A Parallel Universe

Chapter 9

"How is our heroine doing," Aaren asked as I walked down the stairs.

"I would be doing fine if you stopped nagging me," I told him.

"And how would he stop doing that? Nagging is his speciality," Mayla said as she entered through the hollow tree's opening.

"You are finally here! Where have you been," Aaren asked his sister.

"Just walking around. Nothing important," Mayla nswered him.

"If you say so," Aaren said.

I was about to say something when I heard loud noises coming from outside. It sounded like someone was throwing things on the ground.

"What was that," Skyla asked as she came out of her room. Her hair was a mess on top of her head and I guessed she probably just woke up.

"I have no idea. We should probably go check it out," Aaren said with a hint of excitement.

"Hey trouble boy, we can't just get out there without knowing what is attacking," Mayla told him.

"I think we should leave it to Cyan and Cyrus. They lived here all or most of their lives and they probably know what is going on," Skyla said.

"Maybe they are just practicing or playing together," I offered.

"Don't think so. They probably would have told us if that was the case," Mayla replied.

"So we will just stay here and wait till someone comes in and enlightens us," Aaren asked.

"It is for the best. We can still look outside the window you know," I told him.

"Now that is fun! I am going if anyone wants to come they are free to," Aaren said as he dashed across the hall to the nearest window. I ran after him. The window was a gap in the tree. It was covered up with translucent leaves. When I looked outside I saw........creatures made of fire. There were about six or seven of them. They looked like bears, except that instead of fur there were curling strands of fire and their eyes looked like hardened lava. Then I spotted Cyan, he looked all battered up and bruised. Where was Cyrus though? They never left each other. Maybe Cyrus was out there somewhere and I didn't see him.

"We have to help him," Aaren said.

"And how exactly do we do that? Run outside and start screaming at the creatures to obey?"

"That is a good idea but I have a better one. Mayla could restrain those creatures for a while and buy Cyan sometime so that he figures out how he can defeat them. After all, fire is his element."

"This isn't really bad but it has one minor flaw. Mayla's energy will run out from controlling all these plants. It would probably take her time to regain it. Then what do we do?"
"I am sure that by that time Cyan would have defeated them or Cyrus would come and help."

"You are right."

We went to Mayla and explained everything to her. She told us that she could control the plants from inside the tree without going out.

"Do you know where Cyrus is? He should help us too," I asked Mayla before she started calling the plants.

"I don't know where he is but I do know a way to communicate with him. Fill a bowl with water and then call his name into it." she said that as she was controlling the plants. The branches of the trees started to lengthen, the leaves thickened and twisted together, the vines started to crawl on the ground toward the creatures, and then all at once they attacked. Everything under Mayla's control reached for the creatures and grasped them from many different directions. The creatures broke from their grip easily, but before they could attack Cyan again, others held them.

I knew that Myla wouldn't be able to hold them for long. I needed to get Cyrus. Water could extinguish fire, that was what we learned in class. I quickly grabbed a bowl made of twigs and filled it with some water that Mayla and Cyrus had brought. I dipped my head in or I should rather say my mouth and nose and called Cyrus's name. I backed away from the bowl to catch my breath. I went to check on Mayla and as I thought, she was losing energy and Aaren was steading her.

"Can you hold a little longer," I asked her.

"I.....am not......sure......but I will........try," she said through ragged breath.

Where was Cyrus? He had to come! Mayla and Cyan needed him! I looked out the window, Mayla's plants were starting to weaken and Cyan was starting to get exhausted.

"What happened? Why did you call me," someone said behind me. I jumped and turned to find Cyrus standing in front of me. How did he get here without passing the fiery creatures?

"That is called water teleportation. When did those Pogans attack," he asked.

"If Pogans mean fiery creatures then that was about ten minutes ago. Mayla is holding the creatures but she is losing power and as you can see, Cyan won't stand a chance against them."

"I better help them."
He said that and dashed outside the tree without even waiting for me to answer or even tell him what was the plan we had in mind. That boy was getting on my nerves! I watched as the plants returned to their original lengths and shapes and the creatures started running toward Cyan. Cyan clearly attempted something to hold them but judging from how the creatures were still ready to attack him, it wasn't working. Then at the last possible second before the creatures grabbed hold of him, a water dome appeared around the area he was standing on. The creatures - Pogans - turned their attention to the Newcomer. Water orbs with different shapes and sizes shot toward the creatures but immediately evaporated when they came in contact with the Pogans' skin. Another law that we learned in school was: heat could vaporize water. This clearly wasn't going to work. We needed to get out there and defeat the creatures ourselves but how? A flash dragged me out of my daze. I looked over again to the Pogans and there was a pile of ashes where one of them used to stand. Cyrus figured a way to defeat them! One of the Pognans bounced at Cyrus and extended its fiery claws in his direction. At this moment I thought that Cyrus was going to get hurt or even die and Aaren, Skyla, and I would have to defeat the Pogan by ourselves. But once again I was proven wrong, Cyrus extended his hand toward the pouncing creature and touched it. His hand turned red then blue and the creature roared in pain as it started losing ignite and then it gradually turned to a pile of ashes. Something was different about Cyrus but I couldn't really put my hands on it. Cyan was now on the ground; he probably used all of his energy and was unconscious. It only took a few minutes for Cyrus to defeat the creatures and then he grabbed Cyan and walked toward the entrance of the tree. I rushed toward the entrance and grabbed Cyan as soon as Cyrus stepped into the tree.

"You are welcome," Cyrus said. He was probably upset that I didn't thank him for saving us. I took Cyan and went up to my room and placed him on the bed. I went down again to check on Mayla but she wasn't there. Aaren probably took her to rest upstairs. Now where was Cyrus? I wanted to talk with him about what just happened.