Ethereal

~Marcie~

I know it's the last thing I should have done, but I doubled over laughing.

The truth was, it was funny. Moments before, Dominiv had been glistening with power and confidence, a bright red fireball of energy--and the next, everything was shattered, and the Prince fell, clutching his nose as blue waves of pain rolled off him, and the blonde girl responsible simply stood there, shaking out her fist.

There was an unpleasant crack as Dominiv stood, realigning his nose and chuckling. As the blood dripped off him, he only laughed harder, and he became a true vision of madness.

I stepped forward, and a throbbing ball of blue pulsed around my hand. He looked almost like a broken wild animal, not seeming to feel the pain as he turned to Charlotte.

"Forgive me," he said, straightening his jacket and ignoring the blood pouring off his face. "But I seem to have forgotten how exactly I offended you so." his voice rich with sarcasm, he cracked a bloody grin.

Tennin was the only one who didn't laugh.

The rest of us did. We giggled and gasped for air and fell to the ground. There was something about that single moment that was hard to capture--it wasn't happiness, or even laughter, really, but it was a feeling that a group of people have when they have been through so much that they simply can't hold in their giggles. And now, even this smallest joke set us off and it took us much too long to stop. Tennin leaned against a darkened wall, sighing as we gasped for air like lunatics.

"That was fun," Charlotte giggled, wiping tears from her eyes.

Dominiv took a step back and raised his hands defensively, grinning.

I laughed as well, and yellow swirls of energy bubbled up around me. I was silent suddenly, staring at them in wonder. Fear padded over and pawed at one curiously.

Dominiv grinned and bent down beside me. He reached out and took one between his fingertips, and he smiled and extended his fingers until it grew into a vibrant yellow rose. Standing, he turned towards Charlotte and held it out to her.

"Friends?"

Charlotte took it from him with a guarded smile. Anyone looking could see the wariness in her eyes, but for the moment, she put it aside.

I stood, brushing myself off, and the yellow bubbles dissipated, popping into nothingness.

I was still smiling like an idiot. It was a strange feeling indeed--I struggled to remember the last time I had laughed.

Tennin cleared his throat.

Everyone looked to see what he was pointing at.

Sticking out of the wall was a brilliant, shining pink gem.

Ashan approached it cautiously. He reached forward, and in a sudden quick movement, pulled it out with all his might and it came out of the wall with a pop--

--and a girl followed it.

She fell to the ground with a small exclamation of pain, and we stared at her. The gem was shining from a brown belt around her waist, surrounded by other glittering stones and vials of mysterious liquids and twisted cords. She was slight, but looked about fifteen, like Charlotte and I, and she wore simple brown pants and a white shirt. Her hair was stark white, choppily cut around her shoulders and the ends were dyed all shades of pink, green and blue. Her skin was deathly pale, and as her white eyelashes fluttered I saw that her eyes were the palest of white, with only a hint of green around the irises.

We stared for a moment as she sat up on her elbows, looking at us in wonder.

Charlotte finally asked the question. "Who...are you?"

She smiled and got to her feet, putting her hands on her hips and smiling.

"I am Esperssa. Princess of Recessa, but who really cares about that?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We kept looking at her for a moment, before I said something very unimportant. "I like your hair."

"You do?" her hands went to the strands immediately, caressing them lovingly. "I came up with the dye when I was four. Two alamite stones and some water...but my father hated it. He hated anything colorful." she blew out a sigh.

Charlotte stared at her, waiting for the inevitable speech.

"Oh, right!" Esperssa grinned and looked at her. "Koreask. Come to Recessa and bring us light and stuff." She held out a hand.

Charlotte started. "First of all, my name is Charlotte. Second, I am not just some object the--"

"Oh, good." Esperssa wiped her hand across her forehead comically.

We stared. "Excuse me?" Tennin said, moving away from the wall.

Esperssa shrugged. "It's not like I want to go back. Plus, Recessans like to be in the dark. They're dull and boring." she blew a strand of hair out of her face. "You must tell me how you get this color!" she said excitedly, striding towards Charlotte and taking a piece of her hair in her hands. "Maybe coramil..."

