Destinies

 

     The bright light of the outside hit me like train. Trying to get as far away from this place as possible, I started walking forward into the little town, or Meldina, thinking over all I had just been told.

     So this dark, prophetic book called the Book of Psaris, which was written by an unknown author, tells a tale of this stone called the Black Diamond, and the unknown author is rumored to have created the Black Diamond. In the Book of Psaris, it is written that by the killing of a pure hearten person in front of the Black Diamond, it will activate and tear a black hole in the sky.

I looked up at the dark purple spot in the sky, that now that I look at it closer, moved in a clockwise direction. I went a little cold.

     If the Book of Psaris, and the Black Diamond are both not stopped, it will consume all worlds, dimensions, and realms. The Book of Itha was written by Sicarius' ancestors, and Iridescan's Amulet, which also created by his ancestors, were created to counteract the Black Diamond. Iridescan's Amulet was split into eight different pieces and spread throughout different realms in an attempt to protect it. The Boy with the Serpent Tattoo must find the eight pieces to Iridescan's Amulet, harness its power, and use it to defeat the Black Diamond's wielder, and apparently, the Boy with the Serpent Tattoo was me.

     Thinking of it all made my head hurt. I rubbed my forehead to try to ease the pain, when I realized I didn't feel any blood. The gash on my forehead was all healed. Noticing my arms, I also noticed the bruises on my arms were gone. I lifted up my shirt. No bruises on my stomach either. The yellow liquid Sicarius rubbed on my head must have been some kind of healing serum. He was willing to do that for me and he didn't even know me. That means he must be a good person, right? I shook my head. No, it doesn't. He only wants me to be in my best shape so he can use me to fight his battle.

     Walking even further into the town, a sudden truth slammed into me. I had no idea where I was. I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't know how to get out of here. As far as I'm concerned, I'm stuck here.

No, your not, I told myself. You're going to get out of here, you just have to ask the right person.

     I started looking around to see who might have any clue. I saw a potter, and a weaver outside talking and smiling. They were both wearing scarfs wrapped around their heads, and drab looking dresses you'd see on waitresses. They looked like friends to me. They were also pretty old, and probably lived like this all their lives. They were guaranteed to know something right?

     I slowly approached their work stations, plastering a friendly smile on my face. “Hello,” I said cheery.

     They looked at me like I was crazy. They eyed my clothes in a peculiar way, and I realized I was still wearing my gym uniform. I got it now, compared to everyone else, I must have looked like I was out of my mind.

     “Hi there...” the potter said, unsure if she should talk to me. I ignored the blatant thought that was all over her face, but remained unspoken.

I still smiled, continuing. “I'm a little lost,” the look on the weavers face said 'clearly,' “could you help me find my way out of here?”

     They crinkled their brows in unison. “What do you mean by 'find my way out of here?'” the weaver asked.

     “Like, is there a way out of Madelia?”

“There is no way out of Madelia. At least not that I heard of. What about you,” she turned to the potter.

     “I haven't a clue.”

     I dropped my head. I was dead wrong, and these two were useless, and not to mention rude. When I lifted my head up, I still kept my fake smile. “Well thank you for your time.” I said, waving as I tried to hide my annoyance.

Come on Jace. There's got to be someone is this town that can help you. I looked around desperately, brushing the confused looks people gave me off my shoulders. I starting jogging forward, not really looking where I was going. I was almost traveling at full speed, and the people around me were starting to blur.

     I had to get out of here. There was no way I was some hero of prophecies or whatever he said. Full blown running now, my hair was blowing back around my head. My eyes were completely uncovered, but I still could barely see through the haze of my desperate tears. I was about to break into a sprint when I ran into something hard, and knocked me to the floor. I slowly opened my eyes to see what looked like a restaurant. On the door was a picture of a pot with steam coming out in all its clip art like glory. If there's a person who may know something, it would be a chef right? Chef's know everything.

I immediately got to my feet, and pushed through the door.

     The aroma from the kitchen immediately hit my nose, sending me into a delicious daze. I sat there, inhaling the smell of spicy soup when a New York accent snapped me out of it.

     “Hey you!” a lady behind the register wearing an apron and holding a spatula yelled at me.

