A girl with raven black hair ran across the streets, her eyes closed. She hadn’t seen it earlier. He was just a figment of her imagination. But….She had escaped that horrible place! She--she--

         She was afraid. That was okay. She could accept it. But she needed to get out of here before….before her soul…

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            A robin tumbled from a branch on a dead tree in the middle of the plains. Halfway through the tumble, the robin transformed, changing into a girl, her hair held back in a headband, a backpack sitting in it’s place on her back.

          “Time’s up.” She muttered to herself, glancing around. Her mind began calculating, wondering, if he was still after her...how long would she last on foot? Her eyes scanned the nearby area for hiding places, for anything she could use.

          Time would be up...no matter what...in the end….

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          The girl with black hair dashed. Soon the houses got smaller and smaller, and suburbs dissolved to countryside. She had a skateboard, a mission, and a mind that wouldn’t keep focus.

          Eventually, she had no idea why she kept running. He had been a hallucination after all…

          Then she opened her eyes after running and found herself in the middle of nowhere.

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          The second girl, finding no shapeshifting coming easily, cursed under her breath and rummaged through her pack. “You’re very calm at this moment in time.” She mumbled to herself as she looked for anything useful in the middle of a plains. In the distance, the lights of a few small farmhouses glowed. Could she trust them? Easy, one answer. No.

          Then again, she probably wasn’t being chased.

Her eyes focused on a blurry dark green outline in the distance. The woods. They could provide shelter, darkness, sunlight between leaves dappling the ground. Solitude, and even food….            

           She just had to make it out of the plains.

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The girl with black hair sighed, tugging at her rippling hair and glancing around. Nothing in sight but a few farmhouses…

      And a single dead tree. Greeaaat. She should probably be headed back towards the houses...but...what made her walk towards it? Curiosity? Or was she tempted by a tree to climb, tempted by a challenge simply because of the fact that it was there?

      She shrugged to herself as she made her way towards the tree, glancing around, squinting in the light of early morning.

      Then she lifted herself up, towards the closest branch--

And found herself staring into the eyes of a girl who was perched on it.

      The girl’s hair was navy blue and wavy, yet with natural brown roots, slightly brushed but still tangled, and held out of her face with a sensible headband.

      They stared at each other in absolute silence before the black-haired girl waved awkwardly. “...Hi?” The black-haired girl tried, smiling slightly.

       Several emotions flickered through the girl in the tree’s eyes before she smiled back. “Hello.” She said, in a common accent. The black-haired girl relaxed visibly. “So...uhm...hey...could you, y’know, explain why you’re sitting in a tree in the middle of nowhere?”

      The girl in the tree covered her mouth with a hand, possibly in attempt to hide a laugh. “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

       The black-haired girl shrugged. “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. Do you live around here?” She asked. The girl in the tree shook her head. “I’m from the suburbs.”

      The black-haired girl stuck out her hand. “Same. I’m Ravayn.” “Nice to meet you, Raven.” The girl in the tree replied.

       Ravayn tossed back her head and snorted. “R-a-v-a-y-n. Not Raven. Ravayn. Ra-vane.” Ravayn corrected. The girl in the tree giggled randomly, possibly from trying to keep herself from making a comment on that.

        Ravayn tilted her head and stared at the girl in the tree, waiting for the girl to introduce herself. The girl in the tree smiled, interpreting that for awkwardness (if only Ravayn knew how manipulative the girl really was…). “So, do you have relatives out here?”

        Ravayn shook her head. “No, I--well--” Ravayn stared at her feet. The girl looked Ravayn over critically. Ravayn wondered how much she could risk saying out loud--how she had ran like a coward when she saw the man--but she could at least improvise a tale involving him.

       “A Hunter came, a Hunter wearing a Horizon, a black overcoat.” Ravayn said in a small voice. “I didn’t do anything, but he came. And I ran, and ran...He came after me...he chased me...H-he could be anywhere!” Ravayn intoned dramatically, proud of her work in spinning the tale.

       The girl’s eyes widened, although inside she was deconstructing the lie. “Wait---that means--he could still be following you?”

