When the Suns Collide (M/M - Mature) Part 11, 3/04/09 [WIP]

[art_junkie]

Title: When the Suns Collide
Author: art_junkie
Pairing: strictly Michael/Maria with others on the way (I don’t want to give away anything)
Rating: Mature
Type: completely AU with aliens (well, everyone is an alien, so...)
Disclaimer: Actually (it’s awesome to be able to write this) most of it is totally mine. All the names of places and people (please do not steal) are mine. The characters are the only things based on Roswell. And that of course is not owned by me! XD
Summary: This is a story of the Journey a warrior makes to save the man she loves.

Since I use different names for the characters in the story, I thought I’d write down the main ones –
Michael – Mikaryx
Max – Marcex
Kyle – Kynel
Liz - Elyzia
The rest (Alex, Isabel, Valenti) Will be named as they come! The story is told through Maria and her name will be revealed in the first few chapters.

Hope you guys like.. *grins*





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Part 1
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The atmosphere was sinister.

Their blades were sharp and their hands were ready, the balls of power shining in their palms being the only things lighting up the night, as the suns had yet to raise and swallow up the darkness. The air was thick with tension; crackling with the energy radiating from their bodies.

Chaos had broken out on the battlefield, yet she was in high spirits. She moved with ease, hearing nothing but the beat of her own heart sound loudly in her ear drums. The sword felt like a part of her, as if she had been born with it. Maybe she had been. Each blast of energy that surged out of her hand hit the enemy exactly where she meant it to. Each swipe of the sword was made without sympathy or remorse; instead it drove her forward, motivating her to kill more, to cause more pain, to make more of the Zempharians bleed. Make them suffer. Even her injuries felt good to her. Her newly burnt hands and cut thighs caused her to hit back harder and reminded her to be better. The pain was like a drug; it only made her wilder.

She lived for moments like this.

But tonight her hands had been glowing softly all day; an array of beautiful colours, each as fleeting as the last, buzzing with energy, telling her that something was amiss. Unbalanced. Something was not right. Most warriors’ hands would vibrate if they were especially nervous about something calamitous, usually the battle ahead. But that never happened to her. She was the picture of serenity in the sight of a war. Nothing pleased her more; nothing made her feel more at home.

No, all was definitely not well. But was she thinking about it? No. Her hands hadn’t felt like this for the first time in years, nevertheless it didn’t even enter her consciousness that she should watch out. She didn’t think to be cautious or fight with care. No, once she was in the battle that was all she knew. The swishing of the blades. The blasting of her hands. The splattering of blood. Nothing else mattered, and no matter how many casualties they were, she never let her feelings for anyone, not even her fellow warriors, hinder her performance.

That’s why the first time she felt the stab she could not believe it. She had just looked a Zempharian in the face and smiled, such a wide smile, that he knew, in a few moments hence he would not be alive. His face was masked with nervousness, the symbol of his betrayal still slightly visible through the burn scars. Her hand was fired-up, the intensely bright ball of energy ready to escape her palm and scorch the body of the enemy, when she felt it. Instantly her concentration broke and her power disappeared. She fell to the floor gasping.

At first she thought she was dying. And later on, when she recalled this moment, she would wish she had been, but alas a worse fate was in store for her.

She felt like she had been stabbed by a searing knife, such was the pain that gripped her insides. For several moments she could not breathe, and if the enemy had been smart enough they would have used this time to their advantage and killed her. But her reputation exceeded her, and as much as they wanted to have the honour of bringing her down, their level of fear for what she could do was higher.

A moment later the feeling was gone. But she knew. She knew what had happened, she had felt the tiny, barely noticeable tremor in the Consei and she refused to think of it. She couldn’t. She couldn’t think of it, because if she did she would breakdown, she would collapse onto herself, just like the victims of her anger did. The battle was almost over; she could see the suns ascending into the sky, the tops of their red globes barely visible over the horizons. She had to keep going.

When the last vermin was dead, and their silvery-blue blood covered the hard desert ground, that was when she stopped. Shaking slightly, she looked back, hoping against hope that she was wrong. Over a hundred of the Vantreyne were still standing on the battle-field, tired and ready to go home. No one was cheering, no one was happy to have won. They had won one too many battles; the thrill of victory had now worn off.

Closing her eyes she let herself be guided; be pulled by his body, by his essence. She walked; eyes closed, following an invisible path, and ignoring everyone who spoke to her. It first she couldn’t feel him; so light was the energy he was giving out. Where was the fiery red she could always sense? Her forehead creased, and distraught, she tried to grasp any pulses of the energy his body should have been giving out.

When she felt his energy buzzing haphazardly in front of her she opened her eyes. There he was.

“Ryx..” she whispered, her voice so light that the smallest breeze carried it away as soon as it passed her lips.

A sob broke out from deep inside her and she fell to the ground beside him. His body was cold, and his eyes were bleak; unresponsive. His shiny blood had already begun to turn black in the hot, dense, desert air. He was gone.

She extended her hand and touched his face, brushing his brown hair off his forehead, willing him to wake up. She knew she was being stupid. She had seen enough deaths in her time to know when there was no hope. She immediately pulled back her hand as she felt the cold of his body. Even his light was diminishing; when she closed her eyes she could no longer see the colours of his soul, the colours that had pulled her to him. The fiery red and deep burgundy with spots of black and gold had now mellowed into a single red colour, which was vanishing quickly. She longed to feel him inside her mind as she used to, feel those shiny red droplets merge with the sparkly emerald tendrils of smoke that were inside her own head.

But there was nothing to feel. He was gone, his consciousness.. his soul.. they were all gone. All that was left were a few wisps of evanescent light, a cruel reminder of his once incandescent power and passion. Suddenly she started to panic. Her bright green eyes diluted and her hands started to shake, power crackling between her fingers in a frenzied manner.

A single tear escaped her closed eyes before she felt the world spiral around her and fade into darkness.

[art_junkie]

pingx - well I'm not much of a dreamer, but i will totalli check out your stories now!
Kitten88 - im glad you like it!
April - Aww, thanx, stick with the story, i promise it gets better
starcrazed - yeah there will be a lot of Maria and her emotions in this story.. they get a bit darker too..
nibbles2 - *does a happy dance* thanx for the banner compliments..
CandyLand - dont worry it doesnt stay sad! There is a happy flashback coming up..



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Part 2
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Her body ached. Each limb was wounded in some way or another and she was definitely not happy about it. She had thought about healing herself, but she wanted to feel the pain. She needed to feel it, needed it to tell her she wasn’t dreaming, for the rest of her was numb. Numb, because the thought of him being gone was too surreal. The pain would kill her, if the numbness didn’t first. Nevertheless she had rolled out of bed, left the campsite and walked a great portion of the day until she reached Karkone. That’s what he had named it- Karkone. And it was beautiful.

