Phew I totally broke a record in this chapter! Nine pages!!!! No wonder I wrote it in eight hours.
Hope you'll enjoy !
Chapter Eleven: Realm of Spirits
There were voices coming from another room. Alex twitched with his eyes, only to see a foggy picture of the room. He tried to stand up, but cursed when he hit in the ceiling with his head. His eyes cleared a bit to see that it wasn’t a ceiling above his head, but another bed. He was somehow brought on bunk bed in a room obviously build of wood. Voices start coming again from another room.
“I can’t reach it…” familiar voice said.
“Perhaps… you aren’t striving enough…” another girly voice said.
“Hey I tried over ten times! There must be something wrong with it.”
“Well, you haven’t used anima abso for such a long way. What can we do then?”
“I hope that guy will wake up soon and tell us the whole story. Seeing him with only Spark really gave me the creeps. Do you think she’s alright?”
“Of course she is! What makes you think like that?”
“Unconscious Spark and a Rookie with all her stuff.”
“You really got a point at this… but maybe I should check on that Rookie now. He slept for two days now.”
“Ok, I’ll check some more data on HPC.”
Alex heard footsteps and quickly went pretending that he still sleeps. Weird, those footsteps were gentle, just like Roxy’s. He looked towards the door to see a shadow of a girl.
“You awake?” she asked.
Boy twitched with his eyes again, but this time he saw everything better than before. For a second he thought that he’s looking into Roxy’s face. But this face looked a bit older plus it had long black hair instead of the blonde ones.
“I think I’m.” he answered.
“Good.” she smiled.
He tried to get up, but girl shook with her head and gave him a cup of something warm.
“Two EMBs caused you some damage. You should do things more slowly for a few days. Some tea might help you.” she said.
“Thank you…. umm.” he said while drinking some of the tea.
“Nikki! Nikki Hidelight.”
“Nice to meet you Nikki, I’m…”
“Alex Lander. We know much about you, so don’t try starting a story. What I wish to know is what happened to my sister after signal went bye-bye.” Nikki said a bit seriously.
“Your sister? I don’t… wait Roxy is your sister?!”
“Yeah, a little one. When we found you, Roxy wasn’t there. What happened?”
Boy went into his thoughts for a second. How can he explain this? How he can tell her sister, that Roxy risked everything just to save him? A teardrop slipped down to his cheek while thinking what he could say.
“She.... I…. I mean we… no…” he tried to said.
“Hey clear your mind first then tell.”
“After alarm activated another man appeared and almost captured me. Roxy appeared to save me, but man made some kind of blast that hurt both of us. Roxy… she was pretty much wounded. She said to go in the portal… without her. I tried to carry her and Spark to it, but there was another blast. While entering a portal she… she slipped from my arms.” Alex told.
After hearing the whole story Nikki stared for a while. She seemed shocked and after some time passed she burst out crying.
Alex really didn’t know what to say. After all, it was his fault that Roxy was captured.
“I… I’m so sorry for what happened…” he sadly apologized.
“Please, don’t blame yourself. If you wanna blame someone blame those jerks who took her!” she said calmly.
“Who are they anyway? I mean, I know that they’re bad guys who want to do something with us.”
“The worst possible people that can exists! Some of my friends that managed to escape told many creepy things. I remember Ami when she got from that lab. They were pushing her powers to the limits and in the end she fell in coma for several weeks.”
“Is that what happens after we die again?”
“Yeah, we can’t die again cuz we already did. Body heals itself by falling in coma. ”
“So, you’re saying that those friends of yours really managed to escape all by themselves?”
“Until they discovered our weakness, we could easily escape. But now… they know almost everything about us. That’s why Nai sent Roxy to protect you.”
“Who’s Nai?”
“You gonna meet him soon. He’s one of the first existing Ials over here and he helps Rookies to turn into rightful Ials.”
“Wow, so he must be old.”
