When her eyes opened again, she was again in Whales' arms, speeding across the snow land.
Looking up she saw him grin, saying, "Good job."
But when her cheeks touched his chest, she knew something was wrong. His body was frozen cold, even right next to his heart. She's never seen a living person with this kind of body temperature before. But haven't she saved him? Aren't he alive again?
"Whales!" She shouted. "What happened?"
He didn't answer her, but he did slow down. Kanitha looked towards the landscape and noticed an abandoned barn that stood covered in layers of snow, surrounded by clutches of bare pine trees, their edgy branches poking out like swords. As they got closer, Kanitha realized that the windows and doors were all broken, and the floor inside was covered in a layer of frozen, slippery ice.
She was just about to warn him about the ice, but it was too late as he blundered into the barn, slipped on the ice, and crashed heavily into a table. Kanitha slipped out of his arms and slid across the ground, bumping into a snow pile.
She quickly got up, gasping in pain, and slipped over back to Whales.
"Whales..." She sobbed, shaking him. "Get up... Aren't you alright now? Did I do something wrong? Are you... Are you alive...?"
He sighed, gritting his teeth in pain. He turned around and leaned onto the large piece of the broken table that was still standing.
Kanitha dared not look at his wounds or the blood all over him. She just let tears rain down her face, not knowing what to do.
Whales glanced at her and sighed. "Do you know the 'Scars'?" He asked, wiping blood off his face.
Kanitha nodded. "They're the largest world criminal association, right?"
"Yes," Whales agreed. "Tsana and her colleagues rule the whole world currently. What's happening right now is that the Scars are going to overthrow their reign and take over their places."
Kanitha held her breath and closed in. "But how can they do that?" She exclaimed silently. "Tsana is so strong! Can't she defeat them?"
"One of the Seven Thanatos and two of the Ten Mageias is under their control," Whales hissed lightly. "You know what those are?"
"The Seven Thanatos are the seven forbidden weapons, right?" Kanitha replied. "And the Ten Mageias are the ten most powerful magical items?"
"Yes," Whales nodded. "They've got the Skiapolo of the Seven Thanatos, closely related to the Kindoplo, which is presented in the form of the Queen family. Its power could destroy Tsana. I don't know the name of the Ten Mageias currently in their possession, but one has the power to control the thoughts of others while one has the power to control time." He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out the familiar golden plate— The Strange.
"And this," he whispered. "Is the strongest of the Ten Mageias."
He laid it flat in his hand, and Kanitha watched it melt away and twist back together into a golden bracelet with the words The Strange engraved in black on the side.
He then slipped it onto Kanitha's wrist.
Kanitha pulled away before he could do so. "Why're you giving it to me?" She demanded nervously. "Aren't— Aren't you going to keep it? Why are you telling me all this?"
Whales ignored her.
"Listen— you have to live the best you can. If you really came from the future and are due to return there, the Scars would want you dead no matter what," he whispered. "I can't protect you any longer."
YOU ARE READING
Alasla: The New Age
Fantasy"What killed him isn't me. It's the world." Ralph had never asked for much. Not even his own identity. But when his best and only friend got murdered by the man he calls father, he was forced to set off on an expedition to unravel the truth of this...
