I bite my lip so that I don’t scream, digging my nails into Nikos’ back as we once again plummet to the ground. I look to see that we’re heading for one of the floating mountains, and Nikos is having a hard time getting us stable.
Now I wish Helia was with me.
Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.
Nikos spreads his wings, managing to make us stop for a moment, but not before my feet grazes the surface of the floating mountain.
“Sorry about that,” Nikos murmurs to my ear once we’re flying higher again.
“I’ll never fly with you again,” I practically scream in between gasping for breath, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart.
“Thought so,” he replies.
“Can’t you make me go to sleep or something?”
Lord knew that I need the sleep, and I sure as hell don’t want to be awake when I die.
“It’s hard to carry an unconscious person.” He raises his voice due to all the gusts of air. “Besides, I think I’m getting the hang of-“
A look of alarm crosses his face, cutting himself off.
He flies to the nearest cloud possible, but not before I see that there are other winged beings in the sky, who all don’t seem to be heading for us… yet?
“Hold on tight,” Nikos whispers to my ear, I nod and wrap my arms more securely around his neck.
Once again, turbulence hits us, but we’re surprisingly better off than a while before.
Of course, I spoke too soon.
I don’t know what happened, but we are suddenly falling. Nikos mutters something I don’t understand, probably a curse, and after, more calmly, he whispers something rapidly.
Warmth fills me and I feel Nikos’ lips next to my ear. “Aris, I’ve cast an invisibility spell around us, but I’ll most likely be unconscious by the time we hit the ground.”
I freeze in his arms. What exactly am I supposed to say to that?
“Don’t worry, we’ll be alright.”
Something wraps around me like a blanket and I look to the side to see white.
He’s covered us with his wings.
“When we get to the ground, if you’re still awake or as soon as you wake up, I want you to go to where the moon is heading, or away from where the sun rises, do you understand?” He continues his instructions very fast, but still understandable.
I nod my head. “How about you?”
“I’ll be fine, Aris,” Nikos answers, his voice low, though I’m not quite sure if it’s fear or hesitation in his voice. “You need to get out of their range.”
“Alright,” I say in barely a whisper, knowing in my heart that I’m lying.
There is no way in Hell I am going to leave Nikos unconscious in the woods, or wherever it is that we happen to land in.
“Just close your eyes,” he whispers in my ears.
I nod into the crook of his neck and do as I’m told, too scared to do otherwise.
The logical side of me is telling me that I am definitely going to die from the impact alone, but the other side of me, the one that believes in magic – and is starting to become the more dominant part of my mind – is telling me that I should just trust Nikos.
I hear the distinct rustling of leaves and know that we’re close to the ground.
Going against instructions, I open my eyes.
Nikos’ grip around me tightens and is body becomes tense as the sound of rustling leaves become louder. He unwraps his wings from around us and tries to soften the impact by slowing down our momentum.
Suddenly, his whole body goes limp and I know that he’s lost consciousness, but not before he’s wrapped his wings around us and flipped us so that he’ll be first to hit the ground.
I look past him and see that we’re landing in a valley right bellow a floating mountain. In a desperate attempt to not die, I pull away slightly and try to wake Nikos up by lightly tapping his face.
I don’t dare shout, in case it might lead the patrols to us, though they can’t see us. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes as the ground comes closer and closer.
Darkness.
The moment I open my eyes, I groan. My head throbs and my vision is quite blurry. I feel Nikos under me, unconscious.
I push myself off with another groan and land on the cool ground with a thud. Once I’m able to get up, I stand still to get my head straight and my vision clear. There’s pain in several parts of my body – probably bruises since nothing seems to be broken – but I don’t think that looking at them right now is going to do anything.
After several moments of getting through the haze, I look up to see that it’s dawn. This meant that we’ve been out for too long and Helia must be worried. I look at the unconscious Nikos, immediately gasping, and trying to swallow the lump in my throat.
His once pristine wings are covered in dirt and are bent in unnatural angles, though, oddly enough, his face is serene. His body lays on it’s side, his legs bent at the knees and his feet bare. A sound escapes my mouth as I kneel at Nikos’ side, thankfully not landing on his wings. I clamp my hand over my lips as my eyes clouds over with unshed tears.