        Ravayn nodded. The girl immediately leapt down from the tree, landing perfectly, her eyes wide. “Then we need to get out of plain sight.” The girl said instantly, her eyes darting over the terrain.

        “Where, exactl--” Ravayn began. The girl smiled. “There should be a cave nearby--look over there, at the indent patterns in the ground. We can swap stories in there.”  

        “Wait--” Ravayn began to say. “What exactly is your name?” Ravayn asked as the girl tugged her forwards, holding her hand in a tight grip.

         The girl glanced back at Ravayn for a half second. “Mystery.”

Ravayn smiled at her, but weakly. “Nice to meet you, Myst.”

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Top! This is amazing!

Thank you for your kind support! However, I'd like to hear if things need to be changed--constructive criticism is needed! ;)

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         Kol was the first person to size up the situation as magic spiked through the air. He glanced around, sized up the scenario with his combat-trained mind, and opened a car door.

       Cars were rare in Âmethu; they were almost never seen, due to the lack of any factories and the medieval-bent culture and architecture style. “Get in!” He yelled. Two of them ran, yanked the car doors open, slammed them shut, and stared expectantly at him as hazy magic started to creep into the car.

        Kol didn’t bother with hiding his strained expression. “I have no idea how to drive one of these things. Does it run on magic…?”

        “Th-th-the pedal. Turn th-the key. Th-the wh-wheel left is to go left, th-the wh-wheel righ-ght is to go righ-ght.” A voice mumbled from the back seat.

        “Thanks. Don’t stutter next time.” Kol said, staring at the dashboard. At last he found the key and yanked it to the side fiercely. “The pedal?” Kol mumbled, then found himself stepping down on some sort of flat pressure-activating piece of metal.

         The car roared and surged forwards. “Th-the oth-th-ther one’s th-the brake.” The same voice stuttered.

         “The other one breaks the car?” Kol called, staring at his feet while rapidly yanking the wheel to the side away from several obstacles that seemed to pop up out of nowhere.

          The voice sighed. Was it the boy from earlier? Or was it the cute girl with the messy hair? It definitely wasn’t Rien; Rien would be braver than that.

           Kol shrieked, almost femininely, as he yanked the steering wheel to the left side away from a group of passerby. Rien snickered in the back seat. “Nice going there, driver.” Rien called, laughing. “Shut up…” Kol mumbled, still wondering how Rien could be that brave. Rien whooped at the next turn of the car.

           Someone screamed in the backseat as one of the windows shattered. “Hang on!” Kol yelled, messing around with all available buttons and setting some sort of loud noise off.

           “Mhm, you totally know what you’re doing.” Rien observed, grinning. Kol glared, then swerved frantically.  “Wanna drive this thing!? Be my guest!” Kol challenged, sweating nervously.

            There was a loud pop in the air, then the windshield exploded into a thousand shards of glass.

            Kol swerved frantically and pressed his foot against the pedal again. “This thing is crazy!”

           “Crazy awesome!” Rien whooped. Kol grit his teeth and then yelped as the car sailed through the air towards a bridge. Kol grinned, driving the car over the old wooden pedestrian bridge--pedestrian bridge? Wait, old, wooden, pedestrian?

           The car began to head towards the wooden railing on the right, and Kol hastily yanked and tugged the steering wheel towards the left--

           Too much. The car burst through the wooden railing on the left and shot into the canal that snaked through the city with a final and deafening splash.                     

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           Sor had watched as the car shot away without her. Good. That was good. She had to leave before it happened. She couldn’t let it happen to her without being alone. She had to be alone to save lives. Solitude was her friend.

            Magic, dark magic that tinted the air black and blurred the air further, chased the car, surrounding it, pounding on the windows. Sol winced. Ouch. If she were a car….

             She wouldn’t talk or have any emotions whatsoever. She would simply be an object that wasn’t sentient.

              A clock ticked in her head, reminding her of when it would happen. She tried calculating and wondering how long she would make it on foot, but she wasn’t a math professor or a rocket scientist.

             She glanced around. There wasn’t any good escape anywhere, no quick way out. Except the carts pulled by horses, the carts that rumbled down the streets….Rarely anyone used cars, the Hunter must have been very rich to have one in front of his home...And a Horizon. Think of the Horizon.

