Chapter 2: Almost Easy

After a rough night, Jade awakes to find herself somewhere not home. Here, she meets a coloful cast of characters, and discovers her new power.

I awoke to find myself in an odd looking room. The ceiling was painted to display a scene with birds and other mysterious monsters frolicking in the sky. The bed was a four-post one with gossamer curtains draping around it, tinting the room in a pale green. A vanity was at one side, while a door was on the other, straight ahead I saw a fire-place that wasn’t working at the moment, and another door some feet away that lead to a bathroom, I could see a bathtub inside. It was warm, stifling warm, and I threw away my thick comforter.

Where was I? I looked around, unsure of what I should be doing. Well, I knew what I should be doing, I should be screaming and trying to get home. But… could I really?

It still hurt to think of Alyssa and Tyler, and frankly, I didn’t really want to go back. Alyssa wasn’t my best friend anymore. Best-friends don’t sleep with other best-friend’s boyfriends. At least, I don’t think they should. If she had an interest in him, she could’ve at least told me. And Tyler? Well, that manwhore can go rot in hell. I bended over backwards to make him happy, I took him to concerts, to movies, to expensive restaurants with my hard-earned allowance, and this is how he repays me?

I pulled my cell phone from out of my pocket. According to Verizon, it was ten o’clock in the morning, and I had fifteen messages. Most from Alyssa, a couple from Tyler and a few from Kayla.

"Jade! Where are you? Please answer me. I know you’re pissed… but… I…" she started hiccupping and crying. I wrinkled my nose, and deleted it.

Kayla sent me a text. "Tyler told me that Alyssa told you what happened," At that, I laughed. I answered in text message. "Told? Try show," and then, listened to the next message. It was Tyler this time.

"Listen, Jade, I know that you’re upset. Please, at least let us know that you’re okay, please Jade…"

I deleted that one too. I wasn’t ready to talk to anybody yet. There were other messages, but they were varying versions of the previous ones. I clicked my phone off. I rolled out of the bed, feeling gross and uncomfortable. I was surprised to see clothes sitting on the trunk at the end of my bed. New, dark-colored jeans and a dark navy button-up shirt with a collar, the kind you often see business people wear. A note was atop of them, written in neat, loopy handwriting.

 

"Good Morning, I'm sure you're curious as to where you are. All this and more will be answered in due time. In the mean time, why don't you go get cleaned up? I understand you had a rough night. Get cleaned up, and a servant will lead you to the stone Garden, we have much to discuss,

-I‘m looking forward to speaking with you,

Kieran"

I stared at the letter, cocking my head slightly to the side. Kieran? Who the hell was that?

But, not knowing what else to do, I set it down and padded over to the bathroom, and got cleaned up. I turned the water to scalding hot, and it had amazing pressure, it almost hurt to be in the shower, but it felt wonderful all the same. I loved the warm, even if it got me sick easily. I had no intentions of leaving Washington, I liked the rain and stuff, but the warm was nice too, so long as it was in short bursts. I hated muggy warm though, the kind you could barely breathe in.

Anyways, I got cleaned up and changed. I left the bathroom, and two people were waiting for me in my room.

They were almost exactly the same. Well… not almost, they were still freakishly similar. They both had black hair with dark green tips. One’s hair was longer, brushing the shoulders, while the other’s was shaggy, like he had just rolled out of bed. Their eyes were two different colors, bright green and a storm-gray. The girl one wore a black tube-top with pale blue jeans, while the boy one wore a white, form-fitting tank-top and a pair of baggy, blue jeans. They had similar facial structure and height.

"Um… hi," I waved timidly.

The girl was first to grin. "Hey, um… Master Kieran sent us to help you get cleaned up. I’m Koku, and this is my brother, Haku,"

The boy gave a small wave.

I nodded, still unsure. They seemed kind enough, if not out of the ordinary. "Um… thanks," I answered.

Koku and Haku brought me back into the bathroom, where Koku started doing my make-up as Haku did my hair.

