Behind My Blue Eyes

Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty -Three

Power &  Light

The light faded away and for a moment I was blind as my eyes adjusted to the darkness again. I was covered in mud and soaked, but at least the rain stopped.  Laien stood looking at me with round eyes and the cut on his cheek bleeding freely.  The sight of his blood snapped me into action.  I walked shakily towards him.  My knees were weak and I felt drained.  I had used my magic and light for the first time.  As I realised this a smile spread across my face.  The look of amazement on Laien’s face departed and he gave me a small smile.

“You’ve found your magic.”  He reached for my arm.

I nodded, not having strength enough to make myself speak.

Laien took us home, this time we had Kelan with us.  I managed to clean myself up.  I scrubbed away the mud and coldness with warm water and regained some strength. I saw my travel bags laying on my bed when I returned to my room.  At least I had nice dry clothes to wear now.  I looked through them and decided on a tank and pj shorts to wear to bed. For a few moments I sat on the bed staring at my hands.  I used magic and light. For the first time ever in my life I had used magic.  Pride for myself swelled up inside. I was finally able to use that beautiful ability that my entire family was blessed with. 

“You look happy,” Laien observed as he walked into the room.  He paused for a moment and looked at me.

“I am happy.”  I smiled at him.

“What are you wearing?” He blinked a few times after he asking.

I realised then that my sleeping clothes were probably more revealing than the traditional clothes in Majailea.  “Oh, this.... This is actually normal where I come from.  I mean wearing stuff like this to sleep.” 

He nodded slowly.  “You do not speak about where you come from, Isabel.”

I looked away from him and back to my hands wondering if I should tell him.  It was not easy to explain travelling from dimension to dimension.  “I know I don’t.  It’s very complicated.”

“Could you explain to me, please?”  He sat next to me and pushed back some of my hair from my forehead. 

I nodded and took a deep breath trying to organise my thoughts. I started to tell him. It wasn’t easy because some of the things about my world he obviously didn’t understand.  Then I got more into the depth of the fact that, I had travelled into another dimension but into the past of that dimension and that Iola and Xander were blood relatives of mine but they didn’t know about me yet because I was from the future.  If I thought about it enough my head hurt. 

When I had finished Laien just sat and stared at the floor with narrowed eyes.  He was probably trying to fit all that I had told him into his head.

“So you are Xander’s granddaughter?”  He finally looked back to me.  His bright green eyes were clouded. I nodded. “And you are from the future but in another dimension?”  I nodded again.  

“Laien, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

“You’re right.”  He rubbed his eyes. “This is very complex.” 

I chewed on my lip and looked at him.  He seemed tired and he had put a bandage on the side of his face where the cut was.  I reached out and touched the bandage lightly. “What was it that attacked us?”

He looked at me for a moment then hugged me to him and fell back on the covers still holding me.  “A shadow creature.”  He tucked me to his side and laid his head near the base of my neck.  “They’re just shadows that have a curse on them.  People use dark magic to control them.”  

“Oh,” I opened my mouth to ask another question but he kissed me.  My brain went foggy against the heat of his mouth.  He pulled away slowly and looked at me, running his hands through my hair.

“You’re unusual.” He said kissing my nose.

I smiled and snuggled against him.  “I know.” 

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The sun was bright and clear as I walked towards the temple.  I could smell the freshness of the air after the downpour last night. The marble sides of the temple glistened with dew and warmth. As we drew nearer I saw the familiar figure of Michael and my stomach rolled.  Since his scene yesterday I was filled with dread when I thought of confronting him and asking why he acted so unusually.

The Caynes were already there but they were outside looking around at the trees and the ground.  Their small forms were scouring the area.  Ivory spoke when she noted our presence. “You purified this area.”

I blinked then answered, “You mean the light?”

Cerulean answered, “Yes, why did you use the light?”

“Something attacked Laien and I last night.  It just happened... the light came and made the shadow creature disappear.”  I looked from Ivory to Cerulean.  They weren’t really questioning me. They were testing me somehow; I could see it in their eyes. 

“Something attacked you?” Michael asked with narrowed eyes.  I had been avoiding eye contact with him but now there was no avoiding it.

“Yes, I took care of it though.” He didn’t say anything further but I could feel the disapproval in his eyes.   

“Isabel used magic.”  Laien announced.  They Caynes didn’t react because they didn’t know about my lack of ability with magic but Michael’s expression softened.  “Michael,” Laien spoke directly to him, “I have to –“

“Do not apologise.”  He stared Laien in the eyes as he spoke quietly.  “I lost control of myself. You don’t need to be sorry for your words.”

I watched as a silent moment passed between them then Laien nodded.  I wondered how they could just resolve something by looking at each other, but things were at peace now.  I spent hours in the temple reading the scrolls. Laien left at some point to do whatever business he had to.  The Caynes quietly helped me.  The temple had such a peaceful temperament.  And it was warm; the walls themselves seemed to hold whatever warmth they collected through the centuries.

“Ivory,” she looked up at me with grey eyes, “how did the last Priestess die?”  

Ivory took the scroll I was holding in my hands and folded it up and inserted it back into its place.  “She was very powerful and good with her magic.”  Ivory’s strange little voice reverberated around the marble walls.  “Most Sharoudains are though. Their blood is steeped in old magic.  On the day she died, there was great sorrow.  Your souls are the same. All the priestess’ souls are.  Your bodies age and die but the soul that inhabits you is an immortal one. Most souls fade away with time but your soul was one of the very first created after the light was born.”  She took out another scroll and unrolled it.  I stood near and looked on.  The scroll was small. No bigger than my hand and very thin.  The bonds on it were scarlet and it was edged in dark ink.  In the middle was a drawing of a woman. She stood with elegance on the page, her dark hair flowing out across the old scroll.  Her eyes were a livid green and on her neck was a touch of silver where a tiny, drawn locket lay.  “This was her.  She died saving Iola.  Years ago the air demon had taken ill.”  She looked up at me, “There is only one thing that can ail an air demon and that is dark magic in a very pure state.  It used all of her light to save him.”  She gave me the scroll then moved on along the wall pulling out other ones. 

I looked down at the old piece of paper in my hand.  She died saving Iola.  If she hadn’t I wouldn’t be alive because we was my direct ancestor. 

Noise and clatter at the entrance brought the Caynes’, and my own attention to it. Xander stood in full armour in the sunlight.  His silver hair was braided and pulled back from his face and his eyes shimmered slightly. He gave the tiniest smile when our eyes made contact.