Land of Taria: The Awakening

Chapter 8

The fire. All Ty'Vander can see is the fire. It's dark. He thinks his eyes are closed, but he realizes that his eyes are open and that he is running. He looks around frantically, seeing only the fire and nothing else. He hears a scream. He looks toward the darkness, in the direction that the scream echoed from. He hears another from behind him. He hears another. And another after that. And more screams begin echoing around him. He hears screams coming from all directions. He's scared. All he can do is curl up next to the fire, and try to shut out the screams.
"Ty!"
Ty'Vander wakes up with a jolt. He sees Matías standing over him. Ty'Vander breathes heavily and sits up, remembering why he was knocked out. He rubs his head.
"Where are we?" Ty'Vander looks around. He sees that he's lying in a bed.
"We're back in Cortulnse. Jason, Luna, and Doruntus brought us here."
"Luna? Who's Luna?" Ty'Vander looks at the blue cloaked man, confused.
"Oh, right. Luna is the Drinoan girl. Apparently she's going to be joining us." Ty'Vander stares up at Matías, who just shrugs his shoulders.
"What if she can't be trusted?"
"Well as of right now, I don't think she can be, but from the very awkward and brief greeting I received, she doesn't seem too bad." Matías walks over to a bed. Ty'Vander's eyes follow him and he spots Autumn, passed out on another bed in the room.
"Oi! Autumn! Wake the hell up!" Matías shakes her bed, but he only receives snores. He sighs and takes a seat on the bed next to her.
"So, where are they?" Ty'Vander notices that no one else is with them.
"Well Jason took Luna to have a chat with the Mayor and Doruntus is off by himself. Something seemed to be bothering him. I just figured leaving him alone was the best thing to do."
Ty'Vander thinks back to when he confronted Doruntus. "I wonder what him and Jason got into an argument about. Does Doruntus normally act like this after an altercation?"
"Well not necessarily, but he could be going on one of his 'lone wolf stages.'" Matías chuckles. "He doesn't lose a fight very often, but when he does, man you better stay out of his way."
"I see." Ty'Vander thinks about Doruntus and Jason, curious to know what's going on.
"Anyways, what's got you freaked out?" Matías asks.
"What do you mean?" Ty'Vander tilts his head.
"Well, you were kind of sweating and rolling around in your sleep. Almost like you were having a bad nightmare."
"Oh. Yeah, it's nothing. Just don't worry about it." Ty'Vander reassures.
"Alright, I won't push. But my ears are always open to whatever you gotta say." Matías and Ty'Vander share a smile.
"Yeah, they're too big to ever close." Autumn chuckles, sleepily.
"How long have you been awake?!?" Matías demands, but Autumn begins to snore again. "Hey! Don't fall back asleep, you ass!"
Ty'Vander looks at the two and just chuckles. He thinks to himself, feeling blessed to be with a group like them.

Jason looks over at Luna as they walk down the City Hall steps.
"Well, that went better than expected." Luna says.
"You're lucky he's such a nice guy. Anyone else would've had you hanged."
"Yeah yeah, I know. But a girl has to eat and those carts had good food." Luna pats her stomach. Jason laughs.
"Well you can put that life behind you. While it will take a while for you to be fully trusted and truly join us, I believe that you will fit right in with our group."
"I still don't know. For all I know, you guys could be dragging me out into the woods and kill me in my sleep." Luna states. Jason nods, thinking about what she said.
"Well that's just where you'll have to trust us. Just as we trust you not to kill us in our sleep." He leans over to her. "But good luck trying to go for me."
"I wouldn't be surprised if you sleep with one eye open." Luna teases, and the two share a laugh. "Speaking of good food." Jason reaches into his cloak and grabs a small bag. He grabs Luna's hand and gently places it in her palm. She feels the coins clinking from within the bag.
"For your first test, I want you to go BUY us some food. Bring it to the hospital and we can all sit down and have a nice meal while we get to know each other."
"You're really trusting me with your money?" Luna questions the mysterious man.
"It's not everything I have so it won't matter too much if you decide to run off. Let me see the bag for a moment." Jason opens the bag and looks into it, he pours the coins out on his hand, searching through them. Luna studies him as he looks over each coin. After a moment, Jason puts all the coins back in the bag.
"You're all set."
"What was that?" Luna asks.
"Don't worry about it. Just needed to check something." Jason closes the bag and spins her around. "Now I'm trusting you to find ingredients for a good meal."
Luna begins walking off and turns back to look at Jason, who stands there for a moment, reassuring her. She turns back, heading towards the marketplace, with her purple tail swinging behind her. Jason stands there before turning around, facing Doruntus who appeared behind him.
"Go keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't steal anything, report back to me how she does. Also try not to be seen. I want to see how she does alone." Jason goes to walk past him, but Doruntus grunts.
"What do you need?" Jason looks you at Doruntus, who is looking towards where Luna ran off to, but he simply let's go of Jason's shoulder and walks off. Jason shakes his head, rubbing his temple and begins walking towards the hospital. Jason spots the hospital and sees Ty'Vander, Matías, and Autumn sitting on a bench outside. They spot Jason and wave at him as he approaches.
"I see you're all feeling well." Jason notices and Autumn yawns.
"Yeah well, that was the best nap I've taken in a while. Maybe I should have Luna knock me out more often." She groans.
"Can't you go back to being the energetic and bouncy Autumn? I like her better." Matías mocks, receiving a playful elbow in the stomach.
Ty'Vander looks at Jason. "Where is Luna?"
"She's getting dinner. I figured I'd start testing her by her pallette."
"If she doesn't get anything good, I say we turn her over to the guards." Matías snickers.
"Well fortunately, James cleared Luna of her crimes, so now she can do whatever she wants without having to face any persecution." Jason looks off and spots Doruntus and Luna walking towards them, with Doruntus carrying a basket of ingredients.
"I thought I told him not to be spotted." Jason shakes his head and sighs. He walks towards them, offering to help carry anything, but he senses something. Time freezes for Jason and he turns his head towards this strange feeling. He sees that he's standing right in front of the city gates, which are wide open. He looks out towards the forest and spots a small light. His eyes go wide as he turns back towards Doruntus and Luna, throwing his hands up at them.
"DON'T-!" Jason can't finish his sentence before a fireball flies through the front gates, hitting Jason and causing a large explosion where he stood.