Chapter 2-Ellina

I woke up and found myself in that same place I was when I hit the lamppost in the carnival. The strange girl that I met before appeared again. She wore the same robe and had the same facial expression. I screamed, and staggered to try and leave the place, "What do you want from me?"

She stared at me then began, "You are the only one who can help us retake our right in the future."

"Who are you?"

"I am Ellina Buckingham. Please, let me speak, for I was sent here to explain to you your duty." I sat back down for the sake of maybe getting out of here. But this was too strange already, "I'm sorry but I don't know who you are. What do you want with me? Help! Someone please help! Hello!"

"No one will be able to hear you here April, I assure you that." She seemed calm but anxious at the same time.

"Please, please if you want money, I'll give it to you, my wallet's in my room. Here, you want jewelry? Take my necklace, my bracelets. Just take me back to my mom. I—"

"April!" I looked up. How'd she know what my name was? "I didn't kidnap you, and I don't want your money or gold. I'm here to simply explain something to you, and I know this may sound very strange but I seriously need you to listen to me, please! I promise you I will be no harm unless you force me to be."

I was shocked with her strange words. Why would a random person want to take me somewhere haunted just to tell me something. But for the oddest reason on earth, I sat back down and decided to listen. I wasn't giving in, I was merely waiting for help.

She nodded, "In the mystical world I live in, there are…well, there used to be groups of people named the Meris."

Has she gone mental? What kind of foreign language was she speaking. I chuckled out of relief. I had thought she was going to say something serious.

She looked at me with distant eyes and continued as if it pained her to, "The members of the group were always chosen by the leader, who was supposed to be the purist, with the strongest supernatural ability, which needs to be the ability to bend all elements, foresee the future and read minds. However, the only thing he could not do was foresee the past."

"Can you stop, I'm dreaming! Get me out of here!"

She paused for a moment and continued as if I had said nothing.

"Other Meris had each individual ability but not as powerful as the leader's. However, all their powers contribute to the group to help it be complete, the mind reader, the history seeker, the future reader, the earth bender, the air bender, the fire bender, and the water bender. The benders are the fighters, but the readers and the seeker are information finders, they are not trained to fight."

Although whatever she was saying didn't make any sense it still made a nice fantasy story. I smiled and wandered off. I wasn't planning on taking her seriously.

"April," she interrupted my thoughts "this is not a fairytale, it's true."

How did she know what I was thinking? A possible coincidence, but I wasn't about to believe any of this anyway. She shook her head and continued her crazy tale.

"Anyway, to enable balance, the witches had to control the leaders' powers, despite the major trust within a group, and so they cast a spell that doesn't make the leader able to use any of their power unless the group approves of it, and they had to be all united. And at the time, a thought of rebellion against anything was unthinkable of. It was later discovered that The Witch of The Mountain created a way out of this, but this remains all a legend."

I sighed, "Are you finished now? Am I allowed to leave? Or wake up? Tell me how to leave, please. Tell me what way I should take, you've told me what you needed to, right?"

"You are the last history seeker April." I heard Ellina say. I looked up at her.

"Ok, first of all, how do you even know my name? And second of all, you know I don't believe any of this and I know I'm dreaming, stop trying to convince me of anything, please. I'm just afraid I won't know how to wake up."

"April," I glared at her, she sighed "I know your name because I've been watching you for a long time now. I only needed to make sure that it was true. And now that you're entering the transition, it is. I am positive. You are the only history seeker left on this earth. You must come back with me, or I will result to using force."

"Please, ju—just leave me alone." This was a dream. It had to be. I rubbed my eyes in hope that she would go away. She was still there.

"I am not your imagination, April. I am real, and this is real. You were foreseeing the past earlier this morning. And by the past, it could mean even two seconds before this moment. You saw a vision, from two months ago. When Izel was moving us to our new housing." Her face turned glum, "It's where he keeps early Meris, and whoever disobeys him, he takes with him, to his prison."

"Why can't you just, run away?" I tried to reason with her pathetic story.

"To where? Overia is indeed a large place but there is nowhere for me and my brother and Ace to go. Please April, you are the only one who can help us, we're living in hell. I need you, we all need you. I can prove that you're a Meris. All history seekers are marked from birth. Look at your left leg. It has a mark."

I revealed my left leg, and noticed my birthmark. It was a spiral. But I had that there ever since I could remember. She proved nothing, yet I wanted to help her.

"Oh it's truly you, it's true!" she exclaimed.

As crazy as it all seemed, I thought of how amazing it would be if whatever world she was talking about was true, and that I'm the supposed hero. Now I was positive I was dreaming. But I tried to reason out her words, maybe there was little truth in this.

"You believe me? Oh thank you so much, so you'll come with me?"

I wondered how she might have been able to know what I was thinking, but I realized that it was predictable. Perhaps my facial expression gave it all away.

"Look, Ellina, is it? I want to help, but the thing is, I can't. And I still kind of think this is all insane, you must have the wrong person. I'm sure." I was starting to get frustrated. What would it take for her to leave me alone and tell me how I can get back, or out of this dream?

"You cannot go back, because I called for you. I'm sorry April, but I must take you back with me by force. You will stay with me in Overia, I'm sorry but you have to come."

"What?" I never thought she could be serious. But when she pulled my arm I screamed. I felt defeated, and hopeless. She was strong. She pulled me with her and I couldn't stop her. This wasn't a dream. It was real, I was in a completely strange place speaking to a complete stranger. And now she was kidnapping me and there wasn't much I could do, no one could hear me or see me other than her.

