The People We Are

Chapter VII; Xayah

Xayah stood watching her new girlfriend. When she had called her here, Arlie told her how she felt. They had shared a glorious kiss, and held each other until the duel was to start. Now she stood as her girlfriend stood face-to-face with her friend. Xayah knew Arlie could overpower Anastasia, or could she? The truth was that Xayah didn't know. She told herself that Arlie would come out alive, but if she didn't? Xayah didn't know what she would do. She held Sally so she could see, while stroking her head, comforting them both.

That seemed like so long ago for many.
But for Xayah? It felt like an eternity.
Arlie, or any of them, had remembered their times being dead.
And now Xayah wondered if she ever went back, would she?

"I know you want us to be safe, but for now we all need to get to know each other better. If you're truly worried about me and Anastasia getting closer as you are with you and Arlie, teach me how to use the pedestals tonight. I'll see what the voice tells me." Ideus said sternly. Without a word, Xayah nodded and followed Ideus to the pedestals. Once they came to the room, Xayah began to explain. "It'll hurt. And it'll feel like forever, but you'll be perfectly fine after. Don't touch them," he scoffed, remembering his past mistake. "But slip through the opening between our's and Luna's." Ideus did as she said. "Sit down on that center circular slab, facing our's." he followed her instructions. Then, it happened. Ideus' mouth opened into a scream, but no sound came out. A blinding light came from him, and Xayah had to close her eyes in fear of losing her sight otherwise. Even through her hands and closed eyelids she could tell the light was there. Then, all of a sudden, it was pitch dark. She opened her eyes and moved her hands, seeing Ideus still sitting there, trying desperately to catch his breath.
"Well? Did you hear the voice?" she asked him. He nodded, still trying to collect himself. "Don't speak, think." she told him. She listened to his mind, going over the details. You were right, they said many things I couldn't understand. And there was a chant. Your's went 'Downfall, Arlie. Downfall, all of them' but mine said one thing over and over. And you were right. It chanted 'Downfall, Anastasia.' over and over. Ideus began to cry. He had caught his breath, but couldn't control his voice just yet. Maybe it's not what we think it means? Maybe it doesn't mean death? And even then, we don't know when! "Still, Ideus. We must be carefull. This is fated, brother. Do you really want to tempt it?" I know I can't read your mind as you can mine, but I see the way you look at her. Xayah might have been going crazy, but Ideus seemed to have transformed into Anastasia. The figure looked down, panicking. It changed back into Ideus, who looked at Xayah with shock. "Let me try something," he said. He was transforming into various people and creatures, until he took the form of inanimate objects. He finally returned to his true form, astounded at his new ability.
In the morning, Xayah decided to tell Arlie about her discovery. She had decided that Ideus was right, and kept trying to tell herself that. Once she emerged from her bedroom and made her way to the pedestals, she saw that Arlie was already studying them again. "That doesn't work." she said from the hall. Arlie turned to look at her, confused. "I figured out how to do it last night. It worked for Ideus as well. You'll want to go inside the circle, between your pedestal and the one in the middle of the Zellaridian ones." Arlie, without speaking, did as Xayah told. The blinding light returned, and Xayah covered her eyes once more. When the light faded, Arlie lay on the floor gasping for air. That better have been it. She thought. "That's it, but it'll take a bit for you to get your breath back." You can read my mind? "Yes, I can. Ideus can shapeshift. We'll see what you can do soon." Arlie caught her breath and went to go out, squeezing through the small gap between the pedestals. These are so close together! She thought as the stone manipulated itself to make a wider path for her. Arlie jumped away frightened, "Go back! Go back! Oh, what have I done!" but the stone listened to her. She looked to Xayah and Xayah to her, glad that it had worked the same way for a human.
Absolutely certain of the method now, the two girls went and woke Luna and Soleil. Though upset she hadn't figured it out herself, Luna was glad that the mystery was solved. When her ritual was over, she clutched her stomach. It felt different to her, and so when she could walk she went back to her bedroom to investigate. Soleil took her turn, and when she stood she felt no different. They thought it hadn't worked, and Soleil got upset and went outside. Xayah followed her, and they began to talk about it. They spotted a seagull who had strayed far from the sea. It stood in an odd position before screeching and taking flight back to shore. Imitating the humorous creature, Soleil got into its position and screeched. All of a sudden, Soleil herself was the bird. Luna came running out, now wearing a two-piece dress. The top was pulled up to reveal well defined abs. She spotted Soleil the bird and panicked as she didn't expect to see one so far from the shore. A gust of wind came from her abs and blew the bird back. Desperately, Soleil got into the position again, screeched, and became human again. "So it did work!" Luna exclaimed, recognising her. They went back into the shrine, where they saw Anastasia and Ryaxleb sleepily wandering out of the halls. Ideus explained to them what was going on, and Ryaxleb yelled at them to teach him how to do it. They did, and when he stood he walked as if he was running. They all went outside, and he tried to run. He flashed by them, still trying to get ahold of his own legs. Anastasia took her turn, and as Arlie had done she too thought they were too close. Now, the two pedestals raised themselves right above her head, and lowered once she was past.
"Well, we've done it. Thanks to Xayah, we can finally leave!" Ryaxleb said excitedly as they ate their breakfast of more quail eggs. They had found a huge colony the day before, and raided some of the nests. They now wrapped them up in their spare clothes so that they could eat them on their journey back to Zellarid. After the rest of the eggs were secure, they decided to spend the rest of the day getting used to their new abilities and getting a good night's rest. Xayah and Ideus sat back as they had discovered all of their abilities, eventually helping the others. Ryaxleb ran around the shrine, trying to figure out how to steer himself around the trees. Luna and Soleil helped each other by letting Luna control the wind she could now create as Soleil learned how to fly. Ideus helped Anastasia by throwing things at her, to which she bent and moved out of her way. As he ran, Ryaxleb gathered food for them and brought it back for Soleil to cook, finally coming out of her seagull form. The rest sat around the fire, talking excitedly of returning home with their new power. They ate, then decided to take the rest of the day to rest. They lazily wandered about and sat around the campfire pit that had served them well.
Xayah lay on the ground, her arms back to prop her up. She saw as Anastasia and Ideus sat by the campfire pit talking on one side, Luna and Soleil doing the same thing. Ryaxleb ran around and around, not keeping up with the promise of having a calm before the storm. Arlie had offered to wrap the last few eggs to let everyone else rest, and she was finally done. She emerged from the shrine and immediately made her way to Xayah. She laid down next to her in the same position, not saying a word. They lay there in silence, just enjoying each other's presence. Xayah was glad to have this time with her, downfall or not.
"Can I ask you something?" she asked, turning towards her. "Absolutely." Xayah responded, turning towards Arlie. "While I was sitting there, I heard a voice. It was chanting something, something I couldn't understand. But it kept saying the same thing on top of that. It was saying 'Downfall, Anastasia. Downfall, Anastasia' over and over. Did something like that happen to you?" Xayah did her best to hide her knowledge from her downfall. "No. I couldn't understand any of the chanting." Arlie seemed to accept Xayah's answer. "Odd." she said, returning her gaze to the sky. Lying to Arlie didn't sit well with Xayah, but she knew it wouldn't sit right with either of them if Arlie knew the truth. Xayah had grown to really like Arlie, perhaps more than friends. She didn't think Arlie would ever feel the same. And if she ever found out about Xayah's lies, she'd never feel the same. She knew fully well what she told Ideus about Anastasia was true, but she herself didn't want to believe it either.