Chapter Two

Chapter 2: Worlds Collide

Cevlon - Haven:


   “Did you here?”
   “I heard that one look at her will kill you.”
   “She’ll gouge out your eyeballs and cook them in a stew for dinner!”
   “She’s a savage!”
   “She doesn’t deserve to live to see the Earth Above!”
   “No! Not in front of the children!”

   The bounty hunter shook his head and laughed. Stories like this had circulated through the whole city over night. Ever sense she had first arrived.
No one was sure what to do with her really.
But he knew exactly what they were going to do.

   “Lieutenant Kade!”
The boy with the brown hair and blue eyes ducked behind a wall to keep from being seen by the Elite Warriors.
   “Orders from the Council.” A younger solider handed over a scroll. The dark haired lieutenant opened it and read it quickly. He grunted.
   “Alright. She’ll die by my hand at first light.”
The younger one nodded and they both left.
The hunter let out his breath and leaned his head against the wall.
   “For the love of Eleyos!” He groaned. Pushing away from the wall he dashed down the alleys and tried to avoid the torch light.
Glancing up at the night sky he noticed the stars that fell every night.
   He couldn’t let them kill her.
   Not yet anyway.
   He had to know what it was like. To live down there. What the people were like. How they lived. What they ate. Everything. He wanted to know everything.
   And he wouldn’t, if they killed her before he had a chance to talk to her!

.:+:.

   Elowen groaned as she came too.
Glancing around she found that she was in a jail cell.
   “Great!” She said. Throwing herself back onto the hard bed. “From the pan and into the fire.... Or something like that. I don’t think this is how I’m suppose to save the world.”
She quickly stopped talking once she saw light spill down the hall as a door opened.
Sitting up she made sure Stargazer was still tucked under the high collar of her long tunic.
A nurse came in with a bowl of water and a rag.
   “Ah.” She said quietly as the guard opened the cell door. “You’re awake I see.”
She sat down on a wood stool next to the bed and dipped the rag in the water.
   “Good. Now just hold still and I’ll tend to that head wound.”
Elowen held perfectly still. She assumed she had been caught by the Infidels. Though everything was a little foggy. All she could remember was the feeling of the wind whipping across her cheeks.
   “Where am I?” She ventured to ask. The guard outside the cell scoffed.
   “Where do you think?”
She returned his icy glare. She saw hatred, anger, and even fear in his eyes.
   “No where good.” She answered. She had quick wits and she knew how to play someone. It was one of her tricks she had picked up.
   “But it seems that I’ve forgotten a few things due to the head injury. So why don’t you enlighten me....Please?”
The guard seemed to indulge her. Though not with out a smirk on his face.
   “You’re in Haven of course. Stupid girl.”
   “Enough!” The nurse’s sharp voice shut him up. “For the love of Eleyos leave the poor thing alone.”
   “But that’s exactly what it is!” The guard argued. “A thing! It’s lucky if it’ll last the night.”
The nurse rose quickly and calmly and gathered her things. The guard opened the cell door for her and quickly shut it. Then left as if Elowen was some kind of disease.
Elowen couldn’t take it. Not anymore.
   She broke down and cried. Right then and there. Not that she thought anyone was watching.
She wished Lorem was with her, but she knew it was wise to keep him under her long tunic in Stargazer.
   “So...what’s this about saving the world?”
The hunter came out of the shadows on the other side of the hallway and gazed at the small girl locked behind bars.
She had on a purple dress that fell just below her knees. And she had on mid-calf tall boots with black leggings. She wore a belt loosely around her hips along with a sash, and he noticed several pouches that could hold lots of things. The purple dress had gold trim on the bottom, the neckline, and the edge of the sleeves that stopped a little ways before her wrists.
Her light ginger hair was a bit messy and her face was flushed, but all in all he thought she wasn’t bad to look at.

