She could feel herself dreaming of flying, the wind blowing through her hair and tickling her face. She was steadily flying higher, about to reach the cloud line when she woke up to the sound of movement in another room. Opening her eyes she saw that she was in her room at her parents’ house. For the smallest second she almost thought she heard her parents when she remembered Zack. Getting out of bed, she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a box of cereal. She didn’t have much food in the cabinets beyond dry and canned items. Walking over to the couch she sat down and dug her hand into the cereal box. Out of the corner of her eye, Zack walked in from the bathroom dripping wet.

“Enjoy your shower?” she asked as she stuffed her face with the delicious taste of honey nut cheerios.

Grinning he responded, “most definitely! Not as refreshing as a dip in a lake but I needed it. I can feel extra chemicals in your water that I’m not too fond of to be honest. ”

Picking up a cheerio she dropped, she popped it into her mouth and patted the spot next to her, “Come on, we’ll watch some TV.” Reaching for the remote she went to turn the TV on.

“Hey, what’s that map on the wall in your room?” he asked as he pointed his thumb behind him.

Putting down the remote she picked her legs up and crossed them on the couch beneath her. “It’s a map of the area, I use it to record all the places I’ve been.”

Excitement lit up his eyes, he said, “you’ve covered pretty much all of the areas nearby. Did you do it all alone?”

“Yup, I love the area, but I think I need a new map, I’m running out of places I haven’t been.” Pulling her legs close she laid her head on her knees.

“Then would you be up for a little trip? I know this beautiful spot that I think you’re just going to love.” He asked as he was jittering with excitement.

Leaning back against the couch, she considered his suggestion, “Sure, where is it?”

She swore his grin grew from ear to ear, a mischievous kind of grin, “You’ll see!” He jumped up in excitement and headed down the hall. He seemed to have one setting, excited and bubbly. So NOT like your average teenage boy.

Heading off to her room she went to grab her backpack. “How long will it take to get there?” she hollered into the other room.

“Not long, by the way, you won’t need your backpack. We won’t be there overnight.” He then leaned into the room, “unless you want to that is.” She threw a shirt at him as he pulled out of the doorway and headed somewhere else.

Curious, she walked out of her room and into the living room. “What do you mean?” she asked to thin air, looking left and right, she failed to locate Zack.

From the hallway she heard him respond, “We won’t be there long, besides we can come back here whenever we want.” She’d known him, what, one day, maybe two at this point. She could already tell he was a handful and that he couldn’t sit still for very long; like a puppy.