             She ran her fingers through her hair, twisting it into the beginning of a complicated braid from habit. A cart rumbled close to her, a long cart pulled by four black horses. Bags and crates filled the back of it. She took a deep breath, then whooped at the top of her lungs, while in public. “Ay! Driver!” She called in an accidental mock lowland accent.

              The cart stopped abruptly, and the driver peered at her. “What’re you wantin’, miss? It’s gonna be a faceful of trash if you’ve wasted my time.”

               Sor laughed, unable to help herself, then coughed. “Just wondering where you’re headed, sir?” Sor asked, fighting to keep the mock lowland accent from reappearing. The man peered at her again. “To the outskirts of town to dump this garbage.” He muttered, his voice sounding as if he had a cold.

         “Could you carry another piece of garbage there?” Sor asked, sighing.

“Hm? Sure, I guess, but...”

         “Great. I’ll be riding in the back.”

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❄Thank you for reading! <3❄ 

Oh. My. Goodness. I just read this whole thing, and it's amazing! I love it! I can't wait for more! Great job, Icy!

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and a huge thanks to everyone who's spared time to read this and leave a few encouraging comments! 

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           Kol groaned, rubbing his aching...well, everything. “We’re safe…” He mumbled under his breath, glancing around.

           The sound of water surrounded them--water rushing and pouring and--

Kol yelped, staring at the rapid torrent that poured in through the broken windows. “Hey, guys, we’ve got an issue here.” Kol said, glancing around only to see a murky blackness and bubbles outside the windows of their stolen vehicle.

           Rien crawled up front towards Kol. “So we swim for it?” Rien asked, cracking another grin. Someone groaned in the back.

           Kol swivelled to look at the backseat, where a boy in a navy blue jacket with fluffy cinnamon hair and tan skin was sprawled, groaning. A necklace with a turquoise pendant on the end was wrapped several times around his left wrist and glinted in the faint glow of the car’s interior lights.

           “Wh-where’d the girl go?” Kol mumbled. Rien shrugged, then cracked another grin. “Hey, at least we’re okay.”

           “Not the time, Rien.” Kol said. Rien immediately drew back and stared at the floor of the car, where water was rapidly rising.

            The boy in the back groaned as he sat up and then immediately drew back from the water, flinching every time a spare droplet touched his skin. “W-w-we’re alive?” The boy mumbled.

             “For now. Deep breaths.” Kol advised wisely as the water rose to above his ankles. Rien was grinning, despite the situation. Always grinning. How does he do that? How is he always so brave?

            “We swim for it then?” Rien asked again, on his toes, staring at the flood of water. The water rose to Kol’s knees. Kol shrugged. “No other option. You ready?”

            The boy in the back shook his head several times. “I can’t even swim. Besides--if I touch th-th-the water--well--it m-m-migh-gh-ght--”

            “Relax. We’ll be there.” Rien said, then yawned. “Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?” Rien questioned.

            The boy fidgeted with his necklace. “I could--I mean, we could d-dr-drown.” The boy said, his eyes focused on the water that he so desperately tried to avoid.

            “Nah. Like I said, we’ll be there.” Rien said. The water was at Kol’s waist now.

“Hold your breath.” Kol advised. “Wh-wh-what do y-yah-you mean?” The boy asked as he shivered violently. “Like. Breathe in and keep it in.” Rien said, running his hands underneath the torrent of water. “Riennnnn.” Kol hissed, exasperated.

      The water began to lap at his neck and he gulped. “Welp, breathe! It’s time!” Kol said, attempting to mimic Rien’s normal tone of voice. The boy shuddered. “B-b-but--”

      “No buts!” Kol yelled, grabbing Rien’s hand.

And then they plunged into the water.

      The current was stronger than expected for such deep water; it tore at them and shot them forwards as they kicked towards the surface through the murky water.

        Finally, when it felt like Kol’s lungs would burst, daylight flickered into their view and they broke the surface of the water.

        Rien spluttered next to Kol, unable to grin from the water that threatened to spill into his mouth.

