Different Worlds

Unexpected Results

I opened my eyes and looked at Bronson and Jacek. "What do I do?"

"What would you like to try and do?" Evan questioned.

I raised my eyebrows. Even though I had the ability to control magic, people seemed to forget that I had no idea what I was doing. This was all so new and alien to me.

"What can I do?"

"With magic, anything possible," Jacek said. "You can make anything you want to happen. You can do anything." He gave me a warm smile. "The possibilities are endless." He paused a moment before continuing. "There is one thing where you will find magic unreliable, though, and that is seeing into the future."

"Why is that?"

"Because the future is always changing by what we do," Devon explained. "It isn't pre-determined or anything. Nothing is set in stone. You can't clearly see what hasn't been decided yet."

"So the future is how we shape it."

"Precisely. If you do decide to try and see the future, you will only see future that  could come to pass. Nothing is definite."

I thought carefully for a moment, but I could only think of one thing that I wanted to try, and I knew that the others would immediately say that I wasn't ready. So I decided not to say anything. I closed my eyes again and tried to concentrate. I tried to block out every sound that was around me, concentrating completely on what I was trying to achieve. I could feel the electrical charge inside of me, but it was different to before. Before, it was like the charge had been trying to find a way out of my body, but this time it wasn't. I could feel it swirling around inside me, building up strength. I cleared my mind and let the magic sweep through me. I could feel it now, just like Bronson had been trying to explain to me before. It had definitely manifested itself within. I could feel a wind pick up, whipping through my hair, but I ignored it. I didn't know any spells - how could I? - but strange words began to pour into my mind, and I began to chant them under my breath. I had no idea what I was saying, but I suddenly felt hands graps my shoulders.

"Sienna!" I recognized Jacek's voice very close to me, and I realized that it was he who had grabbed me. "Stop! You're not ready!"

It hadn't taken long for him to realize what I was trying to do, but I continued on anyway. I could definitely feel the power inside me now. Bronson was wrong about how much magic had manifested itself inside me at the moment, it was a lot more than he would have thought possible at this point.

"What's going on?" I heard Devon question Jacek worriedly, but I didn't hear Jacek reply, though he didn't take his hands off my shoulders.

I could feel that the magic building up inside of me was very powerful. I couldn't believe that my body was capable of doing this, but I wasn't feeling tired at all. Rochelle had told me the toll the magic had taken on her when she had looked into my past, but I wasn't feeling anything like that at all. If anything, I was feeling stronger.

The wind around me grew stronger, and intuitively, I knew that it was because of me. A result of what I was trying to accomplish.

The strange words continued to pour into my mind, and I continued to repeat them softly. Suddenly, I could feel that the magic inside of me had built up to the point where I was going to have to let it out, and I shrugged out from under Jacek's hands and took a few steps back.

"Take cover!" I heard Jacek's yell above everything, and then I heard people rushing to get away from me.

I lifted my arms above my head, and I felt the electrical charge surge through me - a thousand times more intense than I had ever experienced - and I fell to my knees, but I kept my arms above my head. I felt the green beams zap from my fingertips, and I opened my eyes. Around me, the wind whipped furiously, and the beams flew out from me and then smashed together to create a tiny portal that began to grow in size.

I continued to say the strange words as the portal grew. When it reached the size where a person could fit through, another word poured into my mind, and I said it without hesitation. "Rinalse!" Which for some unknown reason I knew meant 'release.'

The second I spoke this word a crackling sound filled the air as the beams flashed like lightning, and a body fell through the portal onto the ground.

My arms fell to my sides, and the portal closed and disappeared. The beams stopped flashing everywhere and died, and I fell completely to the ground, trying to catch my breath. Now that it was over, I was beginning to feel the strain that my body had been under. I supposed it was foolish to think that I wouldn't feel any after-affects after putting my body through such an ordeal. Though from what I could remember Rochelle telling me, I was handling it a lot better than she had.

The wind began to lessen and then died along with the beams.

I continued to lay there for a moment, waiting as my breathing came back down to a normal rate. Then I got to my feet and hurried over to the unmoving body before anyone else could get there.

"Sienna!" Devon caught up with me just as I was kneeling down over the body. He looked from me to the body and back again. "Is that ... ?"

"You did it!" I looked up as Jacek galloped up, followed by pretty much all of the Rebels. "I can't believe it."

I looked back down and put my hand on the man's shoulder and gently rolled him onto his back. He wasn't a young, young man by any means. But on old, either. My guess was maybe late forties to early fifties. His sandy-blonde hair was thick and longish, untouched by gray, and he wore clothes that I guessed were the kind of clothes that Nardemians had worn a very long time ago.

I looked up at all the faces hovering over us. Jacek, Devon, Bronson and Evan were in front of everyone, their faces in shock over what I had managed to accomplish.

I glanced back down again as the man began to move, and then slowly opened his eyes. He blinked a few times and this his light blue eyes focused on me.

"What happened? Where am I?"

"You're in Nardema," I answered softly. "And I just pulled you back from the darkness that Netiri sent you into."

I moved back as he sat up quickly. "Netiri!" He exclaimed. He glanced around at all of the watching faces, then back to me. "I guess I should say thank you." He held out his hand to me, and I took it. "My name's Daniel."