Searching the rooms she walked into the bathroom to see him bending over a half filled tub. “What are you doing?” Reaching down to touch his shoulder, he grabbed her arm and smiled up at her. Next thing she knew, she felt like she was drowning. The feeling reminded her of being swept up in a current for miles on end through nothing but water, water and more water. That same curious warm fizzy bubble feeling started happening again. Not again.

~~~~~

She opened her eyes to desert scenery with what looked to be trees off in the distance. Though she couldn’t be sure if she was really seeing them; it was as if they were there one second and gone the next. They were ankle deep in the only water source as far as the eye could see. And guess what, the splitting headache is back. She turned around to look for Zack and he was heading off in the opposite direction. “Where are you going? And where on earth are we?” she asked as she took off after him, half tripping in the sand as she walked.

Turning around, he started walking backwards as he smiled, a little skip to his step.

They walked for about an hour, maybe two. She started to get dizzy from lack of water and the sun beating down on her. “Zack, are we almost there? I don’t know how much longer I can go without water. I’m really thirsty.” She felt her throat almost cracking as she spoke, it hurt how thirsty she was.

Suddenly he just stopped. Bumping into him she asked, “What’s wrong?” His head tilted upward with his eyes closed, he straightened out his arms opening his palms.

“Well, you said you were thirsty. You have to give me a second to gather some up.” Next thing she knew a fog started forming in front of him. The fog streamed into a heavy curtain of rain no more than a few inches wide before it gathered into the empty bottle. Where he got the bottle, she had no idea. “Is that enough? I forget that you guys need water constantly. I store water in my body so I don’t need to drink water all the time. My body absorbs water from around me whether that be from the air or water itself. ”

Handing her the water bottle, she gulped it down. It was a little strange when he did stuff like that, but for some reason it didn’t bother her nearly as much as it should. He seemed like a normal human . . well mostly, it was strange how open he was with... everything. That is, until he did something magical… then any thought about him even remotely normal was gone in a puff of smoke. Then she was reminded of the new world she had been thrust into. Wiping the water from her lips, “Thanks, that water seems so pure in comparison to the water from a faucet.”

“Of course it's pure, silly, it’s not traveling through all those stagnant metal pipes. It’s no problem at all. Oh and we’re almost there. See?” He pointed off into the distance. She squinted her eyes to see what he saw. At first all she saw was desert then for a second she saw a sparkle, a sheen of some sort. Like something hidden behind a curtain. After about an hour or two of walking, the curtain began to disappear, revealing a forest. There was not much left of it, and the last of it looked like it’d been through a lot. The trees were somewhat blown apart at the top, the plants were half way tipped over, barely able to stand on their own. The curtain of fog seemed to almost evaporate as they walked under and through it.

As she looked around, she didn’t know what to make of what she was seeing, she felt as though she was walking into a dream. The trees were far from normal, they had become crystallized. She leaned in towards one of the trees. It was like looking through glass filled with smoke, though she couldn’t see all the way through it. It gave her the impression of clear quartz. Reaching her hand out she could feel the indentations of bark, when she closed her eyes it felt as if she was touching a normal tree. Walking around the trunk she saw a small lump protruding from the side; squatting she saw that it’s shape was that of a frog. “Wow, even the animals are crystal.” She whispered to herself. Unable to fight the urge she started to reach out and touch the small clear frog. Suddenly it leapt at her outstretched hand. With a small scream she fell back on her butt and rolled to the side.

“Ayalet!! Are you okay?! What happened?” Zack came around the side of the trunk, concern furrowing his brow.

“It was ALIVE!!!” Her heart was in her throat. How could it be alive if she could see through it? Why were they not learning about this stuff in school?

Struggling to keep himself from laughing, Zack walked over to her. “Hold still.”

“What, why?” Panic started building again.

“Shhhh.” He said, reaching towards her back. She felt his fingers on her shoulder, pulling away his hands were cupped together.

“It’s just a glass frog silly.” He smirked. Holding out his hands he opened them in front of her, the small animal blinked sitting in his palms calmly. She could see its little body moving as it breathed. Looking even closer as it sat there she could see what looked to be little barely there light blue veins running all over it. Even its blood was clear!

“Zack, this is amazing! How come I've never heard of one before?”

“Well this is a different dimensional space, but they have ones that are clear in rainforests around the world, just not AS clear. These ones became this way most likely from the leaking magic of the area. Also it blends in better with the forest being this clear.”

Walking ahead of her, Zack placed the frog back on the tree, “Before there was the desert we just walked through, there once resided a beautiful forest. It was above this forest that the angels resided. As time passed, their magic began to have an effect on this forest, slowly turning the forest to crystal. From the smallest flower to the biggest tree, everything was beautifully encased in crystal; even the grass became bleached iridescent by rain running off the crystals all around. It was the most magnificent sight of all of the land, minus the creatures roaming among it.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Spinning around to face her he continued, “This forest is where both the Mara and Seraphs great army’s met in battle. Zoune was the captain of the Seraphs and also the father of the great Seriphiel. I never remember her name though.” He momentarily stopped speaking to ponder the name.

“Yelena?” she said, remembering her being called the Seriphiel.

Confusion crossed his face, “Yeah, that was her name. Thanks. . . .”

She found him to be quite unusual but fascinating at the same time. He knew so much that she didn’t and had seen so much of the world. He’d even heard stories about Yelena, wait, “Hey Zack, do you know what time period Yelena is from?”

“Well, if I remember correctly, my grandma mentioned. . . I think the Medieval Optimum was what she called it at some point. I’m not sure when that was but that’s what she always referred to the time they disappeared as. She said, when the Seraphs disappeared, it threw the world off balance.” She stood there, absorbing what he said, Medieval Optimum. She’d have to remember that and look it up later.

He paused, looking at her in silence before he continued his story, “Anyway, the Maras continuously attacked the Seraphs for the healing properties in their blood. Zoune, sick of all of the attacks made upon his people, gathered his army together and met the Mara’s in the crystal forest; the only neutral territory to hopefully settle the situation once and for all. For hours, they battled hand to hand combat; many great warriors were lost to the bloodshed. As time went on, weapons began being used and shortly after, magic. Some battled fairly, while others used magic unfairly against those who couldn’t. This battle was supposedly the bloodiest and most horrendous war to ever break out among the two species. Slowly, both sides grew more and more desperate to finish off the other. Seeing no other alternative, both sides gathered all of their magic and threw it at the other. In effect, all of the energy met in the middle. There was so much power gathered in one area that it overpowered the balance and caused an explosion, blowing up everything within twenty miles, including every living organism. Not a single survivor was ever found . . . .”

As Zack was telling his story, she felt like he was weaving a web of images in her mind that were pouring out in front of her. Oh no, another vision! She didn’t have the time to warn him before her knees gave out and Zack’s voice drifted off into the distance. She felt her consciousness fading into the shadows. Her eyes were closed yet she still felt like she could see or was aware of the things around her. The thoughts of a young child invaded her brain and she felt her own thoughts transform. Yelena. . .

