Suddenly Changing

A man cloaked in black strode to the end of a long, gloomy, hall. He stopped and knelt before a cloud of dark mist. "Lord, the girl—well, now she is a young woman—her brother is started to search for the gems. I'm afraid we need a new weapon."

"Isn't there another one out there, General Dornefio?" said a voice coming from the mist.

"No, lord. All the others have perished."

The voice within the mist answered, "And what about your daughters?"

The man forced the stern expression on his face to hold. "Keievia and Keienia have been close since youth. Keievia is too old to force the curse upon. If we hold her hostage, Keienia will do as we order.

Iraliyn woke just a little after midnight. She had heard someone quietly walk outside the cave that they had taken shelter in.

Iraliyn slowly stood up. She could not feel who had gone. She only knew that the day before, there were two others, but now there was only one with her in the cave.

She ran outside. Someone stepped in front of her. It was Keienia.

"Keienia?" Iraliyn said, surprised, recognizing her aura—that was mostly how she could tell others apart.

"I—I'm really sorry, Iraliyn!" Keienia whispered, weeping quietly.

"What do you mean?"

If anyone else was there, they would have seen it.

Iraliyn could only feel something surrounding her, preventing her from sensing beyond. Keienia's aura was changing rapidly, too. She gasped.

'A desperate girl, seeking her hope. Beside her, a cruel energy, pushing her forwards.'

It was nearly noon when No Name was awake. He looked around the cave. It seemed oddly empty.

"Of course." he said to himself. "Sister Lykeida and that girl who looked like her left the first day after the abyss. Then, the two siblings who were bickering every moment left a few days ago with the rest of the weirdly dressed people. Sister Iraliyn and Keienia—wait, where did they go?"

No Name crawled towards the entrance of the cave. There, Iraliyn was laying just outside.

"Sister Iraliyn!" No Name shook Iraliyn's lifeless body as hard as he could.

"Who is there?" Iraliyn's hand flew up and grabbed his shoulder. Her other hand shot a spark that landed exactly where his wound was.

No Name shrieked and slid back into the cave.

Iraliyn pushed herself up. She was panting. "Keienia." she said, then collapsed again.

Just then, a wide area of grass disappeared. Lila and Nevnera emerged from under. As soon as they weren't standing on the area that led underground, the ground there reappeared at once.

"Where did everyone go, though?" Lila asked stupidly.

Nevnera rushed to Iraliyn's side. "What happened? You seem weaker than that friend of yours."

"Where did everyone go?" Lila asked again.

No Name answered, "Niruk and Miriuo went back to Cevenain. Arya and Everly left with them."

"And... Keienia?" Nevnera whispered, already suspicious.

No Name glanced at Iraliyn. "Keienia..."

"Keienia is cursed," Iraliyn finally managed to say.

Deep underground in a room lit by two dim candles high on the walls of the room.

In the center of the room, there stood a lonely, round table with two glowing stones, one on each side of the table.

These two stones were called the stones of "shadow" and "light", crafted in ancient times to balance the world.

One of them, a dark grey stone, symbolized shadow and evil. When the stone pulsed and expanded on the surface of the table, that meant that the shadow was rising.

The other stone symbolized light.

These two stones grew perfectly around the border of the table, never leaving less space than an inch around. But inside that border, the stones could change wildly.

The two stones, the viquara of deha rin and yili, were guarded by a group of spirits. The group was split into two parts, the guardians of light and shadow.

In the past century, the stone of shadow, Yili, had been growing rapidly. It forced the stone of light, Deha Rin, into the corners of the table.

Slowly, the guardians of deha rin became weaker and weaker. They disappeared one by one under the force of the stone of shadow.

When the last few of them disappeared, the guardians of yili never came to the table anymore. They were all afraid that once their presence was sensed, the stone of shadow would draw their energy and push the stone of light completely off the table.

All these years, the room had been hidden, with no visitors except a few unfortunate spiders who spun monstrous webs across the area.

The candles, however, were enchanted by the guardians to flicker day and night, year after year.

