Transcendence

I found my way to a small village that stunk of fish and animal manure. I put my palm in front of my face, to make sure there wasn't any light coming from my eyes. They have dulled back to their original dark brown color, but still I left my hood on; the littlest things triggered and worried me, causing them to light up at any moment. My clothes were still slightly moist from the night before, and I managed to dry them by summoning all of the water out. Even so, they were still filthy and smelled just as repulsive as the animals that resided here. There were many people in the streets staring at me strangely. Despite my hood already on, I bowed my head in embarrassment and tucked my necklace under my dress. I looked out of place; the people here wore nothing but neutral colors, and here I am, with a blue dress and matching shoes peeking out from my cloak that would be mistaken as something a princess would wear. I began walking quickly down the dirt road, ignoring the strange looks. I had to find clothes, and quickly. People might recognize my clothing and notify any slayers that may be lurking around. Slayers roamed even the most remote villages, and waited for trouble as though it were a game.

Hiding in the nearest forest was something I did best to get away from society's eyes. With Sonia, if we ever separated somehow, we both knew to look for each other there. It was safe, to an extent at least, and common people went nowhere near the forest as they believed it to be where demons roamed. It was slayers who dared to enter them, and it was always to hunt us down.

At the end of the dirt road, I saw a small wooden shack in the middle of an endless wheat field, also right beside the entrance to the another forest. There was a long pathway leading to the woodland, yet in order to do that I’ll have to pass the shack. Outside of the small home, was a clothes line with what I assumed to be newly washed clothing. I glanced at my brown-stained clothes and back to the clothes near the shack that were clean, and drying in the wind. I disliked stealing, but it was for my own safety and hygiene especially; the stench I emitted was making me sick. I stood quite a distance from the small home, but no one seemed to come outside. I waited several minutes, paranoid that someone would exit the shack as soon as I got within reach of the clothes. It was isolated from the village behind me, and it was surrounded by tall, lush wheat. I even contemplated crawling through the wheat all the way to the clothes.

This is silly, I thought. I can easily outrun a normal human if I were to get caught. I gathered up my courage and ran across the open field straight to the clothes. I didn't even look at what I was getting, I simply ran and grabbed whatever came in contact with my hands. I still kept running, and reached the wooden sign at the entrance of the woods. It read, “Forest of Inise Village → leads to Bridgetta.” I grew hesitant within that split second. Bridetta is the city in which slayers and the royal family reside. It was a death wish, almost. I had only just fled their sister city, Graceland, where Sonia had wreaked havoc and burned part of the castle and surrounding villages to the ground after we were almost killed. I had been angry as well, and as much as I wanted to slay king thane of Bridgetta, for ordering the death of my parents, Sonia, and I, I knew that it was the wrong thing to do. He had fled back to his castle in Bridgetta before Sonia got to him. Even if she did, and even if I felt angry enough to attempt to kill him, Thane was nowhere near weak. The king of Graceland himself, brother to King Thane, was not so lucky. And thus, Sonia and I, the last of the Immortals, were charged with treason punishable by death. It was a sick joke; we were to die regardless. I managed to drag Sonia by force up to the cliff, away from the city where we met Leonel that night, who as of this moment, searches for us.

Then I thought carefully: Sonia must be in Bridgetta. Thane had my parents killed because he wanted their stones, so he must have possession of them. Knowing Sonia, would she want vengeance perhaps? I clutched my own stone in fear. Our stones are our life force. If it were broken, it would be like stopping my heart; I would perish. If I were to get captured, it would be taken from me for sure. Every immortal had a stone that came from their bodies, but my family had the strongest powers, the most precious stones. Earth Breaker, which belonged to my father, Wind Walker, my mother's, Inferno Wielder, Sonia's, and Aqua Pura – mine. We were the leaders of our people - my father, mother and I - since we possessed stronger gifts. Sonia had been stripped of her privileges. She was too impulsive and dangerous like the fire she controlled, thus, although she was allowed to carry her own stone, my parents did not give her the title of leadership.

