– Chapter Five —

Tavin couldn't help but regret that he didn't go with Kivessa. For almost six hours now he had been flying around, lost, with P'zaz and his group on this trip to nowhere. Some time before they'd left, Tavin realized that he didn't really want belong to any particular group, he just wanted to be friends with both.

Not only that, he was dripping with water from head to toe, for the clouds had suddenly burst and rain was pouring down on them. We can't stay flying in this, it's too cold, he thought. We need somewhere to go. He signaled to P'zaz to land. They descended and the rest followed.

They all stood huddled underneath Ondran's blue wing, shivering and cold. No one had come up with a good place to go. Teza had gone home, she preferred her parents' company to her friends'. None of the others had homes to go to, and Tavin's adopted mom, who was also P'zaz's mom, lived in South Telleka, which they were now banned from. Of course, Kivessa and her friends didn't have anywhere to go either, but Dragon Moon. He was the one who had suggested going there to Kiv, but he didn't really want her to tell the others. For once he wanted something all to himself, but that wasn't how things had worked out.

He had thought of going to Dragon Moon as a last resort, but these people seemed rather desperate. They all cast worried glances in his direction, expecting a solution. For some reason, they always looked to him for an answer. He was once told he had high charisma. Maybe that had something to do with it.

"Well," he said, peering out from under Ondran's wing. The clouds covered the whole sky. "I guess there's only on thing left for us to do… and I know this was the last thing on everybody's list, but we could go to Dragon Moon." He waited for them to object, but no one did. Instead, P'zaz said, shivering, "Let's just get this over with." Tavin smiled, and walked out into the rain. When everyone had gone to his or her own dragons, he climbed up Ondran's leg and onto the seat. He strapped himself in, put on his sunglasses - he decided to wear these instead of the goggles - and Ondran took off.

About halfway there, Ondran suddenly blurted out, The entrance is through a blade tree, but that's all Charmiaz would tell me.

Oh. Well, that shouldn't be too hard to find. There's only one of them within every 50 kilometers. And I know the general location anyway. He had forgotten that Ondran could speak to the Kivessa's dragon for some reason, and was now surprised to hear from her. Ondran banked sharply right, and within a few minutes Tavin caught sight of the ocean. He hadn't realized they were that close. Even from that distance he could see the frothing of the waves and was glad that he didn't have to fly over it.

As Ondran neared the coastline, Tavin strained his eyes through the rain to see a blade tree, but he got no luck. Charmiaz told them to fly left at the coast, and they complied.

The rest of the group was flying behind him, doing almost exactly what he did. They had decided to fly in formation, but why he did not know. Maybe they don't want to get lost, he thought logically.

As they were coming up to a group of cliffs, Tavin remembered exactly where they were. He swooped down into the valley, landing in a large meadow. He could see the place where they had first entered, but he knew that that entrance would lead nowhere. He urged Ondran to move over as the other dragons came in to land. Taking his sunglasses off, he slid down Ondran's side and onto the muddy ground. Tavin looked up, and saw the huge tree-like formation crawling up the side of the cliff. The clouds that had previously covered it while he was airborne had now shifted slightly, making a clear sky to the east and a clear view of the valley.

He climbed back onto Ondran, realizing that a lot of his belongings were going to be water damaged, and slung his pack off of Ondran and onto his shoulders. Living as a Kellarian, one didn't have much to own, so his luggage was actually quite light a load. He waited as the others unpacked their belongings and when they were all done, he led them to the foot of the blade tree.

There were two large doors; each carved with leaves and strange looking flowers. Above the doors was a carved banner, and upon that banner was written, "Dragon Moon" in strange, foreign letters. Tavin had no idea what they meant, but he was guessing they said the title of the new Citadel, predetermined as Dragon Moon.

It was still raining softly, and there wasn't even an overhang to protect them. Tavin knocked on the door loudly, and told Ondran to tell Charmiaz to tell Kivessa that they were here and please hurry and let them in. But it wasn't Kivessa who answered the door, it was Kaya.

