Niaomi: The Journey

7.1 | Stepping

A/N: Sorry, meant to post this yesterday! As promised, the action resumes. A lot of things are gonna go down in the next chapter. Character development will definitely be explored as these five turn from children into Riders, and hopefully I'll have more time to write. Eragon is again featured in here, because I love him more than Niaomi does, since she doesn't love him at all...yet. Also, be sure to check out Pjbunny in the external link down below; her thriller Teke Teke is absolutely horrifying in the best way! ;)

Picture of Liress up above.

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"You have to keep trying, Niaomi," Angela chided. "Feel the Mist."

Gritting her teeth, the young woman replied, "I can't 'feel' anything since there's nothing to actually feel!"

"Are you as blind as a mole?" the woman harped back before muttering, "I never understood why humans felt the need to call bats blind just because they fly in the dark. So do owls, and no one calls them blind - "

"Angela!" Nia snapped, her face almost undetectably flushed. "You're not helping!"

"You shouldn't need help." The older seer sighed and focused her attention back on the aggrieved Rider. "It's all about focusing. Channel the energy that brings you to the Mist. Feel it encircling you. Breathe in the power of time."

Niaomi tried to keep her jaw from clenching with little success. "Maybe I'd be doing a better job if - "

"You weren't talking?"

Her glare hardened. "If you could tell me what sort of mist I'm supposed to be seeking out."

"You don't have to seek it out," said Angela, placing her hands in her lap opposite from where she sat across from the raven-haired woman. "The Mists of Time and Space are all around us, constantly moving forward as the days pass and the lands change. It's everywhere in time and space, as the name would have you believe, yet the only ones who have access to it are seers. Some can travel forwards like the Mists do themselves, seeing only visions of the future; mages can use it to transport objects to other places. And you, you can do both and so much more. The Mists are yours to walk among, to travel, to explore. But in order to walk the Mists, you must find them, so concentrate!"

Closing her brown eyes, she did as her mentor directed, focusing her energy. Nia breathed out slowly as she recreated the sensation of being pulled by her navel into an endless fog that always accompanied her visions. Suddenly the feeling was gone, and she opened her eyes only to groan.

She was no longer sitting in the small courtyard of the herbalist's shop. Tall tree trunks surrounded her as she breathed in the scent of pine. This was not the same forest where they'd left the dragons and bondmates; this one was unfamiliar to her, the terrain more mountainous and the trees less friendly. Seeing the mist that rolled in the far reaches of her sight, Niaomi grimaced upon realizing that she was having another vision yet again.

"Apollo damn me," she muttered, standing to her feet before foolishly aiming a kick at a tree. Clutching her toe as she held back the vile string of curses, the woman pushed away the pain to begin exploring her surroundings. She pulled the jacket closer around her, shivering slightly from the frosty air. As a coastal town, Teirm didn't seem to noticed that autumn was ending and the winter approached, and so her wear - consisting of the small felt jacket, tall leather boots, and red knit dress - was unsuited for the cold weather. And since she could feel her surroundings -

"I must be inside this vision!" Nia groaned, this time banging her head against a different tree. "Of all the rotten, ill-begotten luck - "

Her ranting paused as she sucked in a breath, the sheen of dark hair and the flash of a blue scale catching her eye. Crouching out of sight, Niaomi's eyes widened in shock as she spotted Eragon and a blue dragon traipsing along. They disappeared from her view, and she hesitated for only a moment before following.