She had stumbled upon Karkone when she was just a child, watching her mother collect opars, a type of fruit, from the trees nearby. Being a jumpy six-year-old, only just developing powers and bursting with the urge to explore everything within reach, she had walked around the area, stopping near the mountainous rocks in the middle of the forest. She remembered looking at the rocks, and feeling like something was calling to her from behind them. Something had wanted her to come; something had been reaching into her consciousness and pulling her forward. She had then held her hands in front of her and, creasing her forehead in concentration, she had watched as the tendrils of sparkly green smoke, laced with purple spots, raised from them and danced before her eyes. Aiming them towards the rocks and she had watched in awe as they opened up a passage for her. She had walked through the channel formed by the moving rocks, and the rest was history.

Snapping out of her reverie she watched as the tunnel through the mountain opened up for her yet again, and as she walked through for a second she forgot why she was here, and the fact that she was hurting inside out. Instead she focused on the light of the suns as they fell on the sparkling red waterfall, the bright blue of the pebbles on the ground and the soothing oranges of the rocks that surrounded Karkone. Only for a second. Then it all came crashing back; the death of Ryx, and how she was suddenly alone again. Taking one uneasy step after the other she felt her legs give away and she crumbled to the ground; her pale skin, ivory dress and blonde hair contrasting deeply with the blue of the stones beneath her.

Suddenly she couldn’t see the beauty of Karkone anymore. The sparkling red water looked murky and the pretty blue rocks looked grey. Nothing looked right, even the two suns that brightened up their world looked shadowed. Even her mind was black. Now when she shut her eyes she could no longer see the greens, blues and purples of her being, but blacks and greys. The spark had gone. He had been the spark, he had brought colour into her life.

Mikaryx. Ryx. She had always called him Ryx, teasing him that his whole name didn’t sound as sexy.

What was she going to do with out him? They had had a plan. They would appeal to the king, and if that didn’t work they would run away. Together. But now.. what did she have left? Nothing. Well maybe a few random companions, like Kynel and Bynx, but even they weren’t enough for her to live on, she couldn’t survive on her love for them. Rolling over, she lay on the ground staring at the psychedelic sky. If only she could get lost in the clouds. The pinkish-red clouds looked so peaceful and happy up there. Was he there? Was he with them? Suddenly she felt jealous. Why could he be there without her?! How dare he leave her here alone! Instantly she felt guilty for having thought of such a thing. He had not wanted to leave her. It was not his fault- it was hers. She should have been there, she should have helped him. Fought by his side. Now he was gone.. and without him she was empty. Meaningless. A vessel.

Her heart felt icy cold. She truly was alone. Even her mind had left her, the colours had left her. Pulling her hands up to her face she saw the cuts and burns had started to fade, so naturally adapt was her body to battle scars. No! She panicked; where was the pain? She needed the pain, she deserved the pain. Why didn’t she die? She was the useless one. It should’ve been me, it should’ve been me!

Tears flowing freely down her face she turned around to get up when she saw a jagged piece of rock. Picking up the sharp stone she moved her dress up her leg and placed the pointed part of the soft skin of her thigh. Eyes overflowing with tears she dragged the rock across, drawing blood. As the silvery-blue liquid poured down her leg she lay back, feeling better. The sting calmed her. Pain was real; a physical wake-up for her. She was alive, and he wasn’t. She let him die. She let him suffer. She let the Zempharians blast him away.

Closing her eyes and losing herself in the intense pain of her pumping blood, she remembered the first time they had met; right here, before the place had even been christened ‘Karkone’.

[art_junkie]

pingx - happy flashback! here, now you have a break from the sad Maria's life.. hehe..
starcrazed -

Curious too...why were they going to appeal to the king?

you'll find out the answer to that sometime later in the story! I'm pretty surprised you caught that
April - this story is pretty dark considering the fact that she's mostly alone with her thoughts..
paper - i gotta say, you give awesome feedback! Thankyou for the comments on the banner! Will the Queen bring him back? *grins* that you'll find out soon, but i should remind you that this planet isn't much like Antar... and about Bynx, she makes an appearence in part4 or 5, and don't worry - i think you'll like her!

long flashback part this time, guys!



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Part 3
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She was sitting on a big blue rock opposite the top of the deep-red waterfall, and she was bored. What was there to do anyways? Training was over for the day, and it’s not like that was hard or anything. As she sat there and watched the water cascade down the rocks beautifully she wondered what it was like to have your path mapped out for you so precisely. To be allowed to flow, but not really allowed to change direction. The current only surged one way. Downwards. Towards gravity. And if she looked closely she could see that whilst the water found many ways to reach the pool beneath, it only deviated slightly from its original path.

Was the pool like death? Was everyone just rushing towards it? Was there destiny? Could we only just slightly deviate from our paths? Scoffing, she promised to never get stuck in destiny. On a path. She promised that she would only go where she thought she should a moment after she thought she should go somewhere. It paid to be erratic; life was more enjoyable that way.

Not that she would know much about enjoying life. She was a born warrior. An Xei.

Born to fight for the Kingdom of the Vantreyne, no matter where it took her.

Realizing that her thoughts were now slipping into the direction of her displeasing past, she decided that that was enough deep thinking for today, and lay back against the rock, hands in the air in front of her face. Focusing her powers, she conjured up an emerald spark- a tiny thread of smoke hanging in the air like fairy dust. Moving her fingers slightly she manoeuvred and manipulated the thread until it weaved itself into the tiny structure of a dragon. Giggling slightly, she amused herself by adding glints of silver and purple onto its wings. Once it was done she blew at it, and it flew around in her hands, as if it were actually real. In reality it was a figment of her imagination, conjured by her powers into sub-reality.

Smiling, she watched as it danced before her eyes, and absorbing the tranquil silence of her small oasis, she started to sing. She hardly remembered the words her mother sang to her in her childhood, but it mattered not, as the parts she couldn’t remember, she hummed. This place soothed her; made her forget about all the carnage on the battlefield and reminded her that it was possible for one to live a life of their own; that many Vantreyne did not suffer the pains that the job of fighting loyally for the kingdom brought with it.

She used to try and fight it; all of it. She used to beg to be released from her warrior status. She said she wanted to be a maid, a commoner, anything else. But it was not possible. She was born with the potential to be a warrior. The Consei had been consulted and her mind had been checked, and once a decision was taken there was no way out but rebellion. And no one smart rebelled against the kingdom.

Now, she had resigned to the fact that she would be a warrior until something better came up. Besides she was beginning to see that deep within her was the soul of a warrior. Deaths did not scare her and pain did not startle her, in fact the whole thing gave her a rush. Yes, she would be a warrior until it suited her, and then she would find a way to do something else. At least that was what she told herself.

Sighing and continuing to hum her song, she turned back to watch her smoke-dragon drowsily when she saw a flash in the corner of her eye. Before she could turn around tendrils of red smoke in the form of a griffin came and blew on her dragon, making it disappear. Gasping in outrage she looked down to see a significantly male presence standing below her on the stony blue ground, near the bank of the waterfall.

“Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?” She said, her tone conveying her fury and frustration at the sight of some body else in her secret abode.

