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When Ariel walked in through the opened doors with a screaming, muddy, Donovan, and a whimpering Elizabeth, the whole estate knew the beautiful summer afternoon was ruined. Ariel was looking rather stressed and impatient. Elizabeth was having her first few teeth grow in and Donovan… Was being plain young Donovan, A pain in the neck. So when Hannah reached for Donovan’s hand, he immediately began screaming, and fell to the floor. Ariel just sighed, bent down, and scooped him up into her other arm, and slowly began to climb the stairs.
Hannah watched her go, and sighed as well. Having children was taking the youthful look out of Ariel. Being only in her mid twenty’s, she has to handle such mass amount of stress. Along with children, she has to deal with Michael being so far away from home at a peace conference. He’s been gone for almost a month now, and has had to run the city with the advisors that didn’t leave with Michael. Which only left three. Her brother had also left, in search of an uncle. He’s been gone a year now. Ryan had accompanied Mateo. She was almost completely abandoned.
Many nights, she would cry while putting her children to sleep. Her sobs their lullaby. Whenever Donovan would ask why she was crying, she’s say it was because he’d growing so fast. Whenever she did have some spare time, which wasn’t often, she’d sit in the front garden, swatting at the evening mosquitoes, staring off down the road.
But as Ariel walked up the stairs carrying her two children, there was a knock on the door. The person walked in, and gave a message to Hannah. After reading the front of the envelope, she immediately called after Ariel.
“What is it?” She said quietly, stopping on the first landing, and dropping Donovan and Elizabeth to the floor. She was answered with fresh cries from Donovan as well as loud sobs from Elizabeth, who immediately put her fingers in her mouth. The two servant girls, who had helped her the day Donovan was born, quickly jogged up the stairs and lifted the crying infants into their arms, and brought them to their rooms.
Ariel descended the steps to the note in Hannah’s hand. When she was close enough, Ariel recognized Michael’s handwriting. Her eyes widened, and she jumped down the last two steps, and greedily took the letter out of Hannah’s hands. After thanking her, she made her way to the small office on the ground floor. After closing the door after her and sitting down at the desk, she opened the letter.
Dearest Ariel,
Words cannot explain how much I am missing you, Donovan and Elizabeth But as much as I wish to return home, I cannot. Words of war are quickly spreading, and I’m afraid it is true. There will be a war between Finela, and the city in the desert, Kanta. Koura is sitting right in the middle, and both cities have asked us to ally with them. After refusing a side, I’m afraid they have both turned hostile towards us. I beg of you, stay inside, and don’t leave the building. I have sent a message to general Andarie to watch over the estate until I get back.
I will be spending the rest of this month, and the next trying to smooth out the fights between the cities. I can’t return to you, in fear of putting everyone in the estate at risk. It may take longer, but I must do what I can to secure a safe future for our city. Give my love to the children.
Michael
She dropped the letter, and it glided onto the floor. Her hands dropped to the table, and her head lowered, and rested in her arms. She wanted out. She wanted out of this life. She’s always under constant stress, and pain. The next thing she needed was to find out Mateo and Ryan was going to take another year to find an uncle who didn’t exist.
She stayed in the small office until she noticed the lighting changed. When she raised her head from her arms, the sky outside the small window was peachy in color. The surviving sun made ghostly shadows glide easily over the floor, and slithered onto the hem of her dress. Soon, she was half hidden in shadow, welcoming the feeling that accompanied it.
The one thing that happens to a Talented that goes into depression, is that it’s fatal. There have been few cases where one has survived, but only because someone stronger then they were present. But sadly, Ariel was the only one strong enough to deal with herself. When a Talented is depressed, the world is blocked out, and is replaced by a distortion of reality. Objects bend out of shape, as well as people. Items they think would kill them, they become curious about, and use the items to commit suicide. The most popular item to date, are razors.
So, it was no surprise that when Ariel slinked out of the tiny office undetected and found herself standing in front of the shelf Michael kept his razors. Becoming curious about the texture she saw, in her world, she was running it smoothly across the skin of her arm, and there was no pain, no bleeding, and no cut. But in reality, she was bleeding heavily. After experimenting on different parts of her arms, she put it to the ultimate test. She placed it against her wrist.
The feeling that engulfed her was that of a strange, dizzying pleasure. Bleeding heavily without her knowledge, she stepped out of the bath room to collapse on the table, causing it to fall, smashing a few chairs in the process. She lay in shattered glass and wood. For a second, she flashed in and out of the worlds. A voice in the back of her head was telling her one thing, and then another. She became confused, and rolled over onto her side just to get pieces of glass stuck to her dress, and a few cut her belly and side.
