Lost in Embers (Rising From Ash Saga #1)

Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

M y curiosity piques my interest more than it should. Now that I’m unguarded and left alone with my own devices, that’s never a good thing. I take a few steps forward only to be stopped by a strong arm.

“Don’t.” Kieran’s green eyes pierce right back into mine when I turn to face him. He has been acting differently toward me all night, compared to his normal evasive, asshole self.

“Why all of a sudden do you care? You have been nothing but rude to me, then you help me with my car and then go sour again,” Not rude, not hostile, but a genuine question that is asked sweetly and innocently.

“Look, Ava.”

He drops his hand from my arm and places his hands on my shoulders. I look at each shoulder for confirmation; he’s definitely touching me. My eyes feel like they are in the back of my skull in disbelief.

“I know we got off on the wrong foot.” I bring my eyes to meet his. “One day I will explain to you why, but that cannot be tonight. As for now, just accept my apology and let’s win this thing.”

“Apology accepted.” After all, how could I not accept such a sincere apology? His eyes tell me that one day he will reveal his original dislike for me, not that I even need to know. As for now, we will act as though it never happened, “Only if you do this…”

Without giving him time to answer, I pull him in onto the dotted line with me. Hastily, I move us forward into the light purple electric force in front of us, into the portal Marcus spoke of. Going through this is like feeling your whole body being suctioned into a smaller space. We are forced to embrace one another as tightly as possible, my head buried into his chest for what seems to be an eternity but is only a few seconds.

“I think the portal is only meant for one at a time,” I say, giggling hysterically now that the invisible, tight, elevator ride has stopped safely in the sky.

“Clearly.” He shakes his head at me but lets out a small chuckle.

We stand on what appears to be an invisible walkway above the biodome. This gives us an aerial view of what we are dealing with. Almost feels as though we are cheating since none of the other competitors have this advantage. There is a volcano, many woods, and a snow-covered mountainous area. How is this possible to put so many different elements of Earth in one small area?

“Look.” Kieran points to the other competitors that are about to walk into the course, but through a different entrance from the forbidden one we had used. “How do we get down from here? Do you think they can see us? ”

They better not be able to see us, or the Elders will have our heads. I have no idea how to get down from here. Then it hits me; we are on a walkway. We can just jump off; there has to be an ending somewhere.

“Don’t take this the wrong way.” We are on good terms; I don’t want him thinking I’m being a jerk. “But how strong are your powers exactly? Could you lift something halfway so we can get onto it?” The look in his eyes and body language tells me he knows exactly where I’m going with this.

“Out of eyeshot to others, of course.” He shoots me another playful wink, like he has been waiting forever to do it. He grabs me close by the waist, lifts his hand up, and a huge tree shoots up from out of the ground like it was forced and gently floats up to us. I gather the feeling we can see out, but others cannot see in.

Kieran walks us off the edge, and suddenly, we are falling through the night sky, the wind holding our balance, helping us along the way until we gently land on the tree trunk. With one hand out, Kieran directs the tree over near the entrance where Marcus is about to enter.

There are no elements over there, just green, soft land that smells of summer. Kieran places us down in front of a huge wooden door that appears to reach the moon from the angle at which we are looking up. With a flick of his wrist, the tree trunk is sent back into the wooded area, not leaving any trace of corruption behind. Just then, the door silently opens and other competitors rush into the field. We try to herd ourselves into the pile and go unseen, but Marcus locks eyes on us.

His walk toward us is filled with anger. “How did you two get in here?” Laila is by his side, actually growling at me. It seems she did not like my wandering off .

I lean down and give her a kiss on the nose to calm her, then turn to address Marcus. “Kieran has nothing to do with it.” Both men look shocked that it’s the first thing to come out of my mouth. “I dragged us through the portal, and here we are.” I try to keep it as short, sweet, and to the point as possible, without anyone else hearing me.

Marcus’s eyes look over into the moving forest. “That?” he questions.

I suppose there isn’t supposed to be any wind in a completely controlled environment.

Before I can come up with something to say, Kieran jumps in. “We were falling, so I used a tree to break our fall. I envisioned one, and it just came to me.” I guess he just has to envision something and not actually have it nearby; or he’s lying for some reason.

“Well then, next lesson in class will be to learn how to land on your feet,” Marcus jokes as he catches Kieran and I nudging each other. “Good to see you two are finally getting along. Now go out there and win us the flag.”

Kieran and I turn to walk toward the center of the field, but Marcus quickly whispers something in my ear: “Ava, after this, we have to talk. I’m not sure how you and Kieran got through the portal alive.”

