SPIRIT- The House of Hope

Five

Ani

The first thing I remember is waking up completely disoriented. I looked around. This place was not what I was used to.

There was almost nothing around so I stood and began to wander.
Where on earth am I? This is most certainly not the House of hope. That thought triggered a memory.
"Kira...she attacked me" I needed to descover where I was. I found myself in a stone circle with the symbols of each element on one pillar each.

I was tired and hungry...soon I found that couldn't make my body move any longer...

"Hey..." I heard "hey... get up!" a voice cried. Looking up weakly I saw a boy about my age with black hair and green eyes. He smiled happily.
"Serena! She's awake" an older girl helped me sit up and passed me a glass of water.
"T-thank you" Another girl walked up.
"What's your name?"
"mine? I am Ani Derricher"
"Ani?! You're the girl from Yukan's story"
"the earth deity? You spoke to her?" the girl with blue hair smiled.
"Yes, let us introduce ourselves. I'm Serena Dew"
"I'm Cameryn Hillis" the other girl said The boy from earlier gave me a bright and bouncy smile.
"I'm Cairo Ross! This is Nike" he said pointing to a cat and then he pointed to a dragon "and this is Rollo"

"Pleasure" from behind an older boy with similar features walked up and Cairo laughed.
"Oh yeah, I can't forget. This is my older brother Darrien" I glanced at Darrien as he smiled. The main thing about him and Cairo that was different were his eyes. They...they were like flames...I'd seen those eyes before. They were the most horrid of omens...The evillest of all things...

This boy...had the Fire Curse.

Cairo

This Ani girl seemed really curious about Darrien. She wouldn't stop glancing at him and he seemed to be trying to avoid making eye contact.

"So Ani...how in the world are you here and now?" Cameryn asked Ani stared.
"Honestly, I am not sure of anything. I remember being attacked by a close friend of mine and a bright flash of purple then...I woke up in this place...where am I exactly?" Serena smiled.
"You're my home. Serna"
"Serna, so I am in Yanrie?" Ani stopped and sighed "I understand now. Lady Spirit must have sent me here to protect me" she stood up "but I must return to the house of hope!" everyone was trying to get her to sit down so that we could explain but she seemed really confused.

I grabbed her hand.
"Huh?" she glanced at me her gold coloured hair finally falling out of the tie she kept it in.
"Ani. Please sit down. We have a lot to explain"
"but I must go"
"no. You're extremely pale" I went on her frantic attitude slowly calming down "if you try to make a journey like that, especially by yourself you'll get sick" Ani seemed to take this answer and sat back down. Darrien smiled at me.

The others began to talk to her and tell her the story Yukan told us. She sighed.
"I see. It makes sense then. I was trapped in a seal much like Kira's but it has somehow broken" no one could think of how except Darrien.
"If the Spirit element is working on a seal maybe holding up Ani's at the same time was too much?" he commented. Ani nodded but still didn't look at Darrien I got annoyed.

Lord Cairo? What is the matter?

Why won't Ani and Darrien look at each other?

I am not sure.

It's not gonna do anything good.

"Ani" I asked.
"Yes Cairo?" she looked at me with her blue eyes and smiled "what is wrong?"
"why won't don't you like Darrien? You glance at him but you never make eye contact"
"You noticed my actions"
"don't dodge the question" Darrien glared and answered for her.
"It's cause she doesn't trust me!" I could feel the room heating up a little "she knows that I have the curse and just like everyone else she thinks that makes me evil!" I grabbed his arm.
"Calm down big bro" I whispered. He nodded and took a deep breath.
"Well I'm sorry!" Ani shouts "but what makes you think I would believe anything else?!" Serena jumped in.

"Ani. Two questions. One: how do you know about it? Two: What makes you think he's evil?"
"Both questioned answered simply. A man with the curse killed my family" I jumped at how blunt she was "I lived just outside of Zei. My brother Nycra and I would go to town every day to go to school and shop. There was a man who sold lollies but as we were very poor such treats were...a rare occurrence. Of course...one evening we were walking home and the man smiled at us and gave us a lolly each" she smiled happily.
"That sounds...suspiciously nice?" Cameryn said cautiously "what happened?"
"Well, isn't it obvious? He revealed his true nature. Killed my brother and my mother" Ani then looked directly at Darrien "That curse is pure evil and would only ever take root in evil you all see his eyes don't you? Can't you see he is only waiting for the right time to kill you all?"

Darrien glared at her.
"What do you know?" he asked "you've been in this time for literally a few minutes. You don't know what's changed! For all you know...he could've just been weak"
"Weak?"
"This...is not what I'm like Ani. Yes, I have the curse but that does not make me evil!!" he stood up and ran off I wanted to chase him but Cameryn stopped me.

"Leave him Cairo. He needs to calm down" She glanced at Ani "I hope you're planning to apologise"
"Why? I am only speaking the truth"
"It may be what you think but you're wrong" Serena said "listen. The curse is a lot worse than just something there to make evil more evil...it is complicated"
"Explain then" Serena sighed.
"Darrien's suffered through a lot Ani and that man you met? He suffered too the only difference is Darrien had a stronger will and didn't break"
"Pardon?"
"I'm not sure you'd believe me even if I told you, you have to see it to believe it" I looked between them hoping one of them would change the subject and luckily for me someone did.

"well, we aren't here to discuss this. You seem to know a lot about me so tell me miss Dew. What did I miss?"

Hi! Been ages I know! School and stuff but yes updates are now here!

Anyway, sorry for the slow updates. I hope it was worth it.
Do you guys think my writing is improving?

Anyway, enjoy.

Love Evie!