Tennin moved in front of her. "Why is Recessa here now? I have heard nothing of them from centuries."

I turned to Ashan quizzically, and he obliged with a hurried history lesson. "Recessa is even farther underground than Sub-Tërra. I have never met anyone from that place. They are so removed from light and from the surface, needless to say..."he nodded at Esperssa. "...they turn out a bit strange."

Tennin pulled the Princess away from Charlotte. "It seems a bit foolish, for the King to simply send his daughter on such an important mission."

"Oh, he didn't," Esperssa said, offhandedly. She looked around. "I'm starving."

"If we feed you, will you tell us your story?" I said, eager for knowledge.

She grinned.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Well, my father certainly didn't send me," the Princess of Recessa said through a mouthful of some sort of meat. "He always wanted me to stay at the palace. To stay in the darkness, with my sisters." she tore off another piece and chewed loudly. "but you would have left too, if you'd seen what they wear. All white. It was like living with ghosts. I was always desperate for some color..." she trailed off, looking at Charlotte's hair wistfully.

"So..." Tennin prompted, leaning forward.

She shrugged, still chewing. "So I left. At first I thought, hey, I'll bring him the Koreask and he'll be more lenient, whatever." she swallowed. "but bow that I've found you guys, I got surface fever." she licked her fingers, one by one. "I want to see the sun shining through trees and moonlit lakes. I want to see the mountains and the ocean." she sighed. "I want to see light."

"Of course you can come with us," Charlotte said.

I grinned.

Tennin opened his mouth to speak, but Charlotte, predicting the reaction, ran her hand through his hair and he quieted.

"Really?!" Esperssa grinned suddenly and bounced on her heels. "I'll be so useful to you guys. I have all this boring stuff I know from school, and they told us that people on the surface have forgotten it."

"Good," I said, pulling the scroll out of my sleeve. "You can start by telling us about this."

Esperssa laughed, and crawled around the fire toward me. She sat back on her heels and carefully rolled up my sleeve.

"It goes like this, silly." she murmured, wrapping the Zadax scroll around my upper arm.

As soon as the ends touched, I felt a sudden burning sensation and I cried out--Ashan jumped to his feet and I looked down to see the paper disappearing, leaving it's mysterious markings twined around my arm like a dark tattoo.

"What--" I stared down at it, turning my arm in the firelight.

I looked up as I heard a sudden noise. Ashan had pulled the Princess to her feet, and he spoke to her with a deadly calm in his voice. "What. Have. You. Done."

Esperssa looked around the circle, frowning in confusion. "Isn't she the Seer?" no one answered.

She shook Ashan off and looked at me. "You want to receive the prophecy, yes?"

I blinked up at her for a moment.

"The only way you can receive it is in Dream." she said slowly, explaining a concept obvious to her. "It has to be inscribed about your person. That's why all the Zadax prophecies are printed on--"

"I don't care, just get it off," Ashan growled at her dangerously.

I shook my head and stood, staring at the writing, mesmerized. "No...she's right...it feels right."

Esperssa nodded happily. "She is the Seer."

Charlotte stood now, and walked over to me, gazing at the mess of symbols. "This comes off eventually, right?"

Esperssa looked at us strangely. "Of course. After it has served it's purpose." she laughed. "You think the Zadax wander around with prophecies all over all the time--"

I instinctively rolled my sleeve back down. "So this has to be kept secret?"

"Oh certainly." Tennin looked up.

I sat back down, rubbing my arm. It still burned slightly. Charlotte sat next to me, giving me a worried look before turning to Tennin. "Why?"

He looked at us thoughtfully. "Recessa would certainly have more knowledge of the Zadax. They originated there, after all." he nodded at Esperssa. "But as we travel closer to the surface...well, anyone would want to get their hands on a prophecy." His eyes flickered to Dominiv.

The Prince leaned back, not looking at Tennin. "Let's not forget who got it in the first place."

