Part Three, I promise the action kicks up after this, it wouldn't be FF if it didn't >:D |
- Chapter Three - It was two o’clock in human terms. Xjrn was still sleeping, normal for a day off. Kilik however was just waking up. She lifted her head from the bulk of the trunk, its lumpy surface was uncomfortable and made her face a little itchy. She sniffled and looked around. Her eyes immediately catching something. It was very large, however just waking up she couldn’t focus on it. She stood slowly and staggered over. Kilik’s eyes widened and soon she saw that it was a basket. She didn’t remember that here before. This meant Xjrn must have brought it, which then meant Xjrn was here. Her legs forced her to run into Xjrn’s room to see the young girl in a hard sleep. “Xjrn! You are okay!” There was no response, and that only annoyed her. Kilik, poked the girl, and she only moaned and turned around in annoyance. Finally fed up with the tussle, she threw the light sheet off Xjrn, she was however stunned by the fact that Xjrn actually slept in the nude. Xjrn awoke swiftly and leaned up to see Kilik with the sheet. Xjrn flushed and snatched it and covered herself, quickly. “What are you thinking!” “I am so sorry!” “Next time you can just poke me or something.” Xjrn said she couldn’t help but laugh; Kilik too seemed to be resisting a few giggles. There was a pause, nothing but silence . . . “Well . . . You were right Kilik . . .” Xjrn said standing up and using the cover as a makeshift towel. Kilik was bemused. Xjrn believed it was all a dream, but in the sleeper’s mind, she has calmed down and learned it was not. She has somewhat matured in a way. She didn’t want to believe it but she did anyways. “I am the Twilight Mage . . .” Kilik’s eyes widened her mouth gapped open, she stuttered about five times before shrieking, “So I was right! Ha!” She said. Then she paused. “So um what’s in the basket . . .? Like your armor and stuff?” “What basket are you speaking about?” Kilik shook her head, “Are you an idiot, the bloody basket on your counter in your kitchen!?” Xjrn lifted a brow, got up, and suddenly paced into the hallway. “I didn’t bring in anything of the sort last night; I don’t know what your talking abo- . . ." She paused; there was a basket on her counter. A large basket. About two feet long and one foot high. She walked over and looked at it closely. There was a small letter on the cloth that surrounded the contents of the basket. Kilik walked in, in time to see her friend grip the letter and read it. “Our dearest Xjrn, I hope you slept well, we have taken the pride of bring you your Avion personally; this is your Brother, your brethren in blood . . . Your Avion . . . This, my dearest Xjrn is Elliot the XIII . . . For I leave him with his Mage . . . There are instructions for taking care of him on the back.” Her hand started to shake and she dropped the letter, her legs shook as she reached out for the basket, Kilik bending over to read the letter. She too was then caught in the trance of surprise. Xjrn exhaled, braced for the site, to lift up the basket’s sheets and see the egg in which young Elliot was asleep. It was a blue spotted white egg, it glowed silver however from many deferent directions. She picked it up and couldn’t help but moan. This was not happening. The first thing that came to mind was that it was a joke. That someone was making fun of her. She walked outside and braced to throw it, but Kilik quickly snatched the egg and screamed. “What are you doing? This is Elliot in here you can’t just toss him away, that’ll hurt him, no, kill him!” “That’s not Elliot; this is all some damn joke from some idiot kids not afar.” “Xjrn, listen to me; this is no rambling game of fools and folk, all we have to do is make a fire and rest it above it for three days!” “Wait you expect me to start a fire in my house? In that wood floor? I have no cooking appliances have you know.” The two started to argue like a married couple, but finally Xjrn agreed in taking care of the egg. “Xjrn, I most likely won’t be able to help, my parents are going to kill me when I get home . . . Endure without me okay.” Xjrn nodded, feeling a bit bad, and at the same time nervous. She gripped the egg firmly, then walked inside. Kilik shook her head. This wasn’t going to be easy. Xjrn sighed and looked at the paper, she didn’t have a stove or any