         Kol stared up. The stone sides of the canal were too high for him to climb...then how…

         A head broke the surface of the water, and soon the boy was flailing around in the water. Kol sighed and treaded over to him, fighting the current. “That’s not how you swim.” Kol muttered, trying to do his best to support the boy.

          Rien swam over, kicking wildly, gripping at the boy, fighting to hold his head above the water. “Calm down! That’s not how you swim!” Rien yelled. The boy glared and started to say something, but was muffled by water pouring into his mouth. He yelped and lifted his head above the water, thrashing about it.

          The current kept on carrying them as Rien and Kol struggled to hold the boy above the water, while yelling advice about how to swim.

           “Not how you swim!” Rien yelled again. Kol glared at Rien while treading water. “What a marvelous piece of advice there, Rien.” Kol muttered. “Thank you, my dear sir.” Rien said, sputtering halfway through due to more water.

            The boy kicked again and the water roared in Kol’s ears. Almost like…

“Rapids.” Kol muttered under his breath. “Waterfall!” The boy sputtered. Rien whooped. “Always wanted to try a rapid ride--yee---” Rien coughed a mouthful of water out.

             “Waterfall.” Kol confirmed, swimming towards the canal wall, his eyes perfectly wide. He fought the current until his limbs ached, but to no use; he was bound to go over it eventually. It roared; he ached; and he couldn’t see any sort of handhold or escape from the roaring waterfall.

             Then Kol’s eyes widened and he carefully made his way towards the right, staring at the roaring waters of the waterfall. “Rien! Quit it!” Kol hissed at Rien, who was trying to grab at the bricks on the walls surrounding the canal (well, truthfully, they weren’t walls; they were just tall lines of brick used to keep erosion out of the canal).

            “Uhm, Kol? I’m sorta tryin’ ta live through this?” Rien asked, hissing in pain when his hands scraped against a brick.

            Kol shook his head while holding onto the boy. “No. We have to let the waterfall take us….” Kol said as loudly as possible, fighting to keep his head above the water. “Are you crazy? Cuz’ that’s kinda my job.” Rien yelled over the rush., grinning and still reaching for the bricks.

            A few seconds passed, the water roaring in their ears. Rien’s grin faltered for a half second. “...You’re serious?” He said, forgetting to yell. Kol knew it was coming without it being said.

           “You’re absolutely insane. There’s no way that--” Rien began to shout. “Too late. We’re already going!” Kol whooped.

           He was a few feet away from the waterfall...the current got stronger….and then…

           Kol twisted to the right and jumped.

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Feedback (good and bad) appreciated! <3 

This is a clarification post, (...okay, maybe it's really just a bunch of fun facts I wanted to throw out there, but who's keeping track?) to explain a few things about Âmethu.

1. Starseeker asked about this, but it's said Aah-meh-thoo. The aah is slightly longer than the other sounds in the word. 

2. I'm done clarifying! On for the fun fact stage!

Facts about Sor--

Sor is the 'main character' of the series, or at least meant to be more of a voice to the audience than the others. She's supposed to step out to the audience, shake their hands, and then turn to the story, point out something ironic about her life, and ask "Who decided that?" 

Her life reflects some of the audience's as far as she just lives in the suburbs and does crazy things. (For example; eating a popsicle at one in the morning.) She's supposed to be the audience's voice in discovering and finding things out.

I chose the name Sor for her, because, while it's a light and short nickname (Three letters, just like Kol's. If you get what I'm hinting at. hehehehehe~), it has a dark side that it keeps hidden. I took Sor's name from, drumroll please, Sorrow. Sor-row.  You'll see why I chose it later in the book.

Facts about Kol--

His family is considerably rich (well, as rich as you can get without being a friend of the Queen's), and can afford to send him for lessons. Said lessons are where he learns to use his favorite weapon, one that he's most skilled at. I won't tell you what it is, but you see hints that he does use this weapon early in the book.

His magicks are the most fun to play with; that is, Kol's magic is slowing down the personal time of an entity. If a man were charging at him, he could literally make the man run in a slow effect (running through syrup? Glue? What word would you use for this?)

