Aetria: The Awakening

Chapter 1

                 

"Iyla, wait up!"

She didn't acknowledge the voice coming from beneath her. Instead, she climbed faster with more fierceness, determined to make it to the top before the sun's light shone on Aetria. She had climbed this same cliff countless times before, but today was different. There was something about today's events that made her want to exceed all previous climbs.

Pausing a moment to breathe in the thin air, Iyla turned her head to both sides while holding onto the sharp rocks with one hand. Unafraid, she leaned out, wanting to remember every detail laid before her.

Aetria had lost its charm throughout the years ever since the ceasing of the waterfalls, but it didn't make it less inviting. She happened to be hanging on the tallest of seven falls srurrounding the kingdom. Once flowing with rushing, clear blue waters, they now ran dry. And with the falls' waters ceased, Iyla was able to climb to such extraordinary heights of the waterfall cliffs—allowing her to view her home from a new angle.

From this view, the castle in the center of the seven falls was almost too small to be seen, and the abundant amount of streams running all over the kingdom looked nothing more than water being poured from a vessel. The animals once rich among the lands had almost but disappeared as well. Even with everything lost from her home, Iyla still found Aetria to be her favorite place—but maybe she was biased.

Remembering where she was, Iyla looked down at Shae and beamed.

"If you don't hurry up, old man, the sun will have set by the time you reach the top," she hollered while continuing upwards.

Shae was only a couple years older than her, but she still liked giving him a hard time ever since a small child in the gardens called him an elder. Because her father was the chief elder, everyone vied for her friendship, but Iyla never paid attention to any of them. It was always Shae who had been there for her since he'd found her sitting atop this same waterless fall many years ago. Both of them had ventured separately to the clifftop in order to get away from the harsh realities of losing people they love. And it was there where their lives converged and they discovered not all heartbreak had to lead to bitter endings.

Since then, they had embarked on countless training lessons together in secret, outside of her father's watchful eye. The two of them learned of Aetria's past and the horrors that masked their home. Shae was the one person she trusted most in this world, someone she found herself wanting to see every day.

Even so, Iyla remained unable to tell Shae about her true self. Every day she saw him, she wanted to tell him everything—especially about the power that sometimes overwhelmed her, making her want to run from these lands; yet, every day she didn't, betrayal's knife dug deeper into her chest.

"What I would give to tell you what I can do," she hummed to herself angrily. "You deserve to know about this more than anyone, so why can't I just tell you?"

She glanced below to make sure there was still a good distance between her and Shae. Still hanging on the side of the fall's cliff, Iyla placed both of her hands on the cracked rocks. They resided there motionless for a moment, and Iyla heard the water seeping through the cracks. The bubbling noise of the liquid grew louder until it suddenly stopped. Water began to seep through the rock's openings, dampening the surrounding area her hands lay on. It poured over the tips of her fingers, eventually covering the rest of her hands; however, just before the water could run from her wrists and fall below, it disappeared almost as fast as it came to be. She grinned at the feeling this brought her, yet swallowed her happiness; Iyla knew what would happen if her gift of water was out in the open.