She watched the sky through the glass doors, and closed her eyes, feeling the burning imprint of the suns trail, blazing against her eyelids. Sweet bliss.
Fortunately for Ariel, the crash has attracted an unusual amount of attention, and soon, a mob of people, guards, servants, and gardeners, even painters who were painting the halls a few floors down came up, with Hannah in the lead. She entered the room to find it dark. She slowly advanced into the room, and stopped when she heard the crunching of glass under her feet. She ordered someone to turn on a light, and when the room was illuminated, there was a scream from the group, as well as gasping and shrieks of horror. Hannah let out the loudest shriek of them all, falling to her knees next to Ariel, ignoring the glass piercing her skin. Her eyes were half open, a dreamy like expression on her face. Her wrists were slashed, as well as her arms and a few places on her face.
She tried shaking Ariel, to snap out of it, but she was in her own world now, not realizing she was dying. Hannah rocked back and forth on her knee’s, hands on her face, tears swelling in her eyes. She was too shocked to think. But thank goodness that the men were. They ushered Hannah away from her, surrendering her to the servants, and took Ariel to her bed. While the servants were pulling Hannah from the room, Hannah kept screaming Ariel’s name.
“Ariel, Ariel!”
Ariel’s eyes were too heavy to lift. Her body sore. All she could do was think. Think twisted thoughts. The voice. A strange voice. It sounded high, like it belonged to a fairy tale creature.
“Ariel, hang on. Michael’s coming home. Don’t leave your children! ARIEL!” The voice stopped from an invasion of sobs.
Michael? Children?… Ariel?
There was no one else there but her. She knew it. So could she be this Ariel?
Screams.
“MOTHER!”
She shook violently, trying to shake off that strange memory. Was it hers? She never had a mother. It couldn’t be her.
“Ariel, Michael’s coming home sweetie. Hang in there. Mateo’s-“
“Yes you did! You want to hear it so badly, yes, you did kill our parents! You were irresponsible, leaving us in the middle of a feud, defenseless. You’re as cold hearted as the soldiers who murdered them.”
A blaze of fire. A crucified family on the front lawn.
No stop! She screamed. Tears came to her eyes.
“So I finally caught you. After so many years of searching, I finally got what I was promised.”
Make it stop! And when she heard the words, they kept echoing in her head.
“I love you.”
“Michael-“ Ariel whispered silently.
He held the child in his arms. His second child. A beautiful girl. Healthy, and strong. The scene blurred, and was replaced by a smiling man. With her eyes opening wide, she felt the pain in her arms, and the hole in her heart widening. The pain flickered, as did the world she opened her eyes to. When it finally settled, her eyes focused on a face by her side. A kind old face, one she’s seen a few times. Was this Michael? No, couldn’t be.
“Ariel? Can you hear me?” The Talented doctor was standing in Ariel’s line of vision. The wounds on her arms and wrists healed.
“Depression,” he said to Hannah. “Could be deadly. Might still kill her, if we’re not careful. We need another Talented to watch her. Unfortunately, the pain in her life has caused her Talent to rise to an extraordinary level. While I could only heal, and defend myself, Ariel could destroy the city with a flick on her finger.”
Hannah looked mortified.
“Her powers won’t return until she wakes up from her dream world, so don’t worry. In the time until Michael returns, rest and take it easy. After all, he’ll be here within the next few days. I’ll be sending someone to keep an eye on Ariel.”
He got up from the floor.
“A pupil of mine, actually. Very gifted young women. Has the talent to surpass me in a few years, if given the time. Very well then. I’ll be off.” He bid goodbye, and left.
As the glass and wood was cleared, Hannah moved towards Ariel. Sure, the wounds were healed on the outside, but on the inside, she was lost to them.
Just in case, Hannah tied Ariel’s foot to the bed, not giving her much room to move if she did get up. She also placed a crystal barrier around the bed, keeping her by the bed, and away from harmful items.
When Hannah reached her side again, Ariel was already back in her world.
She was in a place she had never heard of. The people that surrounded her were crying. But that melted into torches. Ariel braced herself as the terrible memory approached.
Father was crucified, headless on the front lawn. Her mother raped before she was killed and flung naked into the river. How she was seeing this, she did not know. But was this woman her mother? This man her father? How could she tell?
