Chapter 20

-EDITED-

Ember was once again falling in the endless black void. Ember looked around, trying to find a bottom she was about to crash into. When she finally hit the bottom, it was graceful and there she found the man from her dreams.

"You! Tell me who you are!" She yelled, demanding answers on why this strangely familiar man was in her dreams each time.

"It's not important. Right now, you must understand that you hold the key." He said.

"Key? Key for what? Tell me who you are." She screamed and ran at the man and just when she thought she had tackled him, he had disappeared and reappeared to the opposite side of her.

"Calm down. You must train, do not stop. You are not the only one with control over something." He said, "Gain control of your karmic ability and you will survive."

All of a sudden she was falling again and the man was gone. Ember gripped her hair and scream in frustration.

Ember sat up gasping for air. Ember took deep breaths as she thought back to the dream. It wasn't like the ones she had before. She got more information from the man this time instead of him screaming at her to wake up. She put a hand to her forehead as she thought on her next move.

The man was right, she needed to train. What he was wrong about is that there was no possible way to control her karmic ability. It was impossible. It just happened when it wanted to, whether or not it was on her side was always a gamble.

Ember looked over to Atherton who slept silently in the corner. She smiled softly and got out of her bed when she heard tapping on her window. She looked out of it and saw Astarte standing there, Ember, of course, let her in.

"Aren't you supposed to be on your way back to your base?" Ember asked.

"Not just yet, as there's something we need to have done." Astarte said, "I can't do it but I told them about you."

"Whats the quest this time?" Ember asked.

Astarte laughed, "We just need a little bit more information on the palace. We can't continue to sneak in through the garden." She said.

"Well, although that's true, can't you guys use my window?" She asked.

"We could, its just that when you leave, who's gonna be leave the window unlocked for us to get in?" Astarte asked.

"Darn you and your common sense," Ember muttered

"Don't feel bad, a lot of the other resistance members hate that part too." Astarte grinned, "Right now, we are planning on interfering with the first battle that goes down." She said, "They'll be sending you out to a military base soon, if not in two days, then in four. You need to tell us the night off so we can keep you safe."

Ember nodded, "What happens if we lose the battle?" She asked.

"The Queen will more than likely get very angry. She expects results immediately. She'll probably send you out to exile for a year or 10 months for you to train by yourself or by a big guns mentor." Astarte said.

"Alright, I'll try to get this task done." Ember said, "But when you do need the information?" She asked.

"By tomorrow. We're trying to stack up on information here. The rebellion isn't gonna be for a while, but we need a head start before the Queen begins to realize not all of her subjects can be silenced."

Ember closed her eyes and sighed, "I'm guessing what you all have planned isn't gonna be pretty?" Ember asked.

"A rebellion never is," Astarte said, Ember nodded soberly. Rebellions were never pretty, there had been very few in Fufthluion but the few there had been where horrible. Blood flooded the streets and the cries of protesters were the norm. One hadn't happened in 600 years but it was still difficult to upkeep the government up and running.

There had been many protests over the years but they were always stomped out by the ruler at the time. There had none for the past 100 years, everyone was too afraid to try and stand up for themselves.

"I'll do my best to find a way for you all to sneak in." Ember grinned.

Astarte smiled and hugged her, "Thank you so much, I have to go but I'll back tomorrow with someone to finally officially make part of the resistance." She grinned and ran out of the window and jumped out. Ember watched her runoff as the sun began to rise above the mountains. It really was a beautiful view.

Ember walked out of her room and began to walk her way to the training room. Although she didn't have a clue about who that man was, she was gonna take his advice. She needed to train or else Suglion was gonna wipe the battlefield with her and her people. No matter how much she hated humans, she didn't want to see them die because of her.

Ember pushed open the doors to the training room and ignored the fun activities. She looked at the weights and went over to the small ones. She wouldn't even attempt the big ones, even if she was strong. She grabbed a simple one-pound weight began to lift it up and down and heard someone walked up behind her.

"Hi, Wilbur." She growled.

"What's up with this new spark in becoming stronger?" He asked.

"This is literally my first time here without someone else supervising me," Ember said.

"Well yeah, but I would have expected you to go to one of the more fun things like the jungle gym or something," Wilbur admitted

"Well, I don't really want to get slaughtered on my first ever battle," Ember informed.

"Yeah, that wouldn't be very good." He sighed, "Alright, lets first fix this whole issue right here." He said.

