Zander yawned as he stretched in his bed. It had been a little over a year since he had been brought to the dark black void that the amber eyed creatures lived in. Since then he had gone from being a little baby to a young man looking to be about nineteen years old.
Many had been shocked at how fast Zander had grown, especially the elders. They had expected him to grow fast given his heritage, but not that fast. The only way they could explain Zander's accelerated grow is the combination of the four races. That or it was monster part of him. It wasn't as if any of them had seen a baby monster before.
Zander got out of his bed and looked himself in the mirror in his room. Like every other room in the amber-eyed creature's black void, Zander's room was practically pitch black. Because Zander had grown up in the void his eyes were very well adjusted to the dark. He could also adjust very well to light changes but not as well as the others in the void. After giving himself a quick look over Zander gets himself ready for the day. Once ready Zander looks over to the door that leads to the room next door to his. I wonder if Amie is up already? He smiled and strolled over to the door and gave it a light knock. "Amie? Are you awake?"
Zander waits patiently for an answer but gets none. The room next door is quiet without a sound to indicate a person in the there. Zander frowns and opens the door to reveal her room, but she wasn't in there. Oh well I guess I'll find her later.
Zander was about to leave to go out of the room when his stomach growled at him. Hmmm... well I haven't had anything to eat so I guess it's not surprising that I'm hungry. He strolled over to the little storage area where Amie kept food for Zander. Not being like the others in the void, Zander needed to eat food rather then magic. The storage area was just a little pit that had been dug into an area in the back of Amie's room with a door over it. Inside the pit Amie had placed a special ice crystal that kept it's surrounding area cold. Zander looked inside the storage area and was surprised to see that it was nearly empty. There wasn't anything for him to eat besides a few rotting vegetables.
Oh great, there's nothing for me to eat. Well guess I'd better go find Amie now. Zander shakes his head and goes out into the dark hallway. As he does many people give him evil glares. There wasn't a person expect Amie and Maldrin that was nice to Zander from the void dwellers. Most people either ignored him or acted very mean and rude towards him. "Good morning to you too." Zander muttered under his breath with a cross glare.
"Something bothering you Zander?" A voice asked him from ahead.
"Good morning Maldrin. No nothing is bothering me. Just had my first dose of morning rudeness from one of the locals. Anyway, how are you this fine and dark morning?"
Maldrin lightly chuckled. "Well it is dark in here but out there it's brighter and raining. And I'm feeling fine right now. How about you?"
"I'm okay. I just got up a few minutes ago. Hey have you seen Amie around?"
Maldrin smiled slightly. Even though the girl should have been formally named by now, she hadn't. The elder's kept making up excuses on why she hadn't been named. But everyone was pretty much annoyed with the girl being called Amie by Zander. Maldrin himself would have liked to be able to call the girl Amie too, but if he did then the others would realize that Maldrin was actually friends with the girl. And if they knew that he had gotten close to her as a friend then he would be penalized for it. "I just saw her go out the portal near the market place that leads outside. She's probably just walking around."
"Walking around?! But you just say it's raining outside?! Is she wearing a cloak or a cape? She could get a cold if she isn't!"
"Don't worry Zander, she's properly dressed for the weather. You know her, she just really likes the rain."
"Okay, well I'm going to go talk with her. Thanks Maldrin." Zander gave the man a smile before sprinting off to his room to get a coat for outside.
Maldrin shook his head with a smile of his own. My, that boy a strange one. I just hope that nothing happens to him.
Once Zander had his coat he put it on and sprinted over to the portal entrance that Maldrin had said that Amie had gone out from. In the dark void there was many portals that the amber-eyed creatures could go out. Each portal lead to a different place on the world. It was one of the ways that the amber-eyed creatures were able to dominate certain races so easily. They could choose when and where they wanted to attack them and their enemies wouldn't even have a chance to defend their attacks because their enemies wouldn't even be aware of the attack till it's too late.
Outside the portal the first thing that Zander did was close his eyes from the light. It's true that his eyes were able to adjust from dark and light quite easily, but it took his eyes a few seconds to adjust. So going from extreme darkness to light was a little harsh on his eyes.
