The Last Defender (FINISHED)

Chapter 14: The Stranger

I could see it happening.

Astravia HQ is a very, very tall building in a city of skyscrapers. When I say skyscrapers, I mean Empire-State-Building-skyscrapers. When I say very, very tall building, I mean TWICE that tall. Now, my room was on a relatively high level, but I still liked looking out the (forcefield) window, because it could zoom. Man, I love technology. At the end of the day, I would usually just watch everyone go about their lives until my eyes grew heavy and I had to go to sleep.

That's probably a good thing.

One day, after training, I had nothing much to do because I'd finished the books Sky had gotten me, and I was staring out the window, waiting for nightfall. While this city was literally alien to me, it was stunningly beautiful and felt strangely familiar, despite the fact that I'd never lived in a big city before.

I never really saw anything significant happen outside Astravia HQ, which was why I was caught by surprise when I noticed and abrupt movement in the corner of my eye. When I looked closer, I saw that a girl, who seemed to be dressed in leaves, and even from a distance looked sort of familiar, had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. As I watched, she collapsed in front of the building.

Immediately, my upbringing kicked in and I jumped up, ready to sprint to her rescue. but as soon as I was out in the hallway I remembered I'd have to take the elevator and there was no sprinting involved in that.

Once the elevator had arrived, I hurried inside, walking right into Raleigh, who I hadn't seen until then.
"Really?" He said. "Again?"
"Sorry," I muttered. I was about to press the button to go to the first floor, when I saw that someone has already pressed it. I looked up at Raleigh. "Where the hell are you going at this hour? And why are you taking the elevator?" Raleigh liked to take the "easy" way out- jumping out a window, then activating his flight pack on the way down.
Raleigh shrugged. "Where do you think I'm going." I didn't have to answer. He was going to get pizza.
"As for taking the elevator... I have literally no clue. Anyway, I can ask you the same question? Shouldn't you be like... studying? Or sleeping? Or whatever it is you usually do after training?"
"Well, I saw some-" My sentence was cut short by the elevator stopping at ground level.
"I'll just show you," I said, "we're going the same way anyway.

The girl had collapsed and was now unconscious on the ground. Her hair as pitch-black and somewhat spread around her. She was wearing, as I had noticed earlier, a very simplistic outfit made of leaves, although it seemed to be as wearable as the more modern clothes, by which I mean that they didn't seem to be near falling apart at any moment like you'd expect from clothing made of leaves.
She was short. Really short. I wasn't entirely sure at the time, but she seemed to be shorter than me.

As for facial features...

"She looks just like you!" Raleigh, who had crouched by her side as soon as he had spotted her to check her vitals, exclaimed.
"Is she alive?"
He nodded.
I gave vent to a relieved sigh. "What should we do with her?"
"We should take her inside." He picked up the girl and, closely followed by me, brought her to the medical bay, where he told me to stay by the girl while he went to find Skyal.

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When I woke up the next morning, I found myself beside the stranger's bed. After I'd been reassured the girl would most likely be just fine, I'd sat beside the bed and apparently, eventually fallen asleep. I looked up to find myself looking right into the stranger's eyes.

"Uuuh... hi," I muttered.
"Morning," she answered. There was something strange about her voice, but I couldn't place what it was.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Exhausted. Mind you, I didn't expect anything less."
"Why?"
"Where am I, exactly?" The stranger asked, ignoring my question.
"You're in Astravia. You don't have to worry. You're save here."
"Astravia... where's Astravia?"
"You're not... you're not from Ionica?"
"Ionica? This is Ionica? Perfect!" Hopefully you can understand that I was VERY confused.
"What do you mean? Why did you come here?"
The stranger looked at me for a moment, as if trying to decide how much she should tell me. Her eyes, I thought as she looked at me, they look so familiar...
"I was in some trouble," the stranger finally told me. "I'm from Aeles. I have the ability to teleport. Some Aelens are able to teleport to different planets, but not more than once. From what I've heard, most don't even survive. But I took my chances, and, well, here I am."
"You have the ability to teleport?" I was completely amazed. "That's pretty neat."
She nodded. "But as I said, I won't be able to do it again, at least not for a little while. This took too much out of me."
"Wow," I said simply.

"Good morning, Stephanie." I turned suddenly to find Skyal standing right behind him. I hadn't noticed him until now.
"Sky? How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to hear Aeles mentioned and to notice that you and this girl understand each other."
"What? You mean you can't understand her?"
Skyal shook his head. "I think you don't notice it, but you two were just speaking the Aelen language."
I looked at Skyal with a puzzled look, and then back at the girl. That couldn't be right. There was no way this girl was speaking a different language. I'd never learned to speak a language besides English, let alone speak it fluently. But when the girl spoke again, I knew Skyal was right, even though I couldn't explain it.

"Ti'qu fiami 'on e'sai?" the girl asked. But I knew exactly what she meant. She'd asked, "who is your friend?"
"Ato Skyal e'sai," I answered, without even having to think about it. It meant: "he is Skyal."

"Why can I understand her?" I asked Skyal, completely confused.
"I... am not entirely sure..." he answered. However, I could tell he was hiding something. Sadly, while I can read people's faces, I cannot read minds.

Finished: May 24 2017