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Sensiet Turo ~ sens-see-et-Too-roh
Turund ~ too-roond
Guilerdo ~ goo-i-ler-doh
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KARYN wanted to sleep, but even that couldn't shield her from the pain.
She'd been drifting in and out of consciousness with hushed voices around her and immense pain keeping her whole body captive.
Even squirming to a better position did nothing to help, and all she could do was groan and grunt when she felt contact.
She couldn't keep track of how long she'd been in such a state, but she recalled moments of consciousness when Marcela had fed her something. Was it solid or liquid? She couldn't determine.
Whatever it was, she was grateful for it because her body soon had some respite from the heat that had been ravaging her ever since.
Her breathing was still labored, but someone noticed the difference when she opened her eyes.
"Careful. No need to rush anything," the person said, and she recognized it to be Zack.
Her whirling vision took its time but soon cleared before cool green eyes came into view, absorbing her at once. She tried to speak, but her chapped lips and dry tongue made that difficult.
"Here, drink this."
"What's that?" she asked with a wary look cast at the cup in Marcela's hands.
Marcela pushed the cup forward. "It'll help with the pain."
When she was feverish and delirious, she had agreed to anything just to rid herself of the pain. But now that she was conscious, she wasn't so keen on it.
"Trust me, it will."
She sighed, resigning to put some trust in Marcela's soothing words.
It took some seconds, but the pain reduced. Even if it was in the slightest, she appreciated it.
"Do you know what's happening?" she asked as she closed her eyes, willing for the solution she drank to work faster.
"Yes, but you should rest more," she heard Gema say. She didn't even know she was present.
"No. I want to know. Everything," she said with her voice coming out clearer.
Gema cleared her throat before she began. "There's only one explanation for what you're going through and that's Sensiet Turo, which means to harm a Turund."
"What's a Turund?"
"It's a part of someone's soul that exists independently outside the person. The person can also communicate with this Turund. They are to store or lock up someone's secrets."
"Secrets that the person wouldn't want to remember," Marcela added.
"So what does this Sensed Turund do?"
"Sensiet Turo," Jamie corrected.
Marcela shot him a glare before she explained. "They inflict harm on the Turund but it's the person who feels the pain. So the Turund doesn't suffer any physical harm, but it feels the emotions of the person. It's a bounce-back sort of thing. They harm the Turund, the person feels pain, but the Turund also feels that pain. Just not physically."
Karyn's mind reeled. "You're saying I have a Turund."
"Yes, and someone out there has captured it and is using it to hurt you."
"How can I know I have a..." she trailed off as she thought of her sister.
No.
Kara was her sister; she had her own life even if it was a short one. She couldn't be this—
"One would always know when they have a Turund, even when they don't make it themselves. The Turund always finds their person, but they would never tell them the reason for their creation," Marcela said.
"To answer the question, you must have, yes. You would know if you have one," Gema said.
"I can't... I don't have a Turund. I only have a sister. A dead sister and she's a ghost."
"And you can see her?" Gema asked.
"Of course, I can. But she's my sister, my twin sister, not a part of me," she said with a frown etched on her face.
"You can't have a twin sister," Jamie said. He had his arms folded across his chest, with an unreadable expression on his face.
If she didn't have so many questions wreaking havoc in her mind, she would have felt intimidated.
"What do you mean?" Marcela asked, looking at Jamie, but his eyes hadn't left Karyn's.
"She can't have a sister because she's the only child. The only child of the late king and queen. She's the Silverein," Jamie said, and everyone must have had the same question in mind. 'How had he known?'
Everyone except Karyn because she was already piecing it together.
"She's the one we've been looking for," Marcela said, looking between Karyn and Jamie before muttering something in a foreign language. Karyn assumed it was Spanish.
"How did you know?" Gema asked.
"You spoke to my aunt," Karyn answered instead. It all made sense. The vanishing with her aunt. That must have been what they spoke about.
But that would also mean her aunt must have known she had powers all this while. That she was this... Silverein.
"Her aunt is the former Golder," Jamie said, and both Marcela's and Gema's eyes widened in unison.
"Dove's mother," Marcela said.
"Is Karyn's aunt?" Gema completed.
"Wow! ¿Ke pala so¿ But how did Olwyn come here, get married and then have kids? I don't understand," Marcela said. [~Who would have known?]