"So…" I started, closing my eyes as Koku smeared eye-shadow onto my lids. "Who is…. Kieran?"

"Master Kieran is the ruler of this castle, and most of the entire West District,"

"I see,"

"You don’t seem all that concerned," Koku replied.

"Mm, I’m not that scared. I don’t know why, but I’m just not," I answered.

"You’re very brave then. Anybody else would be terrified to go see Master Kieran," Koku smiled sadly. "He’s not famous for his compassionate nature, lets put it at that,"

I still didn’t feel scared. In fact, I wasn’t really sure what I felt. I guess numb is a good way to describe it. I couldn’t really care less about what happened to me.

Haku smoothed my hair down, parting it so the bangs swooped over my eye, gently curling the ends. He hadn’t said a word, but he didn’t show any distaste towards me. Maybe he couldn’t speak.

Koku dappled some shiny, clear lip-gloss on my lips. She and her brother were done.

I thought I looked good. My plain black hair was curled, and I noticed some pale blue highlights were added. I don’t know when he did it, but I liked it. I looked a thousand times better then I normally did. Koku was amazing with make-up.

They started loading the accessories on me, giving me several studded belts, and one big one that had huge spikes on it. A black collar wrapped around my throat, with thick steel cones poking out of it too. They gave me another necklace, this one made of silver and had a crimson gem, like my ring. I still had it on, and it looked like it did when I found it at Shay’s.

"There, now you’re all pretty," Koku grinned. "I wish I could have all of my way with you, but Master Kieran said just hair and make-up. You have a nice body, I could have all sorts of fun dressing you up," she then giggled. "Right Haku?"

Haku merely shrugged, while I blinked several times. Okay…

"Well, I have other chores I need to attend to, so Haku is going to take you to the Stone Garden, okey?" she said, sighing heavily.

I nodded. "Alright,"

We left, Haku leading me in the opposite direction of Koku. An uneasiness crept into my stomach, but I quickly squashed it. We wandered for what seemed to be ages through a labyrinth of stone corridors and long stretches of halls. Occasionally we’d pass beautiful pieces of art, paintings depicting strange scenery or portraits of people I’ve never seen before.

Eventually, we came to a pair of large doors, Haku merely pushed on it slightly, and motioned for me to go inside.

The place was beautiful, lush green foliage was everywhere, with multi-colored flowers of varieties I never knew existed. It was enclosed in a stone-like dome, I couldn’t even see the sky. Stalagmites hung from the ceiling, or was it stalactites? I couldn’t remember, I think I fell asleep that day of earth-science.

I looked at the foliage up-close, and realized that… they were made out of rock. They weren’t lush with life, they were made out of emerald or jades. Those flowers I thought were red pansies were really ruby pansies. I walked past some topaz morning glories, eternally petrified in their fullest bloom.

"Ah, Miss Jade, I’m pleased to see that you’re up," a voice said.

I turned quickly, and found myself face to face with a young man. He looked to be maybe in his late teens, early twenties. Blonde hair was smoothed back, with a few loose strands hanging over dark chocolate eyes. His skin was smooth in complexion, and he had an air of arrogance that made him difficult to ignore. His features were sharp, angular, yet handsome.

"Umm… hey," probably not the most intelligent thing I could’ve said at the time, but it worked.

"I’m sure you already know this, but, I’m Kieran, master of this castle and ruler of entire west side districts," he said, taking my hand and kissing the top of it lightly. I quickly snagged it back, uncomfortable with his formalities. "I’m sure you have a few questions for me, and I’ll be happy to answer them all,"

"Erm, thanks," I answered. "I’m not really sure as to what I should ask though,"

He raised a brow. "You don’t have any questions?"

"Not really,"

"You don’t care where you are?"