   She rubbed her eyes and peered up at him.
   “Huh?” She asked. Still a little startled by the fact that he had appeared out of no where with out the help of magic.
   “You were just saying something about saving the world. What from?”
She hesitated.
   “Why don’t we start from the beginning?” She suggested. She had no clue who this guy was! She wasn’t going to tell him!
The boy shrugged. She took note of the armor he wore on his upper body, yet he only wore leather trousers and boots from the waist down. She also noticed the weapons he carried.
A two handed sword hung at his side, and a quiver full of arrows and the unstrung bow was strapped to his back by a thick leather belt.
She was almost defenseless with out her staff. Which was no where to be seen.
   Almost.

   “What’s your name?” She asked. The boy cocked his head.
   “You first.”
   “Elowen. Or Ellie if you want.” She said quietly as she rubbed her arms against the chilly wind coming through the open window.
   “Dreyden.” He answered after a moment.
She looked up and met his bright blue eyed gaze.
   “Nice to meet you Drey.” She said with a smile.
   “Like wise....Ellie.”
She chuckled and gazed out the window. There was the same stars in the sky.
   “Am I really in Haven?” She asked.
Dreyden grunted with a nod.
   “Yup. I’d say welcome to Cevlon, but I don’t think that’s appropriate.”
She laughed. At least she’d have a little joy before her execution in the morning.
Drey rocked back and forth on his heels for a moment before groaning.
   “Ok so I have to ask.” He started with a look in his eye that reminded Ellie of a boy with great anticipation.
She turned to him and gave him her full attention.
   “Ok. Ask away.”
And he did.
   “Are you a Magic Barer?”
She chuckled at the name.
   “We’re called Magi. And yes....well...sort of. I’m really just an apprentice.”
   “Oh...well the stories say you can kill someone just by looking at them!”
Elowen burst out laughing.
Drey was so shocked by her reaction and he was a little confused.
   “What?” He asked. But she was laughing too hard to hear him.
   “What?!” He repeated.
She finally calmed down enough to breath.
   “I’m-I’m sorry, but that’s-the most...ridicules thing I have ever heard!”
Seeing his slightly confused face she went on ahead and explained.
   “Do you know how much energy that would take?! And not to mention dangerous! I mean yes. Technically I could do that. But only if I wanted to die. Casting a spell with out even uttering the words is extremely dangerous!” She laughed again. “So who ever made up that story really stretched the truth!”
She shook her head and couldn’t get rid of the smile on her face.
   “Oh...” Was all Drey could say. Not that she could blame him. He had never encountered a Magi in his life!
   “So what’s it like?” She asked, crossing her legs underneath herself. “Living here. In the sky.” She clarified.
Drey chuckled.
   “I don’t...I’ve never had to explain it before.” He started as he starred down at his boots. “It’s...It’s freedom...for the most part anyways. For all of us, our home is in the sky, on the back of a yerto. Soaring through the sky like there’s no limit.”
   “What’s a yerto?”
Dreyden’s jaw dropped.
   “What? Don’t-don’t tell me you’ve never seen a yerto before?” He couldn’t believe that the Earth Below was that different!
   “You’ve never even flown before.” He realized.
The strange girl shook her head.
   “Never. My feet have never left the earth before.”
Drey just gapped at her. She took in a deep breath and pulled the thin blanket over her shoulders. Still gazing out the window.
   “I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to fly.” She said quietly
   “Wonderful I guess....freedom....complete and utter bliss I suppose but-”
She looked back at the odd boy.
   “I think....I would probably be scared to be completely honest.”
Drey locked her in his gaze and she felt something string deep with in her. But she had no idea what it was.
   “Only one way to find out.” He said with a crooked smile.
Stepping forward he produced a ring of keys.
Ellie gasped and rose to her feet.
   “Where did you get those?” She asked as she met him at the door.
He looked at her and she could feel the warmth rolling off him and hitting her, like a warm summer breeze.
   “I swiped them from the guard. He’s so thick he won’t notice for at least another half hour. And when he does he’ll find them right here....Don’t look so worried.”
He reached through the bars and lifted her chin in a friendly manner.
   “Consider it as one last taste of freedom.”
She smiled and nodded.
   “Alright.”
With that he unlocked the door and swung it open.
Offering a gloved hand to her, he jumped through the open window, hauling Ellie with him.