“Actually not. He’s only three years older than me. After you die is hopeless to count your years. You stay like that forever.”
He smiled to think about that. Before his mum died, she had always told what fine man he’ll become.
His thinking was broken by Nikki who went to the other bunk bed and patted something fluffy. Spark! Roxy’s Spirit Mate, now in wolf’s form, was peacefully lying in lower bed. All the wounds were healed, only she was still sleeping. After some time of staring, he noticed that he’s stared by someone else as well. Another wolf, a black one was pointing its eyes into him.
“Oh, that’s Misty, my Spirit Mate.” Nikki said.
“She looks kinda freaky.”
“Well, most of my friends say that I’m freaky too. That’s gotta be from the last Halloween when I scared everybody with my Hollow costume.” she said smiley.
“What kind of power do you…” he tried to ask when he noticed Nikki’s gone.”Nikki? Where did you go?”
“Ta –da!” she said while appearing right in front of him.
As she appeared again, boy looked at her more deeply. A bit taller teenage girl with black hair, dressed in blue jacket, black pants and some kind blue skirt in a shape of the wing. She really looked like her younger sister.
“Wow, how did you do that?” he asked confusedly.
“That’s my inner power. I can become invisible and make fog.”
“That sure is an interesting power.” he said while standing up. “Wonder what kind I’ll get.”
"Sometimes it depends on your death. You died in a car accident right?”
“Yeah, but what does the death need to do with the power you get?”
“You’ll soon found out. Now, if you can walk then come with me.”
Alex followed a black haired girl into another room, while Misty walked by her side. Other room was a way more different than the first one. Instead of bunk beds and closets, room had walls completely covered by drawings and photos. Drawings were absolutely amazing duo to all those realistic faces, characters or animals.
There was also a huge monitor where a boy was standing. Strange... looking at him from the back, almost felt like watching Roxy. He was blond haired, wearing black pants and green jacket. Even thought it wasn’t cold, boy had a blue scarf around his neck. Abstracted by monitor, he was clicking on pictures like they were a keyboard.
“Os? Rookie woke up.” Nikki said.
Boy turned around, revealing his bright blue eyes. He looked kinda sad and angry at once.
“So, you’re Alex? Nice to meet you face to face and not just voice to voice.”
“You’re Os? Wow, I imagined you differently.”
“Differently? What do you mean?”
“Oh, I never expect you’d look so much like Roxy. No offense, but you really look like a….”
“… a girl? And I though Nikki had fun ideas.” he said while she blushed. “I’m her twin brother if that helps you a bit.”
“Wow, she never mentioned having a twin brother… or a sister.”
“Roxy likes to hide her life. Speaking of which, could you tell me where she is?” Os asked.
There was no need to hide the truth.
“While we were escaping, men in gray capture her. I’m sorry… I was completely useless to do anything.” Alex said with his head down.
Os stood still, kept staring in the huge monitor. He didn’t say a thing and when Alex got closer, he ran outside the room. Red haired boy was about to go after him, but Nikki shook with her head.
“You better leave him.” she said quietly.
“Why? I mean where did he go?”
“Roxy and Os share the same strong struggle of emotions. Your news about Roxy’s capture made him very upset and when he or she is upset is the best thing to leave them alone for some time. Sometimes their sadness can even turn into anger.”
“Poor Os… what made his emotions that strong?”
“He and Roxy were always very close. Even before we died, he wanted to keep her safe at any cost. He even protested when she was sent on solo mission to bring you here. When we found you with only Spark, he somehow still believed that she’s alright only waiting in the other side.”
“I don’t know what to say… Everything is so… I don’t know… every time I look around there’s somebody hurt or sad, just because of me. Why do you risk so much just for keeping me safe?” Alex almost shouted.
Girl signed while putting her hands on his shoulders.
“You gotta understand we do this cuz it’s our duty to. This may sound odd, but we’re all family now. Stream of life has touched you too, giving you a chance.”
“You mean by awakening from the death?”
