"There you are." A thundering voice came from this dark... thing that just came out of the forest. "Stop struggling little one, it will all be over soon." His voice was deep and ominous, making me freeze in fear.
I fell to the ground, as my little body froze and my legs shook. My small legs not able to keep me upright, nor could they help me run away. My body was shaking at the sight of this, this, thing. Its body didn't have any real features, apart from big arms and legs and what looked like a head. It was more like looking at a massive silhouette of a person. Dark purple aura emanated from its body.
It started to reach out to me as I lay here, unable to move a muscle. The massive hand that was approaching me, was large enough to fit my whole torso in it. My mind could only imagine the pain that I would be feeling when being crushed.
My eyes closed as I started hoping it was all just a dream. Hoping I would just wake up, back on Earth in my own bed.
Please let this be a dream. This is not real. Wake up Zeph. Come on, wake up. My thoughts were cut short when I felt the impact of its hand, wrapping its fingers around my small body.
"Let go of me! Let me go!" I shouted while trying to wiggle myself free from his grip.
"Save your energy, son of Gaia. It will be over, soon." His bouldering voice announced.
His response cuts through my fear and piqued my interest a little, making me open my eyes. At that same moment I felt my legs leave the ground and I was now at the mercy of this thing's hand. He held me in front of him with a outstretched right arm, while its left hand was coming towards me.
Fearful of the what it might do to me, I closed my eyes again in anticipation of my life ending.
3 years ago, I died and got another chance at life here. I can't die yet. Please. My thoughts pleading for my life when I noticed nothing had happened after several seconds.
When I opened my eyes, I was looking at the palm of its other hand. Small purple glowing lights started to appear around me as my body started to feel weird. A tingling sensation ran all throughout my body, heat rising, when it called out a name of a spell.
"Noctazirasira"
The small purple lights became bright purple lights, and started filling my vision that quickly became blurry. Deep inside my small body, I felt heat emanating from my core. It almost felt like my soul was being tugged on, like someone was trying to pull it out.
The heat became almost unbearable and I started to shout in fear and desperation. Now feeling my soul literally being pulled from my body, causing me immense pain.
While my shouts drowned out everything around me, one distinct shout pierced everything I could produce.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY BROTHER!" My sister started to glow brightly and I could hear this thing, that was still holding me, wince in surprise.
My sister's shouts came closer rapidly, and the light blinded me, making me close my eyes. My sister's voice, full of desperation, called out a spell name.
"Luxaritas!"
A blinding flash of light blasted the left arm that was pulling my soul out of my body. I heard the cry of my sister ramming into this dark thing. His grip on me slipping while his spell got interrupted.
I felt myself falling to the ground, Aria tripping and falling on top of me. My body was overheating, I could hardly feel anything. My vision went dark and I heard my parents shout in the distance
"ZEPH!, ARIA!, NOOOOO!"
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"AUW" I yelped as my head hits the small table next to my bed, making me collapse on the ground in a fetal position.
I stayed on the floor for a few seconds, hand pressed firmly on my forehead. As the pain of the hit subsided the senses of my body returned to the forefront, reminding me I just woke from a nightmare.
Standing up, I sat on the edge of the bed. My head in my hands, my elbows resting on my legs.
"That was certainly NOT a memory I wanted to relive." I sighed deeply, trying to calm down a bit.
Opposite to me was a mirror that hung just above the sink. As I looked up, I saw my reflection and chuckled.
"Well, seems like a headache and good bump on my forehead can be added to my symptoms bingo card." I laughed a bit, but it quickly dissipated when the memories of the nightmare returned. Even with the little laugh, my face didn't hide the aftermath of my suddenly interrupted rest.
The door opened and Miranda, the brunette, came inside. She saw me on the edge of the bed with a drained face and immediately got worried. She rushed to my side and held her hand on my forehead, trying to measure some kind of temperature change. I winced and pulled back a little as she touched the bump on my head.
"Zeph, are you ok?" she asked with a worried looked. "You look terrible, what happened?"
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"Ah nothing much. I just had a nightmare about something I'd rather not see again." My body tensed a little, heart rate increasing.
"Do you need someone to talk to? I'm done with work in 15. If you want, I can come back and hear you out." Her voice was soft and calm, and it had its effect on my as well. The color in my face returned and my mood god a lot better.
"That is very nice of you, but no, I'm alright. But, if do need someone, I will let you know." I said with a genuine smile back on my face.
Miranda has gone above and beyond these last 2 weeks. She checked in on me every day, multiple times. Even after work, she just dropped by to say hi. She also visited my sister every day since she woke up a week ago. She kept telling her that I was alright, which is just funny. I had to keep acting like I didn't know.
"Well if there is nothing else I can help you with, I will be taking my leave and visit your sister." Miranda smiled as she stood up and started to make her way to the door.
"Miranda," I said, trying to stop her before she left. "Thank you. Thank you for all you have done these past two weeks. I really appreciate it. Not only for me but also for my sister."