Ellie didn't know whether to scream, or to cry. She was freefalling in space and the land was coming up at her faster then she thought.
The boy let go of her hand and fell faster. He also landed first, and when he did he quickly spun around and Ellie found herself in his arms. She let out a small gasp as the adrenaline rush caught up with her.
   "It gets better." He said with a smile as he set her down on her feet once more.
She really didn't want to know what else he had planned.
He laughed at her sheet white face that showed the fear that she was feeling.
   "Come on." He took her hand again and pulled her into the shadows as an Elite Warrior passed by with a torch in hand.
   "Is this even legal?" Ellie whispered. Getting scared that they might be caught.
He grinned at her.
   "Of course it isn't legal. You think breaking a highly dangerous person out of jail is legal? How does that work on Drenaer?"
   "It doesn't."
   "Exactly."
He jumped up from behind the bush and led the way down the silent streets, till the sound of a large feast could be heard dead ahead.
   "Then why are we-"
   "Shh!" He put his finger to his lips and walked over to the side of a house as light spilled down the streets from the festival going on for the new lieutenant and his second in command.
Singing and dancing could be heard. He figured there would also be a lot of drunk people. That was one thing he never got. Eleyos strictly said no drinking, because the humans had a tendency to defy his name when they do. And yet they did it anyways.

   "What are we doing?"
He was suddenly reminded that the strange girl was right next to him.
   "Ever wanted to touch the stars?" He asked in a hushed whisper as he offered a hand to help her up a stack of boxes near the back of the house.
   "Yes...always." She answered as she fixed the white sheet around her shoulders, which she held in place by her free hand.
   "Good. Then you're in for a treat."
She let out a sigh as Dreyden helped her up to the roof.
   "Fantastic. I get my dream come true the night before I die." She muttered in a slightly regretful tone.
Drey couldn't contradict that and give the poor girl a hope of living past the morrow's sunrise. That would be cruel and unkind.
And despite his looks, he was neither cruel or unkind. Especially to a lady.

Elowen saw the party down below, but didn't want to ask about it. Scared that despite how nice Drey was, the ones from Above were still as savage as in the stories. And perhaps they were celebrating the looming death of her.
That made her shudder and she clutched the blanket around her shoulders more closely.
   Drey seemed to know the roof tops like the back of his hand. Something always connected the roof tops. Whether it be a stack of boxes, or drain pipes. He always found a convenient way to cross from one roof to another. More or less anyway.
Several times she had to jump across a gap between roofs, but she has always been very physically active, so it wasn't too big of a problem.

