This chapter has been edited.

Adeliea

Chapter Three: The Old Seer

The rays of sunlight beat tauntingly down on his closed eyelids. The sun warmed his cheeks and the rest of his body, causing the young genius to begin to awaken. Even with his eyes closed, Ken could feel the intensity of the sun, which he hadn't felt in a long while. Not since before he started wearing his sunglasses. But the sunglasses weren't protecting his eyes from the light, which could mean only one thing: he wasn't wearing them.

Wait… the Control Room had no windows for sunlight to get through; it was in the center of the base and the walls did not reach the outside. Ken could wrap his mind around the idea of his sunglasses falling off, but there shouldn't have been any natural light falling on him anyway.

Reluctantly, Ken opened his eyes. He had to squint because the sun was shining directly above him. It must be about midday. Ken never slept until midday; with his dreams, he didn't stay in bed after seven.

Movement distracted him. He looked down and saw that there was someone sleeping on his chest. Her peaceful breathes were only audible if Ken strained to hear them. Though her face a hidden from him, as her head was angled downward, Ken was fairly certain that Kari's head was resting on him.

But why was he outside sleeping with one of his enemies? And why was he moving his hand to the small of her back that very moment? Ken decided to care later, that he was just going to enjoy the moment for the time being. He knew that he shouldn't be relaxing when he was in the presence of his enemy, and when he had no idea what was going on, but he really just didn't care. Maybe when she woke up she could give him some answers so why not enjoy himself for a while?

He moved a little too much while wrapping his arm around Kari and caused the young teen to stir. She opened her eyes leisurely before noticing the soft, rhythmic rise and fall of whatever she was sleeping on. She lifted her head slightly and saw she was lying beside another person, using him as a pillow. Tilting her head upwards, she saw Ken and gasped.

Ken pretended to be asleep until he heard Kari gasp. He opened his eyes slowly and passed her a questioning glance. "Get away from me!" she demanded as she scrambled backwards to get away from him.

"You do realize that you were sleeping on me?" he asked, feigning a yawn as he sat up. He put his hands behind him and leaned back, his fingers sinking into the grass. He noted the lack of gloves around his palms.

Ken finally noticed that he wasn't wearing his normal outfit that the Digimon Kaiser wore. He was wearing a simple navy blue short sleeve shirt and jeans. There were no accessories covering his hands or eyes but his hair was still spiky. Spiky hair means that we aren't in the Real World. At least I'm not wearing that ugly gray school uniform. Looking up at Kari, he couldn't help but stare.

"What?" Kari asked after he sat there staring for a moment.

"You look…different."

Kari exhaled deeply and shook her head. Black locks fell into her face. "What the…" She grabbed onto a few strands of hair and examined them. Her hair was black with golden colored highlights streaming throughout. It was angled around her face so what would have been her bangs were just shy of shoulder length and the rest fell to the middle of her back. She looked at her hands and saw that they were not covered by those hated pink gloves, but she was wearing a completely new outfit. Kari's attire consisted of a short sleeve, v-neck shirt that was dark brown in color, and dark blue jeans. She looked back at Ken, noticing that he was dressed differently as well, and that he was now avoiding looking at her. She sighed with frustration. She had to be stuck with him. "So where are we?"

Ken's eyes shifted back to Kari. Her eyes were a deep amber in color; redder than they had been before. "How should I know?" he asked, trying not to lose himself in her ruby orbs.

"Like you aren't responsible for us being here?"

"You think I did this?" Ken's voice grew with irritation. Of course she would blame the bad guy; typical heroine assumption.

"How else would we have gotten here?" she shouted back. It didn't feel like the Digital World, it lacked that data feel that the Digital World held. Tai had told her that being in the internet was a lot like being in Digiworld, it made people feel like they weren't made out of flesh and blood. This place had more of a Real World feel to it, like she was actually in her body and not a virtual representation of it. The trees nearby and the grass did not have the animated look to them like those of the Digital World, either.

Ken was about to yell about how he wasn't even sure where 'here' was; he too had realized that the place was not digital, but it did not look like Japan. But he was interrupted by a loud screeching noise like nails on a chalkboard.

A spider the size of a medium sized shed was fighting his way through the trees the two teens had woken up just passed. "Is that a digimon?" Kari whispered fearfully; she was terrified of spiders.

