Will blinked in the dim green light. As his eyes focused, he could make out tall, darker structures, rising up above him. The atmosphere around him was warm and seemed to flow around him. He closed his eyes, smiling at the peaceful sensation.

                “We’re here.” A quiet voice said. Will opened his eyes and turned. The world around him was becoming more solid, the warm almost fluid feeling, disappearing, to be replaced with that of a light breeze. He realized that the tall structures he had seen were now trees and that they were standing in a shaded meadow at the bottom of a hill. Judging from the light, it was nearing sunset here.

                Will suddenly caught hold of a smell. His mouth opened slightly in confusion as he narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what he was smelling.

                “It smells like…” Will started. Fairien grinned.

                “Come, this way.” He said, walking up toward the top of the hill. Confused, Will followed. As he reached the top of the hill, the trees fell away and Will found himself looking out over the sea. He gasped in delight, breathing the salty air.

                “Where are we?” he asked.

                “In my sacred realm.” Fairien said. “It’s in Northern Betamy, I think I told you before… We really aren’t all that far away from Iyokia.” Will looked out over the beautiful water once again, taking it in. He watched as a bird flew lazily along, catching the wind under its wings.

                “Fairien…” Will said, breaking the silence. “Why did you bring me here?” he asked. Fairien stiffed slightly and looked over at Will. Will watched him in silence.

                “There’s a reason, isn’t there?” he asked. Fairien nodded slowly.

                “I wanted to show you something.” He said. Drawing himself back Fairien made a sigh for Will to back away as well. Will watched him curiously. Fairien bowed his head, closing his eyes. Will blinked as the air around him began to almost… crackle. He realized it was a sound, something coming from Fairien. Before he could ask what it was something caught his attention and held it completely.

                Long white… things were… extending from Fairien’s back. Will gasped taking another step back. The white things arched upward, spreading out. Fairien stretched them, moving his shoulders, giving Will the sudden impression that these things were a part of Fairien. Fairien opened his eyes and let the white things relax. They fell around him, moving as he breathed.

                “These are my wings.” Fairien said simply.

                “W-Wings…?” Will asked, moving timidly forward. Fairien frowned.

                “Looks like someone didn’t pay attention to his theology lessons.” He chided.

                “Hmph!” Will said drawing closer to examine the wings, “Where would I have learned theology?”

                “I don’t know…” Fairien said rolling his eyes. Will paused slightly, watching the wing in front of him.

                “… C-Can I touch it?” he asked. Fairien nodded. Slowly, Will raised his hand up to the white wing and ran his fingers down it. To his surprise it was soft, like a bird’s wing.

                “I’ve never seen anything like this before… I didn’t know wings could be… this big… They look so strange…”

                “Strange?” Fairien said frowning. “What do you mean strange? I like them! You’re the strange one.”

                “I’m not the one with wings popping out of my back…” Will said moving around the wings, watching them in awe, “And you call me strange.”

                “Do… Do the other’s have wings as well?” Will asked after a moment. Fairien nodded, understanding what Will meant.

                “Yes. Both Minerva and Azrael have them.” He said. “We’ve always had them, but usually we keep them hidden. It’s just more convenient that way. Plus, it seems to freak people out.”

                “Well, yeah…” Will agreed. He paused a moment then turned to face Fairien. “Fairien, you told me once you would tell me about Minerva… I know you don’t like talking about her but…” Fairien nodded.

                “Yes. I should tell you a bit about her. You’ll probably meet her soon, and I guess it would be good if you were prepared a bit… One thing first…” he paused, pulling his wings back in. They folded and moved back into his back, disappearing within seconds. Will shook his head.

                “I don’t understand how you do that…”

                “Practice.” Fairien said, sitting down, looking out over the sea.

                “Mm.” Will sat down as well.

                “You want to know about Minerva?… Let’s see… I guess you know about the very beginning…”

                “Not really.” Will admitted. “I told you, Uncle never really talked about the deities much.”

                “Well then I guess I’ll tell you about it.” Fairien said. “The very first thing I can remember is awakening here. I… I somehow knew that… There were others like me. And they knew too, because we all flew to the very center of this world after awakening in our respective sacred realms…”

                “Where is the center of the world?” Will asked. Fairien shrugged.

