Chapter Two: "New Age"

By: Sokai

Disclaimer: I, Sokai, do not claim ownership to the workings of W.I.T.C.H. -- I leave that honor up to Elisabetta Gnone. However, I can and DO claim to own this story and its inspired ideas FROM said series, as well as the original character, Sitara Vandom.

Note: Wow. Only, technically one chapter, and already 17 reviews? Either my "reputation" as a fair writer continues to precede me, or this story is just that good already and I don't yet realize. LoL Either way? Thanks for the growing support. For NOW, it stays rated as "T." That is, if I don't get TOO . . . "scary" with it. This is probably one of the hardest stories I've ever crafted, because I'm forced to couple what I've imagined for the plot with "actual" things that hopefully will never occur in mine or your lifetime. So . . . yeah. Wish me luck with the progress! LoL

WARNING: PLEASE READ THIS STORY AT YOUR OWN RISK, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE EXTREMELY RELIGIOUS. WHILE I AM NOT TRYING TO BE DISRESPECTFUL OR SACRILEGIOUS, I MAY STILL END UP DOING SO FOR SOME OF YOU -- HENCE, THE WARNING, UNDERSTANDING, AND APOLOGY IN ADVANCE.
This chapter was created/written in July 2006.

"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree."-- Revelation 7:1

Early morning emerged onto the world, causing unknown creatures to stir awake to greet the new day. However, while some creatures did so, there are many others who instead regrettably wallow in despair to learn that they have survived for yet another day . . . And to do so within a world such as this, where the sun is no longer seen and there is perpetual darkness similar to that of a nuclear winter, was more of a curse than it was a blessing.

However, unbeknownst to all who in habit this desolate planet, the first ray of true hope lay in wait -- literally . . .

In a majorly barren and continuously decaying field within one of the few last traces of human civilization, a wary middle-aged father hurriedly tries to scavenge for what little food remains upon the planet. Exploring the area not too far away is his little girl around six or seven, reveling in the rare opportunity to be above ground, despite its unsightly nature.

Too enthralled with her surroundings and of the outside world she and her family are no longer a part of, the little girl tripped over what felt like a log. Rolling over, she could then clearly see that it was not a log, but the still body of a young woman seemingly within her early twenties, lying half naked in torn clothing upon her back.

Startled, the little girl quickly scurried back over to her father in the distance.

"Esmé? What is it, child? Did you happen to spot one of them? Stay by my side -- I am almost done," said the small girl's father in a hushed yet firm voice, gently clutching his only child to his chest in safety as a worried frown began to play upon his dirtied and scruffy-bearded face.

The little girl apparently named Esmé, however, would have none of that, as she'd managed to wrench herself free from her obviously protective father's grasp and silently beckoned him to follow her back towards her discovery.

"Esmé! What are you doing? We mustn't dillydally! We must -- go . . ." Esmé's frantic father delivered as quietly as he could so as not to attract any unwanted demonic visitors, before trailing off.

Mouth held open agape, the brown-haired, green-eyed man could finally see what his daughter had.

At first glance, the unconscious being looked to be covered in blood; however, upon closer inspection the man and his daughter realized that it was merely the woman's extremely long, bright red hair that spread out around her and better concealed her body more than what little clothing she had on did.

Although the man was forcibly suspicious, he still maintained what little faith he had left and could vaguely sense that there was not anything malicious about this young female. He swiftly reasoned that perhaps she unfortunately had a run-in with one or a lot of them and somehow managed to survive -- although that would have been the first time he'd ever heard of such a thing . . . save one occurrence.

". . . Yes, yes -- we will take her back to Barinak with us, Esmé," said the man, sensing his daughter's desire to rescue the comatose maiden as he watched Esmé's tiny frame kneel down beside the body and gently rest a tiny hand upon her shoulder. "Although, we must be quick. I suspect that it is approaching the time when they will awaken, and we do not want to be caught as their breakfast . . . Here, love -- take my pouch and go on ahead so that I can properly carry her."