All the competitors are directed to the center of the field as the same Elder that scolded me before stands in the middle of all of us. His dark-hooded cloak is something I haven’t seen in modern times but apparently is traditional wear for the Elders. How am I supposed to concentrate now? I need to know what Marcus was going on about.

The small cloaked Elder has a large voice, deceiving to his size. He addresses the crowd: “Will all of those who were late please come forward? ”

The young female instructor that ran into the building when we were leaving brings forward three students who were late. Their heads hang low as they walk to the center with her to approach the elder. The Elder advises them each to hold out a hand. They all do so, then instantly scream. When the screaming has desisted, he advises them to walk back to their place. One of the girls stands near me, and it is clear that her hand has been broken. The Elder goes on to say that being late or one second off in a battle can cause your death. They will have to battle wounded, and it isn’t until their fight has been complete that he will heal them. It’s a completely barbaric lesson that makes my stomach churn.

He calls us all to move in closer, but I keep my distance to the back as he speaks. “There is one rule: we do not kill here. This is strictly for practice purposes, but it is to be treated like a real-life battle. You may injure others; it is their responsibility to yell for an Elder if they have had enough and can no longer continue. Remember we are watching every single one of you; do not fail us.”

“I get the purpose of this, to prepare us for battle, but why are all the Elders here?” I whisper to Kieran, making sure to not move a muscle as the Elder is gazing right at me now as he continues speaking.

Kieran ignores what the Elder says and answers me: “No one has ever told us, but I think they are recruiting.”

“For what?”

“In case the war goes sour, they will pull out the strongest to make sure our kind lives on.”

I hold back my gag and roll my eyes at the thought. Some form of breeding to make the strongest survive so that they can make more of them. “Everyone should have a chance to live.” I can’t help but turn to read his face .

“I agree.” His eyes are so honest; he believes the same as me. He nudges me to tell me “Eyes forward” as the Elder looks more intensely at me.

“Am I boring you, Ava Buchanan, daughter of Richard Buchanan?” He walks toward me, and everyone parts like the sea to create a perfectly structured walkway to me. Yet Kieran does not leave my side.

“No, sir. This is my first battle, and I still have a few unanswered questions.”

“Perhaps if you listen instead of talking to Mr. Kilic, you would have the answer to your question. Why he’s participating in an event lower than his stature I do not know...”

He turns on his heel and walks back to the center of the field, and once more a circle forms around him without instruction. Perfect, an Elder hates my guts. That’s exactly what I need right now.

The Elder continues, “For those of you who do not know”—he directs that to me, don’t I feel special— “my name is Higgins Crawlford, and I have been walking this Earth for seven hundred years. These battles of Mishkutou are a tradition that have been upheld since the first Elders were named and given the responsibility to look after our kind. These battles show the weaknesses and strengths of those fighting, so we can evaluate. Training battles are held throughout the world on many continents; we are among the smallest groups of the resistance. Yet we have the biggest war coming our way and on our soil. We must be prepared.

“Now, let’s discuss the biodome. It was built just a few days ago, with the purpose of giving all a fair chance. This is neutral ground that no one has had the opportunity to see or experience. Teams have been picked at random to judge leadership skills and the ability to work with others. Blue team, separate to the right. Red team, stay here, center field. This is the time for you to meet with your coaches and discuss strategies.”

The dark-haired girl from earlier makes a point to bump into me as we walk to our appropriate sides. No doubt she’s going to try to boss around everyone on her team. I roll my eyes, ignore her caddishness, and walk away.

“What did you do to piss Cornelia off?” Kieran looks at me with amusement, not to mention a huge smirk.

“Cornelia, eh? She looks like a Cornelia. I just put her in her place when she tried to boss Brionna around.”

“Cornelia Burnstien apparently hails from Vikings or something like that. She’s a total war machine. She was picking on Brionna?” His eyes light up with fury; even Kieran and Kai are protective over Brionna. They are too young to be here. Even with rules that we cannot kill anyone, the thought of them getting hurt sickens me.

“Don’t worry, I shocked her.” A smile spreads across my face.

As we walk to meet the group, Brionna and her beautiful wings skip in between Kieran and I. She grabs both of our hands. “Don’t worry, you two will do great.” It’s the innocence that draws us to her, such a genuine human being with a soul as beautiful as her butterfly wings.

I look above Brionna’s face and look to Kieran with the most sympathetic eyes and lips, w e have to protect her. He nods in agreement as he squeezes her hand a bit more tightly. This moment melts my heart and shows me he has a soul. Without a doubt, his apology to me was sincere.

