Origins of a Nomad

Part Five: Seeker of Change

Part Five: Seeker of Change

The air around me was cool, the ground covered in lush green grass. I could hear the songs of the birds coming from the trees that surrounded me. The sun hung low in the sky, completing its journey for the day. The wind whipped through the trees as clouds blew in, the once blue sky now gray. I looked around, trying to find somewhere to go. All of a sudden I heard my name being called just out sight.

I hesitated at first, unsure if I was being tricked, or just hearing things.

"Elise, come on!" I stopped dead, this was all a trick, I took a deep breath and wished I was awake. This dream was becoming a nightmare.

"Elise, didn't you hear me?" Mai questioned as she stepped out from behind a tree.

I shook my head and started walking backward, away from her. The look on her face went from being happy to hurt. But she wasn't real, she wasn't here, and neither was I.

"I'm sorry," was all I could say before I started to run. It hurt more than anything to ignore her calls as I ran through the trees, unsure where I was even going.

The next thing I knew I was running in the sand, the forest I'd been in moments before gone. The Ruined started to rise from the sand, each echoing the same word, "Unworthy".

"Elise, we found it!" Mai stood in front of the Ruined, who turned to dust as Mai lifted The Change into the air.

"Can you believe it? We did it!" I shook my head, tears filling my eyes.

"You're not real," I whispered, walking towards the phantom that had taken on Mai's likeness. I wanted it to stop. I reached for The Change in her hands and threw the sphere away. Mai slapped me across the face, but I felt nothing. She looked me as if we'd never met before and I was the most disgusting human being she'd ever laid eyes on. I felt my heart break, even knowing this wasn't real, that look cut deep. I had truly failed her.

"I hate you," the words cut deeper than any knife. I felt myself shake my head, trying to beg her for forgiveness, but before I could that, the world around me faded away.

Once again I was alone, but this time in my old room. I could hear an argument going on downstairs, and walked out to find my mother and father screaming at one another. Kurt and Damian stood nearby, both unsure if they should stay or go. I wished they were gone, and they were. I had some control over this nightmare. This culmination of every poor decision, or mistake I'd made in the past few months away.

"I'm not who you wanted me to be, and for that, I'm not sorry," My parents stopped yelling once they realized I was in the room.

"We gave you everything, you could have been anything! You chose to limit yourself running off into the desert with no backup plan for what happens when your little quest blows up in your face," My father shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at me. My mother tried to retort but she simply folded her arms and nodded in agreement with him.

"I allowed you an opportunity that many would kill for, and you simply threw it away, and what do you have to show for it?"

"Nothing," I shrugged, "Nothing at all. I lost the person I cared for most, I almost had what she wanted most in this world, and it was ripped away from me," I shook my head, unsure what else to say.

"You're a failure, and you've never handled that well. We gave you a foolproof plan to prevent this, to prevent you from feeling this sense of failure I can see all over your face. Obviously, you can't just take what's given to you. I've never understood why you always make life so much harder for yourself than it has to be!"