      The restaurant itself was small, and the kitchen was literally right behind the counter that held the cash register. There were few tables, about ten, and each had three chairs to them. I guess every place in Madelia was small... “You just gonna stand there, or are you gonna bye somethin'?”

     I slowly walked over to her, assuming she was the cash lady, and the chef. She looked different from everyone else. Her hair was slicked back in a ponytail that rested in the middle of her head, and her shirt was blue. She was her own person from everybody else. She had to know something. I took a seat in one of the stools in front of the counter.

     “Actually, I wanted to ask you a question.”

     “Well, your not gonna get an answer unless you order something.”

     “Okay...” I said looking for a name tag. That's peculiar. She didn't appear to be wearing one. I looked up at her menu. There were a variety of things, most of which I had never even heard of. “I guess I'll take the spicy mushroom soup looking stuff,” I said. I couldn't pronounce the name...

     “Coming right up.” she said, thankfully, understanding what I meant. She turned, whipping her ponytail in my face, almost hitting me. I turned my head away. A guy was standing outside the opened doorway, frantically handing out fliers. He was no older than 30, wearing the standard outfit for men in this town. I could barely make out what he was saying. I craned closer, and felt an unmistakeable twinge of guilt. He was shouting 'Apocalypse.' And then he started frantically pointing at the sky.

     I wanted so desperately to help. So much, but I didn't know how. Ever since my younger sister was diagnosed with Asperger's at four, I had become her protector. Her 'squishy' as she called me. But that was different. When ever she needed my help, it was from little 13 year old boys her age. The whole universe wasn't at stake.

     I quickly repositioned myself on the stool, and snapped my head back to face the chef to see the soup stuff glide under my nose.

     “That was fast,” I chuckled.

     “It happens when you've been doing this your whole life,” she answered bluntly. I nodded. I was just about to dig in when she said, “That will be 15 gledos.”

     I looked up at her with a 'what did she say?' look on my face.

     “What are gledos?” I asked.

     “Gledos, you know like money,” she answered while rubbing her fingers together. “Don't tell me you don't have any gledos?”

     “Well, I...umm..” I sat there mumbling like an idiot. “Well, let me see what I have,” but the chef lady was already reaching under her counter for something. I fizzled through my gym short pockets, trying to find something before she pulled out an intercom or something. I didn't find anything, and she was already stating to come up from under the counter. Damn it.

     Her head came up from under, and I stiffened, waiting for her to call security or something. I heard a clang, and she pulled out a cage, with a bird inside. I stared in bewilderment as she reached in and pulled the bird out of it's cage, and, to my utter shock, put the side of its head to her lips, like she was kissing it. But then her lips started to move against it, as if whispering. She moved her face, and held the bird up to the ceiling. It flew, flapping it's blue feathers, making a single one slowly glide to the floor. It settled on a plank on the ceiling. I was staring at it intently, with extreme curiosity.

     What happened next nearly made me fall out of my chair. The bird opened it's beak, and I expected it to squawk. But instead, it began talking. Like, actually talking, but with the ladies voice.

     “Security, we have a code 4532. Stealer, I repeat, stealer,” it twanged that same New York accent. I was too stuck on that fact that it was a freaking talking bird to really notice it was talking about me.

     Coming from the two back doors, two big burly guys dressed in all black busted through. They didn't register in my head until they gripped up my arms and pinned them behind my back, as well as slamming my face to the counter, pulling my open mouthed gaze away from the blue bird.

     “I'm gonna guess your not from around here. Any other person would have ran as soon as I went under the counter.” I looked up, to find her shaking her head, moving her dark ponytail. “Get him out of my sight.”

     I felt my arms nearly yanked out their sockets as I was dragged out my seat. Just like in that gym class, I knew struggling would be pointless. She started to turned back to her work station, but she stopped halfway. She slowly turned back to me as I was being dragged out.

     “Are you...” she stopped her question. Well actually no, I just didn't hear the end of it because I was tossed out. Pretty hard too. I was flailing my arms, trying to grab onto air, but I slammed into the marble floor, smacking my head against it. The force made my body bounce twice. I opened my eyes, and rubbed the back of my head. This was the 4^th time I smacked my head against something. I had a concussion for sure. My vision was red, but was slowly starting to clear.

