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When Alizeh woke up the next morning, she wondered why she had dreamed about her past. She was sure she had been getting better at blocking out her past. She felt out of sorts.The storm had all but passed, but the rain was still pitter-pattering atop her tent. She had all her belongings gathered in ten minutes. Over the years, she had succeeded in narrowing down her existence to survival.She lived, she breathed, she provided her body with minimal nourishment, and she slept. If she focused on these mundane tasks, she did not have the time or energy to fall apart.As she started her journey to nowhere, she began thinking about the strange events that happened after she fell asleep in that barn four years ago.When she had finally woke up that night, the moon was high in the sky, and she decided to continue her journey. She barely made it out of the barn when she encountered the strangest of things.Right there in front of her was the littlest old man she had ever seen. He was about fou
Alizeh took a deep breath and said, “All right I will come with you. I will help you save your father. It has to be better than what I am doing now.” “Wonderful. The storm is picking up, so we must leave now.”He pulled a small flask out of his bag, took a sip, and offered it to Alizeh. She drank the last few drops slowly and continued walking. She looked up at Orion, and he looked physically ill. She noticed that he was farther ahead of her, and suddenly he was gone as if ripped from the spot. The path seemed to stretch out before her eyes, and the forest around her seemed shaky. The forest started spinning faster and faster. The trees started to change to an image of a person. It Started blury, but cleared in seconds. She gasped, when she realized who it was. It was her father, and he was holding a belt. He somehow, still managed to inspire terror in her.. She started violently trembling. Just as fast as it appeared , the image changed.. She was now watching her town burn. People w
Genève stood at the window, looking out at her people. The filthy peasants worshiped her, but it was not enough. “Groll!” she shrieked at her head moron. He hurried into her chambers and glanced up, trying to gauge her mood. “Yes, My Queen?” he asked nervously, his eyes cast down, hoping not to provide with her any reason to be displeased. “Bring me Zeek. The time has come for us to have our little talk. Make sure he is shackled with the chains that make his magic useless. If he escapes, I will have your head!” She paced back and forth, running her fingers through her long crimson hair. She had been waiting for this day for twenty years. When she thought about all of the time and effort wasted on this little man, she became furious all over again. As she waited, she thought back to the day it had all begun. She could not believe how much had happened since then. Genève noticed Groll and Zeek coming down the corridor. She immediately stopped pacing, smoothed out the wrinkles in her
Alizeh and Orion to walked in comfortable silence. They were maintaining a good pace, and covering a lot of ground. Alizeh suddenly stopped walking. She said nothing. He sat by helplessly as her face went blank, and her attention drifted somewhere far, far away. He watched her staring into off in the distance, for what felt like an eternity. Finally, he had enough.He reached for her hand. It felt like ice. He shook her, and shouted, “Alizeh, are you ok?"She stood unwavering, rigid, and lost to Orion for, what felt like an eternity. He began to worry, maybe his dimension was too much for her. Was she going through some kind of shock, from existing in a world without magic her whole life? This realm wasn't the most magical realm in existence, but it certainly had enough of it to hold it's own. He was sure she had been frozen for at least an hour. In reality, only minutes had passed. Finally, she shook her head, and her face woke up - like she was coming out of a dream.Orion took her f
Alizeh, Orion, and Zeek quickly thanked Radof and bid him farewell. Zeek told them to all huddle together. He pressed his hand over Alizeh’s, on the staff. The wind began to swirl around them, and they slowly floated into the air. Before they knew it, they were safe and sound back at Zeek’s home. Zeek and Alizeh combined their powers and were able to put upwards so powerful that no unwanted visitors could pass through. If anyone tried, they would turn to dust.Zeek looked at Alizeh and Orion for a long time without speaking. They were sitting in the great room, gathered around the fireplace. He poured each of them a small glass of brown liquid. Alizeh accepted it gratefully and took a long swig, finishing the whole glass in one gulp. The men looked at her expectantly, and they could tell she was trying hard not to react to the pungent drink. Zeek laughed and said, “This is more of a sipping drink, Alizeh.” Orion quickly walked toward her and took her hand. All of a sudden Alizeh r
Alizeh sat by the fire with her mother and Isabella while Cade stood rigidly behind them like he was keeping guard. “What has happened to you since I left? When I left, I did it to protect you--all of you,” she said.Isabella looked at her sadly. “You could not have known what would happen after you left. Your father was furious when we couldn’t find you. He blamed your mother and me, saying we must be witches. That was his explanation for your disappearance, that we had done something terrible to you. "Alizeh covered her mouth, but the gasp was not silenced. Her mother took her hand and exhanged glances with Isabella. Their eyes had a conversation, while everyone else sat in silence. Finally Isabella shook her head up and down twice and Gwen nodded hers back, and turned her full attention back to Alizeh."Isabella and I went shopping in town. It had to be done, and it was a good excuse to get a break from his constant accusations. While we were out, he searched our rooms and found so