She swung open the door, looked at each of them, realized who they were and rudely slammed the door in their faces. Coming from inside, Tavin could hear yelling, and suddenly the door opened again. This time is was Kivessa. She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"Is Teza with your people?" she asked, seriously. Tavin shook his head. "Good, because I wouldn't have let you in if she was," she replied, shifting her tone to teasing.

Tavin remembered the fight the two girls had. It was strange to think that they had been fighting over him. He was glad that Kivessa had beaten Teza. Sure, he had liked Teza for the time being, until his eyes were finally opened up to how empty she really was.

"Oh, sorry, come in," Kivessa said, and opened the other door. "We don't have places for you all to sleep yet, but there's a nice fire going." Tavin walked over and hugged Kivessa, the only problem was that he was still soaking wet.

Kivessa sighed. "Thanks a bunch," she said sarcastically. Tavin just laughed and looked around. It looked like P'zaz was doing the same to Kaya.

"Hey, Kaya, what’s up?" P'zaz said as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Oh yuck! Get away from me!" she yelled and shoved him away. She stomped away, obviously trying not to smile.

Tavin laughed again, and together he and Kivessa walked into the main cavern.

As they passed a disgruntled P'zaz, Tavin made fun of him.

"P'zaz, I guess you're just not as good as I with the ladies," Tavin jested.

P'zaz blushed, then retorted, "Oh shut up. I was just trying to get on her good side, seeing as how we might be stuck here for a while."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Tavin replied, unconvinced. "If you really wanted to get on her good side though, I would try, I don't know, complimenting her instead of soaking her with water…"

P'zaz gave Tavin a shove and he stumbled into the main cavern, stopping dead in his tracks and stood, almost frozen, gaping with an open mouth. P'zaz and Kivessa entered behind him, but he was too busy being in awe of his surroundings to notice much.

For a moment Tavin thought that he had entered an ethereal paradise. The floor was solid granite rock, and had been carved to perfection. No crack or fissure scarred its surface. The only things protruding from the ground were the stalactite-stalagmite columns that helped support the ceiling. Ice blue crystal had been interwoven around the columns, made to look like frozen streams. But the main spectacle was in the center of the room. The crystal had been pushed up out of the ground about twenty feet into the air, and rounded to make a cylinder. The transparent cylinder held water, which poured out of the top and down the sides into a little basin at the bottom. At the top of the cylinder it was curved outwards and down, creating a flowered look. In fact, the entire thing somewhat resembled an exotic flower. How Orz had done this, he would never know. From the basin, the water ran down a path into the far right side of the cavern. There it pooled for artistic effect, Tavin presumed. He looked further up the walls and saw numerous staircases going all the way up to the top. Since the room was circular, the staircases followed the wall's guideline. The stairs had railings made from the blue crystal, and they glowed with an eerie blue light. He suddenly wondered where the light was coming from and looked at the ceiling. There was a small hole, definitely not large enough to supply the amount of light they were receiving.

"In case you were wondering, Eli told Orz how to mold the crystal so it would capture the light and reflect it to greater value," Kivessa explained, having noticed Tavin look up. "How he knew that, I really do not know. He's a prodigy, I guess."

"Um, where's the fire?" P'zaz asked hastily.

"Over there, and take a right when you reach the fork in the passageway," Kivessa pointed towards the small pool of water. "You have to go around the pool. The walk is a little slippery, but I don't think you'll care much if you fall in, you're wet anyway."

"Thanks," P'zaz said and left. Since Kaya had reluctantly decided to lead the others to the fire, Kivessa and Tavin were now the only people that occupied the main cavern.

"Hmmm. Well, since there isn't really much to do here, do you want to go to the fire?" asked Kivessa. Tavin took one look at the pool and shook his head. If he fell in, and there was no telling how deep it was, he couldn't swim.

"Okay," she replied uneasily. "Well, I have towels in my room if you want."

"Uh, sure!" Tavin replied, and as she led him up the stairs he was thankful she didn't question his reluctance to be near water.

Kaya wondered why she had even agreed to help these people. She felt extremely uncomfortable as she stood alone, watching as they sat close to the fire warming up and chatting with their friends.