"I’m assuming I’m in Agartha, Dalton started talking about it when he took me here, or, I’m assuming he took me here," I shrugged. "The rest I don’t really care about. I’m just glad to be away from home right now,"

He seemed impressed, and slightly amused. "I see then. Still, I think it’s fair to inform you then about what’s currently going on. You see, right now, the world is on the verge of extinction. They’re polluting it, and even though we Agarthans are beneath the surface, we can feel every bit of the earth’s pain. They bury millions of pounds of garbage in the dirt, which, overtime, comes down to us. It’s killing us down here, yet we can’t do much to stop it,"

"Why not? Can’t you just come up and yell at us for it? Dalton and… Roka came and got me, and I’m assuming atleast one of them is from here," I answered.

"Well, its not that simple. Most of the Agarthans don’t look… or act human. In times of old, Agarthans used to roam the surface with your kind, but, overtime, humans grew more powerful and grew spiteful. They envied our special talents, and hunted us down, killing us. We were forced to flee underground," he sighed.

"Wait… special talents… you mean magic?" I raised a brow at him.

He shrugged. "Sure. Not all of us can use Mezreaz, though. But some of us looked strange to humans too. Some of us could shape-shift, others could fly. It’s several things, but that’s the sum of it,"

I stared at him for a moment, thinking. "You’re Faeries, aren’t you?"

"In some cultures, yes. Mostly, no. Many of you call us demons," he answered. "After all, we rise from the ground and sometimes caused havoc a few hundred years back,"

"Cool. Does that mean I’m a demon?" I asked him, running a hand through my hair and heaving a sigh. I didn’t like the silence around me, the Stone Garden lived up to it’s name. It was as quiet as a rock. But, a part of me was glad for it. When Koku was chattering away, I constantly heard a small buzz in the back of my head. It was annoying, agitating, and now the only time I heard it was when Kieran spoke. He offered me his arm, and I took it and we began to stroll through the Stone Garden, our feet crunching on the gravel below us.

He hesitated at my question. "What makes you think that?" he said quietly.

"I can use… what did you call it? Mezreaz? I can use that, I heard Dalton talk about that too. He said you guys needed my Mezreaz for something, something about a god," I answered.

"Apparently Dalton needs to learn to keep his mouth closed," Kieran muttered.

I glanced at him, unsure of what that meant. Did he plan on using me while keeping me completely ignorant? Pssh, I know better then to trust people as easily.

"Why is my Mezreaz so special? And what’s this about a Rot-eater god," I then stated, probably a little harsher then I meant. But I was getting a little frustrated, and I hate beating around the bush.

I watched him grind his jaw, like he was tasting his words before he decided to spit them out. "Well, there are two types of Mezreaz. Light and Dark Mezreaz. Those capable of using the Mezreaz are called ‘Funnels’ though they can only use a small part of it. People who can use large amounts of it-- and stay sane, are called ‘Wielders’,"

"Stay sane?"

"You see, Miss Jade, Mezreaz is very dangerous to use. It’s always tugging at you, sort of trying to suck you in. It’s powerful, and difficult to control. Only some one with a strong will can use large amounts of Mezreaz. People getting sucked into the Mezreaz isn‘t uncommon. They become insane and unpredictable, capable of almost anything. Those who get sucked in have to be killed, because of the threat they pose to everyone,"

"I see," I answered, nodding slightly.

"But you, you can use a special type of Mezreaz. A powerful kind. A type that is a mixture of Light and Dark Mezreaz, called Dusk. It’s a kind that only two other people know how to use, and only in small amounts," Kieran replied.

"Cool," again, not the most intelligent response I could come up with, but it seemed to get the job done.

"You seem to have a larger capacity then the other two, from what Dalton told me, though you need to learn a little more self-control,"

"Well, last night sort of sucked, so I’m pretty sure I had no idea what I was doing. But… I’m more then willing to learn how to control it. What do you want from me though? I doubt I was brought here without a reason," I then replied, staring at the gravel. The gravel was varying shades of white, and crunched dully beneath our feet.

"Well. You see, it’s a bit of a long story,"

"I’ve got time, I don’t think I’m leaving any time soon. I don’t think I can and I doubt that I want to anyways,"

"You don’t want to go home?"