Zander squinted a few times in the daylight as he made his way trying to find where Amie was. The rain poured down to the ground and on Zander in a chaotic rhythm that only nature could think up. Zander was thankful that he had a very thick coat or otherwise he would have been wet by now. Gwah! It's really wet out here. Why does she like going out in this anyway? Oh well now if I was Amie where would I be? Zander pondered for a few minutes while standing under a tree keeping dry. He eventually came to a conclusion; he had absolutely no idea where she would be. Grr... I guess that leaves me to wander around till I find her. Zander frowned while leaving the sanctuary of the tree.
After a few minutes of wandering around Zander ended up near a small river with a little wooden bridge. And on the bridge there was Amie standing and leaning on the railing of the bridge staring at the water of the river.
Zander didn't say anything to let her know he was there. He just stood there watching her stare off into space.
Amie was wearing a very heavy cloak with most of her long silvery blue purple hair tucked away in her hood.
When Zander had first met Amie she looked to be older then him, but now it was the other way around. In a little over a year Zander had gone from being a little baby to what he looked like now, and Amie went from looking seven or eight to looking seventeen.
Amie's amber eyes seemed to be transfixed on the rippling water bellow her. Her face seemed to be set into an expression of deep thought with a little hint of depressiveness. Amie was the type of person that could easily be misunderstood with the way she acts. To those who don't know her Amie seems to be negative, depressing and very closed off and cold. But really Amie was just a realist who was border lining negative, has quite a bit of trouble expressing herself and socializing with people.
Zander had once asked Maldrin why Amie acted like she does and he told him about how Amie grew up. Having no family and only Maldrin as a friend plus having everyone else of her race alienating her, Amie grew up living a very solitary life.
Amie didn't seem to notice Zander at all, she seemed to be too lost in her own thoughts. But then Amie usually got like this when she was alone in the rain. Zander hadn't understood why she loved rain so much till she told him. What she said was that rain was nature's way of cleansing itself of all evil and past sins. Zander had given her a weird look for her poetic explanation and then she told him that she didn't really know why she liked the rain, she just did. Zander knew that another reason why she might like the rain was because she hated the sun. She didn't like when it was hot out and Zander could understand that. The home that the amber-eyed creatures was devoid of almost any kind of light. Though it never really got really cold in the void, it never got really hot either. Most amber-eyed creatures didn't like the heat for that very reason. Zander himself didn't like the heat either, but he preferred cloudy windy days.
"Are you just going to stand there, staring at me, or are you going to come over here?" Amie looked over to Zander with slight smile.
"Alack I've been spotted!" Zander cries out in an over dramatic voice. He walks over to join her on the small bridge. The bridge, which seemed to be fine having just one person on it, was making Zander a little bit nervous as he walked on it. "Hi Amie, how are you?"
"I'm fine just standing here staring at the river."
"Why exactly are you doing that?"
"I like to watch the ripples of rain splashing on water. It's almost hypnotic."
"Oh so that's why you looked completely spacey when I saw you."
Amie rolled her eyes at him and continued to look back at the water. "So why exactly were you trekking through weather that you don't really like anyway?"
"I just wanted to say hi to you."
Amie looked over at him with a disbelieving glance. "Yeah right, I bet you're just hungry and want me to go with you to get some food because we're out of things for you to eat."
"Well now that you mention it I am a bit hungry..." Zander flashed her a large award-winning smile.
Amie just shook her at him. "Well can we get you some food in a few minutes? I don't feel like going and dealing with humans right now."
"Yeah well this would be a lot easier if the portals from the void didn't lead out to areas where there is no edible vegetation. Hey why is that Amie?"
"It's not that any of them don't, there are actually some. It's just that there is very few that do. But I wouldn't have the faintest idea which ones would lead to edible things. But then it's partly because of the evil aura that the void gives off. Things have trouble growing around areas where the portals are, and if they do grow, it's usually poisonous or mutated things."
"But why would the portals affect the area? Isn't the void in like a dimension pocket anyway? So really the void shouldn't have any effect on this world."
"You're right about that. And if it was the case of the void affecting this world anyway then the same space that the void takes up in the dimensional pocket would make that same space on this world all dead and barren."
"So, then how does the portals affect the earth?"
"Well really it's not actually the portals themselves that cause the damage. It's when we go in and out the portals the damage is caused. Every time one of us goes through one of the portals whether to come out to this world or go into the void, evil dark energy escapes to this world when the portal is open. So that's why the area is effected."