"Would it make you believe me even more if I told you that your father is still alive." Ellina said.

I looked up at her, "What did you say?"

"I can prove it to you. Have you been dreaming a lot lately about your father?"

How did she know? I nodded precariously.

"When a history seeker turns sixteen, they complete the transition. Right now you are in the early stages. I presume your birthday is sometime soon."

"July 13th, how'd you know?"

"Does this prove anything at all to you?"

I was only getting more scared, "Please just leave me alone. Don't talk about my dad like that, anything about him I will believe maybe because I just want him back just as much as I don't want to believe this insane tale of yours." I started to tear.

"I apologize April, but I cannot. I must take you with me."

"Ho—How is my father alive?" I asked.

"They never found a body, after you were brought to the hospital. They only presumed he was dead after all their investigations."

This was true. I remembered the investigations going on for months, but they closed the case and no one heard of any conclusions. I remembered the night he died. Me and him were in the car singing along with the radio, while we were riding back home from my school concert. I had begged him to come that night, he had said he had work, but I told him he promised he would be there and he took the day off.

My dad was an archeologist. Both me and him loved history, and putting all events into a story. We loved to fantasize and write our own made up stories about different events we altered. The thought of my dad made me tear even more.

The night of the accident was all my fault. I'm the one who begged him to come with me, and I'm the one who distracted him from driving when I was blabbing to him about how much I'd practiced for that concert. It was less than the second, the accident. A blur. A flash. And then all black. They told me at the hospital my dad had hit an animal that was in the way. The missing lion from the zoo at the time. They told me the lion was dead and since they never found my father's body, so was he. I wiped my tears.

"How do you know all this?" I asked.

"Because the last time I saw him, he was in Overia, trying to reach the Union, but he has been taken by Izel, along with my parents." Her face frowned again.

I wiped my tears, "My Dad's alive," I smiled "why'd leader Izel take him?"

"He was of group Lesna. Izel wants to retrieve the Frilei Gem. He wants to form his own army by channeling all Meris power to take over the Witch of the Mountain and then the Union. The Union is like the government here, it regulates society and people. To overrule it, you have to be extremely powerful."

Frilei. That word wasn't new to me. My Dad used to sing a song to me every night about something that sounded like Frilei. Never frighten never cry, you've got Frilei right to your side. Never forget that you are special. You are a cutie my honeysuckle

"Why does Izel want to overrule the Union?"

"No one is quite positive of that, perhaps for extreme power, but all we know is he's doing a pretty good job already."

"What's the point of making it so easy for them to get the Gem and control the world, or your world?"

"The purpose of the leader to be able to control minds was to maintain balance throughout his group. If they are trusted by the Union, one day they could rule with them, therefore gaining their power. But the Gem has tremendous, mythological power, it was created by the Witch of the Mountain and no one knows what it's really capable of. It's a legend. It is said that the Witch hid it in your world. It's said that Izel looks there, in and out of Overia and Earth."

"How do you go in and out of these worlds, I came here by accident, right?"

"No, I called on you, but it's simple to enter and exit, you have to create a portal. This chain is with most Meris, some are taken away by Izel, but I got yours made, here."

She handed me a beaded bracelet. It looked simple, but I assumed it was a big thing in their world. I embraced its simple appeal, after all I loved simple, so I wore it.

"Any other questions?" Ellina asked.

"Yes, why is Izel the strongest leader, I thought there were many others.

"Izel works with the Beasts of the Night. They can haunt anyone, even powerful leaders. Izel has to do everything they say, so that they grant him whatever he wants to achieve. No other leader would've ever thought of doing such a terrible thing."

"But doesn't that make them the most powerful?"

"No, they are the most feared. There is a difference."

"And the Union can't do anything about this because—?"

"The Union cannot do anything to anyone who isn't in Overia itself. The reason Izel enters and exits Overia so easily is because his beasts belong on Earth. There is one more thing you should know. Your father, Marcus Spalding was of group Quoz. He was a future reader, a Meris like you are. But he married a human and was banned from Overia, at least that's what been said. And he was captured by Izel. It has been imposed that he died, which isn't true. And so you must come save your father. You must come with me, I'll announce to the others. I—"

"Wait, there's one more thing I don't understand. If there are thousands of groups out there that are complete, then why am I the only history seeker left?"

"There are no complete groups anymore April. The Beasts killed them all. That's why Izel has resulted to work with them, he's waiting for another seeker to born in the real world. But he doesn't know you're alive, or that you exist. He is smarter than any of us, however and he would be able to find out soon after you complete your transition on Earth. That's why you must complete it in Overia. Now please, will you come with me?"

"But what about my mother and my life in London?"

"Do not worry. Your mother is the one that called on me. She knows. And as for your friends, I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do about it, I told you I'm sure your mother has a plan. Now, hold my hand." I was now more afraid than ever. If these things actually exist, then I was in serious danger. It wasn't only in fairytales where there was something called supernatural powers. This was supposedly real. I rubbed my eyes one more time to make sure it wasn't a dream. But all I could think about was my dad was alive. And I had to save him. I'd do anything to get him back. But right now everything was only too much, "Wait," I stopped "give me more time. Please. I just need a few days for all this…stuff to sink in. I don't know if I can do this anyway. I want to save my dad, but I have to just…be left for a while."

Ellina's face was completely understanding. She stepped back, "Very well then. You have forty-eight hours April. See you soon."

And she stepped into the portal.