Remains Of An Age: The Age Of Darkness

True Colors

"I don't like him." Jaymes, the tiny pink kitty whispered to Kara as he stared at Jeriel. He rode along on her shoulder, his head bobbing in time with her stride.

Kara smiled and chuckled a bit.  "He's not that bad. He has his moments."

"You know I can hear you." Jeriel chimed in.

Kara turned to glance at him, smiling. She playfully stuck her tongue out at him and promptly turned back to the path.

Jaymes climbed up on top of her head to get a better view.  "So what are we doing?"

"We're trying to find a lost mirror piece." She replied.

"Oh....What's a mirror?" He asked hanging his little pink head, upside down, over her forehead to look at her eye to eye.

"Um. It's a shiny thing you can see yourself in."

A big smile spread across the kitty's little face.  "I saw something like that yesterday."

"Where?"

"Up that way." He pointed his paw in the direction of a thick forested area.

Kara stopped and closed her eyes, seeking out the energy signature of the mirror shard. Miraculously, she located it.

"Jeriel! It is there!" She exclaimed as she turned. "Well done Jaymes!"

"Yay! I helped!" The tiny kitty celebrated, doing a happy kitty wiggle on top of Kara's head.

Kara sped up her steps, rushing toward the place the mirror piece energy was the strongest. In her rush, she moved a bit faster than Jeriel could keep up with her. He called out to her, but her reply echoed through the trees. He frantically searched along the path and beyond for her, she couldn't have gotten that far ahead of him.  He finally saw her, kneeling on the ground, at the base of a huge, hollow tree.

"Jer! It's in here!" She exclaimed, excitedly.  Jaymes was doing another happy kitty dance on her shoulder.

Jeriel dropped to his knees beside her. "Please don't run off anymore. If i can't find you, I can't protect you."

Suddenly Kara stopped. The words the boy said in her recurring dreams rang in her ears. She repeated them out loud.  "If they can't find you, they can't take you." She paused again, locking eyes with a startled Jeriel.  "I remember that night. Until you just said that, I never put it all together. It was you. That boy, trying to protect me, was you."

Jeriel nodded, unable to say anything. He scooted closer to her and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly as she leaned into the hug, smiling.

Jaymes, however, did not like it. He hurried down Kara's shoulder, squeezing his way between the embraced two.

"No no nononono." The tiny pink kitty pushed Jeriel away from Kara with a big frown on his little face.

Jeriel and Kara both laughed at the brave, protective kitty.

"Oh. It's ok, Jaymes." Kara chuckled as she snuggled the kitten against her.

Jaymes stuck his tiny tongue out at Jeriel.

"Ok. Come on. We gotta get this piece." She said, breaking the adorable tension, setting Jaymes on the ground, at her side.

Kara pulled apart the thick, branch like vines at the base of the tree and reached her arm in. She could just barely feel the smoothness of the glass against her fingertips.  After repeated attempts, it was still just out of reach. The thick vines made it impossible to get her arm in any further. Trying once more, she accidentally ran her finger along the a sharp, ragged edge, drawing a thin trickle of blood from her finger.