Chapter 4

Elizabeth Pernalli, an average-height, black-haired, light-skinned, military-trained woman, took evidence of the hybrid breeding from Sean Laboratories. She plotted to backstab Barren and the Seans by bringing this evidence to the police, whilst being guaranteed immunity.

Sadly, Barren has quite the grip on law enforcement and practically owns it. Turning the tables, Barren, alongside the Seans, frame Elizabeth, who is sentenced to 20 years in Desolace Prison for 'attempt to create a hybrid creature'. During her time there, Elizabeth makes a friend with the same intentions as her. For obvious reasons, Elizabeth and her new friend Anala, who was imprisoned for the assassination of a king, make a plan to escape the prison. Not knowing what lies in the future, they meet an unfriendly foe.

Desolace Prison, The Dark Forest

"Wake up!", a security guard yelled in Polarish. I got up out of bed with a grouchy attitude, with every right to, as the guards here are a**holes. I glanced at the bunk above me to check if Anala was awake; she wasn't. But that ain't gonna stop me from starting trouble. But first, I need to brush my teeth, use the bathroom, and do my morning workout. Here, you got to stay in shape, unless you want to be someone's b****.

Once I was done doing my morning routine, Anala was barely waking up. She rolled and stretched in bed, yawning as she said, "Good morning". "You slept like a baby", I said sarcastically. "Where's my good morning?", she asked expectantly. "You know you're lucky if I even look at you", I stated. "True, but if we're gonna get outta here, I need you to be cooperative, which you seem to struggle with", she said boldly. "I don't need you, I just pity you, so you better check yourself", I threatened. "And that's why we're friends", she said, satisfied with my response.

She was about finished getting ready for the morning when a guard approached our cell door, "Time for breakfast wh****", she said in Polarish. "Oh no she didn't", Anala said in disbelief. "Calm down, it's their job", I intervened. "There's no excuse for being a beezy", she replied, taking a step forward to intimidate the guard. The guard backed up in surprise, but then quickly reasserted her dominance with, "Get the hell back before I tase you".

As expected, Anala didn't even flinch but proceeded to open the cell door with her psychic powers. The guard whipped out her taser shouting, "Halt, no powers, get back!". Without hesitation, Anala leaped toward the guard bashing her skull. I took that as a sign our escape plan was initiated and sprinted out at superhuman speed. Anala began the second step in our plan, casting a ranged spell on the prison so that everyone in the area was compelled to sleep.

I breached through every gate until I reached the outside. Now out, I had to wait for Anala to finish. Impatiently, I jumped to the next step in our plan, running up to the helipad on the roof of the prison. The helicopter was gone. "No!", I shouted audibly. 'We timed it perfectly, the chopper was supposed to be here today', I stressed in anxious thought to myself. "Damn it!", I exclaimed. I anxiously paced the roof thinking of an alternative.

While I was thinking, Anala teleported to me and looked at the empty helipad with a disappointed face. "Where the hell is the chopper?", she angrily questioned. "I don't know! It was supposed to be here and it's not", I snapped at her. "Well you can't fly, so, what are we gonna do?", she rudely mentioned. "Well you could ditch me", I suggested. "Why would I do that?", she replied. "I would", I said selfishly. "That's f'd up, I wouldn't do that to you", she tried to shame me. "Well I'm not you am I?", I looked at her bitterly. She tried to ignore what I said and changed the subject, "What do you wanna do?". "I don't know, got any suggestions?", I asked sarcastically. She looked at me with disapproval. I could tell she was about done with me by the look on her face.

For the next ten minutes or so, Anala and I discussed an alternative, which should have been done beforehand. "Alright, we better hurry, the spell will wear off soon", Anala urged. "Yeah I figured", I said with a hint of attitude. "Look Elizabeth, I get it. You want people to perceive you as tough and hardy, but the truth is, you're just as weak and vulnerable as the rest of us. The sooner you realize that the sooner things will get easier for you", she lectured. "Anala, I don't need a motivating speech to open my eyes. I know exactly what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, you do not", I said, growing impatient. "I was going to leave your a** here while I fled, but I felt sorry for you and decided to help you out", I admitted. "Are you done?", she said pitifully. "Yeah, let's go", I surrendered.

We didn't make it far after breaking through the prison entrance gate when we heard trees rustling in the distance. "Great, another delay", I complained. "It's fine. Whatever it is, I'm sure we can handle it", she encouraged. "Says the Gemini who's also a witch", I mocked. She rolled her eyes at my remark and proceeded to get in a fighting stance.