"I-I don't think so," Ken replied. The monstrous arachnid bent his body sideways and forced himself between two trees, cracking them in the process. He pushed his body through the rest of the trees. Ken and Kari hurried to get to their feet and backed away slowly.

Ken threw himself against Kari and knocked her to the ground with him on top of her. "What the hell-" she stopped, saw that one of the spider's barbs was stuck in the ground where she had been standing seconds before, and realized that he had just saved her. That was unexpected.

"You're welcome," Ken hissed as he pulled Kari back to her feet. He grabbed her arm and yanked Kari forward, prompting the girl to run.

The spider freed his leg from the earth and gave chase to the two. His screeches made both Ken and Kari cringe as they ran for their lives.

"What is it and what does it want?" Kari asked as they ran.

"A giant spider, obviously, and I'm going to guess that he wants us for his next meal. Would you care to find out?" he asked sarcastically.

Kari just shot him a sideways glare and continued running. "Stupid cynical bastard," she whispered angrily.

They continued running through the fields with the spider's long legs coming ever closer to tearing into their backs. The field had grass that reached the middle of their bodies and made it difficult to run. Luckily, the spider was also having trouble; his legs continually became intertwined with the long blades of grass that scratched at him.

A village was seen not too far into the distance. Outside the village was a white line, one that looked like one of the lines drawn on a soccer field with powered chalk. If we can just make it passed that line… He wasn't sure why, but Ken knew that that line was important.

A cry of pain was heard from the spider. Ken and Kari looked back and stopped running when they saw what had happened. The large, black arachnid hissed in pain as he tried to claw at the air. Well, it looked like he was clawing the air, save for the sparks of light that were produced from the slashing.

"It's a demon barrier." Ken and Kari whipped around at the sound of a new voice to find a little old woman sitting on a rock. "Poor things, you look awful."

Why hadn't we noticed her before, when we were running in that direction? Ken was too busy trying to catch his breath to care. Both he and Kari were breathing hard and were too tired to try to comprehend what was going on. Demons? Well, the Digital World could be ruled out for sure.

"Come on now; let's get you over to my home where you two can get some rest."

"How about we get some answers?" Kari asked, trying to sound polite although her patience had long since run out.

"Of course, my dear, now let's get going."

Ken and Kari followed the older woman suspiciously. Ken didn't like the look of her; she had wrinkled skin that had been tanned from long days in the sun and gray hair that was tied back into a tight bun. Her eyes were too small for her face and were almost black in appearance; they were such a dark shade of brown. Her chin was cleft and defined, and her cheek bones stood out too far giving her a caved in look. She was short, shorter than Kari, and the hem of her hose reached the ground. A grey long sleeve shirt was tucked into her pants and the hose were black in color.

Despite his reservation about her, the duo followed the creepy old woman into the village. They looked over their shoulders every so often to make sure that the spider was still on the other side of the barrier.

The woman's house was small and an identical model as every other dwelling they could see. All the houses were made of wood and looked as if dust had been allowed to settle on them for years. The only noticeable difference between the woman's house and the others was that her house had a flap door made of sewn together straw and grass so that it could be pushed aside rather than opened. Every other door was made of wood and had a handle attached.

A young man of about twenty years pushed aside the straw door just as the old woman was reaching out her hand to move it out of her way. "You're back; I was beginning to get worried that they weren't here after all."

As if reading their minds, the old woman explained who the young man was. "This is my son, Luther. Luther, Dear, these two are a bit shaken up from a run in with a spider demon. Would you be a dear and go kill it while I help them?"

Kari looked out at Luther. He was over six feet in height and could have been considered handsome if his nose was not being shown. It was long and crooked, like it had been broken one too many times. His hair was a chocolate brown and long enough to pull into a low ponytail. His hair was slicked back and pulled tight into the confines of a hair band. His shoulders were broad and Kari could see a strap that went over his left shoulder and across his stomach diagonally. There was a large, duel-sided axe strapped onto his back. "You're going to go kill it?" Kari asked uncertainly.

