Not Sure of Anything: Chapter One

Not Sure of Anything
Chapter One
Gabriel

I could have sworn I was dead, because in my mind my body was surrounded by nothing but black. However, I groaned and twisted around.  I had been lain down on something soft and someone pulled something even softer over me. I opened my eyes to find myself in an entirely new place. There were wooden walls. A soft mattress was settled under my body. My head was on top of a feather pillow. My body was under a blanket of blue cashmere. I turned myself around and was frightened out of my skin.

I had been put on a cot in a cottage. The tenant stood, pouring coffee into a mug. He glanced over his shoulder and smiled. He had tiger eyes and chocolate hair – not too bad on the eyes. His eyes were young and alive, bubbling at the sight of me. This man couldn’t be old; his appearance screamed everything that said ‘youth’. “Hey, you’re up! You’re lucky that something told me that I needed to go out there. You were on the verge of perishing. You held out strong, though.” By the time he had finished talking, his coffee was made the old school way and he made his way over to me.

My jaw dropped and I shrank back. I could still feel the pain from that woman. My teeth grinded together and chills ran through my spine, making each individual hair on my arm rise in a rhythm. I didn’t want to be here, nevertheless have any more fangs in my neck. “What is this place? Where are we?”

The man put his hand out, for he was towering over me by that time. “Well, let’s acquainted before we get into this. It’s pretty lengthy. Name’s Gabriel. You?”

I sat up. “Faye Summer McDickonson. Now, tell me. Details, details, details.” I know what you're thinking right now. How stupid of her to tell him her full name! I knew that I could trust him somehow. I didn't intentionally reveal my full name. Something made me. I didn't even bother regretting saying it.

Gabriel sighed and lowered his hand. “You’re in Lunakey, on the outskirts of the Dead Land,” I raised my eyebrows in severe confusion. “Oh, I see. I see, I see, I see. You must be a human from Gondalynn. Then you’re probably so terrified out of your wits that you can’t even think. I apologize.”

“You think?! And what’s… Gondalynn, is it? I’ve never heard of it, or Lunakey.” I said. I was scared and confused – Gabriel described it perfectly. Though, the word ‘terrified’ was incorrect. He should have used ‘horrified’, if that even covered it.
“I mean Earth, sorry. The planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto…”

“Pluto’s not a planet anymore.”

“Oh well. Anyway, each off them are illusions – amazing conjuring work, if you ask me. There are really seven realms. Each of them is connected, so it’s almost like several extremely large countries on a titanic-sized continent. Well, they’re bigger than large and titanic, but those are the only words I can think of that will paint a picture. Anyway, each country has its own government and completely different life styles. Maybe that’s why the Superior Government calls each of them realms.

“The Superior Government is what somewhat runs the realms, but the realms have much freedom. It defends each realm neutrally and protects them from being overthrown. There have been several attempts to conquer the Superior Government, but no one knows where it is located, so all have failed. If someone joins the Superior Government, wherever it is, are taken there and aren’t permitted to leave. They have all of their contacts for their personal lives cut. Quite depressing. A little advice: don’t get mixed up with them. If you do, you’re screwed.

“The three evil realms are Jzyke, with the Urban Jzyke and Poor Jzyke reasons, Keyette, with the Larka or Confederate Region and Origin Region, for it has never been touched by war, and Lunakey, just fully Lunakey then Gon – Earth, but an emperor of Lunakey thought it’d be best for the realms if there was a void between them so that Earth wouldn’t find out about the realms so it would stay neutral. Earth is the place that separates evil from good. It needs to stay neutral.

“Through Earth, the Dead Land, and a small space between Kai and Earth, there is a series of tunnels called the Rebellion. It’s an organization run by a woman by the name of Tara, who was the apprentice of a very wicked woman by the name of Leigha at one point. We’ll talk about Leigha after this. She saw the things that Leigha was doing to everyone was disgusting and shallow, and risked her life to break away. People believed that since she had once worked for Leigha, she would only wreck havoc and never be a do-gooder. So, Tara started the Rebellion, which takes in all former evil-doers. It is also how you get from Earth to either Kai or Keyette. Are you understanding this okay?” Gabriel showed a grin that I learned to love, for I feared him for a short period of time. “It’s some intense stuff! You’ve got to be overwhelmed.”

I gulped and shrugged a tad. “Well yeah, it’s overwhelming, what do you expect? Kind of interesting, though. All I really care about right now is whoever – or whatever – hurt me. I still feel it. The pain is still there. I want to wake up from this nightmare! I wanna go home! Blake and Mason are coming! Oh god – they’re there right now! And I’m not! Oh, what am I supposed to do? How do I get out of here?!” my declarative had turned into an exclamatory imperative. I clenched my teeth and fists as I teeter-tottered on the verge of rage.

Gabriel pulled up a chair and sat down. “Faye Summer… Ah, god, I’m afraid I don’t know how to take you home right now. Gondalynn is quite a distance away from here. You’d be surprised how big the Dead Land is. It’s amazing that I got close to the outskirts, and that you weren’t too far inland for me not to manage to get you. Not to mention that you <i>lived</i>.”

“I don’t care!” I screamed. I let the waterfall from my eyes pour. Gabriel stood up and put his hand on my back. I grabbed hold of his shirt and buried my face into his abdomen. At that point, I didn’t care who was there to grieve with me, as long as I could.

Then Gabriel did something that I still don’t understand.

He wrapped his arms around my trembling body and cradled me. I set my gaze upon his attractive face. He grinned that warming grin. “It’s okay. You’re going to be safe with me. You don’t have to be skittish, but I’ll say it again. I understand why. You’re fine for right now. Beau and I are going to protect you, and you’ll learn everything you need to know about who you really are and how to protect yourself.”

