*The Chronicles of F.R.E.E. Atania's Knight - Raquel Festow* Part 1

Chapter One - Disappearance

*Raquel Festow POV*

I stretched my arms upwards and clasped my hands together, my eyes closed concentrating on the delicate, warm breeze as it caressed my skin. Taking a slow, deep breath, I felt my spine stretch out as I bent at the hips, keeping my arms over my head and my legs apart, to wrap my fingers around my ankle. Relaxing into the new position, my muscles eased slightly as they adjusted to the pose I had never manage to perfect before. My forehead touched my knee and I smiled slightly, the sense of accomplishment washing over me, I had mastered it. I felt my Aura shimmer in delight.
"Well done, Raquel! Very good!" I hear my friend, Clara, squeal excitedly, clapping her hands together.
My smile changed into a grin as I straightened myself up, lowered my arms to my sides and opened my eyes.
Clara was sitting under the zufploom tree, leaning against the bright pink trunk, and playing with the golden leaves and blue flowers on the dangling branch in front of her. Her long golden hair in a braid, linked with purple flowers, hanging over her shoulder, her sapphire eyes focused and pointed nose wrinkled in concentration as she twiddled with the branch with her long, elegant fingers. Her white dress surrounding her petite figure as she sat on her knees and her gentle Aura of gold hung around her.
I was one of the few people in the whole of Atania who could see Aura's. It was a special gift unique to our Realm and considered particularly powerful, especially because I came from a long line of Aura Readers, whereas most on the Realm of Atania were trained. There is an Aura around every person you meet. It's like a hazy cloud that surrounds them and you can tell a lot about a person by their Auras. There were three main colours, gold was the purest and meant the person was kind, caring and that they could be trusted. Red meant that the person was angry, broken and fragile, they could easily get upset if you didn't say the right things so you had to proceed with caution around them. They can be changed to gold over time, but it took a lot of hard work and constant supervision, and they were much more likely to change to purple. Purple was dangerous. The darker the purple, the further away you stayed. Purple meant that they had been disconnected from their soul and didn't have even a slither of kindness in them. They were filled with hatred, vengance, fury and jealousy. However, there was also the green Aura. The green Aura basically removed that person's ability to do anything on their own free will, meaning they had to do other people's bidding. The darker the shade of the Aura, the more the person was in danger of slipping to the next colour. Only those who had the power to see the Aura's could change a person's Aura to green, and it was used as a punishment on the Realm.
I picked up my thin, white dress and pulled it over my long brown hair, pulling my own knee length braid out once the dress was over my shoulders. "Not doing your Release today, then?" I cocked an eyebrow at her and put my hands on my hips, smirking.
"You know I prefer doing my Releases in the early morning sun's." Clara said dismissively, waving her hand like she was swatting a fly. "I have no idea why you don't do the same."
"I find it too cold in the mornings." I shrugged and walked over to sit by her. "In the evening, the grass is warm to the touch, the breeze is gentle and the sun's are brighter and more penetrating."
"Yeah, ok." Clara rolled her eyes as I sat down. "Here, made you something while you were busy."
She took my hand and slipped on the zufploom bracelet she had been making. I admired it against my slightly tanned wrist, smiling happily.
"Ric iai," I thanked her and gave her a hug which she returned, wrapping her arms around my midriff.
"Pzaxlen, fazeeb." She pulled back and beamed at me, her eyes reducing to slits from how big her smile was.
"It's good to hear you both using the old tongue." A voice came from behind me.
We both twisted round to see my father approaching with his work bag slung over his back. How I hadn't seen my Aura's latch to him before turning round, I'll never know. People's Aura's latch to other Aura's of the people they care about. Family are latched to each other, kind of like the umbilical cord, and unbreakable apart from death. But the most important latch is to your Soulmate. Those latches are thick and most noticable, but can be broken off easily if they're unfaithful or their feelings for each other and Aura change.
"Father!" I squealed and leapt to my feet to greet him.
"My biqirez!" He sighed, happily, pulling me into a tight hug. "Have you just finished your Releases for today?"
I nodded, vehemently. "Clara made me a bracelet. Isn't it beautiful?" I showed off my bracelet to my father.
"It is wonderful. Such excellent crafting, Clara." My father grinned at Clara, who blushed proudly. My father's Aura glowed brightly as he gazed proudly at her.
"Ric iai," she mumbled, shyly.
"Your mother is preparing dinner now," my father turned to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. "Clara, will you be joining us tonight?"
"Oh, yes please!" She squealed and both Clara and I joined hands, jumping up and down on the spot in excitement.
My father laughed. "You best go and tell your mother then, Clara. Are you wanting to stay the night too?" He readjusted his work sack across his back, frowning slightly from the weight.
"If that is ok?" Clara murmured, nodding slightly.
"Off you dash then, you two. I will see you at home." My father heaved his sack further up over his shoulder and walked off towards home, waving back at us.
We waved him off until he disappeared around a corner into the woods. Clara and I looked at each other, eyes sparkling and toothy grins pasted on both our faces.
"Come on!" Clara grabbed my hand and started to pull me towards her house. "Let's go ask my naraz!"
We giggled as we ran over the fields of reeking ploddips, my mothers favourite cooking ingredient, back towards Clara's village. Luckily, we came from neighbouring villages. Mine was Wacchica and hers was Alzicante. Only a field of chreek seperated our villages.
