The Enderlox Trilogy III: Seto's Triumph

T W E L V E: Not Ashley

***SETO'S POV***

My sleep is restless, mainly because I'm dreaming of death.

Pain, the suffering of others. The tortured screams of not-too-far-off people. The occasional explosion. A holocaust, full of destruction and fire. And myself, watching from afar, knowing I would be unharmed, and-the worst part is- I was smiling. Happy about my own life continuing, blissfully unaware of the lives of others that were falling to ruin around me. I was somewhere real. I was sitting on a velvet padded couch, smiling at the fate of these innocent people. I was momentarily startled as a man appeared behind me, grasping my shoulders and shaking me briefly. Telling me how happy he was to see me, how long it had been since our last talk. The last thing I remembered was him smirking at me, and as he did so, I looked down at myself for the first time. I was dressed in a suit. Black pants and jacket, and a white button-down beneath it. Nicely polished dress shoes and a black tie. My hair was greased back as well. I looked myself over, and then adjusted the cuff links on my sleeve. And that was when I saw it. Right there, for only half a moment, the reason I was smiling. There was a slight scar on my wrist, and a small bit of black string visible through the skin.

A stitch.

I wake up breathing heavily, my body drenched in a cold sweat. I check my wrists over at least ten times. No stitch.

"You're alright, Seto. You're cool, you're fine. It's alright." I mutter to myself. And then a sudden thought occurs to me. What happened to Ashley?

I quickly pull up my hood over my white-crowned head. With that gesture, I unzip the tent flap and burst into early morning sunlight. The sun warms me up, making me feel good inside, but my fear for Ashley's sake is quickly escalating and soon a bit of morning sun would mean nothing.

I do a 360, turning and counting the tents in our camp. Mine, Sky and Jason's, Mitch and Jerome's, Nooch and Woofless', plus Quentin and Solace's, but then who is in the other tent? One more extra-raggedy looking shelter is propped up next to the others, looking perfectly out of place. It just absolutely has to be Ashley's. Who else could it belong to?

Excitedly, I rush towards the disheveled tent and call to whoever is inside.

"Hey! It's me, Seto! Open up!"

I hear a groan in response, and a few moments later the tent flap folds back to reveal...

That is not Ashley.

***SIERRA'S POV***

So this is Seto, huh?

I like him already.

His purple and gray robes reveal that his is an elite sorcerer. He wears a bone-white crown under his hood, which is a symbol of honor for a sorcerer like a medal is to a soldier. His brown hair falls over his brown eyes a bit, which makes him appear young. He looks worried and sheepish like a child, yet also tired and aged. He appears shocked at my appearance, at my own black and white robes, accented only by my brown hair and my necklace, which is a pink gemstone surrounded in gold. For a moment, I look just as shocked as Seto must.

"A-- Ash--" Seto stammers.

"Nah, not me. Sierra, fellow sorceress. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Seto, the sorcerer. Wait, did you say 'sorceress'?"

"Why yes, I did. Come on in. Ashley's still asleep, but she's fine."

Seto nods and follows me into the tent. We both take seats on the floor and I nudge Ashley, waking her. She sits up to talk with us just as Seto's saying,

"How'd you get here?"

"Long story, but I'll tell it if you've got the time."

"All the time in the world."

So I sit and tell him the story and anything else he asks for. I tell him all about my life, my recent friendship with Ty, meeting Sky just last night, whatever else he wants to know. The three of us talk for at least an hour until Sky pokes his head into our tent.

"Come on guys, pack up." He says. "We leave in an hour."

"For where?" Ashley asks.

"The Squid Base, to ask for help."

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