“You could say that in darker version, but I prefer second life.”
“What is gonna happen to me now? I mean what do I suppose to do, now that I’m here?”
“We’re gonna take you to Nai where you’re hear everything, but first you’ll need an outfit.”
“An outfit?”
“Well duh! Do you expect a wise man to see you in too big clothes from men in gray?”
He was still wearing jeans and black shirt from the abby. Even his hair was still a bit black. But Nikki didn’t mind that and brought him a box with his name on it.
“Open it, all your stuff is here.”
Boy removed lid and carefully look in it. There were black pants along with red shirt and white sleeveless jacket. Backpack was also there along with a similar belt bag Roxy had. Alex slowly replaced old ones with the ones from the box. New outfit really made a difference. It completely adjusted to his shape of body, giving him a feeling like it’s breathing along with him.
“It’s nice.” he said.
“Os said the same thing too.” she smiled.
“For the outfit?”
“Yeah, he actually wanted it at first, but I wanted him to wear similar clothes as Roxy. I prefer seeing twins in alike clothes.”
After he dressed he looked over the walls again. There weren’t just drawings and pictures, but notes too. Every small cornet had it.
“Roxy likes to write… but her head is sometimes too small for all those ideas.”
“I kinda know that feeling when I draw.” he smiled.
“You ready? Let’s go then.” she said while going towards the door.
He followed her, but stopped when he saw where door leaded. They were in a tree house pretty high and if he would go too fast he’d probably fell through the bench of a suspension bridge. Nikki was calmly walking on it like it was just a simple road. After finally getting through she showed him the way down the ladder all the way to the ground. It was kinda creepy and dark duo to the shadows trees were causing. But after a few more meters they reached area with lover trees and more light. There were also animals there, but not like from usual Biology textbook. Some butterflies in a size of the swan were flying above his head when a cat with blue fur was running for another cat with a green fur.
“Wow even animals are different here!” he said excited.
“What did you expect? Realm of Light is completely different world.”
“You mean that’s another world?”
“It’s more like dimension, you know… world within the world. But Nai will explain you in more detail. I’m not good at explaining this.”
“You’re good for me.” he smiled while looking at another cat in purple color.
After some more walking they reached an amazing crystal clear lake. Some bird like animals were playing in it along with some other otter like animals. Misty took a form of a black hawk and flew on Nikki’s shoulder, whispering something.
“I need to do something. Would you be able to find Os? He’s probably on the rocks near the lake.” she said.
“What do you need to do? And how can I face Os after what happened?”
“He probably cheered himself by now. Don’t worry I’ll be back soon.” she said while going to back into the forest.
Nikki joined with Misty to get to the Main Shed faster. Main Shed was like a headquarters or a main building in Realm of Spirits. Everything what towns usually had was there – from a small hospital, to equipment and accessory shop, navigation room, library, relaxing room, even small cinema and small club. She landed in front of the EA part and went in. EA usually had an equipment and accessory things which she really like it. But that wasn’t a reason why she came there.
“Hello how can I… oh hey there Nikki! What brings you here?” black haired boy said when he saw her.
“Nice to see you too Austen, but I’m afraid that I have some bad news.” she said sadly.
“What is it? Something really bad?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid you’ll work alone for a while. Roxy didn’t make it.”
Boy with name Austen sadly looked down. He was working at the E part while Roxy usually worked at A part. Now that his workmate was gone, he felt sad.
“I hope she okay at least. Did Os managed to use anima abso?”
“It didn’t worked duo to the distance.”
“I see… is the Rookie alright at least? And how was his name again?”
“Alex Lander… which reminds me why I came. Do you have his box?”
“Oh, almost forgot about it.” he said while looking at the huge pile of things.
Things started moving all over the place. One box nearly hit her.
“Hey watch it! Your telekinesis is so annoying sometimes.”
“Sorry, but is kinda hard to control more than ten things at the same time. Now where did I put it?” he said while looking for a box. “Shift? Have you seen it?” he asked a black hawk who was flying around.
