And...I updated!!! YAY!
Sorry that it took so long, I just ran into a killer plot hole...Took forever to get rid of that evil, evil thing. But, I'm back with a new chapter, so all is well!
Reviewer's Spotlight:
Stephen - Weyardnessless? Is that even a word? Oo
Isaac's Girlfriend - Thankies for the review! And yes, I updated! evil laugh
libby - Yes, fear the cliffhanger! Muahahahahaha!
sorry but I can't tell you - I did! I did! waves around new chapter
Golden Sun Geek - Actually, Mr. Lincoln is based off my Algebra teacher...who looks like Kraden...! My gosh, you're right!
Thanks for the reviews everyone!
----------------------------------------------------------------
Alex's Revenge
Chapter II - The Note
What happened to me…
Am I alive?
Ugh…I hurt everywhere…I must be alive…I opened my eyes slowly, but shut them quickly, blinded by the sunlight flooding in. I was in a soft bed, lying on my back.
How did I get here? Hmph…must be dreaming…A really vivid dream…
I thought I was alone in that room…until…
"Hey, are you okay?"
I groaned, not in the mood to talk at all. Nah, I hurt too much to even attempt talking. Quite frankly, it felt like someone had slammed me upside the head with a sledgehammer. Knowing my recent luck, that may just have happened.
The voice laughed nervously. "Sorry, I should have known. After a night like that, I'm surprised you're even awake!"
I looked to my left to where the voice was coming from. A young boy was there, a grin on his face, a mop of red hair slightly covering his sea blue eyes. He looked about my age, maybe a little younger.
He stood up and walked over the other side of the room before gathering a few random objects. I sat up in the bed and tried to follow his movements, but gravity seemed to be against me. I fell back down on the bed with a loud plop.
"I wouldn't try to get up now if I were you," the boy said. "You had quite a fever when I found you."
That would definitely explain the heavy headedness. "W-where am I?" I asked, my words more like a mumble. Luckily, I didn't have to repeat myself. This strange kid heard me just fine.
"Huh? Oh, you're just a ways from New Vale."
I sighed with relief. At least I was still in my good old home town—or at least near it. I attempted to sit up again, using the wall behind me as support, when the door opened. A woman's head popped in past the open door.
"Eoleo, is he awake yet?" she asked, her brown eyes inquisitive. She spotted me on the bed and I waved innocently. She smiled back, and tugged auburn hair behind her ear.
"Oh, hello, Kay," said Eoleo. "Yep, he just woke up, right…err…what's your name…?" I turned away from my inspection of the room—it looked like some old, very old, cottage—and answered.
Both Kay and Eoleo silenced immediately. Eoleo looked thoughtful and calm, but Kay shot me a terrifying glare. Although I'm kinda ashamed to say so, I cowered, fearing that I would catch fire or something. That lady went from perfectly innocent to demonic and terrifying in an instant.
After a rather awkward—and scary!—moment, Eoleo began speaking again.
"Well... Err…Felix…Maybe we should go. Can you stand? Good, dinner's ready!"
Dinner?! Had I really been out of it for that long? I mentally groaned.
-------------------------------------------
I sat down on the cool grass and leaned against an apple tree, now recovering from both a fever and a full stomach. Eoleo sat down on a log a small distance away and leaned back, watching the sun set over the Angara Ranges. I smiled. You never got to see a perfect sunset in the city. It was rather strange thinking that, since I was probably sitting where my home was supposed to be. I felt a pang of homesickness, but then reminded myself that it was a dream and I might as well go along with it for a while.
I tore my eyes away from the sunset. I couldn't concentrate on it, not while I still had so many questions to ask.
"Hey, Eoleo. Is Kay your big sister or something?"
He chuckled lightly. "No, my parents are…" he paused, as if looking for the right word. "…travelling. I don't have any brothers or sisters…Do you?"
I looked back to the sunset, my fingers intertwined into a headrest. "Yeah, my little sister Jenna…" I wonder how they're doing…Mom's probably called in the S.W.A.T. team by now. Dad…heh, who knows what the heck he's doing. Then, something struck me.
"Hmmm…what year is it?" Eoleo came out of his thinking daze and answered very simply. "1681, last time I checked."
….He and his companions brought forth the Golden Age in 1670…
…."Yes, Menardi, a few hundred years will do that."…
I was suddenly knocked out of any pleasant calmness I was feeling.
"Hey, are you alright? You're kind of pale…You are getting a fever again, are you?!"
Everything—every little bit of information from the day—slid into place. Unfortunately, I could only say one word in reply. It was even more unfortunate once I realized what that certain word was.
"Alex…"
Now it was Eoleo's turn to be pale. His mouth hung open as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't. After a while, he did manage to gasp out a word though. "What?!"
I remained in a shocked daze. "Alex did this…" At the mention of the name, Eoleo visibly winced. "I'm not in a dream, I'm in the wrong time…But why…? How?"
Right on its cliched cue, a wolf howled in the distance, sending Eoleo and me out of our shock. Normally, a wolf's howl wouldn't surprise me, there were a few wolves on the outskirts of New Vale still, but this one was different. It sounded to be…in pain…And, judging my how silent the woods had gotten, whatever caused the wolf so much pain was coming closer.