To enter the room, you would need to have the ability of the guardians. The passage always changed, and no one could predict where it would appear next. The guardians could only sense it forming in a certain area.

Near the edge of a small stream, under the shade of a tall cedar tree, the spirit of an old woman in dark robes with black hair loosely pulled back behind her shoulders slowly drifted around.

In the distance, dark figures slowly drifted towards the cedar tree. The old woman looked around and sighed.

The figures approaching were men and women dressed in similar dark robes as her.

The old woman slowly sighed. Though it was as quiet as a feather drifting down, the others could her exactly what was happening.

If you know ancient tales and myths, you will immediately recognize these people. They were the guardians of yili the stone of shadow.

As the other guardians drifted the old woman sighed again. "I assume that you know why I called you here."

"I do not. I followed Leatia here." said a woman, gesturing to a man.

"Do not misunderstand," the man, Leatia, said to the old woman. "I followed Milandri to this area. He gestured to another woman to his left.

Milandri was speechless. "But I was following her.

"I was following him."

"Well, I was following Sindelun."

"But I was following Venindru."

"Venindru, how did you know to come here?" they all asked in unison.

"Me?" said Venindru. "I was going to pick herbs in the mountains." He pointed to a mountain past the stream behind the cedar tree. "But then I saw all of you heading here, so I decided to come too."

"Oh. Maybe we saw wrong and thought that you were Erondin."

Erondin turned to the other guardians who hadn't said anything. "What about you?"

"Us?" one of them said. "We got your message to meet at the new passage location of the neus. You did not say why, so we came here without knowing.

"Let me explain now, then." Erondin said in a gloomy voice. "I assume that you all know about the condition."

The guardians glanced at each other and nodded.

Erondin slapped her arm. "Do you all know how serious the condition can be?"

The guardians glanced at each other again and shook their heads.

"That is because you have never experienced it."

"It is true, we have never experienced it." one of them said. "We have not been guardians for long enough. Did you not say the last condition was more than six hundred years ago?"

Erondin nodded. "At least you know that you don't understand..."

They stared at Erondin in silence for a while.

"What were you going to tell us?"

Erondiin whispered, "As you know... deha rin is on the edge of the neus, and if we don't act soon, the results will be the same as we were afraid of."

"But what are you saying we should do?"

Erondin looked around. "I will first enter, do not come in before I come out."

She turned around to the cedar tree and drew a firm line on the bark to the roots of the tree. The bark that had scraped off piled at the bottom and as they landed, a pit in the ground was made.

Erondin waves her hand and transformed into a blur. She fell into the pit and disappeared.

The guardians, as told, did not follow her.

As Erondin traveled down the passage, the stone of shadow pulsed excitedly, waiting for her to enter.

She slowly walked into the room and gasped. The stone of light could barely be seen against the dark smoke surrounding the stone of shadow.

She clenched her teeth. She pointed at the stone of shadow, luring the energy towards herself.

The stone of shadow dimmed, and the smoke thinned. It slowly shrank and a warm glow shone from the stone of light.

Erondin's lips curved into a thin smile. "You can come down now..." she said in a soft voice.

The other guardians came through the passage in an instant.

"W—what are you doing?" Sindelun cried. "You are the only one left... how could you do this?" She ran to Erondin's side and pointed at the line of smoke connecting her finger and the stone.

Erondin gently pushed her hand away. "Every guardian has their purpose. I have left humanity for too long. It is the chance for me to truly contribute to this world."

"I understand." Sindelun said in tears. "Every guardian has their purpose. But what is our purpose?"

"It will come, naturally... none can know..." Her eyes slowly closed, and the line of smoke fell.

"No!" Sindelun fell onto her knees. "This isn't possible."

One of the guardians, Lukanik, stepped up and placed his hand on her shoulder. "You cannot stop it," he whispered. "We can only accept what is meant to happen."

The guardians grouped together around Erondin's body, and each guardian bowed. Then, the body slowly evaporated.

"We need a new chief." said Leatia. "Without a leader, chaos will rise amongst us."

"But we must not decide in a rush." Vernindru answered. "That will lead to worse consequences."