                “It’s ocean now. It’s out in between Hailia and Betamy. I’m sure you’ve crossed it many times. But that’s not really important… When we all met, it wasn’t… It wasn’t like we didn’t know each other. We did, we knew each other very well… That’s something we’ve never figured out. Why we knew each other right off… But anyway, we all talked to each other, trying to figure out where we were and what was going on. Eventually we went back to our own places and then we realized we could create things… It was really Azrael that figured it out first. He usually does figure things out first. He made an eagle as I remember. Minerva of course got angry that she wasn’t first and immediately made a wolf…” Fairien paused.

                “So, what did you make?” Will asked. Fairien shrugged.

                “It… It took me a lot longer to figure it out. The first thing I made… Failed. It died within the first hour of its life. Minerva said I was cruel to do something like that and Azrael offered to help me but… I didn’t want their help… Eventually I did figure it out, and when I did I wanted to make something bigger and better than both of them.” Fairien laughed, “…I guess I was kind of silly back then, not to say that I’m not now… I made a bear… But by then Azrael had begun to make people. Hailia was populated quickly, and their culture grew. Minerva created the Iyokians, who back then were a very intelligent people.”

                “You saying they aren’t now?” Will asked. Fairien laughed.

                “You would have to decide that.” He said, dodging the question and continuing, “They had all sorts of strange ancient inventions that I never quite understood. And then… I created the Betamians. The most spirited people…” he shrugged, “I guess that’s your world history right there. Sorry, I’m not a very good story teller.”

                “You said you’d talk about Minerva.” Will reminded him. Fairien nodded.

                “Right… Well, as you may have guessed, we were all like siblings in those early years, even our petty little arguments and trying to be better than each other were rather ‘sibling-ish’… Although, Azrael tried his best to rise above the petty arguments… I’d have to say that Minerva and I were the ones doing most of the arguing… She didn’t like me very much I think. She seemed to disapprove of everything I did. Even Azrael noticed that and told her to stop picking on me. He acted as our mediator, since he was the most mature. But it really wasn’t that Minerva was immature… She was just cold and very intelligent. Azrael and I both knew she was a lot smarter than both of us. The only thing is, intelligence isn’t everything. Minerva couldn’t understand that, and it infuriated her to no end I’m sure when we could understand something and she couldn’t. Matters of the heart, for example. Azrael and I both understood those very well, but Minerva simply couldn’t grasp them… Anyway,” Fairien shook his head, “I guess that’s about when we created the talismans.”

                “The talismans?” Will asked. Fairien nodded.

                “It was an instinct… I guess that’s the best way of putting it. We had to create them… Just like we had to create the beings of this world. Between each of us an object was made… Sometimes I wonder what they meant…” he stopped and paused, frowning.

                “What do you mean?” Will asked.

                “It’s just that, well, a staff is a beautiful thing, and a mirror is something that… shows things… But the talisman between Minerva and I… A sword.” He sighed. “I think the talismans have many things hidden in them… It’s just eerie to me, that between Minerva and I… the creation that came naturally to us… was a weapon.”

                “Almost a premonition…” Will said quietly. Fairien nodded and closed his eyes.

                “Which leads me to the other thing I wanted to show you.”

 

 

                By Demus’s reckoning it was morning. He began to carefully wake the others, for their last day in the tunnel. Tella groggily stood up and stretched.

                “I’m hungry.” The wanderer said, sitting up, hearing her back pop loudly.

                “Mm… Me too.” Collin said. He had decided that nothing would change, even though he had told Demus his most closely guarded shame. He certainly didn’t want the others to know.

                “We should get going soon.” Tella said. “Hey, where’s Will? He disappear again? Will! Will! WILL!!” she shouted.

                “I’m here!” he called back, stumbling up towards them from around the corner. He looked tired, but not really sick anymore.

                “You… Okay Will?” Tella asked. He nodded enthusiastically.

                “Yeah, we have to get to Avrai as quickly as possible, right?” he asked. They nodded, “Then let’s go!” They all paused at Will’s strange behavior, but shrugged it off as his enthusiasm for wanting to get out of the caves, which no one could dispute.

 

 

                “This sucks!!!” Tella shouted at the top of her lungs.

                “Be quiet!” the wanderer said, “You want to bring this place down on top of us?”

                “Yes. Let’s not die before we have to.” Collin said. Tella stuck her tongue out at him.

                “Pessimist.” She said.

                “Well, we just have to find a way through this.” Will said.

                “A way through three feet of concrete?” Collin said, walking up to the end of the tunnel and knocking on the concrete. As he touched it, a chill ran through his body. Collin stopped, frowning at the sensation.

                “Stupid Areans! Having to run around paving everything in site!” Tella complained.

