The Cynoths Saga: Nova's Rising

Chapter Thirteen

It's November sixth, the day of the tournament. I put on warmer clothes than I had on earlier and leave the river, invisibly flying off to the Eastern Hills football stadium. I touch down by a car, and when the coast is clear, I become visible again. My pace quickens because of my excitement to see a football game in person for the first time. I was never in to sports and was always in the house, never allowed to go outside. There may have a time I wanted to go out, but deep down I loved the comforts of a warm house with a family that is loving and caring to fill it with.

I miss those days. They were carefree. My life had nothing to do with saving multiple planets, teeming with inhibitors. There were no secret identities to worry about, or mental instability to be paranoid of. I was just a girl living with her father in a house. I was just a girl living without her mother. Now, I'm a girl --

"Mariah," Jackson says, interrupting my thoughts.

"Hey."

"Hey," he repeats. There is a strange pause that almost puts a physical barrier between us. I don't like this. It is separating me from everyone else. This pushes me toward the alien I try to suppress. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure? You seem awfully pale."

"I'm fine, Jackson," I say with a bitter tone in my voice.

My angry remark leaves yet another silence in our wake. I follow him through the gate where we pay, and up into the stands near the Hawk cheer block. These students are crazy. What sensible person would be shirtless at thirty degrees?

•••

There is a minute left in the fourth quarter, and the teams are tied at 35-35. The moment is agonizingly suspenseful. They snap the ball, as Jackson had told me, and the quarter back catches it. He throws it to Bryan McKinley, he catches it, and sprints down the field for the game winning touchdown. I hadn't realized until now that I had been squeezing Jack's hand.

Through the celebrating crowd, I hear a rush of wind in my ears. I don't hear the fans anymore. My head spins and my knees become weak.

"Mariah?" I faintly hear from Jack. "Look at me. Are you all right? Mariah? Mariah!"

I hear him more clearly now. "Jack, I--I'm fine. I just felt really dizzy." It isn't a lie, but it isn't just that I was dizzy. The sound was Ben. He was reaching out for something. Was it me? Can he control the wind? Block hearing? I need to go back and prepare myself for his trickery.

We head out through the throng of spectators also leaving. I walk with him to his car after he offered to walk me to mine. There would be suspicions about how I got here if he kept insisting. We part our ways and I run off behind a building. My body disappears, then I shoot up off the ground toward the river bed.

I lay down on my bed, pondering on how Ulrax did that. It was like a great disturbance in the balance of my worlds. A disturbance that affects me. Something has happened. Something big. I must be ready the day he comes forth to face me. The day he tries to rule the Cynoths System. The day he fails.

•••

I walk through a pine forest of snow, a soft light glowing in the distance. The trees form a natural path toward it. My elegant, royal blue cloak just barely sweeps the ground. The diadem, giving off a queenly aura, slips off my head and shatters on the icy forest floor. I hear the evil laugh that haunts me. He does not believe in me. He says I will never be their true ruler.

An object sways the movement of my cloak. The light is very intense now that I have become closer to it. It just on the other side of the lake. I hear the rip of fabric and feel the soft material pulling down. The tip of a blade touches my back. I cannot move. Fear has me glued to my spot. I have failed my people. This is the death of me. The light is cold and evil. It reflects it's master, who has murdered many for what he now calls what always has belonged to him. I fall to my knees on the ice. Gravity pulls me even further. I catch myself before my face lands on the frozen water. I see constellations in my eyes and black nothingness in my hair. I am the one thing I fear the most: the monster inside. The monster cracks the lake open, and I fall into the black waters before me.

•••

My scream awakes me. I sit bolt upright, panting, sweating, and heart racing. I roll on to the cool floor and lay there, staring up at the ceiling. The back of my eyelids show me who I never want to see in myself again. A sign flashes before them. It seems like two triangles on the left and right that meet in the middle. What looks to be lightning bolts extend from the center and reach out wards, away from each other. I do not understand any of this. A feeling swells up inside. That mark must be an Element. I feel...empowered. There must be something more than any regular insignia meaning to it.

I stole a few books from Sona after she died. They are stuffed away in my duffel bag. I dig through the mess inside, and find the one I need. This one is ancient, with a pure leather cover and yellow parchment pages. The large manuscript contains every Element that Cynothians know of. I flip through the pages, noticing familiar ones. Many of them baffle me, leaving me to only hypothesize what they may mean.

What I saw is not in the book. I know it means something powerful, but it could be that I was imagining things. After the nightmare, I still feel dizzy. The light seems to change its intensity as I stare. My head spins whilst I stumble back to my bed. At the same time, the ground moves under my feet. The mattress cushions my fall, but the image prevails.