Innocence be gone

chapter 2; memories lost, memories gained

I fall, but, my knees don't hit the floor! I fall, silently, to where? I don't know. I face upwards, from where I came and green fog seeps in through a trap door! I see the Terachi search around for me, their black wings facing me, their blind eyes never really seeing. Still I fall, the small trap door I fell through grows smaller. My straight black hair sweeps around my face, outlining my vision with split ends. Suddenly I feel a criss-cross pattern embed itself into my back! I scream out in relief; a net! I bounce around along my entwined saviour and when I do stop bouncing I flip myself around. Facing the ground a few metres below me, concrete! When was the last time I saw concrete? I search around and my eyes rest on a face with a bandana wrapped around it only exposing bright green eyes, her hair is braided so tightly to her head it shows her scalp, it's a stunning pale colour that is almost paper white and sticks out against her black hair so beautifully! Her arms crossed, her eyes piercing. "Quite a battlecry!" she says slightly impressed. I recognize the voice. "Elena?!" I question excitedly. "Ho-how do you know that name?" she asks stunned. "Elena! Come on you must remember me!" I say. "I'm not Elena." Her eyes search the floor. "But, you have the same voice, the same eyes!" I say remembering the piercing green colour that made Elena look like a goddess against her raven black hair. "I am NOT ELENA!" she yells at me! I see something shine against her palm, a knife! Quickly she slips it back up her sleeve. She only has one long sleeve; the other is a piece of material wrapped around a stump of arm popping out of her shoulder! "Okay, okay!" I say getting scared. "Come on, you need to speak to Siratran." She says untying a piece of the net. I rush to help her as she wraps one rope under her stump. "I'M FINE!" she yells, letting the rope go. "I-I can do things on my own." She says calming down. I instantly raise my hands up and fall backwards, bouncing on the net again! "Fuck!" I hear the girl shout, quickly I realize me bouncing backwards ripped the rope out of her arm! "Oh shoot are you okay?!" I ask sprawling my arms to try roll myself onto my stomach. She gives me a glare that could make a baby cry! She finishes untying the knot and just nudges her head to say I must get out. All I can hope it never comes to a 'me or her' situation because I know her answer! We walk through a seemingly endless corridor with a few torches burning that barely light up our path. She takes twists and turns and I try my hardest to keep up with her because I know if I lose her I might just grow old and die before I find my way out! Eventually the little corridor opens up into what seems like a main hall, people walk next to each other staring at short sheets of paper, people sit on benches eating food, real food! Real people! Lots of both! The entire place is illuminated by a giant yellow ball, like a mini sun in the centre of the ceiling! Suddenly I feel underdressed in my filthy jeans that are more holes than denim and my shirt that used to be bright purple but is now a dulling blue. Everyone here is dressed for battle! Each outfit specifically made for them! A girl walks past in shorts with tall boots and a metal leg, I see the handle of a machete sticking out her boot of the metallic leg! Everyone's wearing black and green like it's going out of fashion! "Are you just going to stand there?" she asks a few steps in front of me. I quicken my pace to keep up, still stunned by the amount of people! I haven't seen this many people in one place since malls were still open! I follow her into a castle like place with a long walkway leading up to a tiny chair! Well at least it seems tiny from the back, as I get closer I notice it's an office chair decorated in bent silver! Who has that much metal they can afford to decorate a chair! Then again after I fell through that trap door it's like I've entered a parallel universe! "Siratran, a new comer, says she knows Elena." The girl says crouching down on one leg right behind the chair which has it's back to us, a huge 'S' imprinted on it. "Name?" a woman's' voice asks. After a few moments of silence she yells out "Amnendi! What is her name?!" the voice sends chills up my spine, like its familiar somehow but I can't picture a face that links to it! Quickly Amnendi spins around, still in a crouch, and rips off her bandana to show a scar across her left cheek that is only half stitched up and shows some of her teeth! 'name' she mouths angrily. Still shocked by her face I don't even click that she's asking me! "Oh for crying out loud in a bucket!" the chair spins around and so does Amnendi, quickly covering her face again. A woman sits in the chair, she looks like she's in her twenties but her eyes say a completely different story; the dull blue/grey harshened by years and years of pain. "Alice." She gasps and starts to stand, her entire being shaking! "Alice, is-is it really you?" she asks coming closer. The closer she comes the more I recognize her; the deep brown hair, the long slender fingers, the birthmark on her pinky! "Syrelin?" I ask. It can't be! This woman looks around 25! Syrelin's only 9! "Alice, Alice it's me!" she says pulling me into a hug. A tear drips down my face. "How have you survived for so long! You still look the same! It's not possible!" she says as confused as I am! "What are you talking about? Why are you so old? What happened to you?" I ask stepping back to take in my sisters' new appearance. "Wait, wait, wait! What were you doing before you came here?" she asks. "I, um, I woke up, I stood up and the air made me blackout! Then I, I, uh I woke up again and starting running for a place to hide because it was almost night time and then the Terachi circled me and, and I fought them off with a stick and then I fell through this trap door..." she stops me from babbling any further, I guess she knows what happened after that. "Alice, we got separated during the war." She says sparking my memory. "Yes, yes I remember that now!" I say clicking, but that doesn't help! "Alice, that was a hundred and twelve years ago." She says, I start laughing and she stares at me. "This is a joke right?" I ask "no." she responds.