I know that I said it would be a month before the next chapter, but I gat some extra free time so I was able to write this chapter:) Enjoy!


Chapter Five

Sisters to the End

"Don't go!" Nivenna woke up shaking from the dream she had. The dream felt so real she thought she was going to drown in the raging river, but that was not what scared her. The other girl going down a different stream and leaving her alone was what made her scream in her sleep. There was nothing she could have done to save them from being swept away by the mighty river.

"It was just a nightmare, nothing more." That was what her brain was telling her, but for some reason her heart was telling her it wasn't.

Getting her mind to think of something else, she looked at the wall clock. "I overslept. Great, my first day as a muge in training and I'm going to be late." she grunted. Getting ready in record time, she ran to where Kopon told her to meet him at. As she was running down the street avoiding the pedestrians, someone had the nerve to tackle her and spin her around while giving her a hug.

"Nivenna, why are you in so much of a hurry? Running those stupid errands for Kopon again?" the black Mipedian girl asked with an evil grin, she only shows to her sisters and brothers.

Nivenna punched her face, making her release Nivenna from her iron grip. She stepped back two steps, holding her now bleeding snout.

"Och! You could have just said to let go." she stated. Of course she knew there was a good chance, Nivenna would hurt her in some way, because of her using her invisibility to grab her before she ran off to where ever she was going.

The female Mipedian was six years older than Nivenna making her almost the same age as Ladro`n and like their brother she was much more taller than Nivenna, but that might change in the future since Nivenna has not gone through her growth spurt yet. The Mipedian had black scales with white claws and a red-head creat that use to be yellow like the Mipedian tribe color, but she had it chemically dyed red a long time ago. She was wearing a simple brown dress that was too small for her so it stopped at her knees. If she had enough money to buy a new one she would, but unfortunately her job didn't pay much.

"I don't have time to talk, Menhita. I need to meet Kopon at the library." Nivenna hatefully said, but it counted as an apology. There are many things that can make Nivenna mad and one of those things is when Menhita uses her invisibility to catch Nivenna by surprise, but she still felt bad when Menhita started to bleed because of her. So Nivenna would say something to her and she knows it is the closest thing to an I'm sorry that she will get from Nivenna. Nivenna never really apologizes to anybody, except for those that are her superiors like Takinom or Kopon, and even then she does not mean it

Menhita is what Nivenna thinks her big sister would be like if she had one. It didn't matter to her that, Menhita use to be a Mipedian. All that matters is that eight years ago she ran away from home and became an Underworlder. Nivenna still remembers the day Menhita came to the orphanage as if it happened yesterday.


Flashback eight years ago

"Get up girls!" Sazo shouted into one of the girl rooms. He was standing at the door, but left as soon as he came, having to go yell in the other rooms filled with orphans on this floor. Nivenna along with her room mates complained and griped to themselves about wanting more sleep, but if they didn't get up now then there would be no cooled water for them to bath. Nivenna was four years old, but she acted more like a teen as most Underworld orphans especially the girls, mature faster than other children. Hopping out of her small bed, she quickly grabbed her day clothes and headed off to the bathrooms.

"Hey, Nivenna wait up!" yelled a young creature of same height and age as Nivenna. The young creature was just getting out of her bed trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes. She had green eyes much like Nivenna's, brown fur, messy red hair, deer horns with only three points on each of them, and was wearing her night-gown like Nivenna.

"Why should I." remarked Nivenna. She hated when her sister, Izannia does this, makes her wait and when they get to the bathroom all the cold water will be gone.

"Because, we are sisters now and forever and I know that you stole that bag of money from that shopkeeper, so unless you want Sazo to know, You will wait." she blackmailed her. Nivenna rolled her eyes at her threat.

"Fine, just hurry up." she scoffed. With a smirk, Izannia get her things and walked over to Nivenna. "If that water is boiling hot then you will make it up to me." Nivenna stated.

"Don't I always loving sister." Nivenna smiled at that. No matter what, her sister always had a big smile on her face.

Because of Izannia, they wound up being last in line for the showers. When it was their turn the water was now so hot only one of the creatures that were literally made of fire and rock could stand it. Now it would be fatal for them to take a shower so instead they just washed their faces and changed into their day clothes. Heading down stairs they stopped dead in their tracks half way down when they saw a new face talking with Sazo. Its actually normal to see a new orphan every day. They normally get at least two a day, but this one was rare. Not unheard of, but still rare.

Sazo was bent down on his knees at eye level with the Mipedian. Sazo sees his two daughters that he swears were separated at birth, because they where so much alike in spirit.

"Girls come down here and meet the newest member of the house." he motioned for them to come. The Mipedian looked scared. There were many bruises and deep cuts all over her body, her clothes were torn to shreds, stained with blood and it looked like she hadn't eaten in a long time. Even with all that was wrong with her, she stood tall with pride shinning in her eyes like she was a force to be reckoned with.

Nivenna continued to study the new arrival while, Izannia wanted to break the ice. "Hello I'm Izannia and this is my sister Nivenna." she introduced them.

"I'm Menhita." her voice was weak, but her tune seemed to command respect.

"Please give Menhita a tour of the house and show her what it is like to be an Underworlder." Sazo said before leaving.

"So how did you stray so far away from the desert?" asked Nivenna.

"I ran away." They could see her eyes full with sadness at saying it.