Doing as she was told, Esmé immediately seized her father's old and tattered leather hand bag that was only filled one-fourth of the way with the minuscule amount of food he'd managed to find and scampered ahead towards the small burrow that they'd come out of and would lead them to their so far undetected home underground.

After several minutes of blindly climbing down through darkness, eventually Esmé and her father were bathed in warm candlelight as they returned to their shelter that was completely carved out of living rock. Walking down a long corridor in silence, Esmé and her father did the best that they could to ignore the curious stares of fellow dwellers that greeted them as the two passed by each of their individual homes.

"Gabriel, what is the meaning of this? We send you to go on a scout-and-scavenger mission, and you return not with breakfast but with a body?" queried an elderly man with frazzled white hair in an accusatory manner, a wooden stick within one of his bony hands to use for walking.

"Say what you will, Cato, but I could not leave her out there to them," replied Esmé's father known as Gabriel as he continued to walk on with his daughter, readjusting his hold upon the slumbering woman within his arms. "We may live a doomed existence, but the one thing we continue to have going for us is our compassion -- our humanity. It is something that they will never be able to comprehend."

"Perhaps so, but it is our compassion, as you say, that will continue to eradicate us until those bastards have completely overtaken this worthless planet," countered Cato gruffly, a few bystanders nodding in agreement while the rest returned to their homes or morning chores. "If I remember correctly, it had been your endearing humanity that had done you in . . ."

Squeezing his eyes shut at the last, unappreciated comment made by the antiquated man, Gabriel blindly jogged the last few steps to his and Esmé's living quarters and hurriedly pulled aside the dirty pale blue cloth curtain before walking in.

"Esmé, you stay with her while I go get some water and any spare clothing that I can find," instructed Gabriel quietly, gently setting down the motionless woman onto his straw-made bed and covered her with his small, white blanket. "And while I doubt that anything will happen, should it be sure to blow the whistle," he added, referring to the tiny, shimmering silver whistle attached to the equally silver necklace around her neck before leaving the room.

Curious, as most children tend to be, Esmé immediately moved over to the slumbering young gentlewoman and carefully climbed onto the bed with her. Folding her legs underneath her tiny body as she sat beside the red head, Esmé reached a hand out to the other girl's strong and lean arm, idly tapping on it.

Seeing that that effectively did not seem to bother the woman's sleep, Esmé gently poked at her side, a small smile growing upon her peaches and cream face. Esmé's smile grew wider as she slowly reached out to brush a few strands of the older woman's flowing red hair away from her face. She marveled at how peaceful she appeared to be -- greatly unlike the others living within her small community, whose faces were constantly contorted with worry and apprehension.

As Esmé began to wonder where this girl had come from, she suddenly felt a firm grasp upon her small wrist. Startled, Esmé could see that while the young woman had a tightening hold upon her appendage, her eyes were still closed.

While contemplating how to break free from the unusually strong woman and blow her whistle with her free hand, Esmé suddenly felt the grip loosening the same instant that the other girl slowly opened her eyes and a sharp, enriched brown met with Esmé's pale gray.

Slowly blinking to gain focus, the young woman bolted upright in alarm, looking about her surroundings while still lightly holding onto Esmé without realizing. Moreover, Esmé wasn't even all that positive that the girl was completely aware of her presence, period, as she seemed to be too consumed with figuring out her whereabouts.

Finally, the woman returned her gaze back onto the little girl, who smiled crookedly at her, and released her the same moment that Esmé's father had reentered the room.

"Esmé, what -- oh! Uh . . . you've awaken," said Gabriel with a bit uncertainty, slowly approaching as he studied the woman's slightly dazed expression that caressed her otherwise flawless features. "Are you all right?"

Esmé allowed her father to gently lift her from off of the bed before taking the small wooden gourd that was filled with a meager amount of slightly dirty water from out of his calloused hand.