I chose Kol's name because, really, I ran out of names to use and thought it up on the spot.

Quick facts!

1. Myst is my favorite character (first favorite out of my two), and I can't wait to see how she develops as the story goes on.

2. Ravayn (I'll quickly just throw out here that it's said Ray-vane, vane as in if you were to say weather vane) lacks something very common that all of the other MCs have. I was on the fence about deleting her from the story, but I decided to keep her simply because of her lack.

3. I CAN'T WAIT FOR SCENES INVOLVING ❄insert the name I'm going to give the unnamed girl, but haven't told any of you about here❄ and Dilen! Unnamed girl is too young-feeling of a character to get romantically involved, so you'll just have to guess what I mean there.

4. Rien isn't as carefree as he seems.

5. I will be playing with ships throughout the novel.

6. This post is ending. 

Woah! Catching up to myself with uploads is hard; I had no idea even the smallest sections were this long. Google Docs makes everything look small.

Chapter four: Wilderness

Sor trudged into the plains. She didn’t smell too much like trash (Okay, maybe she was lying to herself, but just a bit), and she had no place to hide. Well…

          She glanced over the land, seeing nothing but a tree with two shapes around it--were those people? She didn’t want to know. And...an indent in the ground. A cave? Well, it was worth a shot, whatever it was. They didn’t have caves in the suburbs.

           She sighed and ran across the plains, the grass, the never-ending plains with...a blurry outline of a forest in the distance. Could she make it by then? No. She had no time...no...well, no nothing.

           But she could do this. She kept on sprinting, closing her eyes….

Until she found herself in a small gray cave, nothing much....but nothing alive was near her...good…

           She closed her eyes and let a black mist rise from her skin, a misty death-black acid that threatened to burn anything alive...but her. The cost of immunity.

           It was her curse. Black mist filled the cave, painting the air around her pure black. She lifted out her hand and felt the cool mist, letting it curl around her fingers as if it were an old friend.

           I could be normal if it weren’t for this. If she hadn’t been cursed with the deadliest weapon in magical history.

           She would never use it. She could never use it.

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Ravayn and Myst approached the cave slowly, neither looking at the other. “Mist…?” Ravayn asked slowly.

      Mystery glanced over at Ravayn. “What’s up?” She asked.

Ravayn shook her head. “No. M-i-s-t.” Ravayn said, pointing at a wispy black tendril of mist that curled into the air. Mystery stared. “Odd…” She muttered, sticking a hand into her backpack.

       The mist curled into the air and away from reach as Ravayn and Myst approached.

They stopped at the mouth of the cave. ‘Just in case.’ Myst mouthed. “Hello? Is anyone in there?” Myst called lightly, using a common accent.

        “Should I be weirded out by the fact that there’s a few random people asking if I’m in a cave?” A voice called back in reply.

        Myst’s eyes widened. “We should probably go somewhere else.” She told Ravayn as she shoved a hand into her pocket.

        Ravayn shrugged. “Who knows, it might not hurt to take a look in there.” Ravayn suggested. Myst’s eyes flashed with a half second of...hostility? Emotions? “Sure.” Myst said cooly. Ravayn studied Myst for a few seconds before dropping the subject.

      Ravayn slowly descended into the small cave. “Hey, we’re coming in?” Ravayn called. “R-right!” The voice replied.

      Myst sighed and held a flashlight in front of her, revealing the cave. It was around the size of your average living room, yet rounded and, obviously, cave-shaped. A girl was huddled in the corner, wearing a unicorn onesie that was ripped up near the feet. She sighed in relief...why exactly?

       “Woah, you okay?” Ravayn asked, staring around the cave.

“Yeah, why on earth would you think anything was wrong?” The girl asked, a sparkle in her eyes.

       Myst smiled warmly and laid a few sticks in a tepee shape on the floor--where did she get those?--and immediately made a small, comfortable fire with her lighter. She leaned against the wall silently.

       “Let me guess, you came here after some sorta crazy encounter?” Ravayn asked, smiling at the girl. The girl laughed. “You have no idea.” The girl said, smiling. Ravayn grinned just slightly. “I bet I do.”

