Chapter Five
Current Word Count: 8740
Words Left To Count: 41260
Days Left: 26
Chapter Five
Atanax stared down at the silver mirror, carefully brushing aside the dirt from her shallow grave. She hadn’t told the other Elves about the mirror, and had even less intension of telling them about the Crystal. She had left their camp so that she could check on her items. These Elves, these children, they didn’t understand the important of these things. If something happened, if they let someone wrong know...
She missed Zix.
She quickly pushed him out of her mind. She couldn’t just sit there and think about Zix over and over again. She had to think of a way to get him back. Not only that, she also had to figure out what had happened to Zeal and Jonathan. The Orin had sent her back to her body, but she didn’t know where those two had asked to go and where they had ended up.
Could she use the mirror to find them? How did it even work? She could use it to go from one dimension to another, and from one time to another, so could she use it to go from one place to another while staying in her own dimension? She looked around the woods, the sun was setting and she couldn’t be sure, but she couldn’t see any of the Elves around her. She could use the mirror without them knowing.
"I’ve got to try it sooner or later," she bit her lip, prayed nobody had gone into the woods to fetch her and called on the Orin with her mind.
It was just like before, white light surrounded her, blinding her almost. Unlike before though, this time she began to feel pain. Her emotions rose to the surface, rage, depression, pity, guilt... all tore at her mind until she had to scream out in pain. This was wrong, something wasn’t right. Had she done something wrong? Had she broken the mirror.
The pain seemed to subside slowly, or maybe her body was simply going numb. She became aware of her surroundings. She was not in the nothingness she had found herself last time, but the same darkness surrounded her. She could see buildings, and animals, people even, all in the distance. It was all unmoving, the buildings all broken and crumbling... She soon realized that everyone was dead as well.
"You should go back now."
It was the Orin’s voice, she recognized it immediately.
"Where am I!?!" She was frantic, all her emotions still at their peak.
"This is the end, Atanax, Queen of the Elves."
The Orin was different too, rusted, chipped. As thought it had aged millions of years in the few hours since she had seen it.
"I don’t understand, what’s happened to you!?! What is all this!?!"
"This is the nothingness at the end."
"Of what!?!"
"My time."
"I don’t understand! How did this place change so fast!"
"It has not. It changed slowly. Once all travel ended through my gateway, I found this nothingness. This was a long time ago."
"But... I just saw you."
"We have met many times before, all of them eons ago."
"That’s impossible."
"Is it? You take for granted that our lives are linear with each other."
"You said travel stopped between worlds. Why?"
"I shall never know. Perhaps they found another way to do so, or perhaps they no longer were curious of other worlds."
"Is this... is this where those buildings went from the other day?"
"All things with no destination, will end up nowhere."
"So why am I here?"
The Orin didn’t answer, there was no need to. Atanax understood clearly why she was there, because she couldn’t travel to a dimension she was already in. She couldn’t find Zeal and Jonathan this way, she’d simply have to make her way to Camsirtch and either they would go there as well, or she’d have to send out soldiers to find them. It was going to be harder than she had originally anticipated.
"You should go back now. Something tells me you have yet to live out the life I have seen you live."
"No wait! Where are Zeal and Jonathan!"
"From what time?"
"ORIN!!!" Atanax sat up and stared into the darkness, but this was a different darkness. She was back in the forest, she could see a fire in the distance, the other Elves. Her only plan hadn’t worked and no she didn’t know what to do. She had expected the three of them to come here to together and then go to Camsircth, free their worlds of the outsider... and then... Would she find Zix in Serrsirtch? Was that going to be easy? Or just as hard as this was?
"Mehrehn?"
Atanax peered into the darkness and saw a small figure emerge from the trees. It was Galma.
"How long..."
"I heard you yell, I came to see what was wrong."
"Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine, really..."
"... What does ‘Orin’ mean?"
"Orin? Oh, well, it’s a name..." She could tell her daughter, couldn’t she? Couldn’t she trust her own flesh and blood not to accidentally tell their enemies? An enemy who until recently owned this mirror. "Actually... I’m not too sure if it is a name."
"Then what is it?" Galma was standing by her mother, and Atanax stood up as well, the mirror still in her hand.
"It’s a way to get to the outsider."
"The outsider?" Atanax couldn’t tell if Galma sounded annoyed or nervous, but she could tell that she recognized the name. The Elves had clearly heard of the outsider as well.
"Do you know of him?"
"From what I’ve heard, the outsider’s not what one would call a ‘him’." There was a hint of awe in her voice.
"What have you heard?"
"I suppose rumours only... That he’s a monster who’s lived for hundreds of years and goes from world to world looking for power to keep himself alive forever. That’s why Showex wanted us to split up."
"What do you mean?"
Galma smiled. "Well, you probably don’t know this, but we’ve had spies in Serrsirtch for a few years."
"Spies? Who?"
"Well... Rotal for one."