Zander frowned. "Well isn't that lovely. Hey how about we go head off the village closest to here right now? It's going to take a little while to get there anyways, and I'm hungry. Plus I'm not trusting this bridge too much." Zander eyed the said bridge which made a slight creaking sound as he shifted weight on his feet.
"Okay fine, we'll go now. But you are going to have to make sure you are careful about your tail. You weren't that careful last time and someone almost found out what you are."
"Yeah I know Amie, as you've told me many times before. But hey aren't ancient dragons, golden dragons and monsters supposed to have like different forms?"
"I guess so, why do you ask?"
"Well I look human... sorta, but if I'm parts of each of those then shouldn't I have like this other strange form that I can change to?"
"I'm assuming you would."
"I wonder what I would look like..."
There was a slight pause between the two as they walked through a trail with the rain beating down on them.
"Let me guess Zander, you don't have no idea on how to change forms do you?"
"Not in the slightest. I was hoping maybe you could tell me something that could help me figure out how to."
Amie gave Zander a weird look. "And why exactly do you think I would me able to help you with that?"
"Well you can change into some different forms can't you?"
"Yes I can change into two. What's your point?"
"How did you figure out how to do it?"
"I didn't figure out anything. I knew how to do it before I could even remember. It's instinctive."
Zander frowned and made a mopey face. "Why can't I have some sort of instinctive thing that makes me able to change forms?"
"Maybe it's your elf part of you. Perhaps because of it you wont be able to change forms at all. Or maybe not. Either way Zander you're still very young. You're only like a year old anyway so maybe it's something you'll figure out in a few years. Don't sulk on it."
Zander didn't say anything in reply he just continued to mope.
A little while later on Amie and Zander finally made out to a little town that was the closest to them.
It wasn't a very large town, but then it wasn't really that small either. It was a fare sized place with a quite a bit of people living there. But when Zander and Amie reached the town, it was empty without a soul in sight.
"Where is everyone?" Zander asked looking around.
"Well it is raining out pretty hard, so they are probably in their homes. Come on the restaurant is this way." Amie said leading Zander.
The two of them walked into the restaurant and they received many odd stares from the townsfolk sitting at the tables.
"Wow you mean we got travelers coming into the town on a day like this?" A burly man with a graying beard comment in shock while he walked over to great the wet pair. "Well you two looked positively soaked! Come sit down over at that table near the fireplace and we'll get you something to warm you up!" The man whom was the owner of the restaurant ushered Amie and Zander to a table near the fireplace. "Now you two sit there and we'll get someone to see to you two in a moment or two."
Both Amie and Zander sit down and wait.
"You know that man was really nice to us. Isn't it great to actually talk to people who aren't evil-minded and mean?" Zander said happily as he warmed his hands by the nearby fireplace.
Amie didn't answer she just seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. It was actually a very common thing when her and Zander would go out and be near other people. She would always close herself off much more then normal when around humans and other races. Though she appeared to be very withdrawn and not very aware of what was going on around her, she wasn't in the slightest. Amie was always aware of what was going on around her. Growing up in the void had taught her to be very cautious even in the most seemingly safe situations.
A short girl in a waitress' outfit came bouncing over to their table with lots of energy. "Hi I'm Kylie your waitress. So what do you two want to eat?"
Zander looked through his menu trying to find what he wanted to eat while Amie just sat there staring at him and didn't bother to even pick up her menu.
"I'll have the breakfast special with some hot apple cider." Zander said putting down his menu.
"Okay! What would you like Miss?" The waitress looked over to Amie who just raised an eyebrow.
"I'll have... some hot water please."
The waitress gave her a weird look. "Only hot water? You don't want anything else? Like some soup, or maybe some-"
"Just hot water please. I've already eaten and I'm going to have some tea."
"Well we have some great teas on the menu-"
"No it's fine. I have my own tea mix that I want to use. But thank you anyways."
The waitress frowned but walked to go put in their order.
"You know Amie, you could at least order something to eat when we go out like this."
"And do what with it? You know I don't eat that type of food."
"Couldn't you at least try it sometime? Or is it really that repulsive to you?"
Amie just glared at him rather then respond to his question.
Moments later the waitress returned with their order and placed it on their table. She soon sped off to deal with another customer at a different table.
Zander immediately dove right into his breakfast having been starving half way through their walk over to the town.