Taking a deep breath, I pull myself together, blinking away my tears. Once I’ve let out the lungful, I start checking his vitals. There are no visible cuts or bruises, but there’s something else I’m more worried about. Besides the faint but steady rise and fall of his chest, there is no other indicator that he’s alive. There’s no pulse, and I can’t feel the beating of his heart.
Or maybe he doesn’t have one.
Different world, different anatomy, right?
I stand, figuring I wouldn’t be much help if I stayed right here, doing nothing, so I settle for looking around.
I was right, we are in a valley. It looks to be uninhabited, with all the tall, unkempt green grass and no visible houses. The valley isn’t so vast, but isn’t as small as the valley where Hezayah’s home is set, and is surrounded by mountains or hills, and a forest on one side. A light mist covers the valley and the grass is covered in morning dew.
Sighing, I step to the side and start heading to the forest, which is the side nearest to us. I go slow at first, trying to get my legs steady. I turn once I reach the edge, sure that no one’s there, and survey the area once again. The surroundings are hushed, look to be undisturbed, and there are no alarming movements.
Satisfied, I walk back to Nikos. I really don’t want to leave him while he’s like this, even though I said I would.
A few moments after I sit on the ground beside Nikos, I hear a groan. “Aris?” He tries to move, but yelps in pain when he tries to shift his wings.
“They’re broken.” I offer as another cry escapes his mouth.
“Obviously.” Nikos mutters and clenches his jaw as he sits up. He glares at me as soon as he’s steady. “I told you to go.”
“I couldn’t just leave you here!” I yell, reaching my break point. “I couldn’t just run while you were possibly dead!”
But that’s what you’ve been doing this whole time.
A shiver runs up my spine as I push back the thought into the back of my mind. Now isn’t the time to be thinking of it.
“That’s what I told you to do!” Nikos counters, hissing at the pain from his wings. “What if the soldiers came here? What if they saw you?” His eyes are wide with anger, and it makes this all the more scarier.
“Well, no one came here, alright, Nikos?” I snap at him, standing. “Can we just go, please? Helia and Reuel must be worried.”
He’s silent as he looks around, assessing the area. I examine the damage on my own body as he does this. I gently touch my face and neck, flinching as my fingers make contact with the bruises. By the soreness on my arms, legs and torso, there’re probably bruises there, too.
“We should be about half a day’s walk from there.” He looks at the sky hesitantly. “We’ll have to pass by a town, and I can’t say how long we might be staying there.”
“How come?”
Nikos stands, flinching and clenching his jaw as he does. “There should be patrols there, and we’ll definitely have to stay nondescript. Plus we have a trip to the apothecary.” He stands still and with a deep breath, stretches his wings to their full width, the little bits of the ground that stuck to them fell with the movement.
“What are you doing?” I flinch, surprised that my voice would sound so screechy.
He mutters something under his breath and his wings, if it’s even possible, stretches out some more, I hear several clicks. “Setting the bones.” He hisses through clenched teeth. “It hurts, but it’s definitely better than letting it heal all wrong and becoming a cripple.”
We head west, where the town called S’leroca is located. The trek is long and tiring as we go through the mountains. Nikos and I keep silent as we walk, and Nikos is tense, always glancing around, always alert. Another reason why I keep silent is because there’s practically no time to talk in between sucking in a lungful of air since Nikos is going at such a fast pace. I mean, I’m not unfit or anything, I run and all that, but Nikos is just going at a much faster pace than I’m prepared for.
When we’re on top of a hill, walking along a moderately used trail, he stops so suddenly that I hit his back. I place my hands on both sides of my head. “My brain has been dislodged.” An exaggeration, but that is definitely what I feel at the moment. With all the bruises, any sort of impact makes me want to scream in agony. No joke.
He ignores my comment and moves aside so that I can stand beside him. “We’re here.”
The fairly huge town bellow is made of bricks, stone and wood. The tall, thick wall surrounding it is made of grey stones stacked on each other, the gate is made of wood, while the houses are either made of brick or wood. My heart speeds up as I notice that the place seems to be heavily guarded, with several soldiers walking along the base of the wall and the top of it.