Opening his mouth he looked like he was about to answer, but then decided against it. Smirking he responded with a “Who wants to know?”

Jumping down from the high rock she landed perfectly in front of his feet. Walking towards him, a severe glare on her face the entire time she tried to read him. She knew he was a Vantreyne by the energy she was sensing off him. All Vantreyne could sense each other because they were all connected to the Consei. They all also had specific energy levels, and since no two Vantreyne had the same energy structures, therefore no two Vantreyne had the same colours regarding their powers. Differences could be minute, but once you knew a Vantreyne you could sense the variations no matter how small.

Narrowing her eyes, she tried to get through to his mind. Knowing what she was doing, he didn’t let her get too far, but far enough to catch a few things. Fierce red. Sparkly orange. Those were his colours. The colours of passion and perseverance. She saw flakes of yellows and golden as well, forcing her to give up the idea that he was a menacing man who had come here to disturb her peace and deserved to be punished for it. No the yellows told her how loyal he was and the golden screamed about his honour.

At the same time that she was trying to dig into his consciousness, he decided to get into hers as well, finding her extremely amusing and enticing. Swirls of intriguing greens and curious blues exploded in front of his eyes, in an array of patterns and forms. Sparkling gems of zesty purple and compassionate pink were laced into the overall dark emerald colour making it all the more shiny and captivating.

Letting go of each other’s minds, they stood there, shoulder for - well almost - shoulder, staring at each other, neither willing to back down. At length she looked away, wanting more than ever to get answers from him and send him on his way.

“How did you get in here? No one else knows about this place.” She said, matter-of-factly.

“I was in the forest on the other side of the mountain, and I just found it.” He smirked slightly as she furrowed her eyebrow.

How did he find this place? Years of coming here, well about 16 life cycles at least, and no one had ever set foot on this land but her. Countless people had been through the forest but no one had found their way to the waterfall behind the shallow part of the mountain rock. Deciding that he didn’t need to know any of this, she took a deep breath, and pointing to the closed passage she instructed him to leave.

“What?” he said, a little taken a back by her brisk manner of speaking.

“You heard me. Leave.”

“Is this your land?”

“Yes it is.” She replied with out any hesitation.

Peering into her eyes, he narrowed his own, “So you own this place?” he said, gesturing to his surroundings.

“Well..” crinkling her forehead, she was almost tempted to lie, “No. But no one else has ever been here, and I mean ever, so therefore it’s mine by extension.”

“But it’s not actually yours?” He said clearly amused and enjoying the many emotions he was causing to show up on her face.

“No.”

Looking down at her for a second, for he was about a foot taller than her, he grinned, and then the next thing she knew he was out of her line of sight. He had plopped himself down on the pebbles, stretched out his legs, closed his eyes and lain his head back on the ground.

Mouth agape, she stood over him, hands on her hips and face fuming. The gull of this damn man! This was her sanctuary and he had no right to be here. Glaring down at him, she kicked the side of his head with her bare foot.

“Ow! What was that for?” he said, opening an eyelid to squint up at her.

“You know exactly what it was for! This is my personal space. And you.. you’re invading it! Who the hell are you anyways?” as much as she wanted him out of her sight, she couldn’t help wondering who he was, she had never seen him before, and by the look of his expensive clothes he was a noble or nontre, not a commoner.

“Name’s Mikaryx. Pleased to meet you.” Looking at her expectantly she realized that he expected her to introduce herself. No way, not after all the aggravation he was causing her. Rolling his eyes, he continued but a moment later, clearly not surprised that she didn’t give herself up. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m trying to enjoy the pleasant atmosphere that I’m sure this place can offer – and you’re in my light.” And with that he shut his eyes before she could put forward another question.

What a stubborn idiot! First he decides to stay even though I told him I want him to leave, and then he oh-so-subtly implies that I’m ruining the pleasant atmosphere! She thought, her mind enraged. He wanted to play did he? Well, she was going to teach him a lesson.

Quickly scampering up the rocks, like she had done countless times in her childhood, she climbed back up to the large blue rock she had been on before. Then, moving to stand on a smaller ledge, she used her powers to propel the rock forward towards another ledge adjacent to the waterfall. The ledge was directly above the water pool and close enough to the shore for her plan to work. Tying her long yellowish-golden hair back with a piece of cloth she stood near the edge and jumped. Mid-air she bent her legs at the knees and held on to them with her hands hitting the sparkly-red water with a big splash.

Staying underwater for effect- it was a good thing she could hold her breath for ages at a time- she swam deep beneath the surface to the other side of the pool. Pressing herself against the hard rocky edges of the pool, she finally looked at him through her red vision. A big smile appeared on her face as she saw that her plan had worked. There he was, soaking wet, staring down at the body of red water; a deep look of concentration on his face. Taking care not to swallow any of the water, she watched him search for her through the hazy liquid, but she was too far away for him to see. Grinning impishly she jumped up from the water on to the surface, appearing behind him.

“Lost something?”

Turning around away from the water, he glared at her, still as wet as ever, “Actually I was looking for you.”

“Me? Did I disturb you?” she said, her voice as fake and as sweet as it could get, “Don’t mind me, I was just taking a swim. Carry on; you don't want anything ruining your pleasantness.” she waved a hand at him dismissively.

Fusing his eyebrows together he was just about to give her a piece of his mind when his pocket started beeping. Taking out his communicator he saw the white gemstone was now flashing red. Red meant that it was important. Sighing, he looked at her and smirked, “Well, I guess you get off lucky this time, my lady.”

Raising an eyebrow she couldn’t help retorting, “I’m not scared of you.”

“I’m not surprised. In fact was I not who I am- I would be scared of you.” And before she could ask him who indeed he was, he had walked back to the side of the mountain, waved his hand in front of him, created a passage and disappeared. Who was he?

[art_junkie]

CandyLand - thanx for the compliment! I'm glad your reading.. XD


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Part4
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She had died. In the early hours of the morning, when the remains of the battle were still covering the grounds, while his life was slowly being sucked out of him, she had died too. Her essence had died. Her colours had faded. Getting up slowly, a deep ache in her head, she looked down to see that her blood had died and turned back. Moving her hand in front of her, she cupped it and concentrated. Deep green and black swirls of smoke and light came out from her palm. The sparkle was gone. All that was left were dark shades and menacing colours, reminding her of what she had lost. Getting up she exited the clearing and returned to the city.

Karkone was outside the main city towards the east. The city, Silvexia, was on a colossal hill, a vast area of higher ground. Somewhere around the centre and slightly towards the right was the castle, home to the King, the Insei and a few chosen nobles. Outside the castle walls, there were over a hundred guards, and beyond that where market places and houses. Around all these was a wall. The wall went right around the main city, and had ten main gates, each of which was guarded by many of the King’s personal sentries.

She could easily bypass the main city by going around the walls towards the warrior base, which was also beyond the walls on the western side, but for once in a very long time she felt like facing the reality of the situation in the Kingdom. Forcing herself to look around, and to really see the city whilst she was walking, she realized how bad things had gotten in the past ten years.

