Tales of the Five Nations 1-Scarblade

Chapter 8-Mirror of Dark

The next morning, Alban and Feris woke up and got dressed. Alban got a black tunic, and Feris a white one, along with matching pants. They headed downstairs and ate breakfast, and then everyone gathered in the main room and prepared for their Teleportation lesson.

Eliada started to assign people to Alban and Feris. "Damon, Teagan, you can help Alban. I think she's going to have the most trouble with Teleporting"—Alban's shoulders went down a little—"and Teagan is the best out of all of us. Hikmat and I will help Feris."

So Damon and Teagan walked towards Alban, and Hikmat and Eliada walked towards Feris. "You are a Unifier, right, Feris?" Hikmat asked, turning towards him, making his yellow Time Nation robes swish in the process.

"Yeah...."

"Perfect! Share some of your energy with her. I think she'll need it."

Feris walked into the middle of the room, between everyone else; Alban did the same. They stood close together, and Feris whispered, "Are you ready?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

She held up her hand along with her arm, so her right elbow was pointing downward. Feris brought his hand us and grasped her hand, fingers over thumbs. They did the same with their other hands. They had their arms in the shape of an X, and they stood so close, their noses were touching. Feris' eyes were still open, looking at all the people staring at them.

"I'm ready, so just tell me when you are," Feris said.

Alban took a moment to think about what they were doing. Feris was a Unifier, meaning he gets along with people well, and wherever he goes, he spreads a calming emotion without even trying. If Unifiers had a strong sort of bond with someone, like Alban and Feris, they could make them feel better about something, or convince them to do something.

"I'm ready."

Feris started to breathe slowly, and soon enough, a bright yellow light appeared around them like a rope. Alban flinched when everything hit her. She felt confident, and scared at the same time. This was how Feris must have felt. He was sharing his emotions with her. All of the negativity was turning into a shadow-like state, still there, but surrounding Alban.

The yellow light wrapped around Alban, leaving Feris with only a little left. Feris pulled some of it back, attempting to even it out. Once the light was even on both sides, it didn't go away. And it stayed there, but that wasn't supposed to happen. Alban opened her eyes a bit, trying to see if Feris was alright. She immediately closed them again: the light was so bright from the inside that it was like looking at the sun.

Alban felt a drop of sweat run down her nose, and she felt the same thing happening to Feris. She tried to move away, but she couldn't move at all. Feris must've tried the same thing, because he began to sweat even more, and Alban felt confusion sink into her mind. So Feris was confused.

They both heard the same muffled voices of Eliada and Hikmat around them, saying, "Why are they confused? And the light is even now, why won't it stop?"

"Calm down, Eliada."

Then they heard Teagan talking. "They're both really, really confused, and I can only tell because the confusion is so strong. Otherwise I can't tell what's going on. But the light is still yellow, so we're alright. We shouldn't stop them. I can't see their eyes, but I can vaguely...."

His voice kept going, but it was drowned out by the strands of light wrapping tighter around Alban and Feris. The light seeped in through their eyelids, but instead of light, all they could see was darkness, and more darkness. Then an emotion that neither Feris nor Alban could identify hit them. Alban could feel Feris shaking slightly, and then Alban knew she would feel the exact same thing soon. And sure enough, she started shaking, too. The emotion was a mix of fear, sadness, and anger, but also hate, and evil. It was tempting, but Alban wanted to get right out of it, not wanting to be....