Chapter 19: The Mark

Wednesday

5:30 AM

Tetra jerked awake. Her skin was on fire.

...no, it wasn't. She'd just woken up from another terrible nightmare.

She jumped out of bed and rushed to the window. The Eye-Lights weren't glowing as brightly; maybe it was earlier in the morning before the sun rose. Tetra huddled underneath the window, still drowsy. Her sleepy thoughts went to Link.

Maybe…I should go check on him…

…later.

A couple hours later…

Link's Bullshot

7:30 AM

Link gazed downwards, puzzled.

"...uh, Tetra? What are you doing?"

It was still early in the morning! He had just gotten dressed when someone came knocking at his door. When he answered it Tetra had collapsed onto him, and now she was partially sprawled on the ground, hugging herself to his waist. Her eyes were half-open.

"...told you, I already made plans and you went the far opposite direction," she muttered vacantly. "...you nitwit..."

"Me?"

"NOOO...yourself. Like, geez...how much does it take..."

She incorrectly pronounced does. "Dooz?" Link repeated phonetically. "…Tetra, you didn't have any milk again, did you?"

"Stop yelling."

He found that funny since he'd hardly gone above his normal volume. "Before we left you promised Grandmother you wouldn't have any more," he reminded her firmly. "Not until you got much older...did you forget?"

"Grandmother? Grandpa. King Grandpa. Remember that guy?"

As Link deflated solemnly, Sela cautiously trotted up. "What on earth is going on?!" the squirrel-Draxie whispered. "Tetra! Link, why is she hanging off you like that?"

"I don't know..." Link answered, shifting his hand on the door. He winced when Tetra squeezed him a bit tighter. "Tetra, can you let go, please? I woke up with an upset tummy…"

"…window…then stop eating. You'll never get fulfilled anyway…" Tetra said. Her blue eyes roved blindly. "It's like this everywhere…don't be like them. Eat eat eat eat…doesn't work. Overcompensation sucks. See, I should'a just told you from the very beginning and saved us all this mess…"

"Told me what?"

"I don't KNOW."

He shrugged. "Okay."

"Link…oh I swear I'm gonna kick…"

Tetra shut her eyes, then without any sort of flair she immediately opened them again. She stared at the wall, leaned her head back, and then froze for three good seconds.

"OH GOD!" she screamed, leaping up. "I can't, I'm sorry, I don't even—"

Link was already doubled over in laughter. Sela looked up at her, amused. "Dear, I think you were sleepwalking," she said quietly.

"I-I swear I was, I totally didn't mean to…oh my gosh," Tetra gasped, looking around wildly. "Where am I? Why—whuzzuh!"

"Come in. Come on now, before someone starts a fuss…"

Tetra obeyed, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment. Link and Sela snuck a grin to one another.

"Well! I'm glad you didn't start wandering off to wherever," Sela piped vibrantly. "Thank goodness, really. I wonder if it was some kind of instinct that brought you here."

Tetra glanced over, watching Link stroll down the hall towards the back door. "…it wasn't anything like that," she said quietly. "I don't even sleepwalk a lot, I only did it once or twice before we got here."

"Do you know why?"

"I mean, maybe? Last night was just bad. Another bad night. This dream I had was just so…ugh." She sat on the couch, defeated. "It was just really dark, but there was so much fire. It felt like something terrible had happened. Then I woke up and I was like…oh, thank the goddesses this wasn't real…but it felt…real. I felt my skin burning."

"Oh, my goodness!"

Link walked up carrying a tray. "This is for you," he said, handing a steaming cup to Tetra.

"Thanks…what is it?" she asked.

"Tea. Sela, are you sure you don't want any?"

"Yes. Watch the nail," Sela reminded him. Link adjusted himself before he sat down, eyeing Tetra. She was staring down blankly at her teacup.

"Honey?" he asked, wondering if she wanted some.

"Yes?" Tetra answered. "I mean, what? I mean…wait, where'd you get this from?"

"Moth—Lora left some last night."

They sat there sipping from their tea, taking note when the sun eventually bounced up from over the horizon. Tetra set her cup to the side, staring out the window. She still found it crazy how the sun acted in this realm.

"I was telling Link last night, I believe the both of you need curtains," Sela said. "I don't like the idea of having windows without them."

"…yeah. That would be better," Tetra agreed, finding the idea settled the feeling of paranoia she had. Or maybe she was paranoid because Link was looking at her with that even stare of his.

