Hiya! I like that opening... not like the karate chop hiya, but like hi you, but hi ya, making it hiya... no matter. So... Will an egg hatch for Jefi, or will he be stuck behind with Dae's family? It feels like I'm deciding the fate of my friend in real life... not that I'm saying this world is fake. It's probably the most real world out there. Ain't nothing better than the good ol' Inheritance Cycle. So many cool possibilities... I'll make sure not to kill all of the characters off in a mad spree of writing power... yet. BWA HAHAHAHA! I'm as insane as... My friend.
Chapter 3
Jefi reaches out and touches the light brown egg. He keeps his hand on there for about thirty seconds, his face one of intense concentration. Nothing happens and he looks at the other egg hopefully, the deep blue one. He carefully places his palm on the center and waits. He stares intensely at the egg, his hopeful expression slowly slipping away. Neither of the eggs had hatched for him. He looks at me, staring at me so intensely I thought he could see my soul. With how close we were, in a way he probably could. then he runs out of the room.
I look down at Silfr, heartbroken that my one best friend wouldn't be able to join me on the adventure I was about to embark upon.
You will always have me. Says Silfr's playful, rich voice through our mental connection. She sounded as an adult would.
I'm glad I have a fearsome dragon to protect me. I say through our connection, causing me to giggle and her to straighten with pride, her graceful neck curving and giving her a beautiful, feminine appearance. I burst out laughing and Silfr starts to make a sound that sounded akin to choking, which evidently was the equivalent to a laugh to a baby dragon. I knew that I loved her with all my heart and would do absolutely anything for her, and she me.
"I'm sorry your friend was not chosen by an egg. I am told by Rekkr that the bond is the closest anyone will ever experience with another being, living or no." Says the Black-haired elf. "I realize that I have not properly introduced myself. I am Okatr and am not gifted with being chosen by a dragon."
"I am Groa, and also not chosen." Says the green elf.
"I am Kathryn." my mother says. "How long will my daughter be away from me?"
"Training can take anywhere from 20-30 years." Says Okatr.
"YOU ARE NOT TAKING MY THIRTEEN YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER AWAY FROM ME FOR THREE DECADES!" my mother screams at him. Her face was a mask of fear, anger, and panic. "STRANGERS POUND ON MY DOOR WITH MY UNCONCIOUS DAUGHTER AND TELL ME THAT THEY ARE TAKING HER AWAY FROM ME FOR THREE DECADES?! I will not let you take my Dae away from me." She says menacingly.
"Relax Madam Kathryn. Every year, the students get a break to visit their families for two weeks. They will come back to their hometowns with one or more eggs to try and give the dragons within the shell the best chance for them to hatch.
"She's only thirteen..." She says weakly, then sits down on the foot of my bed.
"Mother..." I say then crawl towards her and circle her with a hug. She hugs me back fiercely, her tears making my shoulder wet. In one second I remember every moment We've spent together, every hug we've shared, every kiss she gave me when I fell and cut myself. That happened a lot more than it should have... I was a brave child, and on more than one occasion, when fallen, my knees and arms would drip blood onto the dust road. I never cried. I just got up and laughed, then ran off to do something else. The only time my wounds would be cleaned is when my mother forced me to let her clean them for me. By that time she would say I looked like a demon child, because the blood on my hands would get on my face when I pulled a stray hair back from my face and it would be all over my clothes. Jefi's Mom usually cast a spell to get the stain out.
I slip out of my bed and open the door to my room. "I think you had better leave." I say solidly to the three elves. They all exit, Rekkr looking at me curiously before he left the room entirely. My mother leaves too, even though I didn't want her to, muttering about needing time to think. I sigh, alone with Silfr. "We're going for a walk." I say to her, then she squeals in delight. I grab a small pouch that she can fit into and attatch it to my belt. I then climb out the window, seeing the rock on the sill left for me by Jefi. It was one of the sparkly ones he had knack of finding. I jump back into my room to add it with the others on a small shelf. On that shelf was very few items, but they were all of my worldly possessions. I re-climb back out of the window. It was easy. Our house is only one floor, and my room faces the forest. I run for about a half mile, giving Silfr memories I have of Home. She takes all of them quietly, absorbing the value and emotion each one holds.
I see the end of a stick poking out of the top of the largest tree in the woods, such a size and angle that it looked unnatural. This is Mine and Jefi's favorite spot. I climb up the giant tree, swinging on the branches with years of practice, the usual hand and footholds worn smooth with the number of times they have been of use. I pull myself through the thick blanket of leaves and into our treehouse.
It isn't made with planks of wood. Jefi and I had curved the branches of this area up into an onion shape, forming a room. We planted ivy and vines around it to camouflage it, and so far, we're the only ones who know of it.
"Hello." I say to Jefi, who was already sitting in a corner.
"Hi." He replies. His eyes were red, and his expression looked as if the world was ending. He and I had made the room really large, so it was large enough for both of us to stand up.
"I..." I start to say, then Jefi cuts me off.
"Don't. Just don't. You can't say anything that will help. You and I both know that this is the big thing you have waited for, the adventure you talked about as a kid." He says. He plops down next to one of the walls.
"I don't want to leave you any more than you would not want to leave me." I reply. I'm capturing an image of him to remember him by.
"You don't understand Dae." He says. His face is a mixture of anger, frustration, hopelessness, sadness, and something else I can't place.
"What don't I understand?" I say back, somewhat angrily.
"Better if I showed you." He says. Then, he stands up then leans forward and gives me a short kiss. A soft one, right on my cheek. I step back slowly. "It took me seven years to muster up the courage to do that." He says, then slides down the wall again.