Austen’s spirit mate took a small box from the pile of floating things and gave it to Nikki.
“Thanks Shift.” she said while holding a box.
“Do you need anything else?” Austen asked.
“I think that’s all.” she replied.
“Come back soon then.” he said while tidying things with a help of Shift and telekinesis.
Meanwhile Alex still walked beside the lake. He saw more and more amazing animals like a flying squirrel and some deer with rabbit ears. All those walking soon made him tired. He was about to sit down a bit when something flew above his head. It wasn’t an animal but a frisbee soon caught by a brown hawk.
“Over here Leaf!” voice called.
Hawk flew back to a girl with brown hair. She seemed about his age dressed in an orange dress. When she got closer, she looked weirdly at him.
“You’re new right? Do you need any help?”
“How did you know?”
“Your spirit mate isn’t around. Did you got lost or something?”
“Actually no. I’m looking for place near the lake with rocks. I’d suppose to meet up with someone there.”
“You mean Os? He’s right over there.” she said while showing him a boy, sitting on the rocks not far away from it.
“Oh thank you miss.”
“No problem.” she said while throwing a frisbee again.
Alex quietly went near the place where Os was sitting. He was hiding his face behind arms, while wolf with golden fur stared at lake. When Alex got closer, wolf snarled a bit at him.
“Easy Hydro, don’t attack him.” Os said quietly.
Wolf calmed down and let him sit next to Os. Blond haired boy revealed his face behind his arms. Without asking, Alex knew Os was crying. His blue eyes were a way bigger than before and his cheeks were still a bit wet.
“For what happened… I don’t…”
“Forget about it. It doesn’t matter now.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“Why should I? After all, her mission was to save you plus she would be pretty mad if I’d be mad at you.”
“You two are pretty close… aren’t you?”
“More than anything. As twins we can also use anima abso.”
“What is that? I heard you mentioned it once.”
“It’s a special inner power, used only by twins. With it I can make a connection with her and even communicate. But I can’t use it through different dimensions.”
“So you two are so sort of telepathic twins? Can you also feel what she feels?”
“Actually I only feel a part. For example I feel really tired now and that means she’s unconscious. She got hit a lot while you two were escaping. I felt touches all over my body.”
“How is she right now? Can you feel that?”
“She’s unconscious with some injuries from EMBs that are slowly healing up. But I rather don’t wanna talk about this now. Tell me more about your escape.”
“Well, there isn’t much to tell. She came, meddled with security computers, dragged me through the corridors… oh yeah and in a broom room. There we talked a bit and… well we also kissed.”
“Right you… WTF??? You kissed my sister?! You little brat!” Os shouted while pushing Alex in the lake. “And I have just started to like you, you girl kissing freak!”
Alex split the water and tried to climb back on the rocks. He didn’t expect reaction like that.
“What the hell are you doing bro?” familiar voice asked.
“Sis! He… he kissed Roxy!” Os said like Alex did I don’t know what.
“Then she finally grew up.” Nikki smiled.
“But he… he…” he still complain.
“Don’t make a mountain from the molehill. It’s just typical growing up thing.” she said while helping Alex from the water. “And now if you be so nice.”
Os sighted and stretched his fingers. All the water from red haired boy collected in a bubble which fell back in the lake.
“Guess you have water powers…” he said.
“Alright, you two. We need to get to Nai’s house okay? You can argue some time later.”
Hydro took a form of a hawk and offendedly flew on Os’s shoulder while Misty stayed in wolf form, walking beside Nikki.
They all went towards another tree house that was right next to a beautiful waterfall. There were rainbows arching every second. Black haired girl knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” voice asked.
“We brought you the new Rookie, Alex Lander.” she replied.
“Let him come in.” voice said.
Door slowly opened.
“You need to go in alone.” Os whispered. “We’ll wait for you outside.”
