The Art of Rebellion

The City Among The Waves

As was the case in the forest, I'm once again aware I'm dreaming, and once again powerless to stop it. I'm a little boy again, running through the hedge maze of my father's estate. It's an exceptionally large house, as we were a rich family. Happy, too, which was a rare enough thing, even back then.

"Better run Koko! I'm catching up!" my sister giggles from somewhere behind me. Oh, that's right. We're playing tag. We often played within the maze. At eleven, she's four years my senior. My best friend, Alden, must be somewhere near, too. He was never as fast as the two of us, preferring to read rather than run. I mentioned this was a dream, but it is more of a memory. This is the day when everything changed for me.

"You're slower than me, Val," I giggle back, taking a right, and then a swift left, already used to the pathways of the maze within our garden. I reach the center of the garden - a small clearing with a stone fountain in the middle - and I run into the opening of the maze on the opposite side, trying to lose Valerie by making her guess which path I'd taken. However, as soon as I run into the opening among the hedges, I run into a hooded man, and fall to the ground with a thud.

"Tch," he says. "You just had to come here, kid, didn't you?" He bends over, puts his hand over my mouth and starts dragging me away. I kick and attempt to scream, feeling the same fear now as I did when this really happened. It's all so vivid - too vivid. "Anesh forgive me," the man mumbles, then brings his hand down from my mouth to my neck and starts squeezing. I kick as violently as I am, my consciousness quickly fading, but the man is too strong. My short, thin legs do nothing when the hits connect, and my vision starts to fade. Ah, yes, this was the first time my life was in danger. A powerless intruder seems like such a mild thing compared to the things I did afterwards, but at that moment - this moment - he is the most powerful being alive to me.

Suddenly, he groans in pain and lets me go, my body dropping to the ground like a sack of fruit. I gasp for breath, crawling as quickly as I can. When I turn around, I see the man rubbing his head in pain, my sister in front of him, half his size, a fierce look in her eyes, and a large rock in her hands. "Go get daddy!" she screams, but I don't move. I'm too scared to. She swings the rock again, but the man kicks her savagely, knocking her down, then continues to kick at her. She screams in pain, begging him to stop, and I just sit there and look at him, too shocked - too weak, really - to do a thing. He pulls out a large knife and makes a shallow cut across her neck.

"Little bitch," the man says angrily, kicking her again, causing her to spit out blood. "That fucking hurt." Out of nowhere another rock flies toward the man, connecting with his head, too. This one is far too small to do any damage, but it does get his attention. I can't see who is standing among the hedges the man is looking at, but I already know it's Alden. This man is about to hurt him badly, and yet I still don't move. "Another one? You little shits are like weed," the man clutches his knife harder and runs into the maze. Once he's gone, I finally will myself back to my feet, then unsteadily walk toward Valerie, fear clutching my heart. I crouch down and touch her face, making her look at me, her gaze unfocused, eyes like a doll's.

"Get...dad..." she whispers, her words barely audible, and blood spurts out of her neck, where the man cut her. My eyes widen as I look at it, and then I feel power breaking through the fear within me, filling me with energy. Acting on instinct rather than knowledge, I will my sister's shadow to move across her neck and hold the wound, and the bleeding stops. As the shadow retreats, her wound slowly closes up, leaving only a scar behind. "How-" she starts to ask, sitting back up, but the rest of her body isn't healed. She gasps in pain, then falls back down. I don't say anything; Instead, my head snaps toward Alden's direction, which I can feel for some strange reason. I've never recounted this memory so vividly. I can barely use healing magic even now, and I'm not the best sensor, so why was I able to do both as a mere child of seven?