Awakenings - 1

Seril turned away from the body knowing that Eskat would never wake up from that never-ending cycle. She walked back to the twins, her feet felt slightly wobbly and she strode forward.

Emmia and Icarth stared at Seril approaching.

"You were very cool Seril!" Emmia exclaimed brightly.

"Yea," Icarth agreed.

"What did you do to that mean lion?" Emmia asked curiously. She was confused as to why Eskat fell over suddenly. There wasn't any blood so how could he have died?

"He's....sleeping," Seril answered after thinking for a bit. She did technically send him to sleep. A very permanent sleep that is.

Icarth didn't say anything, thinking that Eskat must have died. But never would he have thought that Eskat was suffering a fate worse than death.

"How are you two feeling? Did the other two idiots do anything rash?" Seril's voice raised sharply at the end.

Emmia and Icarth shook their heads. They were fine for the most part. Well except for Icarth's leg which was still broken, everything was fine.

Glancing at the two underlings, Seril decided to leave them like that. What happened to them from now on was none of her business.

"Let's get going," Seril suggested. She wanted to leave as fast as possible. She didn't want another situation like this one to happen again thus, she planned to put as much distance as possible from her ex-tribe.

"What about them?" Emmia asked.

"We're going to leave them. They did try to attack us after all," Seril answered. In truth, she wanted to make sure that they wouldn't cause any trouble for them, but for some reason, she wanted to avoid too much bloodshed in front of the twins. So she decided to trust her powers and leave them like this, sure that they wouldn't be able to break free.

"Ok," Emmia said in understanding while Icarth just nodded.

"Ica can you walk or should I carry you?" Seril asked, slightly concerned for his leg.

"I'm fine. I think I can walk for a bit with Mia's help." Icarth replied, wanting to do something of his own power for a while.

"Mmm, ok," Seril said.

"OH! What about Jade?" Emmia suddenly asked looking around to see where he went.

"Right where we left him," Seril replied dryly. Pointing at Jade, Seril suddenly felt very unpleasant thinking about what he had eaten right before he went to sleep. The rabbit was sleeping peacefully, completely oblivious that he had caused trouble for the group by eating something that clearly wasn't meant to be eaten.

As Emmia helped Icarth walk towards the sleeping Jade, Seril fell into thought about what they should do now. Thinking of a few things, suddenly an indescribable sense of fear and dread washed over her. She shivered and looked around to see where the danger was coming from. Yet she found nothing. The wind slowly started to pick up, shaking the trees. The sun was dipping beyond the tree line, signaling the end of the day approaching.

It wasn't long before Icarth froze as well. He had also started to feel that crippling fear. Yet, he had felt this once before. Back before he and Emmia had been teleported. Soon after Emmia stopped as well.

The forest became eerily silent. All the other animals had gone into panic mode and had either fled or hid the best they could. As the shadows elongated, the wind suddenly stopped altogether before the space above the twins distorted. A murky purple being emerged, its body shimmering in the last rays of the sun. The forest itself started to twist and bend, trying to move away from the being. The polikinnate had finally caught up to the twins.

"Look what.....we have here," a raspy voice sprung out from it. The polikinnate seemed amused by what Julian was trying to protect.

"A couple of...weaklings.." it continued out loud quickly getting bored.

Emmia and Icarth couldn't answer. Previously, because they were in the spatial lock, they were spared from its aura and could at least talk and move. But now? Facing the full force of its aura, all they felt was helplessness rising up within them.

"..no matter....the watchdog will be...upset anyways....." The raspy voice concluded. Gathering a small portion of its universal energy, it sent it toward the twins.

As the small purple orb drifted down, the twins felt death approaching. It was coming and they couldn't do anything to stop it.

Suddenly, a yellow streak pushed them aside and deflected the orb. Landing a small distance away, the orb caused the ground to curve inwards, all the plants being ripped from it, and a spiral of plants and dirt emerged out of the radius.

Seril breathed out heavily. She had exerted all her power trying to deflect that orb back. Yet all she had managed was to change its course slightly. Trying to pull herself together, she gazed up at the being trying to kill them.

"You will not...kill them in front of me," Seril exhaled heavily. She was deeply out of breath and was feeling weak to her bone. But she stood tall and faced that foreign being. In the flashes of memory that Seril witnessed, she just had a feeling that the orb was related to the twins behind her. They were the only lead to her past, and she wasn't going to let that go now that she had no place in this world. Besides, she felt a connection with the twins. For some reason, she felt that she had to protect them, or she would regret it.

"Guardian....." The polikinnate said with renewed interest. "How far.....you have fallen.....you cannot stop me...."

Before Seril could even say anything, she found herself flying through the air at the trees. Violently crashing into the trees, Seril fell unconscious as her body tried to fight the distortion.

Icarth and Emmia could only watch, horrified at what had happened to Seril.

".....so you two....are important after all...." The murky being mused. "This will be good.....ha..haha..." The being started to laugh slowly. It had hit the jackpot. What started out as a way to strike against Julian had found him one of the four guardians and two life forms that seemed important enough to protect.

Icarth was feeling helpless. From one event to another, he wasn't able to do anything. He was always stuck, powerless against these powerful beings that seemingly came out of nowhere.

'Enough.....I hate this..' Icarth thought gritting his teeth. Pushing down his helplessness, He drew on something else within him. His anger. Anger at his weakness. Anger at the stupid things that had forced them into this situation. And anger at that purple blob for hurting Seril.

Emmia mirrored Icarth. She too drew on her anger. Replacing her usual cheerful demeanor, a rage blazed in her. For the same reasons as her brother, she tried to reach within herself, trying to find some power, any power to help in this situation.

Somehow, Seril had become an important figure in Emmia's and Icarth's lives. They felt safe around her. Seril had protected them before. And now she had gotten injured trying to protect them once again.

The polikinnate finally stopped laughing as it noticed something. Universal Energy started to flow and spiral, moving towards the twins. The murky being surprised for a moment decided to see what would happen.

Emmia and Icarth lifted their heads, looking at the being.

"Get...the.....hell...away....." Icarth growled through gritted teeth. His partial transformation had activated, giving him a bestial look as he faced the polikinnate.

"Go...away....you.....meanie.." Emmia pushed out as well. Unlike Icarth, her voice had turned cold, a contrast to her usual upbeat voice.

Universal energy started picking up speed. The winds blew hard, trees started to shake, and the air started to shimmer with the amount of universal energy being gathered.

All the universal energy condensed and enveloped Emmia and Icarth. As their bodies got covered, Jade's sleeping body flew into the bubble of energy surrounding Icarth, while certain minerals and ores from the ground surfaced, flying into Emmia's bubble. The ground shook as the amount of energy kept increasing. The polikinnate had finally realized what was happening.

"...so you were...the perfect hosts...a shame.....even with your...awakening.....you are no match.....for me..."

"....if only....you had a few.....more decades....then maybe..." The raspy voice rang out.

"....but alas....I will end you here...."

The polikinnate finally got serious. The spatial layers started to distort as the being gathered universal energy. Shaping it as a wave, the being sent it towards the two twins, now enveloped in bubbles of universal energy.

Suddenly the ground quaked as a geyser of universal energy erupted from the ground directly blocking the wave that the polikinnate had sent.

"....planet spirit....!..."

In two other locations, far apart from where Emmia and Icarth were, two other geysers of universal energy erupted, enveloping two other kids as well.