"Rotal?" The mention of him hit Atanax with waves of guilt. Rotal, her children’s father, her first lover... but not the person she loved. Did he know about Zix if he was a spy? Had he told her children? What did they think of her?
"A lot of Serrians don’t like the outsider, but a lot of people really like him because he promises them a lot of power as well. When Showex heard about the outsider she knew it only meant more trouble for us. She figured, if they knew about one Elf, then they’d probably figure out that there were more."
One Elf. Her of course, Atanax. She had given away their secret existence, but she had to.
"So we decided it’d be easier for the Elves to hide if we separated."
"Is that why you’re out here with these other children?"
Galma huffed at the word ‘children’. "We’re more than children mehrehn, we’re the future!"
"How many of you are there?"
"I have 14 Elves with me, the youngest of the Elves. Showex kept the older Elves, the Elves you were raised with and also..."
"Also?"
"Well, when you left there were only 16 Elves... but while you were gone we found more Elves. Along with the Elves who’ve been born over the last eight years-"
All of whom seem to be here.
"-there are 50 of us now. 14 of the eldest stayed with Showex, and the rest went with Geriha. We are the trinity of the Elves. Showex is the spirit, Geriha the body and we are the mind. Divided we stay a secret to those who would harm us, but if ever we are discovered, then united we shall come together and no force will be able to quail us."
"Sounds like a good idea."
Galma shrugged. "Showex is smart, she knows what she’s doing. We couldn’t have a better leader." Galma’s eyes widened at what she had just said. "Oh! Well what I meant was, we couldn’t have a better leader with you gone is what I meant, because of course you’re a great leader! You’re off fighting a war for us!"
"Galma, it’s alright. The only reason anyone ever considered me to be a leader is because after Nagaem died, I was the oldest. We were so young then that age mattered. When I left, I left the Elves to Rotal."
"If you came back... Showex would stand down."
"If?"
"Well... aren’t you going back to war?"
"...Yes."
Silence. Atanax wanted to say something, wanted to tell her daughter that of course she would come back after the war, but even that she wasn’t sure of. She might very well die, and if she didn’t, if they won the war and she lived through it and she found Zix... would she be able to leave him a second time?
"We should get back to camp."
"Yes, we should get some sleep."
Galma nodded and the two slowly went back towards the fire.
(Exposition, exposition, exposition. I really need to stop explaining things, though then nobody would have any idea what was going on. Still, I write a lot of exposition. The next chapter won't have much, if any, so that'll be nice.)
Words Left To Count: 41260
Days Left: 26
Chapter Five
Atanax stared down at the silver mirror, carefully brushing aside the dirt from her shallow grave. She hadn’t told the other Elves about the mirror, and had even less intension of telling them about the Crystal. She had left their camp so that she could check on her items. These Elves, these children, they didn’t understand the important of these things. If something happened, if they let someone wrong know...
She missed Zix.
She quickly pushed him out of her mind. She couldn’t just sit there and think about Zix over and over again. She had to think of a way to get him back. Not only that, she also had to figure out what had happened to Zeal and Jonathan. The Orin had sent her back to her body, but she didn’t know where those two had asked to go and where they had ended up.
Could she use the mirror to find them? How did it even work? She could use it to go from one dimension to another, and from one time to another, so could she use it to go from one place to another while staying in her own dimension? She looked around the woods, the sun was setting and she couldn’t be sure, but she couldn’t see any of the Elves around her. She could use the mirror without them knowing.
"I’ve got to try it sooner or later," she bit her lip, prayed nobody had gone into the woods to fetch her and called on the Orin with her mind.
It was just like before, white light surrounded her, blinding her almost. Unlike before though, this time she began to feel pain. Her emotions rose to the surface, rage, depression, pity, guilt... all tore at her mind until she had to scream out in pain. This was wrong, something wasn’t right. Had she done something wrong? Had she broken the mirror.
The pain seemed to subside slowly, or maybe her body was simply going numb. She became aware of her surroundings. She was not in the nothingness she had found herself last time, but the same darkness surrounded her. She could see buildings, and animals, people even, all in the distance. It was all unmoving, the buildings all broken and crumbling... She soon realized that everyone was dead as well.
"You should go back now."
It was the Orin’s voice, she recognized it immediately.
"Where am I!?!" She was frantic, all her emotions still at their peak.
"This is the end, Atanax, Queen of the Elves."
The Orin was different too, rusted, chipped. As thought it had aged millions of years in the few hours since she had seen it.
"I don’t understand, what’s happened to you!?! What is all this!?!"
"This is the nothingness at the end."
"Of what!?!"
"My time."
"I don’t understand! How did this place change so fast!"
"It has not. It changed slowly. Once all travel ended through my gateway, I found this nothingness. This was a long time ago."
"But... I just saw you."
"We have met many times before, all of them eons ago."
"That’s impossible."
"Is it? You take for granted that our lives are linear with each other."