To begin with, we were a minority. Only a few thousand lived, until they were wiped out due to humanity's fear of our power, and immortality. My family and I were the only ones left. Sure, there were people in hiding, but eventually the Slayers got to them. Not everyone had powers. A small handful did, and the rest simply had heightened physical and mental abilities. The immortals were strong and superb in battle, but it was slaughter, we were outnumbered. Sonia, my parents, and I, were the last ones, as far as I know. We were tricked; the humans, or Thane rather, had said they wanted peace, and foolishly, we fell for it. If the royals and slayers were to find me in their city, just walking through as though nothing had happened, I would be captured immediately. My necklace cooled against my chest. Thane must be sitting on his throne right now, enjoying his new found stolen gifts. So long as he had them, so long as any human had possession of an immortal stone, they were immortal themselves. Their physical abilities would be heightened as well. They become artificial immortals. If my stone were taken away, or if any stone of an immortal was taken, nothing would truly happen to us; we would still be immortal and control our elements, but it was like handing our life over. Our lives would be in the hands of the enemy. It was simply a part of us. I wondered then, though I would still be furious that Thane took my parents stones, I would have been grateful if he hadn't killed them.

I hadn't realized that I had stopped in front of the wooden sign, clothes still in hand. I had been in deep thought and carelessly let my guard down. I also heard breathing behind me, and quickly swiveled around, tense and alert.

“Wait!” he said quickly. He put his hands up in surrender. I looked at him confusingly. His chest was bare, he wore loose trousers, and kept looking in between both of my hands. His tousled ebony hair framed his face, that stared at me with unsure lavender eyes. In one of his hands, he held a sword. “You see, that uniform, in your hands, I’m in desperate need of it. I was just leaving when you suddenly appeared and swiped them...”

I looked down at my hands and remembered that these were the clothes I had stolen. My eyes widened in fear. It just so happened, that the clothes that I stole were royal clothing and bore the royal insignia of a crown with wings. I gasped, looking at his eyes again “Your eyes!” I breathed, “You are-” from the royal family. The royal family were the only humans who had unique colored eyes – the reason behind their insignia, and the reason they believe to be descended from angels. Why was he here of all places?

“Now dear, let us not call attention to eyes, hmm?” He raised an eyebrow, and smirked, nodding to my face. I gasped again, dropped his clothing to the floor, and pulled my hood over my eyes. My instinct was to run, but I couldn't move my legs. Behind him, a young girl peers through the window at us from the shack I stole the clothes from. The man saw my glance, and glanced himself, looking behind him. “Oh right, you see, that there is an acquaintance. Just had a little fun, if you know what I mean. The castle gets a little, hmm, crowded...” he trailed off with his words and tried searching my face again. He sighs. “As a prince, I cannot just let an immortal, a wanted immortal, run off. You know this, correct?”

I glared at his bare feet and the tip of his sword, readying myself to run. “I suppose you'll chase me with no shoes or clothing then?” I asked. Would he really chase me through the forest with bare feet?

I looked briefly at his face and saw that he was smiling widely at me, what I had said humored him. The girl at the window, probably the girl he had played with for his own pleasure, glared at me in jealousy. From where she was, she couldn't see my eyes. She thinks I'm an ordinary girl, who caught the attention of her prince. His back was to her, as he was facing me, so this angered her more. He laughed a little, and leaned down to my height. I didn't notice how tall he was until he did so. He had one hand on his hip, and the other hand had his sword pointed to me. His face was so close to mine, that I felt his breath on my face.

“And what makes you think I won't chase you as I am?” Still grasping his sword, he took his free hand off his hip and touched the ends of my hair, that had been laying on top of my chest. He played with the strands in between his fingers. “They told me the eldest sister controlled water, and that she was a true beauty. I did not think they were speaking the truth.” I felt my face get hot, and with a loud and embarrassing gulp, I grabbed his head tenderly, my hands on either side of his face. We were so close, he most likely felt my breath on his face too. I could use my powers, by taking the water out of the grass itself, but I vowed to only use my powers when I truly felt my life was in danger. So I cupped his face, looking into his eyes. His eyes widened in confusion and I felt his own face get hot too. I then proceeded to thrust his face downwards so that my knee collided with his nose. “Agh!” he cried, and I ran as he collapsed to the ground, holding his bleeding nose.

The girl ran out of her shack, crying out to him. When I glanced back, he was already on his feet, putting his clothes on with utter speed. Despite his predicament, there was a wide grin plastered on his face.