       The girl sighed. “I had a Hunter abuse the loophole on me. You hear about it from gossip and chat all the time, but I didn’t expect it’d ever actually happen to me. It seems too far away from my little town.”

       Ravayn stared at the floor of the cave and let the girl talk.

“He was wearing a Horizon, too.” The girl mentioned. Ravayn glared at the floor, wishing it would just hurry up and swallow her whole. She didn’t want to deal with this anymore. She didn’t want to deal with people talking about...about Horizons...and…

       “Those things are disgusting. Who would even wear one? I get that it cloaks your magic, but if you’re powerful, why not show it to the world? Why wear a cloak that has a--”

       “What’s your name?!” Ravayn blurted, interrupting the girl.

“Oh, sorry. I’m Sor, and you?” The girl asked, smiling brightly. “Ravayn. No, not Raven. Ray-vane. R-a-v-a-y-n.” Ravayn said quickly.

      “Nice ta meetcha, Ravayn!” Sor said, smiling, although her smile was forced. Her situation had taken most of her happiness out of her.

       Myst sized each of them up. “Each a hunter with a Horizon.” She murmured underneath her breath. “And from the times...the spell on his face...it could very well be the same person in each.”

       Ravayn closed her eyes. She wouldn’t forget that Hunter….it hadn’t been her first encounter with him….she...

       “Anyways, what’s your magic?” Sor asked, attempting to make conversation. In Âmethu, the question was as common as a kindergartener asking the other what his/her’s favorite color was. “You first!” Ravayn chirped in an uncharacteristically high voice. She cringed inside from her act, but she kept on acting.

       “Levitation.” Sor named calmly, then glanced over at Mystery. Mystery smiled. “It’s embarrassing, really.” Myst said, blushing. Sor snorted. “At least it’s not as common as Levitation.” Sor chatted. Myst nodded.

       “Did you hear that?” Ravayn asked, perhaps a little too fakely, anxious to change the subject.

        Pitter patter. The weather decided to help Ravayn out. Ravayn mentally thanked whatever supernatural force decided the weather. The pitter patter picked up. “Rain.” Myst said, listening intently. “It sounds like it’ll pick up soon.”

        The noise of the rain outside the cave grew. Water began to drip from the cave ceiling.

         Sor shivered. Myst looked her over. “I have some extra clothes in my bag? They’re not the prettiest--” Myst hesitated for a half second. “--Because they’re older. But they’ll fit you best, I think.”

         Myst dug into her backpack. Sor grinned. “Great, I was a little tired of being a unicorn.” Sor joked. “When you’re done.” Ravayn said, instantly swivelling towards the corner and staring at the wall at the exact same time as Myst.

          Ravayn preferred the silence to talking. At least they weren’t talking about Horizons and...Horizons.

          Horizons were extremely rare magical cloaks, always black. They cloaked your magic ability so nothing could happen to it/so that nobody could detect it. But it was disgusting how they were created.

          Humans without some degree of magic were extremely rare in Âmethu. And their lives, soul, life source, whatever you wished to call it, was placed into a Horizon cloak. These nonmagical beings were mercilessly killed...it was disgusting.

          The lightning crashed outside the cave. “Done!” Sor called proudly.

Ravayn and Myst turned around.

          Sor was wearing a large, gray tanktop. It dangled above ripped blue jeans and converse. Several hairbands were wrapped around her wrist, and Ravayn was pretty sure that those weren’t part of the original outfit Myst gave Sor.

          Sor was calmly and swiftly twisting her hair into several fancy loops and a long braid. She pinned it up--just as her eyes widened and she gasped.

          The trio whirled. A group of men in horrible imitation Horizons (simply on to intimidate) was standing at the mouth of the cave. “He was right.” One murmured in a gravelly voice. “There was three escapees. How nice of him to hand them to us.”

          Myst said some very wise words. “Run.”

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You should publish this!!!!
It's awesome 

Rien screamed as they plummeted over the waterfall. Then Kol yanked him to the right and they were falling through the air, past surging, foaming white water--

        And after two seconds of falling, they hit the grass and tumbled, sprawling out on the wet grass.

