2 Visions

It was dark when Aria awoke. She didn't recognize her surroundings at first as her vision was still foggy. As her mind cleared she surveyed the things around her and then she remembered that she had been hunting and ran across a strange winged beast.

When she thought of the beast visions started playing in her mind. She saw a path leading to a world she had only dreamt about. There were fantastic beasts all around, there were people like her that could manipulate spiritual aura in the things around them without touching them. Some could even fly over the land and oceans! Speeding past numerous oceans and mountains, the visions stopped in front of a large cave high in the mountains covered in snow. Inside the cave was a large winged beast just like the little one she had seen before. It felt like the beast was looking straight into her soul, beckoning her to come find it. As the vision closed in on the large best everything went blindingly bright again and Aria passed back out.

Some time after day break the light filtering in the cracks of her house roused her consciousness. Aria slowly sat up and took a look around. She was back in her house.

"Huh? How did I get back here?" she wondered aloud.

"Eep!"

Aria jumped at the sound. She hurriedly looked around and focused to see the spiritual energy in the room. It was much easier for her to see spiritual energy in the dim light than it was to use her natural sight. Near the door there seemed to be someone hiding.

"Who is there?" Aria asked.

No response.

Aria slowed stood up and started to walk over to the person. As she got closer, the other person tried to scurry away. It looked like one of the children in town. She stopped moving forward and instead took a step back.

"Please don't be afraid. I wont hurt you." Aria coaxed.

"Don't come any closer!" screeched the child. It was a young boy, around her age.

" I'm sorry. I was just curious as to why you're here." She said. "No one ever comes here."

Looking around again she thought of something...

"How did I get here? Last I remember I went into the forest to hunt." She chose to leave out the part about the winged beast, he would definitely think she was crazy.

The little boy nervously looked around but kept track of her every movement. Aria could tell that he was terrified.

"I-It's been three days." he stuttered.

"Three days?" Aria asked, confused. "Three days since what?"

"Since the Elder found you unconscious in the forest," he replied.

Aria was stunned into silence for a while, lost in her thoughts. It's been three days since then? How could it be?

Seeing as how Aria wasn't saying anything the boy plucked up some courage and told her, "Elder brought you back here and tasked me to keep an eye on you until you woke up. There is food on the table. Auntie made it for you."

That last part brought Aria out of her thoughts. She looked at the boy and was stunned.

"Some... Someone made me food?" disbelief could be clearly heard in her voice.

He scratched his head and looked at the floor, not knowing how to answer. He knew that the townspeople hadn't treated her with any kindness, at least none that he knew of.

He cleared his throat and said, "Yeah. Elder's orders."

"Since when has the Elder taken any notoce of me?" she whispered.

The boy shrugged. "He said a being came to him in his dream and told him what to do. Everyone knows the Elder is a superstitious person."

Aria glanced over at the table and saw a plate with bread and a slice of meat along with a bowl that was still steaming. She didn't realize how hungry she was until just then. She slowly stood up and walked to the table to sit down. The boy excused himself as she started eating.

This food was much more delicious than what she can make herself. She finished eating and cleaned up the dishes. She wanted to return them and that was when she noticed the boy was no longer there. Apparently she was so hungry that she had forgotten about him. Oh well, nothing could be done about it now.

Aria felt a bit tired after filling her stomach so she decided to lay down for a bit. As she dozed off she started having the visions of that magical place again. It was as if she was seeing everything from above. Odd looking fish-like creatures swimming I'm the streams. They were much like normal fish but larger with black beady eyes and red scales that glistened in the sunlight. Their teeth looked razor sharp and their spiritual energy was different than most she had seen. It was very bright but it had a bluish green tint to it. She wasn't sure what that meant. She had only ever seen white spiritual energy before.

Then there were people, their clothing was different than what she was used to as well. Most of them wore layered robes of some sort, all in different colors. Their spiritual energy was different as well. There were many different colors, it reminded her of rainbows where there were people gathered together.

As she flew over the oceans and mountains she saw such vast ethereal beauty. The landscapes were majestic with small villages scattered here and there. She once again came to the cave in the snow covered mountains and saw the large winged beast. It was looking at her again, urging her to come find it. As she wanted to reach out and touch it, it opened its mouth revealing rows of pointed teeth and a long snake-like tongue. Surprisingly, she didn't feel afraid, even as it breathed out a column of fire toward her. It enveloped her in its warmth but it didn't burn her.

"Come to me young one. You are meant to be here." It was a deep rumbling sound. Not quite a voice but she could understand it all the same but she didn't know how. It felt like she had heard it somewhere before, she just couldn't quite place it.