Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Fantasy

If you haven't, check out the History and first chapter to the story. You don't have to read the history but it's strongly recommended and can help better understand the story as it progresses.


I look up to the sky at the millions of stars shining down on me. I stop and stare for awhile, a soft smile spreading across my face. I bet those city people don't get stars like these. With all those bright lights nobody would be able to see them. They have no idea what they’re missing, I think, sighing softly.

I shake my head and continue walking, another soft sigh escaping pass my lips the closer I get to home. Moving out of the tree line, I smile and look at the glowing lanterns the villagers have left for me in hopes of my safe return. I walk over to the house of the chief with a confident smirk. After knocking on the door a few times I frown when nobody answers. He must be asleep.

Just to be sure I knock again, this time I hear the soft shuffling of footsteps coming from behind the door. I take a step back and watch patiently as the door slowly opens to reveal a tired Dimitri. "You're late, we were starting to worry."

"Sorry, I had a little unforeseen incident, but I handled it." From the dim lighting of the lantern, I could see his pale blue eyes fill with worry at my words. "Don't worry, I'm not injured, only a small bump on my head," he nods hesitantly.

"What about the documents? Are they safe?" He steps away from the door allowing me inside. Walking inside I notice that his home hasn't changed much since I was last inside as a child. With Dimitri leading the way to his study, I take out the now crumpled documents.

Dimitri sits down at his desk as I shut the door, my head hanging in disappointment. "Sorry," I whisper softly handing him the documents. "It got crumpled during my little incident." He takes it with a shrug.

"It's fine, Zem, I understand. You are very strong, put power and confidence behind your words. Your presence itself shows power and demands respect, but it won't matter if you don't sound powerful." I nod mulling over his advice as he reads. All of a sudden Dimitri softly curses, making me stand at attention.

"What is it?" I ask applying his advice and putting power behind my words.

"Nothing you need to worry about, anyway, let me see this necklace of yours.” Dimitri hesitantly tears his gaze away from the documents then throws them onto his desk. I nod hesitantly, not believing him, but knowing better to go against his orders, I reveal to him my Ouroboros. "Wow," Dimitri starts, "very unique, what does it mean?" I shrug and once again conceal my necklace.

"I'm not sure, Daniel said the humans call it an Ouroboros and that it's a self-feeding circle of power. Humans also think that when the dragon released its tail it would bring the end of the world." Dimitri chuckles at the foolishness of the idea.

"How interesting," he comments making me smile and nod in agreement while he shakes his head.

"That's what I thought too, the mere idea that this necklace could do such a thing is crazy, right?" He shrugs and turns back to his desk.

"My dear Zem, while we may find it, as you put, crazy, anything is possible, so keep an open mind." He dismisses me and I walk home in my cozy cottage. I make an instant beeline for my small room and grab a nightgown from my dresser. Silently walking to the bathroom, I turn on the shower and take off the silly disguise. Stepping in, I quickly wash off all the dirt and grime. Running my fingers through my wet hair, I let the dye wash out as I try to make sense of everything that happened today.

What are in those documents? Who was that man that attacked me? I turn off the water and step out of the shower. Picking up my dirty clothes, I throw them in the dirty laundry hamper for me to wash later. Walking into my room I brush my hair before collapsing onto my bed, "finally." Sighing softly, I pull the warm covers over my head.

Whatever are in those documents must be pretty important, I've never heard Dimitri cuss before. Closing my eyes, I adjust my position and get comfortable, curling up into a ball and nuzzling my face into the soft pillow. Whatever it is I'll find out, I’ll try sneaking into his office sometime tomorrow. I leave it at that and let my mind drift away into a deep sleep. 

Grey eyes flash across my mind, cold and dead they would make anyone run in fear. Behind that cold gaze, to those who dare look, is a hidden fierceness that seemed to say they could kill anyone they wish with just a simple glare. I try to look away, but I'm unable to. The longer I look the more I see that these eyes hold a secret, they aren't as emotionless as they seem. The eyes disappear and are replaced by a new image, hunters. They are killing and slaughtering everyone, the worst part is I'm powerless to stop them.

I watch as Dimitri fights alongside our warriors, trying to get the children to safety. I also watch as my mom tries to fight off the attackers, only to get overpowered. I hear a loud scream as they gut her right in front of me and set fire to the village. Everything I know is now being consumed in a fire and turned to ash. Smoke so heavy and thick that it blocks out the sun’s rays leaving the land I once considered my home in total darkness and despair.