                “Well what did you expect? Did you think we’ve come out in the middle of the woods?” Collin growled. He was trying to pay attention to the conversation but something kept nudging his thoughts aside.

                “I don’t know…” Tella shrugged. A long moment went by as they stared at the white impenetrable wall. Collin blinked, bowing his head.

                “I can destroy it.” he said softly.

                “Destroy… it?” Tella asked. Another pause, then, “You can?” Collin nodded, staring at it. Will frowned.

                “Wait!” he shouted, “We don’t know what’s on the other side!”

                “He’s right!” the wanderer said, “There could be people! We’re in the middle of a big city!”

                “I can destroy it.” Collin said again. Demus stared at him, narrowing his eyes.

                “Collin…” he said softly.

                “We don’t have another choice.” Tella said. “We have to get out of here. Can any of you think of something better?”

                “But-” Will started. Collin lifted his hands together, creating a small glow. His eyes closed completely and the glow brightened.

                “Collin!” Demus shouted, but Collin wasn’t listening.

                “Hey!” Will shouted, but was to late. The energy shot out of Collin’s hands, erupting into a blinding flash, hitting the concrete wall. A deafening roar filled the air, as Collin’s friends jumped back, covering their heads. The dusty air quieted. Tella opened her eyes first, and immediately regretted doing so. She cursed, trying to rub the dust out of her eyes. The others waited until most of the dust had fallen down before peering out at remains of the wall. A blinding hole of light met their eyes and they realized they were looking into daylight.

                “Oww…” the wanderer said, covering her eyes.

                “Come on!” Tella shouted, “We’ve done it!” she rushed forward, enthusiastically.

                “Wait!” Will shouted, running after her, “You don’t know what’s out there! Come back! Tella!”

                “Hey!” the wanderer ran after him, as they climbed up the rubble and into the light.

                “Idiots!” Demus muttered and followed them upward.

                Collin stared at the hole he had made, his eyes burning from the light, but refusing to look away. He stood like that for a long time.

                “…I destroyed it.” He said softly. Then slowly, he made his way toward his friends, climbing into the light.

               

 

 

As their eyes adjusted to the bright daylight they could see that they were indeed in a city. Tell stared in wonder at the tall sky rises, their luminescent sides reflecting the beautiful day. The whole city seemed to glow with this energy, so much that indeed, it did feel alive.

“Is this… Avrai?” Will asked.

“Yes.” Collin answered, coming out of the hole. The wanderer dropped her gaze from the towers and began to look around. Her smiled faded and she began to breath quickly. She turned in every direction before her small voice said anxiously,

“We… We… are alone.” She said. They all gasped, realizing it was true. For all the majesty this city held… There were no people in it.

“Collin, what’s going on?” Tella asked, her voice trembling. Collin shook his head, his eyes wide and disturbed.

“I-I don’t know!” he squeaked. “This isn’t right!”

“There have to be people here!” the wanderer said, “We just aren’t seeing them! Maybe they’ve all gone to something! Something!” she rambled on.

“This is…” Demus closed his eyes and grasped his head. “This is… wrong. Something is wrong…” Collin shakily reached for the keypad, flipping it open. He madly pressed buttons, switching it on. The screen blinked once, then, flickered out, dying. Collin dropped the keypad and backed away from it, clutching his chest.

“There are birds… chirping…” the wanderer said in a disconnected voice. She pointed as one flew by, perching on a fountain. “There,” she said pointing to it. She paused, staring in silence, her arm dropping as she looked past the fountain to a building off in the distance. She let out a small whimper. Her friends, turned, watching her, then looked to see where she was staring.

“That… Building…” Collin said.

“It’s…” Tella began. To their amazement as they watched the building seemed to shimmer and darken, taking on a blue tone. The atmosphere around it seemed to build up… like a bubble. It kept building, higher and higher and higher until…

“…Pop.” Collin said softly. As he said it, the mass of darkness swelled, popping and spreading out over the entire city. They screamed as the darkness over took them, rushing in on a strong wind.

“That was-” Collin struggled to say, “That was the capitol building!” the wind calmed and they were left standing in an eerily quiet city again, but now the sky around them had darkened. There was a strange feeling of electricity in the air. Will shivered.

“This is…” he began softly.

“Be quiet Will…” Tella told him. “Come on.” She said, “We’re going to the capitol building.” They began to walk off. Will stared at them murmuring,

“They don’t understand.” He closed his eyes and forced himself to walk.