/\Areiya & The -Invasion- Of Zanathis/\

/\Chapter 4-- Into the Unknown/\

I used to always think that this could never become reality. Standing before me, were rows of cells. I wanted to cry because this seemed sort of similar as well, but that wasn’t what I was trying to block from mind at that very moment. My mind flashed with images of a girl about a year or 2 older than I, huddled in a cellar. I remember it as if it were just yesterday. Her eyes seeking the darkness for an escape; cold seething into her flesh. I remember when those terrified eyes landed on mine, begging for me to help her. She had been my best friend… my older sister. It had happened 4 years in the past.

I was weak then; I had no idea what was going on in that moment, just that she needed me in that moment. But I hadn’t helped her in the end; I had deserted her, running for the safety that home was sure to bring me. I hadn’t thought much about the idea that if I had left her, she would be gone from my grasp; I hadn’t thought about anything as I took flight. I was selfish in that moment, not wanting reality to strike me; that she was locked away, trapped in that cell. I hadn’t helped her because I had been a coward.

I had grown in the past years though, I had become stronger… cursing myself that I had left her there to suffer. I hadn’t seen her since that dark moment in my past. I don’t even know whether she was alive now; or truly dead and taken away from me… forever. I bit my lip at the memory and balled my hands into fists to stop myself from showing weakness. I hadn’t cried in a while now; the last I had… had been for the loss of my sister. I had made a vow that day to never show weakness… to stand up to my fears, and abolish them.

That was when I heard another moan of agony, bringing me out of my reverie. Shaking my head slightly to clear it, I looked ahead of me to see that Phethus was standing in front of me now, scouting the place. Pushing all thoughts of her to the back of my mind, I stepped forward, stopping at Phethus’ right shoulder.

“Do you know what we are meant to do from here Phethus?” I asked, wondering if he had managed to not wake during this part of his dream. He was silent for a moment, looking to see if anyone other than the prisoners were there at the moment, before he turned towards me.

“I-I’m not quite sure whether I had this part of the dream. I had known about the painting from somewhere else, but I couldn’t quite remember where from. I hadn’t gotten this far into the dream. My dream had ended in that room.” I nodded at this, my mind working 100 miles per hour now, pondering on what this could mean for us.

“Do you think that they had found other warriors like us yet? Do you even think that they are looking for us right now?” I asked, unable to stop the questions from escaping my lips. It had been a while since I had allowed myself to depend on another. I had locked away my heart the moment I had made the idiotic decision to leave my sister. I had been a mere child, but I should have understood the situation since I had long trained for situations as such. But I had choked in the very moment that I was to put those skills into action. I had left the only person who I could fully trust and who had trusted me as much as I her.

“I’m not too sure, but I don’t think that they have since we were the only ones in that room. They seemed to be holding people in that room who were warriors, or at least expected to be warriors. And about the last question, I would think so, since they had gone through all the trouble in trying to capture us to begin with.” He said this, bringing me once again from my thoughts. Gulping, I decided to make a decision on what we should do now that we were here.

“We must go check out the other prisoners and see if they know any information about these ‘scientists’ and their ‘experiments’. But the path seems to have a split, so either we split up to cover more ground faster, or we stick together and check both… not very fast, but it could be useful if we run into someone.” I said this while my eyes scanned my surroundings. I doubt he even recognized the split at the end of the dark hallway, but I had been trained to spot things like that. He had a look of surprise on his face, until he finally pulled himself together and responded.

“Hmm… nice eyes you got there. I would say that it would be safer for us to stick together, but we don’t need safe right now, we need to cover ground fast… so we split.” I nodded and then checked to see if I had any weapons of any sort. Shizz! I forgot my weapons back on my planet during the invasion! Not giving any more time to waste, I decided to just wing it. Stepping forward, Phethus and I walked cautiously down the concrete pathway, our footsteps echoing softly on the ground.

We nodded to each other once we reached the split in the path. On each side of us, there were torches lit, illuminating the hall dimly. I shared one more look with Phethus before I was off into the unknown once more.