They finally came to the edge of Cevlon.
   "Whoa..." She whispered as she leaned cautiously over the edge. "I never realized how far up it was. I had never seen Cevlon before till now. And it sure is a long way down."
Drey nodded with a smile playing on his lips.
   "Yeah. Gives you a new perspective on the world huh?"
She nodded silently. Then she turned her gaze heavenward and was a little disappointed.
   "Aw...it's cloudy. Too cloudy to see the stars." She let out a sigh.
   "Brace yourself." Dreyden warned.
She glanced at him in alarm.
   "For wha-?" Her sentence was cut off when she was suddenly not on land anymore, and the wind was rushing through her ears. It took her a full heartbeat to realize that she was falling, again. And when she did, she was about to scream. Only she found that she couldn't. Not that her heart was in her throat. No, she literally couldn't, because a hand was covering her mouth. And it wasn't her own.
   "Shh." Though Drey so far had been pretty trust worthy, she wasn't sure about this. But then again, here he was falling with her. But what did that mean?
He still had that smile on his face as the two of them fell to what Elowen was sure would be their deaths.
But out of the purple clouds, a streak of red came out of no where. And suddenly, she wasn’t falling anymore. Neither of them were.
They were sitting on what she assumed was a yerto. It was mainly a big huge bird.
He had the most soft feathers she had ever touched, and obviously, it was really big. She gasped in wonder of Eleyos as she glanced at the big bird.
He cocked his head back and captured her in his gaze with what seemed to be a friendly squawk.
Drey kept a hand on the small girl's waist so she wouldn't fall off. He focused on slowing down his heartbeat as he always did when he dove off the edge of Cevlon.
Ellie gasped in awe as his yerto moved higher into the bank of clouds.
   "Does he have a name?"
It took Drey a minute to figure out that she was talking to him.
   "Oh! Yes. Swift."
   "Swift?"
He could see the slight playfulness just below the surface of her deep foliage green eyes.
  "Yes. Is there a problem with that particular name?"
She shook her head.
   "No! I was actually just going to remark on how...original it was."
He gave her a playful glare.
   "Well you try to do better." He challenged.
   "I would if I knew I was going to live beyond the next dawn. But seeing as I wont, and I don't own one of these magnificent birds, that seems kind of pointless."
   "I don't own Swift. He's free to come and go as he pleases." Dreyden corrected.
Elowen's eyebrows pinched together, this told him that she was confused by his correction.
   "Well see, a yerto is a free creature, just like most of Eleyos's creations. But when a...human from Cevlon is of age, he chooses a yerto."
   "And...how does he do that?"
   "He jumps off the edge of Cevlon."
Her jaw dropped in shock.
   "But what if no yerto wants to choose him?"
He hesitated before answering that. "So far? We have yet to have that happen."
   "But...there's always a chance?"
Drey chuckled.
   "Why are you so nervous about this? It's what everyone does. Well...just about everyone."
 Ellie let out a puff of air and turned towards Swift's head.
   "Well...I guess it's not so different then what a Magi has to do but...still! Throwing yourself off a cliff with only the hope that a wild bird is going to catch you...? I don't think I'd be brave enough to do that."
Drey laughed a little as Swift angled his body up and his grip on her waist became tighter so he wouldn't fall off.
   "What does a Magic Bearer have to go through?" He asked out of pure curiosity.
Ellie glanced at him over her shoulder.
   "Do you really want to know?"
By the sudden seriousness of her face and tone, he hesitated in answering. She was still a complete mystery to him, along with the whole idea that she was a Magic Bearer. And she wasn't evil. So far, he had seen nothing that held true to the stories.
   "Yes..." He said slowly.
Swift leveled out and she shifted so she could see him properly.
   "Well, usually when a child is marked to become a Magi, they will suddenly burst out in flames."
She said it so naturally that it seemed like an every day occurrence. But Drey freaked out.
   "Ex-excuse me?! You...you burst into flames? Like...Like...?"
She nodded slowly as if encouraging him to spit out the words.
He just couldn't seem to wrap his mind around that. He couldn't imagine walking out of his house and suddenly a kid right next to him bursts up in flames and everyone's like 'yeah that looks like fun! Can't wait till it happens to me!'.
No. He just couldn't imagine a world like that.

Ellie laughed at his facial expression as he tried to process what she was saying.
   "It's not a harmful flame. And it doesn't look like normal orange fire. It's like this...this..." She let out a sigh as she tired to find the right words to explain such an amazing occurrence. "Well it's different for every person. And most people have a different color that shows up when they perform magic. Like me for example. My flames were a mix of purple and blue. So, now that color is in all of the magic I perform."
Drey was still having trouble processing the idea of spontaneous combustion happening to his left and right.
Ellie laughed and decided they had best steer away from the topic.
   "Where is Swift going?" She asked. Thinking that was a safe question.
Dreyden snapped out of it and looked up at the deep purple sky that loomed over them like a blanket.
   "You'll see."
   "Well that's just it isn't it." She pointed out, following his gaze. "I cant see a thing. The clouds are too thick."
   "Just right here."
   "But-"
He placed a finger on her lips and her eyes grew wide as she turned to stone.
   "Just wait for it."
Swift's strong wings beat fast until they broke through the cloud bank. And when they did Ellie gasped.