Trixie sat across from the brain-shrinking specialist, the one who seemed in charge. She had been here before, in a different time and another place, but she knew the drill all too well. Mention nothing about the hallucinations or the voices. Talk about addiction. People could get behind an addiction. It was something they could wrap their heads around. It was a problem they could tackle. The more normal she acted, the more complacent she behaved, the sooner she could return to her regular life. She smiled bashfully up at the physician, waiting for more queries.Dr. Jayden stared at her for minute after painstaking minute without saying a word. Trixie squirmed. This was a new strategy, and she didn't appreciate it.Finally, Trixie had endured enough. “Please ask your questions, ma’am. I am tired and would like to go to my room.”Dr. Jayden sighed dramatically and forced her seat backward. “Sweet child, why would I want to waste a single syllable asking you questions that I already kno
Zeek gave each person in the group a small glass of brown liquid, which Alizeh drank slowly. They all held hands and prepared for the shift. The world started spinning, and it hurled them into an open field. They looked around, wondering where all the trees were. As far as the eye could see, there were unrecognizable structures. Zeek explained to them that the buildings were people’s homes. “This realm is corrupted by richness and power. They always want more and are never satisfied. In this area, very few people recognize the beauty of nature. They are, in fact, on the verge of extinction because they have torn down all their natural resources to build more formations to make more money. They are just now beginning to realize that prosperity means very little when the things that they need are not readily available and cannot be bought,” he explained, shaking his head solemnly.The group walked on and noticed what Zeek called paved streets, sidewalks, and automobiles. They took every
That night Alizeh dreamed of Tom. When they first met, he kindly invited her to bunk with him so he could protect her. He wanted so bad to be a hero, to make up for his sins.Even in her dreams she knew, there was no way a little thievery could detract from the person he really was. Then the dream changed to him laughing and telling her she wasn't right in the head.Next, she cut to him warning her about the Bandits, "if they find us, we will not live through the night."Her voice cut over the scene ",Why didn't you listen."She closed her eyes, inside her dream and when she opened them he was lying there dead, entrails spilled on the ground.She heard her own voice again "Why didn't you listen."Alizeh woke herself up screaming. Balthazar was in front of her staring at her with his mouth hanging open. "It's okay Alizeh, you are safe down here. Shh."She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried silently. She finally pulled herself together. Balthazar was looking at with worried eyes.
Zeek, Geneve, and crew returned to the castle. They were tired and disappointed. Zeek spoke to no one as he hurried to his room. He just wanted to go to bed. They'd completely wasted all day. They were no closer to finding her. They couldn't use Geneve's location spell again for an entire week. They did learn enough to add fuel to the already out of control worry that consumed him like fire and clouded his mind like black smoke clouded a room. When she left the castle her head was already in a dark place. Her state of mind was already cause for concern. He knew Alizeh pretty well, he had no doubt that the boys death hurt her in a profound way. With the darkness tainting her thoughts, he feared the pain would be converted to anger. He was concerned about just how far she'd allow Geneve's rage take things, and if it was now the darkness that was captaining the ship.All of this was his fault. If he would have left her in the woods, thus wouldn't have ever happened. He knew he was b
Alizeh just sat there, with tears rolling down her face, and her mouth hanging open. Of course, I would land in the middle of a dragon’s layer, she thought. She considered using her powers, and killing it, but it occurred to her she had never met a dragon before, and she wasn’t sure she would win, and today was not the day she wanted to die. Plus, there was something about this dragon, he was kind of cute, and she couldn’t help but to like him. “My name is Balthazar. I have been down here alone for a long time, afraid to leave. I always wanted a pet to keep me company. You seem different than the evil ones that live in the town. You smell different too. What’s your name – ooh maybe you don’t have one. Do I get to name you?”Alizeh let a snort through the tears, “I am Alizeh. Why are you scared of the towns people? You are a dragon. Can’t you just go and burn the village down?”“I was on my vision quest to come into my powers, when I felt my mother’s death. Since I was only ten (that’