Amie shook her head at her friend's complete lack of table manners and was quite aware that many people in the restaurant were staring at Zander funny. But that wasn't a surprise, Zander was only a year old after all. I suppose I'd better get him to eat more properly in the future. Amie fished inside her large cloak for a little waterproof pouch that was tied with a violet color string. Inside the pouch was small different colored crystals that had been smashed up into a fine powder. She took a certain amount of the crystals and poured it into her mug of hot water. Once she stirred the once clear colored water it turned an array of different colors never settling on just one color, always changing.
Zander eyed the mysterious brew with interest. He knew perfect well what those crystals were. Since Amie as well as the others of her race ate magic as their sole food, they needed something they could eat when they didn't have any person who could cast magic nearby. So what all of the amber-eyed creatures did was by some weird way that Zander was clueless to how it's done, take magic energy that they would normally feed upon and turn it into fine crystals that could be dissolved and consumed later on in water. Though many amber-eyed creatures never bother to stock up because most don't venture to far away from their dark void home. "Hey Amie, how exactly you make those crystals?"
Amie looked up at Zander and raised an eyebrow. "Why would you want to know?"
"Because I want to know and it's been bugging me for the longest time."
"Well it's like the changing forms thing -- "
"You didn't learn how to do it you just do it."
"That's right. I don't even need to think, it just happens."
"What if one of your kind is far away from a portal or other people who cast magic and they are low on those magic crystals? What do they do in that situation?"
"My you're full of questions today aren't you?" Amie commented with a small smile. "Well eating magic isn't really necessary."
"Huh? I thought it was."
"It is, and it isn't. It's the same thing with sleeping. You see one of my kind doesn't need to sleep, but if they don't sleep then they have to consume more magic to compensate. But at the same time they really don't need to eat either, they would just need to sleep a lot more instead. Sleeping and eating both do the same thing for someone like me."
"So if you didn't have much to eat then someone would just sleep more in the day till they were able to feed again."
"That's right. But though both are not needed, sleeping and eating is something that I do anyway just because if I wasn't to eat I'd have to sleep for an extremely long time. As well as not sleeping, I'd have to eat a very large amount." Amie took a long sip of her magic tea taking in all the assorted flavors that combined in her mouth. It was like eating a fireball, ice arrow and digger bolt all at the same time.
"Is that magic crystal water thing really filling at all?" Zander asked once both of them had finished their meals.
"Yeah it is."
"But its just water!"
"Just water to you maybe, but not to me. Anyway we should get going over to this town's market area and get some food for us to take home." Amie stated as she went to go pay for their meal.
Moments later they were back into the pouring rain. The rain hadn't let up since they went to go eat, in fact the rain had gotten worse instead. It was pouring down much harder then before.
Zander shuddered from the cold. I wish I had brought a warmer jacket. He wrapped his coat a little more tightly around his body. "Amie aren't you in the least bit cold?"
"Nope." Amie replied and Zander shook his head.
Back in the void the elders were having a private discussion about their biggest problem.
"High Elder what are we going to do with the girl and her little one year old monstrosity?"
"We don't know if she has more power now that she is older looking. What if she's so powerful now that she could destroy us all but we just don't know it because she's keeping her power hidden?!"
"High Elder shouldn't we have had her exterminated by now?"
"And what are we going to do about that thing that she looks after?"
"SILENCE!!!" High Elder Deflin yelled at the other elders to get them all to stop talking at once. "I'm well aware of the possibilities concerning the girl and that thing. But I'm certain that the girl has no hidden power that we don't already know about. And I wouldn't worry about her little pet, it's only a year old and doesn't seem to have any more power then a simple pathetic human. Though of course it could develop more power in years to come. So it would be wise to do something about it eventually."
"But what about the girl? Won't she intervene if we do anything to him?"
"Not if she knows that if she does anything her pet will be hurt not to mention her friend Maldrin."
Everyone looks at the High Elder with shocked expressions.
"Friend? Maldrin?! What do you mean High Elder? Maldrin was assigned to watch over the girl and keep an eye on her and report back to us! Not to become friends with the girl!"
"Well apparently it was a bad idea to have him be the one to watch her because my spy's informed me. He's one of her only friends, do you really think she would do something to do something if she knew that both of her lives could be in danger?" The High Elder evilly smiled.
Chapter 4 | Fanfiction