The Vantreyne and the Zempharians had always been cold enemies, that was nothing new, but since the King’s father had died and left him to the throne they had been more violent than usual. They made up some story stating that the town of Utonia, about 10 miles from the main Vantreyne city, Silvexia, was actually theirs and the Vantreyne had attacked them, killed countless people and taken the land. Obviously it was a lie, as no one remembered such a war, and the land had been in the kingdom for centuries. The Vantreyne King, Marcex, suspected that the Zempharian king had somehow cloaked his people of the truth using an extremely strong force and a few mind-altering powers and subsequently caused them see only what he wanted them to. Regardless, the people of Zemphar continued to use it against the Vantreyne causing battles and wars all the time. Which we always win. They are inferior, why do they not understand it?

Turning her attention back to the city, she watched common people sit at the side of the now musty-grey and /blue roads, resting their heads against the walls and clutching their dingy robes to their bodies. Of course, not all of them lived like this. In fact, the ones who lived on the street were most likely thieves or guilty of some sort of crime and thus thrown out of their community. The other commoners lived in simple houses spread vastly around the city.

The city wasn’t a happy place, but it wasn’t an overly sad place either. The battles were starting to take a toll on everybody, and as the deaths increased exponentially so did the depression and anger. They all expected Marcex to do something. Yet he himself was a young king of barely twenty-eight life cycles, with limited experience and a troubled kingdom. The commoners had started to use their weak powers as signs of protest by vandalizing noble property, and many had started to leave the kingdom to the outskirts, or to the Zempharians..

Gambling and theft were widespread and powerful energies were being used in the wrong way. Even the city protectors weren’t enough to contain all of them. Marcex assured the warriors that once the Zempharians were conquered everything would be better, but until then he insisted that defeating them was his first priority.

Walking through the narrow streets, glaring at the poor who would pull on her dress and ask her to buy “things to relieve her of her pain” from them she realized how her fighting potential had saved her life. Had she not been born with the genes of a warrior she would have been on the street like a common orphan; alone with no purpose in life. Was it better then, to experience life and happiness and then have it all snatched away?

That was a question she could not answer.

“You’re upset..” a man said to her, and touched her arm with his finger. She turned around to berate him for touching her but she saw the sincerity in his old eyes. In his very old eyes. This man had lived over a hundred life cycles. Something made her look into his eyes and listen to him. “Miss I know how you can hide your mind! Block the Consei.. block the Consei!” he repeated urgently, “it eats your mind!” At this point she shook her head sadly, this man was crazy; the Consei was not evil, but a collection of thoughts and energies. The Consei connected all the Vantreyne together, every single one was connected to it, and big losses of energy could be felt by all. The king could use the Consei to track people- his bond was stronger than everyone’s. She sighed; this loony old man was just another conspirator.

“Do not let anyone loyal to the King hear you say that.” She mumbled.

She shrugged out of his grasp and carried on walking through the bad parts of the city, ignoring his sad eyes and whispers as she left. She almost considered using a transporta to get back to the site, but thought against it.

Transporta’s were metallic boxes, about eight feet high, and big enough to accommodate two people in it. Inside there was a large touch screen and a keypad. All Vantreyne had a symbol of three dots set in a ‘V’ shape upon their forehead. This symbol was placed upon them at birth, and enabled the Consei to be able to sense them. It also acted like an identity code; when a special type of sensory light was projected onto the symbol it could tell the Consei who that person was, using the specific energy in the Vantreyne’s body. This was the key to the transporta,Transporta, as it read the symbol to find out the identity of the person, thus writing down the information in a log which later helped with payment. Transporta’s could only take people to other transporta’s though. Nothing in between.

Having just realized that she didn’t want to go home, she shook her head and walked past the metal transporta. Home was empty. She was alone. So it didn’t matter how long she took, because no one would be waiting for her.

She hardly ever used this route to get to the warrior camp, but today her mind was on dark things so it made sense to her that she should see the true darkness that lerks within the boundries of the city. She walked past a small area that was known as the dark part of the city. Here everyone was poor. The smell of burnt rubbish was rising up from rubbish cans and alleys. Even the Vantreyne here looked dark and dingy; their skin was so thin and tightly stretched against their face that the blue-grey of the blood underneath was showing. She kicked leaves off the side of the muddy street as she walked, ignoring the smell that made her want to wrench. Here everyone hated the King; here was where the bitter rebellious lived. The King was trying to get them to leave the main city due to his uneasiness.

Getting to the campsite she nodded automatically at her fellow warriors nearby. Some of them we’re Xei like her, others we’re normal warriors, like archers and blasters. Some where even healers.

Not wanting to talk to anybody she quickly walked to her home. Home. It was hardly a home. More like a hut. But she had lived here for most of her life and though she remembered there being a time when she lived with her mother in a proper house, that was a long time ago, and she couldn’t tell how much of it was from memory and how much of it she had fabricated. Her small apartment house consisted of basically two rooms. A bathroom, and a main room. A tiny hallway lead to the main room, which basically meant that she couldn’t see the people entering her place from her bed. Not necessarily a good thing. The main room had her bed, her kitchen and her eating table. Behind the door was a shelf of assorted items and beside that was a chest of army weapons. Next to the bed were a few manuscripts and books, and beside that was the big fluffy red cushion on which Bynx slept.

“Bynx, come here my little baby..” she whispered, taking off her shoes and laying down in bed. Her voice sounded strange to her own ears; she had not spoken in hours. Feeling a depression on the bed she smiled as Bynx put her paws on her chest.

“Hello my lovely.. are you okay?”

The small dragon looked at her for a few moments and then moaned.

“I know, I know you can feel my pain.. the swirls of black mixed with bitterness..” her voice broke as she spoke to the animal who could not understand her, but was smart enough to sense her moods, “I just miss him so much..”

Curling up on her side she laid her head on her pillow and willed her mind to clear itself of all thoughts and leave her in peace.
 

[art_junkie]

starcrazed - Im glad you liked the flashback, dont worry, there shall be many more! And the next one is coming quite soon Maria's pretty messed up in this story, so expect to see more darkness.. so the V thing wasn't too lame? Great! hehe.. oh and i drew a picture of Bynx, once it's done, ill put it up

xmag - okay, so im going to admit, her name wasn't supposed to be in this part (i took it out btw, just for the hell of it), but i added that paragraph later and i guess i forgot but yeah, that's Maria! Oh, yeah all the parts with Ryx are flashbacks..



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Part 5
****

Clear blue water. Pink skies. Orange mountains. Where was she? Looking down she could see that she was wearing a shimmering yellow-gold dress and standing on the top of a mountain peak. There was an old pathway down one side, it looked like it was hand made and led to the bottom of the mountain which wasn’t far at all. Turning away from the path she looked at the other side of the mountain and gasped. Mikaryx. There on a ledge of a higher mountain, about a mile away!