source of heat so how was she to make one? Her eyes then turned to the hole in the floor, and then to the metal on the oven spread. She set the egg in its basket and scuttled off to put on her clothing, coming back this time in a red dress, she gathered some sticks, hay, and any other burning items. She walked over, and put the stove over the hole, which she put the burning items in. She used a stick and swiped about thirty times. However, couldn’t get a spark. She couldn’t understand, until it hit her. Not enough air in this room to start a fire. She picked up her large metal stool and pointed it at the wall on the side of her makeshift oven. She slammed it against the wall about eight times, every time a piece of rock chipped off until the rock started to crack and leave a dent in the wall. “C’mon break! Break!” she yelled as she hit it three more times, then braced, pulled herself back and slammed the stool; hard against the surface; it broke a large hole into it which she could feel already let in a large amount of fresh brisk air. Now she had a window . . . She sat down, gathered another pair of sticks, and began to rub them against each other. At first, there was a lick of or a spark and then finally it blew into sparks. She yelled with glee and set the hatch below the wooden grail on fire. Then she set the egg upon it. However, she was scared of something. What if it caught fire to the floor? If that happened, she could loose her home. She instead sat back against the wall and stared empty minded at the egg. What if it was all wrong? Then she would be angry. Very angry. Moreover, maybe never leave this room again. She sighed and waited, why was she getting so annoyed. It was a very strange two days. Xjrn didn’t do much but of course, it was just the following deeds. Go out and find more stuff to heat the Avion with, like hay or sticks and maybe even stones as a way to retain energy. She even built an almost rock like convection belt around it, so that the egg would retain heat better. Constantly retain the fire, with sticks and stuff she just made fires over and over again, she got well at it too, almost like a professional now. In addition, since there were rocks, she could even make sparks from them as well. Finally, sit back and watch, make sure the house floor does not catch fire and make sure that the egg didn’t pop or anything like that. It was the third and final day. She went through a lot and hadn’t seen Kilik that whole week too. It of course made her frustrated, and irate. She needed help with this thing and Kilik should have been helping more. Then she thought of how Kilik may just be grounded right now. Then at that moment, she was ashamed of herself for thinking in such a way. She looked at the egg . . . the fire just ran out, it was already nighttime. And Xjrn had been up for days straight trying to nurse this thing. Now it isn’t hatching. “It was a lie . . .” She said very slowly her mouth puckered up and she walked over and grasped the egg. Even though it was hundreds of degrees hot, somehow, it didn’t sear her flesh of burn her, she just felt its warm body, yet she was too angry to realize that. She walked outside and pulled back her hand, and then right when she was about to toss it she felt something move. Her eyes shifted to the egg and she slowly turned with her head cocked to the side and her eyes wide. It shook again. “Holy . . .” She said as she stared deeply at the egg. It twitched about three more times before the shell snapped and right in front of her was the head of a baby Avion. Xjrn fell to her knees, not tired or annoyed but the baby Avion had such an adorable face, tough and scaly; it even had a very small mane and would remind you of a horse in a way. It had a slick young look too, not like the hardcore Avions of the farther Eeden, but a young and pretentious young fellow, like the Redfoots or the Darkbathens. It almost resembled a Dragon. She smiled. “Hi Elliot . . ." she said tapping it on the head. She poked it and cracked open the shell and then pulled him out. She smiled as she walked back into the house. And held him up, for a second she was so happy she could cry, she’s never seen anything like this. She put him on the table and smiled; it stood on all fours wobbled and then fell to its small feet, then let out a little cry. “Elliot the XIII . . .” she thought to herself. Then