Hiya peeps!
It seemed like everyone else was updating today so I figured I may as well write :)
Warning: Swearing! And metric loads of problems hit the giant fan.
Zoeya: I like giant fans!
Spirit: Zoeya, you're here to do a disclaimer!
Zoeya: Oh, yeah, SpiritedandLoyal here doesn't own anything except plot, some head canons and Reyanna!
Plutonium-240- I hope some updates will come more often after the crazy first week of summer break finishes!
MyDimension- ;) Well, you'll see the town now… and how have you never played Apples to Apples? Google it! It's epic and actually helps your vocabulary, and if you play sarcastically/ironically, it's twice as fun!
Reyanna Pov
I fly half sitting, half standing, relaxing backwards with one leg bent more than the other, and I can't stop myself from fidgeting as we cross the desert I grew up in. I keep looking back over my shoulder, surveying the horizon, watching for the sandstorm I know is lurking somewhere. I twist my hair, chew my lip, and try and stop my heart from beating so crazily, but it won't slow down.
I feel like a nuke that's running out of coolant… I'm going to explode if something doesn't happen!
Our timing for crossing the desert is terrible. It's the tenth day after the summer solstice, the day a cursed sandstorm sweeps the entire desert.
I don't know the whole story, (the village storyteller hated me,) but if I remember correctly, the sandstorm is connected to the Sands within the Walls, and therefore Israphel.
The problem, every single year, someone ends up having to report a death, if not several, and I can't stop the feeling that it's not going to be different this year. Every single one of us could be dead in an hour. My heart continues to pound in fear and won't stop no matter of how many deep breaths I take to try and calm myself.
It's not just the history of the storm that scares me- it's the storm itself. This sandstorm is unpredictable, with winds stronger than a hurricane. And I hate sandstorms. Growing up in the desert, I know the warning signs- almost none.
Okay, maybe I don't hate sandstorms. I have… a phobia of them.
I don't get scared of things collectively very often- I mean, I died from a sword to the throat, but I still have three swords of my own.
But sandstorms, I just hate them. The wind, the stinging sand, and the risk of suffocating or getting buried alive, even getting hit by flying cactus, (much more deadly than it sounds-believe me, I've seen the bodies,) makes my blood freeze, and I can't move from the fear coursing through my system.
I end up trailing behind the group by a few meters, trying not to show just how paranoid I'm becoming.
That's when the horrible sound, little more than a faint Whoosh, coupled with a change in the wind sets my heart beating even more crazily, if that was possible. I glance behind myself, and sure enough, a dark cloud has covered the horizon and moves towards us dangerously fast.
I leave the position I was flying in previously, pulling myself into a smaller shape to lessen wind resistance and shoot towards Ridge, feeling the blood leave my face, most likely leaving me pale as I can go.
"Ridge!" I gasp to him as I catch up, not having realized I was nearly hyperventilating from fear. "There's a sandstorm coming- a bad one."
He doesn't question me, or how I noticed so quickly, just looks back where I'm gesturing. The storm's twice as big now, and I gulp in horror.
"How far to shelter?" He asks me immediately, picking up his pace. The others have started to notice the stronger winds and the faster pace flows over the group, but it won't be enough to get us out of the way before it hits.
I check the landmarks around us, but the desert dunes change quickly and I'm not sure. "It should be in sight after we cross that line of dunes." I point to the line of dunes halfway to the horizon with a shaking hand, and I tell myself it's just the wind making it shake. "We can reach Rose Valley Village there!"
"Sandstorm, guys! Let's get moving!" Ridge calls to the group. I watch a ripple of fear go through the group as they glance back, see the storm getting close and take off as fast as they can go. Lalna pulls his goggles on. Zoeya draws her cape close. Lomadia holds on to her hat and Honeydew pulls off his helm as they kick flying rings into high gear.
I glance back at the storm again-a big mistake. I freeze, terrified by the dark cloud only a few miles or so behind me, swirling and drawing ever closer.
I stay frozen for close to a minute, until a stronger wind throws some sand into my face. Brushing it out of my violet eyes and off my indigo mask, I twist around and force my ring to go as fast as it can, pouring EMC power into it as I pull myself into a more stream-lined shape and skim the tops of the dunes where the wind is weaker, leaving a wake of stirred-up sand.
I manage to catch up just as the others descend into the valley and pass through the village gates. I see Honeydew brushing sand out of his beard and Nilesy complaining to Lomadia about how he has sand in his socks, followed by a smack from the owl woman.
Thank goodness that the village always welcomes visitors!
I draw closer to where Xephos, Lalna, Rythian, Zoeya and a few others have gathered to talk, but before I get there, a hysterical woman runs up to them.
"Please!" She screams. "Have you seen a young man in the desert?"
I take a closer look at the blonde woman, around her mid-forties, and recognize the town's seamstress Camellia, one of the only people in the village to not have hated my bloodlines years ago.
"I'm sorry, Camellia. We haven't seen anyone." Rythian tells the woman sadly. "Who was it?"
"Matthew…" She chokes out between sobs.
Rythian's expression changes. Did he know Matthew?
"I'm so sorry, Camellia. He was a great friend to me when I was younger…" Rythian says quietly.
"He was going to be married in a month and a half! He can't be out there! He was just out hunting!" The seamstress sobs again.
