Tales of Aridia

Aridia

A few days had passed travelling in the white van. Some nights we stopped at motels, others we slept rough. I never complained, I knew I had Max and Jayden to thank for my life. The         Wheels tumbled down the road rapidly, I was woken with a start when we broke into a forestry area. The trees were overstretched and the branches scraped along the windows. Max was asleep and Jayden contently hummed and whistled at the wheel. I climbed through the gap in the front two chairs and sat next to Jayden. "How are you?" he asked, "I'm fine." I said. Jayden looked at my arm, he noticed the blue ring that had appeared. "That's an activated poison," He said. Puzzled, I asked "What's an activated poison?" Jayden ran his fingers over the circle ,concerned he lookd up and said, "It means that Lucy can make the poison hurt you whenever she likes, at the moment she doesn't seem to have done anything."

I looked outside the window, the sky turned a dull musky yellow and the ground started to turn grey. We were no longer on a path, it had broken into mounds of mud and cobblestone broken by roots from overlooking trees. The van stopped suddenly and I was thrown forward, Using magic I suspended myself to prevent my body from breaking through the glass. We had been speeding and the stop had caused Jayden to fly through the window and bounce off the bonnet. The shattered glass flew in my face, leaving millions of tiny cuts. Max was knocked out, he had hit is head on the seats in front of him.

I kicked open the door and ran to Jayden who had curled himself into a ball on the ground. He wheezed and coughed, pulling his arms from underneath his body. He muttered something but it was too quiet to hear. The sky glowed a crimson red and yellow sparks flew above us. Loud booming sounds vibrated the ground and the shots of guns whizzed through the air. It was a battlefield, I could only see the heads of soldiers in the long grass as they ran with their guns held in front of them. "How did we end up here?" I said aloud. Like Jayden had described, It was blood drenched. It must of been Aridia.

A soldier ran in front of us, someone was firing at him from beyond the trees. He used magic to defend himself but was pushed back from the power of the blows. The soldier then became distracted when he saw me crouched by the side of the van. "My queen!" He shouted, before a bullet penetrated his shield, shooting him dead. I screamed as I saw the body drop, but I was stopped suddenly as Max placed his hand over my mouth and him me behind the van. "Where's Jayden?" He whispered. I pointed to the pile of glass, with Jayden lying in the center. "I'll get him, you stay here." Max said.

The sound of bombs put me in a state of paralysis. The ferocity of machinery was mixed with magic...it was extraordinary. It was the most deadly thing I had ever seen. Max skidded around the corner with Jayden lying over his back, "Is he okay?" I asked. "He'll be fine, but we need to go." Max said. I clambered into the van and was about to close the door. Across the grass I heard a small voice pleading for help. I looked and focused on the small girl crouched in the grass. I leaped out of the van and raced through the trees. I dodged bullet fire and placed a shield over my body for protection. I felt more powerful, my magic surged through my body more in Aridia than it ever had before. "Robyn!" Max shouted. I carried on running, paying no attention. The little girl cried and screamed her legs were bleeding and a cut traveled through her eye. The little girl stood in a small white dress holding a teddy bear in her hand. As I approached her the girl screamed louder. She used her powers to put up a shield against me. "It's okay, I'm going to help you," I said calmly, kneeling down to the girls level. Her expression lifted, although still skeptical she slowly slipped her hand through the shield. I lugged the girl onto my hip and prepared to run.

I darted with the girl in my arms across the rubble and debris. Her long brown locks flowed in the breeze and her bright blue eyes cowered from the gunfire. I held a shield over the both of us, it flickered and cracked as we were hit with bullet after bullet. Some shots were not guns, but sparks of magic that twirled and rebounded off the shield. The van had stopped and Max was waiting at the door. I sped up, gripping onto the little girls body. When we reached it I jumped into the back, still carrying the girl in my arms. "Where do we go?!" I shouted at Max who was now at the wheel. "We will keep driving till we reach somewhere quiet!" He shouted back. I cradled the girl who nestled herself in my arms and placed my hand on Jayden's, who drifted in and out of consciousness. He grasped my hand back and stroked it as he fell back asleep.