Run From The Darkness

A New Companion

"So, little girl who refuses to talk, who are you, and why are you with us?" I said to the girl. She just smiled and kept walking. "God, you are so stubborn. Why don't you just talk?" I pleaded again. She looked up at me this time, but still no verbal response. "Come on you stubborn little brat. Talk to me!" This time she looked more irritated. She was breaking. Maybe a couple more hours of asking would do the trick.

"Come on man. Leave the poor girl alone. She didn't do anything to deserve this." Cillian said. She was standing up for the girl most out of everyone.

"She hasn't done anything to earn our trust either. How do we know she isn't some baby spy working for those men in the bookstore" I said, questioning her again with my eyes. She looked up at me with concern now.

"You know the man in the bookstore?" she said, still looking concerned. "How do you know them?"

"Seriously? All I had to was say people in the bookstore and you talk? This is ridiculous... Wait, how do you know about the men in the book store?" I said. "I told you she was working with them. I knew it!"

"Not exactly," she said with cloudy eyes like she was thinking of past memories. "I was created by that man; the tall latin one. The other man with him was too," she said. Her voice was so high that it was hard to concentrate on what she was saying.

"So you are his daughter?" Fodjour asked, confused at what was happening.

"Not exactly. You see, I am his creation. He made me into a charm and poured his element into me. That's how we are all created." Said the girl looking at her feet.

"Man... that's degrading," said Radwan with a frown on his face. At this point, we had already walked a couple of miles. "So you're just a piece of carved wood?" He asked looking at her with curiosity.

"Normally a charm is made of wood, but I am different. The man who created me, Mr. mannequin is what they call him, made a special charm in case of emergencies. That's me. I am one of his youngest charms. He carved me out of an amethyst crystal that he found in a cave. Normally I would be used for a getaway distraction, but he had me infused with the element of earth, also known as the element of life. This made it so I could use the earth element, but it also gave me life itself. It gave me consciousness. I could think and act on my own, but only when he used his element." she sat down on the side of the road and suggested we all did as well, then continued with her story "I spent the months that he was spying on you trying to copy him. Every time he used his element I observed. After about a year of this observation, I was able to give life to his charms. All I needed to do was copy this spell on myself. One day when he was off with Hunter, and left me and the other twin to observe the memories. I did this spell on myself and could feel life flow through my crystal body. I ran from that place as fast as I could and followed you. He was spying on you for a reason, so I thought I could help you." she looked like she knew what was coming, but she said no more.

"Wait... Hunter as in the black element trainer who I worked with during training? He was at the landscapes for the same reason as me; to get better. There's no way he worked with those men." I said. Now I really had no idea what was going on.

"He didn't work FOR those men... He WAS those men," she said, looking irritated at having to repeat herself. "He was a charm created and controlled to do their dirty work. If you see him, kill him."

"You want us to kill a man we worked with for almost a year?" said Fodjour. "How do you kill a man with no heart?"

"There is a small metal orb on their chest makes them usable as charms. If you attack right under the rib cage, you will hit it and take them out." said this girl.

"Okay... We will fight with you, but if we do, you need to tell us your name. What should we call you?" I said

"You can call me Moriya. Mannequin called me that, so that is my name. If you wish to call me another name, feel free." she said with no expression.

"Dad, I wanna help. Let me help please." Jackie said, jumping up and down.

"Baby, this is gonna be dangerous. I can't have you getting hurt again." said Cillian.

"I think it's a great idea." Fodjour said, contradicting what his wife said. "She needs to practice her element. What better way, than to fight in real combat?" CIllian was glaring at him as he said it.

"I think it's a good idea too. I will train with her. I need to work on my ice. I need to be a little more... frosty" What I said made Jackie laugh. I loved it when she smiled, even though it didn't happen often.

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As we came into a little dead area on the side of the road, I started setting up little training dummies for Jackie and I. He had long nights ahead of us. I figured that I could at least be there to learn along side her.

"Let's start. Can we? Can we?" She looked so excited to train.

"If its fine with your father we can start, but you need to make sure you're being safe while doing it." I said.

"Okay!" She said. She skipped over to her father. "Van me and uncle Dom start practicing?" Fodjour looked over at me and I nodded.

"Sure honey. Go ahead and listen to what he has to say, okay?" He said half happy, half nervous.

"Okay daddy. Thank you!" She said and skipped back to me.

"Okay, the first thing you need to know is that you always visualize what you want to happen. If you wanna make a sword, think of a sword. If you wanna freeze your opponent, think of that. Watch this." I said as she looked at me with all her attention. I picked up a stick and closed my eyes. Slowly, ice started building up on the stick. It formed a 24 inch blade as sharp as any metal blade. I spun in a circle and sliced the top of the log on the dummy.

She looked at me with wide eyes. "Wow! How in the world did you do that?"

"It's all about visualization. If you see it in your head, you can make it happen." I said. She looked like she thought I was the coolest in the world. "Watch this." I said again. "I said I gotta get frosty, so that's what imma do." I stirred freezing air left and right while doing a little dance. I did this for a couple minutes and then she started doing it to. She was dancing around. Every time one of us flicked our arms or legs out, we would shoot a stream of frost out. After maybe 30 minutes of this we started laughing. I was laughing so hard that I fell to the ground. This was the most fun I'd had in awhile. "Well aren't you a little Jackie frost" I said, still laughing. After getting it out of my system, we got up and got back to work.

"Can I try the sword thing?" She asked, looking up to me like a mentor.

"Of course you can, little one. Isn't that what this training is about, you learning to do what you can to help?" I asked. She looked so excited to try what I had done.

She picked up a stick quite a bit smaller than the one I had used and closed her eyes. When she did this little sculptures started forming. It was us in that frozen lake weeks ago. When the ice broke under the statue of herself, everything else just disappeared. It was just her. Even though you could almost see the water she was in, you could also see tears forming in her eyes. She looked so sad. She looked like she never wanted to leave that water. Then she opened her eyes and it all disappeared.

"What happened? I was thinking of a sword and nothing happened." she said, looking sad.

"Just try again sweetheart. Nobody gets it the first time." I said, trying to encourage her as much as possible.

Once again, she closed her eyes and had a look of concentration on her face. Frost started building up in the air around her makeshift handle. She had it this time. I knew she was gonna get it this time. The frost started building up further and the blade started forming. There she stood; a little girl in a cute dress holding a dagger made of ice. She threw the little sword at one of the dummies and the tip stuck into what would've been an arm.

"Good. Now try making it bigger, and this time aim for his chest." I said, still trying to encourage her. She looked excited that she got it, but that just wouldn't cut it in a real fight. She had to go bigger and stronger than she was ready for. I just hope I can get her ready for this big fight coming up...