The Institute for Mianite Arts

Chapter 63: Alee's Aftermath: Shadowy Grave

I was in the middle of having a great dream when suddenly I was shaken awake. My eyes shot open and Dianite himself stood over me, offering a hand to help me up. I looked at Andor to make sure he was okay before grabbing Dianite's hand and lifting  myself up. I brushed off the back of my pants because some small pebbles bound were to be stuck to them.

I noticed Iain was there as well. He was standing right beside Dianite with a look of curiosity. It was a real confidence booster to be walking along side a God who needed your help. Dianite had brought us to a giant pool of lava. A dragon name Dargon sat in the pool. "Welcome mortals!" Dargon boomed.

Dargon! Don't scare them!" Dianite said. I was in fact not scared at all in fact I was quite fascinated by the dragon. His scales were a emerald green and they seemed to reflect the lava in a way. The lines were like flames, giving off a more frightening look. "Don't mind him. He likes first impressions."

"I have been told that you two have a special talent regarding the future!" His voiced boomed through the cave once more. "Yes sir." I responded politely. Iain nodded. "Good! We don't have time to waste!"

Suddenly I was surrounded in black. Nothing but black. I never realized that it was similar to the void that was described to us by Jordan and the others. The word he used specifically was emptiness. But images flashed just like the times before. All of them passed by like they were stuck in fast forward until they slowed down once it got to the beginning.

I was plunged into a battlefield. Screams of pain and determination echoed around me and blood painted the ground. Weapons and bodies were strewn everywhere. I hoped those people got a nice funeral, no matter which side they were on. This time though, instead of covered faces, everybody was a shadow. Groups of blurry figures attacked one another and the sounds of explosions accompanied them. The only detail on these figures was their eyes. They were all blue. I doubted that all these people actually had blue eyes. Imagine planning that. "No, you cannot enroll into my army. You have green eyes."

There was so much death and destruction that it was hard to keep up with everything. The shadow that stood out the most was the one with a sword engulfed in flames. Kind of reminded me of the flame like scales on Dargon. Another shadow was laying on the ground trying to stop blood from pouring out after his hand was cut off. A shadow was shooting arrows, another was leading them all. Then a saw a shadow on the ground, dying. Another shadow kneeled next to the dying one. The screaming vanished and all I could hear was the dying shadow's cries of pains and the other's cries of sadness. My heart ached for the two and I so badly wished to help but I couldn't. I then remembered other images I have seem previously. I wonder if this was the same person. Why did I need to see this, what was so important about these shadows. I wanted to know more but it wasn't like I could do a quick search online and find all the answers I needed. Iain and I had to figure out more. But then again maybe these shadows meant nothing and it was a warning of something else to come. The war went on for hours but for Iain and I it was much faster, around ten minutes. Time seemed to fast forward when nothing too important was happening. Ianite ran outside from one of the buildings followed by three shadows. So you could see the gods as they normally are but not mortals, made sense to me. She ran towards the shadows on the ground but I had a feeling she was too late.

I was sucked out of the war and back into the void. The images played back in fast forward before I was thrown back into the real world. Iain seemed to come back the same time as me. Dargon proceeded to tell us of a glowing shadow. I must have missed it at the time but now that he spoke about it I remember seeing flashes of light. I must have been too concentrated on the dying shadow. I was a gentle soul that liked to mourn for people and animals that I possibly didn't even know. The light was a creative spirit. When their spirit was freed the world was recreated the way they wanted it. He told us that this shadow will end the war, it must die, it was our job to find this shadow and kill it. The universe wanted this shadow dead, it was known as the 42, the creative spirit, we had  to help it. We had to kill it to help it.

All the students had arrived on the bus. I found Andor and sat beside him. He looked slightly nervous before I sat down but the look disappeared when I sat down. I lied my head on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I was just nervous that you would miss the bus. Where were you this morning?" Andor asked, putting his arm around my waist and lying his head on top of mine.

"Dianite needed my help, Iain's too. He woke me up and brought me with him. It was kind of humbling." I laughed. "Very humbling actually."

Andor chuckled. "I bet. Well no matter what you did, I'm proud of you."

I kissed him passionately but pulled away before a teacher had the chance to yell at us to stop. I was still tired so I closed my eyes. "Are you tired?" I asked Andor.

"Yeah but I'll stay awake if you want to talk. I would rather spend my time with you. Do you want to sleep?" Andor asked. I smiled and snuggled closer to him. "Come on. Let's take a nap."

I was shaken awake by somebody. It wasn't Andor cause he was still cuddling with me. It must have been somebody walking by when they were getting off. I poked Andor and he shot up, making me giggle. He was so jumpy today. "We're back at the school. Come on."

Andor and I walked off the bus and gave each other a goodbye kiss. We had to unpack our stuff but he said he wanted to take me somehwhere. I headed to my dorm and placed my bag on my bed. I placed the picture back on my dresser and put my clothes back in the drawers and some in the closet. I put my beautiful cutlass in a locked drawer. I set all of my Witchery books on my bedside table. I headed outside and sat on the steps. I had a few minutes to look around before Andor appeared.

"Are you ready to go?" Andor asked with his hands stiffed in his pocket. I nodded and grabbed his hand. He led us to the Ianite common room. We sat down a cross from so it would be easier to talk. "So what's your family like?" He asked, "If you don't mind answering of course."

"No I can answer that," I laughed, "It's alright. My parents died when I was around six or seven. They both were followers of Ianite and after the died I didn't have any family willing to take care of me so I was put up for adoption. I guess you could say my new family was, well, horrible. The were all Mianite followers and they absolutely despised me, just like I despised them. My 'sisters' actually go here. I haven't seen them yet though so I guess I got lucky." I laughed slightly. "My family really beat down my self confidence so I still struggle with that."

Andor gave me a sympathetic look and pulled me into a big bear hug. He ran his hand through my hair as a comforting gesture. He always had a way of making me feel amazing. I pulled away from his embrace and smiled at him. "So what about your family?"

(A/N: Has anyone entered the 5 days for 5k contest? Just wondering?)