The twin dimension
It wasn't long after the phone call until we heard the familiar roar of Markus' motorcycle creeping up the driveway outside. I got up from the conversation that made absolutely no sense anymore and waited by the open door, waiting to receive Markus. I watched him kick the bike onto its stand and take his helmet off, giving his hair a quick flip and comb through before climbing off. I had to take a few breaths to calm down as he made his way closer to me with that smirk he was famous for.
"Hello beautiful." He said smoothly, leaning against the wall just opposite from me, close enough for me to enjoy his cologne.
I crossed my arms and gave a lazy smile back. "Now is not the right time Markus." The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy at this point.
"It's always the right time to tell you how pretty you are." With a gleaming smile he straightened up, making a pass as if he wanted to hug me. I side stepped him, allowing the entrance to the door to open up giving a distraction to the whole scene.
"After you." He said, beckoning me back the way I had come when he saw how uncomfortable I was feeling. He followed close behind me, brushing his hand across my back as he moved around me to see everyone else, letting it linger longer than it should have.
The conversation died almost immediately, everyone waiting for something to happen. Typical of me, I start making cricket noises to fill in the awkward silence and make my way back to my previous seat, almost forgetting about Markus who kept standing awkwardly where I had left him. "Take a seat Markus, it's time to talk about business stuff now." Turning my lips up to match the one he gave to me as he made his way to my side, sitting on the arm rest closest to me. Ricky and Ariana gave me huge grins after sensing the spark Markus and I had going, but Joey on the other hand was expressing some difficult to read expressions and I couldn't tell if he was directing them at me or Markus.
I cleared my throat, finding it difficult to deal with so much attention on me at once. "So everyone is clued up on what's happening at the moment, right?" Hearing mumbles and seeing all the small head nods going around. "Great! So now we have to figure out what happens from here." I looked around, hoping someone would take over and the lead the way for once.
"It's time to take a nap." Markus said simply. We all just stared at him in disbelief, wondering if he was joking or not.
Joey took the opportunity to call him out. "Does this look like kindergarten to you?" a slight sneer edging his words.
Markus turned to him lazily, as if it was an effort to look at him. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."
I could see Joey clenching fists, getting ready to throw a punch at any moment. I intervened before he flipped. "Okay Markus, mind explaining why?"
Markus looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes, a very sudden change from when he was looking at Joey who sat adjacent to me. "How did Esperar get to you in the first place?"
I felt so stupid for not seeing it immediately, so I just face palmed myself. "In my dreams, so while I was sleeping. We need to sleep in order for him to communicate with us again." The others just looked at each other, obviously not believing how stupid yet so simple it all seemed. "It's worth a try guys." I looked at them and shrugged.
"I'll go get more pillows!" Ricky getting more and more excited about the whole situation as time went by. He scrambled up and went scratching for extra pillows, bringing a huge pile of them and promptly throwing them on top of Ariana. "Hey!" Came the muffled response from her pillow cocoon as we all burst into laughter.
We all grabbed a few pillows each and found a comfy spot. Joey lay claim to the long couch and Ariana went for the shorter couch. Ricky claimed the single couch, pushing it into its recliner form and snuggled up with a horde of pillows. Markus and I moved the coffee table out of the way and made a pillow mattress on the floor. Joey immediately turned to face the couch as not to look at Markus, huffing and puffing as he struggled to find a comfy spot. Ricky was obviously upset that his view of Joey sleeping was now disturbed and he just snuggled up further in the couch, mumbling to himself. Ariana on the other hand was out and softly snoring by the time her head hit the pillow.
I lay on my back, thumbs twiddling on my stomach as I tried calming myself down as Markus made himself comfortable next to me. He also adopted the same position as I had, and we both just lay there in silence staring at the ceiling until we heard the soft snoring of everyone else around us. I struggled to fall asleep, feeling unusually restless.
"You also having a tough time getting comfortable?" Markus whispered to me.
I turned to face him already looking at me. "Yeah, I normally never have a problem falling asleep. I guess I'm just, you know, scared maybe."
He smiled reassuringly to me. "You don't have to stress so much you know, we're all a little scared."
"But this is just so much responsibility, I don't know what to do." I said, my forehead creased into a frown of worry.
Markus turned to his side and propping his head on his hand so he could look at me properly. "You know you're not going at this alone, you have all your friends here for support." He looked away suddenly, almost shy. "You have me too."
I just looked at him, feeling my heart thumping so loudly in my chest. "I thought you were mad at me by the way?"
Markus looked at me and softly chuckled. "Nah, just a bit of an ego hit when the girl you like thinks you're stupid."
I clamped my hands over my mouth, shocked into embarrassment. "No, that's not what I meant." My hands moved from my mouth to my eyes to hide the embarrassment. "I'm so sorry."
