Across Worlds - Chapter 23 Part 1

Akia

Her eyes flickered open to the blinding white light that filled the room. She squeezed them shut to block it out, but it just clouded her dark vision. She couldn’t escape it.

The memories had stopped, thank God. The last one she remembered was Rhys’s final warning that she should stay out of his way. At that moment she wasn’t willing to stand back and watch everyone else fight. But now that she was lying in the infirmary only half conscious, she was seriously considering it.

“Akia, you have a visitor.”

Akia relaxed under the soft voice of the nurse. The girl had to be only twenty, twenty-one years old. She wasn’t like the other nurses, old and usually grumpy. It was the older women in Lightport that were usually the nurses. Mainly since everyone younger than thirty was in training.

Akia opened her eyes, trying to ignore the sharp pain the light caused her, and picked up her head to see Phillip standing over her.

“Hey, kid,” Phillip said, a rare grin on his lips. “Feeling alright?”

“Not well enough to fight.”

Phillip chuckled and sat on the side of her bed. “I’m not asking you to fight. I just want to make sure you’re okay. Those pellets are something nasty.”

“I know,” she groaned, letting her head fall back onto the pillow. The pillow engulfed her in a soft cloud, helping fight off the pounding headache. “But why? I know how the pellets work, I think, but why do they affect me like this?”

“It’s all energy. Each pellet is jam packed with it. And energy affects magic. Magicians were once mages, which means their magic came from that energy. So when the pellets enter your system it feeds on the energy already inside of you. That’s how it kills you. It all eventually builds up and then when it becomes too much, it explodes. It’s actually quite nasty.”

He added the last part in a small voice, as if he suddenly realized that what he was saying was only making Akia feel worse. She didn’t want to hear about energy exploding inside of her. She didn’t want to hear that there was no way to survive.

No; she wanted answers. Phillip was one of the smartest and most powerful magicians. Surely he’d have some kind of answer for what was going to happen to her.

“So I’m going to die?” Akia asked in such a quiet voice that she wasn’t sure even Phillip would’ve heard her. But saying it louder would’ve made it absolute. And she wasn’t ready for that.

Phillip looked away nervously. “No. There are people that have survived it.”

“But no one’s survived the exposure that I’ve had.” Akia guessed. Her heart dropped when Phillip shook his head. There was a part of her that knew she had no chance of surviving. She wanted to think otherwise, though.

What would death be like? She hoped it would come quickly. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to cope with any more suffering. Nothing in her life had been this terrible.

“So,” Akia said, trying to distract herself from the terrible thoughts swirling through her mind. “Falyn’s okay? Did the pellets affect her too?”

Phillip shifted. “She’s fine. They didn’t get her as much as they got you. Not sure why, really. She woke up with some amnesia.”

“I was out,” she realized suddenly. “How long was I out?”

“Two days. Falyn was out that long too.”

“Damn,” she muttered. “Do you know how much we could’ve gotten done in that time? Falyn still doesn’t know exactly what’s going on…”

“We’ll take care of that,” Phillip said. “I pulled up George and Layna. They still have a lot of training to complete, but we need more people. Rhys isn’t going to come to the fight without a horde of Hund Warriors.”

Akia’s heart stopped at the sound of George’s name. She knew him all too well; they had trained together. He wasn’t exactly the best person for the job.

The last time she had seen George was four years ago. They had been assigned to stalk out Rhys’s fortress.

George was always a strong headed kid. He was only twelve at the time, just old enough to start training. Despite his young age, Phillip had been training him for years before. His parents decided to move to the edge of the world and left George in Phillip’s care. Akia felt bad for the kid. Her parents were taken from her years ago, but she couldn’t begin to compare her feelings to how George must have felt being basically abandoned by his parents.

Before she could stop it, another memory flashed through her mind. It was another one she had buried deep within her subconscious. She tried her hardest to fight it, but it poked right through.

“That’s it?”

“Shh,” she reprimanded. “Yeah, that’s it. But if you don’t quit talking we’re gonna be found out.”

She and George were squatting behind a small set of bushes outside the gates that led to Rhys’s fortress. It was a large building that reminded Akia of a castle. But instead of grandiose architecture and brilliant beauty, it was made of hard, gray material and arranged in several square sections. There were barely any windows and the ones that were there opened up nothing but darkness to the world.

