Jia spun around as she was floating in a void. She spun around and called out for Dylan but all she heard was the echo of her voice. Suddenly the void began to get color. A swirl of color and air surrounded her before she appeared in her a familiar setting that made her shake her head.
"No, no, no!" she screamed. She was in a well lit room in her aunt Camilla`s summer estate. There was huge queen size bed on one side, facing a balcony. The balcony doors were open and breeze blew through the room. The place looked occupied, anyone could tell that by the half eaten food on the coffee table, the clothes in the open dresser and the shoes lying on the floor near the bed. But she wasn't focused on that, she was focused on the little girl lying on the floor, crying and screaming as she watched her mother get tossed onto the floor, bleeding. A masked man stood over her kicking her again and again. The girl cried and tried to move but she couldn`t. It went on for a few minutes before the masked man took out a dagger and that Jia`s fell to her knees and sobbed.
"Please, stop! Leave her alone!"
The man didn`t waste any more time, he bent down and began stabbing the woman, over and over again. Blood splattered and gurgled screams were heard.
It wasn`t like this but sometimes, Jia would sometimes imagine that it happened like this. The man just kept stabbing and slashing her mother as she screamed for her daughter to help her but she couldn`t. She was weak and powerless. Her magic hadn't awakened and all she could do was watch her mother be ruthlessly tortured.
When she tried to turned away, she was greeted with the image of her friends getting eaten by the plant in the forest. It was their first field trip and she had failed to save them. She failed. Their strangled screams echoing in her ears and the sound of bones crunching haunted her in her dreams. Dreams that she could shake away if she tried enough but this was different. It felt real. But when she tried to run away from them, she was back in the room with her mother and the little six-year-old Jia.
Jia screamed and clutched her ears but the sound was now in her head.
"Stop! Please! Stop it!"Jia screamed but it still went on forever. She didn`t know how much time had passed but the screaming and the stabbing just got louder and louder. Each time, getting more and more unbearable.
She continued to cry and at some point she even tried screaming to block out the sounds. She didn`t even stop when she felt someone touch her shoulder. Her blue eyes flew open and she looked up to see Dylan`s face anxious face in front of her. He was watching her closely and trying to remove her hands but she refused. Her screaming wasn`t even deterring him. She didn`t want stop screaming because then she would have to hear her mama`s torture.
"Jia! Listen to me! It`s a trance, it`s not real!" Dylan exclaimed as he tried to pull her hands way and stop her from screaming. On the outside, Jia was in his arms withering and crying out. He needed to stop her before she screamed herself hoarse. Roy would kill him.
The white haired girl refused and kept shaking her head, "He`s killing her! He`s killing her!"
"No, he`s not, this isn`t real. It's the Baitaki, it`s a creature of nightmare. Please, you have to wake up or you'll die in this world!" Dylan tried to explain but Jia wasn`t accepting it or she just didn`t believe him. It must feel too real to her.
"It`s all my fault, it`s all my fault," she chanted and sniffed.
Dylan then held up her face," It`s not real! Jia!"
She continued to shake her head but before she could say something else, Dylan did something that she was sure the real Dylan would have never done. He leaned forward and kissed her hard.
Jia `s eye`s widened and the shook of it made it earlier for him to pull her hands away from her ears. When he realized that she had stopped moving, Dylan leaned away and whispered to her softly against her lips, "Wake up."
"Okay," she uttered brokenly as she gave in.
The scene around her disappeared and she suddenly fell in a dark void, clutching Dylan`s shirt. He pulled her against him and whispered to her to close her eyes. When it felt like she was going to hit something, Jia`s eyes flew open and she found that she was back in the forest. The sunlight hit her face before as she realized that she was lying on the ground in Dylan`s arms
Dylan was holding her in his lap. He had a cut on his forehead, his lip was bleeding and he looked like he had just been through a fight.
"Jia?" Dylan asked gently, his turquoise eyes looking very worried.
The sorceress sniffed before she burst out crying and Dylan pulled her against him to hug her tight," It`s okay, you got out. It`s okay."
She hiccupped, "It`s all my fault, if I had my magic that day she would still be alive, I could have saved her, I could have-"
"No, listen to me," Dylan stopped her, Jia clung to him tightly as he spoke," It wasn't your fault. You were not expected to do anything. You were a kid. Not a fully trained Sorceress. There was nothing you could do."
"But my mama-"
Dylan interrupted her and made her pull away so she could see how serious he was, "Did what she could to protect you, that is what mother`s do. They do everything they can to protect their children."
"It was horrible Dylan. The stabbing sound, it`s still there and I can`t get it out of my head!" she sobbed. Dylan allowed her to cry and pulled her back against him. She clung to him until her sobs finally quieted down.