“How are we going in?” I say in barely a whisper.
“Trust me, alright?” Nikos offers me his hand and I take it, though a bit reluctantly. “Alerre naranaya hazema.” The bruise on the back of my hand disappears, and by the tingly feeling all over, I’m guessing it’s the same for the other parts of my body. He says something else in the language I don’t understand, but I’m not paying attention as my skin suddenly turns red.
I gasp and pull my hand back, examining my whole arm as Nikos leans unto me, exhausted. “What’s happened?”
He gives me a lopsided grin after a sigh. “You are now part of the Tereniv tribe. I altered your body for the moment, so that the mages won’t be able to see through it.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see silver and I grab my hair to see that it’s changed color. My eyes feel weird, like there’s something covering it, though I can see perfectly well. I bring my hand up to rub my eye.
“Try not to stare at people, they get unnerved by the white eyes sometimes.” He says, letting out a chuckle.
“I have white eyes?” I ask, looking up at him with my new white eyes wide.
“For the moment.” He says, amused by my reaction. “You have to look like an authentic Terenivian. Helia says that it’s uncomfortable, but you’ll get used to it. Upside is,” he grins at me again, “you don’t even have to blink!”
I don’t feel uncomfortable as I keep my eyes wide open even for a minute. I smile as he lightens the mood, though not by much. Our descent down the hill is another quiet matter, though it’s more comfortable than the ascension.
“When we get there, don’t say a word.” He doesn’t look back at me as he says this. “They’ll know something’s up the moment you speak.”
“Why?” I ask, tilting my head though he can’t see me.
“Because you have an odd accent, it’s distinctly not Terenivian.” He shrugs, as if I’m supposed to know it. “Oddly, though, I’ve heard your accent before, though I can’t quite put my finger on it.” He falls silent, thinking. After a few moments, he shrugs and continues. “Remember not to blink. And take off your boots. It’s the smaller details that you have to pay attention to, alright?”
I nod as I take my boots off. I vaguely remember Helia explaining to me why it wasn’t necessary for Terenivians to use shoes, though she usually opted to wear them for cleanliness. Their skins are thick and tough, so it’s hard to pierce it. They barely feel the things that stick out from the ground and their pain tolerance is quite high. Now that I’m temporarily Terenivian, it’s the same. Although I’m walking barefoot, I feel like I’m wearing shoes anyway.
I realize now that that is probably the reason that Nikos survived the fall without any injuries besides his wings, which are definitely not from the Terenivian side of his heritage. It’s probably the same reason why I couldn’t feel his heart beat or pulse, his skin’s too thick.
“Where do I put the boots?” I ask him, lifting the boots.
“Toss them.” He replies. “The effects will fade slowly, and by the time your skin returns to being fragile again, we should be at our destination already.”
After tossing the boots, which I feel guilty about, we arrive at the front of the gate in minutes.
“What’s your business in S’leroca?” The guard stationed at the side of the gate asks.
“We’re just passing through.” Nikos replies smoothly. “My cousin and I are visiting relatives up west.” He motions to me.
“What’s your names?” The other guard asks, peering at me.
“She doesn’t speak.” Nikos answers as I tense. “Aris and Nikos of the Tereniv tribe.”
The guard raises and eyebrow at Nikos, wondering.
“I’m Tainted, sir.” He smiles.
The guard comes closer and I struggle to keep my eyes open, trying not to blink because of the accustomed habit. I had never really noticed the fact that Melia, and Nikos don’t blink. That’s most likely why I always found Melia particularly creepy.
The guard is silent as he walks around Nikos and me, studying us. “There’re rebels to the west, boy. You best be careful now.” The guard says after what seemed like hours of scrutiny.
“We’re fighters, sir. We’ll be fine.” Nikos nods as the gate opens and we enter the town.
The road is brown bricked, and, since it’s noon, there aren’t a lot of people on the streets, only several that man stalls. The stalls display their items, and I would’ve loved to take a look if we had the time. I walk closer to Nikos as he places an arm around my shoulders.
