Rory faintly remembered him bringing her away from the clearing. They moved fast, never stopping their hurried pace. Stumbling over a few branches on the ground, she grunted when her leg got scratched on a fallen branch- this did not stop Malakai, he just continued on, unbothered. She began to grow frustrated with his lack of care for her. She saved him from his death. She could've let him die- it would've been much less complicated. After a few more moments of being dragged around like a rag doll, she tugged her arm back from Malakai.
"Stop it! We're far enough," Rory said as he whipped around. Before she could say anything else, she found herself pressed against a tree. Wheezing slightly as he grabbed her throat tightly, her eyes widened at the furious look on his face. Her hands clawed at his arms, grunting out. "Let me go!"
"Who are you? What have you done with Aurora?" Malakai growled, pressing her further against the tree. She felt the bark scrape her skin, wincing slightly.
"My name is Aurora! Well, I go by Rory. I'm not the Aurora you know! I don't know how I got here, I hardly even understand where 'here' is," she sputtered out before she moved her eyes up to the sky, feeling a familiar power surge through her. "Now, let me go!" Screaming out as she sent him backward with a smaller energy wave than before.
Malakai stumbled back, glaring at her heatedly. Rory panted heavily, one of her hands resting on the tree she was previously pinned against. "Explain."
"Look, all I know is that..." Rory began to explain breathlessly, still catching her breath, "I woke up here with no recollection of any of you... I remember a completely different life with totally different people. The last thing I remember of that life is dying. Next thing I know, I wake up here."
"How is that possible?" Malakai snarled with a twinge of annoyance, shaking his head before charging towards her. "That is not possible! What trickery is this? Are you one of those bloody witches? A shapeshifter, perhaps?"
"Oh, yes! There is an entire species of shapeshifters dedicated just to shifting into Aurora Lucina! How did you ever find us out?" she sneered sarcastically with a dramatically mocking tone.
"This is not the time for jokes-"
"For God's sake!" Rory exclaimed as he got right in her face. She faintly heard him ask who she just referred to but she chose to ignore him. "I don't know how I'm here, but I am. My name is Aurora Lucina- I have her name, I have her looks, but I do not have her life! I'm from Earth, and I still have no clue what Fantamia is."
"I have never heard of 'Earth'... we live on Thera," he sighed in exasperation, rubbing his hands on his face. "Okay, explain to me this 'Earth' you speak of."
Rory stared at him incredulously, scoffing while shaking her head. "Um... blue skies? Green grass? It turned into quite the mess if I'm quite honest. Not nearly as beautiful here. No magic, as far as I was aware. A lot more advanced technology than you-"
"This place sounds bizarre and dreadfully boring."
"Says the place with dragons soaring the skies instead of birds."
"Birds?" he exclaimed incredulously. "What in the world are birds?"
Rory grunted out in frustration. "You want me to describe birds to you," she deadpanned in annoyance, a snarl on her face. "You want me to attempt to describe birds when you have absolutely nothing to compare them to-" she began to mumble frantically as she attempted to turn away. Malakai immediately made a grab for her arm, and just as he touched her, he became as still as a statue. His eyes glazed over with a glow, which made Rory gasp out and rip her arm away.
Malakai lurched forward as he panted heavily before letting out a laugh of disbelief, eyes bulging from his head in shock. "Those are your birds? You expect them to be in the sky? And 'dragons...' do you mean igniscans? Birds in the sky?"
"Where else would they be? What did you just do? How did you see a bird? This place is bizarre!" Rory shot back, shaking her head in confusion. She couldn't keep up with all of these different names.
"Birds are rare, they're massive! People have them as amicordas occasionally-" Malakai rambled slightly as he ignored her question on how he saw into her head.
"Ami-what?"
"Amicordas, they're animals that become a guardian or protector over someone. I assume your vulpide is one," Malakai explained as if it was obvious. Rory exhaled deeply, guessing he meant Aliya. She needed to make a list of animals and their new names.