A large smile appeared on her face and she stood on tiptoe at the edge of the peak and waved. No words were needed. He was here and that was enough. He grinned back at her, and then unexpectedly jumped into the water. Giggling at the way he flung himself into the blue depths below she waited for him to resurface. This was a strange place.. not a single part of their planet looked like this. Hmm..

All at once, a figure was standing on a floating brown rock, a little higher than herself. It was the old man she had met in the lower part of the city. He looked down upon her, his eyes grey and sad and then nodded towards Ryx in the water.

She smiled at him, willing him to grin back; telling him all was fine. But he shook his head gravely and nodded to the water again. Frowning she told him, “No it’s fine! He can stay underwater for-” but she quickly realized that she was moving her lips but no words were coming out. Frowning she looked back into the water. He could survive in water. That wasn’t the problem. Water, no matter what strange colour it was, was quite familiar to him, as it was for her; they could last in it for about half an hour without coming up for air.

But still.. she could see Mikaryx’s body beneath the surface and signalling him, she told him to come back up- there was no point in worrying the poor old man.

Then, suddenly, the world around her was changing. The clouds turned grey and the sky turned dark blue. The ground beneath her feet had turned dark brown. The old man was no where to be seen, in fact she could hardly see anything. Looking down, she saw that her dress had turned black, and her hair had turned dark brown. What was happening? Why was it all different? What had changed? Remembering Ryx she looked down towards the water and her eyes grew wide, her mouth shaped itself into a perfect ‘o’, and her head felt dizzy at what she saw. The sparkly body of blue towards the bottom of the mountain had evaporated, and he lay on the dry ground still and not breathing.

Letting out a wail, she ran down the path towards the base of the ridge, but every time she got close it got further. She ran and ran.. tripping on her long dress again and again, forcing herself to get back up, to ignore the ache in her hands and legs. Her black dress was stained with her silvery blood, and her hands were coated with it, but that did not matter to her. She had a goal. Save him.. I’ve got to save him.


 
****

Waking up immediately as she dreamt those words, she tumbled off the bed and onto the floor. Gasping, she tried to remember her dream and make sense of what she saw. Blue water pools? There were no blue water pools here. All the water was red. What the hell was this about?

Ryx.

He had been there, drowning. Her body shook as she remembered the exact scenes of the dream. He had died, just like now, and just like now she had not been able to save him. This was a torturous thing to see in a dream, when she had gone to bed with the intention of forgetting the worries of this dimension, but even more worrying was the fact that this had not been a normal dream. No she knew what a normal dream felt like and this one was trying to tell her something. But what? What could she probably learn from seeing him die again?

Save him.

Her own words echoed in her head. What? She couldn’t save him, “In case you didn’t know, he’s already gone! To land of the beyond! Permanently.” She whispered angrily, not sure who she was talking to.

Determined to get the dream out of her head, she got up, and ventured into her kitchen area for a drink. Pouring herself some fruit juice, she looked down, to see that the juice was blue like the water in her dream. Startled, she jumped back, dropping the glass to the floor and watched transfixed as it broke into countless pieces, spilling the liquid on the floor.

The juice was purple.

Hands shaking, and giving off light violently she picked up the pieces one by one – not being able to trust her powers at a time like this – and returned to bed, clasping her hands together to stop their intense vibration. The old man, the one she had seen on the road previously, was looking at her in the dream in the way that made her think that he was expecting something from her. Like he expected her to do something. Maybe she should go talk to him.. but then the problem arose that she had no idea where he was. An old man walking randomly on the street in the shady part of the city? Not easy to find.

Somehow inside she knew what the dream was trying to tell her, but she ignored that little voice. He was gone. Nothing could be done. She couldn’t save him no matter how much she wanted to.. she couldn’t. Groaning she put her hand on her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

But sleep didn’t come till dawn.
 

[art_junkie]

****
Part 6
****

“Beep, beep, beep, beep, be-” she flung the communicator across the room. Hitting the wall it stopped beeping, and the blue shine it was emitting from its crystal structure died down, until the original transparent colour could be seen.
She opened her eyes and sighed, the dream coming back to her like a ton of bricks. Lying in bed, she tried desperately to make sense of it, but it was to no avail. The vision of Ryx’s laughing face before he jumped into the water kept entering her mind. How happy he looked, how full of life! How nice would it be to have him back that way again. Although she knew that even before he died he had been troubled. Work pressure.

“Beep, beep, BEEP!” the communicator jumped to life; apparently it had fixed itself.

Groaning she threw her covers off her and rubbed her eyes. Groggily getting up, she walked to the shower area, her eyes heavy with sleep. Turning the faucet on she stumbled into her shower groaning as her foot contacted with the marble side painfully. Closing her eyes, hands in her hair and pulling at her roots, she savoured the feeling of cold water on her skin. The red flowed over her, making her pale skin brighter, and the light diamond-shaped pattern all over her body darker. Her skin looked like she had placed a million tiny sequins on top of it.

She hated it.

She didn’t want to feel good; she was in mourning. She didn’t deserve to feel good. Mikaryx was dead; she didn’t deserve to feel good. Opening her eyes she fell backwards as she saw her reflection in her mirror. Her blonde hair was now the dark colour of brown. Slipping, her feet skidded forward, and her body fell backwards, her head colliding with the metal tap behind her.

Woozy, she touched her sore head, which she was sure had already started to bump, wincing when it stung. Removing her fingers she saw her blood dripping from her them. She watched it flow down her arm for a few seconds, her eyes in a daze because of the blood loss. How wondrous was it that this beautiful bluish-silver liquid was the cause of her very existence?

Placing her fingers back to her head and closing her eyes, she concentrated on getting the two sides of her skin to come together again. A few seconds later it was done. The wound was healed, and she was left feeling weaker than ever. Too drained to even stand, she stayed there against the side of the shower, half-sitting and half-laying down, her legs limp in front of her as she realized what she had to do. She didn’t know how to do it, but it had hit her and now she knew there was no other way. It had to be done.

No matter what, she was going to get him back.

[art_junkie]

xmag - (ooo i didnt know anyone was reading XD ) how does she get him back? well thts a long story.. this story. Hehe, there's a hint in this part that might give you an understanding of how she'll do it.



****

Lying back on the roof of her house she stared at the suns. Their planet, Citezon, had two suns. One travelled at a faster speed, and one was slightly slower. Together they formed night and day; creating light when they joined together at midday and darkness when they where at the other side of the planet.

But, lying there staring at the purplish-pink sky, the splendour of the system of the suns was the last thing on her mind. She was wondering if the planet would ever look the same to her. If the colours would ever be as bright. Ryx’s death had changed her whole world, including her vision of it. She felt like someone was permanently shading her eyes.

She knew the dream was telling her to get Ryx back, and as stupid as she thought following a dream was, she knew inside that it was the right thing to do. It was possible and she had to try. After all, had he not been one of the greatest warriors the Vantreyne had ever had? Bringing him back would be good for the country. But she knew she wasn’t doing this for the kingdom. She wasn’t even doing this for him really. He would fit in wherever he was, he always did. No, her reasons to bring him back were purely selfish. He was the compass in her life. She needed her balance back. She needed her faith back. Until then, inside, she would be dark and dead.