Anala and I glanced in every direction, prepared to fight whatever revealed itself. I have to admit, I was getting a little fearful at this point. But in my defense, the trees were shaking and the ground softly rumbling, implying there was something quite large out there. Anala was ready to put her guard down and continue on until we heard a monstrous roar in the forest. "That sounds big", she said, getting riled up with excitement. "This isn't supposed to be fun", I said, sounding upset. "Says who?", she replied. "Just please take this seriously. That could be a Quora, or worse, a Vanine Lepris", I warned. "Are you scared? Elizabeth Pernalli, scared? Haha!", Anala teased. "Shut up, or you'll alert it of our location", I responded, irritated. "That was my intention", she admitted. I looked at her, discontent with her childish behavior. "Learn to have a little fun", she responded. "No! I will not calm down, and I will not have fun", I lashed out at her. "Woah, Liz, I have never seen you this afraid", she said surprised. "Yeah well, I never knew you were so ecstatic, or I would have never befriended you", I replied.

We were suddenly interrupted by a loud cracking sound that echoed through the woods. I shivered in fear at the sound of it. "That sounded like a tree being split in half", Anala observed. "And what could do that?", I asked, not wanting to know the answer. "Oh, probably a Quora or something of the like", she assumed. "How big do you think?", I further questioned. "To crack a blackwood tree like that, at least 50 feet, maybe bigger", she answered. "What is up with you? You look like you've seen a ghost", Anala looked genuinely worried. "Nothing! I said I'm good", I shouted. "Liz, if there's something you need to get off of your chest, you can tell me", she encouraged. "I can't quite get into it right now but, when I was in the military, I was assigned a team and given an objective to destroy Polarian defenses from within The Dark Forest. While on the mission, a Vanine Lepris must have smelled us nearby, and it ambushed us from the rear while we were infiltrating the Great Wall. And the smartest thing for the Polarians to do was let the Vanine Lepris kill us for them. Well, that's exactly what they did, and it slaughtered my entire team and was about to finish me off, but luckily, a Gemini was in the area and she fought it off. Those are the only creatures I am deathly afraid of, and the only memory I have of being scared for my life", I solemnly explained. "Wow, Liz I... I never took you for the traumatized type. But I guess everyone who was or is in the military had some sort of traumatic experience", she added.

It was now evening and we were both tired after the long day we had. Anala and I didn't talk much as we made a fire, as the mood was a little awkward after I told her about my traumatic experience. All I was focused on, was getting a fire going and snuggling up for the night inside a cave we found, a mile or so from the prison.

"Do you... should I, maybe put a guard spell on the entrance of the cave? You know, so nothing eats us while we sleep", Anala stuttered as she offered. "Uh... yeah I guess if you want?", I acted as if I didn't care. "Well, it's not really for me... I just thought you might want some safety precautions", she answered. "Nope, just want some sleep", I lied. She nodded her head in understanding without saying another word.

It was dark out now, and I was having trouble sleeping, my eyes peeled open, afraid of closing and not opening ever again. I knew I was exaggerating, but I was truly afraid of dying a gruesome death. Anala was asleep now and I was awake all by myself. No one to talk to, no one to comfort me. I only wished Kevin was here right now. His presence was enough to give me assurance.

'How will I make it out of here?', I pondered in thought, afraid of death being my fate. I could only pretend I had the bravery and courage of Anala or any Gemini as a matter of fact. Though the truth is, I'm just like any other person, vulnerable, fearful, and frail.

I wandered in thought, reminiscing as my mind slowly drifted away, and my eyes lazing to a rest.

10 Hours Later

I grunted as I woke to Anala nudging my body to wake. "Good Morning, I made some fried Porleace eggs, you hungry?", she greeted cheerfully, offering me food. "No thanks, I'm never hungry first thing in the morning", I politely informed. "That's alright, but either way you need something. We haven't eaten since the day before yesterday, because of our plot to break out of prison", she urged. I wasn't hungry, but she was right, I needed something, at least water. "Fine, I'll look for some water or Quec. Do you know if Glossie grow here?", I asked. "Not normally, though I do think there are some stragglers here and there", she answered. "Alright, thanks", I appreciated.

