2 Heal

She made it out, no longer in that damned tent. Two figures seemed to perambulate the area. They inched ever so closer as she collapsed. Her body could no longer support itself. One figure lunged forward and caught the limp girl. "Astra, what have they done?"

"Another?" The one called Astra asks.

"No, she seems far worse, and alive. They've gone too far."

"Muse...how? How is she alive?"

"Lyre should be able to tell us. We need to get to her." Muse said. He looked over the body. She seemed half conscious. Maybe capable of speaking?

"Muse, come on. The porta won't stay open long."

"I'm coming. I've got you." Muse quietly whispered and stepped into the porta.

"Where…" The girl gasped. In place of a village scenery they were greeted by a forest clearing. Warped willows, ash trees, bizzare stones, and twisted rocks lined the civilization. The light warped and bounced around. Stone and wood huts, canopies, archways, and overhangs busied the eye.

The place seemed to exist separately from the world from which they came. It seemed almost ethereal. And the tree in the center. Stone and light snaked its way around the magnificent trunk. Glowing water coursed through the tree's ridges and cracks. The water flowed from pores in the willow's branches. It pooled around the roots in a mystical pond. The stone path paved the way for them.

"Lyre?" Astra asked dipping into a wood and stone hut with woven cloth draped across the opening as a door. Muse carried the nameless girl into the hut. Astra dropped her hood and Muse's was knocked off. The trio find a tall woman with dark hair. Muse placed the girl a makeshift table.

"Where did she come from?"

"Lehu.'' The girl murmured softly. "Where...am...huh hu...I?"

"Yggdrasil's Garden." Astra sneers.

"Hush. Lehu isn't safe for the Illusivus. They get beaten like this."

"But she seems normal…" Muse said.

"She's not like us." Astra argues.

"Like us, she is not. But neither is she normal." Lyre says tending to the girl's wounds. "One like that must conceal. She's not natural." Lyre said painting a cooling paste on the girl. "Her eyes glow like the water. And her survival shouldn't be possible."

"How…" Muse asked as he just noticed.

They look again. Her scars and welts stand out on her porcelain flesh. The right side of her face looked as though claws had ripped through her. The eye was hidden under crimson, the left side of her face looked as if someone tried to rip it off with claws, dragging it to the left. Not to mention how the gashes covered her neck and shoulders as well. The scars on her legs and arms grew more horrific as you stared.

"I don't know. Leave. I'll go bathe her in the water." Lyre said lifting the girl as Muse and Astra left. Lyre took her to the pool at the tree. The girl was set into it by Lyre and another woman, Cypher, she called her.

Cypher's eyes were gold and metallic. Tanned skin and inky hair. Cypher and Lyre washed the blood off the girl. As they did so the blood had stopped flowing. And the water seemed to pulse around the girl. The women pulled her out of the water and wrapped her wounds.

The girl seemed too weak to speak. She looked dazed as they bandaged her with scraps of cloth.

"Why...why do you help…" She asks.

"Someone has to." Cypher said simply. It was a new thought to the girl. That one must help. They noticed on her arms lay symbols.

Astrological and Alchemic symbols were burned into her arms, legs, neck, chest and back. But the back had every alchemic and astrological symbol surrounding Yggdrasil's symbol.

"Who are you?" The girl was soon asked along with why the marks were there.

"I was born..." She gasps, "With them...so they called...me Alchemy…" She was still drained and raw but was healed best they could.

"Alchemy...can you stand?" Lyre asks.

"Yes…" Alchemy rasped. She slowly made her way to a standing position. She stumbled and was caught by Cypher.

"Lets get her changed."

They took Alchemy to a canopy. Alchemy was given a simple but well fitting black and light brown witchy dress. A pair of leather boots. They also gave her a grimoire, a leather belt, a single leather bracer, leather gaiters, and a leather notebook bracer. "Why so much?" She asked.

Now that she was aware she looked at the two. Lyre was dark skinned, grey eyed, and brunette. She bore a tight black dress, a leather belt, and black boots. Cypher had hunter garments.

"Simple. You have nothing else." Lyre said.

"Well...now that you're clothed and bandaged up, how about we get you fed?" Cypher led Alchemy away from Lyre. "Lyre's a rough one."

"Why am I here?"

"Muse and Astra found you. Alchemy, you must train. Hone your skills and powers. Cypher explained. "Make use of the Altors. You are very different from the rest. We all can tell."

"How? And what's an Altor?"

"I don't know. But your eyes, they're like the water we bathed you in. They glow." Cypher said.

"Altors give us power. Give the water its properties. There are six main Altors. Nighy, Light, Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. The Altor of Night, a brave and vengeful warrior. Her story, tragic and sorrowful. Her name was Nocturne. Nocturne had a lover, the Altor of Light. He was joyful and naive. He was bright and a temptation. They called him Ezana."