heard.}
:We won't be overheard, I promise.: Came Athena's voice, relaxing some of Gaea's extremely tense back muscles.
:How do you know for sure? Are you okay? Where are we?: Gaea, seemingly unconsciencely, spat out all her questions out at once. Athena could feel a variety of emotions raging in her chosen. Fear, anger, anxiety, compassion, thanks, it was a storm that she would have to help calm down. She waited a moment for her loved one to find her and fuss a bit before she spoke.
:I'm fine. Don't strain your self. Just breathe, and listen. Do you remember those stories that I told you about the abused gods and their bonded leaving Douleur. For good?:
:Yes, I remember.: Gaea answered, not knowing where her friend was going with it.
:Well, I got us out. We're in a place where no one can hurt us, for, they know not that we are here. It is a place where all five of the Elements come together to create what's known as a solar system. A star with a planet or two revolving around it.: Athena explained, she got the impression that Gaea didn't understand what a solar system was. :Like Douleur. Douleur was a planter revolving around a star, thus creating a solar system.:
Gaea sent a mental picture of what Athena had just described.
:Yes. It is not inhabited, so we will not be disturbed. However, it has no water for plant life anymore. I was destroyed when a neighboring star collapsed. It won't happen again. But you will need to use your mage talent to make our new home inhabitable.: Athena wasn't sure how Gaea would take that last part and threw up her shields just incase her bonded decided to attack her mentally for even mentioning her and mage talent in the same sentence. But no attack came, just a puzzled feeling.
:But I'm a journeyman, what can I do? I gave all but the most primitive powers up…they're gone!: By now Gaea was utterly confused by all of this and nothing made sense.
:Dearheart, let me tell you something that I have held inside for a very long time. One of my gifts is foresight, however…:
:Then why did you warn us that mom and dad were going to die!!! You should have told us!!! People could have been saved!: Gaea yelled anger and anguish bubbling up inside her, tears threatening to stream down her face as they had almost 10 years ago.
:Dearheart calm your self, f I had known I would have said something. But, I didn't. Things happen and they happen for a reason. If I were meant to know about something, the Elements would have allowed me to see it, or in some cases, feel or sense it. Your powers are not gone, they are simply dormant. They still reside inside of you, what you saw when you exhaled your powers was the residue from all the workings that you had created and your sadness turned in to magic. It was an illusion that I created because I had sensed that you would need your mage talent later on. All you have to do is call upon it and it will come. I promise. We can do this, together.: Athena sighed, feeling all the weight of that secret, kept for so long, finally lift and give her a peaceful feeling for a moment. One that she had not had in close to 10 years.
:So your saying that al I have to do is call upon it and it will awaken? Just like that?: now something's made sense. Like the fact that she could make mage lights (balls of light that lit up a small room brighter than 10 candles could) that would last for as long as she felt like keeping a room bright. No journeyman could hold a mage light up past 12 hours without exhausting their stores of energy. {Interesting. I can't believe that she kept that a secret from me for so long. That must have taken a lot of strength and will power on her part.}
She took a very long moment that seemed to take forever, to regain face and strength. She looked Athena in the eye, searching for confirmation of all the information she just received. She opened up her empathetic gift and searched Athena's inner most soul for answers. When she found what she needed she nodded and looked away.
Gaea took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. She eased her self into a light trance with all the grace and practice of one who had done this everyday for decades. Then in into a deep trance so as to be able to reach the inner levels of her mind most efficiently, wasting as little energy as possible. She found the place where Athena had stored her higher training of mage craft. It was sealed with a need/want spell. This meant that if she ever got herself into something that Athena couldn't get her out of, her powers would open up to her like a flood gate and she would be able to heal, defend, essentially help herself as she once had been able to. She would have all her powers and gifts back at adept level, as they had been before the Great Accident.
She opened up her mind to the seal and poured al her empathetic training into projecting her want to have it open. She heard a rush and then a click. All the power than had been held captive there for years rushed out to over-come her. For a moment her vision was clouded with her mage, empathy, farsight, and healing gifts coming back into adept level.
For a moment Athena thought that the return of her power had overwhelmed her bonded. It had happened to others before. Athena looked away, she could not bear to see Gaea in this state. {She is strong. She will not let her gifts win.}
:Are you ready to start?: Gaea asked, startling Athena.
:Ready when you are Dearheart.: Athena said, attempting to cover her startlement.
It took them both a short time to regain her control over her almost unused powers. It was nightfall before she had everything under her control.
:We might as well get some sleep. I'll hunt in the morning. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.: Athena said exhausted. She had worked as hard as Gaea, for she was in trance helping control the floods of power that Gaea would unintentionally invoke.
:I agree. Good night Smallone.: Gaea said as she lay down next to Athena and drifted off to a dreamless sleep.