Esperssa let out a sudden giggle. "You guys are so adorable! This is exciting. We can go on an adventure--"

"Um, or just try not to get killed." I sighed, looking around the circle. "So now what? You say I can read this--" I pointed at my sleeve, looking at Esperssa. "But I can't. I've tried. So it looks like we're still going to see the Egas of Lodorvrin."

Esperssa shook her head and stamped her foot like a small child. "No no no! You can read it! You just have to wait and it will show itself to you!"

"But where do we go?" Charlotte murmured, looking into the fire and playing with a stick in it.

Esperssa grinned. "To the mountains! To the ocean!"

Ashan shook his head and sat back down.

Dominiv sat up now, red sparking around his fingers as he played with them, staring into the fire thoughtfully. "We go to Lodorvrin."

Surprisingly, Tennin was silent and we waited for Dominiv to continue. I stared at the sparks in his hands.

"Until our Seer," He nodded at me. "Well....Sees something in this prophecy, it seems that we shall have to drag her all the way to the Egas." He sighed. "So much more cumbersome than a piece of paper..."

I gasped, and without meaning to sent a shock of blue-black sparks across the fire. Dominiv brushed it away easily, but I felt something--a sudden throbbing pain in my back.

I shivered and ignored it.

Ashan frowned and looked across the fire at me. I looked down.

Tennin looked at Esperssa. "I still don't understand. If the King didn't send you..."

Esperssa waved her hand through the air, as if to brush off his comment. "Oh, he sent a bunch of Sessaras and stuff. But don't worry, I'll help you guys escape them."


Again, we all looked at her.

"The Princess of Recessa...helping us escape the army of Recessa," Ashan said slowly. "I don't know if this is incredibly funny, or actually worrying."

Tennin sighed. "I suppose it simply shows the state of the royalty these days."

Dominiv only grinned and Ashan laughed loudly.

After a moment Dominiv stood, stretching his limbs with an almost catlike grace. "More firewood," He said softly, turning towards the dark, dead forest. Without a word, Ashan stood and followed him.

I gazed after them for a moment. Then,without really realizing it, I nudged Deca and he flitted off after them.

I looked back into the fire. Charlotte was sitting next to Tennin, and they were murmuring to each other.

Esperssa sat on the other side of the fire, rubbing two stones from her belt together furiously, and glancing over at Charlotte every now and then.

I walked over and took a seat next to her, ignoring the aching pain in my back. "So you really grew up without colors?"

She nodded, rubbing something powdery into her hair and making an exasperated noise when it turned bright yellow. "Yes. It is the dullest place down there. And yet--" she put down the two yellow stones and picked up a glittering rainbow one from her belt. It caught the firelight and shined as she gazed at it. "--we were always surrounded by beauty." she sighed. "I just wonder why no one in my family ever took advantage of it like I did." she tucked a green strand behind her ear. "After a while, my appearance 'deteriorated' so much that my father couldn't stand to keep me in court. I don't care though." She put the stone back into her belt.

We both looked into the fire for a moment.

"So how did you do that thing with the wall?" I said suddenly.

"Right?!" She looked at me, eyes ablaze. "Isn't it amazing? Everyone takes it for granted, but for me it's the chance to explore!"

"But how..."

"My teacher told me that it's because of the dark. We live it, breathe it, we are born from it. It is what we share with the stones. They are our brothers and sisters, and we are as much a part of each other as air..." she shook her head. "I'm not sure, though. I've lost track of what is legend and what is truth." She put her head on her knees and gazed at the flames.

There was another pause and neither of us said anything.

"Hey," I said suddenly. "You like colors?"

Esperssa turned her head and I held up both my hands.

Dominiv hadn't exactly taught me the trick, but I figured I could do it on my own. I concentrated on each finger, and the flames lit up, one by one.

"Destruction," I murmured. "Creation, Healing, Beauty, Vision..." my left hand was alight with the flickering lights and Esperssa stared, entranced, just as I had been. I wondered if she saw the tiny images like I had. Or perhaps I wasn't that advanced.

"Joy...Passion..." I couldn't help grinning. "Sadness...Purity...Evil." I flinched as the dark flame was lit and I felt a sudden searing sensation in my back.

This time, I couldn't help crying out.