"C'mon, we should talk and give Karyn some time to rest," Jamie said to Gema and Marcela and turned to head out, but Zack called him back.
"No! You're not going anywhere. Whatever it is, you say it in front of Karyn because it obviously involves her. No. More. Secrets," Zack emphasized.
"Okay. Then there's no need for you to be here," Jamie said as he folded his arms again, giving Zack a stony stare.
"No. I want him here," she said and took his hand in hers. "I trust him," she said when, in fact, the whole situation scared her and she felt she could draw strength from Zack.
She noticed Zack's eyes on their hands before they fell on her and hoped her smile would reassure him.
"Then I guess it's time you know where you're from," Jamie said.
"Marce's the storyteller. Do us the honors," Gema said with an open palm, gesturing to Marcela.
"The land called Earth is one out of many realms that exist. One of those realms is our home, Wlerden. A realm built and filled with magic. The magic that ran through the land, filled the springs, and gave life to the trees was the same magic that ran in the blood of the people.
"Since the beginning of time, The Elder Stonne had been the source of magic in Wlerden, until there was an uprising that led to the First War. This caused Wlerden to divide into two parts. True-Wlerden was the larger and Wyrione was the smaller part."
Wyrione.
She had heard that name before. The two boys that were talking in the hall had said something about Wyrione reclaiming what was rightfully theirs.
"Wyrione thrived on a different type of magic, a magic that stemmed from hate and this filled every nook and cranny of their world. The people of Wyrione always wanted The Elder Stonne and its magic for themselves.
"They plotted and their plans gave rise to The Second War, which was more devastating. This war led to the destruction of The Elder Stonne, but into six gems."
"But how was that possible? Isn't it what had powered Wurden for years?"
"Wlerden," Marcela corrected with a soft smile and it didn't spark an outrage like when Jamie did.
"Yes, it was. Only three witnesses were present when it got destroyed, and they alone knew what had happened. They were King Garren, his general, Alois, and the leader of Wyrione, Perseus. The only person alive when the Royal Guards came was General Alois. Perseus was dead, and the king had vanished. Along with him, the Silver gem, too."
Karyn's lips parted in surprise.
"General Alois revealed the king's scheming with Perseus, but he managed to stop them from taking all the gems. By the time the news had reached the palace, the queen and the prince had run away too. The General branded them as criminals and placed a huge bounty on their heads, but he never found them.
"General Alois became The New King and discovered that the gems were too strong and too unstable to leave in their natural form. But too weak to give magic to all the land as The Elder Stonne had done. Using Old Magic, they placed the gems into special people called Wielders, who would then pass it down to their children," Marcela said.
"Is King Garren my father?"
"Oh no, not at all. The story continues! After the appointment of the five first Wielders, The New King Alois sent them to search for the Silver gem, as it was the most powerful of all. The first place they checked was Wyrione. But that proved to be a grave mistake, as someone kidnapped and murdered the wielder of the Pearl gem before they wielded it for themselves. This was someone from Wyrione who corrupted it with dark, hateful magic, giving rise to The Black Pearl."
"So there were now four gems in Wlerden," she stated.
"Yes. The next king after the New King Alois was Prince Driando. Before he became king, he decided he and the other wielders would go out in search of the Silver gem, and they were successful. He came back with the gem, and his wife, the love of his life, Morrigan.
"They became King Driando and Queen Morrigan, and their love story was one of a kind. The love they had for each other was out of this world. A unique magic on its own. Even though Wlerden had lost the Pearl gem, all was well and there was peace. The Wielders started training their firstborns and the king and queen gave birth to a daughter, Princess Karynanda." Marcela smiled.
That was her. Karyn sounded like the short form of Karynanda, but something about the name was familiar.
Rynanda.
That was the name the woman in her dream called her. Again she wondered, could that have been her mother?
"Yes, that's you, Karyn," Marcela chuckled to herself. "I don't know how we never made the connection. It must have been so obvious to Jamie, of course."
"If my parents were king and queen, how did they end up dead in Emerfield?" she asked, sensing Marcela's story wasn't over.
"Once again, devastation hit Wlerden, and the peace didn't last long. One night, four of the most loved people in Wlerden vanished, the king, the queen, their princess, and the person who wielded the Gold gem, Olwyn."
"So the Gold gem got lost too?"