But suddenly, she saw a shadowy image of her mother. She reached out a hand, and it was taken into an icy cold hand. Her father floated down, as well as her siblings. They all made a circle around her. The shadow blending into one, only their faces visible. And then, she was becoming shadow, beginning with her feet. A silent wind blew her to join her family.
Was she dead? Was she dying? But as she faded slowly into the shadow of her family, Michael appeared past them. He stretched out a hand through the shadow. He radiated a light that cut though the shadow, but caused the shadow to consume her torso. Panicking, she tried to grasp his hand, but her hand was now a wisp of smoke. He suddenly reached out, and held her face. His face was calm, reassuring, but she was fading. As she was pulled away, she parted her lips, and screamed.
She opened her eyes to candle light. Her eyes darted around the room maniacally. Her eyes ran over the surfaces of the crimson cloth above her, and to the wall. A sob by her side distracted her, as did a squeeze on her hand. She glanced down, and Michael was resting his head on the side of the bed, eyes closed and tearing. When he squeezed her hand again, it took all her strength she could muster to give a weak squeeze in response. His eyes opened suddenly, and he lifted his head. She managed a weak smile, and then was pulled back down.
“Wake up, wake up Ariel.”
She wanted so badly to respond, but it felt as if her body didn’t exist, and only her mind did. She was afraid to open her mouth to let out the air that was collected in her lungs. Her body felt heavy, and she felt trapped, like a bird in a cage to small. She could clearly hear the movements of people in the room, and what they were saying, but it sounded foreign. Arms latched onto her body, pulling and twisting in an almost dance-like pattern.
Pressure. There was a sudden pressure in her head, which flowed down to her fingertips, down her body to the tips of her toes. Behind her closed eyelids, explosion of lights were taking place. It seemed, that after they popped, they disappeared, and the pressure began to build. The colors soon turned to blue. An energetic color, she found. Oh, how it hurt! How she longed to release the pressure. She was sure if she did, it would be like releasing the air out a balloon that was filled to the brim. It would release at such a force, there was sure to be destruction.
When she thought the pain was disappearing, it came back with such force that it caused her to awaken.
She sat up so quickly, that the woman checking her pulse was scared half to death. Images of the room were blurred, and the pressure was still pushing, wanting release. With memories flooding back to her, the pressure became unbearable. Not wanting to hurt the children, or anyone else for that matter, she leapt out of bed in nothing but a loose, thin, cotton nightgown. Finding she was tied to the bed didn’t help. She zapped the bond, and immediately the pressure subsided for the time being. She ignored the woman yelling after her, and went bolting down the hall, and nearly leapt down the 5 floors to ground level. When she was outside, the night air caused her to relax. And what luck; Ryan was bringing out horses.
He was shocked to see her, and the way she was dressed, but the look in her eyes, and the pale blue aura around her scared him. He didn’t refuse her a horse when she grabbed the reins out of his hands and galloped off. When she was beginning to leave his sight, Michael, Hannah, and Mateo came running out through the doors with the nurse on their heels. After brief orders and directions, they were all given horses, and tore down the road after her.
What ever was in her way, she blasted. Soon, she was covered in fish water, bits of thread, and the inside of fruit. As she continued, she had no idea where she was headed, but decided to go to the dock, which was in the completely opposite direction. She quickly turned around at the next corner, and began the trip to the waterfront. The layout of the city was rather peculiar. While the cities around them were either surrounded by water or sand, they had both. To the west, deserts and to the east, water as far as the eye could see. They were high above the water, meaning that there were cliffs lining the waterfront. They were always safe from tidal waves, and they had designed a system of ropes and hooks to retrieve parcels from ships, as well as deliver. There was a dock where the land was lower, and you just had to climb down a few flights of stairs.
When she arrived at the cliffs, clouds had formed and covered the sun. But, as she learned, the clouds seemed to follow her. As the pressure began building in her head again, so did the dark color of the clouds. She got off the horse, and sent the animal off. No need to hurt the poor thing. The stone was cold under her feet, and sent shivers throughout her body. Soon the stone met grass, and wild flowers. She made her way to the cliff, stumbling, and almost being knocked off her feet from the dizzy feeling that had recently consumed her. The merchants had stayed clear of the cliffs, for fear of the water rising, and consuming them, so there was no one around.
And if someone was around, they would think she was trying to commit suicide, the way she stood at the edge, head looking over, and then leaping off into swirling waters.
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