Their sheer attitude towards her was getting on her nerves. She was about ready to put the fire out and leave them to find their own way out, when she saw P'zaz get up and walk over to her.

"Sorry for getting you wet," he said in a nervous tone. "Here, do you want some blanket?" he offered her to share his blanket, which was wrapped around his shoulders.

"Uh, no it's okay, I'm almost dry," she replied, and smiled slightly. He smiled back, and then frowned and looked at the ground for a while.

"Um, nice hair," he said.

Kaya at first took this as a compliment, then remembered what he had done to her hair.

"Okay, stop rubbing it in!" she yelled. Does he like to do this to me or something? She had had enough. She put out the fire and left the room.

Why does he have to torment me? She thought. I try and be nice, and they come up with something like that. But wait, he did offer me some of his blanket, and he seemed like he genuinely wanted to help me…

As she was halfway across the main cavern, her guilty conscience hit her, and so she went back and lit a small fire, using her telekinetic abilities. But she refused to even acknowledge P'zaz's presence, despite his attempts at starting conversation. When she was done, she walked up to her room, sat on her new bed, and started to read one of Ekyla's old stories.

"Well, I guess Orz hasn't gotten around to beautifying your lair yet," Tavin said as he entered Kivessa's room. It wasn't that nice compared to the main hall, and surely a silver deserved a bit better accommodations than this.

"I know. But he's been busy with the other lairs he needs to create, since you all came," she replied. And Tavin had an idea. He thought for a moment, and then decided to put his idea into action.

"Close your eyes," he said to her, smiling, and a confused look spread across her face. She didn't close her eyes, so Tavin gently grabbed her shoulders, twisted her around, and cupped his hands across her eyes.

And he set to work. He had no idea what Kivessa would want her lair to look like, but somehow he just knew she was born to be in the air. She was like that, whimsical in a sense. He supposed that's what made her a silver.

Once he was done—the whole lair had only taken him a matter of minutes—Tavin said, "Okay, you may have your eyes back." He took his hands off her eyes.

By her quiet gasp he new she was surprised. There was a beautiful orange-purple sunset stretching all the way across the ceiling and walls. A few scattered clouds accented the scene. Beneath her feet were clouds, looking puffy and white, with a few holes that revealed ground far, far below that gave the feeling of walking on the clouds. Her couch was now soft and plush, much like he figured clouds would feel.

"This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen…" Kivessa sighed, an awed expression on her face. He led her over to the bathroom. The bathroom was exquisite; Tavin had made the bath out of a cloudy lavender substance, but the inside was waterproof. The bathroom also had the sunset scene on its walls, and a sink from a beautiful gold metal. The toilet could be found behind some curtains, and it, too was made from a cloudy lavender waterproof substance.

"Glad you like it," Tavin smiled.

"I cannot thank you enough," Kivessa told Tavin, and she wrapped her arms around him.

"You might be able to show your appreciation by getting me a towel to dry myself…" Tavin suggested.

"Oh, right," blushing, she smiled fondly at him and went into her bathroom closet and rummaged around for a while. She re-emerged with two towels in her hands.

"Feel free to use whatever is necessary," Kivessa offered as she handed Tavin the towels.

"Thanks, but I think this is all I'll be needing," he replied, taking the two towels. He walked into the bathroom, dropped his pack onto the floor, and shut the door.

With Tavin occupied, Kivessa walked over to her living room, still in awe of her lair's beauty. She sat on the couch, testing its softness with her hands.

"Um, Kivessa, could you come here for a moment?" Tavin yelled out the door. Kivessa casually walked over to the bathroom. He only had his head sticking out of the door, presumably because he had not yet put his pants on.

"Well, this is embarrassing…" He gave a short bark of laughter. "All of my clothes except this shirt," he indicated his black sweatshirt, "are soaking wet. And I can't be walking around without any pants on. I know this is a weird thing to ask, but do you have any pants I could borrow until mine dry?" he smiled hopefully and blushed.

"Uh, I'll go check. It's the least I can do after you did this for me," Kivessa indicated the room around her. She just laughed at him and ran up the stairs to her room. She went into her closet and tried to find her largest pair of pants, which she automatically knew were her plaid pajama pants. They were huge on her but she didn't know what the result would be on him. But it was the best she could do. She ran back to Tavin, who was still halfway out the door, and she held out the pants to him.