Dylan looked around at the scene before him, the Psi-Leopards were knocked out and as was the Baitak but it had taken all him strength to put take them down.
Even then the hard part still wasn`t done. After he had knocked out the Baitak, Jia was still in her trance and crying out. Usually a victim would be free as soon as the creature was dead or knocked unconscious but this wasn`t the case with Jia. The nightmare was too real for her to break out. She was trapped. That only left him with one choice. He had to go in and get her. A knight wouldn`t be able to do it, they would need a sorceress but Jia was dying in that Nightmare realm so he had to do the what he swore to the Headmaster he would never do.
He used his magic.
But now that Jia was out and safe, the next important thing was getting her back to Roy and the others in one piece, the rest would follow through later.
Finally, when Jia felt that she had cried herself raw, she pulled away and wiped her face with the back of her hands. Luckily she was wearing her black water proof gloves today so they could absorb the tears she had just shed. She paused a she took in her surroundings and the knocked out creatures, "Dylan, did you do all this…?"
"It`s nothing, are you feeling okay to walk?" Dylan quickly asked.
Jia blinked at him, "I-"
"Never mind," He said as he stood up and hoisted her up in his arms. He then walked over to where is swords and bag were and asked her to pick them up for him. She nodded and did as he asked. When she questioned him about the monster, she was surprised by his answer.
"Leave them for the forest to deal with," he replied impassively.
He then began to walk with Jia in his arms. Every once in while she would start to tremble and Dylan would stop and watch as she got her emotions under control again before they resumed their journey. Finally, she spoke up to him," You`re hurt?
Dylan glanced at her to see that she was now noticing the injure is he sustained," It`s nothing."
Jia looked downcast, "You got hurt because of me."
"No," Dylan said sharply, making Jia look up at the Knight," I got hurt in a fight trying to protect someone I care about, nothing wrong with that."
"Thank you," she told him with sincerity.
Dylan smiled down at her," No problem."
Jia sighed sadly, as Dylan carefully stepped over a rotten log in their path," Some vacation trip, huh?"
"It had its fun moments," the Knight commented," The jungle surfing was cool."
"Seriously?"
Dylan nodded, "Don`t write this trip off so soon, we still have tomorrow and tonight."
"Still, maybe I should just stay inside since I keep attracting danger wherever I go,"Jia muttered sadly.
"Then everyone will want to stay back as well. This is your birthday trip and no one would want to enjoy it without the birthday girl there."
She watched him for a moment before blurting out," Why`d you kiss me?"
Dylan smirked at her," I didn`t kiss you. Technically, my astral projection kissed you."
"I`m serious Dylan."
The Knight paused as he nodded at something ahead of them. Jia frowned and turned to see all their friends standing around a pier leading out to a lake with a tour guide there," We made it."
The pier had a long line of jet skis and a ferry bobbing out in the water. There was a small Station House there with seats for people to lounge and enjoy the lake view if they wanted.
"Yeah," Dylan said softly. However, before he could continue towards their friends, Jia made him stop.
"You still haven`t answered my question," the teenager pointed out.
"Because you thought the dream was real and you weren't listening to me. Pleading and explaining to you would have taken time and by then you would be gone," Dylan explained as he put Jia down and made she sure she saw steady on her feet," I needed to do something out of the ordinary to wake startle you from the vision. "
"You could have slapped me or punch me?" Jia pointed out. Anything but kissing her.
Dylan gave her a hard stare," I could never hurt you."
"No, I don`t think you would," Jia said with a smile.
Dylan then jerked his chin as he assisted her down the everyone.
Cole was the first one to see them," Hey! They made it!"
"Jia! Dylan! Over here!" Zoey yelled and jumped up and down to get their attention. Everyone cheered and laughed until the pair got closer and they took a look at Dylan`s face.
"Goddess, what happened to you?" Tristan bit out as he approached his friend and scanned him for other injures.
"Ran into some forest creatures that didn`t appreciate the fact that I had broken a tree branch, got attacked and we ran here," Dylan lied smoothly and Jia turned to him sharply. Why didn`t he want the others to know what had happened to them?
The boys swore and girls fused over him as the tour guide offered to assist with a first Aid. As Tristan led his friend over to bench to sit so that he could be treated, Roy reached out to clutch his cousin`s shoulder," You Okay?"
Jia turned to her cousin with a tired smile," Y-yeah, that tour just…took a lot out of me. Do you mind if I sit out the lake ride?"
"No, I`ll take you back home, to the Rach House," Roy said.
He then told everyone to go ahead with the boat ride as he would be taking Jia home. However, they were not going alone, Tristan and Dylan joined them with Tristan citing that he would watch over Dylan. Jia left with the promise that she would still go dancing with everyone tonight.
Once she got to her own room, she sat in her shower crying softly to herself as the water drowned out her sobs.