It was going to be hard, she knew that, but she also knew it was possible. In fact it had been done before. About a century ago whenever the king would need to visit another planet for discussions, he would have to do so personally. Transport had been developed, but there was no much advancement in communications. Once, the King was murdered on the way to a neighbouring planet. The king had no heir to the throne, and the Insei council members that knew how to read information from the Consei, knew that no one could take care of Citezon like he did, at that time. So using DNA from his body they created a vessel for his soul to come back in.

But when the King returned the planet was in ruins. The reincarnation of the king had taken so much energy from the Consei that everyone was affected. The buildings had broken down, the rivers had almost dried up, and everyone was weak.

Since then, the art of bringing someone back was kept a secret, and never practised again. Still, all great people had their essence saved in the castle, in case there was ever a great need to bring someone back.

It hadn’t happened till now.

Closing her eyes as the gentle wind hit her face, she smiled very slightly, comforted by its light touch. Suddenly she felt her life had purpose again. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t get into the castle, and that she had no idea how she would bring Ryx back from the dead, but today she had taken a step. A step forward. A step towards something. This was a big accomplishment since she thought she would never find her way now he was gone.

Relishing in her new-found happiness, she knew that she would succeed in her goal for she was a Vantreyne warrior.

And they were taught never to stand down.

“Meyrene!”

Hearing the sound of her name she went to the side of the roof and popped her head to look down.

“Kynel!” She smiled, happy to see her friend. He was pretty much her only friend.

“I’m coming up, okay?”

“Sure, the door is.. Oh.” She trailed off as she saw him close his eyes and stand absolutely straight. A moment later he had lifted off the ground and levitated straight to her. “Wow, I can’t believe you did it! I absolutely suck at that. Damn, I can’t even lift a foot, and you just landed on my roof!” she exclaimed, excited for him.

“Yeah, it’s taken me, what twelve years? But I’ve done it.” He said flashing a grin. “But..” he started uneasily, and she knew what he was going to say, “That’s not why I’m here. Are you okay?”

“Am I really that obvious?” she asked, worry evident in her voice, as she sunk to the floor, her back against the small boundary of the roof.

“Only to me. It’s okay no one else has noticed..” He said, sitting next to her on the floor and placing an arm around her shoulder. “So..?”

She felt the comforting blue swirls of his energy, and the deep understanding purple, and instantly felt at ease. “I’m.. well, as well as can be expected. But it’s okay. I have an idea.” she turned around to look at him and she could see the twinkle in her eye.

“What? Meyrene, please don’t do anything rash! I know what you’re like. I remember how you got after.. that is.. your mother..” he finished awkwardly.

She nodded grimly knowing what he was talking about. After the Zemparians killed her mother, she never even got to say goodbye, to burn her body and scatter her remains over the beautiful lake Laleeniya, like they did with every other body. Overcome with anger she had locked herself in her room and refused to eat. That night she had gone to the city of Zemphar and blown up their historical archway with her powers. No one even caught a glimpse of her.

“I know but this.. this is real. I know I have to do this.”

“And what’s that?”

Moving closer to him, she leaned over to whisper it in his ear, like she was afraid the slightest breeze would whisk it away for others to be heard, “I’m going to bring him back Kynel, I’m going to bring him back.”



****

Kynel couldn’t believe what Meyrene had told him. She was planning to bring the General back. At first he wanted to shake her, tell her she was insane and tell her that this wasn’t a good idea, but he had seen the broken look on her face, and he had felt his heart ache for her.

“Meyrene.. you know I love you and want what’s best for you.. but, are you really serious about this?”

“You don’t think I am?” she looked at him, half angry and half hurt.

“No, it’s just.. do you think this is a good idea? Getting so lost in this decision to bring Mikaryx back? I meant what if you can’t? Are you prepared for that?”

“Ky.. look, I’m not sure, okay? But I have to try. This is it. This is what’s keeping me from loosing it and hurling myself off the highest mountain in the city. I need you to understand.. I need you to have faith in me.” She looked down mumbling, “You’re all I have left now.”

He was silent for a few moments then. She really didn’t have anyone now that the General had gone. Giving her a small hug, he had smiled, “Yeah, sure. Okay.. I’ll help you. In fact, I have an idea.”

Eyes sparkling again, she clapped childishly and almost fell off the wall, “Brilliant. Spill!”

“No way. I’m still thinking about it, but if I come up with something solid, you’ll be the first one to know!” he grinned, happy that for a little while, she was back to her own self; the bouncy, motivated, happy Meyrene.

He had told her what he thought, but she had changed his mind. After all, she was his best friend.. he would do anything for her. Running over the scene in his head, he smiled slightly. Yes he would help her.

[art_junkie]

****

Of course Kynel had completely lost it and told her that she was going about this the wrong way and all there was was to move on, but she faced his criticism with unusual silence and patience. Her mind was made. This was the only way, and she would not rest until she had completed her goal.

After he had cooled down and told her that he would be behind her come hell or high water, he had left, leaving her to sit with Bynx and wonder about the journey ahead. She ha no plan until now, but she knew that the Consei was the answer to her problem. She would have to find out all she could about it and get into the castle. That alone was a daunting task. People weren’t just allowed to walk in there, and she couldn’t get a job as a staff member because she was already a Xei with more than enough responsibilities.

Her mind wondered back to what Kyle had said about her mother. Meyrene had been brought to the camp, like all other children, at the age of ten to begin training. The Xei had to have specific powers that needed a lot of honing. Precision was the key. After her joining the other warriors her mother had lived by herself, in her own house, only seeing her once a week, when Meyrene was allowed to go home. It saddened her now to think of all the time she had wasted. All the time she would never get back.

If she could she would bring her mother back too. But it was not possible. Saving Mikaryx would be hard enough.
I’m so lucky to have Kynel, she thought, still standing on the top of the roof. They had met the first day that she had come to camp, and he had come towards her and given her some sweets to eat. She had been doubtful at first, but after seeing his smiling face she had accepted the sweets and they had been friends ever since. Though she had never opened up to him about everything in her life, she had told him enough and he was one of the two people, besides herself, that she trusted. Of course, the other one was dead now.

Looking over at the hundreds of identical little houses surrounding hers, she pondered over the ten years she had spent fighting intrepidly for the kingdom. So many wars; they had won most of them. The Zempharians were no match for the power and skill of the Vantreyne, and yet they continued to battle; for what purpose, she had no idea.

Closing her eyes, she looked back to the next time that she and Mikaryx had met, right here on the warrior base.

[art_junkie]

****

“Stand in line everybody. That’s right, I want every single warrior in line! Xei in the front.” Wentarij, the High-Official barked.

Immediately everyone was in line for what was to come. Meyrene stood near the middle of the line, her mind totally preoccupied in figuring out why she couldn’t do the Behind-Back Enemy blast. She had been trying for over a year, and usually these things came fast to her.

“We have a new general, since General Hortix was taken from us in battle yesterday.”