"Wait, do you want me to go ask Atlan or Eli if they'll lend you a pair?" she asked.

"No," he said, examining the pants. "This'll do until the rest of my clothes dry off. "

"Okay, if you say so," Kivessa said as he went back into the bathroom and presumably changed into the pants. When he came back out she noticed they were a little too short—by about 3 inches. He pulled them off his waist to even out the length.

"Oh well, it'll do," he said, walked into the living room, and flopped down onto the couch.

"Do you want anything to drink?" she asked.

"Um, sure, what do you have?"

"Uh, I think I have orange juice. Just a sec," she said and walked into the kitchen. She opened the cold storage and looked inside. There was just enough juice for one person. That's okay, she thought, I didn't feel like orange juice anyway.

She poured some into a glass, and started to walk back to the living room. As she rounded the corner, she bumped into Tavin, spilling juice all over her front.

"Oh no, " she moaned. Why do I have to be such a clutz? She looked down and assessed the damage. Looked like she was going to do some cleaning, and she had to change. "I'll be right back, I have to go change my shirt," she said, and left to go to her closet.

She got up to her room, went into her closet, turned on the light and shut the door. She stripped down to her undergarments and started to put on some other clothes.

"I cleaned the mess," Tavin said suddenly through the door, surprising Kivessa.

"Okay, thanks," Kivessa replied, and continued changing. Right then her mind was on whether or not her shirt and carpet would stain.

"Hey, Kivessa," he said with a slight hint of nervousness through the door as she put on a clean shirt. "I don't know how to say this but… well… I really enjoyed the time we've spent together and…"

Kivessa froze halfway buttoning up her shirt. Without thinking she flung open the door and looked at him. She noticed his eyes move from looking at her face to her chest. Kivessa knew her shirt was only half done up, but she didn't care anymore. His eyebrows raised in surprise and he looked back at her face. She stared at him with amazing courage, feeling slightly awkward in the circumstances.

"Yes, I mean umm…. I just want us to be together," she blurt out as she ran into Tavin's arms. Kivessa immediately regretted her reaction, but she didn't let go of him. She had realized that his statement could have been good or bad, and if bad, she would have made an even bigger fool of herself.

All her worries were soon forgotten as she felt Tavin's warm hands slide across her back and pull her closer to him.

"You read my mind," he whispered softly in her ear.

Kivessa smiled and looked up into Tavin's rich brown eyes. She felt like she should say something, but when she opened her mouth to speak Tavin brought his hand to her lips, silencing her.

She no longer had anything at all to say, she was perfectly content with her life. Kivessa snuggled her head deeper into his chest, closed her eyes, and sighed. She could hear his heartbeat, and it somewhat soothed her. She listened to the steady beat as she totally lost herself in the moment.

A few days later Kivessa was confronted by Eli'akim, who was in a state of ecstatic.

"Kivessa," he said, calming down. "I have some news for you. I had been doing some research and it all became clear. That necklace of yours, it is the key to understanding the Pashe-ki!"

"Tell me something I don't know, Eli," Kivessa replied, grinning.

"Uh… Okay… you know the gem-like thing in the middle? Well, by comparing the chemical make-up, I found that the eye has some strange properties… I think the Pashe-ki can be controlled by their eyes. I know it sounds strange, but what I've found so far points in that direction. Oh, and there's another thing I discovered. I was looking up things in some old texts I have, and I found a myth about it, that the necklace's center casts a shadow of black smoke whenever a Pashe-ki is near, which accounts for its shape. So it's a warning system I figure," Eli explained.

"Well, that should come in handy. They aren't gone."

"Okay," Eli said, giving her a funny look. "Oh, did I tell you about the deposit of strange rock I found?"

"Nope," Rock? You'd think he'd have had enough of rock, being surrounded by it and all.

"Well, it has the oddest properties. It seems stable until you drop it. In mid-air, it turns to liquid, but as soon as it hits the ground it's solid again."