"What?" Tetra asked quickly.

"You sleepwalked again…did you have another bad dream, Tetra?" he asked. "We can talk if you want."

She hesitated. It didn't seem as easy discussing it with him as it had been with Sela.

"I can leave," Sela said.

"No, that's fine. It's…it's really not about that, Link. I'm just…trying to get used to here, I think."

"Are you sure?" he pressed gently.

Tetra held her hands up. "I'm, I'm positive. In fact…we can talk. Just…not now, okay? I'm still not ready."

"Okay," Link said placidly. And then, when he rubbed his forehead, Tetra saw and recalled something strange.

"Wait!" she cried. "I need to see something. Look at me? No, come closer."

He was moving too slow for her, so she impatiently pulled him close and pushed his bangs aside. Sela focused on the spot a little above and between his eyes, perplexed. "Link, have you always had a scar there?"

"Oh!" Link said, surprised. He reached a hand up but Tetra lightly slapped it away and placed a finger underneath the strange marking; it was a small, crescent shaped scar, rotated ninety degrees so its prongs faced down.

"I don't know where this came from, but I think I have an idea of when you got it," Tetra said gruffly. "I got a glimpse of two days ago, after you tackled me into that pond in the forest. You were squeezing water out of your hair and there it was…only reason I didn't bring it up then was because I was…"

She grumbled to the rest to herself. Link went to the bathroom mirror and was startled. He rubbed it but felt nothing.

"Way suspicious," Tetra said, joining him. "It doesn't look like it hurts, though?"

"No…I never would have noticed it by myself," Link said curiously.

Sela hovered up, gently touching down on the bathroom counter. Her eyes burned red as she glared hard at Link for a few moments. "I can't discern anything. It looks like the only thing hidden about it is how well your hair covers it."

"Yeah, and I know I don't have a scar like his, 'cause it'll be spotted right away. I don't have the luscious hair he does," Tetra said airily, making Link self-consciously run a hand through his bangs.

"You're sure you don't have anything of the like, Tetra?" asked Sela.

"I've got a scar, but I can't exactly show it. Let's say I was in a swordfight once, and got blindsided…I couldn't sit down for a week."

"I mean on your head, girl!" Sela exclaimed, while Link cracked up. However when they looked, Tetra didn't have any markings on her head, arms, or legs. "Okay, so it's just one of you…neither of you know where that could have come from?"

"It had to have happened while we were here, because it sure was not there before then," Tetra said.

Sela paced the counter, frowning. Several times she lifted her head like she wanted to say something, but didn't. She dropped to the ground and padded out the bathroom.

"If only I could remember," Link muttered in frustration.

"That…doesn't really have anything to do with this. I'm telling you, we were here when you got that. And anyway, that sort of thing, memory loss y'know, is really complicated," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder and quickly steering him after Sela. "You can't just get memories back by hitting your head hard enough, or snapping your fingers in some magic moment. And besides…"

She stopped, staring hard at him. "…do you really want them back?"

"My memories? Yes. They're mine."

"I'm saying, if this is from trauma, do you want to risk remembering that trauma?"

"Yes."

Sela groaned, pawing restlessly at her ears. "Oh, dear child, please be slower with your words. I understand it's a nasty situation to be in, but please…"

"Oh, Kita!" Link exclaimed. "Do you think I can ask him if he knows something?"

"You'd get a straighter answer from the town drunk. What's to say he won't slip some other magic effect onto you just for asking?"

Sela began to pace in a large circle, dragging her long tail after her. "Ugh! It's one bothersome thing after another for you both. I just don't have any good answers to give you children," she sighed, sinking down to her front. "Which reminds me of the Draxie in the room…I'm sorry."

"You're not doing anything bad by staying with us," Link said decisively.

Sela peered over her shoulder at them. "Thank you dear, but that time I was being figurative. It's maddening, long lived as I am, that I've got no ideas on how you children could ever escape. It's tearing me up."

"Oh, yeah," Tetra said. "I keep forgetting that we can't leave. Apparently. Maybe because I don't believe it's true. Well, but, if it's supposedly impossible, why have you been considering it?"

"Instinct. Because I care," Sela said. "I don't think I can grasp the full scope of what you both were doing in your world, but I want you both to go back to it. So even if leaving seems impossible, I can't help but to try."