And then, blacking out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Isn't it funny," I murmured. My face was pressed against something soft.

"Isn't what funny?" a voice trickled into my mind.

"How...we stood under a tree in a lightning storm..."

I heard a chuckle.

I shifted uncomfortably as I slowly became aware of my surroundings. My eyes were closed, but I could still feel a throbbing pain in my lower back, and it got steadily harsher.

Then I felt a hand, tracing the wound and leaving behind a cooling sensation. I twisted away from it's sudden chill.

There was an annoyed noise. "If you had just told me about this I could have fixed it sooner."

I gripped the soft thing under my head and squeezed my eyes shut. "Ashan?"

He spread more ointment onto my back. "Yes?"

I rolled my shoulders uncomfortably, aware of how cold I was. "Where is everybody?"

"Asleep," he said softly. "You were out for...quite a while."

I was silent for a moment. "But you stayed up?"

There was a pause. "Yes."

I burrowed into the object I now identified as a jacket. "...thanks."

There was still a chilling feeling on my back.

"Dominiv could do it," I mumbled, thinking of the twisting green strands of healing magic he had shown me.

Ashan's hand stopped, and I could almost feel him tense up.

I let out an exasperated breath. "I'm not under a spell, you know."

His fingers left the wound. "I know."

He was silent for a moment, and then, "He says that your wound reopened because of that magic. The blackness." I shivered. "There must have been some in the Kriskan rain, and it reacted."

I turned my head and my eyes slowly drifted open. I could see the hazy outline of the now dim fire, and the sleeping forms of the rest of our small band.

I felt a bandage being placed over the cut, and I stiffened. Ashan muttered something I couldn't hear and trailed a single finger down my back, and my entire spine went numb. I tried to move but I couldn't until a few moments later.

"You are so stubborn," Ashan said, gently taking the jacket from under my head and wrapping it around me. I saw him turn around from the corner of my eye.

I sat up slowly, pulling it around me and zipping it up carefully. Ashan faced away, gazing into the dark trees.

"Is it time to sleep?" I murmured, looking up at the ceiling of the endless cavern.

Ashan nodded. "After a while you can tell," He said, referring to my unasked question about how Sub-Terrans know the time of day.

I laid back down on the hard ground, shivering slightly.

"Are you taking first watch?" I yawned sleepily.

"Yes," I heard him shift around.

I didn't argue.

Just as my eyes started to drift shut again, I saw a soft light approaching. Deca landed on my hair, tickling my ear. There was a small crackling noise, and then soft voices started to play.

"...uneasy." Ashan's voice, tiny and crackling.

"Of course. But you of all people would understand."

A disbelieving noise from Ashan. "Oh, I am the farthest thing from a Prince as of right now."

"But it's in your blood," Dominiv said confidently. I heard the cracking sound of wood.

There was a pause. "And yet, you are the more captivating presence."

"I know it is what you all think," Dominiv said softly. There was another crack. "but I do not have Marcella under my control."

"You would like us to think it," Ashan said, guarded.

"Certainly. I would like her to think it too." A thump of wood hitting the ground. "But the truth is that she is not easily swayed. Magically, at least. She has only herself to blame for what happened."

There was a loud crack.

"Good to know," Ashan said finally.

Dominiv chuckled. "She is acting out. I can be charming and persuasive, and she doesn't feel the need to be wary around me. I am...how did she put it? Honest." There was a stretch of silence. "Perhaps you should think of why she wouldn't trust you." Dominiv's voice faded out, and Deca's light dimmed.

I turned over. I could see Ashan's outline, illuminated by the fire. He stared out at the dark forest, still as the night.

"Ashan," I whispered.

"Yes," He said, just as quietly.

"Sing me a lullaby." I closed my eyes. "From Sub-Terra."





He was silent for a moment, and then I heard him clear his throat.

"Let the silence guide you
let the darkness shine
let the stillness hold you
you'll be forever mine

let the nighttime fall now
let yourself drift away
I will meet you in the morning
I will meet you by the day"

I felt myself slowly drift into Dream, and before I did I murmured to him.

"You have a beautiful voice."