+

I was deep inside the forest, following the thin path to Bridgetta. The trees were immensely thick, and the blur of greens and yellows as I ran felt dizzy. I began thinking about how I have not only one royal slayer chasing me, but now two. I still had my filthy clothes, I emitted a stench that was unbearable to even myself, I had not eaten for days, I was tired, and I was very worried of what was to come as my necklace was so icy cold with warning, that it burned my skin. I finally stopped running when I heard the distant sound of voices. I breathed heavily, so I took slow and deep breaths to calm myself. My legs ached from running miles on end, but I forced them to climb the nearest tree. I peered down to see that Bridgetta was only a few yards away; behind a heavily guarded pair of golden gates as well as a towering wall with royal guards, possibly some Slayers among them. I lied on my stomach on the branch for quite some time, thinking about how I was going to enter the city, and if I did get in, how I would find Sonia among thousands of people. The forest trail, and the forest itself, ended abruptly to the stone bridge and golden gates. Below that bridge was nothing but a long fall to the crashing waves of the sea. This bridge was made so that no one can enter or leave without being seen from the walls. The only way to pass them is to swim under. If I looked closely enough, I saw waterway entrances on the very bottom of the wall. It was such a long jump however, that they would see me before I hit the water.

The two guards in front of the gate were laughing about something and stopped abruptly when they heard sounds from the trail. I glanced behind me to see a carriage being driven up the trail to the bridge. There was a signal from the inside of the carriage, someone's voice, telling the coachman to stop the horses. The two guards walked towards the carriage with smiles of familiarity. The coachman opened the carriage door and out stepped the prince from the forest entrance, this time fully clothed. I held in my gasp, thinking that if I had stood on the trail any longer, he would have caught up to me. If he was anything like his brother Leonel, he would have put up a difficult fight.

One of the guards saw his face and ran to his side, asking frantically with concern, “Your highness! What happened to you? Were you ambushed?”

I rolled my eyes, thinking he'd lie and say he got ambushed by men to protect his pride. To my surprise, he answered honestly. “The immortal, I'm positive it's the one who manipulates water, is on her way here, guard the gates well. I ran into her-” He smiled for a moment, holding his nose tenderly. “She is really quite something, be very careful. It's true what they say. I will notify my father. He will be pleased; it's his birthday after all.” He went back into the carriage and the guards signaled for the men on the wall to open the gates. He will be pleased. Part of me wishes he told a lie to protect his pride. Something like, 'a group of men ambushed me for my riches.' His honesty would cause problems for me in the near future; they will be looking for me now. I saw the men on the wall leaving their places to open the gates and a flicker of hope crossed my mind.

This was my chance. The guards on the wall had to work together to open the heavy gates and left their posts for only a moment. As the carriage crossed the gates, and the two guards followed behind it with their backs to me, I jumped off the branch to the ground and from there, quickly dove into the water many feet below the bridge. I made sure to make as little noise as possible. I swam deep enough to see small openings that led into the city, but there were bars on them. I held them tightly and pushed them apart, conjuring the water around me to help, allowing the bars to be bent easily. I slipped between the damaged bars and followed the current inside. I finally saw light and swam upwards towards the surface. I was in some sort of underground waterway. I climbed out of the water with exhaustion and I collapsed on the cement floor, breathing heavily. I used my arms to push myself up and my extremely long hair was partially plastered to my face, back, and arms with the remainder of it splayed crossed the floor. I sighed; I was in desperate need of new clothes, food, sleep and possibly some hair bands.

Some small distance away I heard cheering, laughter and music. It got louder as I climbed many stairs to reach the top of the waterways. Part of me wanted to stay underground, I willed myself to step out of the underground waterway—I must find Sonia. The sun's light and heat slowly crept on my skin as I walked out into broad daylight from the cool and soothing shadows of the waterways. Before stepping further, I invoked all of the water out of my clothes. I put my hood over my face, and tucked Aqua Pura away. Now what “Sonia. . .” I whispered. “Where are you?” I felt fatigued beyond belief. With every slow step I took, I panted heavily. The sun was at its highest and I felt the excruciating summer heat on my body. My legs were shaking in weariness, as were my hands. The crowd was tightly cramped together and I kept bumping into people, mumbling 'I am sorry' each time. Many people complained about the smell that came from me. I eventually came to a halt beside a man who also had a cloak, and a hood covering his face. There was something odd about him, but my attention left him when I heard the voice I despised so much.