Tetra fell silent, rubbing her arm in shame. Sela twitched her ears, staring at the floor in deep consideration.

"Ah…but there is…something I have thought about," she continued. "It's beyond all of our wildest dreams. As far as I could discern it would be the only, nearly impossible way of leaving this realm. I'm sorry I took so long to bring it up, but...it's as miniscule of a chance as...AH!"

Sela cowered as Link and Tetra just about hopped on her.

"What is it, Sela?!" Link cried.

Tetra added, "I thought you said you didn't have any ideas?! You knew something this whole time?"

"W-Well…yes, but…I was about to say, I don't know how much this could help. It really isn't a good solution," Sela said, uncertain. "You see, we Draxies believe in a creator deity who goes by the name of Ziraj. We believe he created this realm…so I was thinking if he's the one who had a hand in its creation, perhaps there is some radically unknown exit only he would know about. Or perhaps, he has the ability to control who or what goes in and out."

"Oh yeah, Lora mentioned that guy," Tetra said casually. "I can't remember what for, though…"

Sela offered a short scoff, flicking her tail. "Well, the humans certainly don't worship him anymore or take his existence seriously…it doesn't stop the fact there's proof of Ziraj's existence, as well as witnesses to certain events. It has been passed down through my clan that the first three monarchs of the realm had a sort of power that no human would have had normally. It's thought they had some sort of connection or favor in Ziraj's eyes and he bestowed power onto them."

"Ahhh, we've seen this before," Tetra remarked to Link, nudging him. "Yeah…good things usually don't happen to people who want the powers of the gods. Tricky thing it is, all-consuming power…did any of them happened to get stabbed in the forehead?"

"Tetra!" Link laughed. Sela flattened her ears, looking at them both in suspicion.

"Funny sort, you are…well, I'm not sure about details like stabbing, but seeing as to how they all apparently died horrible deaths, their power didn't do them any last-minute favors…tricky is the word!"

"What's the nature of this Ziraj, then?" Tetra wanted to know. "Right now, all I've got is a vague sort of shadowy feeling about him and I don't like it."

Sela smiled wearily. "He's a bit shy, apparently…soon after creating all we know, he's gone off and vanished without so much of a sign ever sense. And seeing as to how the Emperor has likely destroyed every bit of history related to him, no casual person would know more than his name. I'm too young to even know what he looks like. But maybe…I understand. There is a comfort of hiding one's face…perhaps it is him showing humility, or a willingness to let his creation evolve without his input. But we know see what's happened.

"Isn't it ridiculous though, how one man can try to claim the same sovereignty and power of a creator deity? The boldness and ego is beyond belief."

"He's only human," Link said quietly. "It doesn't matter if he's immortal."

"I will forever agree," Sela growled. She quickly swiveled her head to the window, then looked back at them. "Goodness, but even talking like this is forbidden. Remember children, you mustn't speak Ziraj's name—or whatever deities you both worship. It's simply not allowed here. Noh allows himself to be the only divinity and that's that."

"If this Ziraj really does exist…" Tetra said thoughtfully. "…shouldn't that be it, then? The more you try to cover up something and deny it doesn't exist…or better yet, put something else in place of it…couldn't that mean there's some truth in it somewhere? What if Noh somehow turned immortal because…because that's the power he got from Ziraj?"

"That would be…horrifying beyond words. And it just may be the truth because it's remotely possible."

"Let's do something about this, then!"

Sela's eyes twinkled. "Little girl, are you saying what I think you are?"

"This could be our only hope, finding this elusive deity, right?" Tetra pressed. "If there is a way, it could only be through him. We have to take it."

"No, no, no, I did not tell you that to get all gung-ho. You're serious, aren't you? I almost regret bringing the topic up."

Now Tetra was pacing, looking inspired. "I think knowing about his existence is something. And what we know so far—if this world is all about keeping secrets and enforcing lies, then who knows how many truths are hidden out there? And besides…"

She leaned on Link's shoulder. Sela looked between them both, expectant.

"We sorta have this thing where we run into the neighborhood deities and the like. Well, mostly Link. He's pretty good at softening up the high and mighty," Tetra said. "It's probably the voice that draws them in—"

BANG! BANG!

"KEEYIRRR!"

The three of them whirled around as someone yelled, "Major of the Guard, open up!"

"Again?" Tetra whispered furiously.