We huddle in a circle and Marcus walks around us, making sure we all have our boots on. Payton is on the red team, and it sinks my stomach. A few of our classmates are over there, and maybe one of them will protect her, but who? Arsen? No, he’s too headstrong on winning to think of others besides his sister. I know Lennox will be her normal crazy self and won’t protect anyone. Chance is too much of an impulsive being to watch out for a child.

Kieran looks at me. “Kai.” He answers the thoughts I ramble off in my mind. Immediately the weight is gone.

Marcus is front and center, looking fierce as ever. “This is it. There have been some changes. Originally it was every man for himself as you all were used to. With the original plan, you were able to take out members of your own team, to see who would turn against each other first. Now that is against the rules, and anyone who does it is disqualified. We are split, twenty verses twenty. The ten last people standing, doesn’t matter which team they represent, advance to the next round. Whoever advances from this team, we will have a meeting before the capture the flag round. Then it goes to a one-on-one battle from the top performers. This is a new feature—each of you will step onto the teleporting device and be sent to whatever location the Elders choose. You will see a flare launch, and that means the first battle has begun. When you see a second flare, that means the battle has stopped and you advance.” Those are Marcus’s parting words to us, and he leaves the field with Laila following him.

Kieran and I examine the teleportation devices. This is new and nothing like we have seen before. There are forty white individual squares on the field with dark black outlines; they contain X s marked in the center in either red or blue.

“Separate, and take a square of your color,” Higgins, the bald Elder, announces over the crowd. Our time is up. Panicking, I think, h ow am I supposed to keep Brionna safe if we are all in different locations?

“Brionna, go to the woods – they are north – and hide in the trees. Ava and I will find you there. Be sure not to make a sound and go by foot, not flight. Keep those beautiful wings of yours hidden.” Kieran brings up such a good idea, since her wings would be sure to attract all sorts of attention. While she’s under the cover of the trees, the eagles can come protect her if need be. Brionna hops on her square and is teleported out, disappearing from my sight in a nanosecond.

“You two, for the last time, take your spots.” That Elder really does not like us, and it makes me chuckle. I can’t blame him.

Kieran grabs me by my waist and looks into my eyes with stress in his voice. “Wherever you end up, meet me on the east side of the woods. Then we can find her together.” He shoves me onto my portal. The last thing I see is the time floating in the air above the portals: 11:59 p.m.

This feels the same as the other portal, a tight suction feeling, except this one is different, the speed at which we are moving isn’t as instantaneous and it’s completely enclosed. There is no way to see where I’m headed. At least the layout of the course is in my mind from the brief sighting we had on the aerial-view walkway. With my super speed, there will be no issue getting to my destination, as long as there are no road bumps along the way. There are no creatures, or so I have been told, but does everyone know that? I should have mentioned that to Kieran.

The teleport chute has come to a stop, but the door has not opened yet. I guess they’re waiting for midnight so the chase can begin. Soon screams, swords clanking, and thick boiling noises surround my portal. All others have been opened but not mine. The volcano starts to bubble as my port quickly opens.

This shit better not erupt.

An arrow greets me as I step out, directly to the right of me, about an inch away from my face. The one holding the bow? None other than Cornelia. Without hesitation, I run to her as fast as I can. She looks lost, trying to trace me. I flip upside down while jumping over her to grab the bow right out of her hand.

By the time she turns around and realizes what has happened, I have found safety behind a boulder and now wield a bow. My surroundings are crazy. So many are fighting, locked in an endless battle on the zone they were dropped into. Weapons are disbursed, lying on the ground, clearly first come, first serve. Kai is in battle with Helix; this is quite the shock, since Helix never participates and observes from afar. He has had no say in the matter here. The stars in the sky have been hidden by a darkness, one of ash covers this side of the dome. North. I must go north.

Concentrating as hard as possible, I think, Dark wings as black as the night, blend. Do not be seen. The smaller the animal, the better, which means my weapon will be left behind. So be it. Every bone in my body starts to readjust, for the first time, I’m doing this willingly and with thought, and it is an intense feeling. My skin starts to bubble as my form changes. I try not to scream, even though every bone in my body is breaking. I have to get used to this. Soon it will be second nature. Lava erupts from the volcano and splashes on my boots. The specialty of this boot must be resisting small amounts of lava and anything else that might be thrown our way. If Higgins had it his way, I’m sure he’d have me without them.

I’m off, transforming into a small, black bat. My vision is now equipped to see in the dark as I head north to the woodland area to find Brionna. The darkness from the raging, hot molten lava is no longer near me as I transition into the cold, snowy mountains.