“My wonderful people of Bridgetta! What happiness it brings me to be here on this beautiful day.” I turned my head towards the sound, as did everyone else. Many people cried his name, like it was a blessing on their lips. He stood high on one of the castle balconies, making the sun shine on him, forcing people to literally look up to him as though he were a god. “Years ago on this day, my father, your king before me, stood on this very spot, promising years of his reign and promising equality and peace.” I looked around; the praise on everyone's face was disgusting.

I narrowed my eyes as I gazed carefully. I saw many people with dark hoods in the crowd and this made me glance at the man next to me from the corner of my eye. He was motionless. Something was wrong. Aqua Pura cooled and I clutched it tightly, preparing my body to run when the time came. I couldn't walk away now – if I did, it would look strange. Every single person stood still for their beloved king, it would be noticed I suddenly walked the opposite direction. “Well, I am proud to tell you all: even though my father did not keep his promise, I most certainly did!” He took his crown off, and held it above his head. I gasped in horror. On his crown, were my mother and father's stone embedded right next to each other. “We are one step closer to the eradication of the immortals, take a good look! There are only so few remaining! Furthermore, my son brings great news that one of them is near; in the city, among us.” People in the crowd became uneasy, as did I. His soft, musical laughter echoed. “My people, do not distress. We will find and capture the immortal, it is the job of my miraculous force of slayers.” For a moment I felt as though he were speaking to me directly, making my skin prickle in fear.

“Sonia…” Where are you? I began to feel faint die to the wretched heat and the echo of his cunning words. He put his crown back on and began to walk away, signaling the end of his short speech. The crowd began cheering, “all hail king Thane” over, and over again.

All of a sudden, there were screams in the crowd. Slayers and royal guards ran towards the commotion to immediately take care of it. I saw Helena among them and instantly, I knew that if Helena were there, so being Leonel. Sure enough, I saw him in front of her, taking down someone in a black cloak. I also saw the prince with lavender eyes throw a dagger right into the head of someone else who was trying to run away; the victim to his dagger also wore a black cloak. The victim fell, blood spurting from his head, and small black round spheres rolled from his pockets. I frantically looked around and noticed that only the people in dark cloaks were being tackled and killed. “Oh no.” I breathed “No, no, no.” I started hyperventilating. My cloak was black. It matched the ones that they wore. They must be rebels of some sort. I can take it off, but my clothes were recognized by the slayers. However, if I kept it on…I would suffer the same fate. The man beside me shoved passed me, and I saw him slide a small, black, and round object from his sleeve. He let it drop and I realized it was an explosive from the sparks emitting from the top of it. I gasped and ran rapidly away from it. Looking back to see if it was still on the ground, I saw a small girl standing beside it, crying for her mother. I cursed under my breath and ran to her and jumped on her, covering her body just in time. The explosive was loud, bringing about ringing sounds in my ears. The flames covered my back and even though the burning was agonizing, I simply rolled on the floor to put the fire out. The little girl ran away somewhere and I quickly went back on my feet. I suppose she must have feared me; I looked like the enemy that the guards and slayers were attacking. I heard my heart pounding in my ears, along with the ringing, and began running back the way I came, to the underground waterways.

Despite all of the screaming and yelling, I heard a whizzing sound coming from behind me. I whirled around, caught the knife, and threw it back faster than an arrow leaving its bow. He dodged it himself, running to me, without phasing. My eyes widened, it was the prince with lavender eyes. He didn't look at me with recognition, meaning he must have thought I was one of those revolutionaries; I still had my hood on, after all. He did look at me in surprise, perhaps wondering how I caught the knife in midair. I turned away from him, running the opposite direction, but a guard came out of the blue and blocked my way. I turned the other way, and all at once, I was surrounded. “Please, I did nothing wrong!” I deepened my voice a little, as Leonel made his way to our small circle, Helena trailing after him like a loyal pup. I felt like crying. This was not happening; it couldn’t be.