She knew she should feel sorry or something, the guy had after all taught them all they knew, but she couldn’t care less. In her opinion General Hortix had been a mean, snobby little man who forever blarneyed all the female Xei in his sight.

Therefore it wasn’t surprising that she spaced out during the talk Wentarij was giving and, looking down, had started thinking of other things. Perhaps she could practise her new blast at her sanctuary. That was a wonderful place and no one ever came there. Except for that horrid man that day, if I ever see him again I’ll- her thought was cut off when she saw a shadow fall over her. Oh shit.

“Meyrene Dilijon.” Wentarij said sternly. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

“Yes sir.” She said, still not looking up no matter how much she wanted to, it was considered rude.

“This is the new General Ureno, you should show him some respect.” He continued gesturing to his side. This time she just had to look up. After all what use was it to be polite if she didn’t even know who the new general was? Her mouth dropped open as she stared at him. There he was. That annoying guy. The new General. Wait, what?!

He didn’t look surprised at all. He just stood there, a small smirk playing on his lips, making her want to strangle him. But she couldn’t. Respect. Right. She could do that.

Smiling tightly, she stood up straight and gave a nod, “Sir.”, looking sideways to make sure Wentarij was okay with her ‘show of respect’.

Clearly he was, because the he and the General moved on to look over the rest of the troops, but not before the noble himself gave her a second look-over. She shook her head in dismay. Ass.

After another half-hour, the general, who Meyrene couldn’t help criticizing in her mind every second, looked tired, probably doesn’t think we’re good enough for him or some shit, and retired to his large house in the middle of the camp.

She couldn’t help being mad at him. She finally understood what he meant by “If I wasn’t who I was.” He was the frikkin general! And just because of that she had to treat him with respect, even though she didn’t want to. Plus, she was a little worried he’d be furious about the whole water thing. She found it funny, but men were awfully touchy about their clothes these days.

Shaking her head, she hoped he wouldn’t treat her any different than the rest of the Xei. She had only been a warrior for seven years, before that it was just training, but she was pretty good at it. Her body count was probably about seventy percent higher than that of the other Xei. She couldn’t help feeling proud about it, after all it was the only thing she had left to feel proud about. Now all that was left in her life was war. Fighting. Bloodshed. Everything else had faded into nothing. Her mother, her father, her life.. gone. Now all she was, was an Xei. Therefore she was entitled to feel damn-well pompous about it if she wanted to!

“Training will begin tomorrow at dawn.” She heard a official call out. Seeing that they had been dismissed she started walking towards Kynel’s living quarters. She couldn’t call them houses. They barely had enough space to stretch out in them. Manoeuvring her way around the camp area, she couldn’t help but hear some female Xei chatting loudly behind her.

“So he’s the King’s second?” the first Xei asked, her voice squeaky and annoying.

“That’s what I’ve heard.. Come back from a long mission. Five years I think!” Was it possible that Meyrene could find the second voice even more screechy than the first?

“Wow, long time.”

“Yeah but he has a lot of credentials to be proud of..”

“Definitely!” the first one said, right before they burst into giggles.

Meyrene was sure that if they used their powers right now, they would be bouncy lights of pink and bright orange shades. How the hell do they let people like that become Xei? The Xei used to be a band of especially skilled warriors, but now they called almost everyone who fought Xei. And who chose the Xei? The Concei. At birth, the insei would run tests on a child to find out what energy level was the highest in his being. That energy level was then compared to the levels of previous people throughout generations to find out what a high level in that specific energy frequency meant. It would usually point to some certain type of potential. Most commonly though, the children would have no high levels, showing no sort of special skill; these people were the commoners. The ceeri. The normal people; about eighty percent of the population.

The Vantreyne were divided into three main sects. The nontre were the most powerful in terms of social authority and domination. They were the nobles; the rich and the powerful. Being of noble blood, they usually lived in the castle or grand houses around it, owned the majority of the businesses in the city and were closely connected to the King and his rule.

The next main sect were known the annon. The warriors. They included the Xei, the healers, the archors and the Eli, or the illusionists. Annon lived mostly in the warrior camp or in the houses in the city, which ever they prefered.

The ceeri were the lowest sect of the Vantreyne. They did not have any specific powers or talent. Still, they could learn certain things that allowed them to do certain jobs. For example, a ceeri could learn how to repair and assemble trasportas and become a professional in that regard. They lived in smaller houses within the main city, or outside it.

Meyrene shook her head, clearing her thoughts. Right now she was worried about the fact that she had insulted, assaulted (well, with water at least), and basically disrespected the Second-in-Command to the King. Uh-oh. She had really planned on making a good impression on the new general, and now it seemed like it was too late. Sighing, she mused, well, at least I’ve made some sort of impression!


*

The next day, she awoke at dawn, and following her normal routine, threw her communicator against the wall before actually waking up and turning it off. Training. She loved training. The adrenaline rushing through her veins, the thrill of pushing herself to extremes, it was all exhilarating.

The only thing she was worried about was seeing the General.

What if he was angry? What if he hated her guts? What if he gave her time-off and put her on scrubbing duty? Her eyes bulged as she thought of the endless possibilities. Hopefully his mind wasn’t as active as hers, and hopefully they wouldn’t cross paths.

Unfortunately for her, he did happen to come across her training. Since there were so many Xei, they were all split into groups for training. The other warriors had different groups as well and each one was assigned an Official. The Official’s were a group of older, more experienced Xei. Old, they were, but rusty they were not. Each Official had powerful energy that radiated from them even a few feet away. They had all honed their powers perfectly, and had become strong tools of mass destruction.

So there she was, in the centre of the circle her group had formed, training against their Official when he walked up behind them and stood to watch. Unnerved by his stare, she faltered missing the Official’s stomach with her foot by millimetres. She spun around in a dizzy arc, right before falling backwards into the Official, who grabbed her under her arms and helped her up.

Face red with anger and her butt hurting where she fell, she got up, asked to be excused and stormed off the ground. Walking towards a water cooler at the side of a building, she bent down to drink some, blissfully enjoying the feel of the ice-cool liquid running down her throat.

“Seems you have a concentration problem.” A voice droned from behind her.

“Excuse me?” She spat, offended and turned around ready to give the speaker a piece of her mind when she saw who it was. “Oh.”

Knowing that she was in no position to speak back to him, she pushed past him, ignoring his comment.

“Meyrene was it?” He said, causing her to turn around. “I swear I’ve seen you before.. Hmm.. now where was it?” tapping his finger against his chin in jest and smirked, “Oh that’s right, we had a little run-in by a waterfall, didn’t we?”

Narrowing her eyes, she decided that superior or not this man was going to get a piece of her mind, “Listen, General,” she begun, spitting out the word and poking her finger into his broad chest, “I’ve had quite enough of this. Yes, I threw water on you, but you invaded my secret place, and not to mention my privacy, destroyed my dragon – and fine, it was imaginary, but it’s the principle of the thing! Therefore if you really think about it, you deserved each drop of it, because I had told you to leave- and it’s absolutely not my fault that you refused to listen. So you know what? Put me on scrubbing duty. I’ll clean all those weapons and everything by hand but I will not apologise to you.” She stopped, tilting her head to gauge his reaction as she breathed heavily. Well. She said it.