It was rumoured that when the field of chreek turned bright yellow from it's usual brilliant purple, then there was danger somewhere in the Realm of Atania. It was supposedly planted there by the protectors of the Realm as a warning for us all if there was ever any dangers. The Elder's of the villages swore by the circle that, when the Great War of Atania happened almost twenty five years ago, the field shone so brightly, that it illuminated the entire night sky. That is also the reason why chreek had been used to create Portal Bracelets back in the old days because of it's protective properties. Of course, Portal Bracelets were no longer in circulation after the War. They were banned as a precaution to stop anything like that happening ever again.
The protectors of the Realms supposedly used to live on Atania in my home village, Wacchica. One of them was an outsider to the Realm, a Realm Jumper called Rebecca Donton. She had arrived on Atania after surviving Deathea, and was known for being the only person to do so. She was scarred all over and very dangerous. It was said she had been the first person to have a purple Aura on the Realm, that turned red after she met her wife, Natalia Breenio. Natalia had shown Rebecca how life wasn't always horrible, that it can be fun and that there were nice people in the Realm's, you just had to find them. They both left Atania and fought the Order on Neonia, Cristis and Secrunerth, saving the Realms from their rule and rescuing their people. After they got married, they were known to everyone as the knights of FREE. Fighters of the Realms, Explorers of the Entities. It was said that they were still alive today and lived on Secrunerth, watching over all the Realms and stopping the Order from ruling over us all. I used to believe the stories my naraz told me every night before bed, but one day, my other best fazeeb, Xavier, told me that it was all lies. That no one survived Deathea, the Order of Verdicts prison Realm, and that it had been made up to give the people of the Realms hope.
The biege, circular huts of Alzicante came into view, along with its residents in their white smock dresses and plain shirts and brown trousers. It was nearing the end of the day and people were starting to head home with their bags on their backs or baskets on their heads. We zigzagged around them as we made our way through the streets towards Clara's home.
"Raquel! Clara!"
We skidded to a halt as we heard our names called out and turned to see Xavier running towards us, waving energetically, with his work bag hung over his shoulder.
His short, wavy brown hair bounced as he ran towards us, his toothy smile glinted in the setting suns and his grey eyes creased in the corners. His open neck shirt was loose over his toned chest and arms, and his pale brown trousers were too short, stopping above his ankle. He wore workers boots like my father but in black leather rather than brown, and his golden Aura was so bright, it was almost blinding. Xavier was a year older than us, at sixteen, so he had already been told his duties by the Elder of Alzicante. He has been a Cart Builder now for almost six months and, although we were happy the he had been given his duty, we missed his jokes and laughter. He was the closest thing to a brother for Clara and I, as we were the only child of our families. Xavier was the middle child of eight boys.
"Phew, what you girls running for? Stolen something?" He smirked, one hand around his shoulder strap while the other rested on his hip.
"Clara is going to ask her mothers permission to stay at mine tonight." I explained, grinning at him. "Why don't you join us for dinner too, Xavier?"
"Awww," Xavier put his free hand on his chest, looking touched by my invite. "That's so nice of you, Raquel, but sadly, I have to help papa with the dinner for my brothers. Next time, give me a heads up?" He winked at me, flashing me another toothy smile.
I laughed. "I'll bear that in mind for future reference."
"Ric iai." He thanked me as he rolled his eyes theatrically at Clara, who giggled at him. "It's my rest day tomorrow, want to do something?"
Clara and I screamed and leapt at Xavier in delight. We had always missed his rest days up until now, and it would be wonderful to have a day together just like before.
Xavier chortled as we all jumped up and down together, our arms linked at the elbows. When we released him, he pushed a hand through his hair and grinned at us widely.
"Take that as a yes then?" He chuckled and we nodded at him. "Alright, I'll meet you on the chreek field at first sun's rays tomorrow. Don't be late!"
"We won't. See you tomorrow, Xavier." Clara and I both cried after him as he ran back towards his hut, waving back at us.
We finally reached Clara'a hut and flung the thick curtain out of the way as we came in.
"Mama?" Clara called out.
"Just a minute." Her mother, Salihn, sang back.
She emerged from her bedroom tying her hair back. She winked at me when she noticed me.
"Well, well, well. Relxa, Raquel!" Salihn greeted me, warmly. "How are you?"
I bowed my head slightly to her, smiling. "I am very well, ric iai. I was hoping Clara could stay at mine tonight?"
"Oh, I don't know about that..." Salihn looked away, a finger on her chin, deep in thought. Clara and I looked at each other with worry before...
"Of course, she can! I'm not going to say no to two best fazeeb's having a night together. Besides, I may have a fazeeb over myself. I haven't seen Clemency Moreno in years! It's so good to finally have her back home."
"Clemency Moreno's back?!" I blanched.
The Moreno family had a high reputation for being the ones to turn to when you have any troubles. Clemency Moreno disappeared just after we had been born when her mother, Christina, passed away. Penelope Moreno had been eagerly awaiting her grandaughters return. While Penelope was over a hundred years old, she still looked like she was in her forties. Rumours said that she used to be a Realm Jumper with Rebecca Donton before she settled and had Christina.
"We have to stop by and visit her!" Clara exclaimed, with me nodding in agreement.
"Why not head over there now?" Salihn squealed and the three of us ran out of the hut.