Geneve stared into the fire while soaking. She tried to leave her mind totally blank. She must have fallen asleep because it did not feel like eight hours when it came to her. She bolted up, forgetting she was undressed, and ran to the first person she saw. It was Trixie. “I found her; we must hurry.”Trixie looked at her and gasped. “We will hurry, dear, but you must get dressed first, I will get the others. They should be ready to go.”Geneve quickly got dressed and met the others outside. They decided Trixie, Cade, Orion, Zeek, and Geneve should go. She was not sure just how many people she would be able to transport back and for the and didn’t want to chance to screw anything up. Okay, everyone holds hands, we are only going to be able to do this once, then we must return here.She concentrated on the place the fire showed her. She felt the chilly night and the sand on her skin. The world started spinning in circles, and everything faded to black. The next thing she remembered was
Alizeh stayed up for five hours. Everything was quiet, as she expected. She woke Tom up when her eyelids started to get heavy. She was sure at this point all would be well. Tom woke up, and still looked exhausted. She felt like her fight earlier took more out of him than it did her.“You know what, never mind, go back to sleep. I have got this. I will stay up for the night, don’t worry about it, for real,” she pleaded. She could not bear it if something happened to him.“Like there’s any dimensions in this universe I would let someone else fight my battle, and then let them guard me all night, without any sleep. Alizeh, I appreciate it, but I need you to go to sleep. I will be fine, I got my pack of cards, and I am going to write Nancy a letter, to remind her how very much I love her.”She reluctantly agreed and laid down next to the fire. She tried to stay awake, but she drifted off after a while. She dreamed of being in a dark world, there was a dragon by her side. Orion and cade we
Zeek was looking in his orb, trying to find a suitable place for Geneve to do her ritual, and getting frustrated because he understood how important it was for her to have the right water source. This wasn’t Anwyn. They didn’t have the convenience of all the power in the universe, harnessed in one beautiful river. They had rivers, but they were in very open spots.“Damn it,” He muttered, “this is taking too much time. We need to find something.”“Well, I am not going to trapes around in the middle of town, sans clothes”, Geneve sighed. There has to be a middle ground. I am willing to help, I will save your prodigy for you, but I will not do it at the expense of my dignity. “Talon had been very quiet since he got there. He understood his place. He didn’t really feel like he belonged, he felt like an outsider, but that is something he has dealt with, his entire life, until he met Geneve. She changed his world for him, and she will never understand the deepness of the connection he feel
Alizeh told Tom to stay back. The last thing she needed was for him to get in the way and get them both killed. She hoped there were a lot of them. She turned her head around the corner and was surprised. There were only four men sitting on their horses, trying to look scary – but coming across as petulant children. Alizeh stepped out in front of the boulder.As they trotted closer and closer, one of the men laughed “We know you’re not alone, we saw you and your little boyfriend, oh my, are we going to have fun with you.”“Oh no whatever will we do, us all alone, with all you bad, bad boys out to get us. I have heard about you. Do you plan on killing us?” Alizeh asked feigning fear.There was one man who stood in front of the rest, He was more aloof, and they all seemed to be listening to cues from him. He pulled his hat down, and drawled, “Well little lady, I am going to give you the time of your life, just before I end your life. Don’t worry, you’ll thank me before it is all said an
Zeek had a rude awaking, it is not every day that the only woman you have ever loved, comes tumbling out of nowhere, with the only man she has ever loved, landing in your bed. He opened his eyes to a sudden jolt and was staring into those fiery green eyes he fell in love with so long ago. Then he heard a thump, and Talon was right behind her.He had heard stories of talon but had never seen him. He never really wanted to. This was the man he could never be. Tall dark and handsome. Zeek was in his late forties, and 3.5 feet tall; he was an elf. Geneve and Talon were faes. Faes only age until their late twenties, and then the aging process slowed considerably. If a fae looks old, they are ancient, and you better mind your manners around them.At first, he thought he was having a nightmare. He closed his eyes and opened them again. They were still there, staring back at him. He closed his eyes again, and all of his hopes were shattered, when Geneve said, “for god’s sake Zeek, we are real,
Alizeh woke up in a better mood than she had experienced in a long time. It was nice to be away from everything. To think, to put things in perspective. It was even nice to have someone to talk to that was not involved in ruining her life. She had decided last night, that she needed to let Cade go. What they had was real. It was everything, but I would never be fair to him that her heart was not his. Part of it would always belong to Orion. She jumped up and gently kicked Tom. He was snoring with his mouth open, which she found funnier than the situation called for. “Wake up fool. We are wasting daylight. Let’s find these bandits you spoke of last night.”Tom shot up, unexpectedly “Hush girl. You know not what you speak of. The day we meet those bandits, will be the last day we live. That is my word, and my word is my bond. “She laughed and said, “You’re a bank robber for Goddess’s sake, your word cannot be your bond.”“Not true,” Tom said earnestly. “I do not lie, I steal. I steal b