Before her, was the most magnificent display of Eleyos she had ever laid eyes on.
Galaxies swirled about her head in mixes of colors she had never imagined. Stars raced towards her at the speed of light, leaving a trail behind them that she could reach up and touch.
Dust danced around her fingers as the color blew out of her hand.
Dreyden smiled at her joy for the moment. Despite her looming death, she could still find things to be happy about. That takes a special kind of person.
   “This is amazing.” She whispered. She couldn’t take it all in. She kept looking all around her with a huge smile on her face. Drey nodded in agreement.
   “Yeah it is isn’t it? Most people don’t come up this high.”
Ellie turned to him with curiosity painted on her face as plain as the stars fell all around them.
   “Why’s that?”
   “Uh...something about a myth that says you could explode...or something like that.”
Her eyes grew huge and he couldn’t help but laugh.
   “That’s the myth anyways. So far it hasn’t happened to me. So I wouldn’t worry about it.”
   “And how often have you been up here?”
   “Ah...too many to count. So I should know not to take any myths seriously...and yet I still do.”
Ellie let out a giggle.
   “I think that’s just human nature. We prefer not to think of things that we can’t explain. Therefore, we don’t. We make it out to be myths and legends.”
Of course Drey had already known this, but still, it was odd to hear it come from such a young girl who obviously didn’t have many years of life to her name.
Elowen continued to be amazed by how creative Eleyos could be.
He tried to keep his mind on the amazing phenomenon that was happening all around him, but he found that his gaze kept going back to the small girl in front of him.
She could feel his eyes on her immediately even if she wasn’t paying attention because of the beauty before her. She turned her head around and pushed her bangs out of her bright green eyes.
   “Thank you.” Her sweet voice sounded incredibly kind and understanding. Like she wasn’t mad at him for breaking her out, only to take her back in the end.
   “You’re welcome.”
Ellie smiled and glanced back up at the multicolor sky.
   “I’m glad to see something beautiful and amazing here in our world, before I get to see Eleyos’s view of the world.”
Dreyden couldn’t help but smile and nod.
   “Well I‘m glad you think so...”

They sat in silence for a while. Every once in a while Ellie would touch a trail of light and color and a giggle would escape her lips. Drey was happy for her, but also felt guilt. Guilt when he thought of having to give her back over to the Elite Warrior that would kill her in the morning.
He let out a sigh and kneed Swift to take them back to Cevlon.
   “Sorry Ellie, but...” He couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.
   “We have to go back...don’t we?” She finished for him.
He nodded as his sight was stolen from him by the cloud bank.
As they made it out of the purple clouds, the jagged edge of Cevlon appeared.
The closer they got, the heavier Ellie’s heart became. She tired to cheer up by thinking that her death wasn’t the end of her. It really, was just the beginning.
Her mind went back to the Antiquity Promises made by Eleyos.
In the books where the Antiquity Promises were written by scribes guided by Eleyos himself, they quoted the precious promises the Creator of Both Worlds made, so that people in the future could read it as well as those from the past.
   In one particular Promise, He says that all that believe in Him will receive the gift of endless years of life to their name.
So Elowen knew that everything had their time, but, the belief in Eleyos never expired, and never grew old. All that Eleyos had promised them would hold true and would never end.
Therefore she knew she wouldn’t actually die. Her end, would truly be her beginning.

Ellie took comfort in that, and came to terms with her momentary end.
However, when Dreyden saw her with a content smile on her face, he felt angry towards her cool attitude with her death, and he was also mad at Eleyos for making her story end when she was still so young.

They jumped onto the solid surface of the Earth Above, and Swift gave what seemed like a sorrow filled good-bye as Ellie hugged his neck. Then he flew off, leaving a gust of wind in his wake that played with Ellie’s hair and skirt.
They walked back via rooftop in silence. Dreyden wasn’t sure what to say to her, and Ellie was deep in thought, and prayer. Asking for guidance in what she was about to do.
They came back to the jail window sooner then she thought. And it didn’t take long before she was back in the non-welcomed jail cell.