"Aurora?" a voice called out, Rory turned her head, knowing the voice belonged to Aidan. "You better have an explanation for that little stunt you just pulled!"
"These bloody brothers!" she groaned, tilting her head back in annoyance.
"Please, don't run! We can help, we can find Aurora together!" a condescending tone rang through the air, and she could tell it was Aidan. The sound of his voice made it clear he still did not believe her. Malakai gave her a skeptical look, glancing behind her as the rest of them approached.
"Aurora, get away from him," Maximus cautioned, holding his hand out as if not to frighten her. She scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest, angrily.
"You lied to me! You said nothing about killing him," Rory growled out, charging towards him angrily. His eyes widened, and he stumbled back. Some warrior, Rory commented in her head. Backing him into a tree, she gave him a dangerous glare.
Holding both his hands up beside his head, he gulped. "We knew you wouldn't go along with it- memories or not."
"At least you've got something right," she said sneakily before she turned around to see Malakai staring at her, deep in thought, "listen, we need to talk. You all need to listen to me if you want to find your sister."
"Not this again-" Aidan groaned in frustration before Rory interrupted him.
"Enough!" Rory shouted, the ground shaking slightly. Frantically turning her head back and forth, her eyes landed on Malakai desperately. He stayed silent- jaw clenched and fists balled. She began to breathe a bit faster as she tried to figure out why the ground was shaking. "What is that? What's causing this?"
"It's you, Aurora! You need to calm down!" Aidan ordered angrily, walking towards her. She whipped her body towards him, hand stretched out as if to blast her energy towards him. She was unsure if she still had any more power to do so, but he seemed to think she could do this, so he faltered in his step. "We'll listen to you, all right? Just... just calm down."
"Do you promise?" she whispered shakily, her hand trembling. Aidan nodded immediately, but it wasn't enough for her. "No! Give me your word."
"I give you my word," he told her instantly, not missing a beat. She lowered her hand and calmed her breathing, shutting her eyes. Thoughts began to swirl her mind, taking over everything else. She was able to calm herself down until she began to think too much again. "Breathe for me, yeah?"
"I- I can't," Rory's voice broke as she shook her head, "I don't think I can control it." She warned them before everything began to shake again. Gasping, she stumbled over, catching herself on a tree. The tree immediately exploded- the bark splintering, the petals, and leaves bursting. She let out a yell, bringing up a shaky hand to weakly cover her mouth. Colorful leaves mixed with sharp pieces of bark fell all around her. Eira reacted quickly, throwing up a wall of ice to block the wood from hitting them. The ground shook terribly, the others stumbling and falling as well.
Animals began to howl and cry in the night, breaking Rory's heart that she caused them so much fear. Letting out a broken sob, she hyperventilated desperately as all of her pent up panics ruptured at the seams. "I didn't... I don't want to do this! Make it stop!"
"You need to take some deep breaths!" Eira shouted, trying to make her way over to help her. The shaking ground threw her off, making her unable to get to the panicking girl.
"Rory!" Malakai shouted and her head darted over to him. He was watching her with a fearful and stern expression. When his eyes connected with her own, she suddenly felt calmer. Everything stopped shaking- except for her. Her emotions had been bottled up- she couldn't take it anymore. She had lost her family, her friends, her entire life.
Aidan gently raised his hand for her to take. Glancing around her, she took in the world around her. It calmed her immensely before, and it continued to do so now. The deep blue and purple sky above her... the stars were glimmering in the sky. She heard the sounds of unknown animals around her- typically, this would frighten her. But now she felt joy from it. There was so much unknown in this world, and it both excited and terrified her. Earth was one adventure; this was now something else entirely. This world brought a new experience, one that she wanted to take. Her breathing slowed down as she relaxed her muscles. With that, she placed her hand in his and allowed him to take her away.