"What for? My former best-friend is a s**t while my boyfriend is a w***e," I retorted. "I caught the two of them last nigh getting’ it on,"

His eyebrows shot up. "Really? What about your family?"

"My family is of little consequence, Mum and Dad barely realized I was around anyways, so they’re probably thankful. Now, you’re dodging the bullet. What do you want me here for?" I stated, stopping abruptly. "I won’t do a thing unless you tell me what you intend on using me for,"

He stared at me, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as he ground his jaw. I suddenly realized that I was hitting the subject he didn’t want me to know. It must’ve been something really bad. I noticed that he ground his jaw when he was thinking. I couldn’t help but feel smug; I already had a handle on how to work this guy.

"What I, I mean, we, intend to do is to release a powerful demon. The demon feeds off of pollution, it can purge the garbage from the world and cleanse it,"

"Cool beans, now, why was it sealed in the first place?" I asked. "And why do you need me?"

"The demon, called Ferios, was locked away because of his immense power. Though he was strong, the Old Ones sealed away his power, but at the cost of their own lives,"

"Okay… so he sounds like a bad-guy," I said.

"Well, he kept the world clean, he kept us safe," he quickly said. "We need you because you’re the only one capable of opening the last seals,"

"Really now? How so?"

"I already told you, you use the Dusk," he said with a sigh. "Dusk Mezreaz is necessary to open the seals, and frankly, the other two might not survive if they exhume all of their energies,"

"Mm, is this going to be lethal for me in any shape or form?"

"It shouldn’t be," he replied. "I intend on myself and a few others to accompany you, of course. But, there are some who oppose our idea, thinking that Ferios will destroy us, not save us,"

I nodded in understanding, and rolled back on my heels. "Okay. But what’s in it for me? So far, as far as I see it, this benefits you the most. I don’t live down here, I could, but I can just as easily go back up to the surface,"

I jumped slightly when his face turned from calm and kind, to angry and mean.

"Frankly, Miss Jade, this benefits me just as much as it benefits you," he hissed, stepping towards me as I took a step back. "The surface world would slowly die away as well. The plants feed off of clean soil. Animals feed off of plants, and you humans feed off of animals. If the soil isn’t clean from the pollution then your entire little food-chain falls apart. And. It. Will. Be. All. Your. Fault," he snarled.

I found myself cornered against a giant granite tree, his face inches from mine. His lips were pulled back into a snarl, baring white teeth, the canines longer than they probably should be. I saw that his pupils shrunk back into slits, like a cat’s.

I stared back at him, part of me afraid.

I pushed him back, though I didn‘t move from my spot. "Look. I never said that I wouldn’t help you, I was just wondering what I was getting back out of all of this. It sounds like a lot of effort on my part," I answered dryly.

I was proud of myself, I was handling myself pretty well as far as I was concerned. I mean, I woke up today and found out I was in another world, possibly another species, and I was going to, whether I really wanted to or not, help save the world from being devoured by pollution. And with the events from last night on top of that, I was doing pretty f*****g good. I could guarantee that Alyssa would’ve had a mental break-down by now.

He eased up, seemingly pleased with my answer. "Well, take a look around, what do you see?"

"A lot of rocks shaped like plants," I replied dully. "What of it?"

"They’re common here in Agartha, but up on the surface, I understand that these stones are very rare and very valuable. If you help us, I can give you this entire garden’s worth in gold, to spend how you choose,"

I stared at him. "You think a wad of cash is going to get me to help you?" I grew up from a poor family, but that didn’t mean I wanted cash. Not anymore. "Tell you what. I’ll help you if I can stay down here, in Agartha. I want to be taught how to use my Mezreaz,"

"I thought that was a given," he shrugged. "I was going to teach you anyways,"

"Mm, okay then. I’ll think of what I want later," I answered.

He smiled slightly. "I’m glad we’ve come to an understanding,"

I pulled my phone from my pocket, feeling it vibrate. I was impressed that I was actually getting service down here.

