"Is she going to be ok?"
"I believe so; I think she had a shock or something?"
"So this shitty dump used to be your home?"
"Ignore him, he doesn't mean that. And you, please behave."
"It doesn't matter, are you sure she would soon awake?"
"I am positive, I'm surprised she hasn't awoken yet."
"Wait, I think she's waking up. Aadya?" My body is lifted into a sitting position, the upper part of my body is placed to rest against a soft surface, I let myself relax into what feels like a pillow.
Light stream into my eyes which makes me shut them, I try again to open my eyes this time I do it slowly, it helps my eyes adjust to the intense light.
"How do you feel?" Before I could say anything in response to Dion's question he places a plate filled with clear water and urges me to drink, I didn't realize how thirsty I am until a drop of the water touched my tongue.
I let the water flow down my throat greedily and let out a satisfied sigh when I swallowed the last drop, "Do you feel better?"
"Yes, I do. What happened to me? And where are we?" I notice how old and unused the room is, everything is black covered with dust and ashes, even the walls.
At that moment I realize that this place had been burnt by fire not recently, maybe that's why it is old and abandoned.
"We are unaware of the reason you fainted…" I hear Twist cough from the corner of the room he is standing, I smile at him to show my recognition of him, a smile he returns wholeheartedly, my eyes wander from the golden brown-haired fairy to his counterpart whose eyes became slits as it looked back at mine.
His eyes make me wonder what I ever did to deserve this intense hate from its owner.
"… However, Twist believes you had a shock while you had recalled something in your memory while I believe you were just tired." Everything comes rushing back to my mind and I remember exactly what had been on my mind before I had fainted.
The reminder comes with a bitter taste on my tongue but I swallow the bitter truth down along with my saliva in hopes that they don't see the truth I am hiding within me.
They all look at me expectantly, oh they must have been arguing about the reason for my loss of consciousness, if I tell the truth and make Twist right then they would want to know what it is that had caused me such distress, something I very much would rather not do.
If I go along with Dion's assumptions which is a lie because I wasn't and still aren't tired I wouldn't have to tell them this horrible truth that had somehow been hidden at the deepest part of my being without my consent.
So I smile, something warm, tired and believable, "I was tired sorry I gave you all trouble." Dion turns to look behind him to give a triumphant smile to Twist to which Twist rolls his eyes.
During their exchange Oliver's gaze doesn't leave my face, it��s as though he is trying to search within my soul for my secret, so I remove my eyes away from his quickly before he somehow finds out I am lying and call me out.
"Thank you all for carrying me on the journey, I'm sorry you had to." Dion turns to look at me with a smile on his face, his green eyes which I am trying to get familiar with, it carries happiness within them along with care? No that's not possible, the thought makes me feel uncomfortable so I move away from him so that I could stand on my feet.
"You're welcome. Oliver helped too." Well cry me a river, burst my bubbles and throw me kia! Doesn't he hate me? So why would he help me? Much more carry me? The look of astonishment is too great to be hidden from my facial expression, this causes them all to laugh. Everyone except Oliver, that's not surprising.
"Yes, believe it or not, much to the displeasure of Dion he carried you for the remainder of our journey, he had claimed it to be because Dion would slow us down, but I believe he had other reasons." The teasing smile Twist wears on his face as he looks at Oliver who seems to have a sudden intense fascination with the dust-covered floor.
This is a conversation I would preferably end now because it's getting very uncomfortable for not only me but others as well, everyone except Twist apparently, the tension in the air tells it all.
"Where exactly are we anyway?" My eyes look around the old rusty room, things are thrown around the room, something I recognize as a mirror is in pieces and scattered on the floor next to the wall at the corner of the room, my eyes try to take in every inch of the room then moves up.
"We're in your old room Aadya."
"What?" I remove my attention from the ceiling that has nothing left but black burnt wood and a couple of holes in the roof to look in the eyes of Dion begging him silently to take back what he just said.
"Try to stay calm please, we know it would be a lot for you to take in but please you must try to be strong, we're in your home."
"You mean what's left of it." All our eyes fall on Oliver, none carrying pleasure in them towards his harsh inconsiderate words, all to which he shrugs in response and proceeds to walk out the room.
I close my eyes and take in deep breaths as I try to come to terms with what has turned from a horrible scary possibility to an unbearable reality.
Breathe in breathe out, in-out, in-out, and I try to focus on only my breathing.
