No More Choices (Void and Light Book One)

Chapter Twenty-Two

~Akirya~

Pro tip: never travel through a portal without knowing what you're doing or where you're going to land. In my case it seems that wherever I went in the cosmos, I'd be clumsy and end up on my ass in one way or another. I landed in a heap on the ground that felt like stone. I groaned at the painful impact and patted the ground. Yup. Definitely concrete.

Two sets of hands picked me up from the ground and I looked into the faces of two very grumpy looking men. They wore golden armor that looked like it was straight out of the medieval period. We were standing on a stone path that led deep into the woods. They gave me no smiles, only looked at me and then set me down. We were in a semi-forested area. Large trees shaded us from the sun. everything around us seemed to shine and sparkle. The entire space felt like it was breathing but, something about it gave me discomfort. It was almost as if something was watching from just beyond sight.

The grumpiest looking one, I was going to call him Mustache, cleared his throat. "State your business."

"Uh.."

"Well?" the smaller, younger looking one with bright red hair said. I think it was an attempt at sounding manly but came out like he was trying to hold in a burp. I couldn't stop the giggle that came from me before it was too late. He looked at me like he wanted to kill me and or die of embarrassment.

"Do you have permission to use a portal?" Mustache asked impatiently.

"Yes, I came through with some other people."

Mustache looked around and the redhead snickered. "Look boss, she must have hit her head too hard."

"Akiriya! Where are you?" Someone shouted from a distance.

I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted, "I'm over here, please help!"

"Who in the name of Helios are you yelling to?" Mustache questioned.

Carrot top crossed his arms and smirked, "Probably more trespassers."

There was a rustling in the brush behind us and out popped everyone else.

Tanda gave the men a look and they immediately bowed. "Councilwoman Tanda is this girl with you?" Mustache asked.

Tanda merely nodded as if they weren't worth her time. "Come children, to the palace we go, let us not allow ignorance to prevent us from doing so."

We walked past the guards and the redhead muttered something that I couldn't hear. I reached into one of my pants pockets and pulled out the small blade that I had been carrying with me. I focused on it and tried to do something I had never thought I would ever do, when I saw it spark a few times I spun back and chucked the now flaming weapon at him.

I watched as it grazed his cheek and cut some of the hair on the side of his head.

"What the hell!" He grabbed the side of his face and glared at me. I smiled at him and walked away to catch up with everyone.

Yama was the first one that I looked for. He was being carried by Jarek and Calvin. The black veins in his skin now reached higher onto his body and I was scared we were moving too slow to get him to safety.

Saffron and Zelisa were talking with Tanda, or rather, Tanda was talking to Saffron and Zelisa was trying to be included. I got the idea that Tanda wasn't a fan of Zelisa.

There was something about this woman that put me on edge.

Emory came to walk beside me and grabbed my hand. "Hey,"

"Hey." I glanced at her and smiled. "You look worried."

"Well, I am."

"Is there something that I should be concerned about?"

I looked up at everyone else ahead of us and then looked away. This was a new chapter in my life. I wonder what my Aunt would say about all of this. Would she think I had gone missing? What about Clarice? What would I do without her? I accidentally squeezed Emory's hand. I felt a lot of worry inside of me but it didn't all feel like my own. I rubbed at my chest and felt a dull ache.

We continued to walk in silence through the woods until we finally came to the end. The dull ache that I had felt before was now worse and it felt like a physical weight on my chest. My eyes landed on a palace. It was marble white and sparkled like the forest had; as if light was living inside of it.

"Whoa."

"Welcome home, Akiriya." Emory whispered beside me.

Home.

I looked at everyone else and they were all looking at me. Including Tanda. Especially Tanda.

Her smile was wicked and her eyes that had been so dark and beautiful looked evil and cruel.

Something came over me and all of the color around me muted. Everyone had disappeared. Everyone but Tanda. She stood before me but something about her was different. Darker. Her voice was cold, tone gleeful. "Dear princess, you've dropped your crown." She held a black crystal crown. Her dark dress was torn and blue and black flames surrounded us. The air was polluted with ash and smoke.

"How could you do this?" I yelled, clutching the black sword in my hand. I glanced down in shock, why was I holding a sword? I was in an armor of sorts, it was black and silver speckled with gold. The skin tight material felt light but it looked strong. I looked strong. Blue fire sparked from my sword. The area around us was destroyed. The moon was full and it was eclipsed. The shadows around us seemed alive.

What the hell was going on?

Tanda laughed, "You truly think you can fight me? And win?" she threw the crown in her hand out of sight. Silver tattoos covered her arms and she leapt at me. I brought my sword up and prepared to strike.

"Yes, I do."

I woke up with a cold cloth on my head. I was in a soft plush bed and it was completely silent.

What had happened? Hadn't we just gotten to the end of the woods? Why was I in bed? I sat up and saw that my clothes had changed too. I was now in a deep blue jumpsuit and felt like a cloud. I paused. If my clothes had been changed then the box that I had was gone. I had to find it. There was an urgency in me that I knew wanted me to find it. The ring on my finger from Emilio warmed. I looked at it and calmed.

The door to the large white room opened and in came a woman with flowing brown hair and wise looking eyes. She was shorter than me and her clothing made her look important. She wore a white and gold pantsuit like outfit and held a heavy looking book.

"Good you're awake," she made her way over and began to pull me out of the bed. She paused and looked at my face, inspecting me, You really do look like her." she shook her head, "We don't have a lot of time." She began to pull me out the door and into a massive hallway. We turned down a million different hallways before I was able to stop her.

"Wait," she stopped her fast paced walk and looked at me with mild irritation.

"What?"

"Where are we going?" she turned away and walked faster until we made it to a set of large ornate doors.

She turned towards me and took a deep breath. "It's time for you to meet the council and Academic nine, ma'am." she gestured at the doors. "When these open you need to walk in and be ready."

I looked at the doors, "Ready for what? And who are you? Where are my friends?"

She sighed and looked at the doors, "Just...whatever they ask you, be honest. They just want the truth."

Before I could ask anything more, she walked away and the doors opened.