"How far down am I?" I now asked him.

"About ten thousand feet down," he replied, now looking at the phone with mild interest. "Let me guess, your ex?"

I flipped it open. "No. My cousin, telling my that she’s sorry and that she wanted to tell me what was going on sooner, but Alyssa kept making her promise not to tell, and that Alyssa promised her that she was going to tell me," I said, a surprising tone of bitterness unintentionally layered over my words.

"And how are you going to reply to that?" he asked quietly.

I looked at him, then down back at the phone. Then, I chucked it against another granite tree a few yards away. The phone shattered, and lay broken on the ground.

"That’s how. I don’t want anything to do with them anymore. They’re all a bunch of liars. I’m tired of being used, and I’m tired of being kissed up to. I’m nobody’s toy. I’ll help you, but because I want to, not because I have to," I growled, my hand clenched into a tight fist, and I found myself twiddling the necklace that Koku had given me earlier. "I’m sick of those stupid people,"

"Spoken like a true demon," Kieran said beside me, chuckling as he tossed an arm lazily around my shoulder, and leading me back around through the garden.

"So… our little adventure starts tomorrow afternoon. Today I want you to meet our little team. There’s only going to be six others," Kieran stated as he lead me out of the garden and through the big black doors I first came in through. "Koku is going to come with us, and Haku. Then there is the other two Dusk users, Yuka and Kuro. Also Dalton will be traveling with us, and Ferios,"

"Wait, I thought Ferios was a god?"

"They sealed his power, not his body. You see, Mezreaz is sort of like a separate being. It can be taken away from you, and you can abandon it. Some people chose to do that instead of risk the chance of being sucked into the Mezreaz. Ferios was locked away for a while, but Kuro was able to free him using some of the Dusk Mezreaz, undoing the first seal," he shrugged.

I hadn’t much to say to that. We walked in silence, until we came to a pair of glass doors, where I saw a patio with a large table, and around that table was several people.

The one that grabbed my attention immediately was a girl with dark skin and midnight-black hair. She had several thick stripes of pumpkin-orange dyed into it, matching her orange eyes. Her features were sharp, fox-ish, her hair parted to frame a heart-shaped face. Her eyes were lined in kohl and thick mascara, and looked at everybody as if they were ants. She had an aura of power and control, and had a raw beauty that I knew I could never compete with. The beauty was off-set though, two dark brown horns curled from her skull, like a ram’s.

Beside her was a man that reminded me of someone you’d see in a Bowflex commercial. A muscle-maniac with six-pack abs and thickly-corded arm muscles. He was tall, broad-shouldered, big where the girl beside him was little. His black hair was cut short and spiky, his steel-gray eyes were friendly looking and playful as he swapped jokes with Dalton, who sat across from him.

Koku and Haku were with them too, Koku grinning and talking with Dalton and the man, while Haku sat quietly beside the girl, not saying a word.

Then, there was the last boy.

He lounged beside the girl with horns, his arm draped lazily over the back of her chair as he leaned back on two legs of his own seat. He wore a white collared button-up shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the first four buttons undone, exposing a muscular, tanned body. His face was framed by golden blonde hair that vaguely reminded me of the color maple leaves would turn in the autumn. He would’ve been easily Hollywood material, I could just picture girls everywhere fantasizing over him. Thick lashes lined grass green eyes. He carried a poise to him that one had to be born with, and he seemed to know that he was gorgeous too, he had a smug-ness to him that made my skin crawl. Any girl would dump their boyfriends in a minute for him. I felt my throat catch when his eyes flew to me the moment I walked into the room.

"Hiya Jade!" Koku smiled, throwing me a happy wave.

