Orange Shadow Magic: Awaken. Book 1

Chapter 9: Finally, A Destiny

Mally quietly watched the waves of the coast called The Bloody Blue Sea bend beneath the wind and rise with the current, wondering if she could ever do anything as magnificent as what the ocean could do. The bat tree glimmered as a dot behind her as she prepared herself for another day of awkwardly sitting with Gala, who preferred the silent compared to "annoying incoherent whisperings". Today was definitely going to be a long day. Gala had gotten back late last night. Mally had been sleeping with Coral in the tent when she had seen the dismal figure of Gala slouch across the grass and into her cabin, her hair blowing and her eyes lost; for the first time, Gala had looked like she didn't know what to do. Trees were blowing wildly, like flies trying to fly through a tough storm, as if Gala's anger and dreariness were causing it. Closing her eyes for a moment of rest, Mally suddenly saw a young girl trembling inside a dark collage of trees as a malicious shadow flew into her soul........... a girl that kind of resembled Gala's prideful appearance.......

Mally screamed and toppled over, only to find herself on the ground and covered with sand and seaweed, the ocean waters just pulling away from her soaked tennis shoes. Who was that, and why had Mally dreamt of that girl? Were they closer to each other than she assumed? Mally stood up and wondered how much time had passed that she was locked in the dream. Based on the sun still in the sky, it had probably only been an hour that passed. Who was that? Mally couldn't stop asking questions, but she knew Gala would be fuming if she didn't arrive for the beginnings of breakfast. Jogging as fast as she could, Mally raced across the blistering sand towards the area of the forest that smelled of smoke.

Gala and Coral were already waiting for her, with their legs crossed and hands folded neatly in front of them like graceful geese. Gala seemed to be skinning a rabbit, and she swiftly severed the meat from the hide like removing a candy from its wrapper. She placed the meat upon the sand, coated it, then she focused her attention on the hide. She rubbed the hide in the sand, pushing the blades of sand into her the fur. Then she got up and soaked the hide in a little tide pool she found a little ways from the beach. Finally, she laid it out to dry on a flat stone, right before placing it in the sand again.

"There we are, I'm finally done," Gala said flourishly and roughly slid a book which she conjured with a flick of her wrist, into Mally's clenched hands. "Read this. Let me know when you're done." Mally opened the book and realized that this was her training.

"Is this supposed to be training? We haven't even had breakfast!" Mally stormed and slammed the book shut. "I'm supposed to be a hero, not a straight A student who's never gotten a B+ in her entire life!" Gala's back stiffened up and she stopped in her tracks, then resumed her slouched position.

"You chose to skip breakfast," Gala stated. "And if you think I'm trying to give you 'boring older sisterly advice', I'm not, Mally. I'm only trying to guide you to become who you were meant to be. And that begins with books! Now, I may not be much of a bookworm myself, but I figured you might have a different opinion about this kind of stuff. Besides, your the one who's supposed to be the Sphinx Princess around here," Gala snapped, then continued walking toward the bat tree, seeming to disappear like a ghost into the wind. Mally shook her head back and forth, refusing to believe that this is what she had to read in order to become a warrior. How could she even learn from something so muddy, and looked like it had been read through a thousand times?

"Ugh," Mally groaned as she plopped herself on the ground, thumbing through the pages of the book. As she read mindlessly like a zombie, she realized that the handwriting was suspiciously messy, much like Gala's. However, as much as she wanted to become a detective, she knew that if she didn't read this, Gala would never let her move on from this childish book she called "training."