A Parallel Universe

Chapter 26

I was sitting in my dorm with my roommate, Vogue. She had red hair with a few black looks and grayish eyes. I have been in this place for two weeks now, and I was starting to get how things worked here. It was like school except it was a million times more fun. I trained with my mentors and learned to do cool things. For example, I could make a whole storm with thunder and heavy rain if I focused. I could also make multiple people do as I say, which according to my Miss Anica, was impossible. When it came to memory overload, I was a master. I learned how to project certain memories, painful memories to be exact so that the victim loses consciousness more quickly. The thing I loved most in the sessions with Mr. Corston was the annoyed look he had on his face every time I did something out of ordinary. In my illusion session, I learned to create a different illusion for every person. Mr. Arash said that no one could possibly do that, no matter how powerful they were. Being an Elite was really amazing! I missed my friends though. No matter how hard I tried to forget about them, they always jumped back into my memory. I wished there was a way to see them. I ran the possibilities through my mind and then figured a way to visit them without anyone knowing.

"Vogue, do you want to do something interesting," I asked my friend who was currently moving some rocks.

"Be my guest. What is it," Vogue asked, slightly excited.

"I have my friends out there and I would really like to see them. You are an earth elemental so I was wondering if you could get us out of here," I told her.

"I tried several times to move through these walls or even toy with the chunk of land it was built on, but I never succeeded. There is only one person who was able to move through them and leave the facility," Vogue contradicted.

"Who would that person be," I asked, starting to have hope once more.

"I guess you probably met him. Alon is the only one who was able to do so. I don't think he will agree to take you out of here. Trust me, many before have tried asking him that, but none of them have succeeded," Vogue said, in a slightly annoyed tone.

"I might have my way in convincing him. Would you like to come with us," I asked, feeling confident about getting out.

"If you can convince him, I will come. Though it is highly unlikely that he will do something like that."

"You will just have to wait and see how I will let him."

I exited the room and started walking toward Alon's room. Since he was the one to show me around the place, he did a good job telling me to stay away from it. I quickly knocked on the door and waited for a response. Few moments passed but he didn't open. Was he not in the room? I am pretty sure I could hear some voices inside there. I waited for a few more minutes, but he still didn't open. I was about to open the door with my powers when it unlocked by itself.

"What do you want," Alon asked. He looked like he just got out of a hurricane. His hair was standing out everywhere and his eyes were orange.

"Why didn't you open from the start?"

"I was a little busy. Now back to you, is there anything I can do for you?"
"I want you to take me out of the facility so that I can have a look at my friends. I won't talk to them I promise. I just want to see how they are holding up. I am sure they are worried sick about me."

"I am sorry I can't do that. Technically, it is against the rules to leave this place without permission. If you have permission, you can leave this place without needing to sneak around like a runaway thief."

"I am not a thief! All I want is to see my friends! You won't understand because you don't have any friends! I came to you wanting a favor and you refuse?! You are selfish and the only thing you care about is yourself."

This wasn't exactly how I wanted the conversation to go. My anger issues really took the best of me this time. I turned around and started walking away before I cried. The whole situation reminded me of what I did with Cyrus. Why did everything remind me of my friends? Can't I just forget them? I heard a whooshing sound and turned around. There was a portal right there in the wall. I looked through it and I could see the outside world. In puffy white letters, there was a message written. "The portal will close once you step in and will open again after an hour." I felt a smile make its way to my lips. I was going to see my friends! I needed to tell Vogue that I had a way to leave. I focused on her shape and tried transmitting the memory of me standing next to the portal. I thought it didn't work at first, but soon enough, Vogue came rushing through the hallway.

"Don't you ever do that again! I was literally freaked out," she shouted at me. Her face paler than usual.

"Sorry about that. Now hurry up before it closes."

We both looked through the portal and stepped in. After we reached the other side, the portal immediately closed.

"By the way, how did you convince Alon," Vogue asked.

Ooops. I forgot about Alon. I should apologize to him later. After all, he did help us.

"It is a long story. Now let us go to my friends. Can you feel any folerns in the area," I asked Vogue.

One of her abilities was that she was able to sense any source of life in the surrounding land. I didn't know how far we were from camp, but I was hoping we were close enough for her to sense the others.

"I can feel a faint signal coming from nearby. Follow me," Vogue responded.

A faint signal coming from nearby? Shouldn't the signal be stronger if we were close? Plus, how were four folerns and a human producing a faint signal. Something wasn't right. I ushered Vogue to hurry up so that I could see what was going on. Once we walked several long steps, we came across the clearing where we camped. Only now, there was nothing there but pieces of shredded cloth and damaged areas. Some plants were singed, others were soaked, and some of them were spread across the area like somebody plucked them out and forgot to return them. What on Earth happened here? There was no one to see. Where did Vogue's sensation come from? Vogue walked several more steps before she stopped and started searching the bark of a tree. It took her a few moments but then she traced some sort of design and the bark of the tree opened up, revealing a shivering Mayla.

"Selina! We have been searching for you everywhere? Did you stop Itzel from taking the rest," Mayla asked, hopeful.

"Itzel was here? She took all of the rest away? Can you please explain," I asked, confused and in shock.

"We were getting ready to go search for you when a group of shadows led by Itzel appeared out of thin air. We tried fighting her but as you can see, we lost. She was taking everyone away when I placed a spell on this tree and hid inside," Mayla explained.

"How come your friends know Itzel," Vogue asked, utterly lost.

"Skyla fared pretty well on her own. Did you know that she actually had Aquakentic powers? The most two that were attacked were Skyla and Cyrus. Would you mind explaining why. I know a few things but things are really getting beyond my understanding," Mayla continued, ignoring Vogue's question.

"You know how we are working to stop Itzel from giving the human and her son the ultimate power, this plan is now officially a fail. They already took them," I replied bitterly, "The two people we were trying to find so hard were under our noses all the time. We thought Itzel still didn't bond them, but we were wrong. It is clear now that Itzel is already winning because she had managed to bond Skyla with Cyrus."