Kadian

The Great Warning

“How much did you hear?” Kadian asked Mohassen as the two headed towards the woods.  

“Most of it.  Was it genuine?”

“What?”

“What you said back there.  Or was it for show?”

Kadian frowned as she pushed a twig.  “Why would I fake something like that?”

“You’d be surprised,” he shrugged.

“I got kind of dramatic, but I meant it.”

“Hm.”

“What?”

“Nothing.  Hope you brought your staff.”

“I did, but I hate it.”  

“If you focus today, I think we can change that,” he said as they approached The Patch.

Kadian stared at a tree.  “About that one day-”

“Water under the bridge.”

“Do you know what day I’m talking about?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.  Are you sure you don’t care?”

“Those weren’t my words.  I said ‘Water under the bridge.’  If you feel like we need to talk about it, we can.”  He looked at her.

Kadian looked at a different tree.  “We can let it go.”

Mohassen nodded.  Kadian didn’t want to be left alone with her thoughts, and suddenly remembered that she had been meaning to him ask a question.  “Zuri reminded me the other day that the Love Fest is coming up next week.”

“Hm.”

“We’re not training that day, are we?”

“Why would we not?”

“Well, it just seems important and-”  

Mohassen groaned. “What, I suppose you want to go?”

“It seems like a pretty big deal, that’s all I’m saying.  Plus, it wouldn’t look good for me not to come after promising that I was going to do better.”

“I see...it also wouldn’t look good for me if I kept you from it.” He furrowed his brow.  “We will have to come up with a compromise.  If you work extra hard today, and make considerable progress with your weapon, you can have that day off.  But I still expect you to wake up early the day after the fest.  Deal?”

Kadian smiled.  “Deal.  You hold it like this, right?”

Her grip was very solid, and her hands were placed correctly. Her thrust was slightly shaky, but she was able to maintain her balance. Mohassen was not confident that Kadian would be even moderately efficient with her staff any time soon.  

“We will cut the practice time in half,” he told her sympathetically when he saw the disappointment in her eyes.

Kadian waved good bye to Mohassen as she trudged over to the hotel.  There was an eerie, yet comforting feel to the tall, grand hotel.  Mattresses, crimson carpets, palatable food, people, the essential central air, showers.  It brought her back to a world that felt remotely like her old one.  But the place would never completely sit well with her- it was an extravagant reminder of all of the things she would never have.

Azurayan nights were normally cool, but this particular night was very warm.  Kadian shoved aside her thickest covers, lying only on thin sheets, and her pillow.  It was never difficult for Kadian to fall asleep, mostly due to her strenuous training, but that night proved to be an exception.  After tossing about hopelessly, she lay flat on her back and stared at her ceiling, wondering if Azuraya was even real.  It could all very well be one great nightmare.  If so, when would she wake up?

Kadian fell asleep with those thoughts in her head, which may or may not have influenced her subconscious.  When Kadian’s eyes opened a little sooner than she had expected, she found herself staring into the delicate face of a doe eyed beauty.  

“Mimosa?”

Mimosa blinked softly, and drew an ebony finger to her pout lips.  She then wrapped her hand around Kadian’s arm, and guided her through an empty, narrow hallway.  

The light was too dim to belong to the moon, but shone just enough for Kadian to make out Mimosa walking with such profound grace.  Kadian had admired her stride the first time she saw her, but it now made her uneasy.  She felt even worse when the two approached a deep orange, ratty wooden door, with a dull, golden knob. Before she could ask about it, Mimosa flung it open, and yanked Kadian’s arm forward, flinging her through.

Kadian screamed as she fell through what she thought to be an endless, orangish red abyss- until she hit the cool Azurayan soil.  Confused, Kadian jumped to her feet and squinted as hard as she could at the villagers, who were all hollering and running frantically.  Growls were overpowering their screams.  Everything was incredibly blurry, and she stopped trying to figure out why when her foot stepped into something wet- and red.  Her jaw went slack as she frantically wiped her foot on a dry patch of dirt.  A man crashed into her as she was doing so, and it hurt more than what felt humanly possible.  Kadian tried to get up, but more and more people ran her way, and their screeches disoriented her.  Things were getting blurrier by the second, and Kadian herself screamed when she saw a large orange mass race towards her with ridiculous speed.  

It paused when a brown rectangle (it seemed to be a child) came in it’s path.  The brown rectangle was suddenly severed into two, with red blotches spraying everywhere as everyone began to fall down.  Kadian had not stopped screaming since she saw the orange figure, and only became louder now.  

Two hands grabbed both of her arm and snatched Kadian back through the door.  

“You guys!”

“Shh...” Mimosa brought a finger to her lips again.

“What was that? What is this, was that real?”

“Tonight,” Mimosa said sadly.

“What’s tonight?”

“Tonight, and you are to tell no one under any circumstances,”  Omose warned sternly.

The two spirits then stared at Kadian solemnly.  “Be ready,” they said gravely as Kadian found herself flying back to the cool, white, sheets.  

For a moment, she was afraid to blink.  When she was able to, she confirmed that she was back in the real Azuraya.  Despite the sunlight and happy, alive voices outside of the hut, Kadian was still too afraid to sit up.  Although she was back, something felt...off.  Kadian stared at a stray beam of sun that had made its way into her hut.  Immediately after, she leapt out of bed and began to dress rapidly.  When she finished and checked her phone, her worst suspicions were confirmed- it was noon.