"It is too late already!" Milandri shrieked. "Can you not feel it, nudging you? I urge you to make one last decision together before we lose our minds completely. But this decision will all depend on Vernindru."

"The Time Pebble!" they all cried at once.

"Vernindru, are you willing to use the Time Pebble? The world will depend on your answer."

"I am willing to do whatever it takes to unite this group again." Vernindru said. He took a small pebble from out of his robes and held it out.

"It can only be activated by the power of ten. We have exactly ten here. If any one of us does not agree, this will not succeed!"

"If any one of us does not agree, the rest wil be harmed greatly!"

Lukanik touched his hand to the pebble. The pebble bulged and became slightly larger. "I am not afraid to take this risk. Brothers and sisters, I trust that you will not step away."

One by one, the guardians reached their hands and held the pebble, which had now bulged to the size of the table.

"Sindelun, are you not doing this?"

Sindelun nodded. She stood up and reached her hand to the pebble. Her arm froze an inch from the pebble.

"What is it?"

"The destination!" Sindelun exclaimed. "We all forgot the destination!"

"Ten minutes ago, just when we arrived at the cedar tree."

Sindelun finally touched the pebble. A grey light surrounded them.

The guardians found themselves on the plains surrounding the cedar tree, approaching a dark figure under the cedar tree.

Once they entered the past, they had complete control over their past self. The challenge was to act as normal as they could until the effect of the Time Pebble vanished.

"I assume that you know why I called you here." said Erondin, sighing.

The guardians glanced at the woman who had spoken first before.

"I do not, I followed Leatia here."

"Do not misunderstand, I followed Milandri to this area."

"I was following her."

"I was following him."

"Well, I was following Sindelun."

"But I was following Vernindru."

"Vernindru, who were you following?"

Vernindru silently thought to himself, they can remember what they said so clearly. Why can't I?

"Vernindru?"

"I was going to the mountain to pick herbs. Then I saw you going here, so I decided to come too." He pointed unnaturally at the mountain.

The guardians acted out what had happened before, until Erondin was about to enter the passage.

"Wait." Milandri said to Erondin.

Erondin looked at her. "Yes?"

"Who should be the next leader?"

Erondin did not look surprised. She thought for a moment. "You and Sindelun are the cleverest. Leatia is the bravest. Why are you asking me now? I really cannot decide."

As she spoke, the guardians felt her voice slowly fade. Darkness washed over their eyes, and they once again found themselves in the room with the table.

Lukanik was the first to recover from the effect of the pebble. He sighed. "We got her answer, but now what are we supposed to do?"

"First," said Milandri. "We must all agree about the test of attributes."

The test of attributes was a test where everyone's attributes were confirmed. For example, with five people:

For the test of intelligence, they would all decide together who was the most intelligent to least intelligent, like a competition. Maybe person 3 was the most intelligent, and person two was the least intelligent. Then person three would get one point, and person two would get five points.

It would keep going on for all the attributes of the guardians: intelligent, mature, brave, kind, and creative. Then, whoever had the least points would pass the test.

They started discussing. They first decided the list for intelligence.

After a long time, the results were finally concluded.

Leatia and Sindelun's points were tied.

If two people were tied in the position to pass the test, things would get troubling.

The rest of them would have to decide three tasks for them to do. Whoever finished the most tasks first would pass the test of attributes.

The first task the other guardians decided was to find an injured rodent. The guardians traveled up the passage above ground.

This task tested patience, part of the attribute mature.

It usually took quite a while to find a small, injured rodent in the vast world. One must have patience to accomplish this task.

The trouble with this task was, if the two contestants found the same rodent at the same time, attempts to summon the rodent would fail. This also tested patience.

Sindelun found an injured rodent first. Even though she only was ahead by a second, it was still a second. The other guardians spoke out the next task.

The second task was to treat the roden'ts injury until the injury was gone. This task tested the attributes creative, intelligent, and kind.

To find a way to cure the rodent, you had to depend on your own intelligence and creativity. If your heart is kind and is honestly willing to cure the rodent, better ways will come to you naturally.