        “See why...you should...listen...to...me…” Kol murmured, his face pressed into the grass. Rien stuck a thumb up then sat up, groaning.

         The boy had landed sitting, his amber eyes wide and bewildered. He was fingering the necklace tied around his left wrist. “W-w-we surv-v-vived th-th-that?” He stuttered. Static and electricity crackled in the air just above his skin.

         Rien grinned. “Well, this ain’t Heaven.”

“Obviously, since you’re still here.” Kol mumbled under his breath, though he was joking. Rien swatted at him. “Hey, I kept morale up the whole time!” Rien protested, that easy grin painted across his face. “Yes, yes of course sweetheart.” Kol joked, though the adrenaline still pumped from the recent adventure and the shock still filled his body.

          The boy was still sitting there, staring at the roaring waterfall, shaking.

Kol took a seat next to him, smiling faintly. “You okay?”

           The boy trembled, but nodded. “Y-yeah. Th-that was j-just….a lot. F-for just one day, and--well--y-yesterday it s-seemed l-like noth-thing would ch-change.” The boy stuttered. “It’s hard to t-t-take in.”

           Kol nodded knowingly. “I should introduce myself...I’m Kol. The brave one--I mean, the grinning one--is Rien. And you?” Kol questioned.

           The boy smiled. “I’m Compass.” He said gently. Kol stared. “Uhm….Compass? Your name’s...a navigation device?” Kol questioned.

           Compass nodded eagerly, still twitching around, static crackling above his skin.

“Well….Should I call you Com...or Pass….Or Comp?” Kol wondered, staring at the boy. “Oh, forget it. I’ll just call you…” Kol selected a common Âmethinian name. “Dilen.” The boy smiled again. “D-Dilen. I like th-th-that.”

    Rien grinned. “Okay, no more touching moments. Guys, we got a wall to climb.” Rien called over the roaring of the waterfall.

    “Right.” Dilen said, shaking slightly still. “A wall to climb...uhm...how do you do that?”

                                         ❄  ❄  ❄

     Myst stared at the Hunters. “Oh hey...totally wanted to see you.” Sor muttered sarcastically. Ravayn gave Sor an appraising glance.

     Myst slowly walked towards the Hunters, both hands held in the air, one of the straps on her backpack looped around her left arm. The backpack dangled from it innocently.

     Suddenly, Myst whirled and slammed the backpack into three of them as if it were a weapon. “Run.” Myst said calmly to the two near her.

     And, though they had only recently met each other, the three ran together like a perfectly unified team.

     Their feet pounded against the grass, but there was nowhere to run and nowhere to go. Just a straight, flat plains, a few farms to their back, and the blurry outline of a forest in the distance.

     Then magic blasted by them--fireballs. One of them had fire magic. Not too strong, but it could be dangerous. Especially when you were in the middle of a dry plains--oh wait, they were in the middle of a dry plains, filled with dry grass, a dead tree, and so much good fire starter.

      Fire passed just an inch away from Sor’s arm, searing her skin as it passed. It crashed into a patch of dry tall grass just in front of her and she swerved as the fire blazed fiercely and smoke filled the air.

      Ravayn coughed to Sor’s right as her lungs filled with smoke.

Myst grabbed Sor’s hand and swerved past a huge patch of fire. Sor stumbled but caught her pace again. She didn’t normally do this at home…Home, an old abandoned windmill in the middle of town, home, where she ate popsicles for breakfast and laughed with her roommate Ness, Ness, the social butterfly who gossiped. Ness, the only one who knew her secret, the only one who knew about her curse. Ness, who kept it a secret.

      Sor shook her head and shook herself out of her thoughts as fire seemingly surrounded her. Then Ravayn and Myst jumped over a smaller patch of fire and Sor followed them, forced to follow them.

       “We have to--” Myst coughed. “--Lose them somehow!”

“Any ideas?” Ravayn asked.

        Sor sweated as she nearly tripped straight into a patch of fire. Ravayn grabbed her arm at the last second and yanked her back. Strangers who I owe my life to. The thought streaked through Sor’s mind as she ran, just for a few seconds.