Ember was a little bit sore after they were finished training but she knew it was just her muscles remembering. She walked around the palace, trying to find small places for them to sneak in. She noted two unguarded doors that lead outside, the problem was locating them. They were easily camouflaged by vines. She wondered how many times resistance members had passed the door without thinking twice about it. There was a small problem though. It was very loud, it was very squeaky. So she would need to oil it over the next few days she had.

Ember sighed and walked to her room, limping a little bit and walked in. She would need to work on that squeakiness of that stupid door. Ember walked into her room and saw Atherton on her bed reading a book.

"Sneaked into the library?" Ember asked.

"Perhaps," Atherton said with a small smirk.

"What's the book?" Ember asked and she sat down next to him.

"Well, it's not a very big book but its entertaining. It's Fufegion." He said, "Someone liked this country." He laughed

"Well, it looks interesting," Ember said.

"It's about a human who travels across the land trying to find things about the other species." Atherton smiled.

"Are humans nice?" She asked.

"Kind of, morally ambiguous is the best way to put it. But he's not committing mass genocide." Atherton said, "So I guess he's nice."

"Better than the humans right now at least." Ember yawned, "It's been a long day, I'm gonna sleep. You read your book." Ember said as she snuggled underneath the blanket and closed her eyes with a large yawn and dozed off.

Atherton smiled softly close his book after marking his page and went over to his corner and transformed and fell asleep.

When Ember woke the next more, she was even sorer. She groaned in pain as she walked to the bathroom to take a nice hot bath to relax her muscles. God this hurt, but it was gonna save her life. If she could punch someone hard enough to break their nose and get away, she would survive the war she was gonna be thrown into.

As Ember drew the hot water into her bathtub, she stretched and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked very tired and dead inside. Ember laughed and walked out of the bathroom and looked out of her window to see if Astarte was there yet. Because if not, she was gonna have to stand there until Ember finished her bath.

Ember shrugged. She began to close the door to the bathroom before she heard a knock on her window and looked out to see Astarte there with someone she had never seen before. She opened the window and in hopped Astarte and this stranger.

"Ember, meet General Isi." Astarte smiled, "He's uncomfortable taking off his hood, so don't ask him to take it off." Astarte laughed.

Isi chuckled lightly, "She is correct, I don't like taking it down. Okay, onto business. Did you find a way for us to get in?" He asked.

"I did, but it's very camouflaged." Ember said, "There's a wall covered in vines at the east side of the palace. If you search hard enough, you'll find a doorknob and be able to get in. But it's very squeaky. I would recommend having someone oil it before you attempt to use it any time soon. But it's unguarded so that part should be easy."

Isi nodded, "Good, we wouldn't have known if it wasn't for you Ember. Here, take this." He said and handed her a pin. "It has the resistance symbol on it. Keep it hidden so that way they don't find it. Welcome to the resistance." He grinned and shook her hand, he walked onto the balcony, "You two talk." He grinned and jumped off.

"Welcome to the team!" She squealed and hugged Ember excitedly. "It's so good to finally have you officially part of the resistance." She grinned.

"It feels good to be apart of this," Ember admitted. "I was very worried that the information would suffice." She said with relief.

"Oh please, any secrets on this palace is a blessing all on its own." Astarte grinned, "This place is massive, we don't doubt there aren't secret passageways around here. The information you've given us today will come in handy, even if you don't think so." She smiled.

"Thanks, Astarte. For a chance to finally fight back against her, even if its small things." Ember smiled and hugged Astarte and walked towards her bathroom, "Let yourself out, cause I"m gonna go take a bath." She said and closed the door, locking it behind her.

Ember let out a huge sigh and undressed, letting her dirty clothes fall onto the floor as she stepped into her hot bath. Letting herself soak in the warmth it granted her, Ember smiled softly and began to scrub away at the dirt and grim that was in her skin. Ember hummed softly to herself as she began to pour shampoo into her hand. She hummed softly as she put the shampoo in her hair, rubbing it into her hair to make it nice and healthy. Ember dunked her head underwater and rinsed off her hair.

As Ember brought her head up from the water, gasping for air. While fighting off the coughs as she poured conditioner into her hand, washing her hair and finishing off. She stepped out of the bathtub and stretched and wrapped a towel around her body and walked out of the bathroom.

She looked over at the sleeping form of Atherton. What surprised her was the fact that he was still asleep. She was sure her and Astarte's squealing of excitement would have woken him up. But then again, he was a weird one for sure. Ember sighed and went over to the dresser that was filled with guest clothing. She went over the man's side and put on some of the clothing and walked over to her bed and laid down for a nap.