CHAPTER 3
Gosh… It's been a while since I stepped out into the city. I'd almost forgotten how beautiful Cyprus was." I said to myself as I got to the heart of Cyprus, the centre of the hustle and bustle. The academy was on the outskirts and students rarely ever had any reason to leave since all our needs were catered for. So I hadn't stepped out since my mum transited… four years ago.
I remembered walking these streets with my mum. Getting ice-cream, sampling pastries at JoJo's bakery – I wondered if it was still where it used to be –, waiting for her outside her agency after kindergarten battle practice on Fridays… a part of me really wished mum was still here with me. Even though I understood the necessity of her transiting and even despite the ooh's and aah's attached to having a parent who had transited, I still missed her. A lot.
I remember all the plans we had made for when I finally became a battle angel, we were supposed to go shopping for matching suits, have a battle gear photoshoot, and she'd even said we could go on missions together if she talked to the right people. I stopped as I passed by a gear shop, I couldn't help but stare through the glass at the matching-gear section…
"At least she sent me a package," I sighed, continuing my journey, "So I have something to be grateful for." I squinted at the sun as I headed to the teleporting station, wishing Mira had come along with me. She'd gone off to 'run some errands', saying she would meet me at the ceremony or if she was quick, at the station. Only heaven knew what she was up to now.
Grrrrrrrrrr my stomach grumbled. I stopped walking. " Oh no… ugh.. Now I have to get something to eat before heading to the station..." I guess I couldn't risk being hungry on my first day anyway. In my excitement I hadn't wanted to eat before leaving.
I looked around for a cafe or something.
"Wow, has it been that long since I came out to the city? I don't recognize any of these shops..."
It's situations like this Mira came in very handy… ugghh! I looked around for someone to ask for directions.
"Hello, I'm so sorry to disturb you sir but could you please point me in the direction of any restaurant around?" I asked an old man in front of me, he was cleaning and opening up his shop.
"Good morning to you my dear." He smiled, pausing in the act of shaking out a rug.
"Good morning!" I replied briskly, holding back a sneeze.
"I know a fine restaurant around," he turned and pointed, "It's just around that corner, it's called Brass and Copper."
"Oh thank you so much!" I smiled, and turned towards the direction he had given me, about to hop to it.
"Young lady!" he cried, I stopped mid-sprint and turned to face him, my smile faltering, I wondered what it was, had my gown ripped?
"Be careful out there, today is going to be heavy on you, be as careful as you can be." The old man shot me an ominous look and disappeared into his shop.
"Wha–?... Well that was really intense. He sounded so normal in the beginning, why switch to creepy?" I mumbled, "Eh well." I turned and sprinted off as I felt my stomach rumble again.
Why did I feel though in a deep corner of my mind that the man wasn't wrong? What could his warning have meant?
As I stopped in front of the – quaint looking – restaurant my stomach growled again. What the heeecckk though? I patted my midsection as I pushed open the door, shaking my head at my overly dramatic digestive system,
"Calm down babe, we're here already."
"Welcome to Brass and Copper! A place where fun is created with food!"
The cutest mascot I had ever seen greeted me.
"Woah, Hey! Thank you!" I replied with the same energy as I helped myself to a seat not far from the door.
"What would you like to eat?" The mascot asked, grinning from ear to ear in his yellow suit, his grin was all I could see of him because of his costume.
"Hmm.. can I have your menu? I'm new here, so I don't really know what to order."
"Oh you should have said so earlier!" He exclaimed, "Mark! There's a newbie here and your attention is needed!"
"Who's Mark?" I asked, pleasantly confused – this felt like special treatment. Did newbies get free food or something? Well that would be so cool.
"It's a surprise!" he announced before running off to the back.
A really really cute guy walked out of the kitchen wearing an apron minutes later and walked up to me,
"Hi, I'm Mark! You must be the lucky customer for today." His smile was out of this world… perhaps he was an angel too.
"Indeed I am." I responded with a bit of nervousness.
"Mind telling me your name?" Mark asked.
"I'm Ayra."
"That's such a pretty na– wait. Don't tell me you're Ayra Sharma?" he stuttered, his eyes going wide.
Here we go again. I almost rolled my eyes. This was one of the reasons why I hadn't stepped out of school in four years.
"Yes I am." I replied, managing to keep my smile in place.
"Wow! The Ayra Sharma, in Brass and Copper? Today is definitely going to be good!" He looked so excited.
I wondered if there was anyone in Cyprus who didn't know about my mother and what she'd done.
"Do you mind if I called my brother Mask to witness this? He was the mascot you met earlier." he pleaded turning around to yell out his brother's name.