"Interesting," she said, a look of puzzlement on her face. "Well, I've got to find P'zaz since he has taken over the job of creating lairs for the rest of the people. See you later."

"Alright, I've got more experiments to do anyway. Bye," he said, and walked away. What an odd character, Kivessa thought. He's always discovering things that a normal person would overlook.

Tavin had created his own lair, but had then proceeded to travel to South Telleka to try and get supplies for us. She didn't know how he was going to do it without telling them where they were, unless he stole them.

Kivessa found P'zaz staring at a rock face, probably contemplating which angle to carve at.

P'zaz hadn't noticed Kivessa come near him, and when she spoke, P'zaz jumped a little.

"Jeez, you scared me," P'zaz said.

"Uh uh. I surprised you," Kivessa corrected.

"Okay, whatever. So, what's up?"

"You forgot a few people, they need places to stay. And Kaya has been bugging me that she wants her lair to be nicer, and she won't stop complaining until it gets done. So I decided to call on you for that."

"Well, I'm almost done Astuar's lair, and she's the last one on my list. But Kaya, I don't know, I'll think about it. When is Tavin going to be back?" he asked her. He was somewhat miffed that Tavin would leave him dry without that information, but apparently Tavin was… occupied.

Suddenly, a thought: If Tavin and Kivessa can manage to be together without hassle, why can't Kaya and I? Wait a minute… Out! he commanded the thought. I can't think of her like that, I want to, but I just can't… But P'zaz couldn't help but think of the way she smiled, and how her saucy attitude was so funny to watch…

Stop it! He told himself. No more!

"Oh sorry," Kivessa said suddenly, breaking P'zaz out of his thoughts. "Daydreaming. What did you say?" That makes two of us, P'zaz thought.

P'zaz sighed. "Never mind, I'll get right on it."

"Oh. Okay," Kivessa said, and left.

P'zaz stood directly in front of the wall and placed his hands on it. He felt with his senses and his mind the cracks and veins of the rock. He immediately started forming the molecules, concentrating them in some areas, crystallizing them in others.

Kaya is coming, Iomethe blurted in his mind. He heard footsteps and turned in their direction. Kaya strolled up to him with a neutral look on her face and P'zaz found he had butterflies in his stomach.

"Have you done my lair yet?" she asked bluntly.

"No," P'zaz said, matching her tone.

She looked to the left, disappointed. "Okay. See you then," she said and started walking away.

"Wait!" P'zaz yelled. Okay, he thought, now to think of something to say. Thinking… thinking… "What do you want in your room?" he asked. Ah yes, quick-witted, well-spoken P'zaz.

"Doesn't matter, I'm sure you're creative enough to think of something," Kaya said, smiled, turned and walked away.

Great, P'zaz thought, now I have to be creative. The bane of my existence. Maybe I should learn how to say things that spark conversation instead of just things that make me end up with more work.

Such thoughts as these plagued him as he tried to finish Astuar's lair.

"I'm surprised I managed to pull off something so nice for Kaya's room," P'zaz said the next morning in the meal room. Atlan and Sharman had made breakfast, but Tavin, P'zaz, and Kian were the only ones downstairs. "I mean, it's actually, you know, artistic."

"Mhm," Tavin said. His mind was still buzzing from last night's encounter with Kivessa. She had fallen asleep snuggled up beside him on the couch, and she was still probably sleeping. He was somewhat reliving the moment, playing it like a movie in his head.

"Hey Tavin," Kian said, breaking the silence. "You've been spending a lot of time with that Kivessa girl lately…"

"Yeah," he said, and smiled.

"None of them from that group are up to standard," Kian sneered. "Personally, I think you should've stuck with Teza."

Tavin, astonished, looked over at P'zaz, wondering what to think. He was mid-sip of his drink and glaring at Kian. Not bothering to wonder why P'zaz would be upset about Kian's comment, Tavin shook his head and said, "Look, I've realized that the girls we hang out with—Sariyya and Teza in particular—are… well, they're Pashe-ki kin compared to her." Tavin was frankly annoyed with Kian's behavior lately. He had been acting as if he was better than everybody else merely because Sariyya had chosen him.