the Avion looked her dead in the eyes. Her head tilted as his eyes started to glow a blue and silver. Then suddenly she felt something run down her spine, it was the weirdest feeling ever and all the sudden her back felt cold and stale. Her eyes suddenly morphed into that of the Avions own eyes, and she felt her ability to see suddenly spike up, the strange sensations around her body were tickling her and she couldn’t help but slap at them, it was when she felt her neck and her clavicle that she noticed something very wrong. It felt like a smooth almost lumpy with a very placid feel. She shrieked and the baby Avion of course hopped in surprised. She jolted out the room and to the baths where she pulled down her shirt to see something that made her scream a shrill scream that echoed into the hot evening knight . . . Kilik sat there bored to death in the classroom; Mr. Fletz was giving another boring lecture on nothing again today. Her eyes shifted to Xjrn’s seat. Xjrn hadn’t come to school for the appropriate three days. But now she’s also missed a week or two of school. She’s been grounded for so long, and she of course was worried. “Xjrn’s not here again eh?” said Mr. Fletz mostly to Kilik. He noticed that Kilik might be the only friend of Xjrn who he was surprised to see so absent lately. “No, she’s going through some things sir.” “Yeah homeless things,” the kids commented on this. She looked back, it was Grum, who seemed to like being battered and beaten by girls all the time. “For your information she is currently doing something that involves Avions and sorts, so I would watch your tongue little boy.” At that moment, Grum stopped laughing. “Why are you sticking up for her?” “Because . . .” She started, “She’s the Twilight Mage, and I’m going to be her counterpart,” she said cupping her shoulders with her hand and rotating. The kids stared with open eyes, no way, so it was true she was the Twilight Mage. Fletz eyes widened. “So she is awakening . . .” Kilik looked to him, even as the kids talked and whispered amongst each other. They couldn’t help but shush as they spoke more of Xjrn. “Yes she is at her home right now taking care of Elliot.” His eyes widened when he heard this. Therefore, Elliot is here too. This was amazing; he wished he could check up on the young girl but . . . “Kilik, I ask you this as a teacher and as a person, please can you go check up on young Xjrn for me?” Kilik’s eyes widened. “Sure!” “Right now . . .” he said lifting a brow and smiling, a student was allowed to leave class even if it is just a teacher’s favor, there excused anyway so it doesn’t really matter. Of course it was obvious that Mr. Fletz not only knew about Xjrn being a Mage, but also was worried, he too knew someone who was a Mage, and a Avion Mage’s awakening wasn’t easy, it was some what . . . scary. Kilik of course was happy to take this as an opportunity to see her friend. “Oh, right now’s even better!” she said standing up quickly, gathering her books and scuttling out the classroom. Some of the kids had that look; they of course wanted to see for themselves, what a baby Avion and its Mage looked like. Nevertheless, of course Fletz needed students for his lecture right? Kilik found herself sprinting at speeds she usually never runs at. Was it because she was excited? Of course! She was finally going to see Xjrn. In addition, maybe meet Elliot, that’s the only reason she could suggest to why Xjrn has missed so much school. The dirt edge of the countryside was visible and she luckily came across the large forest edge where Xjrn’s home seemed untouched by the powers of time. She fell into the brush and slowly made her way to the grassy yard of Xjrn’s home. It was very silent however; she couldn’t hear Xjrn, or any strange noises at all, just silence. She lifted the rug and skid inside, and looked up wide-eyed. Xjrn was sleeping with her head on the table, and on the counter were fragments of Elliot’s egg. So, Elliot did hatch! She thought. She slowly rose and took a few slow steps toward Xjrn and then suddenly from behind Xjrn’s head, Elliot poked his little scaly cranium and made a strange cooing noise. Kilik’s eyes flashed, and then smiled wide; she almost squealed as she stared at the adorable baby Avion, she walked over to pet it, but suddenly Xjrn twitched and looked up slowly, she had doze off. Kilik tapped her head, “Ey