Markus took my hands away from my face, keeping a hold on the one as he spoke. "Hey, it's okay. You've been through so much in such a short span of time. I can't be mad at you, you don't need that kind of added pressure." He winked at me and smiled, and I couldn't help but feel better about everything.
"Thanks Markus." I said, trying to hide my shy smile. "We better try get to sleep sooner rather than later, I don't think the others are going to manage with Esperar without us."
"Agreed." And with that he pulled me closer to him and held me close, wrapping his arm around me and promptly started snoring softly behind me. Lying there in shock I eventually got comfortable with the idea of being so close to Markus, and drifted almost immediately into a peaceful sleep.
I woke up, lying on a cold and damp floor. Lifting myself off the ground, still very groggy and trying my best to orientate myself. As I looked around, things started becoming clearer and I could recognise the same corridor I had found myself in the last time. It was easier to walk through the darkness this time towards the huge oak doors with the swirls, and just like before I let my fingers follow the grooves until a pattern lit up and the door unlocked. I pushed at the heavy doors until there was enough space for me to squeeze through.
I walked into a mid-conversation pause as everyone stopped to turn around and watch my entrance. "So nice of you to join our party." Came the quip from the one and only Joey.
"Oh please, I am the party." Grinning back at all the smiling faces, enjoying the calm and relaxed atmosphere, and walked over to the crowd at the table. I wasn't even surprised when I saw my book sitting neatly on one of the sides of the table, but what did surprise me was that everyone else seemed to have their own books in front of them too but no one had registered that aside from myself.
Before I could say anything a shadow passed across the corners of my vision, following it to see Esperar gliding towards our group, again being the only one to notice it.
"Welcome." He said in a deep voice, watching everyone suddenly flinch at the sudden intrusion apart from me. I almost thought I caught a glimpse of a smile on his face in the dim light.
Everyone was deathly quiet, waiting for the old man to say something further, watching him walk closer to the table and joining our little circle. He paused a while, seeming to enjoy the effect he was having on us before continuing. "Let us begin."
Before he could speak further Ariana, in her smallest voice asked, "Where's Markus?"
We all looked around, suddenly aware of the missing presence. Esperar just smiled sweetly and said, "He shall be back momentarily. I have just sent him to retrieve something for me."
We all fidgeted the nerves we were feeling quietly, getting restless as the old man before us stood quietly. He readjusted his glasses before continuing. "Now, I am aware that Lucinda has filled you all in enough to understand your current situation?" Everyone giggled at this stranger using my full name with no shame, but nodded their approval to his pending question.
At this point Markus appeared next to me suddenly, making me jump slightly from his sudden talking. "Here you go." And promptly handing over a small and flat box, decorated with carvings and intricate swirls.
"Wonderful!" Said the old man in response, taking the box carefully with both hands and laying it neatly in front of him on the table. "Now before we get to this little ceremony, does everyone know their affinities?"
"Markus, Ricky and myself are the most clued up on our affinities." I began, already taking ownership of my new position. "However I have an idea that Ariana's might be linked to death in some sort of way, and Joey has some sort of link to dragons."
At that last comment I could see a very slight look of surprise from Esperar and I could feel some questioning looks coming from the others as well. Esperar immediately beckoned for Ariana and Joey to approach him, holding his hand out for Ariana's first to examine. "Astounding." He mumbled more to himself than anyone else and moved swiftly to his big book of knowledge, the same book he looked through when he was looking for information on my powers.
After a bit of ruffling he found the page he was looking for. "Death and darkness." We all just looked at him, waiting for him to explain himself.
"So, what does it mean?" Joey eventually breaking the silence.
Esperar just shook his head and continued. "It means her affinities lies within the dead and controlling the dark."
"So you mean, like manipulating shadows and such?" Ariana asked, fixated on every word Esperar spoke now.
"It means so much more than that dear Ariana." He said, smiling slightly and placing a soft hand on her shoulder. "It means you control the dead and all that lurks in the shadows too."
And right on cue Joey makes a comment. "Great, now we have the mini version of the Grim Reaper in our team."
Suddenly the room went down a few degrees and you could literally see the ice particles forming on the walls and we were breathing out smoke plumes. We all looked around in fear, wondering what was going on. Esperar tightened his grip on Ariana's shoulder. "Calm down Ariana, you need to learn to control your anger."
Ariana blinked herself out of her state, shaking her head to get her bearing straight again. "Sorry. I didn't realise I was doing anything."
"What the hell was that?" Markus, obviously not used to experiencing Ariana's powers beforehand.
