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Chapter Six:
He's not real.
That night, Marium sat up
on her bed. She was so full of mixed feelings that she couldn't sleep. She
missed her mother, brothers, sisters, and especially her dad. Tears welled in
her eyes.
"Daddy... Mommy...
why can't I wake up from this dream? I'm so scared... I don't want this."
she whispered, on the verge of sobbing. "Sachi... Tasae... I'm sorry...
this is just a nightmare... When I wake up you'll be fine. And then..."
'It's not a dream,
Marium. I thought you'd finally figure that out when I went up against you.
Remember when my spell hit you?'
Marium sniffled and
looked up to see Altaire standing in the room. He was still wearing his cloak,
and it was so late. "Yes, I remember. Especially when I splashed you at
the end. You actually think I'd hurt you? Heh."
He came and sat next to
her, his cloak spreading out down her bed and across the floor. 'It was a
battle, Marium. You have to expect anything in a battle. But my point is that
when my spell, the fire wall one, hit you, it hurt, didn't it?'
"Just a little. But
my ankle blistered from the heat." she said, unsure of what this
conversation meant.
'Dreams don't hurt. This
can't be a dream.'
Marium had never thought
about that before. It had hurt when the spell hit her. And it had hurt when she
was running from the jinjus.. the Jinjus that had killed her best friends...
they were really dead. Her tears were warm and fresh on her face. "I don't
believe you! It's not true! This has to be a nightmare! It CAN'T be true!"
'You don't have to
believe me. You have to believe yourself. You know what's true and what's not.'
"No, this is a
dream.. You're not real, Cadillac's not real.. Jonah's .. not real. You're all
just a made up figment of my strange imagination. ..."
'Do you honestly want us
to be not real? You want us to just go away? Because if we do, you'll be here,
alone. And then there would be no stopping the Jinjus, because.. I need you to
make the prophesy come true.'
Marium glared at him
weakly, and shook her head. "This isn't real."
Altaire's mask finally
shattered, and it showed that he was just as scared as her. He was alone, just
like Cadillac, just like her. And his voice cut through the air. It was quiet
and soothing. "It is real, Marium."
She broke down and
started to sob on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her
into his cloak. "You'll be gone when I wake up, Altaire. I know it. This
has got to be a dream."
"Why?" he
asked, his voice almost failing him. He wasn't used to talking outloud. She
wiped her eyes on her hand.
"Because it's too
good to be true. I wished for adventure, love, and all that in between... and I
got it." she whispered in his ear. He hugged her close, and she wondered
if it really was true. "I feel like I know you... I do, but I seem to...
never mind."
'Go on, Marium. You seem
to what?'
"I seem to love
you... in a way... if this is what love is."
"We balance each
other, Marium. I am the High Priest of Yang.. you're the High Priestess of Yin,
summoned from another world.. and together we will revive the gods.. like the
prophesies say."
"What prophesies?
You keep talking about them, what are they?" she asked, looking up at him.
'My voice is weak, I have
to talk like this now.' he said in his inside voice. 'The Prophesies are
scrolls that predict the possible future. It tells about the past, too.'
"Altaire, tell me
about the legend. Jonah and Cadillac keep referring to me as the girl from the
legends." she said, remembering the day before. Altaire looked up at the
ceiling of the small hut house.
'The Legend of Yin and
her Six Elemental Dragons. Yes, that's the legend from the prophesy that only a
chosen few know about. It describes the girl that will revive Yin, and become
one with Yang. It tells in detail every aspect of the High Priestess... one of
the main things is that she must be from another world. If she was from this
one... she would be too weak-willed. The commoners are all frightened of the
Jinjus to the point of being petrified. They would be of no help in a fight.'
Marium's voice caught in
her throat. "H-how did it describe her? The Priestess..."
Altaire smiled. 'It
stated that she would have short hair, like the goddess herself. Her eyes would
be the color of flames and earth...'
He stopped, and gazed
into her eyes, searching. "What else? How can you be sure it's me?"
'You're from another
world, aren't you? This world is known as Pallas, the last and only world of
pure magic. And it's on the verge of becoming extinct. Those.. evil Jinjus are
coming from the shadows, desecrating our sacred temples.. They haven't found my
temple.. it's hidden away... in the sky.'
"A temple? In the
sky…? Have you been there?" Marium asked, inquisitively. It sounded so…
exotic…
'Of course I have. I was
born there.'
"Wow… born in the
heavens. How neat. I wish I could've been born some place exciting... My whole
life up until now was so... boring. I lived to see another day with the same
sun, same moon... to be with the same people over and over. It wasn't right...
I didn't belong on earth."
'No. You don't belong on
a world that doesn't have me there. We compliment each other, Marium. We belong
together.'
Marium was suddenly very
tired and empty. She recalled something he'd said a few minutes ago… about the
evil Jinjus... coming from the shadows. Shadows.. her magic, summoning Cahlots
and Jinjus. "I'm.. so tired."
'Today was very hectic,
you should sleep. I'll leave you to yourself now.'
He laid her down on the
bed, and covered her with the thin blanket, then started out of the room. But
he stopped, and saw that she was trembling in her sleep. Quietly, he removed
his cloak and placed it on top of her blanket, then left her to dream.