Elian blinked so many times, his vision getting clearer and his environment coming into view with each second. He groaned as he inhaled, the room spinning for a moment before settling.
His head and body were a mass of dull aches, but he was thankful he wasn't experiencing the full-blown agony he had felt...
How long ago was it now?
A day? Two?
He had no idea.
With a groan, he sat up to take in his surroundings. His hands went to his temples, rubbing at the dull ache slowly fading.
"Finally, you're awake."
It was her voice—the red-haired, confident girl.
Elian's head snapped to the left. She was sitting in front of a crackling fire. As she poked at it with a stick, it burnt brighter. The orange flames lit up the darkness around her, and it looked like her red hair was on fire for a moment.
A night animal hooted. Elian looked around. He was nowhere near the street he last remembered. He was in some kind of dark, hollow space, but he couldn't see much beyond the firelight.
"Where are we?" he asked.
"In a cave." She snatched up a burning ember from the blaze and waved it around.
In the sudden flare of light, Elian could see a massive slab of rock, almost dome-shaped. They were in the centre, and he was sitting on a small stone. Green plants, looking grey in the firelight, struggled to push out from the spaces not covered with weathered rocks.
The cave completely protected them from the elements. Outside, far in the distance, the low growl of an animal split the air. A hush fell over the place as the hundreds of chirping insects fell silent, and then, a moment later, they started up again.
"Hopefully, we will be safe here until morning," she added.
Elian considered asking her how she had managed to bring him all the way here but decided not to. There was no need to add to his embarrassment as he felt sure she must have somehow carried him here.
He settled for saying, "Thanks for bringing me here... for not letting me get eaten by those things out there."
He expected one of her cutting remarks and was slightly surprised when she said softly, "I should be the one thanking you. You saved us both. If you hadn't... done what you did back there, I would have been bird food."
That sent his thoughts back to when those creatures attacked, and he almost died again. How on earth had he been able to drive them away? And then there had been that voice in his head.
"Hey," the girl said, drawing his attention back.
Elian thought back quickly to the last thing she had said. "I guess we're even then. We saved each other," he said.
"Do you remember what happened? All that happened?" she eyed him warily. Her hand holding the stick stilled as she waited for his answer.
"Yes. Yes, I do," Elian said slowly. "I remember every tiny detail. Though I wish I didn't." The last was said in an undertone.
"What was that?" she asked sharply.
"Nothing." He sighed. "The problem isn't remembering but understanding." Now that he wasn't in mortal danger, all of the confusion and more came racing back. "I- I don't understand what's happening to me."
"What do you mean?"
"I think I'm trapped in a weird dream I can't wake up from. In the last twenty-four hours, many things have happened that I can't make sense of. I've been trying to think of an explanation every chance I get, but it's all just...crazy."
The girl slowly shook her head. "I saw you do something crazy. I was hoping you would have answers for me when you woke up. Now you say you can't explain all those things yourself?"
Elian clearly heard the note of disbelief in her voice. "I swear I'm telling the truth. I don't know what's going on—"
"What you did to those things—" she corrected.
"I don't know how I drove away the monsters, but I feel it's all connected."
"What do you mean by it's all connected?" she asked, then shook her head. "I mean, you're talentless. I don't say that as an insult, but clearly, you're not supposed to have any abilities or be able to do what you did back there."
Elian hesitated. She was right. His entire life, the only thing he was good at was scavenging for metals and anything worth money in the Destitropolis. He couldn't fight and was never given the chance to learn. So, there was no way he could have done what he did.
Except it had something to do with his near-death experience. The vanishing of the scars and coming back to life, it was all connected.
And surely, hearing voices in one's head was a sign that someone was going crazy, but what could he do? He didn't think he could figure all this out on his own. He had to tell someone.
He snuck a look at her. She was poking the fire again, concentrating on what she was doing and waiting patiently for his answer.
He decided she was the kind of person that could handle what he was about to say. She looked smart and was certainly very efficient. Looking at how she had handled herself out there, he was sure she wouldn't freak out.
But what would he tell her? That he had somehow driven those birds away with his mind? Or special powers? Abilities?
What could he call what he had now?
Speaking slowly, distinctly and sanely, he hoped she wouldn't doubt what he would tell her. He started, "Before I passed out, I heard a voice in my head..."
That certainly intrigued her, and she straightened.
Elian forced himself to go on. "The voice was like... nothing I've heard before. It was loud and full of authority. It said—" He frowned, concentrating on getting the exact words he had heard. "It called my name and said I had been chosen to be the bearer of light."
"Bearer of light," she repeated, sounding as confused as she felt.
At least she was saying it like she was trying to get a meaning out of the words. She didn't sound like she thought Elian was out of his mind. Yet.
"Yes," Elian said. "But that was not all. I think---I guess I must have passed out after then." He heard her say something like, 'Sure did.' "After that, I had a dream, although I guess you could call it a vision based on what happened in it. It felt so real, as real as you and I sitting here. It was like I was being shown what was happening and then being told what to do."
"I don't think I understand," she said after a pause for some seconds. "How about you tell me what you saw in this dream?"
He didn't pause. "The creatures." Elian heard her catch her breath sharply. She looked towards the mouth of the cave. Elian shook his head. "Not here. In my dream. I saw them. Lots of them. Terrible, winged creatures, some marching and some flying like an army, their wings blotting out the sky."
Even now, in his mind, Elian could see them. The horrible picture they made sent a chill through his heart. He shivered even though the air in the cave was warm.
"With what I saw and... felt, I think those birds are one of the first things that will happen to the realm before its destruction. Those things are more intelligent and organized than beasts have any right to be. I think someone is controlling them for their own purposes."
Elian heard a clink. He glanced at her to see that one of her swords had fallen into the fire. She quickly snatched it up. There was a scared look in her eyes he hadn't seen before.
"Why do you think someone is behind the attacks?" she asked sharply. "Those things could just be animals, mutated freaks, but still... animals. Besides, even if you're right and someone controls them, why would they attack Destitropolis out of all the other citadels? There is nothing in Destitropolis worth attacking, so you're probably wrong."
Again, Elian shook his head. He could tell the girl really wanted to believe what she had said. But he had to tell her the truth. Or at least the truth as he knew it.
"I don't think I'm wrong," he said slowly. "In my dream, I found I was floating so far up I could see everything, everywhere. I saw Aetheris burning. The sun, the stars, and all the celestial bodies were dead. The sun looked like a big, grey, burnt-out mass. And then, on the ground, all life forms everywhere were gone. Everything was grey and black and quiet and empty. It wasn't just Destitropolis affected. Even Celestralis was. It was a horrible sight. Words can't really paint the picture of what I saw."
She gasped.
Elian knew the implications of his words just like she did. Aetheris, their realm, was powered by Aether. Everything in the realm, from celestial bodies down to coins, was made from Aether.
Aether was life itself, a unique substance every citadel used to survive. So, if the celestial bodies were dead, it meant Aether was no longer available.
It was gone. The realm would die.