After I got myself together, I spoke, “Alright. What else do you want me to know before we get this going?”

Gabriel laughed as he let go of me. “Well, there will be another time to talk about Kai, Ammerie, and Tamarah, why Gondalynn was created to be neutral, and other historical mumbo-jumbo, therefore I’m going to cut to the chase. Leigha is the one who tried to kill you. She is probably the most powerful being who has ever lived. She’s incredible. Unfortunately, she’s always been evil, and I mean always. She studied under Serena, who was the reason that the Superior Government was created. At the beginning of Serena’s dictatorship, it started, because they knew something was going to have to be done. Leigha became stronger than her mentor, so you can imagine what happened. After Serena died, the Superior Government surfaced.

““The only explainable reason that anyone can come up with is that the jewelry that Serena wore helped her hold her power and it probably was taken off of her, and then Leigha had a chance to bite into her vitals, just like she did to you. Leigha sucks the fear, power, and strength out of her victims.

“Oddly enough, different types of races have a certain limit of how much power they can withhold. One of the many reasons that Serena was so powerful is because she had a necklace, a ring, and an anklet that could harness power that she got. Somehow, she used the power from inside of her, the necklace, the ring, and the anklet all at the same time. Absolutely phenomenal. The Superior Government took the jewelry and hid it somewhere. No one knows who crafted it, or else Leigha would probably have this place under her reign.

“Leigha started to just use the fear, power, and strength she got from her victims for food, considering she can’t use it to strengthen her anymore. I believe she got addicted to the pain that she ate and began to do it for fun. I have yet to meet someone who isn’t afraid of her.” Gabriel explained.

“That’s what she said to me…” I muttered.

Gabriel nodded. “She wasn’t lying,” he stood up as he finished his coffee. “You’re the only one to survive those nasty fangs, you know?”

I shook my head. “Really?”

Gabriel poured the steaming drink into his cup from the tea kettle. “Mhmm, and that only means one thing, Faye. You may not like it, but it runs in your family blood, meaning that you were supposed to do something with this.”

“Get on with it, please. I want to know, you’re aware of that.” I told, running my hands through my hair.

“You are insusceptible to Leigha’s powers. You’re a dream alchemist.”

“What do you mean a dream alchemist?!” I shouted. <i>Crazy talk! He can’t possibly understand a word that he’s speaking! Ah, jeez, I have to wake up… C'mon Faye, wake up...</i>

“I meant what I said. You’re a dream alchemist. From the vibe that I’m getting, you are a great one, too. You just don’t know what you’re capable of yet, but that will change in time. I know this is new, but you have to dip your toes into new water eventually. Dream alchemists are immune to one another’s power. Magic exists, Faye. It has.” Gabriel spoke formally, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“How am I supposed to know if you’re right? This theory is going off of one little thing. There is a first for everything. Someone was bound to survive Leigha’s fangs eventually.” I was indifferent. As I pieced everything together in my mind, it actually made sense. I simply couldn’t fuse it with my everyday life. I didn’t want it to make sense.

For that meant that all Gabriel had informed me of was nonfiction. And if that was true, than I wasn’t in my conscience. If that was the truth, than I was stuck in this little pocket in my mind.

But this wasn’t a little pocket in my mind.

It was real.

Gabriel chuckled, “I like you. Your questioning means you demand information, and that says you’re intelligent. That’s always good. I’m pretty sure that I ‘m right, but since you are insisting on being so skeptical, I’ll be willing to show you.” He moved his shaggy bangs out of his eyes. I admired how they complimented each other.

Gabriel is the reason that I stand today. I had to love him.

“Then do so.” was all that came from my mouth. My arms crossed and I began to sweat.

He was about to prove that he was right.

“The three basic powers of dream alchemy are mind reading, possession, and illusions. Illusions, however, are hard to create. There are many, many other powers that come along with this title, but you might have to figure them out yourself. Alright. Let us start with mind reading, shall we? Focus on me. Forget everything and concentrate.” Gabriel kindly requested.

I gulped and tried. I really did. I took a deep breath and stared at him. All that registered were the memories from the moment that I saw Mason’s car to when I woke up here. “I can’t.”

“Of course you can. Try as hard as you can. If I’m wrong, I can’t do a single thing for you." Gabriel shrugged.

“I am!” I bellowed.

“Stop yelling.”

Then it came to me.

I heard three sentences in my mind.

It wasn’t in my voice.

It wasn’t something that I would say.

I glanced down.

“Magic is full of wonders. It really is, if you believe in it. You should,” I repeated. I knew that Gabriel knew that I was starting to believe. “But that’s only one of three qualifications. One third, thirty-three percent. You have to convince me more. I’m not going to jump on this train unless something else points me in its direction.”

“Alright, alright. You’ve got to focus on me again and throw your hand up. It is quite easy, really.” Gabriel shrugged again. His muscles tensed for a reason that I did not know of and his orchid veins showed a little.

I sighed, “Dude, I read your mind on accident! I can’t!”

“Do it!” Gabriel actually commanded me. Of course, I realize now that he did this on purpose. He wanted to scare me so I would listen and cast an authority over me. He succeeded.

I frowned and threw my hand up.

Gabriel shot into the air.

I gasped. “Did I really do that, Gabriel? Seriously?”


Gabriel laughed along with a nod. “Yes, yes! Congrats! Are you convinced yet?”

I unwillingly nodded and slammed my hand down to my lap. Gabriel crashed to the ground. He struggled up, rubbing the back of his head. “Okay, don’t do that again. Please. I am fairly sure that you let people do by closing and opening your fist. Eventually you will get so experienced that you won’t have to flicker your hand.”

I nodded and stared at my hands, gulping, whispering. “I am a dream alchemist…”