I shoot up awake in fear, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. Running my fingers through my tangled hair, I pant heavily and try to stop the tears. The smell of smoke and the sound of screams still fresh in my mind causing me to shake.

"Please tell me it's just a fluke," I whisper softly, knowing my dreams almost always come true. Those eyes, what do those eyes have to do with the hunters? Those weren't hunters eyes, hunters eyes are full of joy, evil, and a thirst for blood and death. I pull my tangled hair gently, my dreams have never been that detailed or vivid before. I have to tell Mother!

I struggle to untangle myself from the covers surrounding my body, ending in me landing on the hard floor with a loud thump and pain shooting up my arm. Nursing my injury, I hold my arm close to my chest and scramble up to warn Mother when I come to realize, nobody may be up yet. I stumble over to the window and watch the sun beginning to rise. Biting my bottom lip, I mull over the idea if Mother would be awake yet. Deciding that it's worth the risk, I put on my black training suit, brush my hair, and go outside, running over to my mother's house in a mad dash. After knocking on the door, quite loudly, I put my hands behind my back and wait eagerly for an answer.

The door opens with a loud creak and there stands Mother in her black and blue warrior's outfit. Almost as soon as she sees me I'm enveloped in a bone crushing hug. "Made it back safely I see! I was just on my way over to check, let me see your necklace then!" Mother rambles, as she always does when she's excited, and hugs me tighter.

"Mother, we need to talk, I had a-" I pause for a moment before continuing, "-I had a dream." Upon hearing my words she releases me, staring at me with deep worry, and leads me inside, her face growing cold and detached, her emotions draining away as if they never existed at all. I sit on the couch and wait for Mother to join me. Once seated she takes my hand in hers and looks me deeply in the eyes.

"Now, tell me everything." With a deep breath I tell her about my dream, leaving out the part about the eyes, finding it not important and to creepy to relive. Not that watching everyone die isn’t creepy, it’s more scary than anything.

"You fight the hunters and then-" I pause, the image of Mother dying flashes through my mind. Her blood staining the green grass a ruby red until the next rain cycle washes it away.

"Then what?" Mother asks eagerly urging me to continue, the look in her eyes tells me that she is hooked onto my every word as if I was telling an enticing story.

"Then, the village is engulfed in flames and I wake up." I lie through my teeth, unable to tell my only family about a death that I refuse to let happen, she doesn’t need to know anyhow. Mother leans back and thinks over my words, debating the best course of action.

"Have you told anyone else?" She asks, folding her arms across her chest and narrowing her eyes at the wall, as if it may spill some juicy secret at any second. What would happen if she finds out it’s me that is keeping secrets and not the wall?

"No, I came straight to you," I look at my mother with a calculating gaze as I try to determine what she's thinking.

"Let's go tell Dimitri about this dream of yours.” She says holding my hand, “it may not happen," Mother adds quickly, not wanting me to worry. "But we have to be prepared." Letting go of my hand she stands up and I follow, biting my bottom lip nervously. "Now, before I go tell Dimitri, is there anything else I should know?"

"No, that’s all," I lie straight to her face, guilt washing over me as we walk outside.

"Alright, everyone should be up by now, so go train with the others. I will have someone fetch you if you're needed." Nodding, we walk our separate ways. I groan and walk to the training grounds where I see my friend, Ben.

"What's up my sexy Zemmy?" Ben asks while we give our secret handshake. His words make me smile and I shake my head as he flips back the bangs of his short blonde hair revealing his dark blue eyes.

"Shut up dork, I know what you're really thinking," I smirk as he pulls me to the side an excited expression on his face.

"Well, what is it like? Is it still how I remember it?" Ben isn't like most Chistyy here. He was born and raised in the city, with his human parents. It's not uncommon to have one human parent, but to have two is unheard of. Once the palace soldiers realized what he was, they fled into the woods to get away. The soldiers sent hunters to follow them, they ended up killing his parents.

They would've killed him too, despite the use of his water powers. If I hadn't heard him he might have died. "Well, it was loud and very crowded. I found it hard to keep my thoughts in check."

"Really?" Ben stares at me in shock, "I figured you wouldn't have any troubles there, you always keep your thoughts in check around me." Oh yeah, I keep forgetting Ben can read minds.

"Well, it's kind of different, everything was so...new it was hard to take it all in," Ben nods in understanding and I continue to tell him everything, not counting when I got attacked and the man with the grey eyes, I'm not sure how I know it was a man, I just know. "And that's everything," I finish with a sigh.

"Wow," Ben whispers in awe. "I can't believe you saw the fighting rink." Ben stares at me with a protective glint in his eyes. "If it were up to me I wouldn't send you down there," I roll my eyes at his words, a small smile on my face.

"You're too protective Ben, you know I can take care of myself." I don’t mention that if it were up to Ben, I’d live in bubble wrap.

"It doesn't matter, it's my job to protect you," I groan at his stubbornness.

"You know, you are the hardest person to argue with!" I stomp my foot and reveal a slight pout that always seems to put a smile on his face.

"So are you, when you put your mind to something." We laugh and he briefs me over what I missed during yesterday's training. "Since you missed yesterday's physical training, I'm guessing they will have you make it up tonight after you're done with your mental training and testing," I nod in agreement with Ben's guess.

"Ben Carter and Zmiena Alæra, it’s time for testing," Ben and I turn our heads to see Amy, one of our mental ability trainers, call us over in her familiar soft voice that could put even the best singers to shame.

"Be right there," I call back to her, walking over, Ben following close behind me like a lost puppy begging for food.

"Okay, Ben, you will be training the new recruits about the basics of ability to control with Odin," Amy reads the papers, her long green hair acting as a curtain, blocking her face as she reads. "And Zem, you and I will be working on your illusions and foresight," I nod, not really caring either way. It always happens the same way every time. I show her what she wants to see and mostly fail on calling up my foresight. Ben and I hesitantly part ways, as I watch him leave I don’t miss the wink he throws me over his shoulder. The corner of my lips twitch upwards into a smile as he does, Ben has plans for me tonight! 

“Come on lover girl,” Amy gently grabs my elbow and guides me away, leading me into a private room with a two-way mirror. "We will first work on your foresight, sit." She gestures to an old comfy chair and I sit, resting my hands on the cold metal table.

"Great, now I'm just going to put these suction cups on your head to monitor your brainwaves." Pushing my hair out of the way she sticks a suction cup to my left temporal lobe, right temporal lobe, and my frontal lobe, "I'm also going to put cuffs on both of your wrists-" I cut her off mid-sentence.

"To measure my heart rate, I know, Amy, this isn't my first time." She sighs and places the cuffs on my wrist.

"I know, I know, I'm required to say them to ease any anxieties you might have." I nod in understanding, "I will be on the other side of the mirror collecting data. I will think of something I will do later, something I know will happen, and all you have to do is write it down." I bite my bottom lip and she slides me multiple pieces of paper and a pencil. Amy walks out of the room and I close my eyes.

Okay, Zem, concentrate, you can do this. Just focus on her aura, tap into my mental energy, I release a slow shaky breath and let my mind fade into darkness.When nothing comes up after a few minutes I start getting frustrated. "Relax, Zmiena, just let the darkness consume you." I nod and once again let my mind go blank, letting myself fall into the dark endless void.

The smell of lilies slowly starts to fill my nose while an image of a man holding a bouquet flashes across my vision, and standing across from him is Amy with her beautiful dark skin and green hair in curls. I watch as the man gives her the bouquet then pulls her into a hug and kisses her. Suddenly the vision is replaced. Instead of lilies, I smell smoke and blood, the sound of crackling and screams are all I can hear. An image of a tall man with an eye patch appears pointing to two people, guessing by their builds, male and female. The image is replaced with a pair of evil silver eyes with specks of yellow, vibrant gray ones, along with deep yellow eyes, similar to the specks in the silver pair.

"Zem, Zmiena wake up!" I hear my name being called and get pulled out of my vision. "Are you okay?" I hear Amy's voice call out to me, but I'm having trouble seeing her, my vision is blurry.

"Yeah, it's just, you're a little blurry and..." I trail off holding my head. "My head is killing me," my eyesight clears and I see Amy holding a glass of water and some medicine.

"Here," she hands them to me and I take the pills, downing them with some water.

"Thanks," I murmur quietly, looking down at my lap to see the paper, the sloppily written words almost illegible.

"So, what does it say?" Amy asks eagerly, clearly referring to the paper.

"Well, there was a smell of lilies and a bunch of murmured voices in the background, that could mean that my vision isn't set in stone. Then a man appeared holding a bouquet of lilies, next I saw you, the last thing it says that you two were kissing." I fail to tell her what else was on there, she didn't need to know about my other vision, I seem to be lying to everyone lately.

"Very interesting, you said that it may not be set in stone?” I nod at her question.

"Yes, if I hear no voices or there is mumbling a decision someone makes could change the outcome of the future," reminding myself of this I sigh in relief knowing that the eyepatch man may not show up, I'm not sure what it is, I just have a bad feeling about him. Amy scribbles down what I said in her notes.