I'm speechless. All those times he looked at me strangely, or hugged me for two seconds longer than normal, or turned a shade akin to a tomato when I talked about the other village boys... It made sense. I sit down next to him and grab his left hand with my right, then place my head on his shoulder. He lays his head on top of mine and takes a deep breath. Silfr comes out of her bag to curl up on my lap. We stay like that until dark, and we talk bout memories he had of me and memories I had of him.
Jefi looks at me hard, then looks down in defeat.
"What?" I say.
"You don't like me in the same way." He says.
"No." I say back reluctantly, unwilling to hurt him. I don't move my head from his shoulder, though, and he doesn't remove his hand from mine.
I look at my best friend. "I will miss you." I say.
"I will miss you too" He says. He stands up and exits the treehouse, leaving me alone with Silfr.
I don't want to leave him. He's been there for everything. I mentally tell Silfr. I share with her a memory of me crying with his arm around my shoulder.
My dad had broke my arm in one of his drunken rages when I was eight and it was so bad, bone was poking out of my skin. We walked very carefully to his house, where his mom set the bone and cast a spell to heal it. His mother refused to let me go back to my house for a few days, to keep me safe. In that time, Jefi kept me company. We played hide-and-seek, his siblings would demonstrate magic they had learned to my fresh eyes, we played cards, sang songs, and climbed into the rafters, pretending that we were spiders.
When I did go back, my dad had forgotten what he did. He never noticed that I was gone in the first place. He was passed out drunk on the floor, a new bottle of strong liquids empty and hugged to his chest. I went to see my mom, and she was placing a boiled rag to her black eye in the kitchen. She immediately swept me up in a hug, careful to avoid the formerly broken arm. "Can I see it?" she says, motioning to the arm. I pull back my sleeve and show her the scar. She starts to cry, and raggedy 3-year-old Thalia walks into the room, sleepy.
"Mommy, why did daddy hit you?" she says.
"Because daddy doesn't remember what he's doing." my mother says.
"Daddy made Area's leg look funny." Thalia says. "And Gry's face too."
My mother starts silently sobbing then quickly goes to retrieve Area and Grytr, careful not to wake father. As the youngest child, Thalia is safe from him. Grytr, Area, mother and I were not.
"Go to Jefi's house. I'll meet you there." she whispers over her shoulder. My passed out father snored loudly and turned over, and we all froze. We waited for only three seconds, which at the time felt like three hours.
I carefully leave, heading straight to Jefi's house. My mother comes later, carrying Area, who had tears running down her face and Grytr, whose nose was broken and his eye swollen. Jefi's mom and his siblings come and heal Area, then my mom's eye. I sit huddled in a corner with Jefi.
"I can protect you." A proud looking 8 year-old Jefi says, trying his best to look big. At the time, I was about an inch or two taller than him.
I giggle. "Best friends always protect each other." I say back in a teasing way. Then he starts talking about simple things, doing his best to get my mind off my dad and the current situation. It works.
"Jefi, you don't need to have magic like your siblings. You're a word magician!" I say.
He looks at me gratefully, proud of himself. From then on, he helped me with whatever I needed, and I helped him whenever he needed. My dad left mysteriously one night two years later, when I was 10. Everyone was happy when he did. We were free.
I can see why you wouldn't want to leave him. Silfr says mentally, bringing me back to the present, the treehouse.
I don't want to leave my mother, Jefi's family, Area and thalia, as selfish as the two are, and I don't want to leave this treehouse. I push myself off the floor and grab Silfr. We head down the tree, me giving her memories of when Jefi helped me with my dad. I jump down to the bottom and see a flash of silver-blue in the bushes.
I frown. What?... Oh.
"Rekkr! If you were listening in on my conversation with Silfr, You're gonna wish you were never born!" I yell out.
A paleish head pops out, seemingly out of nowhere. "I wasn't that time, no need to worry."
I remember something Jefi's older brother said. "Isn't it considered an offense to drop in on my thoughts without permission?" I say.
"You gave me permission when you invaded my mind." He replies. He's now leaning against a tree, Hands shoved into his dark blue pant pockets. His shirt was a lighter gray-blue, close to his hair but darker.
"I never did that!" I say, bewildered.
"How do you think you learned the Ancient Language in three seconds? Because something tells me you didn't know it prior." Rekkr says. The Ancient Language must be the weird tongue he and the other elves spoke in.
"If I concentrate on knowing something hard enough, more often than not it pops up in my head." I say. Now that I put it that way, it is a little strange.
"Dae, that's because you steal the information from the minds around you. You need to put up a mental Barrier, one not only for keeping things out but for keeping things in as well." He says. "I will help you." he says. "Put one up similar to this one." he walks over and places his hands on my head, then transfers a picture of a brick wall and he removes his hands. "This is the basic one. Everyone uses a different image, but a good one to start off with is this one."
I put it up like he said. That isn't enough. Way too frail. I think of things you can't get past. Strong winds, a wall of granite...
Diamond. Diamond is freakishly strong. There's only one diamond in town, and it is owned by the richest family, the Lucks. I imagine a giant, sparkly diamond surrounding my mind, permanently there to keep it safe.
I feel a presence prodding at the barrier. I know it's Rekkr.
"Very good." he says. He perks his pointy ears up. "Your mother is calling you. I think you'd better go." with that he turns and disappears into the surrounding woods. He's silver and blue! That shouldn't be possible!
I laugh into the woods. He's crazy! I've got to figure out how to disapear like that... I tell my little dragon.
She just laughs through our link and we walk back home.
Yeah... A little too dramatic? Not enough description? Yeah... I definitely wouldn't read this fan fiction. Please Review!