Chapter 5- An Adventure of Our Own

December 6, 2027

        Jesse sat on the edge of Niana’s bed in awe as she looked down at the letter he had set there only hours earlier. She couldn’t believe what she was reading, she understood the reasoning and knew what he was doing but it was still such a big decision to make, not to mention the fact he was only seventeen. She sat there for about an hour before she decided it was best to share the news with Steven since the letter was addressed to him as well. It didn’t take long for her to get to his house, she knocked on the door and waited for a minute, he hadn’t answered the door yet so he must be not home or maybe still sleeping. Either way she decided to save the news for a later time, as she made her way back home she noticed something on the ground. She picked it up and realized it was a piece of cloth from Niana’s favorite shirt that he had been wearing the previous day. Wondering how it got on the ground she dismissed the idea that something bad could have happened to Niana and tucked the piece of cloth in her pocket. What was she to do? The boy she had raised for seventeen years she had come to know and love deeply had just walked away not leaving anything but a note and some cloth. How could he have done this without even saying goodbye in person? All these things were going through her head and she just couldn’t come to a conclusion. She went back home to lie in her bed and think about the recent events that had happened. After a while she settled down and decided to let him go. She knew what he was after, and she knew the reason he had gone, the curse must have finally taken over and he was going out to find answers. With that explanation in mind she told herself that he would be fine and that even though the road was dangerous, years of training had prepared him for such events.

Meanwhile, at the training field where Steven spent most of his time, he was planning on training for most of the day then maybe going home and calling Niana, seeing if he wanted to hang out or stay the night.  Sadly he didn’t even know that Niana wasn’t in town anymore, and he had a letter addressed to him to prove that fact. As he sat there pondering his own issues while training, he had thought about the strange feeling he had last night. He had the feeling that his friend had been in trouble, and he hadn’t been there to help him in his time of need. He knew that it was just a feeling though and didn’t bother to think much about it. Though he was curious as to where Amilia was, he had never talked to here but she always came to the training field about the same time Steven did everyday. Maybe she was just sick or had more important things to do, he didn’t really care too much but the thought had stayed in his mind most of the day. He decided that even though he didn’t know her that he would go see if she was okay, or if she needed help with what she was doing. He put all of his gear in his bag and then made his way over to her house, he knocked on the door, half expecting her to answer or just maybe ignore him. The other half of him expected her to be gone or maybe her mom or dad answer the door.     

He was right, her mom answered the door with worried tears in here eyes, instantly he knew something was up. “Are you okay Mrs.Stolonis?” Steven asked in a sympathetic voice. He waited for an answer, and she finally burst out saying, “No! My daughter is missing! She wasn’t in her room when I went to go wake her up! I looked all over town and her dad can’t even find her! The only thing she left behind was her books and least favorite pair of shoes! I’m sorry for being rude though and pouring this all on you, I didn’t even catch your name.” “My name is Steven; I often train with your daughter. She wasn’t at the training field this morning so I thought I’d come over and see if she was sick or needed help with something.” Steven thought to himself, Niana would probably knew where she was, after all, he saw her on that one night before he came over. Steven looked at her and said with a reassuring voice. “I don’t know where Amilia is, but I know someone who probably does. My friend Niana spoke to her a few nights ago and so maybe he knows where she might have gone, don’t worry Mrs.Stolonis, I will help find her.” Mrs.Stolonis smiled then said in a lighter tone, “Thank you Steven, I don’t know what I would do without someone like you willing to help find her, I wish you luck and I hope you succeed in your search for my daughter.” As Steven walked away he flashed a confident smile to let her know he was going to try his best to find her, but then again, how good was his best?