The girl with black and orange hair also glanced at me, so did everybody else. Dalton waved cheerfully at me, while the muscle-man looked at me with interest. Haku said nothing, The blonde boy stroked his chin thoughtfully, his eyes half-lidded. I noticed he was wearing a necklace, with a big charm shaped like the dusk. And on his finger was a ring, like mine…

"So… this is the Miss Jade I’ve heard about," he said, his voice smooth and velvety, he then cast Dalton a side-long glance. "Really, you know how to pick’em,"

Dalton smiled, his chin in his palm. "I know, right? That Tyler boy was a real fool, huh?"

"Stupid beyond reason," he agreed.

"I know, and he ditched her for some w***e?" Muscle-man said.

"Her best friend, no less," Kieran then chirped in, taking a seat across from them. I hesitantly took a seat beside him, between him and Haku, who gave me a small smile.

"Can you not talk about me like I’m not here?" I grumbled. Does everybody know about my ignominy?

"Oh, right," Kieran grinned. "Jade, this is Yuka," The girl with orange eyes and goat-horns, "Kuro" Muscle-head. "And Ferios," The angelic blond, of course.

"Um… nice to meet you," I put up my best smile.

"Trust me, it’s a pleasure to meet you. After all, you’re unlocking the last seal to my power. I can finally take up my role again as the purifier of this world," Ferios said casually. "It sucks, not being able to use my Mezreaz, especially when it has such a beautiful form,"

"Indeed," Kieran agreed. "Why would the Old Ones want to seal your power in the first place is beyond me. But now all that matters is that we’ve got a way to get it back, for the sake of Agartha and the rest of the world,"

Haku nodded, and I uneasily smiled. "Um… that’s all well and good, but… I need to know how to use the magic before I can actually be useful," I muttered.

"True, true," Kieran said. "Yuka,"

The Goat-girl looked up suddenly, "What?" she said softly.

"Can you and Kuro teach Jade how to use her Mezreaz? I’d have Dalton, Koku, or Haku do it, but they don’t know how to use Dusk, so…?"

"Sure, it’ll be fun," Kuro grinned.

I sighed heavily, putting my chin in my palm. "Okay… um… when do you want to start?"

"A couple of hours from now, we’ve got other things to discuss," Yuka said quietly. Her voice was rougher, richer, like she’s been through the world and understood how it worked.

"Right. For instance, our paychecks?" Kuro stated in a matter of fact tone. "I don’t offer my services up for free,"

Kieran sighed. "Of course, none of you are as easy to negotiate with as Jade,"

"Oi, I haven’t even decided on anything yet," I quickly answered.

"I know, but I doubt your price is as high as theirs,"

I didn’t answer. So I was the bargain was I?

I spaced out as they chatted about money, material things. The tall ceiling had rocks dripping down from it, reminding me of those videos about caves we used to watch in school. Bet they didn’t know that an entire fairy city was right below the surface. I could practically hear my earth-science teacher rolling in his grave. I wonder… when they bury people, do they end up in Agartha eventually? How weird would that be? Somewhere in the streets is my old earth-science teacher, Mr. Fowl. I hated him anyways, he was stupid and kept making it seem like he was superior to everybody else.

"Jade?"

I was awoken out of my musing by Ferios, who was staring at me intently. "You there?"

"Sorry, spaced out," I apologized quickly. "What were we talking about?"

"Talking about the enemies, the people who are apposed to restoring him," Koku said, sticking a thumb out towards Ferios, who merely smiled angelically. "to power,"

"I’d assume we’d kick their asses when they get in our way," I replied dryly.

"Ha! Told you," Kuro stated, crossing his big meaty arms. "What else did you plan on doing?"

"Well…I don’t really know," Kieran admitted, "I just hoped that somebody knew a better way then beating everybody else out of our way,"

"I know that you don’t like to use violence, Kieran, but I’m afraid that’s what everybody else listens to," Koku sighed. "You should know better then that by now, why else does the entire west district fear you?"

They chatted about other travel-ish things, like where we were staying and the quickest routes to the seals. The first one that I was going to was in a place called Shalim’s Grotto.

"Ah, my older brother, how fitting," Ferios grinned, baring teeth that were probably a little sharper then normal. We were circled around a large map of Agartha, I was merely looking at it, memorizing towns and road names, while the others discussed tactics.

