When Everything Burns {Mianite/CaptainFoxx} ✔

Chapter 16: Time You Knew

Chapter 16: Time You Knew

(Andor's POV)

     The wind buffeted my hair as I scanned my surroundings. The glade I'd spent my childhood in was dry, the grass brown and decrepit. Even in this state, it was all too easy to remember the times I spent here.

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     "Andor! Look! A butterfly!" My little sister Alva jumped up and down repeatedly, trying her hardest to catch the small white and purple butterfly that was gliding just out of her reach.

     "Alva, do not bother it. It is only trying to fly around, and you might kill it." She stopped jumping and sat down in the green grass, her mouth twisting into a pout. The gentle butterfly flew in circles around her, as if making a halo of air over her head, before gingerly landing on her head. "Whatever you do, Alva, do not move."

     She looked up at me, confused. "Why not?"

     I took out a notepad and pencils, then sat down in the grass in front of her. "Because you stopped moving and scaring it, the butterfly decided to rest on your head. I will try to draw it for you." Even at age eleven, I've always been praised for my art skills. I moved the pencil across the page swiftly, trying to be as fast as I could without making the picture sloppy. After a few minutes I finished, and turned the notebook around so my little sister could see it. Her eyes widened, and she lunged forward, wrapping me in a hug.

     "Thank you Andor!" I turned her chin in the direction of the butterfly, and we watched it fly away.

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     I slipped my hand into my pocket, and pulled out a slip of folded paper. I carefully unfolded it, and a young girl with a butterfly in her messy hair smiled up at me. The pencil was fading and the details were smudged from being folded so many times, but my memory made it as vivid as when I'd first drawn it. Lowering myself into the grass, I laid down and stared at the dulling sky. 'How have we gotten to this point? Everything was fine, then suddenly it wasn't. Mianite says there's nothing we can do, but the heroes keep trying. Ianite help us, we're losing control.' I jumped at an electronic chirping. Sitting up, I took the communicator Jericho had given me to find that it was lit up. I pressed a green button, and if noise could fill empty space, my Aunt's voice filled the clearing.

     "Good morning, Aunt Martha."

     "Hello, Andor." For a goddess who never needed to sleep, she sounded tired. "Wag and I were hoping that during your travels, you had picked up any legends that may not have reached Dagrun." Tapping my chin, I forced my mind back to my time amongst lands. Nothing came to the forefront.

     "Sorry, Martha, but I- AH!" I doubled over, gasping my forearm, as a sharp pain radiated from my wrist to my elbow. I could faintly hear Martha calling to me from my communicator, which had fallen to the dead grass. It felt as though a savage cat took the nails from it's paws and began dragging them over my arm in a cursive fashion. After a few seconds of the burning claws, a cooling sensation ran through my body. I looked down at my arm and gasped.

     "Andor! What happened?" My Aunt's voice was shrill, and I could scarcely hear Waglington in the background trying to soothe her. Fumbling in the grass for a moment or two, I clasped the device.

     "I'm fine, Martha. As to what happened, I have no clue. By the way, would you happen to know who Ares Deorsa is?" There on the underside of my forearm in purple, cursive handwriting, was the name Ares Deorsa. Ianite, though discorporated and free, had answered my call. I gave Martha a brief account of what had happened, and flew off in the direction of the Urulu library.