Exiting the cave, the early morning sky came into view, just above the trees. I didn't have a watch or a clock, but anyone could assume it was the crack of dawn. I admired the dawning sky for a minute before continuing on to search for the Glossie. I was wandering for a while, I could tell as the sun was visible just below the treeline. It had been a while until I found a small path of flowers. Examining them, I wasn't sure which were Glossie as they were several contrasts of white. Not wanting to waste my time, I went and picked a few of each, and put them in my bag.

On my way back to the cave, I heard sounds of rushing water and immediately ran to check. I skid to stop as I was about to run off a cliff into the river below. I peered over the edge carefully and the raging river was quite far down; at least 50 feet. We needed water, desperately, so I looked around for whatever I could make use of to craft a water pouch. There wasn't much to work with and I hated standing idle, so I quickly gathered some flexible tree bark, a stem to a thick coniferous plant, and some sticky substance I encountered whilst ripping off the tree bark.

Having learned some survival skills whilst in the military, I sort of knew what to do. It took me about 15 minutes or so before I finished. I struggled a little while making it, but I eventually got it right.

Crouching by the edge, I lowered the water pouch using a handmade rope I made out of Kusha stems. I struggled to keep the rope from slipping out of my hands because of the river rushing against the pouch. With some strain, I managed to get the pouch back up. I estimated it'd be enough water for a day or two, but if we stay here longer, I'll need to keep coming back to refill the pouch.

I had finally found my way back to the cave when I saw a bonfire, two tents, spears, and Anala crafting bows. Completely astounded, I asked, "Where the hell'd you learn to do this, girl scouts?". "Not exactly, I was actually stranded in the Syvodorne Forest with a few Gemini scouts. We had gotten lost and there was no way we could just fly out of there; it's one of the largest forests on the planet. But anyway, we had to learn how to survive for weeks until Crea sent a rescue pod. During that time, my teammates and I taught each other what little we knew and figured out the rest from there", Anala answered in explicit detail. "Cool, but you could have said that in fewer words", I stated bluntly. She just nodded in response, probably not in the mood to deal with my attitude.

It was about midday now, and Anala suggested we hunt for food as there isn't much vegetation in the Dark Forest. I agreed, but my only problem is, we have no weapons. "That's all right, we use our bare hands where I come from", Anala replied. "Well I don't come from where you do", I responded with irritation. She chuckled a little bit, rolled her eyes, and then proceeded to gather some of her stuff and walk away. "Where are you going?", I complained. "If you're too chicken to hunt with no weapons, I'll just go by myself", she replied honestly. I purposely ignored her reply and tagged along as if I had something to prove by going.

We were walking for over an hour and hadn't found anything, I was beginning to think this was a waste of time. Anala seeing my frustration and impatience said, "There's something here, I just know it". "What, more dirt?", I said sarcastically. Sighing she turned her head away from me and continued to look on.

A few minutes later we heard a twig crunch in the distance as we walked. Anala gasped saying, "I see a deer. What should we do?". "You're the expert, figure something out", I jeered. Glancing up quickly as if she was contemplating a decision, she leaped up as we were crouched and spake a spell as she took strides toward the deer. "What are you-?", I said, confused.

Immediately after her last word, the deer dropped to the floor. I looked at the body with a surprised yet confused face as I stepped toward it. "What the hell did you say?", I asked in a shocked voice. "A simple faint spell, nothing spaztastic. You sound impressed?", Anala said, hinting for confirmation. "Oh, no, I was just wondering why you started muttering jibberish and sending that deer to the grave", I replied, trying to tone down my excitement but still sound exaggerative. "First of all, I didn't kill it, just put it to sleep. And second, it's not jibberish, it's Elkrenierish, the language witches use to cast spells and enchantments", she elaborated.

We got back to the cave, and the sun was setting now. I was tired from dragging that deer all the way back. I was even more upset that Anala didn't just carry it using her telekinesis, but I didn't want to talk anymore. I usually don't talk very much or very often, but Anala seems to get more out of me without even intending to; there's something about her I just can't quite put my finger on.

"Hungry?", Anala asked with a smirk on her face, holding a thigh. "No, I just ate a sandwich from the crate of food and supplies I brought; what do you think?", I said loudly out of irritation. She laughed a little and handed me the thigh, "Here, eat up, we've got a long day tomorrow", she added. "Why a long day?", I asked as I tore a piece of meat off with my teeth. "You'll see", she answered, giving me a look I knew meant something fun for her and torture for me.