I'd never been so happy to be on dry land. When we finally got off the ship we arrived at an ancient looking island. There was overgrown vegetation and tall trees. It looked like it hadn't been a single person in thousands of years. The city looked lost, the crumbling stone buildings and the flattened homes that still held belonging. I trudged forward climbing the small hill in wonder of this ghost town. I wonder how many people lived here. Or how it even became so vacant.
Looking upon this place I could tell it was once beautiful and thriving.
The thought made me sad as I approached one of the collapsed houses. It looked burnt to a crisp, but the ashes were long gone. The one thing that did remain were bones. So many bones. They all were gathered near the edge where a wall once stood. They all varied in size. It was like a mass grave.
With the bones of children.
What shocked and angered me the most was the chains among the ivory remains.
At this point I was shaking. And I didn't know if it was from the anger or the absolute sorrow that tackled me upon seeing this tragedy. Who could have done this? And why?
I felt a strong hand grab my shoulder and I immediately spun around ready to attack, until I saw Leon's concerned green eyes. He glanced over my head and a pained expression crossed his face before he spoke.
"We should go, Sylvaine said there was a place untouched that we could lay low in for now." I nodded robotically and mumbled,
"Sure."
He dropped his hand and walked ahead of me, apparently knowing where he was going. I kept my head down so I wouldn't be taken on another emotional rollercoaster from the desolation before me.
We walked for what seemed like an hour but the sun hadn't even set over the horizon. I knew we arrived when I bumped into Leon's broad back.
He chuckled deeply, "You alright back there?"
I rubbed my head and yawned, "Sure you giant walking wall of concrete." When I walked around him my jaw dropped in awe.
This place was completely untouched by the calamity we left behind us. It was a true diamond in the rough.
It was made of the same stone I saw earlier but it had glorious arched windows. It was charming because it wasn't symmetrical. I never like symmetrical homes, they always seemed so boring. But this place had bay windows and huge open areas. It looked like it could fit a family of ten. Definitely would not see something this spacious back home.
"Well what are we waiting for, I'm exhausted." I continued. I walked past him and into the house, refusing to make eye contact. I immediately went towards the back of the house. There were long sheer curtains blowing in the wind hanging on the arches, and just past it was a large body of water. It looked so clear and inviting i just wanted to get lost in it splendor but I couldn't do that, not anymore. I looked at my pale arm now scarred with the blue markings of my wonderous dragon. It was both a curse and a blessing to have this. the curse was the danger I now posed to everyone I met, but the blessing is knowing I can change things for the good.
Either way, now wasn't the time to get lost in my thoughts, I have to get some rest so I'm an actual functioning human being. So I chose the room closest to the water naturally i plopped on the bed and was surprised I didn't find a blanket of dust greeting me, but soft blankets that smelled of the herbs we wash our clothes with back home.
Home, Could I even call it that now?
I woke up to the sound of voices arguing; I rolled over in bed and groaned. I looked out the window and saw the sun was barely over the horizon. Why the hell are they arguing so early? I groaned internally and then snapped my head up so quick I got whiplash.
They? Who the fuck is here?
As I tried to get up from the bed I got tangled in the blankets and fell off the side with a loud thud.
"I literally cannot catch a break." I sighed to myself. I moved my long hair from face and saw two huge figures standing before me. I craned my neck so I could see their faces but only recognized Leon but not the other man. He was a little shorter than Leon but of course that meant he was still a hell of a lot taller than me. I grunted as I got up from the stone floor and eyed the two men.
“Totally didn't need any help there, I’m fine thanks for asking” and still they both said nothing “Well don't stop on my account; Whatever you were yelling about so early in the morning seemed important so please, proceed.” I walked to the kitchen to make myself food, not really sure what but at this point anything would do. To my surprise the kitchen was stocked with fruits vegetables and meats. In half an hour I had breakfast ready for all of us. Not knowing where those two were I simply yelled into the house
“Foods ready!” Almost immediately I heard the echo of footsteps resonating coming towards me. Men could never resist food. They both sat down at the table and quietly dug into the food. I sat down with them and practically inhaled my food. When I finished I looked up to find both of them staring at me.
“What, I was hungry.” I shifted uncomfortably in my chair and changed the subject. “So who are you?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already?” I made a confused face and looked at him a bit closer, then it hit me.