wake up and take care of your baby woman!” Xjrn screamed and fell over; there was a harsh slam and thump as Xjrn hit the floor. And Elliot almost made a squeaky, Avion giggle as she slowly sat up. Her eyes widened, it was Kilik, and she couldn’t let Kilik see! Xjrn looked away and stared at the window. “Um, hi, I was just resting! I was up all night trying to take care of Elliot. He wouldn’t sleep until I slept I guess.” Kilik listened to Xjrn’s voice; she seemed tired and nervous. And, what was she looking at? Kilik tilted her head in the direction of Xjrn’s line of sight, only to see a window, some trees and a rock in the path. “Um, Xjrn, are you okay?” she said bending over to look at her. “You look sort of tired?” From this angle, she couldn’t see Xjrn’s eyes but she could see something very astonishing about Xjrn’s ears. It was glowing. No it wasn’t glowing it was reflecting light. “I’m fine, really.” Xjrn protested. Kilik however bent over and stared at Xjrn’s ear, it wasn’t long before Xjrn rather tilted her head back, to see her staring with a stunned look on her face. She quickly grabbed her ears and pressed away. Kilik looked at her, “Your ears, Xjrn your ears are scales!” she screamed, it was somewhat an understatement however, her ears weren’t scales the skin that covered them however was. Xjrn looked away, sighed lowering her hands, and then turned again this time to face Kilik. “Your eyes are . . .” Kilik started, she couldn’t believe it, Xjrn’s eyes were like that of Elliot’s, who was at the time trying to find a way off the table. Xjrn stiffened up, “I can’t leave the house looking like this.” Xjrn moaned standing up and lifting Elliot into the air. Kilik grimaced and thought of something to say. “Well it’s only your ears that’s really noticeable, your eyes are just glowing that’s all. No one will notice.” Xjrn looked down and slowly lowered Elliot, who made another coo and finally had the bravery to hop off the table; the little Avion scurried over to Kilik who bent down, scooped him up and began to tickle his soft lizard belly. “Oh my, I believe Elliot has taken’ a liking to me!” she said giggling. Xjrn however didn’t turn around; in fact, there was the sound of loosened lacings as Xjrn let her shirt slightly lower to reveal her back. Kilik’s jaw dropped, it wasn’t just her ears, it was her neck, her spine, her shoulder blades, her clavicle and even between and around her breast. Kilik also lowered Elliot who sat and watched as she reached over, prodded, then slid her hand down her spine; it was cold and almost eerie. “Okay maybe . . . it isn’t just your ears. But none of the kids will see as long as you keep your shirt on!” Xjrn sighed and laced the shirted together quickly then turned and lifted her shirt to show that even her belly button had become scaly and soft. Kilik pouted. “Never mind then,” Xjrn walked over to Elliot and picked him up. Kilik followed, “well if it matters, I still see you as Xjrn and nothing more, you are still yourself, and those kids will show you more respect that now you are a Avion Mage!” Xjrn shook her head. And walked to the pond where she let go of Elliot. “Elliot is quite the fisher!” Xjrn said sitting down. Kilik’s shoulders slouched down and she walked over and pet Elliot. “When we are fishing, he tends to bring me fish as well. He loves them, and that’s good because I can’t buy him food.” Xjrn said petting the young Avion’s head and then she pointed to a fish. In that, instant Elliot growled and plummeted into the waters deep edge the young Avion used his feet and wings to flutter through the water. A fish happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and was snatched by the small, yet powerful jaws of Elliot who jumped out the water and began to feast upon his meal. “Elliot is just so adorable.” Kilik said watching him with a lighthearted smile. Xjrn nodded as she watched him jump back into the water. There were a few ferocious flops, the water started to cackle and spurt, then Elliot hopped into the air with a fish in his mouth. Kilik clapped and praised the young Avion while Xjrn had a happy smiled on her face. The Avion dropped the fish beside her, it was two-times the Avions height, in fact it was that same fish she tried to catch days ago, she smiled, praised and hugged the young Avion, Kilik smiled and thought, The two remind me of a family. |