The sun finished its dazzling display of colors and hid behind the mountains, shrouding the world in darkness.
"Well...within my knowledge of bad omens, this about tops it." I stated.
Eoleo snapped back at me in a kind of yelled whisper. "Be quiet!" I shut up. I heard him shuffling around in the darkness and a soft mumbling, but I couldn't see anything until a fire lit the small clearing. A fire that was held in Eoleo's right hand, no tinder or match, not even a candle. It was just floating there, no more than a centimeter above his hand. I stared, but he didn't even notice, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
His azure eyes narrowed. "You do have a weapon right? Can you fight?" I shook my head and he nearly cried out in desperation. "Can you at least use psynergy?!" Ugh, that word again. I didn't know what to answer. He cursed.
There was another howl; the wolf was getting closer.
"Try to hide then." I raised an eyebrow at this request. I didn't really doubt Eoleo, he was just so…scrawny. Well, maybe not that, but he definitely didn't look like he could take on a wolf, even with that weird fireball.
Leaves, not too far away, rustled.
"NOW!" Eoleo shouted, reinforcing his words with a hard push. I was caught by surprise and collapsed into a bush when I heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed. I peeked out through the leaves, watching Eoleo brandish a large steel cutlass towards his enemy, the wolf.
Heh, and I was worried about us getting eaten by a wolf. Foolish me. I didn't think that there was anything bigger out there. Much bigger.
It stood on all four paws, its front end lowered, ready to pounce at any moment while the muscles in it legs pounded. Every fur on its body stood out straight, looking more like a coat of needles than fur, and its tail was raised proudly, showing that it was the leader and no one was getting in its way. Its teeth, rows of white knives, stained with the blood of its last opponent, backed up its leadership.
But its eyes were the worst, staring out at the world with an iridescent yellow color, showing only one emotion: hatred and a lust for blood.
It raised its front, apparently changing its course of action. I knew that if it had pounced, it would either but sliced in half by Eoleo's cutlass or knock him down, but I decided that the wolf thought it would be the latter. But then what was it doing, unless…It was going to draw out the battle for as long as it could…
I fished around the ground, looking for anything that could help, just hoping that Eoleo would be able to last for a good while.
"Fume!" Eoleo called, raising his sword into the air. Flames shot up from the hilt of the cutlass, enveloping the blade completely before flying off in a single stream. The plume of fire raged in coiled forms, almost like a dragon, before striking the wolf. It flew back, whimpering as its fur caught fire, but then pounced, the fire making its attack twice as deadly. Eoleo stepped back to brace himself against the blow, but was taken down and landed with a harsh thud, the beast's paws forcing him to stay down. The fire wrapping around the monster's already deadly laws began to eat through his shirt.
I lunged forward out of the bush and landed on my knees, absolutely clueless as to what I was doing even as I did it. I didn't rise though. Instead, I placed my hand on the cool earth and…either I had told it what needed to be done somehow or the earth just knew, because a thick rumbling began under our feet. I looked down at my hand, suddenly noticing something that definitely wasn't there before, a golden light outlining my hand like…an aura.
Suddenly, a small rock shot out of the ground, literally squeezed out by the pressure. Then another, followed by another. The final one flew through the air and smacked the wolf, right under its mouth. It turned and snarled, releasing its death-hold on Eoleo and coming towards me.
Perfect.
Like a wave, the very ground beneath us rose and engulfed the beast, leaving nothing but a charred leg poking out of a hill.
Eoleo sat up and stared with an impressed whistle. "Can't use psynergy, huh?" Still confused about the whole 'psynergy' thing, I stood up and walked over to the hill, inspecting it. I knelt down and looked at the leg, when I noticed something strange about it. Something was curled around it. I wrapped my hand around the strange object and tugged it off, revealing it to be nothing more than piece of paper, burned at the edges. How the paper had survived without going up in flames was beyond me, until I noticed that it was slightly damp. I smirked.
"Don't you people normally use pigeons for this sort of stuff?" I said sarcastically. Eoleo just answered with a flat look and tugged at his shirt, looking at the two now large holes in it. He sniffed.
"Great, Mom is not going to like this…" he said quietly, peeling off his burned and torn shirt before noticing me staring at the piece of parchment. "But what does it say?"
I unwrapped it.
Felix,
I'm sure that an Adept of your caliber had no trouble receiving this letter. After thatdisplay of psynergy you put on before coming here, I no longer have any doubts about you.
But, as I'm sure you will suggest, I will 'get to the point.'
You need to get home, to your own time. I'm sure you've already begun to miss your dear friends and family. But, you cannot get home, not without my help.
In exchange, I, too, need assistance in gaining something. I'm sure that you will be able to help in ways. As such, I humbly ask for aid A fair exchange, is it not?
Meet me at the sanctum of Anemos. Your new friend should know how to get to Contigo, and I'm sure you can easily reach the Anemos Sanctum from there. I expect your answer there, and I'm sure that we will both gain what we desire.
Alex
P.S. You cannot escape, no matter how hard you may try.
I crushed the paper in a fist, not believing what I had read, what had happened. In my rage, I never did notice that the wolf's leg was gone. Only the hill remained.