". . . It seems as though my daughter has taken a particularly strong shining to you. She generally gets along with everyone within our community, but has never really bonded with anyone as she apparently desires to do so with you," remarked Gabriel, stroking the top of his daughter's shoulder length, sandy blonde hair affectionately. "Which was the main reason why I'd bothered to bring you to our hideaway, because I have found that she is a pretty good judge of character."

The young woman merely stared blankly at the two strangers, slowly raising a hand to her forehead while straining her voice to speak.

". . . W . . . Whe . . . where a-am . . . I?" she inquired hoarsely the moment that Esmé had moved back over to her and began to gently feed her the water-filled gourd.

"You're inside mine and my daughter's living quarters . . . one of the many living quarters, actually, within our Underground City of Barinak . . ." revealed Gabriel meticulously, studying the woman's reaction. "Surely you yourself had come from your own form of shelter, that I have often kept the hope existed for the presumably remaining survivors upon this barren planet, but have never been able to venture out long enough to find out . . . It'd be a suicide mission, after all . . . Still, there has to be others, if we found you . . . Tell us, miss: where did you originate from?"

Esmé tipped the last of the water into the girl's mouth (who eagerly drank every precious drop with such a fierce relish), before hugging the moist gourd to her chest and smiled bright-eyed at her. Her father could not help but to smile, himself, to see how enraptured his daughter had become with this newcomer.

It was the first good thing to have happened in their otherwise troublesome life in such a long while . . .

". . . I . . . remember . . . bright lights . . . warmth . . ." murmured the girl wearily, gruffly clearing her throat while looking at the very attentive Esmé with curiosity.

". . . Perhaps you are a Godsend -- a saint sent from above to help deliver us from our perpetual torment . . ." breathed Gabriel as his green eyes grew wide, his feet simultaneously moving him over to the now taken aback woman, and sank to his knees. "Was it you who had answered my prayers, to let my Esmé live after her near-fatal accident?"

"Wait . . . what? I . . . I'm no saint -- trust me . . ." said the girl softly as more of her senses settled back in, pulling the blanket closer to her slightly bare chest. It was obvious that she was feeling uncomfortable by the close proximity of the small family.

Blushing in embarrassment after realizing that he had yet to give to her the clothes that he had brought with him and were still within his hands, Gabriel quickly stood up and moved away from the young gentlewoman and hurriedly handed them to her.

"I-I'm sorry. I suppose that I'd simply gotten carried away more than perhaps even little Esmé here to encounter someone new . . . Um, please. You may take these clothes, get dressed, and rest up a bit, while Esmé and I fix you something to eat -- you must be famished. We can talk later if you'd like," said Gabriel, struggling to pry Esmé from her glued spot at the other female's side and dragged her out of the room.

"T . . . Thank you," said the girl as she looked from her new clothes to Gabriel, watching him and his ever silent daughter leave the room. ". . . Oh, and by the way: my name is Will . . ."

-- End of Chapter Two

(A.N. Don't be all, "You did/didn't do this/that" on me, because it IS 3 in the morning now and I'm beat. Sucks if I missed junk, but I'll snag it again tomorrow on my floppy. ANYWAY! Yeah, I know: cop out. Sue me. If not, SIT on it. LoL Sorry. Had a "Happy Days" moment, there. LoL Anyway, trust me, there's more and this chapter's actually a lot longer, but I kept going back and rewriting stuff that I had to divide it. I hate short chapters, don't you? I feel so dirty now. LoL It's just that, this story's my hardest because I'm forced to create a brand new world all my own, so you'll have to be patient with me. Trust me though, while I know I've kind of left you hanging, especially what's little Esmé's deal and what the underground city looks like, but that's in the next chapter, no worries. 'Till then, bye! Oh, and P.S.: While for SOME reason Esmé's beautiful name just popped into my head while dreaming about this chapter a few weeks ago, I'd strategically chosen Gabriel's and Cato's names for a reason, which I'll say why in chapter three's note. Yay! LoL And yes, I kept having Gabriel or Cato say "them" or "they" in conversation without being elaborate on purpose, so no worries.)