"Oh wow, um, you wanna know something real quick? I'm really really hungry right now, and I have to get somewhere fast, so how about we save this for another day? I promise, I'll be back to eat here. Your brother's costume is the cutest, there's no way I'd want to miss seeing that again! So if you could just let–" I reached out for the menu tucked underneath his arm, " –meee have the menu, hehehe."
"Oh, uh.." he turned back to face me.
"Or you know what, do you have fries?" I stopped mid-reach, "Fries! I could just have fries."
"Oh yeah we do."
"Nice! Could I get fries and chicken with a fruit smoothie?"
"Sure, definitely." His smile went back to a thousand watts, "Your fries, chicken and smoothie will be ready in a sec!" He turned and hurried back to the kitchen.
I stared out the window as I waited for the food, my fingers tapping at the table involuntarily. I just got really cautious of time now because I remembered that aside from the ceremony this morning, I had to appear at the embassy for an emergency meeting before proceeding with the others to our various new stations.
"Your food is ready." Mark announced as he placed the tray of food before me. I wondered if there were no waiters.
"Thanks Mark." I smiled up at him, grateful for the deliciousness before me. All I could think about at that moment was devouring the food.
"You're welcome! And since you're our first customer today and it's your first time here, your meal is on us!"
"Oh my gosh Mark! Thank you so much!" The only thing more delicious than delicious food was delicious free food! And boy was I glad.
Mark chuckled, "Oh no worries, enjoy! And I will be at the counter if you need me."
I nodded vigorously, trying to smile through the handful of fries already in my mouth. Mark laughed and went off to the counter.
I consumed the food faster than I think I'd ever done before. The chicken was so crispy, and the smoothie was like ambrosia! Gosh I was definitely eating here again.
I looked up and saw Mark heading towards my table again. It was then I realised how very unladylike I must look, with chicken grease all over my face and hands.
"What was it with this guy and making me feel embarrassed?" I asked myself as I grabbed a napkin quickly, ready to run off to the ladies' room to make myself prim and proper again.
"Whoa, that was fast you must have really worked up an appetite today." Mark pointed out as he got to my table.
"Well yeah," I stood up, scraping my chair backward over the ground.
"And as a matter of fact I need to use the um powder-room or restroom or bathroom… Whatever you call it here. Hehe."
"Oh okay, it's the first door you see by the left once you go through that passage." he told me, pointing towards a door to our left.
"Thank you!" I raced quickly to the door and immediately I felt very dizzy. I must have stood up too fast, I thought as I steadied myself against the door frame. Suddenly I felt my heart clench tightly… something bad was about to happen… I pushed myself forward towards the restroom door. Bang! I barged into the door before I could open it, almost falling to the ground but Mark caught me.
"Hey, are you feeling okay or am I going to have to call a doctor?" he asked.
"I'm fine, thank you. I won't need that, I was just having a moment." I told him as I steadied myself, the dizziness not having left entirely.
"Sure didn't look like a moment to me." he muttered as he straightened, taking his hands off my shoulders.
"I said I am fine!" I yelled, then turned, slamming the door in his face.
"Woah! No need to get aggressive, I was just trying to help! Gosh what is it with girls these days? So mean." I heard him mutter. I stood in front of the mirror, trying to steady my breathing.
"I'll be by the counter if you need me." He said as I heard his footsteps recede.
What was going on with me? I felt my chest tighten again, I sucked in air as I felt as though every cell in my body was on fire. I gripped the sink hard as my legs shook and I continued to gasp for air.
"Ayra." I heard a voice call out from the mirror, my head whipped up, but it was just my reflection I could see,
"Ayra we don't have time hurry!" I looked around, there was no one here with me. What was going on? Was I having a vision? I couldn't help but also notice that the voice sounded very familiar… almost like mine.
I straightened a bit as I realised the knot in my chest was easing.
"Who are you and what do you want from me?" I asked, my voice steady despite the episode I was having, my eyes boring straight into the mirror. I hadn't trained as a battle angel for seventeen years for nothing.
"I am you." the voice said, dropping down to a whisper. Immediately my image in the mirror morphed into another person's. Well not quite… the person looked exactly like me, just… dressed differently. A lot differently. Like an opposite twin. Was that red streaks in her hair?
"I mean no harm Ayra and if you want to live, or you want to have a future here in Cyprus, you are going to have to do exactly what I tell you to do. There is someone after you and when I say someone, I don't mean just one person." She said to me, looking me dead in the eye.
I shook my head, and shut my eyes tight as though trying to shake off this madness I was experiencing and hearing.
