Don't trust me!

DON'T TRUST ME!

Akheela's voice blares at the top of its lungs, the wisps of her glowing mist surrounds Ara as the gales of rage unfasten her tied-up hair. It's suffocating, drawing Ara deeper into this fury that somehow isn't permanently fixed on Akheela's face.

It's not just the incessant screeching that feels overpowering. There's this deep pit emanating in Ara's stomach- A heat.

A kettle that's been permanently left to boil.

And it's overflowing.

Ara fights the rational part of her mind that's shaping itself as fear. A part of her wants to run. To listen to the voice and stay as far away from this girl as possible. But there's another part too, telling her to go deeper.

A curiosity that can't be left unanswered.

So she does, she embraces this fear wholly. Trying everything she can to steady the panicked trembling of her body. The mist starts to spiral around her, like a vortex drawing her to the cavern of Akheela's soul. All the screams blare louder, so deafening she instinctively covers her ears. Tight. Digging her nails into the back of them trying to ease all the pain piercing her mind.

It doesn't help.

The hellish wailing rises as her body uncontrollably shakes and the boiling outrage bubbles over. All sound blips away, the pool of rage within her fades, and the orbiting vortex plummets into the ground. Briefly outlining what seems like the art of Al'chem before it dissipates, vanishing in an instant. Ara glances around her, dropping her hands from her ears and scanning her surroundings to see Akheela seated in front of her, with her eyes closed. It then occurs to Ara that she hears nothing at all. Not the crashes of the South West river or any of Akheela's voices.

"Akhi, when can we go play?" Asks the soft voice of a young boy. The voice reverberates from the distant forest throughout her surroundings before warping to her foreground.

"Not right now," Whispers Akheela's voice from behind the river, echoing its way to Ara. "We can play when I get back from work," She replies.

The faint glow of two Luná blue ghosts emanates across from Ara, behind Akheela. The one looks like a young kid, of six rotations. The other is Akheela. The white of her hair radiates like a void sun. She's only of twelve. Like another reality overlayed on top of her view of Akheela, Ara closes her eyes to find herself looking at Akheela and the young boy, exactly where the ghosts were.

The boy's name is Lotti. He's Akheela's little brother and they stay together in a dingy wooden shack that Lotti calls the 'fortress'. It barely keeps them warm enough over the winter and Lotti started calling it that when it stayed upright for longer than he expected. He hated it at first, always complaining about how small it was but after they got through the first winter, he found an appreciation for it. With only one room and a bathroom with a toilet and basin, they would huddle up together in the raggedy sheets Akheela traded for. The size of the shack was small enough to keep enough of the heat insulated- The shivering was sleep-through-able.

How do I know this? Akheela's mind temporarily queries before she refocuses herself. Concentrating on the image ahead of her.

"Stay in the fortress, I will be back in a few hours with dinner." Akheela orders before exiting the room

"See you later, Akhi!" Lotti waves as she closes the door behind her.

Akheela has been smuggling dahai into the cities on behalf of a syndicate with its 'head office' in their township. She'd often get taken for a few days at a time to cities and towns across Dantas. Leaving precooked meals for Lotti while she was away. The cartel uses Akheela to carry drugs through military checkpoints and have her deliver their 'products' to their clients. They always call it that around her- 'product', but Akheela knows what it is. She's even tried it before, having figured she might as well know what she's trading.

She passes the military checkpoint by appearing as a fruit seller, and wheels her cart through to the client, having hidden the dahai in a compartment below the fruit.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Akheela has found it tough to stay motivated- Smuggling doesn't pay good currency and either the business isn't earning as well as they say, or she was being slighted because she's a kid. She knows it's one of these answers and considering how she could barely buy enough food or water to keep Lotti from starvation, she figured out how to earn a little extra.

It turns out she can just throw a couple handfuls of dahai into a small pouch before arriving at the buyers. A small amount is always lost in transit anyway, and the buyers wouldn't bother weighing the product anymore since they've become so familiar with Akheela. The cartel also trusts her to get the job done. Other than the pay, they take pretty good care of her- They've had her back in a few tight situations and they all become self-aware around her, knowing she's a kid. They are never as hard on her as they are on each other.

With the two percent she takes from each delivery, on her way back to getting picked up, she then sells the dahai to the locals of the town she'd just traded with. Since she had to sell in quite a hurry, she started trading her entire batch to a local dealer that gave her a slightly better price than when she'd seen it all independently.

She spent the extra money she last saved on a steam cooker, so they've been eating decently lately. Akheela also wants to buy Lotti a gift soon- He'd love a new ball.

She wakes up before the rays pass through the forest each morning, trying her best not to wake Lotti- who'd probably think it's a good time to hang out if she did. She wants the time to herself to practice her magic before making breakfast for the both of them and heading off to work. She'd gotten pretty good at sneaking out without Lotti noticing, it's like a little stealth test each morning.

The interconnected memories flow together through Ara's mind, ringing clearly without the need for any active participation. She knows. She feels everything Akheela feels too- The burning will to protect her brother, Lotti. How nervous Akheela gets before each trade, even though she's done it so many times she's become friendly with all the cartels. Ara feels how cold Akhrela and Lotti would get in the winter, the icy breeze seeping through the gaps in their shack as she would pile the both of them under as many dusty sheets as she could muster, snuggling with Lotti to stay warm.

It all makes a little more sense to Ara. Is this why she trusted me so quickly? She could see this much? Her mind wonders, reconciling her past experiences to compile a better understanding of the magic.

She opens her eyes to see Akheela, still seated ahead of her. The surrounding world feels like a distant realm as the sounds of river bank drown as if she were underwater. The memories of all the voices whisper in her mind. There's so much more. She realizes.

"I've found someone I can truly connect with," A voice rings through Ara's mind. It sounds like Akheela's voice, she looks back to Akheela who now has her eyes open and a smile plastered on her face. Ara can feel the relief of tension falling from Akheela's shoulders. "Nobody knows this about me."

"How are you doing this?" Ara asks without moving a lip.

"We are doing it. A connection requires at least two, no?"

"Lotti… He's your brother?" Ara asks.

"Now look who is asking questions she already knows the answer to."

"He's cute," Ara comments as the boy's bright smile and snotty nose flashes in her mind. "The fortress is a great name too," She adds.

"He said he spoke with it," Akheela giggles, "Apparently it said that anyone who opposes us will be vanquished,"

Ara chuckles too as she sees Lotti whispering to the shack whilst covering his mouth to keep the conversation confidential- Between him and the walls.

"I've always wanted someone to learn the magic with," Akheela says, still speaking directly to Ara's mind.

"What else do you know of it?" Ara asks.

"Not much. I learnt how to use my aura to levitate small objects and propel them, as I did with the blades. I can also transmit a small burst of my voice that can push a person quite far. But that's all. Hearing and reading people's voices came naturally," She responds.

"And this? The effortless communication?"

"This is my first time too," Akheela answers.

"During their era over ten millennia ago, Old Dantas was the greatest nation across all of Luná. Their army of savage slaves tore across the lands of their opposers. This is how they became the only nation to conquer all of Luná."

- The A'shic Records.