"You don't have to thank me for that. You 2 are very good people to be around. I'm just happy you guys got better so fast." She looked at me with a happy smile.
"Ow, maybe you should take a quick shower and freshen up. It might just help you relax a bit. Also, Jack will visit in about 30 Minak. He will have some good news for you."
She turned around and left the room, though she did do a small goodbye wave, just before she closed the door.
"30 Minak... 30 minutes it is then. It's not a bad idea to take that shower."
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35 minutes later
The hot shower had done wonders for my mental state. I felt refreshed and ready to leave this place, ready to be free again. When I sat down on the bed, the door opened and Jack came in. He immediately acknowledged my thoughts when he saw my face.
"I see you are ready to get out of here, aren't you?" He laughed putting a small stack of neatly folded clothes next to me on the bed. He continued to get a chair and sat down in front of me.
"So? How has your morning been?"
The question reminded me of my painful awakening. My head dropped, and I gazed at the floor, taking a deep breath before I answered.
"One to forget real fast. Had a nightmare and fell out of the bed."
He must have seen my mood darken, just from looking at my body language.
"That bad, huh? Must have been some nightmare to get you this shaken up. " He said as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
"But," he continued. "I think you should leave that behind you. There is good news to be received though." His voice sounded full of energy as he tried to cheer me up a bit.
"Well, I know I am dismissed today. So what is the other good news?" I questioned him, though I already knew what he was about to say.
"Your sister will also be released today!"
He tried to be over the top happy about it and threw his hands in the air with a goofy smile. While a part of me was, mentally, still tied down from my earlier dream, the other part started laughing. His goal was achieved and my mood lifted.
He had visited my sister yesterday to tell her that she would be dismissed from the hospital today, and that her brother would be as well. So this news didn't come as a surprise to me at all. Didn't make me less happy thought. After 2 weeks of trying to get back to perfect health, I was getting rather sick of staying in this room. It felt like I was locked up in a prison, and it didn't help that I had to go through the exact same situation as my sister, making it hit double as hard.
After Jack turned the energy levels back to normal, he sat back in the chair and put one leg on the other. He started tapping his lips with his index finger, as if he was thinking about something deep.
"You know, the moment I saw you guys, my thoughts were only about saving you. When we got you into a stable condition, I couldn't get the feeling out of my head that it would be taking months for you two to get back on your feet."
He lent forward, clasping his hands together and resting his elbows on his legs. His eyes squinted a little, but the curiosity and relief, of seeing us back on our feet this fast, were clearly visible.
"But look at you guys now, walking around, totally healed up. Who would have thought that the regenerative properties of the Ignisari were this powerful."
When you live life, you start to forget the things that are normal or common. Things that once were new and exciting, start fading away into normality. The same goes for my race. In my previous life I was human. There wasn't even any other sort of intelligent life form on the planet. But here, here there were multiple different races, Ignisari being one of them.
When I was born, it took me a while to notice that I wasn't human anymore. The horns that would later grow, the tail and the scaly patches on my body, they would only start really showing itself throughout my first year in this world. When I saw my reflection for the first time and noticed my stubby horns and tiny tail, I was excited beyond belief. I always loved the dragon type races in fantasy games and here I was, embodying one.
But after the first 2 years, it slowly started the become normal. The mirror was still a special moment for me, that much rings true even today. But the excitement about being a completely different race slowly dropped away the longer I was removed from a mirror. Lately, my rather well developed sister made for good reminder of my race. We were twins, and apart from gender, our horns, tail and scales were nearly identical. So looking at her was almost like looking in the mirror.
"yeah, I'm a bit surprised as well, to be honest. But I'm sure glad with the result."
Jack stood up and put the chair back at the table and turned back towards me with a satisfied look on his face.
"The clothes there are for you. The ones you had on when you were brought in here were thrown away. There was hardly anything good left on them."
Jack put his hands in his coat pockets and started for the door, when he seemed to be reminded of something. He pulled a small note from his pocket and handed it out to me.
"The towns guard captain wanted to speak with the both of you when you're fit to leave this place. He arrived back after patrol duty just yesterday so he should be at the guard house. I drew a little map on that note for you."
I opened the note and saw a hand drawn map that had 4 names on it. At the bottom, Jack marked the location of the Hospital. Then he drew a road that led to the village central plaza that was next to the Birchbridge, the bridge the village was named after. To the left of it was a road that let to the guards house.
"When I pick up my sister I will go there right away." I said as I put the note on the bed next to my new cloths.
"Good, if there is nothing else, I will be leaving you for the last time. Stay safe and I hope to see you again sometime." Standing in de doorway he waved while looking back one more time.
"But please do make sure it is not in the same condition as last time."
"I'll do my best." I waved and Jack closed the door.
A few minutes later I was dressed up and ready to go. There were no belongings to take with me so I could make my way to to get my sister and leave the hospital. The clothes were nothing fancy but more then I could have asked for. Just a regular fit pants in grey with a white t-shirt and black jacket.
Time to get Sis and visit that guard's house. I wonder if they have some info we can use to move on.