"I just thought 'I'll freeze hell over' and hey presto, it sort of happened." Ariana turned her attention back to Esperar, slightly confused. "But that was technically water manipulation, that doesn't make sense."
Esperar turned his attention back to his big book of knowledge, reading a few lines before responding. "It states that anything within the shadows is under your control. You are able to manipulate it as long as it stays in the dark, so you basically manipulated the water that was in this dim room but the moment it touches the light you lose control over it."
Ariana nodded, bowing her head again, slipping into her own deep thoughts. Esperar turned his attention to Joey , an obvious frown of annoyance of having to deal with another attitude fueled teenager. Joey lifted his hand, facing it towards Esperar.
The old man actually took a step back in surprise. "Impossible..." And scrambled through his book again. It seemed as if he couldn't find what he was frantically searching for and moved over to the shelves against the wall behind him. After scaling the vast wall he found what he was looking for, pulling out a thick white book. He carefully placed it on top of the previous book and filed through the new one. When he stopped off at the page that seemed to be the right one we all leaned over to see what he had fixated himself on only to be greeted with a foreign language none of us had ever seen before. So we stood quietly again, waiting for the old man to get back to us.
Esperar scratched his bold head, a mixture of confusion and wonder on his face. He looked back to Joey in almost a way that showed new respect towards the boy in front of him. "My dear boy..." And he stood there, at a lost for words.
Joey obviously not comfortable with not knowing what was going on proceeded to egg Esperar on. "Yes? What's so fascinating now?"
This was enough to bring the frown of irritation to the old man's face again. "You have no idea what powers you hold. But you seem to be the one with even bigger egocentric problems than Lucinda here." I tried to protest but was given the hand to keep my silence. "
Listen Joseph, your power has never been seen before and can be very unpredictable." He grumbled more in response to the rest of us laughing at his full name being used than what was being said.
"So does that mean I don't have to get a book to study?" Joey already trying to avoid as much work as possible.
Esperar shook his head. "No dear boy, it means we're going to have to get a few experts in to help you unlock the secrets of your powers."
Joey slugged his shoulders, obviously not enjoying the idea of having to work harder than the rest of us. "What makes me so special now anyway?"
Esperar puffed his chest beneath his robes, enjoying the moment to share more knowledge. "There are legends within legends. You have all heard stories of dragons and the legends behind them. Now in this realm dragons are no myth, they are reality." This got a smile out of Joey and myself, and we started getting more excited when we looked at each other realising that we might get the chance to see a real dragon. "But our legends speak of the albino dragon, a dragon as white as heaven's gates, that possessed powers beyond our imagination. No one knows what these powers are, unlike other dragons. The red dragons had affinities to fire as the blue dragons had affinities to water and so the list goes on. It was said that the white dragon could possess all dragon affinities and more." He paused for a moment and looked Joey in the eye. "We'll see what you are really capable of."
Joey stood there quiet, finally taking the situation at hand seriously. Esperar proceeded to turn his attention to the box Markus had brought to him earlier, whispered something in a foreign language and opened it, revealing chains adorned by a single charm. First he presented the one with a purple eye to Markus, and moved on to Ariana and her black tombstone swiftly followed by the blue circle for Ricky. Before he turned to Joey he whispered something again before reaching for the white dragon pendant.
Everyone busied themselves with putting their necklaces on and I stood there waiting for mine to be presented to me. When nothing happened I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. "Don't I get one?" I asked, trying my best not to sound disappointed as well.
Esperar looked up at me with a mixture of sympathy and sadness, "You already have yours."
Everyone looked over to me, matching my confusion as they tried figuring out what I was also trying to figure out. "What do you mean...?" And just like that it hit me as I subconsciously reached for the pendant my father meant to give to me on my tenth birthday. I lifted it up from under my shirt to show it to everyone.
"How do you already have one?" Asked Ricky, obviously asking the burning question everyone was dying to ask.
I held the pendant in my hand for reassurance. "My father gave it to me. Well he tried to before he died..." I swallowed hard, trying not to tear up. I could suddenly feel Markus place an arm around my shoulders and I could feel the tension fade away.
Joey scoffed at the scene. "Okay great, moving on." And he turned to face Esperar. "What are these for anyway?" Mimicking what I was doing by holding the pendant in his hand.
The old man straightened up and began stroking his white beard. "These pendants are what protect you in this dimension."
Everyone looked around in confusion wondering if the person next to them was following where this was going.
Esperar chuckled softly to himself. "It is a difficult concept to understand, do not worry. It needs to be experienced rather than explained, but I shall try my best to enlighten you all." His eyes took on a far away look, already getting comfortable in his story-teller mode. "It is inaccurate to compare it to the 'dream world' as most people describe it, as you are able to actually control what is going on and what happens here will affect you back in your world. So it is essential that you stay safe here as not to harm yourself in your reality. Now these aren't a shield as per say, it won't physically protect you, it merely keeps your essence together."
