A Light After Endless Darkness

Chapter 5

The two travelled for what felt like forever, through what looked like an opaque tube, smeared with shimmering, bright reds and yellows and purples. Elizabeth watched the colours move past, a twinge of childlike awe flickering in her chest. "... what...?"

         "Other worlds," called Sydney over his shoulder. "You'll see them soon. If you'd like to."

        She nodded. "Hey, listen, Master Sydney?" She began slowly. "Would you mind just, when we get there, showing me where I can train?"

       "Oh. Well, Elizabeth... a few of my neighbors were hoping to throw you a small celebration."

       Elizabeth groaned inwardly. "Yeah, no offense to your neighbors, but right now, I don't really feel like being around a bunch of people. I'm kinda, uh, partied out, you know?"

        Sydney nodded. "I understand completely. But would you be willing to make some pleasantries so they know I haven't just abducted some young girl and taken her as my own?"

         "Uuuuuuuuughh, fiiiiiiine," she replied in a whiny voice that was only half a joke. Seriously, how many parties was she gonna get dragged to? Wasn't the first one uncomfortable enough?

           The ship finally came to a stomach-jerking stop, and for a second it was almost like there was no air. Elizabeth clutched her head, stumbling to her feet only to land on her face in unnaturally soft grass.

          "Are you alright?" Asked a new voice, that of a young man. "The sensation takes some getting used to."

            She took the extended hand up. "Yeah. Fine, thanks."

    Sure enough, there was a small welcome home party, with food and some kind of colorful paper hung up in the beautiful, large, lush trees. To... what, strangle the nearby squirrels? Were they that protective of their apples?

            "I'm Jackson," said the young man who helped her up. He was tall, blonde, handsome maybe in his late 20's. Over his long black trench coat, he wore a piece of chainmail with a rope tied around his waist as some kind of makeshift belt for his dark grey pants.

      "I'm Rei," said a girl, another young blonde, wearing a pink and blue dress, almost tye-dyed with the pink splotches decorated with twins bows, the blue blobs bearing various different symbols. Gears, screws, various Chinese characters, that kind of thing.

"And I'm Aynna," said the only brunette of the group. The girl, only fourteen or something, wore a loose-fitting mauve dress, with short, silvery sleeves, and white fingerless gloves that went up to her elbow. She had a bright pink bundle of cloth tied to a hair ribbon, which she'd tied to a ponytail on the side of her head. No shoes, either.

"Aynna," said Sydney calmly as he jumped off the ship after them, "shoes."

"Lost them, Sydney-Person," she said, almost too quickly.

"Ah, I see. How this time?"

"Threw them in a lake."

     "Welcome back, Master Sydney." Jackson said, giving Aynna a stern look.

    "Thank you Jackson, Aynna, would you mind giving Elizabeth a tour of the town?" Sydney asked.

    Aynna nodded so hard Elizabeth thought her head might fall off. "Yes, Master Sydney. You! Elizabeth person! Follow me."

    And with that, she grabbed Elizabeth by the hand and tried to sprint with her.

           "Uh, hey, kid?" Elizabeth said, not budging. "Yeah, I'd love a tour, but what do you say we tone it down to, like, a seven or eight?"