"What do you mean by there are people after me? I've been in battle school nearly all my life, what could I have done to stir up trouble?"
"You haven't, but mum did. Tamak is still alive, he just isn't in this realm, and he wants you dead."
I almost laughed. No longer feeling like my legs would give up on me at the slightest provocation, I straightened completely and took my hands off the sink, folding them across my chest.
"Before you get into all the dirty details, I need to know who the hell you are, how we look so damn alike and why I should trust you."
"Who I am? Well that's easy, but don't tell me you still haven't figured it out by now. I am you Ayra, from the future."
"Me? From the future?" I laughed outrightly this time around. "Oh please."
"I knew you weren't going to believe me, so I came prepared. Ask me something only two of us could know."
"Well okay." I chuckled thinking for a bit.
"Okay tell me a secret I regret its occurring."
"Losing your V-card to Wrongo. We call him Wrongo because he was the wrongest guy ever and saying his name is a trigger."
My smile fell. The intensity in her voice and manner was exactly like mine would have been if I were to be the one that had said it. No one could fake the hurt in her eyes that mirrored mine. And I hadn't told anyone about Wrongo… not even Mira. Sure she'd suspected at some point but I hadn't given her any reason to confirm her suspicions… wow..
"O…kay… fine, I guess I… believe you." I said after several moments. "Now can you explain what exactly is going on?" I mumbled.
"Like I said earlier, Tamak is still alive and he is coming after you, I mean, us."
"Why?" I only realised the stupidity of that question after I asked it. Of course Tamak would want to kill me, I was the daughter of the one who had defeated him. If he was still alive like… Ayra said, he would want revenge.
"Apparently we are the key to reviving an ancient war. Mum didn't tell us this and I had to find out myself. The hard way. She was pregnant with us during the war of Cyniem. And eventually it was our birth that brought the peace, between Cyprus and Niem, so taking us out would end the peace and reveal Niem and its darkness. Initiating the Dark Apocalypse. Basically, the end of the world as we know it."
"Niem… this can't be true." I breathed.
"Yes, Niem does exist. That is why I am here."
"B- but we were all told by the agency during training that it was destroyed after my mum defeated Tamak."
My reflection gave a dry laugh, "The agency has done more brain-washing than you can imagine Ayra." She sighed, "Do you have the orb that mum sent to us for our birthday which happens to be today?"
"Yes I have it, but it's not here with me, its back at the hostel."
"We're going to need to get it, but first we need to create a new you."
"A new me?" I exclaimed "Sister there is no way I'm dressing like that!" I gestured at her badass come-fuck-me-if-you-can get-up.
Her lip curved a bit like she remembered some kind of inside joke, "I meant a clone." she assured me.
"Oh… oh okay, so how do we do that?"
"Watch me." And boom! She was no longer in the mirror but right beside me. My eyes widened as I looked from her to the mirror then back again, my hair whipping in my face as my head turned.
She smirked at me, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Gosh.. she looked like such a hot badass I had serious trouble believing this was 'future me'. Where do I get off wearing such a tight and revealing catsuit? Was the plan to seduce Tamak or something?
"We come from a line of blood witches." she said.
I blinked, "Blood what now?"
She chuckled, "Oh this is going to be fun. There's so much you don't know. Ha!"
Then she let out a loud laugh. Which sounded almost like a cackle?
"Awon Omo aye okin se eni ibi." she closed her eyes and began to chant, her hands cupped in front of her and beginning to glow red. I was dumbstruck and blurted the first thing that came to mind.
"Why do we need a clone?"
Hey eyes flew open, "Powerful assassins have been hired to take you out today so instead of –"
"– me, my clone is the one that would die." I interrupted, finishing her – my – sentence. "So we are kind of tricking the tricksters."
"Nice. I'm glad you understand. Now the spell is almost done, don't interrupt me again." She warned.
"Awon Omo aye okin se eni ibi."
She chanted severally, a red mist forming beneath her hands.
"Done." She declared, as an exact replica of me – shiny dress and all – morphed out of the red mist, kneeling before her.
"Meet Ayra 2.0. Your clone." She said, smirking again.
"Woah… she looks… just like me."
"But she isn't you" She warned.
Ayra 2.0 got up and smiled, then waved and left the bathroom.
Future me grabbed my hand, "We need to leave."
"B-but what about her?" I asked pointing at the door as my protector's eyes started to glow blue. I'd seen mum do that before…
"Don't worry about her, she knows exactly what to do."
And in a blink we were gone…
My last thought being that I didn't get to finish my smoothie.