     “Who are you?” a high, squeaky voice asked me. I turned my head to see a little girl, no older than seven. She was blonde, and she was wearing a blue bow in her hair, and a bright red medium length dress. She knelt down beside me. Her face was examining mine, and she reached her hand up to touch my forehead. “Are you alive?” she asked me.

     I smiled, chuckling a little, and propping myself up on my shoulders “Yes,I'm alive,” I said. At least I thought so.

     “So who are you?” she asked again.

     “My name is Jace. Jace Princeton.”

     “My name is Schia.”

     “Schia? That's different,” I said.

     She cocked her head. “Really? It's pretty common here. There's one other Schia in my class.” She scrunched up her little face, pursing her lips. “Why are you wearing that?”

     I looked down at my gym clothes, biting my lip trying to decide what to say to he. “Let's just say I'm not from around here.”

     Her big hazel eyes got even bigger, and she started hopping up and down eagerly. “Are you the hero?!” she asked in a rush.

     S**t. I wanted to say no, and then get up and run, but I couldn't tell her that. Or do that for that matter. I most likely was this hero person. The problem was I didn't want to be. Whoever was this hero, he had to save all worlds and realms from absolute destruction. Who would want that kind of pressure on their shoulders?! Because I most certainly didn't. I was only 16 for crying out loud!

     “Nah, you can't be the hero,” she said suddenly, interrupting my inner turmoil. “The hero is supposed to be big, and strong. You look kind of weak.”

     I think I was offended by that.

I smiled at her as she launched into her big description of what the hero was going to be like. I couldn't help but laugh at her descriptions, as everything she said couldn't have been more opposite to me. It was weird, she was six years younger than my sister, Katie, but she reminded me of her so much. The way she was so innocent about everything. How adorably clueless she was about the real world.

     My sister... Sicarius said the black whole would consume all worlds. Did that include the Earth I knew. Would that include my family? Thinking that it might have hurt my heart.

     I shook my head. You're not going to think about this now, I told myself. You're over thinking things. There's no way, that included Earth. Right?

     Wait a second. Maybe Schia knows something. The innocence was a good coverup for keeping secrets. The one who knows the least, knows the most.

     “Hey, um, Schia,” I started, stopping her story “this is going to sound like a weird question, but, could you help me find a way out of here?”

     “No,” she said bluntly for the second time. Was everyone in this town so straight forward?

     “Why not?”

     “Because there's no way out. Unless you're the hero. He's a dimension traveler. That's the only way.”

     “But why is there no way out?”

     “Well I don't know. The only way out of a dimension, or area between dimensions is to be a dimension traveler. You came here with some weird looking girl thing. I saw you earlier.” She stopped her choppy sentences and looked at me. “There's no way out of the dimension you came from, is there?”

I thought about this for a second. Earth was Earth. There really wasn't a way off of it, unless you were an astronaut. Judging from the way they did things around here, I assumed they didn't have that kind of technology yet. There intercoms were talking birds...

     “No,” I answered. “There isn't.”

     “Then there really isn't a way out of here either,” she said, air quoting 'out of here.'

     I sighed, and plopped back on the marble floor. She was right. She was so wise, yet she was only 7. Well, I technically wasn't wrong. The one who knows the least, really knows the most.

Sudden truth slammed into me. If I wanted to get out of here, I could only do one thing.

     “It was really nice talking to you, but I got to go, okay?”

     “Okay,” she got up with a little bounce on her feet, and walked away.

I got to my feet, and began walking back to Sicarius' house. But then I stopped.

     Earlier, I just kind of ran without direction. I had no idea where I was, and had no idea where I went. Okay Jace, don't panic. Madelia isn't that big, and his house sticks out like a sore thumb. You'll find it in no time. I turned around, and collided with a long, blue, solid cloth. I backed up a little bit, and in front of me, was Sicarius, Anastasia by his side.

     “Are you looking for someone?” he asked with a smile on his face.

I nodded.

     “I knew you'd come around,” Anastasia said.