Kian looked offended. "That was an unfair comment!" he retorted.

"Well…" Tavin started to say.

"Just drop it guys, it's way too early," P'zaz interjected.

"Morning," Kivessa mumbled groggily as she walked past, seemingly out of nowhere. Tavin breathed in deeply, and noticed that she faintly smelled like raspberries. He stared after her as she walked over to get her breakfast. Tavin watched as she stared at her plate and asked Atlan what he'd put in it. Tavin smiled at her odd behavior.

"Despicable," Kian commented. "I can't believe you… If it weren't for the fact that we had nowhere else to go, I'd never be seen in the same Citadel as them…" he went on to much cruder insults but Tavin blocked his harsh words out of his mind.

Tavin looked at him in disbelief. Kian had been his friend for several years now, sticking by his side and respecting those he chose to associate with. But now what he was saying was so indescribably rude that he stood up and said angrily, "Hey. One more thing like that and I'll…"

"When will you ever get it through your thick skull that she's from Earth. Not even a real human." Kian broke in.

This pushed Tavin over the top. He, in a fit of rage, leaped over the table and tackled Kian to the ground. Before he could pin him, Kian flipped over and stood up, his fists in fighting position.

Tavin knew exactly how to do this, how to get Kian to make the wrong move. He had seen it happen to him many times before, for Kian had a tendency to get into a lot of fights. All Kian needed was a little provoking.

"Kiv's way better than that bitch Sariyya that you're always drooling over," he said. Tavin saw Kian's eyes narrow, and he had a similar fit of rage to Tavin's, and charged him. Tavin, who knew precisely what Kian was attempting to do, ducked when he swung his fist.

"Hey!" P'zaz yelled. Tavin smiled and gave Kian a hard hit in the nose. His head snapped back and he fell over. Just like it's always been, Tavin thought. He felt a little blood trickling down his finger, probably from the cut that he had had before the fight happened, freshly reopened. There was a hardly noticeable sting of pain in his knuckles, but he couldn't let anyone know. He stood, waiting to see if Kian had the guts to come back for more.

"Tavin?" Kivessa asked meekly. "What was that all about?"

"He insulted you," Tavin replied. Kivessa's eyes flashed with what looked like momentary anger.

"Well then he deserved it." She grabbed his hand and started to pull him away, but she let go of him when she felt the sticky blood.

"You're bleeding!" Kivessa exclaimed.

"So is he, but you don't care about him," Tavin said. Kivessa quirked an eyebrow and glanced at Kian, then shook her head.

She grabbed his hand again, and clasped hers around it. Kivessa bit her lip in concentration and he got a strange tingling sensation in his fingers. When she lifted her hands, the cut was gone. He stared at his hand in amazement.

"Hey, I didn't expect that to actually work," Kivessa said, smiling at her accomplishment. She looked back up at him, and for a moment, it was good. Then her eyes fluttered and she slumped forwards into Tavin's arms. He caught her, and, supporting a good portion of her weight, he started to move her out of the room.

"Maybe you should wait till you're stronger before you try anything difficult like that," he said, chuckling slightly, Kivessa half-grinned.

"I need to go to sleep," she said slowly, drowsily. And broke away from Tavin and walked with great difficulty over to the stairs. Tavin followed her, watching, thinking that he should help her. She took a few steps up the stairs, and then turned and sat down.

"Here, let me help you," Tavin said, pulling her to her feet gently and wrapping an arm around her waist and putting her arm around his shoulders. They walked up the steps slowly until they were finally at her lair door. He helped her into her room and onto her couch.

It seemed to Tavin that as soon as she lay down she was fast asleep. He went to her closet and retrieved a blanket, carefully draping it over her. He smiled, and turned to leave. With one last look over his shoulder, he exited her lair and closed the door behind him.

Ekyla looked out across the ocean. She wished the lairs had all been facing this side of the world, not the other. This side was calm, and relaxing. Which is why Ekyla had demanded - well, more like asked politely - a pathway to the opposite side. It was a good half-hour's walk through the mountain, but she liked to think along the way so she didn't mind as much.