"We’ll go up through the Wastes, that’s the quickest, route, and not to mention the safest," Kieran said, he glanced at me, "The Wastes is just one big open cavern for miles around. There aren’t tunnels and whatnot to hide enemies or thieves,"

I nodded in understanding. "How long would it take to get there?"

"About three days,"

Yuka’s lanky finger traced a line down the middle of the wastes. "There’s a small village right around here, we could stop there for rest,"

"Yes, that sounds good," Dalton agreed. "I’m not sure about the stamina of humans, they seem a little… and please don’t take offense, umm… flabby,"

I snorted, still offended but choosing not to vocalize it.

"Well, we’ve got the plan, now we’ve just got to put it into action," Kuro stated. He was already proving to be a pretty decent guy, a little gung-ho on the violence though.

Kieran nodded, and motioned towards me. "Kuro, why don’t you and Yuka go and get Jade up to speed on the using Mezreaz, I’d rather that our whole mission be for nothing because Jade can’t handle the Dusk,"

That being said, I left with Yuka and Kuro, who was chatting away incessantly. My skull was starting to hurt, that noise coming back. I wasn’t sure what it was. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

"Well, Miss Jade?"

"Hm?" I looked up, startled slightly.

Kuro looked down at me, genuine concern in his gray eyes. "You okay? You’ve been a little spacy lately,"

I shook my head. "A little tired I guess. A lots been happening lately,"

"I suppose so. You were human last time you woke up, right? Next day, you’re a demon!" he boomed as he chuckled. "I’d imagine that puts a lot of stress on ya,"

I smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah… well, go easy on me today, okay?" I put up my best grin.

He chortled again, those amazing muscles rippling beneath his flesh. I felt small beside him, and especially weak when he wrapped an arm around me and gave me a one-armed hug. " I like you, Miss Jade, you’re a decent kid,"

"Thanks," I wheezed out from his arms. "You’re pretty awesome too,"

"Let her go, Kuro. Lets not kill the only other Dusk user," Yuka said over her shoulder. "From what Dalton said, she’s got more then enough Mezreaz to spare, and it would royally suck if you killed her by squeezing the life out of her,"

Kuro laughed again, and removed his arm from me. "Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do that to her,"

I don’t really remember much of my training. It was mostly Yuka and Kuro arguing over the best way to describe it to me, but it was mostly all concentration. They had several targets, and wanted me to hit them all with simple bursts of Mezreaz.

It took me forever to get it right, my mind always kept slipping onto something else. Yuka and Kuro quickly got bored, so they dismissed themselves to go get something to munch on. I didn’t blame them. For a while, it was just me trying to will the Dusk to me in utter silence.

"There is a simpler way to do it, you know," Ferios’s voice said behind me.

I jumped, I hadn’t even heard him come into the training area. He smirked easily, and lowered down to my point of view. "My way is far easier then trying to tell it what you want it to do,"

"How so?" I replied.

"Simply show it, visualize the Dusk hitting the targets, and believe that you will do it," he drawled, a slight smile coming to his lips. "If you believe hard enough, eventually it will do what you want it to without a second thought,"

I gently closed my eyes, and raised a hand towards the target. I visualized the dusk swarming from my hand and attacking the target in a beam of light. I didn’t know what the Dusk really looked like, decides the small flecks I saw during my time with Dalton, so at the time my imagination was more like a hyper beam from pokemon.

My eyes opened when I felt the dusk swarm around my hands, they were warm, not hot, but warm, and they were black and gray fuzzy things, like little monochrome fireflies. They focused into my palm, and then in a raggedy beam, flew at the target, skewering right through it like a shish kabob.

Dusk lingered after, around the wooden target and on my hand as well. I felt fantastic, a sudden rush of euphoria coming over me and I couldn’t help but smile. I felt so powerful, so in control! It was so easy. Granted, it wasn’t as awesome as it was in my head, but still. I could use the Dusk!

