Diversion

Chapter 4

Aerons big black wings blocked the sunlight. His wings were huge, and as dark as his charchol black hair. Dalia couldn't see a thing. As Aeron walked towards her with his pupils big and scary, Dalia tried to get up. The ground under her legs was cold and filled with dirt, it was evening and the stars filled the air, the moon shined brighter than ever, together they were the only source of light, and the only thing that made Dalia able to see Aerons face. Something was keeping her from getting up and screaming for help, something she couldn't figure out what, grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back. Away from Aeron, he got madder the further she got away from him. She heard him scream in a language she didn't understand at the creature that held her tight.

She didn't know why but she wanted to yell and run into Aerons arms, she knew he would help her, she knew he would protect her from the thing that pulled her further and further away from him. With all the power she had left she pushed herself from the ground and ran to Aeron. The creatures nails made scratches on her shoulders making them bleed and she saw something out of the corner of her eye, it was huge, white and seemed to lighten up in the dark. It was way brighter than the moon, and way prettier. It was as if the sun was rising behind her back, and she could only catch a glimpse. She didn't know how but knew how to use them, just like a tail, but this felt really natural. It felt as if the white things carved in her back, through the back of her dress, had always been there. They were so light weighted she didn't feel them, she could only see them as they slowly moved up and down.

As she made the wings move faster her feet got lifted from the ground and made her fly as fast as she wanted to. She streched her arms out for Aeron, felt a tear roll down her cheek and smiled, she would finally be able to get close to him, she wasn't scared but just really relieved, she knew he would save her. But the small second before their hands touched she opened her eyes.

She lifted her head from her desk and looked around, her hand instinctively went to her back, where she felt nothing but her shirt sweaty and stuck to her skin.

She streched and tried to remember her dream, but as usual she had no idea what it was about. She thought of going to sleep again, no matter how little the chance might have been, she really wanted her dream to continue the moment she put her face against her desk again.

But then she saw her alarm.

"6:50"

"Pewp." She said out loud the moment Aeron came in.

"Good morning." He said as he opened the door. "I wanted to wake you up and put you into bed, but I knew that would wake you up so I just left you there." He smiled and sorted her notes that had fallen off her desk, she must have thrown them away while sleeping.

"Morning," she said and yawned. "Don't worry about it, I slept like a rock."

"Mary already made us breakfast, are you coming soon?"

"Yeah, let me just take a quick shower." Aeron left the room closing the door behind him. Dalia grabbed the paper he forgot to put back with the other notes and started to get her clothes and a towel.

On her way to the bathroom she stretched again and got the clothes she left in the hallway together.

She locked the door and turned on the shower as she started to undress. The hair she normally wore in a ponytail now came to her sides and she tried to get the bangs out of her face. "Note to myself. New haircut soon." She said to the girl looking at her in the mirror. The girl had bright blue eyes and red blushed cheeks. She stepped into the shower and washed her long blonde hair.

When she came out she warped a towel around herself and her hair, threw her clothes in the washing-machine in the room next to the bathroom, and went back to her bedroom.

As she slowly started to put on clothes she reminded Aerons face, and the way he looked at her in her dream. He seemed hurt, almost sad actually. He was worried about something, if only she could remember what it was.

Aeron was right. When Dalia got downstairs Mary had really outdone herself this time, the table was filled with food. Toast, eggs with bacon, cornflakes, milk everything she wanted was put on the table. While she slowly grabbed a bowl out of the sideboard and filled it with milk and cornflakes she saw Aeron reading the newspaper and his toast.

"Anything?" She used to ask it hopeful, wishing someone knew anything about the missing Masters, but without any luck. So she gave up the idea that anyone but her would find out anything about Ceridwen or other Master from their Nation.

"Na-ah," he answered with his mouthful of toast, when he was done chewing he said: "We're really on our own on this one."

"I'm not surprised." she answered while trying to get less cornflakes on her spoon so she wouldn't be left with just milk in the end. "Barely any person has ever even seen the masters, let out recognize them if they ever saw one."

The only people Dalia ever really saw were her classmates, but she didn't talk with them much at all. She knew though, that if any of them had the slightest idea of where the other masters would be, they would tell her. They would because the fact that their Nation had just one Master would lead to an unimaginable cathastrophe. If another Nation was to find out about this they wouldn't hestitate taking over their Nation, they would be laughed at. Not being able to stand on your own feet was the most humiliating thing that could happen to a Nation, and Dalia wasn't going to let that happen to the Nation she loved. The government wouldn't take them seriously when they got taken over by another Nation, so they couldn't ask for their help, they would make them ask other Nations to help and look for the lost Masters. So Dalia was on her own, only getting help from her guardian Aeron.

It had been 2 weeks now, since the second last Master dissapeared leaving Dalia all alone. She and the other masters had been taking notes and writing everything down that happened ever since the first Master dissapeared. She and all the other Masters had been looking for weeks, everywhere asking everyone if they had seen anything. But unfortunatelly, there was no sign of him, he was still young, just turned 10 and had been taken away by the most awful creature they could think of. Kidnapping a Master was the most terrible thing that could be done, and the person doing it had nothing but dead waiting for him. If it wasn't the government who killed them, the townsfolk would do anything to find the criminal and kill him, in ways that were unthinkable. The criminal should be happy to be killed by the government, the way the townsfolk treated them was just disgusting. And since the Masters were to scared to report all the dissapearances after the second one that month, they let the townsfolk handle the people they thought were guilty. 

Those people never really were the criminals though, there was enough evidence to determine there was just one criminal. And since killing all the people they thought were criminals didn't stop the dissapearances they figured it would be harder to find the real one than they thought it would.

The masters and even the other people assumed the young master died and gave up searching for him. That was untill the other mysterious disappearences took place. Master after Master got lost, they figured out they were in great danger and all stayed together protecting eachother, but it did no good.

Most Masters dissapeared during the night so they decided sleeping together in the same room would scare the kidnapper, but nothing worked. If they didn't went dissapearing in the night they got kidnapped during the day while walking home or before going to school.

The criminal did anything just to get the Masters alone, away from the other ones so they were an easy target.

Aeron dropped her bag in her lap. "Time to go." He said and threw his backpack over his back. She got into the car and waited for Aeron who got the book she forgot the get from her room. While she pressed her head against the back of the chair and thought of places to look and other things to do that might get her closer to finding the other Masters, she saw a boy walking near her house out of the forest. No one ever came close to the forest that was near the blue house, the forest was the easiest way to reach the other Nations and the Masters used it when they had meetings to attend to in other Nations than theirs.