Forgotten Earth

Chapter 4

Smack!

Gaia looked over to a few soldiers that were practicing their swordsmanship. One had finally managed to strike a hit on their sparring partner. A chorus of cheers went up from the spectators. Curious, Gaia stood up and walked over. She watched as the two soldiers hopped around the cleared out area, trying to hit their opponent. The wooden practice swords continually whacked against each other as hits were blocked.

Gaia cheered with the rest of the watching soldiers as one of the fighters poked the other in the chest with the tip of his sword. The losing soldier raised their hands in defeat and grinned good-naturedly.

The two soldiers left the dirt ring and set the two practice swords at the edge. "Who wants to go next?" the winning soldier called.

"I'll go," Saria volunteered. She picked up a practice sword and stepped into the circle.

"Anyone else?" the soldier asked again.

"Caiseran! You should try," Jassin teased, nudging Gaia. Gaia had talked to them yesterday. She protested, but the other soldiers all nodded and chorused agreement. Gaia rolled her eyes at them, but picked up a sword and stepped into the circle anyway.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," Saria said over the cheering of the other soldiers. Gaia smiled gratefully. She'd never even held a sword before, and she was going against a trained soldier in a practice match.

Gaia tried to imitate Saria's loose stance, bending her knees and holding the sword in front of her. She dodged as Saria swung a few swipes at her. Gaia knew that Saria was just testing her reflexes, and she prepared herself for a fiercer onslaught.

She didn't have to wait long. Saria sliced and stabbed at Gaia, and Gaia was forced to use the sword to defend herself, blocking most of the attacks. She knew that Saria was not going as fast as she could, and she was grateful for that. If she had been fighting her hardest, Gaia would have lost in seconds.

In a pause in attacks, Gaia made her own push. She knew she couldn't hope to win if she only defended. She'd probably lose anyway, but it couldn't hurt to try.

Gaia tried to imitate what she'd seen the soldiers do as best she could, and her instincts took over part of the work as she attacked Saria. She easily blocked Gaia's blows, but Gaia felt energized that she was able to get this far. It was almost like she had done this before. It felt so natural.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain from the back of her neck. It was all she could feel for a second, and her vision clouded over and she dropped her sword, her hand flying to the X. She cried out in pain.

A few seconds later, she could see again. The pain faded away, only a faint trace left. She moved her hand away from her neck. Saria and the other soldiers were looking at her in concern.

"Are you ok?" Saria said worriedly. "Did I do something?"
"No, it's not you, it's..." Gaia trailed off. She didn't know what had caused the sudden pain. She shook her head. "I'm fine."

Saria was obviously unconvinced, but she let it go and helped Gaia up. Gaia brushed herself off and excused herself from the group of soldiers, heading back to where she had been sitting before. She watched the soldiers absently, her thoughts still occupied by the unexplained pain. What had triggered it? And where did the wound come from in the first place?

The next day, they arrived at the small marketplace only a few miles from Gaia's home. The marketplace was just a few stalls of farmers selling their crops to others. She smiled as she looked around. It felt more like home than anything else had over the past week, though it seemed more crowded than normal. She noticed a group of people in a huddle, discussing something. She dismissed it, deciding it was just a bunch of travelers talking to each other.

"Thank you for letting me travel with you," she said to Saria.

"It was fun!" Saria responded. "I'm sorry you have to leave."

"Well, I have to get back to my family."

"I know." Saria smiled sadly. "Goodbye!"

Gaia waved back as she walked out of the marketplace. She was excited to get home. This trip was the longest she had ever been away from her parents.

A little while of walking later, Gaia started climbing the hill before the farm. She couldn't contain the grin on her face at the prospect of seeing her parents again. She had really missed the calm of the farm.

Gaia crested the rise, and it took her a minute to process what she was seeing.

The farm was gone.

It hadn't even been burned, or destroyed. It was gone. There was simply nothing there. Like there never had been.

She looked around in bewilderment. Was it the wrong hill? Had she gotten so distracted that she had gone the wrong way?

But she could see along the entire valley, and there was no farm in sight. The familiar landmarks were there, but no farm.

Gaia didn't know how long she stood on top of that hill, staring at the place where the farm should've been. Where are Mama and Papa? she wondered numbly.

It could've been minutes or hours later when Gaia was dimly aware of soft footsteps on the grass behind her.

"Gaia?"

Gaia turned around at the sound of her name. The speaker was a small Xotian girl who looked like she was around Gaia's age. How does she know my name?

The girl gasped and broke into a smile. "It is you!" she said excitedly. Then she looked around, and her face turned to a frown. "Where's Besnik?"

Besnik? Gaia didn't know who that was, but it sounded familiar. Like they were someone she used to know. She shook her head to clear it. "Who are you?" she asked.

The girl's eyes creased in worry. "What did he do to you?" she muttered, seemingly to herself. Then she shook her head, and smiled again. Gaia noted it seemed more false than before. "I'm Mira."

"I'm... Gaia, but you seem to already know that," Gaia said, confused.

Mira nodded absently. Then she seemed to think of something. "What are you doing on this hill?"

Gaia squeezed her eyes shut. "My farm is over there, but it's not," she whispered. It seemed so much more real when she said it.

When Gaia opened her eyes again, she saw that Mira's face was full of sympathy. Then Mira turned and took something out of her pocket. She held it up for Gaia to see.

It was the token again. This one was more similar to the one Gaia had found, except with the water droplet in the center instead of the rock, and the other symbols in a different order. "Do you have something like this?" Mira asked.

Gaia opened her mouth to answer, when the sharp pain struck her again. Both hands flung to the back of her neck, and she screamed.