Arrows fly toward me as competitors realize there are no bats in the mountains. The snow-covered mountaintops are now home to many of my enemies that are able to identify me in this form. Even my own teammates are shooting weapons at me while battling with each other. I examine the mountain, looking for a place to land, when I spot Kieran in battle with a massive man sporting a red X . Fighting with axes, it looks to have been a winded fight. I circle back around and see that this man appears to be a beast; perhaps that is his power. Or superhuman strength, as he stands about eight feet tall, with long green hair that trails down his back.

Sharp scales point through his jumpsuit, which has adapted around his form. He holds a boulder above his head, which he clearly aims to throw at Kieran. This is my chance. I fly as close to the huge man as I can get and change forms, directly landing on his back. Shock waves transfer from me to him. He drops to his knees and falls on top of the boulder. My transitioning is no longer painful. The man yells and groans as his heavy face slams against the ground, covering the white mountaintop with his blood.

“Thanks for that, Ava, but I would have had him.”

Still a typical man. At least he did muster the courage to say thank you. There is no more time for pleasantries as two men and Lennox ambush us. No surprise, she found crazies like herself. Kieran tosses me an axe, and we stand back-to-back. Before Lennox has the time to release a spell, Kieran telekinetically sends her broom deep into the mountain, and she runs after her power source. Now, two-on-two.

Wait, two-on-one. One of the men has disappeared. What is happening here? Where did he go? His footprints are moving in the snow.

“Invisibility! Look at the snow prints,” I yell out to Kieran. The mountain is loud and rumbling; the wind lashing all around us.

A fireball from the volcano is sent our way, landing directly in front of my feet, melting the ice away and leaving nothing but solid black matter on the ground.

“I got this one.” I nudge Kieran, and his body pushes away from mine in search of Mr. Invisibility.

Another fireball is thrown directly at me, and I don’t have the time to move away. My body accepts the fireball and eats it whole. There is no pain or burning, perhaps because my body runs warm. Panic strikes across this small man’s face as he looks for a weapon to defend himself. I walk toward him, and small flames start bursting out of my stomach, yet I still feel nothing. He looks to his right and sees a knife lying on the ground. Before he can make his move to reach the knife, I lunge at him, wrapping my legs around his neck, and turn myself backward and flip over. He does a 360 and lands on his stomach, completely knocked out. I crouch down in front of him with my head tilted in surprise. I’m a warrior. Aidan was right in Mexico: my instincts have kicked in.

“Ava, let’s go before anyone else notices us.” As we depart, the fireman’s body who I just battled floats in the air; this must mean he has been removed from the game.

Kieran spots a shield and brings it to us. “Here, we will use this to slide down the mountain; hop on the back.” He places the shield on the ground and sits. It is so small, and we really have to squeeze on. He scoots forward, and I take my place behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist and intertwining my legs with his.

“Ready.” I nod, bracing myself for the dangerous slide down the mountainside. I cannot tell where the snow begins or ends.

We shoot through the mountains, snow flying in my face and the wind whispering in my ear again, Hurry, you must hurry. I push all of my weight forward, and our slide moves even faster. We bypass fights, dodging and winding through the mountain and trees. We hit the line where the mountains turn into the woods. The shield comes to a stop, and the scenery has drastically changed. We stand on the edge of the forest line and look for weapons, but there are none in sight.

“This way,” I exclaim and start to move to the east side. He follows me. Then the wind whispers in my ear again.

“Quick, pass me something, anything.” Kieran telekinetically sends me a sword. “I will meet you there.” My voice ripples with haste as I run as fast as I can to the east corner.

Brionna is in a tree, kicking an older man down, or attempting to. He pulls her foot and takes her to the ground with him. In her attempts to escape, she lets those wings show, the only thing she knows how to do. The eagles are squawking, unable to break through the trees. He takes a knife out from his boot. Faster Ava, faster, the wind warns me

My sword is to his neck as I stand over his body. “Drop the knife.”

The man looks up at me through the dark hair that covers his gray eyes and drops his knife.

“Get out of here.” I let him go, and he runs off, only to be shot in the leg with an arrow.

“Sorry, I had to.” Kieran holds a bow in his hand while shrugging his shoulders. Brionna hugs both of us tightly. When we release her, we head into the woods and she stands only a few feet in front of us.

“He was trying to cut off her wings,” I say quietly.

“What a bastard. We aren’t allowed to kill, but that is acceptable?” Kieran is disgusted. We are overtaken by the eerie silence the deeper we go into the woods, when, through the trees, we see the second flare. This round is over.