Staring at her, eyebrows raised in surprise and slight amusement, he replied slowly, as if enjoying the impatient look on her face, “I wasn’t going to make you scrub anything.”

“Oh.. But-”

“And I didn’t expect you to say sorry, it’s not that much of a big deal. I was just surprised that you were Xei. You’re kind of.. petite.”

“What? I’ll have you know that-”

“I didn’t mean that offensively, it’s actually pretty remarkable, I’ve heard quite a bit about you and your fighting skills. I’m willing to make a deal with you.. We’ll forget about the whole water slash privacy-invading slash my-slaughtering-an-innocent-smoke-trail incident if you-”

“I am not doing anything for you, okay? Are all you General’s the same? I mean-”

Putting his hand up to halt her, he grinned, “You know, I am your superior, and you’re going to have to let me speak, or there could be consequences.”

Letting out a weak smile she crossed her arms and waited for him to go on.

“First of all I take the fact that you have a General-stereotype quite offensive.” Smirking, he went on, “But what I was going to ask you, was that you share your abode with me.”

“What?” Meyrene gasped, not sure she heard him correctly. He wanted her to share her only place of freedom? She stood there, transfixed.

“Just think about it.” He said, walking past her back to the training ground to go look at the Xei. “It can be our karkone.”

She snorted at his last words. Their escape? Puh, how can I escape if you’re there! Her first instinct was to say no. But after a few minutes of pondering on the subject, she realized that being on good terms with the General was a good thing. Maybe she could use this later. She could find out about battles and wars maybe. And even if she couldn’t get information out of him, it was better that she was on the good side of the General than the bad, because after all, he did run the entire warrior camp.

Running over, she stopped in front of him, blocking his path. “No one else finds out. You can’t bring anyone else there. And I mean ever.”

“Sure. We have a deal then?”

“Sure.” She mimicked him, turning around and running back to her training group.

“Meyrene, it’s good you’re back. We’re doing the Backward-Blast, and since you have been struggling with it, I’d like you to come here.” The instructor said, ushering her towards the centre of the group.

The Backward-Blast was one of the blasts that used sensory powers. It was one of the only blasts that Meyrene had a problem with. Try as she might, her blast would never exactly point the way she wanted it to, and she would end up missing barely.

Walking towards him, she stood in the circle, legs slightly apart with her right hand stretched forward. The perfect backward-blast stance.

“Very good. Now get ready, and focus.” He said, walking slowly away from her with a shield. When he was twenty feet away he called out to her, telling her to begin.

Focus. Focus. Focus. Her eyes fluttered shut. Focus. She tried to sense him behind her. Focus. Listening to every small sound his feet made and every breath he took, she tried to map out exactly where her opponent was. She could see the brown and murky-green of his energy, but for the life of her, she couldn’t pinpoint its exact position. Focus. Focus. When she thought she was close enough she fired.

She sighed as he heard the woosh of the Official’s hand as he pulled the blast out of the air before it could hurt anybody. She missed the shield.

“You are too tense. You need to relax. You need to get lost in the game, get lost in the fight. Forget the anger.”

Urgh.

[art_junkie]

****

Meyrene walked through the forest towards Karkone, remembering the words her Official had said those many years ago.

Relax. That’s what he had advised her to do. They had always told her that forgetting about the world around her would make her a better fighter, but she didn’t see it that way. Her anger fuelled her, and even though she had never been able to perfectly make that shot, she was a better fighter each day. After her mother had died she had fought better than ever, her anger fuelling her taste for more Zempharian blood.

Giggling as Bynx pranced around, she watched as he jumped, trying to catch the butterflies fluttering around, but only to have his hands pass through the trail of shine they left behind.

“Beep, beep, beep, beep..” She groaned and took out her ringing communicator. Orange. Orange meant that something wasn’t right and they should be on alert. Unconsciously, her hand reached over her dress to touch the curved blade she had attached beneath it. She had strong powers and a quick mind, but still the feel of a cool metal blade comforted her more then they ever could.

Deciding to return to base to figure out what was wrong, she whistled to Bynx and begun her way back through the dense forestry. She trudged through the forest, a gentle breeze following her through the tall purplish-brown trees, causing their pink and orange leaves to rustle gently in the air as if they were humming a tune.

She could feel a change in the wind. It seemed slightly hostile, hitting her a tiny bit harder than usual. Little signs from the universe that something was about to happen.

Running to the nearest transporta, she slipped inside the big silver metal box, closing the door shut behind her. Crouching, she let the small beam of light scan her forehead and pressed on the Annon Camp name on the screen. The choices would change according to people, which meant that a normal person would not have the same choices as an Xei had. Obviously she had more choices. Nobles could go almost anywhere and the King could go anywhere he pleased.

She felt a tremor through her body, and the next thing she knew, an automated message was sounding through her ears, “You have arrived. Have a nice day!”

Rolling her eyes at the perky message, she opened the door of the transporta and exited onto the base. Back at camp, everyone looked agitated and impatient, waiting eagerly for Wentarij to tell them what was happening. Spotting Kynel amongst the crowds, Meyrene went over, a frown on her face and a question on her lips, “What is going on?”

“We’re not sure yet. It had something to do with the Zempharians though I’m sure. Damn them, screwing up our days.” He muttered, clearly annoyed.

“Are you sure? I mean-”

“Hey, hey! Silence.” Wentarij’s voice sounded loudly in the ground. Standing on the roof of the main Officers’ building he had his hands to his mouth, amplifying his voice with his powers. “The Zempharians attacked Utonia again today.” Loud groans abounded around the base as he spoke, “We have reason to think that they are getting ready for another conflict with us on the battlefield with in a few days. I want you all to be ready. New armours, fixed weapons and honed powers. We will beat them each time they come and try to dent the surface of our Kingdom. We are annon. We are Xei. We are Vantreyne!”

A few people cheered, and the atmosphere became energized again by the Officer’s charisma. Personally Meyrene couldn’t be happier. She had been waiting for the chance to rage hell on the Zempharians for what they did to Ryx. They deserved to be punished, painfully and violently; they would pay a terrible price for killing the General- And she would collect.

Apparently Wenntarij had been thinking the same thing for he went on, “because of this unexpected situation the Sumahyr of the General has been pushed forward to after the battle. He was only with us for a few years, but he was the best General I have seen in decades.” Raising his sword in the air with one hand, he shouted loudly, his voice filled with pride and zest, “Tomorrow we fight for him. We fight for Mikaryx, the second-in-command, and everything he stood for! We fight for the lives lost alongside him! We fight for our spilt blood! And we will not stand down!”

Everyone raised their hands up and cheered, and with a large smile upon her face, Meyrene joined in, screaming as loud as she could.


Tomorrow we fight for him.