"Nik? Nik Petrov? No way it's been so long!" I got up and bolted to hug my long lost friend. Leon made a sound of disapproval and I looked over at him; Was he really going to be that childish right now? Their fighting already woke me up this morning. Nik was a childhood friend of mine along with Leon. All three of us were inseparable, that is until Nik was sent off right after middle school and by them the boys hated each other for some reason.
"How have you been?" Nik said still holding onto me. I focused my attention to him and smiled,
"Oh you know, finally got some magick and now I'm running from power hungry people who killed my brother that probably want to destroy me and the world. No biggie." I pulled away and sat back on my seat across from him and Leon. "What about you?"
He sighed and paused before he replied "Well around the time we were in middle school my parents got into a nasty fight and so my dad left and took me with him while my mom stayed behind with my grandmother. I was mostly training with my dad, hopping around from place to place so he could work. It sucked not being able to stay in one town but that's how it is sometimes. Then a couple of days ago Sylvaine sent a message that you were going to have the ceremony soon and she was worried; She had me set out here as soon as possible, my dad didn't like it but he respects Sylvaine, and that's how I ended up here."
It took me a second to process what he said. Sylvaine contacted him before the ceremony? How did she know what was going to happen?
"She told me about what happened to your brother, even though you didn't show power throughout your childhood she didn't want to risk it."
"How —" I began
"I could tell you didn't understand since you looked confused after I mentioned it."
"Well that makes sense." After that, we sat there taking everything in. The fact that Leon wasn't chiming in with snarky remarks showed he didn't know about this either.
"So what do we do next?" I inquired, breaking the silence.
"Training" they said in unison.
"Well shit, personally I thought I did okay on the ship." Nik's brows creased in confusion.
"What happened?" He looked at Leon "I thought you said everything went fine."
Oops.
Leon and I then explained how I was impaled, was in and out of consciousness; also that we were attacked. Nik really didn't like that I assisted, when we're got to that part of the story his eyes started glowing red.
"Let me get this straight, you fought in a battle while gravely injured and without any knowledge of how your power works." He bit out.
"I'm not helpless Nik even without my powers I can still fight. Also I felt fine and look " I stood up and did a little twirl "I'm alive." Nik began shaking his head and muttering to himself incoherently.
"Well then let's try keeping you alive, you won't be so lucky all the time. Let's head out back."we all stood up and followed Nik outside. At the back of the home there was plenty of space, mostly dead grass and rocks. But it also has a pool as well. It was deep with crystal clear water and it was long, it looked to be about 150 feet. Plenty of water for me to practice in. Nik suddenly turned to face me, all friendliness gone from his face.
"Get ready to work your ass off Hawthorn, I'm not going easy on you little miss badass."
After that we got to work. Nik put me through intense workout regimens and magick training. The orbs Edelmira singed into me were air and water. But while training on my powers it didn't completely feel right to me. Like these aren't the ones I was supposed to be working on. But either way I kept at it. Necro was also getting restless, just itching to come out. He would always be whispering in my head while I was trying to concentrate on dodging Niks fire attacks. He was right about one thing though. I was definitely working my ass off. This went on for about 4 weeks straight.
Leon kept out of sight mostly and didn't even acknowledge me at all. After about the third I just kept losing count of the days from how exhausted I was. Around the end of the fourth week Leon finally approached me after weeks of ignoring me.
"Hey." He said simply.
"Uh... hello?" I replied awkwardly continuing my task.
"I wanted to show you something. Come with me." I said nothing and simply followed him he stopped by the edge of the pool by some dirt and crouched down. He put his hands against the earth and let them sit there for a bit. Confused as hell I opened my mouth to say something.
"Shh I'm concentrating." Well alright then. Suddenly the earth began to move under his fingertips and was swirling in two long ovals. They began to take shape and became a blazing red in the dirt, I watched in awe as his markings began to glow an electric blue as he worked. After a few more moments they finally took shape it was two rapiers similar to the ones I used in the ship only they had what looked like tiny knives surrounding the hilt in semi circles.
"It's a bit of an upgrade from what you already know how to use. There's a pin on the bottom of the hilt that when you pull it those knives shoot out to the sides incase your surrounded. Monsters don't fight fair, neither will you." I was stunned by the gift, Leon hadn't spoken to me in weeks and now he makes me swords? He handed them to me and they felt perfect in my hands.
"Uh, thank you."