Dreyden hovered just outside the door, not sure what to do, or how to go about doing it.
Ellie gathered up the courage she needed and let out a sigh.
   “Drey, before you go,...I have a request.”
He cocked his head to one side and crossed his arms over his chest.
   “Go ahead.”
Okay, she had gotten this far, now how to explain everything.
   “Before, you wondered what I meant by ‘saving the world’...”
This caught his attention. He had wondered, but the last few hours had distracted him from that thought.
She sighed and pulled out Stargazer from under her collar.
   “Do you know what this is?” She asked.
He took a step inside the cell and looked at the stone. A distant memory began to stir, but it was still too foggy for him to see clearly.
   “I think so...Is it one of the Lost Gems?” He asked.
Elowen nodded eagerly. One less thing for her to explain.
  “Yes it is exactly. There are three others like it, hidden all over the world. And that is what led me here.”
His brow creased in bafflement.
  “A stone?”
  “Yes. Now bare in mind that I don’t know everything, but I know something for sure. Both Haven, and Falion, are in grave danger.”
Dreyden shook his head as he tried to understand what she was saying.
   “The Elite Warriors would have reported something if that were true.”
   “But it is true!” Time was growing short, the first rays of dawn were beginning to appear. “Please you must listen to me! If I die with out someone finishing my task for me, then both worlds will fall. And it will be all my fault.”
Tears fell down her cheeks, but she kept the sobs back.
The tears were what clued Drey in that this was something big. He might not believe it, but she did with every fiber in her. So the least he could do was hear her out.
   “Alright, I’ll listen.”
She let out a sigh of relief and began to explain what her Master had explained to her before she left her monastery to it’s doom. Which she still felt guilty about. Leaving her only family she ever knew to a sure death at the hands of the Infidels. But she forced that out of her mind, for now, and continued on with her tale to Dreyden as fast as she could.
At one point, she summoned Lorem to show him, and the silver-blue cub eyed him curiously for a moment before snuggling up in Elowen’s arms.

Dreyden still found most of her tale unbelievable. Mad driven men that hated everyone, a monastery that took in a girl, a stone that could become a white tiger cub. All of it was unbelievable, yet...for some reason only Eleyos knew, he believed every word she spoke.

He glanced out the window and saw how light it was becoming, and a sense of dread washed over him.
   “Okay. Elowen, I’ll take up this quest for you. I’m sorry I can’t do more, but I’m already disliked by most in Haven, so I cant force my luck by breaking you out...A second time.”
Elowen’s feelings overwhelmed her as she threw her arms around his neck in a hug.
   “Thank you.” She whispered.
He wasn’t quiet sure how to react, so he just patted her back awkwardly till she let go.
   “Alright, you’ll need to take Stargazer, and my map.”
She slipped the teardrop Gem off from around her neck. Lorem sensed her depression by the connection they shared that was special only to them, and he whimpered as she held out the Gem for Dreyden. He understood how valuable and how precious this Gem was. He also understood the burden of taking it, people would be after him, and would try to steel it. But he knew that he would never let that happen. Not for as long as he was still breathing.
He reached out to accept it, but Lorem growled at him with the fierceness of a wild beast. Drey only noticed it too late.
When his skin came in contact with the cool Gem, there was a sizzle, and a smell that reminded Ellie of Ambros trying to boil wild goose - but it burned instead - filled their noses.
Drey muffled a yell of pain by shoving his free hand into his mouth and ripping away his other, which was left forever with a scar in the shape of a tear drop.
Ellie gasped but quickly flicked Lorem’s nose and pulled him up just under his two front paws, forcing him to look into her eyes.
   “No. You have to go with Drey, understand? I won’t be around to take care of you anymore. You’ll have to listen to him from now on. Alright? Please don’t be a pain for him.”
Lorem didn’t like this arrangement, but he sensed Elowen’s urgency and need for this to work, so he obliged by a reluctant meow.
Elowen wasn’t willing to take any chances that the stone would hurt Drey again so she ripped up the sheet that had fallen off her shoulders. Tying the strip tightly around the Gem, she handed it back to Drey.
   “It should work now. For you I mean.” She said when Drey hesitated before taking it. She was right, however, and it didn’t hurt him again. He quickly placed it in a pocket on his belt and Lorem nuzzled her hand.
The dawn’s light was becoming more and more clearer and she knew she was about to meet her momentary end. But she had so much she wanted to do! So much she had wanted to see! And for her to never see it, was almost as devastating as not being able to save her monk family.
Sending up a prayer to Eleyos for courage, she pushed those thoughts aside and moved on to a much more pressing matter.
She pulled out her map that her Master had given her only a few days before, and folded it out before Dreyden.
   “Alright Drey, I need you to listen carefully...”