Luther's hand wrapped around the hilt of the sword attached to his belt. "Yes Dear, kill it," the old woman answered. "Spider demons have very powerful venom, though it's probably a good thing that you don't know that first hand. I extract parts of the venom and use them for different potions. There are other useful parts as well, but I don't want to bore you and keep you in the doorway. Come inside, both of you, we have much to discuss."

"Just as long as you stop saying 'dear'" Ken said sourly. He followed the old woman into the older fashioned dwelling as Luther stepped away and headed towards the outskirts of the village.

"Now then, Dears, my name is Usma. I am the village seer."

"Seer?" Ken questioned. "And what the hell does that mean?"

Oh, you're so polite," Kari said sarcastically.

"Shut up," Ken retorted lamely.

"You two get along better than I would have expected. 'Specially since you are being such a brute, Ken. My dear, it was a miracle that you tamed him once, I'll be amazed if you can do it again." She gave a meaningful look to Kari.

"What are you talking about?" Kari questioned.

"How do you even know my name?" Ken demanded. He did not like the old woman in the least. She must be crazy, Kari taming me? If anything it would be the other way around. No! she's the enemy and it will stay that way. "You're insane, Lady, you know that?"

Usma's smile faded as she recognized that she had said too much. "Aye, young one, that is true. Never mind this old woman's discourse. I say things sometimes that I do not mean." She chuckled nervously and hoped that the two teens would forget her previous comments. They were not ready for the truth, not yet. "A seer is one who is able to see into the future and sees things that are not in range of normal perception."

"So you knew we were going to be here. Where is here exactly?" Kari asked.

"This is the land of Adeliea. We are in the small village of Shany; it holds little significance when compared to Adeliea's greater cities."

Adeliea. Ken and Kari tried to hide their shock as the word echoed over again and again in their minds. This is a little too weird to be a coincidence. "Is this world parallel to our world?" Ken asked.

"It is indeed, but you both would know that if you would listen to your dreams a little better. Have you not sensed the world calling to you? Honestly, if I couldn't feel the power of you Gifts lying dormant within you, I'd say you were just two ordinary people."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't had any dreams about this place and I don't have any 'Gift.'" Ken was lying through his teeth, he just didn't know to what extend.

"Of course you don't," the old woman said with a wink.

Kari shook her head. She pushed back of few stray strands of her black hair before looking Usma in the eyes. "My gift is dangerous," she explained. "Gennai warned me that if my powers grew than the powers of darkness would grow as well."

"Aye, but that was in the World of the Digital. Here, you must develop your powers or you will not survive for long."

Ken let his jaw drop. Kari has powers? "I'm stuck here with two mental people; it must be my lucky day."

Kari scoffed at him. "Shut up, idiot."

If Usma wasn't standing between them, Ken would have slapped her right then and there. Who the hell does she think she is? "Say that again, bitch!"

Usma raised a hand into the air. "Calm down both of you. I swear, if you two don't learn to get along than you'll have a difficult time completing your quest."

"What quest?" Ken growled.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you. The journey and its destination are for you to find out for yourself. I have something that will help you greatly on your journey, but I cannot give it to you until Luther returns."

Kari shook the annoying locks from her face again. "No offence, but I don't want anything from you unless it's a one-way ticket home."

"Home? I don't have that kind of power. I see things, I don't make things happen. Besides don't you want to learn why you have been brought here?" Usma handed Kari a hair-band to tie her hair back with.

"No," Ken answered for the both of them.

Usma exhaled and her tiny eyes narrowed into slits at Ken. "Why don't you to go rest while we wait for Luther to return?"

"How about you give us some straight answers instead?"

Usma pointed her fingers towards the bedroom and mouthed the word 'rest' at him. Ken glared at the old woman as he walked away and Kari followed silently behind.

She smiled slightly as she watched the teens retreat into the bedroom. "She's as strong willed as they said and he's as fiery as I've heard. Hopefully Hikari will be able to tame his restless spirit once again so they may save Adeliea."

(00)

Better?

Hehe, I made Kari's hair black in another fic! But black with golden brown highlights, that's hot!

Oh, and I had a bit of trouble describing Usma's outfit, but it's supposed to be like the one Kaede wears (from Inuyasha) if a visual comparison could be made. But her pants weren't as wide and it was black and gray rather than red and white.

Chapter rewritten June 27/28, 2006

Chapter reposted June 29, 2006