~~~~~

Yelena opened her eyes to find a clear blue sky above. She sat up and looked around; lying next to her was a young figure with small coral wings protruding. Lilith, Oh yeah, they fell asleep. She was wearing an adorable dress, her hair put up in pigtails. Flexing her own wings, she turned her head to admire her own beautiful silvery blue wings. It was still so new to her, it’d only been six months or so. She could barely lift herself off the ground for extended periods of time.

Turning her head, she looked around. There was this building off in the distance with the door partly ajar and further back then that were many more houses. In the opposite direction, the clouds they were on seemed to stop abruptly. Crawling to the edge, she looked over. Down below, there were a few more clouds and ground, wayyyy down below. In the distance she saw a dark set of five wings, they looked almost black but when the sun hit them they looked a deep navy blue. She didn’t remember seeing a Seraph with that particular color, it was awfully dark. . . Wait, didn’t her teacher mention darker wings were the trait of a Mara. As she was staring at the figure it steadily grew closer. As she was looking she saw another figure behind it, one with three wings, this set a light shade of green.

Suddenly, the crows shot out from within the clouds. At first, just three but then three more took their place at the cloud entrance while the other three flew fast toward the dark blue set of wings. Crackling white blue streaks of electric energy shot out from their feet almost like a rope, encircling the man as he grew nearer. He screamed in pain as the electric rope continued to shock him. His silvery hair was disheveled, cut rather short around his ears. His eyes, a malevolent yellow, looked over at her with death and hatred as their eyes met. Her heart jumped erratically in her chest, overflowing with fear as she watched the crows drag him away.

Scurrying back she attempted to catch her breath. Being up this high with such new wings scared the hell outta her. Turning around, she headed back toward Liliths sleeping form. She was about to lay back down when a big man came flying through the gate. Looking around, his eyes met hers before he started heading in their direction. Behind him trailed three soft green wings, the man that was just flying toward the gate.

She shook Lilith awake just as the man asked, “Would you happen to be Zoune’s children?” Nodding her head, his expression softened as he squatted on to his knees, “Girls, could you tell me where Anya, I mean your mother is?”

Pointing in the direction of the house with the open door, the man stood up, thanked them and headed inside, closing the door behind him. She turned to see Lilith looking at her; they both got up and ran over to the house. Simultaneously they put their ears up to the closed door to listen to the conversation. Unfortunately the voices were too muffled to clearly understand. Quietly she walked over to the window and stood on her tiptoes in an attempt to get a peek inside.

Just barely, she could see her mother, tears running down her face. The next second, the man walked through the door. He looked at them, turned his head in what looked to be shame then slowly began walking away. Frozen in place, she saw mom walk into the doorway. Tears were streaming down her face from her beautiful violet eyes before quickly passing her freckled cheeks to her chin and down into her braided golden hair. Bending down she opened her arms and Lilith ran into her arms. Enclosing her in a big hug, her arms completely encircled Lilith’s tiny body.

“Mommy? What happened, what's wrong mommy?” Looking up, she looked into Yelena's eyes. Removing one arm from behind Lilith, mom reached it out towards her. She ran into her mother's open arm. She could feel her clothes dampening on her shoulder.

Her mother hiccupped in between heavy breathes, “Girls, Daddy won’t be coming home.”

Shock, confusion and utter pain filled Yelena's heart, why wouldn’t he be coming home? Did he not love them anymore? She needed to know why he wasn’t coming home anymore. Last she heard he was down on the battlefield below on the Earth. She just had to ask him herself, to find out why he didn’t want to come home to them anymore. She jerked out of her mother's arms as tears ran down her face, “How could he do this to you, mommy? To Lilith or me? Why?”