“Halt! Show your face! Who are you? You dare defy you king?” Leonel yelled sternly, sword at hand. Around me, other people in black cloaks were being taken into custody. The guards all had their spears pointed to me. Leonel's brother stood ready with a few long knives and Helena was at Leonel's side, smirking. They saw what I did with the knife, and knew I was stronger than the others. “I said show yourself!” He stormed my way and ripped my cloak off, revealing my filthy dress, revealing my face, and revealing my eyes. They all gasped and for a moment, my long dark hair swaying in the hot breeze. I was petrified, but it was mingled with anger. I was positive my eyes were glowing a brilliant blue. I acted quickly and punched Leonel in the face, then, turned to the guard behind me, stealing his spear. I used the bladeless end of the spear, and hit another guard in the head with it, sending him out cold to the floor. Helena came to me then. She was amazingly fast but I flipped backwards, kicking her weapon up in the air. I landed in front of Leonel and caught Helena's sword. Leonel and I were facing each other for a moment, and he tried grabbing me around the waist, but I was small enough to duck, and slide under his legs. As soon as I was back on my feet, I saw a glistening knife flying towards me and blocked it with Helena's sword. Guards swung their spears at me but they were too slow. It was the slayers that I was concerned about.

In frustration, since I stole her weapon, Helena decided on hand-to-hand combat. She went to punch my face with her left hand, but I ducked and swiped my leg under hers, dropping her to the ground. She let out a noise of anger. I had tripped her the first time we met as well, so she must have been angry that she fell for it again. I kicked a guard away from me, taking his spear as I did with the first guard, and threw it to another guard's leg. Blood spurted everywhere, but I made sure not hit an artery. I have never killed anyone, and I was not going to today. I heard a loud battle cry behind me, the sound was strongest to my right, so I quickly moved to my left. Leonel angrily began swinging his sword, while I sensed his brother behind me. I did much dodging between the two and finally, Leonel swung his sword above my head, causing me to duck. As I ducked, his knee purposely came in contact with my face; this move was planned. I fell backwards with force, my back scraping on the stone floor, and blood dripping from my nose. I stood up quickly and turned my own sweat and blood into droplets that floated in mid-air. I must have looked furious, because I certainly felt the anger creeping up inside me, almost emitting off of me. The guards showed some fear and even backed away a little. The slayers stood their ground, for a moment I almost respected their bravery. I released the small droplets towards them at the speed of light, and they flew to the men in front of me, including Leonel. The droplets were so quick, that they were like small knives cutting into their skin. As the men covered their faces, that small diversion gave me a small opening, and I ran past them. I saw the entrance to the waterway, and just as I was about to enter into the shadows of the aqueducts, a blade was thrown at my leg, below the knee. I had heard the sound coming before it made contact, yet I solely believed I would make it to safety.

I was wrong, and I screamed loudly. It had been so many years since a blade has pierced my skin that deep, that I almost forgot what the pain felt like. I sunk to the ground, unable to move. I couldn’t even find the strength to pull the blade out of my leg. I was breathing heavily, causing myself to wheeze. Everything; the heat, my exhaustion, my hunger, my fear, caught up to me all at once. My adrenaline had been a distraction to all of my pain, and it was now fading. I tried pushing my body back up with my hands, and I would have been able to stand, but the sound of a crossbow went off, and an arrow pierced my side. I was crying, and I stifled another scream with my stronger hand. My head was bowed, making my hair cover my face. Laughter. The guards and even Helena, began laughing. There was a small crowd of civilians building up. Some started cheering, and clapping. Through the strands of my hair I saw footsteps approaching. I craned my head upwards as the man with lavender eyes looked down on me with pity. He bent down and grabbed my chin, forcing me to crane my neck to look at him. I was shaking uncontrollably and my wheezing was even worse now. “I am terribly sorry.” He whispered. I glanced past his shoulder to the balcony where his father stood. The tears streamed endlessly down my face as king Thane looked directly into my eyes and smiled wickedly, as if feeling pleasure from the sight of my broken and bleeding body.

“This is wrong!” I spurted, tears spilling into my mouth. Some blood-tainted drool spilled from my mouth, it just kept coming. “This i-isn't fair!” I cried fully and freely now, and looked around the circle that surrounded me. Helena smirked, Leonel avoided my gaze, the guards smiled in triumph, the remaining crowd of commoners continued clapping, and Leonel's brother stood in front of me, still holding my chin.

“Shhh.” He said softly, then went on to hitting me in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword.