Epilogue
“Archers! Ready your fire!” Darius shouted.
“But Commander, the Crazed have many, we barely have a thousand.” One of his soldiers shouted.
“If we can hold off until Reemo comes we will be fine, if not…” Darius trailed off, “Whose to think of the if not’s now?” He said, commanding the soldiers to go out into the field. Their swords set either ablaze or glowing with other magical ability. Darius, like many Gekians were fighting in a war for their magical world. Being a commander of the northern army, he was completely used to this kind of action. With bow in his hand and arrow set ablaze he shouted, “Fire!”
Across the horizon, a figure came as if he appeared from the setting sun. He galloped through the battle field atop a golden beast that was half lion and half dragon. The large beast roared as he came up to the commander, “How shall I be of assistance.”
“Reemo, you know you need not take orders from me,” Darius replied, “You are much better at this than I am.”
Reemo nodded and kicked the beast, it jumped and began dashing about. As the knight began fighting for his world, Darius smiled, “Surely it will be over soon.” He began repeating himself, “Surely it will be over soon.”

Chapter 1

“…Extraterrestrials with unworldly powers. Yes, it is true, we are among you, whether we know it or not.”
“Hah hah! Yeah right.” I spat at the TV turning it off, I personally didn’t believe anything I didn’t see, besides religion, that’s a slightly different story. I leaned back on my grey crazy chair in my small town house in Lumanburge.
“You shouldn’t be saying yeah right just now you know.” My nerdy friend Lillia said. She was working on our science project, we had made a deal that whenever we do projects, she would do the technology/science junk and I’d do the artsy stuff, “I swear Maeve, you are rarely optimistic.”
“That’s because I know that the people who saw these things are mentally insane!” I replied.
“Whatever. You’d be surprised if you witnessed this yourself.”
“Well, I’m not believing this mumbo jumbo.” I replied, rolling my chair over to the computer desk and typing in random things.
“Well, I’m done with our project, I guess I’ll be going now.” Lillia said walking out the door.
I shook my head and went to my instant messaging system. I looked it over and there was only one person online, the persons username was Starsofmagic. I rolled my eyes, ANOTHER person that believes such a thing? I hovered my mouse over the persons username to find out his real name was Simon. I figured I might as well TRY and set this guy straight on what’s real and what’s not.

Maeve94: Whats with the name?

Starsofmagic: You really don’t know do you?

Maeve94: Know WHAT stalker dude?

Starsofmagic: Nothing…

-Starsofmagic signed off-


For some reason after that chat, I felt as if I was being watched, and every night since, I have had that feeling. I looked at an old picture of my old family, my mother, my father, and me. My father and mother divorced each other, I had no idea why, they didn’t fight… ever. The last thing I remember my mother saying to my father was that she just couldn’t handle the secrets anymore. Whatever that meant.


-_____-_____-

“What’s up weirdo?” Sam asked as I entered the classroom as he always had every day.
“Get lost Samantha.”
“Ooh, that’s so MEAN.” He said sarcastically as he sat down, “whatever.” He muttered.
We’ve hated each other since the sixth grade. I made a gagging noise before I went to my seat. I plopped down and turned my attention to the front of the class, someone did the “Loser” cough to me, I rolled my eyes, such a cheap shot, it didn’t even bug me anymore, flicking my naturally pitch-black hair out of my bright lime eyes. People always thought they were weird and some people even think their contacts. Truth is that they were always like that.
A guy came into the class, he was unfamiliar, probably new to this school. He was tan with brown hair, the oddest thing about him was his cyan eyes that were framed by his slightly circular glasses. I blinked twice but then rolled my eyes, his MUST be contacts, the poser, probably was into those stupid nerdy sci-fi movies. I leaned back in my chair. The teacher pointed to an empty seat, and of COURSE, it was next to me. It figures that a person that already irritated me more than Sam had to sit next to me, I wasn’t exactly lucky.
“I’m Simon.” The boy said, and then my mind flashed back to last night, the weird IM, the strange name, everything. It seemed all too ironic to be true! He pushed his glasses up his nose.
But I hid my shock well, “I’m Maeve.”
Simon looked instantly disappointed and looked away and began writing notes, wow, we didn’t even have to, the dork.
“What? Did I do something wrong?”
“No, I just thought that you might be able to understand what I’m going through now, but I guess not.” He sighed.
“What?” I asked, “I just met you, why would I know?”
“Never mind, it’s not relevant anymore.” He said.
“Rela-WHAT?” I asked then turned around, not wanting to be even more confused. The bell rang after an uncomfortable Science class, the boy seemed to be watching me. Sam tripped me as I walked toward the door.
English was boring as usual; I barely knew what a noun was. I walked down the hallway walking toward my locker. I stopped my eyes narrowed as I saw Simon right in front of it.
“Listen, I don’t know what you want, but that’s my locker and if I don’t get to it soon I’m not going to get to class.” I said, attempting to shove him out of the way.
“Sorry I freaked you out in Science, I was a dead beat.” He said to me, not budging, no matter how hard I tried, you’d think such a skinny guy would be easier to move. “Listen, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go to the café with me after we are educated.”
“What?” I asked, “Look dude, your really confusing me! And why don’t you just call it SCHOOL?”
“Please?” He asked, then red roses came from behind his back, “I’ll pay for the drinks and a snack.”
“Fine.” I spat, “But it’s not a date, and if you do anything weird I’m gonna be out of there faster than a cheetah with a jetpack.”
“Cheetah with a jetpack eh?” he asked, laughed, then walked off.
“Who was that?” Lillia asked, she had snuck up behind me.
“Oh, just some weirdo that likes me.” I replied then walked away from her.

-____-____-

I met Simon at the little fifties café down the block from the high school. I had picked a good day to bring my pepper spray to school. I sighed and sat next to Simon, “So, what did you want me to come here for?”
“Well, I just wanted to get to know you better.” He replied then looked up at the waitress, “I would like a milkshake and cheese fries, You like that don’t you?”
I simply nodded, how did he know that those were my favorite? “And I would like a root beer float” I said to the lady.
We sat there staring at each other for a while until our food came. It was all very awkward.
“So, how do you know all this stuff about me and this place. I mean, you knew about this place and you just moved here, you knew where my locker was, and you knew that my favorite food here was the cheese fries.” I said while sipping on my float.
“Maeve, you aren’t much of an optimist.” He replied, “Why can’t you just figure that when I meet someone I can read them like a book?”
“That’ll work for now.” I said leaning back.
“I had hoped so,” He said almost as if he was glad about that, “Maybe sometime I’ll tell you.”
I rolled my eyes, “Why must you be so bizarre?”
“Like you aren’t?” He asked back.
“True.” I raised an eyebrow; maybe this guy wasn’t so bad.
“I know this sounds random… it’s another one of those things I can’t tell you about now but, do you ever feel like you’re unlucky?”
“Um… I don’t think why you’d care, but yes.”
“Don’t you see?” He said, practically leaping out of his seat, “You aren’t from here, and when I mean here, I mean Earth!” My eyes widened when he said this, I was glad he was quiet enough to where no one would hear him. “You have un-natural eyes, your name, and not to mention you are unlucky!”
“What does it matter?” I asked, trying to get him to stop it, I was just starting to like him.
“You’re an alien, just like me, you have powers, just like me.”
“An alien?” I asked, looking around, “You mean like E.T.? Hah hah!”
“Not really, aliens aren’t like that, we’re more like… humans outside the ordinary E.T. is a stereotype.” He then babbled on and on about U.F.O’s, conspiracies, and all the things that could make someone a nut job. Meanwhile, I was backing away. Then I finally cracked when he said “Teleport.”
“GET AWAY!” I screamed, running out of the café and dashing toward home. I rounded a corner and he was there.
“Don’t you see? Why won’t you understand?” He asked.
“I said go away!” I said right in his face, I then pulled out my pepper spray and spraying him in the face.
“STOP!” He shouted at me. Suddenly, things seemed to freeze. Even I did.
“What did you do to me?” I asked him.
“I told you I was one.” He replied, “And you are too.”
“Just let me go on with my life you freak!” I spat.

Chapter 2


I will probably never know how, but I woke up at home. I sighed with relief, maybe it was just a dream, but then, my so-called dream turned to reality, I screamed as I saw Simon in my oddly round window. He waved as if I hadn’t just acted like he was a monster. He then crawled through my open window, I lunged for it, trying to close it before he could get inside, but I was too late. Then I realized that if my mom saw him in here, she would kill me. “UGH! Hide in my closet or something.”
“Why?” He asked, a puzzled look on his face.
“Why? Because I screamed and my mom is probably coming!” I hissed as I pushed him into my closet. At that moment, my mom came through the door.
“What was that about?” She asked, a bat in her hand.
“Oh… Nothing, I… I thought I saw someone’s shadow near the window, turned out to only be some stupid raccoon.” I said, emphasizing the word stupid.
“Oh, well…” Mom sighed as she lowered the bat, “breakfast is ready.” She said hurrying down stairs.
Once she left, I turned around, but Simon was already there, it scared the living daylights out of me!
“Your female parent looks nothing like you.” He said.
“Well… that’s only coming from you.” I spat back.
“Do you happen to be adopted?” He asked, “Or are you only half of what I think you are.”
“I’m not half of ANYTHING! I look like my dad you peanut butter brain!” I spat back.
“Listen, could you let me walk you to school…” He asked.
“Why would I let some maniac wizard who broke into my house walk me to school?” I asked.
“Because I am a mystery to you, unlike most things, you can’t see what exactly I’m going to do next.” He replied, I hate that he was right!

-___-___-

“Okay, so listen.” He said pulling something out of his pocket, “Wave this, and you will understand that you and I are more alike than you realize.” He revealed the item, it looked like a small stem from a tree.
“This… is a twig.” I said, just looking at it, one eyebrow raised.
“Yes, I know.”
“It’s a twig.”
“I know, but…”
“A twig?”
“I know what it’s called! Just wave the freaking thing!” He shouted.
“Okay.” I replied, closed my eyes, and then waved it carelessly. Suddenly we appeared near a crag and Simon was near the edge, the rock he was standing on broke to pieces and he fell. I looked down and whistled, it sure was a long way down.
“Hey!” He hissed, I turned around, another one of his stupid tricks, “What we’re you thinking about when you waved that?” He spat.
“I was thinking that you should jump off a cliff.” I said, looking down again at the valley below, “Jagged rocks at the bottom… nice touch!”
“Hello! This is not about me falling off that cliff! It’s the fact that you made it happen without even touching me!”
“Yeah, so? It might just be your stupid magic stick.”
“You are so stubborn.” He replied, rolling his eyes, “Just, close your eyes, and think about the thing you want most in the world. Think really hard, want it as much as you can.”
I did as he said oddly enough.
“Now, open your eyes.”
My eyes sparkled, “UGH!” Simon groaned, stamping his foot on the ground, “Is Eric Sarando really what you want most?”
I turned around to see him, I grinned, the well-known snowboarder was still in his snow pants. Eric was plastered all over my locker, all the girls loved him and the guys always loathed him. With his honey blonde hair and crooked grin, who could resist? He was as gorgeous as any movie star, and I could sit and daydream about him for hours.
“How on earth did I get here?” he asked. Simon immediately pointed to me, the little tattle tale, “I gotta go, my girlfriend is getting suspicious of me not being where I said I was.” He said.
“Sorry dude.” Simon replied nodding his head, the movie star disappeared into thin air.
“NO!” I screamed, I wish Simon hadn’t done that.
“Not a human!” He scolded.
“Well, I didn’t want to make something happen that wasn’t already in this world, it wouldn’t be right.” I protested.
“Hmm… maybe you aren’t as un-intellectual as I thought.” He replied.
“You think I’m dumb?” I spat.
“Uh…” He didn’t know what to say.
“I’m getting out of here.” I replied, focusing on getting home, that’s what I wanted now, that’s what I really wanted. I popped up in China. Great, I poofed to the wrong place. At least I was away from that nerdy weirdo. I focused on home. My room, my kitchen, my mom. Closed my eyes tight and let the magic take me there. When I opened them again, I saw nothing but green. On closer inspection, I discovered that my head was surrounded by the leaves of a tree. I had poofed myself onto the roof of my house. "AUGGHHH"
“Hey!” He said, he appeared right behind me AGAIN.
“Ugh… can’t you at least knock.” I sighed, flopping into the shingles.
“So you just sit here? Listen to me Maeve, YOU’RE A FREAKIN ALIEN!” He exclaimed, I was listening, but it was not like I had a choice, “You could meet many people to help further your skills! For crying out loud, you could help me…”
The last thing he said was the only thing that interested me, only because he paused.
“Help you with what?” I asked.
“Uh… it’s none of your concern until you better your skills.” He replied, “Can we just settle on that?”
“What makes you think I’ll be so quick to go along with this Simon?” I asked, my eyes narrowed.
“You long for adventure, you are bored with regular life, and you definitely have a craving for adrenalin. I mean, who wouldn’t wanna get better at magical powers if they had them?” Simon replied, once again, he was correct, I despised that fact more than I despised the fact that I would probably have to deal with him no matter what.

Chapter 3

The last thing I wanted to see when I first came to school and opened up my locker was right there.
“I love what you’ve done with your locker.” He said, I pointed to the picture of Eric Sarando, “Never mind.”
“Okay who did this to him?” I asked. I saw Sam snickering from across the hallway.
“Theres your boyfriend, now you’ll never lose him!” Sam spat.
I clenched my fists, “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“You were the one who did this to me?” Simon asked, Sam nodded, a sneer on his dumb face, “Then, EAT MAGIC SUCKA!” Simon’s cyan eyes glowed and there was a puff of smoke, when it cleared Sam was on the floor, his thumb plunged into his mouth, I just had to laugh. Sam's friends didn't say a thing. With wide eyes, they turned and booked it out of there. Simon crossed his arms, his ego must've been through the roof.
"Oh, Simon. You're my hero." I said, sarcasm heavy in my voice. He glared at me and began to pout.
"Let's see you do that without burning down the school." he snapped. I scowled and stomped away. It wasn't my fault I sucked.
__________________

I sat in my chair at the back of the class as usual, of course my day was better than it had started out. Since Sam had passed out in the middle of the hall, or so everyone thinks, he went home. So I was free to sit at the back of the class without his rude remarks. I was thinking over what was all going on these past few days.
“You say I suck,” I finally whispered to Simon, “But you have had many years of training. If you’re so good at what you do, why not teach me?” I said, a devilish grin spreading across my face.
Simon looked to the ceiling, as if he was deep in thought. When he finally looked back at me, he pushed his glasses up his nose and said, “Well, I suppose. It’s not like I have anything else to do in my spare time.” He grinned at me and looked back to the front of the class.
“Well, regretably, Sam will not be joining us today,” the teacher said at the front of the room, “He had a nervous breakdown and is with the counseler now.”
I had to snicker, maybe Simon wasn’t that bad, he had a sense of humor at least. I lazily took notes as the rest of the day wasted away. On my way to gym, Simon snuck up from behind me holding an orange.
“See if you can turn this into something else.” He said to me, placing it in my hand.
“Um, okay.” I said, looking at the orange and concentrating. I closed my eyes and let myself breathe. I cautiously pointed my finger at it. At first it turned into a cookie, but then it morphed into a pineapple.
“That was very close for a beginner.” He said, trying to assure me.
“Yeah right, It’s not close at all.” I replied.
“Maeve, you didn’t even know you had powers since a day ago, I knew my whole life, its not as hard for those who were born knowing.”
I shrugged and walked into the girls locker room as Simon walked further into the gym toward the guys locker room. I went into my locker and groaned, my gym clothes were gone.
“Looking for something?” I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was, Scarlette. You know that blonde, bratty, cheerleader that’s in all schools? Well Scarlette was ten times worse, and she had deep, brown hair with red highlights. Just about the coldest heart in the whole town of Lumanburge, compared to her, Sam was a saint.
I turned around to look her in her blue eyes, she held up a pair of soggy gym clothes that had once been mine.
“They looked like they could’ve used a good swim.” She said, sneering.
I rolled my eyes and went out into the gym, I then stopped dead in my tracks. I would show Simon, I would show them all. I grinned and ran back into the locker room. I went back into the corner where I would have my things, where just about no one else would go since Lillia didn’t have gym with me. “You have to get this right, you don’t want to go out there in your underwear.” I said to myself, I pointed at myself. At first, nothing happened, it was as if it didn’t want to work. “Come on!” I hissed. Finally, I completely forgot where I was, my tounge lashed out of my mouth. I had no idea what was going on, I had no control. My skin became cold and I finally pointed at myself once again. When I finally snapped myself out of it, I realized that dry gym clothes were on my body. I grinned and strode out of the locker room, my head held high. I ran out to the gym and out to were the teams were being formed. I have a feeling that Simon had made the teacher put us on the same team, then again, it could’ve been irony, either way he was standing next to me as the game went on.
“Hey, I gotta ask you about something.” I said to him, “Something weird happened in the locker room. Well, you don’t know her but Scarlette, the typical popular girl had soaked my gym clothes in the sink. So I tried to do some magic to get dry gym clothes.”
“Obviusly it worked.” He said nodding.
“Yup! But before it worked, something weird happened.” I explained.
Simon simply nodded, as if it was a normal thing, “Yeah, that’s a Gekian thing.”
“Gekian?” I asked, a bit puzzled.
“Well, our magic works best when we are in true Gekian form,” He replied. “Our eyes become snake-like, our tounge becomes forked, and our flesh becomes cold.”
“Oh, so that is our… species?” I guessed.
“Mmhm.” He said, “After school I can take you to our world, Samirisus, named after an unknown godess of lizards.”
“I’ve never heard of her.”
“Well, she was one of the ancient godesses of my world.” Simon explained. It only seemed like a few minutes, but the bell rang instantly. I began walking with Simon until he went behind the school and zapped us to his home.
“Hi Simon!” called a woman from another room.
“Good afternoon mom!” He called back.
His mother walked into the room, her hair tied back in a bun, apron covered in flour. It is how I would have pictured any typical mom. Unlike mine who went into all these crazy fads. One week she would take dance lessons with my father, another, she would be sky diving. But what really stood out about Simons mother was that she had round, pink eyes.
“Oh, Hello!” His mother said, grinning at me.
“Mom, this is Maeve, a girl from school.” He explained. His mom gave a grin, one of those grins that I had seen on my mother whenever I ever mentioned a boys name.
“She thinks we’re dating.” I said, putting my hand to my forehead.
“Oh whatever, come on,” he replied, dragging me to the living room. The living room looked very fancy, a maroon carpet, a red rug, glass coffee table, two leather couches, and a TV bigger than my dresser.
“Geeze!” I exclaimed, expecting to hear an echo.
“That’s not the best part yet!” He replied, pointing to a corner. In it sat a small mirror, it wasn’t much to look at, in fact, it looked like it was about to be sent to a wood chipper.
“A mirror?” I asked.
“Only the best way to travel!” Simon replied, “In one of those demeaning little hunk of space frisbee it would take months.”
“Um… okay,” I said. He walked up to the mirror and he instantly dissolved through it.
I walked up to it and just stared. What shocked me was that his head poked back through it.
“Are you coming?” he asked.
“Uh… yeah,” I replied, his head going back through the mirror.
I pressed my hand against my reflection and I was instantly in his world.
“Who is this?” A hiss came, bright, red snake eyes came up to my face. Sharp teeth curled behind a devilish smile. This thing definitely wanted to bite me.
“Arabeth, calm down, she is one of us.” Simon said, pulling back the snakelike woman.
“Only half!” She hissed then slunk into the shadows.
“What was that about?” I asked, a timid expression across my face.
“Arabeth is one of many in this world who have caught Absostrainia, a disease that our kind gets if they are in full Gekian form for too long.” He explained, “It is baisically maddening, only time will tell if you calm down or not.”
“Why didn’t she change back when she had the chance?”
“War.” He said grimly, “Our world is locked in a constant war, many have battled too long and have gone insane like Arabeth. Luckily, her stress level went down once they realized what was happening to her.”
“And to those who continue on?”
“They die.” He shook his head.

Chapter 4

“Simon Lucifer Aurborell!” Screeched Simon’s Mother as she stomped up to us, “What were you thinking bringing a mortal…”
“Mom, she’s not a mortal… well, not completely.” Simon said, putting his finger over his mothers lips before she could begin yelling again.
“Oh really, you think this is going to help anyone? You think this is going to help her? Or the Gekians? Or your father?” She spat, “No, it doesn’t! It doesn’t help anything, Maeve could have gone her whole life thinking she was human and she would be perfectly fine now wouldn’s she?”
“Mom! Can’t you see whats right in front of you?” Simon shouted back, “You may not be able to see it, but I can! Isn’t it just slightly weird that a half-Gekian lives in our town? Or could it possibly be destiny?”
“Destiny? You know not a thing child!” His mother spat, “We are taking her back now! Before it’s to late for her to have a normal life.” She began dragging us both back to where we had came. It was surprising how strong that petite woman was.
“Kila wait!” A shout came from behind us.
Simon’s mom turned around, a boy a few years older than Simon and I atop a golden creature had spoken those words. His light brown hair flickered in the light, his golden eyes shined brighter than the sun.
“Reemo? What do you want?” She asked, as if the boy was somehow more authoritive than her.
“Perhaps the boy is right.” He said, his gaze strong, “If we find he is wrong, then we take Maeve back.”
“How do you know my name?” I asked.
“How can you call me boy?” Simon spat with a childish glare.
“Enough talking for now, time is short.” He said, pulling me atop the golden beast and riding off.
“Wait for me!” Simon shouted, racing after us.
I finally had time to look at the world of Samirisus, in fact, it wasn’t really a world, it was just a giant rock floating in midair, but that rock was gorgeus, exotic plants and buildings that I had only seen in books and movies spread across the landscape.
We came to a hault somewhere in a forest filled with trees that were, believe it or not, growing upside down. The roots were straight into the air and the leaves, wich were blue, not green I might add, were on the ground. Flowers spotted the air as if the sky was the ground.
“Kaymead, you stay here, make sure the crazed don’t come okay?” Reemo said to the golden beast, tossing it a highlighter-pink fish with swan wings. Reemo then leaned against a tree, waiting for Simon to catch up.
“You… couldn’t have waited for me to get my Iriskush?” Simon said panting.
“Iriskush?” I asked.
“That thing you were riding, dip-dope.” Simon huffed, sitting down in the grass.
“Well, you were the one that didn’t think of just teleporting here.” I replied.
“My mom expelled my powers, I can only use them in life or death situations for a day.”
“Hush!” Reemo spat at us, his eyes flickering across the scenery. Once he was satisfied that nothing was out of the ordinary to him, he pulled a vine that was on the tree. Instantly we were catipulted down. I was screaming, Reemo and Simon just stared at me, wishing I would stop.
I landed on my back. Rubbing it feriusly, I got up and looked around. We were in a cavern. This was no ordinary cavern though, numerous different gems covered the walls and ceiling. The footpath were the same gems rimmed by a river perfectly clear, the bottom carpeted by glow worms. The center of the cave was a large rainbow diamond with a glorius stone table. A chandelier of pure light dangling above.
“Try to keep up Maeve.” Reemo said calmly, reminding me that I was just standing there, gaping at my surroundings. Reemo grabbed me by the arm and began dragging me to the center of the cave.
I sat down in the middle of Simon and Reemo, there was an awquard silence then Simon began to speak, “So, Reemo, You convinced my mom to let Maeve stay, how do we intend on prooving our case?”
“Well, first of all, we need to finish teaching her magic and Gekian customs.” Reemo replied simply, kicking his feet up atop the table. I had a feeling that only he could get away with that.
“Won’t that take a long time though?” Simon replied, as if he was trying to antagonize Reemo.
“Well, there’s that way.” He answered, “Or, there is also the Cerimony of the Stars.”
Simon looked as if he was just slapped across the face.
Reemo got up, he stretched his hand to ball of light above the table.
“Stop Reemo!” Simon shouted, “You know as well as I do that although we have powers, we still cannot take the easy way, especially since there is an off chance…”
Reemo sat back down, “Very well, then I will train her.”
“But I…”
“You will take too long.” Reemo interupted, “Come with me Maeve.” He got back up and strode off through the cave.
I simply shrugged and walked off after him. Reluctantly, Simon followed, I could tell he was jelous that although he brought me here, Reemo was going to teach me.
We came to the end of the cave, we were suddenly hovering up by a golden sheild. I then found myself back in the strange forest.
“Would you like to pet Kaymead?” Reemo asked.
“Uh… sure.” I replied, going up to the golden beast, Reemo suddenly pulled me back.
“No, this is not like your horses, Kaymead and all Iriskush need to be treated with respect.” Reemo hissed, “First, you must lock gazes, once he winks, you are allowed to approach him.”
“Why don’t you have to do that?” I asked.
“Kaymead is my Iriskush, he trusts me, now go.” He explained.
When I locked gazes with Kaymead, I automatically could see into Kaymead’s mind, it was not as simple as most animals’. I could see a terrible war, a man that looked like Simon, and then Reemo dressed in armor that shined like the sun. Somehow, I knew that Kaymead was seeing into my mind. When my eyes returned to Kaymead, he winked at me. I began to approach him, I rested my hand on his fur. Then I stroked down to his scales. I turned around to Reemo and grinned at him, he nodded approvingly and approached me.


Chapter 5

I stepped through the mirror for just about the thenth time, jumped atop Sermeter, my silver Iriskush, I had gotten it my second day. Reemo says I’m a fast learner, I just think that I’m listening well he… well… how do I say this, is hot! I mean, come on, who could resist a golden-eyed war hero? Certainly not me! I rode up to him atop of Sermeter and skidded to a hault.
“Your last lesson, is now.” He immediately said, “By tomorrow we may never speak again.” He said, slowing Kaymead to a hault.
“You act like that’s a good thing.” I said, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course it is, I need to get back to fighting the Crazed. And you, you need to find where you fit into the war.” He said, his gaze glassy, looking out into no where.
“But still, you act as if we will never meet again.” I questioned.
“What I’m saying is, you would be too distracting, you may be fifteen, but you have the knowledge of a 10 year old Gekian.” He said, shaking his head, “Anyway, we’re going to our last stop. The River of Shadows.” He stopped and got off of Kaymead. I did the same, we were in front of a river, a river that I was surprised I had never seen before, it was pitch black, fog covering the top. I leaned closer to try and get a good look when I was stopped by Reemo.
“Fool! If you can see them, they can see you!” He hissed.
“Who?”
“The lost souls!” He answered, still not even looking at me, “You know how the Crazed that aren’t treated, and aren’t taken by Kakath, the Crazed leader die? Well, their souls don’t leave this world, they just… stay, and ended up forming a river, this river to be exact.”
“Then why can’t I look in?” I asked simply.
“You iddiot! Half-humans don’t know a thing! If they see anyone get close enough to them, they will steal your body! And even though I would love to have a well-trained soldier instead of you, I promised Kila I would keep you safe. I would rather face a thousand Crazed than deal with her when she’s pissed off.” He rolled his eyes at me, I got really mad, my face started boiling up, or should I really say, cooling off.
“Don’t talk about me like that!” I hissed through slitted snake-like eyes, “Why are you suddenly acting like you hate me?” I tried to look like I was going to knock him right into the river.
“You dare change form because of me?” He hissed back, “But if you must know…” He then shoved me back, making sure I couldn’t push him in, “It is because I can’t be close to someone as incredibly stupid as you!”
I then revealed fangs, hissing very loudly, my forked tounge lashing.
“What I mean is, if you go off and end up getting hurt or start looking death straight into the eye, I might try and save you, but then I would end up getting distracted and Kakath would take another victim.”
“Yeah, that makes me feel real better!” I said sarcastically, but still calming down, “Well then don’t worry, I don’t want to see your stupid face ever again, I hope one of the Crazed takes it clear off!” I then whipped around jumped atop of Sermeter and rode over to a small building. A building that held residence to Darias, the commander of the Gekian National Armed Forces.
I knocked on the door, and whose face do I see when someone answers it? Simon.
“Oh, Dad! Maeve is here.” He said and turned around walking back into the tower.
Great, he didn’t seem pleased to see me, looks like I don’t have any friends here anymore…
“Oh, so you’re Maeve.” A tall, strong man with the same face as Simon said, motioning me in. What kind of puzzled me was how come Simon was such a geek and his dad looked like a football player.
I stepped inside, for once, something in this world looked simmilar to something in my world, it looked like your baisic laboratory, linoleum floors, metal tables, test tubes, and the constant scratching of rats…
“Rats!” I screamed, I began running stupidly about the room until I found a chair and hopped atop of it.
“Really, you think we look ugly? Well, we don’t think you look too pretty yourself.” One of them said.
“Did you just talk?” I asked, looking puzzled at the furry creature. To think nothing in this world ever surpised me anymore, but no, something else has to be weird “Yeah, and I said you look pretty horrid yourself!” It said, shaking its ratty head and scrambling away.
“I wouldn’t talk to them, or scream at them. Their insults are worse than a truck driver’s in traffic.” Darias said, pulling me along.
He dragged me into the next room, it was pitch black, besides a soft green glow. I then realized that it wasn’t just one glow, it was four different green glows. Each a different shade of green, but none less brighter than the other. Don’t ask me how that worked, I just don’t know.
“Step to the center Maeve,” Darias said, lightly pushing me in the right direction. When I stepped to the center, all but one of the balls of light dissapeared, then that one did and it appeared right in front of me, glowing brighter than ever. I was temporarily blinded, when I could see again, everything was back to the way it was at first, only one thing was different, there was a staff with a peakock feather hanging from it right in front of me.
For some reason, I have no idea why, but I had the sudden urge to grab it, so I did.
“A healer, a teller, a shower of our ancestors. You are destined to be a Portrayor.” He said, striding up to me.
“Great, I finally get finished with training, and now I have more training.” I said, shaking my head.
“Oh, this is not a thing you learn from others. You learn this by going to The Great Caves of Samirisus.”
I was immediately awed, I had no idea what they were and what would happen there, but I already was interested. I took a look at the staff again, clutching it as if it would save my life.
“It’s actually odd really, you being a Portrayer, and also being bearer of the peakock staff. Simon was right, you are certainly important.”
“Yeah, I guess Simon was right,” I said in agreement, I instantly wished I hadn’t of been spending all my time with Reemo, especially based on the fact of how it all ended. Simon was a true friend and I had just left him in the dust.


Chapter 6

I stopped in front of the gaping cave-front. I was about to go inside when I noticed a girl slouched against the stones.
Her eyes were maroon, her hair was brown with blonde tips, she had black shorts, a simple grey tank top, and fishnets. Her nose was peirced, she looked pretty scary, but at the same time, not exactly crazed-evil. Probably just sneaky.
“Oh look, a newbie going into the caves!” She said in a silky smooth brittish accent.
“Who are you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“The names Emma, I suppose you could say I’m neutral grounds in this war.” She said with a devilish grin, “Lets just say my mommy and daddy don’t really get along.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m not exactly allowed in the Crazed camps, nor am I allowed in town, so I guess I’m in no-mans-land.” She said simply, looking into the distance, “Now, are you going or what?”
“Uh… yeah.” I said, stepping up to the cave.
“And before you get too close, take this!” She said, tossing me a torch and a pack of matches, “Believe me, you’ll need it.”
“Uh… thanks.” I said, wondering what she meant by getting to close, I stepped a bit closer and I knew what she meant. I was sucked into the cave and I fell down on the cold floor. I staggered to my feet and then began walking forward, obviusly I couldn’t go back the way I had come.
“Hello?” I called into the cave, and I could’ve sworn I heard someone in the cave whisper Hello Maeve, in the distance
I searched throughout the cave, I heard a moaning in the distance, I began walking toward it. Man, talk about suicidal tendacies, walking through an unknown cave, TOWARD the screams. Was I like those iddiots in scary movies or what? I then waved my torch near the sound, I saw a baby Iriskush sprawled across the floor.
You can’t save them all, but you can try. A whisper that seemed to come from the cave itself said.
I knelt down, layed my hand across the little creature and closed my eyes. I began seeing a warm yellow glow from behind my eyelids. Somehow, I knew to breath out from my mouth. A sigh came from the cave.
The Iriskush stirred and instantly ran away. I watched it run off, a puzzled look on my face. A lot of my memory was hazed, all I remember was walking about the cave. Whispers coming from it, and occasional challenges, setting free a small, flying creature, the size of a cat from a giant, and I do mean GIANT spiderweb, finding secret doors, reading passages written across the walls. Then I came to a small area with a pool of water, only, the water wasn’t completely on the ground, some of it was in the air, twisting into the form of a lilly.
You are now at the pond of Portrayers. The voice said, There is no end of the cave here, you must find your way through the waters of life.
I then touched one of the lilly made of water’s petals, closing my eyes and clearing all thoughts.
I heard a rushing noise, I felt my body whirring about like a cow in a tornado, but it didn’t seem as if my mind was really there, and when my eyelids peeled open, I was in front of the cave again.
“Hail the concoring hero.” Emma said sarcastically, examining her long, black-painted fingernails. I looked at her, puzzled at what I should do next, “Ugh!” She groaned, “You now must go, and never return. The typical Gekian shouldn’t be here, they should be in town.” She then gave me a hard shove and grinned, waving me off.
I ended up setting up camp in the forest, I was no where near the exit to earth, nor was I near Darius and Simon’s lab/house/who knows what else. I fell asleep to the crackling of a blazing fire. And woke up to the sound of shouts in the distance. Being as stupid as I had when I first entered the cave, going closer to the loud, frightening sounds.
“I said I’m not interested!” I heard Emma say.
“But Emelia, we both don’t want your mother hurt, if you join us, she will have no choice but to step out of the war! And face it, she’s a key role.” Another voice said.
“She is not my real mother! And your not my real father! So why do I have to have anything to do with this!” She spat, “I’m so sick of this crap!”
I heard a crack, a hiss, and the rustle of leaves as if someone was leaving. I decided that since I couldn’t sleep after what I had heard, I would make my way back into the village.
When I finally got there I just sat against a homey cottage, smoke puffing from the chimney, and a glow coming from the windows.
I looked up to the mountains where the caves lie. I could swear I heard a melodic guitar in the distance and a sillouette of someone up there. I knew that my eyes weren’t decieving me.
“An odd place to be sitting don’t you think? In the middle of a night such as this.” I didn’t need to look up to know who it was.
“Reemo?” I said looking up. At first I was excited to see him, but then I remembered what happened yesterday.
“Why don’t you get inside a house before you get pnemonia?” He grumbled.
“I thought you didn’t care,” I replied smugly, “but I’ll go inside, I wouldn’t want you to be distracted by my iddiocy.”
“You’re such a child.” He muttered.
“And you aren’t?” I hissed, changing my voice to sound like a dumb boy, “Oooh! Look at me, I’m Reemo! I care of no one but myself! I have no feelings whatsoever, I’m a war hero, so I’m allowed to act as if I’m so cool.”
“Are you done yet?” He asked.
“You know! You remind me of a human named Sam!” I continued, “You’ve confused yourself with what people expect of you and sooner or later, you’re gonna regret it!” I hissed, I then smacked him right across the face.
“Nice shot.” He spat, shaking shaking his head a bit and pressing on a gauze bandage that sat across his arm.
All my anger immediately washed away, “What happened? Did someone put a sword to you?”
“No, they bit me.”
“That’s savage!”
“Sorta like you a few seconds ago,” He replied. “I never had to ask a girl this before, but are you bi-polar or something?”
I had to laugh. I saw a bit of the childhood that Reemo was deprived of in his eyes.
“So, can I get you inside, or are you going to smack me again?” He asked, a glimmer in his gold eyes that I had never seen before.

Chapter 7

I sat down near a roaring fire, a blanket wrapped around my shoulders, holding a cup of hot cocoa. I had never liked the taste of coffee, and I never will. I still felt like a child, what with Simon, Reemo, and Darius drinking some pretty dark coffee. For a while Simon and Reemo were trying to see who could drink the darkest coffee, but for once, they were acting more like friends than arch-iddiots.
“I surrender!” They said at the same time, trying to swallow something that looked like a night with no moon or stars. They spat the coffee out at the exact same time, their tounges hanging out for a while.
“That’s why I like cocoa.” I said, smirking.
“Yeah, but you could add too much mix and its too tart, add too little and it is baisically milk!” Simon said.
“You are too stubborn!” I laughed, clutching onto my staff again.
“Man, I wonder if I was that clingy to my sword when I first got it…” Reemo pondered.
“Simon was like that with his bow and first set of arrows.” Darius interupted.
“Uh, HELLO! I was a thirteen-year-old boy and I had something that would impress girls and kill someone. Of course I would love it.” Simon protested.
“You kids are really something else.” Darius sighed, shaking his head, even though he had an amused look on his face.
There was a knock on the door, “I’ll get it,” Simon said, tripping and falling over his own feet about ten times before finally getting to the door.
“Um… do you need some school classes? Like How to Walk 101?” I asked, chuckling.
He opened the door while glaring at me, he froze and tilted his head, “Who are you?”
“Uh, no one important, I just need a place to stay…” A voice replied, I got to my feet and went to the door myself.
“Emma?” I asked, seeing that it was indeed the girl from the mountains.
“Oh, wow, How did I know you were here?” She asked, “Whatever, anyway, I need a place to hide out for a while. Apparently a few people I know don’t like hearing the word “no” very much.”
“Um…” Darius thought, “Yeah, sure… especially since I know who you are talking about.”
“But she’s…” Reemo began to protest.
“Human?” She asked, flopping down on the couch, “Yeah, I get that a lot.”
“Wait! You’re human?” I asked, more confused than ever.
“Wow, you don’t catch on very well do you halfie.” She sighed, “Allow me to explain; I was born in a hospital like any other baby. But, there was a mix up. A baby much like me, born to two loving Gekians and I were switched. The Gekian grew up, never knew she was one, and ended up being killed by a Crazed set loose to earth. I, however, grew up in this insane place. I was always kept at my step-mothers side, and my dad was, well… working with the Crazed as a volunteer, he didn’t even have Absostrainia. Anyway, we found out I was not Gekian when, by my thirteenth year, I still hadn’t had any of the symptoms of becoming a full-grown-Gekian, just regular puberty.” She said, acting as if it was completely normal.
“So… why do you stay here?” Simon asked, “Why don’t you observe your home-world?”
“I would feel out of place.” She replied, kicking her feet up on the table, which, oddly, didn’t bother Simon’s dad, “Besides, this world is more fun!” The gleam in her eye practically told me that she isn’t always up to good.
“Big deal, So she’s a human.” Darius shrugged, “A lot of my friends are humans and they can be the most exilerating people you have ever met.”
“Speaking of which, General, I’d like to join you. I’m done with dealing with flip-flopping.” She said.
“Well… what do you want to be anyway? It’s not like The Choosing Method would work on you as you are human.” He said.
“Arialist, I was meant to fly.” She immediately replied.
“But…” Simon was about to interupt.
“You don’t have to be a Gekian to work the skies, Sunshine!” She replied, “Or to work an enchanted item.”
“Very well.” Darius said, nodding, then a spear came down from no where. You may think I mean those indian-like spears but I say, no, is was sharp as a ninja star and the tip was multi-pointed to tear through skin. The staff was black with multiple scratches and patterns. Then I heard a thud outside.
We all looked to see this weird metal chariot with no horses, metal wings and a steering wheel instead of reins. Emma glided her fingers across the frame work and grinned approvingly, “Yup, definitely feels right.” Reemo baisically acted as if he could care less which really pissed me off so I smacked him in the back of the head.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“For acting as if you wouldn’t have been excited about when you first found out that you were to be a warrior.” I said, jabbing him playfully with my staff.
He was speechless for a second until he said, “You hold onto that stick for dear life.”
“Come on you four.” Darius finally butted into a conversation that ten weeks ago I never thought I would have, “Lets get back inside.”
We sat back by the fire, laughing, talking about coffee virsus cocoa and sensless things like that. Then we went on the subject of music, which would just never end.
“You’re crazy dude! How could you think Nuclear Balloon is better than Venom?” Reemo said to Simon.
“Well…” I said, getting interupted.
“Because Venom does nothing but scream.” Simon replied.
“I…” Another interuption.
“Well Nuclear Balloon is a total stoner group.” Reemo countered.
“I like Poison Tatoo!” I shouted at them both.
They both looked at me as if I had just knocked their heads together instead of just interupting them.
“Their okay, I guess… a bit odd but…” Simon said, trying not to offend me. What a gentalman.
“What about you Emma? What do you like.” I asked her.
“Well… I do like a lot of music that’s rock with rebelius edge.” She said, “Personally I don’t name groups as I’d rather just listen to it and make it, I don’t get obsessive about a certain band.”
Simon looked at her as if she was completely insane.
“Hey, I just have a new take on life is all.” She said shrugging, “Why do bands have to have names anyway? Why can’t they just name all the different band members? It would give them more credit anyway.”
Now I thought she was a bit nuts.


Chapter 8

The next morning I wake up to hear Simon screaming like a girl, “My eyes!” He screeched. I ran out of the room that Emma and I shared, not noticing that Emma wasn’t there.
I came in to see Emma punching Reemo in the face. I saw him fall to the floor with a thud, wondering how on earth that all came together.
“That’s for kissing me you man-whore!” Emma said, wiping off her lips, “Thanks to you I’ll have to drown my face in disinfectant.” Her fists were clenched so tight that her knuckles had gone white.
“Okay…” I said, still confused, “Could someone please tell me how this all happened?”
“Okay, so Reemo got me pissed off, saying all this shit about humans and we get in this huge fight. Then out of no where he starts sucking on my face like a leech.” She spat.
“What the hell?” I replied, staring at Reemo, passed out on the floor.
“Okay, the kiss freaked me out but… I will admit that punch was pretty hot.” Simon said, his voice cracking from his girl-scream-moment.
“You wanna join him on the floor?” She asked, glaring at him with her deadly maroon eyes.
“Wait… why do you have red eyes anyway? I thought you were human.” I said, getting myself even more confused.
“Well, deep, deep down in my family gene pool, I found out, is Native American blood. They can have reddish eyes in rare cases I’ve heard.” She said, acting as if it was the dumbest question she has ever heard.
“What is going on here?” Darius said, stepping out of his room, “And whose swearing like a truck driver.”
“The one that lives in a cave.” Reemo said, staggering to his feet.
“You know, next time you say something I might just have to knock you out again, and when you wake up, BAM! You get knocked out again, and then the next time you wake up, you’re strapped to a chair, confused, and in MEXICO!” She spat.
“Uh…” Simon said, a frightened twang in his voice even though he wasn’t the one being threatened.
“Ole’!” She said, snapping her fingers up in the air, her eyes soft and her voice caremel sweet. She slid next to Simon, raised an eyebrow, and grinned. She then walked out of the house. I had no idea where she was going. Really, did anyone?
“Okay, she punches me in the face and then comes on to YOU?” Reemo asked, looking really, really stupid.
“Huh?” Simon had no idea what happened.
“Oh come on.” I sighed, putting my elbow on his shoulder and leaning on him, “You really couldn’t tell she was flirting with you like some kind of Spanish…”
Darius waved his hands in the air, signaling that there was a parent in the room.
“Right… Sorry!” I said, my face going red.
“What I wonder though, is why is it that no matter what under any circumstances can guys and girls unrelated have to feel so awkward. I swear to God that there is no way a girl and a boy can be ‘Just friends’.”
“Um… what about if they were to be friends mostly because one is married to a supposed brother or sister.” Simon said.
“Simon, you over look things…” I replied, giving him the stinky-cheese look.
“Yeah, well, you underlook things!” He said back.
“Oh whatever! Anyway, I know this is out of the clear blue, but do you happen to have any history files or something, I want to learn more about past Portrayors.”
“Oh of course I do!” He said nodding and running into the next room, I followed quickly behind. He began clumsily making his way up a ladder to a high shelf.
“You may or may not know this but Archers are also keepers of knowledge.” He said reaching up to the top of a thick stack of paper. Nearly slipping he jumped down and landed firmly on his feet.
“Geeze! Like I said, do you know how to walk?” I asked.
“Hey! Have you ever seen a graceful geek?” He asked, “And do you WANT to see these files?”
“Oh… right!” I said, “Sorry.”
“Yeah, that’s right.” He said, waving the papers about as if they were a bribe.
I looked through the papers over and over, unable to comprehend.
“So, wait! There’s only one other Portrayor alive right now? But I can’t have that much weight on my shoulder!” I said, pulling at my corse hair.
“Listen! They chose you for a reason, They believe in you, My dad believes in you, and I do too.” He hissed, shaking my shoulders.
“That’s not fair! You believe too much.”
“Ugh! Just take your stick and shut up!” He hissed, jamming the staff into my hands.
I then just began to relax a bit. When it comes to this world, Simon was the only thing that seemed normal. I knew him before the insanity… well… he caused the insanity. Now a days he actually was my best friend.
“You really believe in me?” I asked.
“Well… I mean, yeah, I always knew you’d be important.” He replied. I then began to sweat. I know you think OOH here comes the cliché, but it’s not how it looks. I began sweating because It’s irritating when you’re friend likes you and you REALLY don’t feel the same way. It’s awkward. And that’s when I noticed that he was clutching onto my hands. I slipped my hands out of his. Obviusly he didn’t notice that as rejection as he just got up and brushed himself off.
“Yeah, I guess we need to get out of this room. I’ll bet that my dad is wondering why just about everyone ran off.”
“I think I’m gonna go try and find Emma.” I replied and dashed out of that house faster than you can say, ‘wow’.
I immediately found Emma, she was frozen in the spot that she was in, staring into blank space. I then noticed what had happened to the village. All the quaint little cottages, all the flowers, all the upside-down trees, the pathways, the stores… gone.
“Why did you run out so fast?” Reemo asked as he ran up to us both, Simon close behind. They froze in the exact same way.
“The crazed…” I heard Reemo mutter.

Chapter 9

“I blame myself!” Reemo said, kicking up ashy dust.
“How come the only house they didn’t burn down was the one we were in?” I asked.
“Because, If we were to find out about this… it wouldn’t have happened so easily.” Reemo muttered, his eyes narrowing, “Follow me, now!” He then ran toward Kaymead, jumping on him with no trouble at all. Simon instantly responded too, he jumped on his own jet black Iriskush. Emma and I exchanged glances, she then went on her little metal chariot and two phoenix appeared. I was the last one to respond, I leapt atop Sermeter and we all dashed off.
Reemo stopped when we reached the starlit cave, “Good… they didn’t find it.” He sighed with relief, going up to the entrance and down into the cavern. We followed quickly behind, wondering what was going to happen. When we reached the bottom Reemo was already at the table.
“It looks as if I have no choice but to take two children and a human into battle.” He hissed. I had just noticed he had a tail, he must be really pissed.
“Hey! Shut it dude! WHAT were you doing when you were our age?” Simon spat, coming up to him with the same snakey eyes and tail.
“I was battling a whole camp of Crazed.” Reemo spat back.
“You can do that and you say that we can’t simply fight with your sour puss!” Simon hissed, his forked tongue lashing wildly.
“Simon! Keep your tongue in your mouth!” I hadn’t noticed that Simon’s mother and father had come down here.
“Yes mommy.” He said, the tail disappearing into smoke and his eyes turning human.
“And YOU! Don’t you say that my kid can’t do any less than you!” His mother hissed, wiggling her finger in Reemo’s face. “You self-righteous child!”
“Yes Mrs. Aurborell.” He sighed, all the reptile features disappeared as well.
“Wow… she is mom, hear her roar!” Emma said, grinning and leaning against the wall. Relaxed as usual. How does she even do that?
Darius was at the head of the table, he looked as if he was in speech-mode. “Listen up! This has gotten out of control! The Gekian Armed Forces are coming… well, what’s left of it! And I need you four, and NOT arguing! I need Reemo fighting out in the battle field, I need Emma in the sky, I need Simon beside me and the other archers, and I need Maeve healing. So sit down at the damn table and shut up!” He then pounded his fist and we all sat down.
“DARIUS! Don’t swear in front of the children!” Mrs. Aurborell said although she sat down too.
Darius went on, ignoring his wife, “Now, there is NO way I can announce complete war without two other Gekians. But so you guys don’t act so pathetic, all three of you will join.” He then grasped Simon and Reemo’s hands, they grabbed mine. A bright blue light shone in front of us. “This is a time of war, let no one see these as happy times. We all must fight with every fiber of our being, we must fight for justice and justice only. The moon rises above us now, and the sun will never set. The Elements collide in a mind-bending experience, and shadows will be killed.” The ball of light then flung out of the cave.
When we got out of the cave we were instantly visited by millions of Gekians. One not much older than ten ran up to me. She had silver hair, and beady highlighter-orange eyes. Then I noticed that she had a staff two times taller than herself.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked.
“Believe it or not but she’s more skilled than you.” Reemo snickered.
“Hiya! You must be the other Portrayor I had a vision about!” She said, with a cheesey smile, “I’m Mauree.”
“Quit being such a slowpoke Maeve.” Reemo said, dragging me to the center of the myriad of Gekians. I froze dead when I noticed everyone was staring at me.
“Uh… this is odd.” I sighed.
“They’re staring at me not you.” He muttered.
“Reemo! We’re attacking now.” I heard in the crowd, there were a lot of mutters in agreement.
“Why didn’t you save our most sacred of villages?” I heard in the crowd too.
“Maybe he’s not on our side anymore!” Another call came. My head was reeling with all these voices.
“CALM DOWN!” Reemo shouted and the crowd became silent, “Now here’s how we do things! Darius, you and the other archers are what they’re gonna go after at first, you take down as many as possible as with the Arial team. Then the warriors and I will come unexpectedly out of the forest.”
“Eh-HEM!” I said, folding my arms and looking sassy, “What about us?”
“Please! You have so much as a stick to protect you…” Reemo replied, “You just… HEAL! Okay?” He instantly waved me off and gave further instructions to the rest.
“UGH! He’s absolutely infuriating!” I hissed.
Mauree didn’t seem angry at all, she was calmly going through the crowd, giving them check-ups. Her long silver hair bounced through the crowd, tribal beads tinkling as she did her work. She then came up to me, “Come sour puss! I need to give you a good luck charm.” She said, and once again I was dragged along.
“Hmm… She said, looking around in her leather bag. “Ah! Yes! Iriskush scale, for strength.” She stated, handing me a bracelet with a single pearly scale, “The Trilla flower, for bringing peace.” She then laced the crystal-like flower into my hair, “And the ashes of a phoenix, to symbolize new beginnings.” She then showered me in the sparkling gray dust. When she did the little ritual, she didn’t seem like such a young girl, she almost seemed old and wise, like the many ancestors that came before her.
“Now… on that note.” She sighed, a glare spreading across her face and snakey features washing over her, “WAR!” She cried, the other Gekians shouting and hollering after her cry.
“Eh?” I asked, confused looking.
“Portrayors lead us into battle.” Simon whispered into my ear and shoved me encouragingly toward the front of the mob of Gekians.
So their I was marching toward the deaths of many. One thing that I never thought I would ever do ever, ever, ever was sign up for a war. I never wanted a job that meant I would die sooner than I had to, call me crazy. Then I noticed a fuzzy thing trying to comfort me I turned to see Sermeter, her dragon tail lashing, her lion claws sheathing and un-sheathing, but her eyes strong and comforting. My staff was clasped in her mouth. I took it from her and patted her head.
“Thanks.”

Chapter 10

I hid in the bushes next to many other Gekians, waiting for the archers to shoot at the Crazed camp. A blue flaming arrow would signal us.
“Uh… I’ve been thinking…” Reemo said from behind me.
“Well that’s new.” I muttered.
“And you need to get out of here.”
“Huh?” I said, my voice rising into a squeak.
“You haven’t been trained properly, and I would hate myself if an un-trained Gekian died.”
“Well you trained me. So you’re doubting you’re mad skills?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Uh… No, never mind, it was just a weird feeling.” He replied, trailing off as the blue arrow passed.
Immediately we all darted out of the bushes, after the Crazed. I clutched my staff hard and ran toward the archers, seeing if they were hurt.
“Maeve, no one got hurt.” Simon said through shooting arrows, “But it would be best for you to stay up here, you can see the others.”
I took his advice. For a while things weren’t so bad, but then soldiers began dropping like flies, too many. Every time I went to heal someone, another would die. Sooner or later I found myself crouching on the ground in a cold sweat.
“Maeve!” Darius’ shout came from the distance, “Come quickly! It’s Reemo.”
When I heard that, I felt as if I was punched in the gut. Even so, I still managed to get up and run in Darius’ direction. I stopped to see Reemo crouched on the ground all lizardy and twitching. He let out numerous hisses and cries.
“It’s Absostrania.” He huffed, “It’s consuming him.”
“W-what do I do?” I said, going into complete panic.
“I-I don’t know.” He sighed.
Reemo stopped twitching for a while and looked right at me with his golden slit eyes, “Maeve, I hate for you to see me like this.” He said shaking his head.
“It’s not your fault.” I said, putting my hand to his head.
“Yes, it is.” He coughed, “If I didn’t have such a big head, I wouldn’t have been scaly for so long.” He gave me the saddest puppy-dog eyes ever. It was so odd to think of him as a big, strong war-hero at the moment.
“Now’s not the time for blaming yourself.” I replied.
“Well, now in my time of death, I must tell you that I’m going to regret that I didn’t spend so much time with you. In fact, I hate that before you I never had any fun.”
“PLEASE! I’ve wanted you to go away for a LONG time. The fact is, that you never do. I doubt that a little lizard-related disease is going to change that.” I laughed, “In fact, when this is over, I promise you that I’m going to take you to the human world. Then I can apprentice you.”
“I heard… I did not believe…” I heard Mauree mutter as she ran up to us, kneeling down near us both. She began examining Reemo, and once again she didn’t seem like a mere child. “He’ll be alright. Thank goodness he fell from exhaustion before it would take. Only issue is that it will take about an hour until he goes back to normal, and I refuse to let him fight in his state. We’ll have to deal without you.”
“But!” Reemo began to protest, his head shooting up.
“NO! Now don’t make me sit on you to keep you still.” She said harshly.
“Fine!” He spat, resting his head back against the ground.
A shadow then fell across us all, “Ssso this is how I find the War Hero Reemo.” A hissing caramel-cream voice that shot ice down my spine, the man had skin whiter than a full moon, his eyes were bright red and permanently snakey. “Pathetic!”
“Kakath!” Reemo hissed.
“Looksss like you’re about to join me little brother.” He purred.
“You have no right to call me brother!” Reemo spat, “Having the same parents says NOTHING about brotherhood.”
“I’m afraid you’re not in a good posssition to sssay anything.” Kakath purred, pressing a black, muddy boot against Reemo’s chest.
I grimaced and closed my eyes, looking away. I heard a thud.
I was confused when I heard Emma’s voice, “Don’t ever say that I never did anything for you, perve.”
I opened my eyes to see Kakath under Emma’s silver chariot. Kakath slithered out from under the steel vessel. He looked about and then grabbed onto me faster than lightning.
“Time to go!” He shouted throughout the forest and began dragging me backwards, “You’ll surrender.” He cackled. I was then dragged away, surrounded by defensive hisses and howls of laughter.

Chapter 11

Today I have learned two things, one, that I have just about the greatest friends ever in the entire world, and two, that for a while, a dark cement basement is scary, and then it gets just plain boring. I just sat there and sat there, waiting for SOMETHING to happen. Good or bad I didn’t care. I was bored. I flopped onto my back and began messing around with using magic to make a ball of light. After many trials and errors I finally got something going. I grinned, but now what was I going to do with it? I then noticed an old bookshelf in the corner. I approached it, bringing my light with me. The shelf was laced with cobwebs and was stocked with many old books. There were many unknown books; the only one that was from Earth was one by some sappy romance novel author. I picked it up and decided to read it. I had no idea what time it was and no idea how long I sat there reading it. Once I finished it I was bawling like a baby. Man was I a pussy? I can’t even read through some dumb sad book without crying. Someone had come down to check on me, seeing me sniveling in the corner.
“Hah! You’re crying!” He said, amused.
I looked over to see a kid a few years younger than me, he obviously did not have a case of absostrania, “I’m not crying because of YOU!” I said, standing my ground, “It’s because of a stupid book!”
“Peh!” He snorted, leaning against a cold, stone wall, “You know, you’re one stupid little lizard.” He spat.
I raised an eyebrow, “Uh… could you elaborate?”
“Actually thinking that the war hero actually cared about you? PLEASE! If he actually cared, you probably would’ve been out of here by now.” He answered.
“And you would know ANYTHING about compassion and friendship?” I countered, “Besides, I would beat him if he didn’t get rest before coming for me.”
“I’m fairly sure that he wouldn’t listen to a chick in a cage.” He sneered.

-___-___-

This portion, is set in Emma’s point of view, she had told me about what was going on when I was gone and I figured it needed to be in these documents.

“I HAVE TO GET TO HER!” Reemo screeched again, trying to wriggle out of the bed with straps tying him down. I slammed his shoulders down.
“Stop squirming!” I shouted, “If you get up, first you will be killed by Mauree, then you will be killed by me, and then if you get to Maeve, you will be killed by her.”
“BUT!” He began to protest, but before he could say any more I got out my acoustic guitar and began playing. Five minutes later Reemo was fast asleep. I’ve gotta say that it took him a while to fall asleep, unlike most of the people I’ve put under a musical spell.
“You’re not human?” Simon asked from behind me, this instantly sent chills up my spine, since when did he get here?
“You know, you really need to use like, a doorbell or something.” I sighed.
“You’re a Melodic?” He asked, “You lied to us.”
“You never asked if I was from Harmaris.” I sighed, sitting back into an old, plastic chair. I could not believe that someone had found out about me. Normally Melodics have a stronger aura of disguise than that.
“Great! Just GREAT!” He hissed.
“What?” I asked, pretty confused.
“The only girl that’s ever flirted with me is a bird.” He groaned.
“Hey! I’m not a bird, melodics are a special breed from the far reaches of the Galaxy that have bird-like features and the ability to control minds through musical abilities. And I’m only half-Melodic, Most of my story was true, except for the fact that one of my original parents was from Harmaris.” I explained.
“huh?”
“You didn’t listen to a word I said, did you?” I asked.
“Uh… Actually I did!”
“What was the last thing I said?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Um… you said what!” He replied.
“Hey! Did you drug me?” Reemo said, finally waking from his slumber.
“No, she’s a Melodic!” Simon replied.
“She’s a bird girl? It figures she’d want someone like you then, she would want someone that’s as light as she is.” He laughed due to the fact that Melodics had a light bone-structure.
I then gave him an average death gaze. “You know, it takes a lot to get a Melodic in their form, but you might just do it lizard boy!” I screeched, beginning to become bird-like. Feathers growing from my head, my mouth forming into a beak, wings sprouting from my back, and claws springing from my hands.
“Holy freaking cow!” Simon gasped.
I examined my claw-like fingers, and grinned, “yeah, whoop-de-do.” I sighed, flopping into a plastic chair, “Now, we need to figure out what we’re gonna do once lizard boy feels better.”
“I resent that!” Simon replied, “I’m a lizard too.”
“Yeah, but you weren’t stupid enough to stay one for too long.”
“Hey!” Reemo butted in, his voice cracking.


-___-___-

The boy that was speaking to me came into the light. He had sea green eyes and black hair. He didn’t seem cruel, he just seemed vain.
“Marn! What are you doing in here?” I froze, time seemed to be going in slow motion, could it really be? It had to be, I just could not believe that my father was here.
“Dad?” I squeaked.
“Yeah.” He sighed.
“W-what are you doing here?” I stuttered.
“I’m not here to kill you if that’s what you mean.” He grumbled, “Now where is that secret passageway?” he asked, patting at the wall. “Marn, I’m afraid I can’t go with you two, but will you show Maeve our of here.”
“Uh…” He thought.
“I think I can get out of here by myself!” I hissed.
“But he needs to escape himself.” My father replied.
“Believe me, I’m not too thrilled myself,” Marn grumbled.
“You wanna say that to my face?!?” I hissed.
“You two stop fighting!” Dad butted in, “Just go!” He then pushed us into the secret exit.

Chapter 12

I sighed as I trudged along with Marn, “Why did my dad leave me with you anyway?” I groaned.
“What are you talking about?” He grumbled, “The guy in the cellar was not your dad.”
“Yes… He was.”
“Oh really? Well that sure looked a lot like my father.” He hissed.
“What are you talking about?” I hissed back, getting in a defensive stance.
“He’s my dad, you’re hallucinating.” He grumbled, “Unless he adopted you, which is a big YEAH RIGHT!”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I doubt my dad would adopt anyone this stupid.”
I jumped off the ground with great force and tackled him to the ground, hissing and spitting like a wild animal.
“Oh geeze!” I heard my fathers voice above us, “I have some explaining to do.” He then lifted me clear off Marn with Gekian force and plopped me on the ground, standing in the middle of us, “Okay kids, time for a little chit-chat.”
“Okay, so, the reason why your mother and I divorced was because of this secret.” He began, “I had taken Marn back to this realm because at the time females weren’t allowed to fight. Um… I don’t know how to explain this, I’ve done this a thousand times in my mind but it never came out right. I… uh… he… you… she… You two are related.”
“Hmph, I see no resemblance.” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Believe it or not but you two are twins…” Dad trailed off.
“Whatever, you abandoned me and kept him. I don’t need you, leave me alone.” I whipped around and started stalking off. No one said a word which was good because one of their limbs would be gone if they did, literally. The point was that I had to get back to my friends, true, Reemo was cocky, Emma was hot-headed, and Simon was just a nerd, but they were better family than my “dad” and “brother” were. I began stamping my way throughout the forest until I came to a little hut on the side of the woods, Mauree was outside stamping about, she looked at me happily.
“Thank GOD! Maybe now he will get some rest!” she exclaimed, showing me inside. I had much to tell them in little time, as I have a theory.
I swung open the door and walked through, I gave a sideways glance at Emma but thought nothing of her feathery self. “Hey, guys, you miss me?”
“Maeve!” They said in harmony.
“Shut up, I have info.” I replied, “Okay, so, I have a feeling that Kakath wanted me to escape.”
“Why?” Simon asked, not seeing any logic in my words.
“Well, he’s pretty smart, he would definitely want me to come back so that maybe… Reemo would have an even bigger attatchment to me. He probably wants to take something from Reemo away forever.”
Reemo flushed at my words, “I have… an attatchment to you?” he blushed, “I didn’t know you knew that.”
“You were practically saying it on your deathbed.” I replied, putting my hands on my hips.
“Uh… guys, reunions over we got company!” Emma said, looking out the window. Kakath was alone at the moment when he entered in an icey chill. He had on dirty black combat boots, torn black jeans, a blood red shirt, and a black trench coat on. His hair, in contrast to Reemo’s was a dark brown, a brown that looked dark enough to be black. He was less scaly but still had his red snake eyes.
“Hey brother.” He said, “Ooh lookie! You have another girl, eh? I must say they both are quite pretty. That’s the only problem with being the bad guy, see, I don’t get pretty girls.”
In turn I hissed at him and Emma cawed threateningly, somewhat like an angry eagle.
“I must say though, I like the birdy better, more exotic.”
“What are you doing here without your horde?” Reemo asked, his face looking as if it was in a permanent scowl.
“Well, I’m not planning anything until about two days, but…” He paused for an obvious dramatic effect, “I’m here to give you a chance, you all join me, and you guys won’t die. Perhaps I might even make a queen out of one of your little friends. OH! And Reemo, you get to rule as king as well, still, you must answer to me though.” He explained.
“No!” Simon replied.
“I’m sorry, was I talking to you? No.” Kakath said and turned his attention to the kid half his size. “What are you doing here anyways? Even though Reemo is the good one, I’m sure he still wouldn’t be caught dead with something like you.”
“We’ll do it.” Reemo said, “But Simon comes to as my advisor.”
“Reemo!” Simon hissed, “I advise you not to do this.”
“DONE!” Kakath said with a devilish grin, revealing shiney, pointy fangs.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked, glaring at Reemo, wondering what on earth could possibly make him do this.


Chapter 13
There I was in a beautiful castle, it was magnificent, but sinister. There were crazed running about the place, but they were tame enough to be around company. I couldn’t help but feel a little scared for the rest of the people out there.
“Maeve!” Reemo called walking into my room, “WHOA!” He exclaimed as he saw the garb that his brother had put me in. I was wearing a tube top that barely covered my bust and shorts only long enough to cover my butt. I looked at him with a glare and then turned around. This is why I slightly respect Muslims, there women aren’t just pieces of meat, they cover themselves so that their loved for their personality.
Soon enough Emma stormed in as a bird, still wearing her normal clothes, “The NERVE!” She cawed then turned her attention toward me, “So he said the same to you, eh?”
I nodded, I could not speak, and I didn’t have the will to speak. I hated Reemo so much. I wanted him and his brother dead. The only people I could trust now were the humans I thought that were so terrible growing up thinking THEY were savage, and Simon and Emma. Emma gave me her black sweatshirt and I took it gratefully.
“Hmm… Try to get away from me now?” Kakath said coming into the room, “Fine, you look like a hooker already.”
Emma cawed even more, her mouth becoming a beak, she began flapping about like a psycho and she head butted Kakath into a wall.
“How dare you!” I hissed, “Just because we agreed to coming here doesn’t mean you treat us like this. I pointed a clawed, lizard like finger at him, my eyes narrowing.
Simon came from behind the corner, looking at all of us with a puzzled face, “Hmm… Looks like I AM the only gentleman here. Would you look at that, chivalry is dead.” He shrugged.
Kakath looked like he wasn’t even mad, maybe he didn’t feel his big, fat, head bouncing off the wall.
“Know what, I am no longer going after Kakath.” I said and turned to gaze at Reemo. I turned instantly lizard without even thinking about it as I leapt onto him. With my claws I began scraping at his chest like mad, making him bleed. “I HOPE YOU DIE FROM BLOOD LOSS!” I hissed as I clawed. No one stopped me.
Reemo then flipped me over on my back and began clawing at my bare belly. I was in shock as he did this. He had hurt ME. The wonderful, charismatic knight Reemo had attacked ME. He stopped, his eyes becoming round and circular again as they widened. I pushed him off me with great force, tears streaming down my eyes. “You were right Simon.” I whispered under my breath, “You were always right.” I hated this, I really did, how could Reemo be like this. He had turned absolutely menace on us. I looked at him closely one more time, his golden eyes looked rusted, and his beautiful light brown hair had been matted down with sweat and darkened.
I then jumped out of the window. As a lizardy being with intensified strength it didn’t hurt when I landed. Emma took Simon by the hand and flew him out. I had to hug them right now, I needed to. These two were just about the only thing I had left. I couldn’t possibly go back to the mortal world now, so yes, they were all I had left.
“Maeve.” Simon said. I didn’t look up, I just wanted to soak in their scents, Simon smelled of new books and Emma smelt of the mountains and bird. “Maeve.” Simon said again. I looked up wondering what the hell he would possibly want to say. He then grabbed his head in his hands and looked at me with a grim expression, “Listen to me! We need to think of something! Anything!”
I then pulled his hands off of my face and exchanged looks with them, “Stay away from the crazed. Keep out of sight. Try to protect eachother.” I then looked down at the ground and walked away from the castle, Emma and Simon close behind.
“So… you expect us to just give up?” Emma asked, “Perhaps you don’t know me that well.
“I’m with Em, we’ve gotta do something.” Simon added.

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Publication Date: 06-24-2010

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