"No, we were not that unfortunate. The Golder's daughter was the oldest of the Wielder's children and they had been practicing already. That day, Olwyn had given her daughter the gem to practice; little did we know it would be permanent and not like the temporary trials they'd had. The Wielders prepared to search for the gem, but all of us couldn't leave.
"If we did, Wlerden would be without its magical source and wouldn't survive. Which was why the Golder stayed behind and has been there ever since while we've been out searching. I guess that's where the story ends for me to narrate, but we are still writing it now," Marcela finished with a soft smile, and Karyn's eyes fell on the green bedsheet.
"What are the six gems?" she asked.
"Silver, Pearl, Gold, Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire. Gema is the Rubian, I'm the Emeraldine, Jamie's the Sapphirian and you, amiora, are the Silverein." [~My dear]
She remembered her Silver necklace, the one that lay under her shirt. She'd always thought it was something more, but could it be as huge as they'd explained it to be?
She reached unto her shirt and brought out the necklace. All eyes gravitated to the shining accessory strapped around her neck.
"I'm sure this is a lot to take in Ryn," Gema said.
"So you're saying my parents were royalty, but they left their kingdom just to come here and get killed in a fire, and my aunt was a wielder of one of these gems?"
"Pretty much," Marcela said.
"A fire?" Gema asked.
"Yes."
"And how did you survive?" Jamie asked.
"I don't know."
"How old were you when it happened?" Jamie asked, with his head tilted to the side and his eyes narrowed at her.
"I don't know. My aunt said I was an infant."
"That's not true," Marcela stated.
"Huh?"
"You and your parents left Wlerden when you were seven. It's been ten years," Marcela clarified.
Jamie pitched in next. "Maybe you know what happened and that's why Olwyn must have created your Turund and why they kidnapped it. To reveal what had transpired."
"Wouldn't they know what happened? I mean, it happened here, in their town," Marcela said.
"But Karyn has been here for years and so has her Turund. Why—"
"Can you not call her that? Kara's my sister, she will always be," she cut Jamie off, her gaze still on the sheet.
"Fine. As I was saying, why would they kidnap Kara now?" he asked.
"They must have felt threatened or realized that she had a Tu... a sister." Gema corrected herself.
"But what use would that information be, and why would they have to kidnap her for it? How do you even kidnap a ghost?" she asked in exasperation.
"I could think of ways," Jamie started, but a harsh glare from Marcela made him redirect his statement. "But we need to find them. Both Elowen and Kara, I feel there's a connection between their disappearances."
"I know where they are," she paused. "Well, I don't know where exactly and I don't know how to get there, but I've been there."
After seeing the question on their faces, she narrated the dream she had until Kara pushed her.
"Si brava. Kara did a brave thing," Marcela said. [~That's brave.]
"How?" Karyn asked.
"That wall of mist is the only way to kill a Turund. It's called the Mist of Guilerdo, formed by Old Magic and is very rare. It would make sense that they used it to trap her but why would they have that in a small town like Emerfield." Marcela's lower lip jutted out as the question settled on her brows.
"How does it work?" she asked, her hands clenching as she remembered Kara's hand fading as it passed through the wall.
"Once any part passes through it, that part dies."
"So if she passes through it, that's it, she's gone?"
"Yes, and so might the information that she holds," Marcela said.
"Might?" Zack asked as the first thing he said since Karyn held his hand.
"Yes, there's a way to get the information even after the Turund is gone. But it is very unsafe and not trusted. Only a few have done it and only two have survived," Marcela said.
"So the chances of dying while trying to get this information is high?" Karyn asked.
"Yes," was all Marcela said.
"Well, we can't let it get to that," she said as she sat upright, her eyes darting to every one of them. "We have to find Elowen and my sister, Kara. If she... is what you say she is, then she could have information on how my parents died," Karyn said, then frowned.
But if she knew how, why didn't she ever tell me?
"You're right Ryn. But first, you need to rest properly, then we can brainstorm together," Gema said and looked at Marcela, who brought forth a cup.
"Magic," Karyn resigned, answering the question of how the cup had appeared
"Yes. Now drink up, you need rest. Lots of it."
Karyn drank from the cup and soon felt a pull she couldn't resist that drew her to sleep.
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ITNC: While Karyn learns more of the rules of Kara's existence and of powers which can prove useful in finding Elowen and Kara, Gema and Marcela prod her about her situation with Zack.
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The Sparkling Authoress,
Mis. A
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