A feeling of dread washed over her suddenly as she saw a black shadow in the corner of her eye. She turned cautiously to see what it was, but it was only a wild ganra. She watched as it took flight and flew away.

She couldn't shake the horrible feeling she'd had. She didn't know what it was from but she had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Ekyla felt unsafe, so she started making her way back to Dragon Moon.

A scream of utmost distortion permeated her mind, paralyzing her. The feeling of total loss of control hit her like a shock wave, traveling through her body, sending her mind spinning and her body into convulsions. Almost instantly she felt the dread feeling begin to spread, to take over her mind. Ekyla was losing control of her own body. She stopped in her tracks and dropped like a stone to the ground. She lay almost paralyzed on the floor, not being able to move a single inch. She lay there for a countless amount of minutes, breathing, blinking, waiting.

Ekyla lay paralyzed on the floor. The foreign thing inside her had taken total control, barely letting her retain consciousness. Her memories were invaded; she could feel herself, what she'd come to know as herself, being ransacked memory by memory.

No, she pleaded with it. Don't destroy these!

She felt her pleas wouldn't help, but no, the invader stopped, and began to retreat. And, with one last peek at her Earth memories, it was gone.

Ekyla wanted to spring up and run, but her still paralyzed body prevented her from doing so.

Help! She screamed out in her mind, hoping to reach someone, anyone that would help her. The pain was just too much for her, her mind became numb and she found it hard to concentrate on anything, even to focus her eyes. She let herself drift into an empty mindless state.

After a while, Ekyla heard footsteps coming down the path. They quickened as they drew nearer, and soon she saw Eli standing above her.

"Oh my God," he said frantically, a phrase he had picked up from the earthlings. "What happened?"

When Ekyla didn't reply, he said, "I'm taking you back." He put his hands on her stomach. She wanted to tell him about the noise she had heard, she wanted to say that it was dangerous. But she couldn't move or talk. She felt the nauseating sensation of being sucked into nothingness and then being hurled back into the existing universe. She heard voices around her, comforting her, and she saw her world turn black…

"Hey, let me go, I can see what's wrong, okay?" was the first thing Ekyla heard when she came to.

"I think she's awake," she heard another voice say. She opened her eyes, happy to be able to move them around now. Surrounding her were Eli, Kivessa, Kaya, Rynn, Tavin, and Alxra.

"Ungh," she mumbled. She had tried to ask what happened, but that's what it came out like.

Mellekey? She asked. It pained her mind to do so, and she didn't know why.

I'm here in pain, came the reply. She couldn't bring herself to respond, it hurt too much. Her limbs were stiff as she moved herself into a sitting position.

"Eli?" she uttered as she slowly turned her head to see him.

"Ekyla," he said slowly so she could understand him. Her brain was somewhat foggy. "We don't know what happened to you, but we're all glad you're okay." She attempted to smile but she physically couldn't.

Her stomach grumbled, and she realized her throat was parched. "Food," she murmured.

"Someone get some food," Eli told the rest. Tavin pulled Kivessa away, hopefully to get her food, Ekyla thought.

When they returned a few moments later, they had a plate of various foods and a glass of water. She realized that she was laying on the floor of the main cavern, and said, "Room." She couldn't bare to strain her muscles to say a whole sentence yet. She heard Eli tell Tavin and Kivessa to bring the food up later, then she felt herself being hoisted into Eli's arms. Then she heard him tell everyone to back off about 30 feet. Ekyla decided to panic. Teleportation was an easy way to get around but it was dangerous. But Eli attempting to teleport without his dragon was even more dangerous, for there had to be a large amount of mass to be transported before a wormhole could be opened. And if there wasn't enough to begin with, the matter around them would get sucked in. Ekyla hoped that the other people were far enough away. She shut her eyes tight, not wanting to see her own self being distorted as they passed through space.

The next thing she felt was her soft blanket underneath her. Eli tucked her in, kissed her forehead, and went to find some more pillows. When he came back, he started telling her his childhood memories, for what reason, she did not know. As much as she wanted to listen, she was extremely tired, and fell asleep in the midst of him telling a tale.