"You said travel stopped between worlds. Why?"
"I shall never know. Perhaps they found another way to do so, or perhaps they no longer were curious of other worlds."
"Is this... is this where those buildings went from the other day?"
"All things with no destination, will end up nowhere."
"So why am I here?"
The Orin didn’t answer, there was no need to. Atanax understood clearly why she was there, because she couldn’t travel to a dimension she was already in. She couldn’t find Zeal and Jonathan this way, she’d simply have to make her way to Camsirtch and either they would go there as well, or she’d have to send out soldiers to find them. It was going to be harder than she had originally anticipated.
"You should go back now. Something tells me you have yet to live out the life I have seen you live."
"No wait! Where are Zeal and Jonathan!"
"From what time?"
"ORIN!!!" Atanax sat up and stared into the darkness, but this was a different darkness. She was back in the forest, she could see a fire in the distance, the other Elves. Her only plan hadn’t worked and no she didn’t know what to do. She had expected the three of them to come here to together and then go to Camsircth, free their worlds of the outsider... and then... Would she find Zix in Serrsirtch? Was that going to be easy? Or just as hard as this was?
"Mehrehn?"
Atanax peered into the darkness and saw a small figure emerge from the trees. It was Galma.
"How long..."
"I heard you yell, I came to see what was wrong."
"Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine, really..."
"... What does ‘Orin’ mean?"
"Orin? Oh, well, it’s a name..." She could tell her daughter, couldn’t she? Couldn’t she trust her own flesh and blood not to accidentally tell their enemies? An enemy who until recently owned this mirror. "Actually... I’m not too sure if it is a name."
"Then what is it?" Galma was standing by her mother, and Atanax stood up as well, the mirror still in her hand.
"It’s a way to get to the outsider."
"The outsider?" Atanax couldn’t tell if Galma sounded annoyed or nervous, but she could tell that she recognized the name. The Elves had clearly heard of the outsider as well.
"Do you know of him?"
"From what I’ve heard, the outsider’s not what one would call a ‘him’." There was a hint of awe in her voice.
"What have you heard?"
"I suppose rumours only... That he’s a monster who’s lived for hundreds of years and goes from world to world looking for power to keep himself alive forever. That’s why Showex wanted us to split up."
"What do you mean?"
Galma smiled. "Well, you probably don’t know this, but we’ve had spies in Serrsirtch for a few years."
"Spies? Who?"
"Well... Rotal for one."
"Rotal?" The mention of him hit Atanax with waves of guilt. Rotal, her children’s father, her first lover... but not the person she loved. Did he know about Zix if he was a spy? Had he told her children? What did they think of her?
"A lot of Serrians don’t like the outsider, but a lot of people really like him because he promises them a lot of power as well. When Showex heard about the outsider she knew it only meant more trouble for us. She figured, if they knew about one Elf, then they’d probably figure out that there were more."
One Elf. Her of course, Atanax. She had given away their secret existence, but she had to.
"So we decided it’d be easier for the Elves to hide if we separated."
"Is that why you’re out here with these other children?"
Galma huffed at the word ‘children’. "We’re more than children mehrehn, we’re the future!"
"How many of you are there?"
"I have 14 Elves with me, the youngest of the Elves. Showex kept the older Elves, the Elves you were raised with and also..."
"Also?"
"Well, when you left there were only 16 Elves... but while you were gone we found more Elves. Along with the Elves who’ve been born over the last eight years-"
All of whom seem to be here.
"-there are 50 of us now. 14 of the eldest stayed with Showex, and the rest went with Geriha. We are the trinity of the Elves. Showex is the spirit, Geriha the body and we are the mind. Divided we stay a secret to those who would harm us, but if ever we are discovered, then united we shall come together and no force will be able to quail us."
"Sounds like a good idea."
Galma shrugged. "Showex is smart, she knows what she’s doing. We couldn’t have a better leader." Galma’s eyes widened at what she had just said. "Oh! Well what I meant was, we couldn’t have a better leader with you gone is what I meant, because of course you’re a great leader! You’re off fighting a war for us!"
"Galma, it’s alright. The only reason anyone ever considered me to be a leader is because after Nagaem died, I was the oldest. We were so young then that age mattered. When I left, I left the Elves to Rotal."
"If you came back... Showex would stand down."
"If?"
"Well... aren’t you going back to war?"
"...Yes."
Silence. Atanax wanted to say something, wanted to tell her daughter that of course she would come back after the war, but even that she wasn’t sure of. She might very well die, and if she didn’t, if they won the war and she lived through it and she found Zix... would she be able to leave him a second time?
"We should get back to camp."
"Yes, we should get some sleep."
Galma nodded and the two slowly went back towards the fire.
(Exposition, exposition, exposition. I really need to stop explaining things, though then nobody would have any idea what was going on. Still, I write a lot of exposition. The next chapter won't have much, if any, so that'll be nice.)
posted by Elise at 2:18 PM
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