"I'm no good at apologies so, here goes," he took a deep breath. "I know I was an ass on the ship, it's hard losing Ceci. Knowing I'll never see her smile again or see her grow old with me. Or be there with me when my parents are gone. She was such a good kid" he paused "I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You've been through your fair share of crap. Im sorry." I set down the swords carefully and pulled Leon towards me holding him tight. I wanted to tell him about meeting victor but every time i opened my mouth its like to sound wanted to come out
He's not ready to hear it. Necro echoed in my mind. You will know when it's time.
"I forgive you, your my best friend."
"Alright break it up!" Nik shouted.
We broke apart and looked away Nik who was only wearing shorts, his body glistening in the sunset.
"I know I've been training your ass off so I thought I would give you a fun training to do. Now I hope you brought a bathing suit, because we're racing.
Turns out Sylvaine did pack me one. Now I know we never really talked much but did it have to be a bikini? I am not used to being so exposed. This was mostly string and barely enough cloth to cover what was important. I mean i'm fit but that does not indicate that i like to be practically naked, in front of boys I grew up with. I paced around the room for a minute before finally giving in when Nik knocked on the door for me to hurry up. I put the damn thing one and I felt ridiculous. It was a black bikini which greatly contrasted with my pale skin but at least it went with my black hair. I grabbed a towel from my bathroom not ready to waltz out in my borderline birthday suit.
"Alright Heidi let's see what you're made of!" Nik stretched and waited for me to remove the towel. I took a deep breath and quickly took it off and set it down. I kept my eyes on the floor and walked to the edge of the pool and just stared at the water. I could feel their gazes burning the back of my head as I waited.
"So are we doing this or what?" I said nervously. I heard Nik muttering under his breath but loud enough so I could hear him.
"Shit so thats what shes made of." I turned and glared at him which only made him laugh.
"Alright guys, it's simple, first one to the end of the pool wins." We got in position and waited for Nik to say the word.
"GO!" We set off. I smirked a bit as I broke the surface of the water. I'm in my element, literally. How could I not use my magick? I called to the water to speed me up, but not by much. I was already an adept swimmer no need to totally destroy them. A warm tingle surrounded me as I became one with the water. It felt so warm and, well magical. Everyone around me grew up with magick and I just started out, it's so exhilarating! I continued to swim trying to control how much magick i used attempting to keep it under control. When I reached the end i gave the wall a hard smack and jumped out. I wasn't even fatigued from the swimming and it was a very long pool.
After a few moments Nik and Leon climbed out. Both of them huffing from the workout.
"That" Nik took a big gulp of air "was cheating."
I simply shrugged, too high on the adrenaline to care.
"You never said there were rules." I grinned mischievously. Nik suddenly came after me trying to throw me back into the pool. I sprang into the air and floated, laughing at his shocked face.
"I don't play fair!" I yelled from above. From up here the sunset was beautiful. A wonderful orange mixed in with a light pink. I stayed in the air for a while just staring into the sky. Sometimes you don't realize how much time had passed until you look at the sky. It didn't feel like a month had passed since I was ripped from my old life and nearly died. I wondered what happened to Grey Falls when we left. Was it in chaos or was it continuing on af if nothing happened. When Eric tried to kill me there was no one around except my mom. I'm sure it didn't take much convincing to keep jet from talking. It's not like she even loved me anyway. I felt a tear escape at the truth of that thought. I wasn't enough for her to overcome her sadness. I wasn't enough for her to love me like a mother should. Whenever I told her I loved jet she never responded; Could never look me in the eye.
The thoughts made a torrent of tears go down my face. I flicked my wrist and the wind obeyed and dried my tears away so Nik and Leon didn't see me wipe them. I didn't have time for crying and thinking about the past. There are people out there trying to kill me. I have to focus.
I turned around looking at what surrounded us. And easy off the island i say a shrine in the distance. But it looked ancient. Instead of the shrine glittering with blue markings they were red. I've never seen that before. I started to glide closer to it.
"Where are you going!" Nik shouted, barely audible.
"Heidi come back! Fuck!" Leon echoed below me.
As I got closer shivers began to go down my spine.
What the hell is going on? I thought to myself
Careful, there's a great danger that lurks in the shrine. Necro chimed.
Once i was close enough i saw something that made me go cold.
"Monsters" I gasped
No, demons Necro growled.
In that moment my whole body went cold when dozens of red eyes looked my way simultaneously
"Oh fuck"
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Oooooh cliff hangars!!! Im excited to write some more I know it took forever im sorry!! Ya know life gets ya but it my goal to write way more now. Let me know what you think!! Love you all!