“S’leroca is a merchant town with mostly human inhabitants, but there are also Elves, Cylothians, Terenivians, and Fae. Most are Tainted, though.” He sees the look I give him and chuckles. “Tainted are people like me, Aris. A mix of different races.”
“Isn’t that racist, or something?” I whisper and it’s his turn to give me a look of confusion. “Racist is being partial to or to discriminate a particular race.”
“Oh, no, it isn’t like that at all.” Nikos says, shaking his head. “It’s just that we need to classify people because of the different abilities that they may have. The Tainted have more abilities and more preferences due to their different heritages but it’s toned down compared to what the purebloods have. Being partial has never really happened here, it’s just that certain races prefer certain things.”
I don’t entirely understand his explanation, but I nod anyway. “What’s a Cylothian?”
He’s silent for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “On Earth, if I remember correctly, they’re called Angels. Appa is a Cylothian-Elven Tainted, which is why Helia and I have wings and the ears, plus the magical abilities.”
“And being Terenivian brings you what?” I ask as Nikos steers me into another street.
“The tough skin, great eyesight and the sickening feeling of flying.” He cringes at a memory. “My skin isn’t as hard as Helia’s, but it’s better than most.”
We turn at another corner, into an alley and stop at a small building, or house, I can’t be sure. It must be the apothecary’s.
The building’s brown brick walls look like they’re about to crumble, and the wooden door appears to be fragile, with all the gaps between the frame and the planks. Nikos knocks on it.
“What can I help you with?” The man who opened the door looks at us with ire.
“Would you happen to have any Rohiri blood?” Nikos asks, hopeful.
“No, but I have Tainted Rohiri blood.” The man steps aside to let us in, closing the door after us.
In contrast to the outside appearance, the inside looks to be absolutely clean and neat. The adjacent shelves on two sides of the walls are organized and the bottles of different shapes and sizes are crystal clear with a small label attached to the corks. The papers on the table are in a neat pile and so are the thick, leather bound books. The wooden floor has nothing on it, except for a rug at the base of the door and the window is opened wide, letting the air and light from the outside in.
“What kind of Tainted?” Nikos says, turning slightly to look at the man.
The man looks back at us, his slightly pale complexion contrasts with his raven black hair, which is cropped short. He narrows his almond shaped purple eyes at us, and looks down his long, lean nose. This man’s taller than I am, by at least a head. He wasn’t handsome, but not ugly either. His jaw is square and long, which goes with his nose.
He takes a bottle about the size of my fist from the shelf across us and reads the label. “The donor’s mother is a Houron-Fae Tainted while the father is Rohiri-Human Tainted.” He takes a seat on the table opposite the shelf and motions for Nikos to sit on the stool beside him. The apothecary’s voice is a low timbre that has a melodic twang to it.
“The parents are pure halves?” Nikos asks, taking a seat on the stool while I lean back on the wall beside the door.
“Mostly pure, very marginal discrepancies.” The apothecary answers with a nod, setting the bottle down on the table. “What’s it for?”
“Broken wings.” Nikos turns to show the man his wings. “How much for the bottle?”
“Four lens.”
“Four lens?!” The injured man turns around so fast that his hair hits his face on the other side. “It’s Tainted!”
“Rohiri blood is extremely hard to find these days, purebloods are practically extinct and even Tainted like these are rare.” The apothecary shrugged picking up the bottle and shaking it side to side, the purplish red liquid sloshing inside.
Nikos looks down, contemplating.
“We don’t have that kind of money.”
“Two for half the bottle. Though it won’t have as great an effect as the whole, it should mend the bones enough for it to heal in about three weeks.” The apothecary stands and looks at Nikos’ wings as the injured guy stretches one with a hiss. “Which is three weeks less than what it looks to be.”
“Do you mind if we barter?” Nikos asks, flinching as the man lifts his wings closer.
“Barter what?” The man asks, still examining the damage on Nikos’ wings.
“My blood for the whole bottle.” He replies as the apothecary lets the wings go.
“You seem to be confident I’d take it.” The apothecary returns to his seat, leaning his back on the table.
“With my heritage, I’m sure you will.”
