Treasure Planet: The Next Voyage (OC INSTERT)

Chapter twenty-seven

Third Person's POV~

She felt like she couldn't breathe. Zeizei stared down at the heavy tome that Kashvau had displayed for her-- within the pages were images of beings with grey skin, and ruby-colored wings. Armed with spears and swords and shields, flying across the pages, mouths open to reveal sharp teeth.

Her hand lifted and smoothed over the weathered paper, ". . . What. . .?" she was breathless, her heart thundering in her chest.

Kashvau observed her with narrowed eyes, "You . . . you truly do not know?" One absurdly long and boney finger pressed into the worn paper depicting the warriors.

Jim was at Zeizei's side, staring at the book with her, "They . . . look like you but . . . meaner." he commented, his face scrunching in disgust.

Zeizei cast the young man a sharp look, before she returned her eyes to the pages, "Drakkons . . ." the word felt wrong on her tongue. Like a language she was learning to speak.

"What are these . . . Drakkons?" Amelia asked, looking up at Kashvau with narrowed, cat-like eyes.

"According to history," Kashvau turned the page, revealing another illustrated page, with paragraphs of text, "The Drakkons existed long before many other forms of life. They were the barbarians of the universe. Able to traverse the etherium with their ruby-colored wings."

Zeizei turned and stretched out her wings beneath her cloak, as Kashvau continued, "Drakkon wings have the ability to channel solar energy, and thus, ride the currents of the etherium."

"So that explains why you can fly and steer yourself out in the etherium without . . . drifting off into the endless abyss," Jim mumbled.

Zeizei snarled gently, "If my people were such a great force . . . why does no one know about them?" she leaned over Kashvau's desk, "Why can't I find anyone else who looks like me? 46 years of searching! Nothing!"

Kashvau's expression changed, to one of empathy, and pity, "Remember how I said, it was like seeing a ghost?" he turned another page in the book.

Zeizei's eyes drifted down, and her heart dropped into her stomach at what she saw. She leaned over the book, and began reading the text before her eyes,

"According to archeological studies, there have been no evidence that the Drakkons have been alive for at least . . . two hundred years. Specialists agree that the Drakkon race was exposed to a catastrophic event that . . . wiped out the majority-- if not all--of the population . . ."

Zeizei felt her chest tighten, so tight to the point she felt like her own heart would be crushed.

"But that doesn't make any sense." Jim began flipping through the book, "Zeizie's not two hundred years old! So there has to be some-- some pocket of them left. A few of them that have kept below the radar!" He ran his hands through his hair.

Zeizei took a step back, gasping softly, her vision misting over with tears. Her hands came up and grabbed fistfuls of her tunic, as she stared at the floor. All of it was for nothing? The hoping? The praying? The searching?

"I'm the last . . .?" her voice was choked and strained, "I'm all alone?"

"No." Amelia moved swiftly, and took her arms, "No, my dear, you are not alone." She forced Zeizei to make eye contact with her, "We will find the solution to this. The facts do not line up, you are here, you exist. Which means your parents existed."

Zeizei closed her eyes, unable to bear the pain as it sank its claws into her chest. A few tears managed to slip free from her eyes, as she grabbed her map and stared at it, "A lifetime of hoping . . . for nothing!" she crinkled up the map, something she had kept so close to her heart for so long, curling the paper, and crushing it into a ball.

"Zeizei-?" Jim walked forward.

"I wasted all of your time, and resources, for a ghost story," her voice broke, "nothing more . . ." she let the winkled map fall from her fingers, the paper falling to the ground at her feet, "I am . . . so sorry."

"Zeizei, you have nothing to be sorry for-" Amelia went to take the older woman's hand but Zeizei shied away.

"I'm sorry." she wept, "I am so sorry." She turned, dropping the cloak about her body, and taking off out of Kashvau's shop. She spread her wings, and took to the skies. She flew over the rooftops, away from the people. Jim and Amelia's voices drifting farther and farther away as Zeizei flew higher and higher into the etherium.

And once she was out of ear shot, she clasped her hands over her breaking heart, and began to weep.