Leatia cured his rodent first. The guardians announced the third and final task.

The third task was to send the rodent back to wherever it was found. This taks required the attributes mature, intelligent, and brave.

Mature, like the first task, searching where you found it. Intelligence, knowing where you found it. The last task was the hardest because you would be very anxious of who would finish it first. This tested braveness, having a strong mind and staying calm.

This task took the longest. In the end, it was Sindelun who successfully sent her rodent back.

The guardians returned to the room with the table to confirm the results.

"After the test of attributes, to decide the new leader, everyone must first confirm. So, Sindelun, do not get too excited."

"Why do you think I would be excited? If it wasn't for the test of attributes, I would've already given position as leader to one of you." Sindelun said in a calm voice.

The guardians glanced at each other and nodded.

By asking Sindelun not to be too excited about becoming the leader, the guardians were testing her once again. It was a test of humbleness, part of maturity.

"Does everyone agree for Sindelun to become the new leader of the guardians? Please give an honest answer."

The guadians thought for a moment. Finally, they all agreed.

The walls of the room suddenly started shifted.

"The room is changing locations!" they shouted. Everyone gasped. None of them had ever been in the room when it changed location.

"Cursed?" Nevnera gasped.

Iraliyn nodded. "Possibly the same..." They looked at each other in fear.

"Which curse what curse?" Lila asked impatiently. "Would you mind explaining?"

"Don't be impatient!" Nevnera snapped.

"Wait, what curse are you talking about?" No Name said suddenly.

Nevnera groaned and dropped her head backwards.

Iraliyn looked up. "Nevnera, I think the ceiling is very boring to look at. Why are you raising your head to look at it?"

Nevnera groaned again. She flew up to the roof of the cave and kicked the stones.

A stone crumbled and the dust rained onto them.

Lila blinked and shielded her eyes from the dust. "Excuse me, I came here from a difference time, and you expect me to know what curse you're talking about?"

"It is true..." Iraliyn muttered. "Mother always kept this a secret. How would someone who comes from a different time in the world know?"

Nevnera flew up and kicked the ceiling again. She landed so hard that the whole cave trembled.

She stepped to the back of the cave and stared at the wall.

The three of them glanced at where she had landed. There was a set of footprints four inches deep.

Iraliyn shook her head. "Things get bad when she is angry. She has a temper."

"My sister also has a temper." No Name said. "She gets so mad she hits my back."

"Your back must hurt, then!" Nevnera shouted. "Once Iraliyn hit my back so hard I couldn't move for a week!"

"But the day after the week passed, you hit my back so hard I couldn't move for a month! Father got so mad that he hit both our backs!"

"But then Mother got extremely mad and hit all of us on the back!"

Lila and No Name blinked at each other, not knowing what they were talking about.

The footprints that Nevnera had left on the ground started glowing.

"What did you do?" Iraliyn gasped.

"I didn't do anything! This isn't my fault!"

"It is your fault! Look at the footprints you left!"

"So?! It wasn't me who made them glow!"

"If it wasn't you, who would it be?"

"How would I know?"

"Lykeida has been standing outside the cave ever since you came. I can't move there by myself! No Name is in that corner of the cave, and how would he move to where you left the footprints in such a short time?"

"You're just trying to blame me!" Nevnera curved her hand into her sleeve and flung something at Iraliyn.

Iraliyn moved her head slightly backwards and avoided it hitting her.

It flew past Iraliyn's head to the entrance of the cave, heading directly towards Lila's left foot

Lila didn't react in time and the object stuck inside the toe of her shoe. Luckily, her shoe was a little big for her and it didn't touch her foot.

Lila bent down and plucked the object out. She closed one of her eyes and tilted her head. "What is this?"

It was a small, thin needle.

She walked over to where Iraliyn as and showed it to her.

Iraliyn gasped. She took it from Lila and tightly pinched the blunt side of the needle. A clear, white liquid dripped out.

Iraliyn flicked the needle towards the ground. It landed exactly in the middle of one of the footprints.

"What are you doing?" Iraliyn shouted at Nevnera. "Releasing a poisonous weapon and harming others is illegal in Avhunin.