Steven knocked on the door of the Poroto’s house and waited a while. To his surprise, Jesse answered the door with a hopeful look but then a look of disappointment overtook her. “Is Niana home?” Steven asked with a worried tone. Jesse didn’t say anything, she just handed him the letter. Steven sat there looking at the letter for a few moments then his jaw dropped as he looked up to meet Jesse’s eyes. “Where did you find this?” Jesse looked at him and then with a quiet voice she said, “I found it on his bed when I went to wake him up this morning, he took almost everything from his room and packed it in a bag and just left.” Steven looked at her as if he didn’t believe her, but he knew it was true, the evidence was right in front of him. He just didn’t believe it, he did believe but he didn’t want to. It was Niana’s handwriting on the piece of paper he held in his hand so it had to be true. Then suddenly something went of in his head. He knew where Amilia was, he wasn’t for sure but he was almost positive that she went along with him. Even though he hadn’t talked to her, he knew she hated this town and was looking for a way out, and Niana was her way, her escape. He looked at Jesse and then said “I don’t know where Niana is, but I have a feeling that Amilia, a local girl who lives in this town went with him, because she is missing also.” Jesse tried to gather up hope; at least she knew that Niana had someone else with him so he wasn’t all alone. “Go tell Amilia’s mother and then meet me by the front gate in an hour.” Steven just shook his head and walked away, he knew that he had to tell his parents before, because he knew what Jesse had planned. He was sure they would allow him to go, because they trusted Jesse and knew Niana very well and knew that they had been friends for many years.

Steven walked up to the door of the Stolonis household and knocked lightly knowing that most likely Mrs.Stolonis was standing by. She quickly opened the door and a wave of hope washed over her facial expression. “Have you found my daughter?” she asked with a hopeful tone. Steven just shook his head and then said, “No, but we are almost positive that your daughter is traveling with Niana to help him find his long lost parents.” She frowned but shook her head and understood. “She has liked that boy for a while so it doesn’t surprise me that she went of with him, and by the look of him, I know he will keep my daughter safe.” Steven smiled a little then explained, “Me and Niana’s foster mother, Jesse, are going out to find Niana and Amilia and bring them back, if anything then to at least being Amilia back. Niana is on a journey and is determined and we know their isn’t much we can do to stop him, but we’ll try.” With that Mrs.Stolonis shook her head and then grinned a little bit as Steven turned away and walked off. Steven went home and explained to his mother and father what was going on and what Jesse had asked of him, they both understood and without hesitation they allowed him to go. As he walked away they both yelled out, “We wish you the best of luck and hope you stay safe.” Steven turned and flashed a smile and gave them thumbs up to let them know he was going to be okay.

Steven walked up to Jesse and looked her in the eyes, they both knew what they had to do and they both knew it had to be done. At least if they couldn’t bring Niana home that they would bring Amilia back and try their best to help Niana with what he was doing. Jesse looked into Steven’s eyes and for the first time was on a personal level with him, of course she’d seen him many times and knew much about him but the both of them were about to perform a very dangerous task leaving the city and going into the forest. “Steven, I just want you to know that this is going to be very life threatening and I can’t promise that you will come back unharmed.” Jesse swallowed and continued “Or even at all, but don’t you worry. I’m going to do all in my power to protect you, even if it costs me my life.” Steven didn’t know what to say, he was touched but at the same time kind of scared, which was normal because Jesse felt the same way. “I don’t want to go in the forest though being unarmed so I brought a little something for the both of us.” Jesse reached into her bag and pulled out a longsword, Steven took it and put it in the sheathe it came with. Jesse also pulled out two exotic looking daggers that looked like something Steven had never seen before.” I made them myself when I found Niana in that cave, I knew that with the responsibility that came with raising him, I had to make something to protect him and me. Steven I want you to know that Niana isn’t just a regular teenager; he has powers stronger than you can even begin to understand. That’s the reason he left to find his parents, I just thought you should know what you’re getting yourself into.”

Steven shook his head again, he always knew something was different about Niana so he wasn’t all surprised; besides, Steven had a secret of his own. “I made both of these weapons by myself and they hold the ability to slay any non-human or human alike, with just one slash or stab through the heart or neck.” Jesse put the daggers on her belt and looked at Steven with a questionable stare. “Are you ready to go Steven?” Steven looked at her and thought about if he should tell her the secret he had always kept, the secret that nobody else knew about him, not even his own family. He decided since they were going on a life threatening adventure, that it would be best if she knew that way he could use it without hiding it, because he knew it would help him in the long run when it came to not getting killed. He looked at her and her facial expression was blank but he still started to tell her, “Listen Jesse, you’ve known me almost my whole life.” He stopped then thought about it some more, he continued “So since were going to go through with this I think you should know something that nobody else knows about me, not even my own family, so you can’t tell anyone.” She looked at him with a look of curiosity but kept listening to him speak. “You should know that when I was going through puberty I started changing, in normal ways and in supernatural ways, what happened to me is a rare occurrence so I was afraid to tell anybody the way I was changing, because if they knew then they might consider me as an outcast or a freak. Yet you have Niana who you raised and he had the curse since he was little and you still accepted him even though you knew.”