"Nice job. That was rather impressive," Ferios said, his eyebrows raised slightly, but then he flashed me an award-winning smile, his eyes smug. "See? Aren’t I an awesome teacher or what?"

I grinned, still not over my joy-rush. I could use DUSK. DUSK! The hardest Mezreaz in the world to use! I can do it! Or… at least I thought I could.

"Now, don’t get cocky. Hitting targets and fighting people are two completely different things," Kuro growled, walking into the practice grounds while gnawing on an odd shaped fruit, one I’ve never seen before. It was violet and shined a bright orange.

"I know that," Ferios replied lazily. "But, she knows how to at least summon it now. It’s a helluva lot better then what she was accomplishing with you two," he shrugged.

I ignored their little banter, occupied with the Dusk. I could feel it now, humming beneath my skin. I watched as black and light gray streaks danced across my palms. I didn’t tell it to do that.

"Sometimes it does things on it’s own, and sometimes your body will react instinctively. That can be a real life-saver sometimes," Ferios said, watching me in amusement. I was utterly fascinated by the Dusk.

Later, they started throwing targets up in the air for me, and I hit them one by one, with my black and gray laser-beams of death. I laughed, the euphoric feeling returning with a vengeance.

"Well, clearly this is just play-time for you," Kuro said. Yuka nodded slightly. "Lets see how you can handle under pressure,"

Yuka slid into a fighter’s stance. And I mimicked her, not really trained in the art of combat.

I had been in my fair share of school fights though, I hate being insulted by those stupid cheerleaders, who acted like they awesome because they ran around in little miniskirts and threw pom-poms in the air, like it was THEM winning the football games. I also didn’t like it when people insulted my friends. And let’s just say that I was the one throwing the fists, not the b***h-slaps. I maybe had a bruise on my cheek at worst, but nothing besides that.

Yuka shot at me, and I quickly leapt to the side, imagining the dusk attacking her side. For the most part it did, but she used her own Dusk as a shield, and the worst damage I did was send her flying to the side. She quickly sprung to her feet, and sent a giant disk of Dusk at me. I tumbled over, and I thought I felt a few hairs get sawed off.

That didn’t last long, though. The Dusk Buzz-saw swung right around at me again, and I had to think quickly. I thought of a shield, and one appeared before me.

I smiled, and realized what exactly Ferios meant. I didn’t need to really visualize what I wanted it to do, I needed to think of something for it to do. If that makes any sense.

Here, let me put it this way.

I couldn’t tell it. "I want you to knock that girl out in the least harmful way possible," That’s too specific, and frankly, things would be too easy. I simply have to take baby steps. When something flies at me, I simply have to think ’shield’ and the Dusk would do whatever it thought was considered ’shield’. Apparently, the shorter the sentence, the better.

I danced around the Dusk-saw, once again finding this more fun then I probably should. Yuka was getting a little peeved, I think. After all, she was doing her best to be threatening, and she even added two more saws to the collection.

Eventually, I too grew tired, and just for fun, I thought ‘Explode’

The shield and the saws exploded, sending both of us flying. I skidded on my back down the practice arena. I don’t know what happened to Yuka, but I knew that she was pissed.

"Jade! What the hell did you do?" Kieran called, dashing into the arena. I sat up, smoothing my hair back. I blinked, looked around, and saw Yuka, covered in dirt and her hair all fuzzy. She was cussing, and Kuro stared at us with wide eyes. Ferios looked mildly impressed as well.

Oddly, I started laughing. I hadn’t felt that happy in a long time. I made things explode, just because I wanted them to.

In the background, I heard Kieran mutter to Ferios. "I think we really do have a demon, a mad, mad, demon,"

Ferios grinned, baring straight white teeth. "The mad people never fail to make things more interesting,"

I continued to roll around on the ground, laughing.

Author's Note

Still nothing new to say .
This isn't the same Ferios from Black Lighting, by the way. I'm notorious for recycling names.