The last comment got a few dirty looks in return, like he had offended us in some way.
"Mind clearing that up for us Doc?" I asked, not in any mood to hide my disgust.
Esperar just looked at me and shook his head, sighing in time to the motion. "As I said , it is a difficult concept to explain." He scratched his head again, physically fumbling for the right words to say. "See it from this perspective. Place both realities next to each other to compare. One is where your body lies, the other is where your spirit lingers."
This proved too much for Ricky, who audibly gasped in horror. "So we're ghosts now?"
Esperar chuckled, reassuring Ricky in a sense. "No dear boy, it is just a description. Your actual soul is still embedded in your bodies in your world, hence why if something happens to you here it will still affect you there. But here your spirit, the essence of yourself that is projected from yourself, is in control. Although because it is not a physical being it cannot sustain itself and will dissipate if not protected."
"But how have we been standing here without dissipating before we got the necklaces?" Ariana asked, brow still fixated into a frown of concentration.
"Ponder on this," Esperar said with a soft smile, "You have never been able to dream for long periods of time, but dreams still occur. They just cannot sustain themselves to allow you to dream forever. It may seem like reality but in fact it's just another dimension. Almost like a twin dimension to your world."
I felt the blood drain from my face at the mention of twin, and began shaking slightly at the mini shock. He then promptly walked over to me and held out his hand, "Would you mind?" as he gestured towards my necklace. I placed the pendant in his hand and he whispered the foreign language again before handing it back. "There you go. Just making sure it was still fit for wear."
I raised an eyebrow to this. "Fit for wear?"
He sighed heavily, almost as if he was suddenly drained. "It has been many years since your father was bestowed with that necklace."
I felt my legs buckle and was thankful Markus was there to catch me. "M-my dad?"
Esperar smiled a sorrowful smile as he spoke, "One of the greatest leaders the past generations of Quinto Circulo has ever seen."
Everyone was suddenly looking at me, concern and confusion splashed across their faces. All I could do to stop from having a break down was to keep talking. "So what happens now?"
Esperar clapped, a new energy of excitement flowing from him with his robes. "Now we get mentors to help train you all in your specific skills." He motioned towards the hallway opposite to the door we had entered through. "These will be past generations, so obviously they do not belong to your world anymore. The charms you wear around your necks have been past done to you from these very heroes. So listen carefully to them, they more wisdom flowing through their veins than what you will ever receive in your mortal lives."
The first person to walk out was a tall lanky man, with dirty blonde hair and a piercing through his eyebrow. He wore dark clothes, matching his dark eyes. He walked slightly hunched as if he was self-conscience about his height.
He stood before Ariana, holding his hand out to greet her. "Ariana, isn't it?" A thick English accent greeting her too.
She giggled, shaking his hand. "Correct, and you are?"
He tipped an imaginary hat before answering. "Blake, but most of my friends call me Doom." And winked at that.
Through Ariana's giggling the next figure strutted out, a slightly short and lean woman in leather pants and a tight top accessorised with high heels, leading her path towards Markus. I immediately held Markus a little tighter, not appreciating the sneer of disgust I got from her.
She had no time for idle chit chat either. "Serena. I'm your mentor hot shot." Continuing to ignore everyone in the room and preen herself of any lint on her impeccable outfit.
Next came three people, two men and a woman, each in their respective colour coded outfits. The tall guy in the green outfit spoke, obviously the more vocal of the group. "I am Aaron, and my counterparts are Heleen," Motioning towards the woman dressed in blue, a shocking contrast to her raven hair. "And Sven." shifting his motion towards a stocky man dressed in red, covered in battle scars and body hair. " We will try and combine our knowledge to help you unlock your true powers Joey." smiling sincerely towards the very obviously nervous Joey, who eyes Sven cautiously866Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr0d51Y3xcv
Next walked out a fair man, sparking a lot of interest in both Ricky and I. He was visibly nervous, doing a poor job at hiding it. "My name is Luke, and I shall be helping you out Ricky." He smiled, with what looked like pride in his eyes. Ricky smiled back, mimicking the man's nervous twitch almost exactly.
My heart started pumping, realising that it was now my turn to receive a mentor. I had no idea what to expect, so I stood there with sweaty palms and shaky legs.
Before my brain could process anymore emotions a strong built man walked out with a humble confidence, bringing everyone's attention to him. I stood there, gaping at the man in front of me, who approached with the warm smile I had missed so much since I was a little girl.
"Dad...?" 866Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Zk9qhdxmB
And I couldn't keep myself from running into his embrace.866Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGVnwwz34qU