“Give me your hand.” The purple eyed man holds out his hand and Nikos takes it without hesitation. After a moment of silence, wherein Nikos stares at the man and the man looks at the ground, eyebrows furrowed, he finally looks up, a smile on his face. “Ah, pure half father and a pureblood mother. I’ll take it.”
He extracts an empty bottle from the top shelf, and for a moment, he looks at me. A look of curiosity passes his face before he turns his back to get a small jar from the adjacent shelf. He goes back to his seat and applies the cream in the jar to Nikos’ palm. I flinch slightly and look away, closing my eyes when he takes out a knife from his belt and split Niko’s skin, letting the blood flow into the bottle.
After a while, I hear the man say, “all done.”
I look up in time to see Nikos down the purplish red contents of the bottle, his hand being bandaged by the apothecary. For a while, nothing seems to happen, but then I notice that his wings seem visibly straighter at the arch, and I know that the Tainted blood worked. I still find it odd, though, drinking blood, even if it does heal someone. Or even using blood for trade.
Nikos goes through the door first, and on the way out, my skin brushes against the apothecary’s.
His eyes widen as he looks me over, his lips slightly part. He grabs my hand and pulls me closer.
“Pureblood.” He whispers as I freeze.
Nikos successfully yanks me away and we quickly walk toward the busy street before the apothecary can do anything about it.
“What was that about?” Nikos asks me as he smoothly maneuvers us through the people in the street, covering my shoulders with his arm.
I shrug, remembering that I’m not supposed to speak, though I can’t be sure that I even can at the moment. The apothecary must’ve meant pureblood Human, or maybe, since I look like this, he meant pureblood Terenivian, but I think Nikos figured that out since he didn’t say anything further.
The street is full of people, buying or trading. The buzz of the place would easily drown out anything Nikos or I say, so we keep silent as we walk.
A familiar flash of brown hair has me turning towards my left, my eyes widen as I see her face. I break away from Nikos, trying to keep up with her as she walks away, as if knowing I’m following her.
“Aris!” I hear Nikos call out, and I look back to see him struggling to get to me amidst the people, some of which have wings, too, trying to not let them hit his own.
I know I’m being difficult, but I will not just let her go.
Because if Andrea’s here, then Markus must be close by. With Markus would be answers of why I’m even in Ovia, why I was brought here and why the letter was addressed to me by Alaine, someone I only know by name.
Andrea’s fast, though, and I struggle to reach her, more so when another familiar figure joins her side, his head covered by some sort of scarf, but I would recognize him anywhere. At this point, I don’t care about being rude or what not, I have to get to them. So, I push people out of the way and practically run amidst shouts of disgruntled people.
And still I don’t reach them.
The pair turns into a less crowded street and when I get there, both are no longer in sight. I go further into the street, checking every place they could’ve gone through, but I find absolutely no trace of the two of them.
“Damn it!” I’m no longer able to keep my mouth shut.
Several moments later, I hear footsteps behind me and I know that it’s Nikos.
“Aris! Why in Ovia would you just run off like that?” He says after catching his breath.
I bite my lip and try to smile in apology, my heart still pounding loudly in my chest. I look around to see that people are looking at us, and Nikos understands what I’m trying to tell him.
“Well,” Nikos comes up beside me and places his arm around me once again, looking around. “We have to go, alright?” The way his eyelids move inform me that he’s looking through his peripherals, checking for danger.
I nod my agreement and we’re once again in the busy street with stalls selling all sorts of things I didn’t care about at the moment.
One thought is going through my head.
Andrea is in S’leroca, and so is Markus Galloway.
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Well, there you go folks! :) Anyways, I'm happy that it's reached this many reads already! :)) LOL, anyways, I hope you enjoyed :))
I tried to make it longer, but the chapter seemed to have a proper ending, and it just seemed to fit, y'know what I mean? Don't forget to comment! And vore if you like it :)
On a side note, I'm so excited! I just learned how to drive and my parents are buying me a car!! :))) But before y'all go on about how I'm some rich kid, they're buying me a car so I can bring my four brothers and myself to school. Bleh. Oh, and I'm starting college in two weeks! :))
With all my love,
SeizetheDay0110