Oh, who on Mu am I deceiving? I can't stay calm! This is horrible! If my room is in this state how is the rest of the kingdom? And where is everyone? Where's my family? If they were here wouldn't they have been beside my bed waiting for me to wake up? They would have been here, wouldn't they?
"Where are they?" My voice had come out so low almost a whisper, I strongly doubt they heard me.
"No one is here, we already went through the villages." Twist answers me while Dion refuses to look at me, he just stands there with his arms folded across his chest.
"Where's Arcotos?" My canis better be safe or all hell will break loose.
"He went out to nature's toilet and I think from there he would hunt for some small creatures to make a meal out of." This time Dion answers my question.
Hearing of Arcotos' safety calms me down, he is not here with me but that doesn't mean something bad had happened to him, so it should be the same for my family and maybe the rest of the kingdom.
Wait! That's it! They all must have fled when the land was under attack and my uncle being the leader that he is must have gathered everyone to build a new home but this time I'm sure it must be a place that is secret knowledge.
How will I find them now? Maybe this is why Ambrose and Dana believe they are all dead, but they aren't, they must only be hiding and keeping their location secret to avoid more attacks from the same beings who attacked us or other beings who decide to.
Wow, so they were saying the truth, the truth they believe based on the information they could acquire. I don't know what to make of that.
Standing in my old room that had been burnt down brings back good and bad memories, the good ones leaves a nostalgic feeling, I remember how I kept running in and out of that door, I look at the wall where my supposed secret passageway had always been and should be.
Those days where I had no fear, had no doubt, no pain, no stress, no worries, truly being a child is bliss, being ignorant of the troubles of this world is bliss.
My life hasn't been the same since I last went through that door, apparently, the attackers had set the castle ablaze in a fire if not why is my room burnt to the point I couldn't recognize it.
What would have happened if I didn't go through this door? Would I have been with my family and the rest of our people in the hidden city they must have built by now, hidden away from the rest of Mu to protect themselves?
Or would I have died and not gotten the chance to have the possibility to see my family once more? I already lost five years of my life being in a sleep that seemed endless, I can't lose more years of my life to feeling sorry for myself. I should find my family.
But how? How do I find people who are hiding their existence from the face of the world?
"Aadya!?" I jolt out of the abyss of my thoughts and look at Dion because it had been his voice I heard.
"Huh?"
"We have to go, something is very wrong." My eyebrows draw towards each other to join my eyes in conveying the emotions that leave no doubt on my confusion.
"We must leave now, we can talk later." I turn to look at Twist who looks to be in great distress.
Dion begins to move some fallen debris and kia blocking the foot of the hidden door that leads to the secret passageway, why must we follow that place, the last time we went down that path my life changed for the worse forever.
Despite my displeasure, I silently follow them through the door when Dion had opened it and Twist runs through it then Dion shuts the door behind us.
We are left in darkness and fear of the unknown, what is it that had gotten the both of them shaken up like this? The three of us standing here reminds me of the last time I stood here with Dion, Felicity and Arcotos. I push these ugly thoughts to the back of my mind, the last thing we would need is my fainting and someone having to carry me while running away from whatever it is that has them scared.
"Let's go." I reach into the darkness to where I hope Dion's arm is to hold him back from moving forward.
"Twist wait, what's wrong Aadya?" I ignore the fact that he didn't call me princess because there are more important things that I need to address.
"What about Arcotos and Oliver? And what exactly are we running from?"
"Twist heard the calls of the Kolufos nearby, it is not safe for us to be here." He dodged my first question and that doesn't sit well with me.
"Where are Oliver and Arcotos?" It doesn't make sense to me that Twist would eagerly abandon his companion like that, after all, he only stepped out moments ago.
"We don't know ok? Arcotos will definitely be fine because they don't eat animals only beings like us. Oliver will be fine too because he has the power of invisibility." His answer satisfies my curiosity, I hope they really don't eat animals because Arcotos has to be alright, he just has to.
Without more words being exchanged between us we make our way down the cold dark passageway with prayers in our hearts to our gods for protection, personally, I am not ready to be eaten by some Korowai tribe that I knew nothing about until recently.
I run my hands across the stone walls to guide me and I'm sure they are doing the same thing.
What are these beings doing here if there is no one living here anymore? Besides, during my entire years of age, I had spent here not once have our people come across this tribe, so how come all of a sudden they are here now?
"Twist?"
"Yes?"
"If Oliver's power is invisibility, what is yours?"
"I can fly."