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Chapter 9: Picking Sides

She opened her eyes excepting to be in heaven or in stone. Instead she was in the cave. It was untouched by the red infection. It was almost like nothing had happened. Senkina looked down to see a very much conscious Lyllan. Lyllan jumped out of Senkina's arms. Lyllan was so mad that if she had Leon Oskaur's powers she would have burned down the whole planet.
"What was that about Leon Oskaur?" Lyllan angrily asked.
"Like I said Lyllan, I was not going to let you put Senkina through that torture. I will protect her like I have and will protect you. Even if it is from each other." Leon Oskaur sternly stated.
"It is to help her..." Lyllan started to reason.
"That is a load of folly. If you wanted to counter her power all you would have to do is speak in English." Leon Oskaur interrupted.
"I usually will not interjected myself in the middle of a fight, but I think that you should tell me what that red stuff stuff was. And possibly tell me what you two are arguing about." Senkina practically shouted.
Leon Oskaur and Lyllan both looked at Senkina in shock. Leon Oskaur was the first to answer the question. "Well it is quite simple. We are arguing about that cursed thing." Leon Oskaur responded in disgust at the dog collar in Lyllan's hands, "It was the subjected me to a month of torture."
"It contains your powers and analyzes your powers to find a counter temporary power we can create." Lyllan explained.
"Ok why is it torturous?" Senkina asked curiously.
"Imagine a ten kilogram weight in your head. It's not bad right. Imagine that ten kilogram weight bringing all of its friends and family to live on your head while every single fiber of your brain wants to explode. That's how it feels with that collar." Leon Oskaur explained. Senkina didn't want to feel that everyday. She understood why Leon Oskaur wanted to stop Lyllan.
Senkina leaned to give Leon Oskaur a sympathy hug. He hugged her back. Lyllan looked annoyed now.
"If we don't use the Martna then we will not have a counter to her power. She doesn't know how to control her powers. This could be dangerous." Lyllan practically begged.
Jickallyn stood up and walked over to Lyllan and stood by her side. "I personally agree with Lyllan. The Martna was made to protect us. And as the saying goes 'growth doesn't come from comfort'" Jickallyn arguing the point further.
Leon Oskaur's hair was flaring into a fiery red. Senkina stood in front of Leon Oskaur. She tried to calm him down. If he didn't calm down then Lyllan's point would have proven itself. Leon Oskaur, probably realizing the same thing, calmed down.
Lyllan looked at them with anger plastered on her face. Senkina stepped forward, "Okay, I understand why you want to put the Martna on me but I think my power is too mild to need a counter." Senkina sheepishly added, she was trying to stop the fighting.
"You are not supposed to have a mild power. You are supposed to be the most powerful Telesa. You were supposed to be this pinnacle of power. But all you can do is translate. I will not accept this." Lyllan shouted at Senkina.
"What are you talking about?" Senkina quietly asked.
"You are the last Telesa that will be coming here. You are the 101th to come here and you are supposed to tip the scales. You were supposed to pick a side and that side would win." Lyllan was crying as she was shouting.
"I couldn't be any of that," Senkina tried to reason, "I am so not able to do all this scale tipping and stuff. I'm just got stuck at the wrong place at the wrong time. I caught a suppressed disease and ended up here."
"The disease is not an accident. You were selected specifically," Jickallyn piped in, "we all were. I heard Our Leader say that to one of his soldiers while they were taking me to Dead Man's Forest."
"How do they select us?" Senkina quizzically asked.
"The disease was made to weaken our protection from The Great Ancestor." Jickallyn explained, "When it hit us we could go through the portal to here. It can only affect the chosen people."
"Did they think you were unconscious or something? Because you overheard a lot." Senkina questioning Jickallyn's story.
"Well, yes. I had to pretend to be unconscious or they would have me stuck with everyone else." Jickallyn answered very matter-of-factly.
"This isn't about Jickallyn and how she got all this information. This fight was about putting the Martna on Senkina so we have a balance for her power." Lyllan shouted.
"Well, for the last time Senkina's power is translation." Leon Oskaur calmly replied.
Lyllan stared at him. Anger painted heavily on her face, but sadness filled her highlighter pink eyes. She dropped the Martna in Leon Oskaur's hands and put her hands in surrender.
"You win" Lyllan quietly said as she walked up the stairs to the outside world. Leon Oskaur walked over the follow her, but stopped because he knew she needed time.
"I'm sorry if I caused any problems." Senkina apologized. Looking away from Leon Oskaur, she walked over to her bed and faced away from Leon Oskaur.
"You didn't do anything." Leon Oskaur's soft voice calm stated. Senkina could tell he was behind her. "Lyllan just wants this war to end. She thought that you would call down the powers of the Great Ancestor to end this war."
This helped Senkina feel better. She turned back to Leon Oskaur and grabbed him in a huge hug. He hugged her back. After they both felt better they separated and sat on their beds.
"So what was that red stuff?" Senkina asked, her curiosity was killing her.
"I am very sorry that I didn't warn you about that." Leon Oskaur apologized and explained, "When a year passes here, the year will restart. That is why we don't age. It is also supposed to wipe out memories, but since we are not from here we automatically see it coming."
"What do you mean 'we can see it coming'?" Senkina asked, feeling very confused.
"If you can see the red coming, you will remember everything. The people that can't see, well, they forget." Leon Oskaur continued to explain.
"That is very interesting. Anything else I should know? Knights come out of trees? The sun is a strawberry? We will be eating the green meat all the time?" Senkina sarcastically replied.
"Well, yes. We will eat that meat a lot. If you want to bathe then you go to the back of the cave. There is a little pond you can wash up in." Leon Oskaur started to list, "We don't leave the cave unless we are being moved to another cave. And lastly have fun, we are stuck here for who knows how long. You might as well relax and make a holiday out of it."
They sat in a comfortable silence for a while. They forget Jickallyn was even there. She was sitting by herself, fiddling with her dress.
"Do you miss your family?" It slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it.
"Not really. There was only one person who loved me there and let's just say we can't see each other even if I went back to my time." Leon Oskaur answered, very robotically.
"Oh that's awful."Senkina replied, "I don't miss my family either."
Leon Oskaur looked at her with a bit of surprise. He didn't ask, probably because he knew the answer. They sat in silence again. Senkina stared at the wall. Her mind drifted to the other Senkina. She came back to reality, ready to ask another question. When she saw herself slowly disappear.