"Okay, well let's start the tour and later we will introduce you to our big brother. He knows all there is to know about being an Underworlder." Izannia proudly said.

The rest of the day was spent explaining how things were run in the city. At first Menhita keep to herself, but slowly she began opening up to them and began to accept being an Underworlder. Nivenna always thought she must have come from a rich family because of how she acted the first year at the house, but thanks to the exposure to all the other orphans she is now more Underworld than most citizens.

End Flash Back


"If you can't talk now then maybe we could go see Izannia tonight. It's been so long since I last visited her." she catiously said. Talking about Izannia is a very sensitive subject to Nivenna.

"If I have time." she said while looking at the ground. It wasn't a no so that was a good thing. Menhita nodded and walked away. Nivenna began to run again until she reached the library.

Kopon was waiting outside, holding a package under his arm and taping his foot in annoyance. Nivenna walked up next to him.

"You are late." he scolded her.

"I know it won't happen again, Sir." She bowed her head slightly.

"It better not happen again. Here this is for you." he handed her the package. Nivenna ripped open the package and saw it was a black and red robe. "That is the uniform for the Underworld mugic academy. In addition to my private lessons, you will attend classes there with other respectable colleagues of mine."

Nivenna was speechless, the Underworld mugic academy was the hardest school to get into in the Underworld. Only the best of the best students are allowed in. Even the rich kids' parents couldn't buy their way in.

"How were you able to arrange this?" she asked, unable to keep the astonishment out of her voice.

"It was not difficult. After all you are Takinom's apprentice, you passed the Plata test, and you were already on the list for possible enrollment." he stated. She knew the first two helped, but the third she had no knowledge of.

"How was I on the list?" Kopon was starting to get annoyed by the questions, but knew they were fair and expected ones.

"You have been on the list for some time. The staff members have kept an eye on you every since you first showed signs of being an excellent student." he answered what he hoped was the last question. "You'll start the classes next week. Since you are going to start late in the year you'll need to take a few tests which I think you already know what is one of them. Here is the key to their library and it also works on other places at the academy. " he gave her a silver key. "Now let's go inside and begin your lesson."

They walked into the library, and he explained some more about what she would be doing for the next month. Two hours later, the lesson was over and now Nivenna was on her way to see her two sisters.

She was hoping that Menhita would not be there, but she knew that was unlikely. As she approached the hospital, she could see Menhita waiting next to the entrance. Slightly cursing to herself, she walked up the stairs and greeted Menhita.

"You didn't have to wait for me." she coldly stated.

"I know. I just wanted to. So tell me what my little sister has been up to lately. I hear that you took a pretty hard test yesterday." Nivenna wasn't surprised she heard about it, even though it happened not too long ago. Like Nivenna, Menhita has a lot of connections in the Underworld that tell her all the juicy gossip.

"I passed, so now I'm training to become a muge." Nivenna told her as if it was not a big deal. They didn't say anything else as they made their way to Izannia's room.

There are very few hospitals and clinics in the Underworld and most of them are for the army only. This hospital is the only one that treats civilians in Underworld City, so the place was always packed with injured creatures of all shapes and sizes. It was so full most of the time there were patients dying in the halls, because of not enough healer, rooms and medicine.

After roaming the halls they reached the room were Izannia has been for five years. They walked in just as a healer pulled the plug to another patient that used to be Izannia's roommate. The room was used for patients that were in a coma or something similar, that were more than likely not to wake up again. Unfortunately there was a law in the Underworld that says a creature admitted to a hospital or clinic that has not regained conciousness in seven days, the healer of that patient can pull the plug of said patient. Most other tribes would think it cruel, but the sad truth is there is simply not enough researchers in the Underworld to care for someone that may never wake up again. Many Underworlders also hate the law, but there was nothing they could do about it.

The healer and a nurse carried the now dead creature out of the room leaving them alone with the unconscious Izannia and the other comatose patients. There were no chairs so they had to stand next to her bed.

"I have heard rumors about an Overworld spy running around the city." said Menhita trying to start a conversation. Nivenna, who was now holding Izannia's hand, didn't say anything. "They say the spy knows his way around the city better than the Underworld guards. That's unusual." Izannia waited for a reply, but all she got was silents. "Well I'll be out in the hall." she said before leaving, knowing Nivenna wanted to be alone with Izannia.

Nivenna didn't look at her, she was staring at Izannia. Her hair was still messy, but now much longer due to the fact that nobody has cut it in years, her horns had grown two extra points and her body looked like skin and bones, because of her muscles not getting enough exercise in a long time. Unlike the other patients, Izannia didn't need any machines to help her breath, that was the only reason the staff didn't pull the plug there was no plug to pull. Nobody knows what's wrong with her, but they didn't know if she would ever wake up.

As long as Sazo continued to pay for the room, they were fine with Izannia taking up the needed space. If there was one thing you needed to know about Underworlders it's that they are all greedy in some way and money talks well in the Underworld.

Now that Menhita is no longer in the room and the other creatures were in comas, Nivenna let a tear slowly roll down her check.

"I'm so sorry." she whispered, so no one would hear.


Author's Note

I thought since the Underworld has lava every where it would be heard to get cold instead of hot water.

I hope I didn't offend any one with that law about coma petitions. I just thought the Underworlders would have laws like that.

I'm making a lot of OCs in the story, because I want Nivenna to have lots of friends and allies. Next chapter Sam finaly meets Nivenna and figers out what happened.