Across Worlds - Chapter 31 Part 1

Akia

George snuck a look at Akia before looking back at Phillip. "One thing you have to realize it that the future is a complicated thing. No one really knows what's going to happen. Not even us seers. I've seen definite things and I've seen things that are not so definite. Most of what I'm going to tell you is not so definite."

Sam wrinkled his nose. "How do you know?"

"Seers can't control their visions," George continued. "They come whether we're ready for them or not. And when they come, there are two kinds: definite and not so clear. The definite visions are crystal clear. In the image we can see faces and places, actions and decisions. The other visions are the complete opposite. The image is blurry. We can't see faces, only bodies. We can't see actions, only quick moving blobs. That means that something will happen, but it's going to change before it happens.

"I've had a lot of them lately, especially in the past year. Most of them, I think, were blurry. A few I remember are clear. I remember them because they're absolutely terrifying. I've seen a lot about Falyn and Rhys, but there are a lot about you, Akia."

Akia's heart pounded. Why was George having visions about her? She knew about the visions of Falyn and those made sense. Falyn had the power to defeat Rhys. Akia, on the other hand, was just along for the ride. She had volunteered to help Falyn accomplish what she was supposed to. Akia wasn't important enough for seers to have visions about her. Or was she?

"What kind of visions?" she asked, her voice full and strong. She wasn't about to show everyone how much the information upset her. There was already so much going on, she really didn't want more to deal with. But that's how it seemed to have been going lately. No matter what part they though they had gotten past, it came back to haunt them. It only made sense that these visions would rip a new hole in their plans.

George shrugged. "Not much. Just you fighting alongside Falyn, sneaking around the fortress. Looks like you're going to be more important than we thought."

"Great," she mumbled. Rhys had been nothing but terrible to her since their friendship fell through. She wanted nothing more than to stop him and put him under lock and key. He wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else that way.

But she wasn't looking forward to actually fighting him. Despite all their confrontations, she hadn't actually fought him. It had all been a battle of words and memories up to this point. She wasn't sure that she'd actually be able to fight him. When it came down to it, could she use the same torture spell on him that he used on her? She highly doubted it.

She chanced a look around the room. Nobody else seemed troubled by the news. Except for Sam, that is. He was giving her a look of pity, a look that showed he knew exactly how she felt. Just the thought of Sam feeling pity made her relax. They’d have time to talk after the meeting.

“Let’s start with what we know,” Phillip said addressing George. He almost sounded like he was a school teacher explaining a tough problem. “The most recent you saw was Falyn making it to Lightport. That obviously already happened. What else did you see?”

“Rhys walking through a destroyed Sedula.” George said.

“Sedula?” Akia interrupted. “Oh, God. No, no that’s not good. Not good at all.” She had meant to say it under her breath, but it came out a lot louder than that. Everyone turned to look at her.

“What’s not good?” Zeke asked, accusingly. It made her hesitate for a moment. She looked at him and was certain she saw something different in his face. Instead of his normal, jovial poker face, he looked like someone who had something to hide. It only made her hate him even more. But just as quickly as it was there, it disappeared.

“I just ran into Rhys,” she announced defiantly, her feelings toward Zeke fueling her comments. She wanted him to hear everything she was saying loud and clear. “On the back path through town. He was disguised as an old lady. It was a good disguise too. I didn’t realize it was him until he revealed himself.”

“What do you mean?” George asked.

Akia hesitated before answering. No one but Sam knew of what she was going to say. “He called me ‘Daughter of Kit’. No one else calls me that.”

Everyone fell silent. She hadn’t expected that exact reaction, but she had expected something like it. Kit was a very popular man in Vertfay and the efforts to fight off Rhys. Everyone knew what he did for them and, of course, the terrible things that Rhys did to him.

Akia still couldn’t understand why Rhys chose her father to capture. Kit was a nice man who never did anything to anyone. He wasn’t even high ranking. Sure he held a position in parliament once, but that was it. Rhys was going after the highest ranking people first. There were so many others he could’ve gone after. Not her father.

It was probably because he was her father. No matter what kind of job Kit had had, Rhys would’ve gone after him to get to Akia. And it had worked. The moment she heard that her father had been captured, she hurried off to save him. Of course in the end she was too late, but she had made the effort. Maybe Kit was actually thankful for that wherever he was.

It was at that moment that she realized just how much she hated everyone feeling bad for her. She could decipher the silence. No one wanted to speak because they were afraid she’d be broken again. She was not as delicate as they all saw her.

Kit was her father, true, but he was also a fighter just like Phillip. Everyone knew that there was a chance of him dying. No matter how he died and who murdered him, everyone should’ve been celebrating his life rather than mourning his death.

She’d have to convince herself to do so as well.