Everyone falls silent, and I notice for the first time the wails of despair from the fabric shop down the road. It remains that way until Martyn speaks up.
"We can't just stand here! The storm isn't here yet. We have to go out and look for him!" He bursts out. He turns and starts for the village entrance. "Who's with me?"
A pang of terror runs through me and I lunge for his arm as he passes me, pulling him back and into the packed sand. "You can't!" I yell at him over the rising wind.
"We're supposed to be the bloody heroes, Reyanna! Do you want him to die?!" Martyn yells back, standing back up and brushing himself off.
"No! But you don't get it! This isn't a normal storm, it's cursed! Someone dies in it every single year!"
"And you know this how?"
"I grew up in this stupid village, LittleWood! Believe me, there's nothing you could do except die as well! There are no plants to help you here!"
"And why should I believe you anyway?!" The Sapling prince screams at me.
I stop, unable to believe it, what he just told me. Martyn, normally one of the most laid-back people I know, can't bring himself to trust me?
Toby steps between us. "Martyn, she's telling the truth." He says calmly.
"Stay out of this, Toby!" The blonde yells. Toby doesn't back away, to his credit-and my surprise.
"Please, Martyn. For Kaeyi?" He begs.
Martyn softens at his girlfriend's name. "Fine. But I don't take anything back."
He turns and walks off, leaving me with nothing but guilt to consume my gut.
I wish I'd stayed out in the sandstorm… it would have been better.
I feel like someone stabs me when I see everyone back away from me, leaving a circle of space and averting their attention. Just like it used to be here in the village when I was younger.
I trail behind the group once again, dejected and rejected, as we head off towards where ever the village people said we could stay, and I nearly trip on the desert winds when I see it's the two houses I grew up in- My mother's and Amber's, side by side as always.
We gather in the small yard of parched grass, waiting for Amber to come out. I sit on the fencepost by the gate to the garden, away from everyone.
Everyone I thought could trust me… Everyone I thought cared!
Part of me isn't that surprised when Sips comes up to me and says;
"You know, you should have told us about the storm earlier. Heck, you wouldn't even tell us you grew up in this village!"
I slide down from the fencepost, trying to stay calm. "I had my reasons."
"You mean more reasons to not trust you?" The pale businessman asks me, and for once, he's not joking. Oh, how I wish he was just teasing me.
I look him in the eyes, glaring. "Am I not allowed to keep my past, my secrets, my pain to myself?!"
"Not if there's f*cking lives at stake!"
"I never said I wanted to be a heroine! I just wished I could be normal! I thought you all actually cared!" I scream, balling my fists at my side as I glare at everyone. Only Lomadia, Kim and Toby have the decency to look away. Zoeya's too shocked to. Most of the others are unreadable.
Rythian steps between the angry businessman and I as the sandstorm darkens the sky further.
"What is with you recently, Reyanna? I haven't gotten a straight answer out of you since you fought Israphel, and now this?" He asks me.
"It's none of your business, Rythian!" I scream.
"I'm your older brother, which makes it my business!"
"I'm an adult!"
"You're only seventeen!"
"By the laws of Rose Valley Village, I've been an adult since I left on my sixteenth birthday, just like you!"
My anger, mixed with my fear of the sandstorm passing overhead the valley, is making all my senses go insane and adrenaline pumps through my purple blood. I should be worried- anger fuels Ender- but I hardly notice.
The nuke has exploded, and you got in the blast radius, Rythian.
The sky's as dark as night now and the light only comes from torches set around town and Rythian and I's blazing violet eyes. His cape whips behind him in the strong winds, just like my cape and my ponytail do.
"You're still my little sister!" He continues.
"And where were you when I needed you?" I retort.
Rythian flinches and steps back, but I don't care about how he feels anymore, can't care anymore about how he feels. Not when I can't feel anything but my own guilt and rage, consuming my rational thoughts.
I hear familiar creaking noises from inside the house, meaning Amber's coming out, and I don't think twice before I use my Void ring to teleport, to flee to my sanctuary- an old Baobab tree at the furthest end of the small valley, not far from the graveyard. No one else comes here, fearing they'll disturb the ghosts unless they're on important business.
I don't fear the ghosts.
I used to come here to try and find my mother's ghost, but now it's just a safe haven from people who would hurt me in any way, shape or form- and right now, it protects me from the storm as well.
I glance down at my wrist and feel my still-pounding heartbeat with my fingertips, almost fascinated watching the purple blood pulse. I pull down my mask, no longer caring much if I get a face full of wind and sand, because at this point, I deserve it.
I can't stop this guilt…
I think I saved Martyn, I mean; nobody has ever survived the cursed storm!
But what about Matthew? When they find the body, possibly years from now, maybe even never discovered, will they think of the cursed girl who stopped someone from going out to look? His fiancée, his mother, his father, his cousins and friends, will they blame me?
Of course they will. No one cares for an Enderborn's feelings- They've told me flat-out to the face they don't think I have any, and the crying, the pain, is all a scam to make them feel sorry for me so I can destroy them.
What about Martyn? Will he forgive me, maybe even trust me again? If he ever did? Or will he blame me for being haunted by someone he thinks he could have saved?
No, he won't.
*Crazy laughter*
Phsst, we've hit 25k+ words! My biggest story yet!
-Spirit