"We aren't in the borders of Avhunin! Besides, I didn't even harm anyone!"

"Except you were close to harming two people!"

"How could you say that? I didn't mean for it to almost harm two people. Besides, I didn't even mean to harm anyone!" Nevnera walked over to the footprints and took the needle out. She stabbed it into her arm. "I can prove it to you!"

"Who knows? Maybe you already drank the antidote!"

Nevnera clenched her teeth and flashed to Lila's side. She stuck the needle into her hand. "Lila has just entered this world and has never met the antidote before. If you don't believe me this time, it's not my fault."

They all held their breath.

Nevnera didn't know what was in the needle. She put her hand into her sleeve and touched it, then without knowing what it was, flicked it at Iraliyn. When she stuck it into her own arm, she didn't know if she could still live.

After a while, nothing happened.

Lila took the needle from her hand and dripped the clear liquid into her mouth. Her eyes widened. "Water!"

"Water?!"

Iraliyn and No Name looked at Nevnera. "Why would you have a tube full of water in your sleeve?"

"It must have been that time when we were collecting clean water in needles for one of Mother's experiments."

'Wrongly accused by someone close, the thread of water convinces them all.'

The walls of the room stopped shaking. The guardians sighed in relief.

One of the guardians floated to the ceiling of the room and pressed her hand against it, felling the area above. They drifted around the room and stopped suddenly.

"What is it, Eletea? Did you feel anything?" the guardians said hurriedly.

Eletea removed her hand from the ceiling, clenched it, then sank back to the floor.

She opened her palm for everyone to see.

The guardians crowded around her and peered at her hand.

At the center of her palm, there was a dark dot. Black veins stretched out like a spiderweb on her palm.

The guardians gasped. "What is this?"

Eletea whispered, "Someone or something is above this room. They had a powerful weapon.

Sindelun picked the needle out of Eletea's hand. "This is a rare poison. The plants used to create it can only be found high up mountains in a very cold climate."

"What should we do, then?"

"How are we able to retrieve the antidote?"

"Don't worry about me." Eletea said.

"But Erondin said that we all have a purpose. You can't disappear before you finish your purpose.

"My purpose? My purpose is to tell you to not exit this room until it changes location again.

"But—" they protested.

Eletea took her other hand and pointed at the needle. She moved her fingers up her arm to her chest.

"No!"

Slowly, black veins crept up her shoulder. When it was almost reaching her cheek, she whispered, "Remember..."

"Eletea!" the guardians shouted. "You can't do this!"

One of them sighed and shook their head. "As long as she wants to do this, we can't stop her."

"Milandri turned to them. "Besides, we have more problems to face. Without at least ten spirits to guard the stones, something disastrous will happen."

The other guardians stared at her in surprise.

"Many years ago, Erondin once told me this thing called The Great Blank. The two stones would both start weakening rapidly. A space would grow larger between the two stones. If you looked at it, you wouldn't know what it was. It wasn't the table underneath, and it also wasn't any of the stones. Erondin said that it just seemed like a section erased from the world. That's why it's called The Great Blank."

"The Great Blank... where have I heard it before?"

"I have heard it too! So strange!"

"Oh! It is the thing in 'Suddenly Changing'!"

"High up in the mountains, down low in the seas. The Great Blank's agony, can always be seen."

"What is The Great Blank's agony?"

"Maybe the next phrase will tell."

"The sword of grey, dripping with blood not red or yellow."

"Not red or yellow? There are many colors that are not red or yellow."

"The string of brown, tied with a substance not wet or dry.

"Not wet or dry? Then what could it be?"

"Wait!" Sindelun exclaimed. "A string tied with a substance not wet or dry? It wouldn't be talking about the table, would it?"

"A finger or two, like a fire burning forever. A thin strand of hair, like a strong blade of grass. A soft flower petal, like the edge of a sword."

"What does that mean?"

"This poem is considered the most unusual poem. Some even considered it as a story instead. For a long time, none could understand the meaning behind this poem. The person who wrote it died soon after it was known to many people."