She cleared her throat. “Anyway, that’s not the point. He has the shapeshifters’ magic. That’s how he was able to transform himself. Well enough, I may add, that I didn’t recognize him.”

George’s face paled. “So that means…”

“Rhys took over Sedula,” Sam finished. “He has more than half of the worlds now.”

Conversations exploded from every point of the table. It was chaos. Akia couldn’t keep up with any of them. They all jumbled together in her mind, but little bits of each stood out occasionally.

“Only two more left.” Layna said.

“Wasn’t it our job to defend them?” George asked.

“This just makes it all worse,” Sam complained.

“Everyone shut up!” Phillip shouted. He didn’t need to raise his voice that much for everyone to get the idea. It was a small room. Not to mention, whatever Phillip says goes. “We can sit around talking about what we could’ve or should’ve done or we can take action.”

He looked around at all of them, no doubt looking for a reaction. What reaction he wanted, Akia had no idea. After a while, he continued. “If Rhys has Sedula, what do we know?”

Layna’s hand shot up into the air. Phillip looked surprised by the sudden motion. “It wasn’t exactly a question—"

“Rhys took over Sedula,” she answered anyway, rolling right over Phillip’s comment. The beam on her face looked like one a student would have that just answered a very complicated question. “There are only two worlds left to lose.”

Zeke smacked a hand on the tabletop, making Akia jump. “We’re not going to lose them. Rhys has destroyed our lives enough already. There isn’t anything else he’s going to do to jeopardize the way we live.”

There was a resounding amount of support from the others. Akia looked at Phillip, surprised. She hadn’t noticed how great the hate towards Rhys had become. Sure she had been away for years, but Phillip was still in communication with her during those years. If he saw the tide changing, he would’ve mentioned it.

Things hadn’t run so smoothly in those first few months once Lightport was established. Akia remembered how frustrated Phillip had become, feeling like he had no support or help. That’s why he asked her to be his second in command. He figured that a younger, more familiar face would do well. And it had. That’s when Akia started seeing the mission as her own as much as anyone else’s.

So despite the utter surprise at the enthusiasm, she was glad. They were all on board; they were in it no matter what. It would’ve been nicer to have it happen much earlier on, but she refused to be picky. This was the right time to take the fight to Rhys. And based on everyone’s reactions, they would agree.

Phillip raised a hand, effectively reclaiming silence. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but we can’t just launch an attack. We need a plan. And right now, we don’t know much. All we have are George’s visions and whatever knowledge we can get out of Falyn.”

George cleared his throat. “Actually, we have a lot more than that. I know where Rhys will be in the next few hours.”

Akia stared at him, dumbfounded. She didn’t know that seer magic could be used for such close events. “Where?”

He took a deep breath. “Vertfay. There are others with him including Niro and a little boy.”

“Seth,” Phillip said, nodding. “Rhys must’ve found a way in and took one of our own to rattle us.”

“Of course he found a way in,” Akia said almost exasperatedly. “I told you that already. Either the barrier spell is getting weaker or he found out where the weak spots are. Thank God I remembered where the one is that links to Agathi or we might not have made it back. Either way, this is a lot more complicated than we thought.”

Phillip nodded. “We’re going to have to put a lot of thought into it. And the, of course, we’ll have to get Falyn involved.”

“No.” Sam said quickly. The determination on his face was almost comical to Akia. She knew how much he wanted to keep Falyn safe. Or did, rather. He had seemed to be drifting away from her lately, but that still didn’t negate his job to keep her safe.

Phillip let out a sigh. “Sam, I know that you still want to protect the girl—"

“Damn right I do. Who wouldn’t?” Sam responded indignantly. “Especially after what George saw. Are you all really going to sit here and let Phillip send a girl we barely know off to her death?”

“But we do know her,” argued Layna. “She’s the moonstar. We’ve spent years tracking her down.”

“Oh right, the moonstar. Big deal. How many of you know Falyn Perez. How many of you know the girl that was torn from her family only to learn it wasn’t her real family? Who knows that Falyn?”

Akia couldn’t help but grin. Sam knew that Falyn’s death was certain. George had seen it clearly in a vision only a few months ago. Yet he was willing to change the future. Even if it couldn’t be done, he was going to try.

Akia hated to admit it, but she agreed with him. She didn’t want Falyn to die either – she didn’t want to watch anyone die – but she had been wrapped up completely in going along with whatever Phillip decided on doing. Maybe there was a way to change the future after all.

She couldn’t help but think of what she had told Rhys only a few days ago: The future is never set, there’s always time to change it.

Akia grinned. Time to start changing the future. But she knew she wouldn't be able to until Phillip was sure that she was going to do things his way. If he knew that she was going to try and find a way around his plan, he wouldn't be happy.

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For the LMS contest. Word count: 2,060