He fortress was anything but welcoming.

Hund Warriors stalked the hill in front of the building, large batons in their hands. Akia knew that they barely used them, but when they did it was a dangerous hit to take – she had been in enough fights with them in her lifetime. The batons were almost as dangerous as any magic that the Warriors might’ve held within their hearts.

They each wore the same outfits that they always did: those black robes that covered up a purple top and purple pants. Didn’t they ever get tired of wearing the same thing?

Just as Akia was planning a way into the fortress, the front doors swung open with a definite creak. Rhys himself stepped out, looking around the hill area.

“Men, assemble.” He snapped. The Warriors followed orders immediately, abandoning their patrol and gravitating to their leader.

“Now’s our chance,” George whispered excitedly. “They’re all distracted. We can sneak in easily.” He moved to get up, but Akia pulled him back down.

“Are you stupid? Don’t you see Rhys standing right there? Do you think he’s just gonna let us by?”

George hesitated. “Maybe he won’t see us?”

She gave him such an intense glare that he squirmed in his spot. She brought a finger to her lips and turned her attention back to Rhys.

“I have a very special job for you,” he said, his smooth voice resonating throughout the area. “And you must not fail me. Failure will result in something much worse than your greatest nightmares.”

His threat was so real and sincere that Akia could feel fear creeping up her spine. She knew what he was capable of. And she knew that he wouldn’t hold back, even against his own men.

“You all know those that are opposing us.” He paused, no doubt waiting for the Warriors to respond. When they remained silent, he continued. “They’re looking for us. I’m sure they’ve sent their scouts by now so you need to keep an extra close eye out. If anyone makes it past that gate, you have failed.

“I expect you to start with those two.”

Akia’s mouth dropped as Rhys’s finger pointed directly to where she and George were hiding. How had he known that they were there? It was impossible.

“Well there goes our cover,” George grumbled. “Time to take action, huh?” He closed his lips tight, but there was a certain twinkle in his eye. Akia couldn’t believe it; this skinny, frail, twelve year old was actually looking forward to a fight.

Akia’s eyes darted from one Hund Warrior to the other. As she studied them, she realized the confusion in their eyes. They had no idea what Rhys was talking about. They didn’t know where she and George were hiding.

“George,” she hissed. “We can still make it out—" She stopped short as the boy jumped up from his spot and rushed to the gates. He wrapped his hands around the bars. After a few seconds, they began to melt until there was a puddle of cool metal at his feet.

Akia cursed under her breath and followed him out. Making rash decisions was her forte. He could’ve at least waited for her mark before rushing off to a suicide mission.

The battle was a blur, lights flashing through the dark night, nearly missing both her and George. Adrenaline took over as she fought through the Warriors, forcing her way closer to Rhys.

But as each Warrior fell, another emerged and took its place. It was too much for the two of them.

Before they knew it, they were surrounded. Akia was ready to fight her way out, but she lost all nerve when Rhys walked forward. There was something about him that made her lose all nerve. She had always seen the evil deep within him, even when they were still friends. It was that side of him that made her most terrified.

“What did you expect? Thought you could just waltz in and destroy everything?” He chuckled and looked at George. “Guess they don’t train ‘em as well as they used to.”

“Leave him alone,” Akia growled. “He’s just a kid.”

“I’m no kid,” George said resentfully. “I’m almost thirteen.”

“Well then,” Rhys said, a cold smile danced across his lips. “You wouldn’t mind if I treated you like an adult then, right?” He held out his palm, green light burning there.

Akia pulled herself out of her memories before she could hit something tragic. She had already seen memories that she thought were buried forever. Anything else would just make the pain worse.

She turned to look at Phillip. “Why do these memories keep coming back?”

He looked at her curiously. “Memories?”

“I remembered my family… and Rhys. And just now I remembered when Rhys tortured George and ther was nothing I could do. I’ve tried so hard to forget those memories. Why are they back?”

Phillip shrugged. “I guess the pellets have been really weighing you down. It takes a lot for you to forget stuff like that. With your guard down, your mind finds things for you to dwell on.”

But Akia didn’t want to dwell on the past. It was the past for a reason. There was no point on dwelling on the mistakes of her past self.

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For the LMS contest. Word count: 1,790