"Such a coincidence... do you think that someone might have figured out?"

"That's unlikely... If someone were to figure out..."

The ceiling above them suddenly crumbled. Bits of stone fell. The guardians steeped back to avoid it.

"What is happening?"

"The ceiling fell into the shape of two footprints.

"Footprints?" Vernindru gasped. "What was it again?"

"A set of footprints, fall from the sky. Two lonely feathers, float to the ground."

Vernindru looked down. The stone that had crumbled from the ceililng of the room had formed into about the shape of two feathers.

"Fool! You could not even kill a blind girl!" Dornefio shouted.

"Fa—Sir, Wilted Blossom can only kill when—"

"When the full internal energy of a grown man has been transferred! Have I not become a cripple?"

"General Dornefio," said a cloud of mist, slowly floating towards where they stood. "Do not blame your daughters."

"Why shouldn't I?! It's obvious they didn't create it correctly!"

The cloud of mist chuckled softly. "Then what is this?"

A spark of light shot up from Dornefio's arm. He gasped. "Wh-hat? How is possible? Lord—"

Keienia looked down and sighed.

The cloud of mist chuckled again. "Very well..."

About an eighth of the mist parted and slowly drifted towards Keienia. She gasped.

The day after Eioura entered the army, she started regretting her decision. Her sister, Leianri, had said before that their father was a citizen of Avhunin. If she stayed in the army of Cevenain, she would become an opponent of her ancestors and relatives.

"Report!" a voice suddenly shouted, interrupting her thoughts. "The army of Avhunin—"

Without waiting for the soldier to finish his sentence, the general of the northern army leapt to his feet. "All available soldiers follow me! New recruits, watch the camp and the injured!"

The other soldiers sighed. They had hardly recovered from an attack from Avhunin a few weeks ago. They nodded and followed the general out of the camp.

The recruits had no idea what to do.

The odd boy with brown hair came over to where she sat. "Hello, my name is Zenieri."

She didn't answer.

Zenieri nodded slowly.

Suddenly, stormy clouds filled the sky. A bolt of lightning struck the center of the area. They all glanced at each other in horror. A few moments ago, it was a clear, warm night. Now what was happening?

Another bolt of lightning flashed. Where it came down from the clouds, they could see a dark form slowly drift down. They could make out it was a young woman in black robes. A blast of energy directed to the recruits erupted from her palm. They all ran aside to avoid it.

Zenieri ran to the nearest storage tent and grabbed a bow and quiver. He peered inside the quiver in dismay. There was only one arrow.

Keienia looked down at all the destruction she was causing. Why had the lord needed her to attack the camp?

A voice cackled in her mind. "Do not worry, child... after everything, I will return your sister alive... and unharmed..."

Her head suddenly cleared, letting her think properly again. She froze.

The clouds thinned and a ray of moonlight shone through.

An arrow shot into the air to her right. Keienia turned sharply. She waved her hand. It turned and glided smoothly back to the soldier who had fired it. He had taken advantage of her unawareness and the faint light.

Keienia's arm trembled. She felt it losing all its strength. She looked down. Two soldiers were standing where the arrow had fired from. She gasped. Both seemed like someone very close to her... but who? She couldn't remember.

'A confused young woman, thinking of her friend. Two brave soldiers, giving her memories.'

As soon as the three others left, Zvosel entered the tunnel. They walked in the darkness in complete silence.

"Why did you come, Nevazu?" he said at last as they reached the end of the tunnels.

Nevazu stepped back and bowed her head. "I do not dare."

"Thank you, you are the best sister I could ever need."

"Your words are kind. Is it not your sister that your sister is taking you from?"

"Eteirea did not hold me in prison. The curse—"

"If I had known earlier, then I would not have taken you here!"

"If you had known earlier that after spending many years in the darkness, I did not change a single bit?"

"Exactly!" Nevazu now spoke with a hint of fury in her voice. She turned and disappeared back into the tunnel. The entrance slowly closed.

'Two friendly doves, flying together. Under, two arguing squirrels, who once were birds. One moment they drop, the same moment they change. One moment they lift, the same moment they change.'