"Right then, next we will work with your illusions." I nod and stand, the world spinning, making me sway. "Are you sure you're ready for the illusions? Do you need to sit down?" She eyes me up and down wearily and I sneer. I don't need her worrying about me!

"I'm fine, thank you!" I stand up straight, my head tilted up confidently. "Let's go," I walk past her and into the next room. Amy jogging beside me, her green hair bouncing behind her as she does. "What will we be doing?"

"First, we will try to get you to project multiple things at once." I nod indicating I was listening and for her to continue. "Next, we will work on making it hear, smell, and feel real. Lastly, we will work on how long you can hold the illusion." She reads my schedule and I bite my lip, holding onto my necklace and twirling it between my fingers. I really do hope I can do this.

We walk into a completely white room, shutting the door behind her she walks to the opposite side of the room. "Ready?" Amy asks, nodding I take a deep breath and hope I look more confident than I feel. "Now, I want you to imagine trees all around the room." I nod and take a deep breath, opening my senses up allowing myself to see and feel the energy of the room. The buzzing of electricity in the room courses through me, and I picture a forest in my mind. In an instant, the room becomes a forest wonderland, filled with tree tops that seem to be a hundred feet high. The barriers of the room vanish.

I can't see Amy, but I can imagine her scribbling on her papers. "Okay, now," Amy yells, she must have forgotten we were in the room. "Add detail," I nod, even though she can't see me, I remember the smell of the forest and send it out to the room, I do the same thing with the feel and sound of it, adding a small stream and a beautiful sunset. I keep it like that until Amy tells me I can stop, letting it drop with a heavy sigh.

"Very good, since we finished early we can work on your electricity. In my opinion, we should have done that first and collected the data since that's one of the more rare and difficult ability types to gain and master." She remarks, shaking her head and releasing a small sigh. "Anyway follow me," we walk out and into a dark room. "Okay, so there should be no electronics on or anything." Trusting her words I slowly remove my mental barrier that protects me against the effects of my electrical abilities. I sigh in relief when I realize the buzz of electricity is coming from outside the room.

"You're right," I put my barrier backup and she nods, pleased with herself. Honestly, I am pleased too, after being in the city I could use a break from so much electricity. But I know this little break will be short lived.

"Good, now I'm going to be in the observing room and randomly turn on electronics. I want you to tell me if you can feel it, during random periods I will ask some questions, try to answer them as best you can." I nod in understanding and she leaves the room. Taking a deep breath, I let down my mental barrier once more and I'm happily greeted by the silence of the room. "Are you ready Zem?" I hear Amy ask through the intercom, a slight buzz humming through me as she does.

"Yeah, I am," I nod, forgetting that she can't see me through the darkness. In just a few seconds a small buzz echoes in my mind and hums through my body. "I feel it," I call out to her, not yet phased by the buzzing. Another large buzz runs through my body so suddenly and harshly it makes me stumble back and gasp while holding my head. The loud sound of the buzzing leaving me slightly dizzy. "What the hell was that?"

"I turned on all the lights in here at once, what happened?" She asks, her tone anxious.

"That hit me full force, is what happened!" I yell, the buzzing starting to aggravate me.

"Sorry, I will be more careful next time," Amy ensures me, her tone soft like a sweet melody. We start again and I begin twitching soon after. So much buzzing, I drop to my knees and hold my head, Amy, hearing me fall, turns on the lights intensifying the sound of the buzzing and the electrical current running through me.

"Stop, stop it god dammit!" I yell, shaking my head violently, "So, there’s so much buzz buzzing! Make it stop, make it stop!" I scream, clawing at my ears, in hopes of going deaf, trying to let my voice be heard over the sounds in my head. I hear Amy open the door, I can feel all the electricity in the building slam into me all at once. I jerk my head back, releasing an ear splitting scream in the air. Roza quickly shuts the door, but the damage has been done, she has trapped us both in here with untamed electricity crackling violently in the air. The room grows crowded and stuffy as my power grows, the windows in the room cracking before shattering completely, unable to withstand the intensity and force that seeps from  my ability and into the room. 

I feel a giant wave of power roll of my body and into the room, causing the lights to flicker and shouts of fear. No longer having any strength, I collapse onto my side, unable to move my body or speak. As my consciousness continually fades and returns a lot of screaming and shouting reach my ears. Added to the shouting crying can be heard as well as the familiar sound of Ben’s voice begging me to wake up. But his words only come out as choked sobs. Finally, the time for a long waited darkness greets me.