        Ravayn yelped, then it was Sor’s turn to pull Ravayn away from the flames and fire. Smoke filled the air and burned in Sor’s lungs, but Sor tried to ignore it.

        “Seriously, any bright ideas?” Sor yelled as the Hunters gave chase. I went from the suburbs to this. Who decided this?

         Then fireballs peppered around them in a circle--

Sor’s eyes went wide. “No--”

         The flames encircled them. They were trapped.

The hunters laughed, congratulating each other as they walked up to the circle to collect their prizes.

          Myst sighed. “Whatever….hop on.”

Then a roar pierced the air.

          Myst rippled, changing, her bone structure growing and going through an extreme change.

          In her place was a roaring gryphon, it’s feathers golden, it’s powerful muscles rippling. It flexed it’s wings and roared again.

          Sor and Ravayn knew what the wise choice was. To hop on.

Sor climbed up the Gryphon’s foreleg and leapt on the back between the wings, Ravayn behind her. The hunters and the fire began to close in on them.

          Then the Gryphon’s wings beat the air and they shot into the sky.

The air was foggy and smoke-filled around them, and the fireballs that shot through the air were never close. The smoke, uncomfortable as it was, clung to them like an invisibility cloak and hid them from the enraged hunters.

          The Gryphon was flinching randomly and twitching underneath them, but it seemed focused.

           It’s wings spread and they sailed across the sea of smoke and towards the moon, the giant pale silver globe in front of them.

          Sor could feel the Gryphon’s chest rising and falling with every breath and the warmth from it’s body heat and soft feathers. Though the sky was cold around them, it’s body heat kept her warm.

          Ravayn, behind Sor, stretched out her fingertips and felt the heated smoke and the cold fog. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sailing feeling, then glanced up. The sea of clouds above them seemed so much closer now, even though it was concealed by the fog.

          The fireballs got farther and farther off until they seemed like a simple light show, something to safely watch from a distance.

          Then one moved uncomfortably close to them. The Gryphon roared in pain and suddenly, sharply dipped lower in the sky. Sor clutched it’s feathers more, digging her heels into it’s side more, her eyes wide.

           Ravayn clutched the Gryphon again, reminding herself that the flight was just an illusion and she wasn’t the one flying. But if she could...

           The Gryphon made birdlike moaning noises, then flapped it’s wings harder, fighting to stay airborne.

           The fireballs disappeared into the distance, along with the other balls and hazes of magic. Sor waved at them as she smirked. Who decided that hunters got amazing magic anyways?

            The Gryphon dipped lower in the sky. Sor gasped at every sharp movement, but Ravayn seemed to thrill from it.

           Why am I running from these hunters anyways? What did I do? Sor wondered. It’s not my fault that the curse was placed--wait. Whose fault was it that the curse got placed? I never knew how and why it was placed. But does the fault really matter? Who decided that faults mattered? But who decided that the past is past? Wait, no, the past is the past because the past is the past is the past--Why am I thinking like this? Who decided that I would think like this?

         Sor yelped as the Gryphon plummeted, harder now. It extended it’s wings, trying it’s best to glide, but it shook and trembled, making it nearly impossible to hold still and glide. “Hang in there Gryphon--Myst--thing?” Ravayn called almost encouragingly. Is that thing Mystery? That girl I met today? Ravayn questioned inside her head.

         Sor’s thoughts spun as well. Did they really save my life, when I only met them today? Why did they choose this? I was running for my life and then, bang, there’s a Gryphon. Why was I running for my life in the first place? I could’ve escaped this.

         The Gryphon roared, plummeting through the fog and towards a layer of dark green. “That’s not grass!” Sor declared, her eyes wide. They were plummeting towards a forest.

          Sor stared at the sea of dark green and branches as it grew closer. “Think this is where we’ll die?” She asked, only half-joking. Ravayn didn’t respond, just felt the fog and dreamt about flight.

          Sor was tempted to jump off as they crashed into the canopy of trees. They all were.

          Then there was a flash of light as the Gryphon transformed back to Myst an inch away from the trees, and they plummeted into the canopy of leaves and branches.