“Right, thanks.”
Alex entered in a bit strange house. It seemed really mediaeval styled and dark. In a corner someone was sitting with some kind of bow in its hands. When he was about to go closer, Alex noticed a huge slim snake in a bright white color. It didn’t seem dangerous. Snake only gave him a look of curiosity. Person stood up and revealed itself as white haired man around twenty years old.
“Guess you’re Nai.” Alex slowly started.
“My actual name is Naiser, but everybody calls me Nai. Over there is Fluc, my spirit mate and if I’m not mistaken you came to get it too.” Nai said.
“Yeah, what do I need to do?”
“First at all I’ll give you this.” he said while giving him a bow made from wood. “That will be your Arrowblade, weapon which will you use to battle and defend. To discover your power you’ll need to do the first part of the test.” Nai said while going on the balcony.
Boy followed him on the balcony right next to the waterfall. He could felt some of the water drops on his face.
“If you look clearly on the waterfall, you can see a branch growing from it. There’s ring hanging from it. Use the bow and your inner power to shot it.”
“But I don’t have any arrows.”
“Use your inner power to summon it.”
He looked again at the ring. It was pretty far away, but he believed in himself and imagined like he’s setting an arrow on bow. In the same moment arrow appeared, much to his surprise. Shining arrow was prepared to hit the hanging target. He drew a deep breath and trigged it. Glowing arrow flew faster than anything and perfectly went through the ring. The moment it went through, Alex’s Arrowblade completely transform from a boring wooden one into a red one with many green shards. Nai was proudly watching the whole thing.
“Impressive. Only a few managed to get arrow through the ring at the first try.”
“Am I done?”
“With the first part, yes. Now try to fold it into a Trinty.”
“Trinity?”
“Necklace like this.” Nai said as he showed on a necklace around his neck. “Try to imagine that you’re closing a book.”
Boy started on a bow that turned into a triangle shaped necklace in only few seconds. Trinity was made from the shape of hawk with spread wings, stretched snake and wolf in the center.
“Trinity represents three of the greatest animals on the whole world. Hawk as the fastest bird of freedom. Wolf as the strongest mammal of the pure nature. And a water snake, the smartest and dangerous reptile in the ocean. In all three can your spirit mate can be turned into.”
Red haired boy tried to say something, but Nai was too fast.
“Which brings us to your last part.” white haired man said as he went to the cage made from glass. In it was a red glowing smoke. “Believe it or not, inside is a part of your soul. It has been here since your death, waiting for you. Now, to turn it into your spirit mate, you must do the trinity test. You’ll jump from the balcony into a lake, performing land-sky-water change while it will follow you. Without it, your spirit mate won’t be able to change forms. You ready?”
“I hope I am.” he said nervously. “Only one question, how it gets a name?”
“It will appear in your head as soon as you land in water.”
“Right I’ll go then.”
With those words he jumped from the balcony into a lake. Nai released red smoke from the glass cage which followed Alex into the water. As soon as he floated in water he looked at the smoke that slowly turned into a shape of a wolf. Moment later, he stared into a pair of yellow eyes which stared serious, but friendly too. His own spirit mate was floating just like he was.
Suddenly something started blinking in his head, almost like a cell phone. It kept whispering the name.
“Bla… ze…. Blaze…. Bl… aze.”
Blaze… that was the name of his spirit mate.
“Blaze? Are you really my spirit mate?”
“What makes you think I’m not?” wolf asked much to his surprise.
“I don’t know… “
“Are we gonna go on the surface or just float here?”
“We gonna go… but I don’t know which power do I have.”
“Really? How do you explain your glowing?”
Alex looked at his body and on the Blaze. They were both glowing in strong light.
“Your power is light, one of the strongest ones.” Blaze said as he looked towards the surface.
With those words they both swim towards the surface where Nikki and Os were waiting.
PS: Fluc ( Nai's spirit mate name ) is taken from latin word fluctus which means wave.