Her mother blankly stared at her, “Baby, he wanted to come home to us.” Her voice cracked before she could say anything else. Her mother pulled Lilith in closer as she broke down further.

Resolution filled her heart, she was going to go confront her father, convince him to come home to them. “Then I will go and get him.” She said as she ran in the direction of the gateway. Goodness, she hoped her new wings could hold her up properly. Right as she was jumping through the open gateway, she could hear her mother screaming after her, what she said, she wasn’t sure.

The wind against her wings, her skin, flowing through her hair felt amazing. The clouds floating around her glistened in the sunlight. It’s all she ever thought it would be and so much more. She went to open her wings more to try and slow down but they got jerked upward. She tried again but failed, they weren’t strong enough to withstand her sudden drop. She tried to flap them above her head but the wind was pulling them high above her. She could barely move them at all. Fear, sudden uncontrollable fear for her life filled her mind. Why did she jump?! She could barely lift herself off the ground back at home. Her training had just barely begun. She was so proud during class to pass all her tests for flying. She had been too cocky, she wasn’t ready to fly down to the Earth.

“MaaaMaaaaaaa!” She screamed at the top of her lungs. “PaaaPaaaaa!!” Down below the earth was steadily speeding closer to her. The land was starting to gain some features, she could see mountains all around and trees dotting the scenery. Dear god, she was going to die. Frantically, she kept trying to flap her wings but they hurt so much the longer she tried. Her back was burning from the effort. She couldn’t give up though, it would mean certain death. Even if she could slow herself down just a little bit, it would give someone a chance to save her.

Her body rushed through a soft layering of clouds. As she erupted out of it, she saw she was getting closer to the ground. What if no one came to save her? What could she do?! She threw her hands out in front of her, maybe her powers could help stop her. But how did she control her powers? And what WERE her powers anyway? She closed her eyes and tried to imagine energy flowing to her hands. Suddenly the air around her seemed to be getting thicker, heavier. The wind wasn’t rushing at her as quickly. She opened her eyes to find the wind didn’t hurt her eyes nearly as much.

This time she went to open her wings again, it was still difficult but she was able to flap her wings a bit more than before. Again, she felt herself slow down. She had to keep trying otherwise she was dead. Closing her eyes, the wind thickened even more as she beat her wings with all she had. Frantically beating as hard as she could, she felt the muscles getting stronger. She could feel the air slowly being pushed under her. With every ounce of her power she could muster up, she focused entirely on the air in front of her. She had to harden it more, to catch her like a pile of leaves, or a soft bed underneath her. As if the thought put it into being, she felt herself slow down to a stop as the wind worked together with her wings.

Immediately below her, no more than fifty feet away all she could see was white, crystal white. It confused her, where was the green? Before she could even try to answer the question in her head she got tackled from behind. Suddenly, she was seeing stars as she was strangled and smothered. The scent of grass and morning dew overflowed her senses as she realized her mother was weeping into her hair, holding her close. “I didn’t think I’d reach you in time. My sweet Lena, you scared me. I thought I would lose you! I can’t lose you both in one day, it would be too much to bear!”

“Both? What do you mean mommy? And please let me go, I’m fine now.” She pushed away from her mom and glided down to the ground. She expected to touch a soft loamy surface but found it was rock hard and hot. The heat slowly seeped out of her soles as she hovered above the ground. “Mommy, why is the ground so hot and what is this material? Where’s the grass?”

“Lena, this was where the battle took place. Your father. . .” Her mother choked up at the mention of her father. She took a deep breath and continued, “Your father and his army battled hard against the Mara. Something supposedly happened when the energy connected and there was an explosion. One of the healers was flying down to help heal people when he saw the scene take place. Your father was on the front line, he sent out one of his powerful attacks at the same time the Mara captain did. His army followed suit and large portions of people were sending out energy attacks all at the same time. When the energy collided between them the whole area turned white. The next thing the healer knew, he was waking up on the ground. He was the only living thing as far as he could see. All the trees, birds, bugs, everything was gone or encased in these crystals.”

Yelena looked out over the scenery. They were standing on a large silvery black spot of ground that was surrounded by what looked to be crystal sculptures. She walked over to the nearest one ten feet away. As she stepped up to it she noticed it was a tree that had half fallen over, half disintegrated. Touching it, she could still feel the heat coming from the crystal. She could feel life fading from the tree itself encased inside. But more than anything, she could feel pain and sadness thick within the area, frozen in time.