Jesse shook her head, not really knowing what Steven was going to say but she got herself ready for the worse. “I just want you to know that I can control elements of that I was born into. There are many like me and all of them differ when it comes to what they can control, some people control a single element, others control many. For me though I control three different elements.” Jesse looked at him in disbelief, she almost felt offended as if Steven was trying to make fun of the fact that Niana was different, but would he really say that stuff about his best friend? Jesse looked at him for a while and finally said, “I don’t know whether to believe you or to be offended that you’re making fun of my sun. If you are telling the truth though then it’s not hard to believe if you can just prove it to me.” Jesse looked at him waiting for a response. Steven looked at her then sighed, he pulled his shirt off and pointed to the three different color marks engraved in the skin around his heart. He started to speak and try to explain it. “I told you I control three different ones, so I have three different marks. The green mark stands for winds; I can control the air current, speed, and violence of it. I can create tornados and hurricanes when I have total control, I’ll explain that later.” Jesse shook her head and so far she understood, she allowed him to continue. “The black mark stands for the darkness; I control how dark the night is, how bright the moon shines in the night, and I can control the moment of the shadows. Under complete control I can cast shadows that either comes alive or I can control whoever gets caught in my shadow. The third and final mark is yellow and it stands for lightning. I can control when and where it strikes and how violent and strong it is. In complete control I can make violent storms appear on the spot and make them last for days on end with endless lightning strikes.” Jesse looked into his multi-colored eyes and shook her head only to say, “I understand and I believe you, and your gift will help us all along the way, I just know it, thank you for sharing that with me. One more thing though, what’s complete control?”

Steven smirked and looked at her and began to explain. “I don’t control all of the elements, their may be a violent windstorm or thunderstorm, may be shadows lurking around and covering people in the night. Mother Nature controls the things that my race doesn’t; she is our deity and our matron of the earth. We all obey her and the laws that she sets, if we don’t then we are stripped of our powers and become a regular human, but to gain complete control of your elements for a short time then you must be in danger or need it to an extreme extent. What we do is take off any piece of clothing that covers our symbols, use our nature powers to draw aura from a plant, then place our hand there and pray to her and if we’re true to our race and deity, then she will give us complete control to deal with the situation then after she takes control back and we go back to the minor control we had before. It’s a rare occasion but it can happen.”

Jesse looked at Steven and shook her head, Steven then knew she understood what he was saying. “Thank you Steven for telling me that, I’m glad I chose you to come with me on this adventure, your powers will come in handy and I’m grateful for them, you should be too.” She turned away and Steven quickly prayed to his deity to thanks for his powers and abilities. At that moment he took the longsword, raised the blade in the air and a lightning bolt came down, it hit the blade and as soon as it hit it was gone. Steven thanked Mother Nature then put his blade away. Jesse turned around and asked, “What was that all about?” Steven smiled and said “I prayed silently and asked her to give my blade strength; it now has her blessing and the force of all elements in nature. Though it’s hard to explain when she combined them all and put it into my sword, they become and individual element known as Sitasisum. Long story short, if you do what you’re told then your deity rewards you with a stronger weapon.” Steven pulled out the blade and as him and Jesse laid eyes on it, it pulsated with a platinum glow and it had ancient symbols and inscriptions that weren’t there before. Jesse looked at it and shook her head in approval, Steven sheathed his weapon. Without another word they both stepped out of the gate and embarked on their adventure to find Niana and Amilia. As the two of them left they hadn’t seem to notice, because they had been busy with Steven revealing is powers to her, but it was nighttime, and being in the forest at nighttime was a stupid mistake. Though both groups made the mistake they should all know that the beasts are out at night, and their watching you.