Homeland

 

Homeland
Eventually we came to the deepest part of the forest. The others there before us stood in a circle, Altheda grabbed my hand and Kaiden grabbed the other.
"Shut your eyes and do not open them until I say" commanded Cahira fiercely.
I did as I was bid, the next moment I heard a fierce low muttering and humming, then suddenly the feeling of flying, before I had time to consider peeking the feeling went. Cahira told me to open my eyes, I looked around in surprise we were still in a forest but this one looked different. Almost ethereal, it seemed lighter I could see more breaks in the trees and the sunlight penetrated. Everything seemed to glitter and shine. I stood in wonder, staring around me, before I noticed everyone had gone, except Kaiden who laughed and grabbed my hand, gently leading me from the forest to a place I had never seen before.

We had come to the outskirts of some sort of small kingdom.
Kaiden stopped short and turned to me "Welcome to Qualterio, the home of the Piquenta tribe, a tribe of the light" he announced proudly. I stared up in wonder at the white marble walls surrounding what I could only describe as some sort of kingdom, it looked like the sort of thing from a child's fairytale, beautiful and almost glowing. We walked towards what seemed to be the entrance; I felt a jolt of familiarity a sense of déjà vu almost, I had been here before I was certain, I knew this place. I followed him in stunned silence to the entrance, there instead of guards, were magnificent purple and red winged beasts clad in silvery armour, looking small upon their backs were men in shiny armour.

I cowered behind Kaiden who laughed "Haven't you ever seen a dragon before?" he said in disbelief.

"Umm no, there not too common where I come from, they sort of belong in myths!" I snapped sarcastically, annoyed at the tone. He laughed again making me silently furious. He walked up and straight through the gates.

Still bewildered I hurried through after him, and stopped short again, it was the strangest little place I had seen. Like stepping back in time, almost as though a historical enactment was taking place but with magic. I could see little thatched buildings scattered around the enclosure, girls wearing medieval peasant dresses, but in a range of fantastic colours watched Men and women sword fighting, wearing similar outfits to Finian, Cahira and Kaiden. Wanting to take a closer look I glanced at Kaiden, he was watching me with a look of deep amusement on his face. "Come on you will have plenty of time for that later; do you not remember why you are here?" I jolted disgruntled and strained to clear my head I followed Kaiden, across the square and into one of the little buildings, everyone seemed to look up and stare as I passed.
Inside my eyes adjusted to the dim light, Altheda sat at a small table poring over many intricate maps. She glanced up briefly at my entrance "I think it is time we tell you all, I will tell my story which is hopelessly intertwined with yours, a fact I am sorry for. Please save your questions till the end, because that is when you may begin to understand." She intoned without looking up again. I took the seat opposite her held out to me by Kaiden, and noticed Cahira and Finian in the background poring over a similar table, Kaiden winked at me, before strolling over to join them.
"I am afraid most of what you know is a lie" she began in an emotionless voice, "You have been taught that there is only one realm the human realm and also that you are human. None of this is true, you are so much more than that, by birthright you are an immortal warrior, it's in your blood your mother was the high warrior of this tribe and your father was the son of the chief from another. They should never have met in any circumstances other than the battle field. There are nine different realms that we know of. For now these are not important, you are in the realm of the protectors. Her voice had become alive as she started the tale.
"B...But I, I c..can't be that's ridiculous, I don't know where you have taken me and what all this is about. But I do know that this stuff doesn't exist and that no one is immortal!" I stammered, my voice strengthening with anger.
"I understand this is hard for you to take in and believe but your mother could not tell you before, there was too much danger. She never wanted you to be a part of this world" she soothed.
"Okay my mother left of her own choice so I'm not so sure she would be that fussed about where I am" I could here hurt surfacing in my voice, and the lump in my throat swelled, I hated talking about my Mother
"Do you really think your mother would have left you and your father for no reason? It was the only way she could think of to protect you, to meet those who came for her” she looked at me carefully and I felt rather stupid.

Remember the unusual birthmark on your shoulder? That was no coincidence it is the mark of your path in life. You were blessed with the sword and the sun, the symbol alludes to your greatness; you will be a great warrior. Now I am going to tell you your mother and fathers story, please listen and ask questions afterwards."

I stared in shock, I did bear a mark like that she described, and I felt myself unwillingly beginning to believe he absurd story.
"The world of the protectors has become a different place to its intended use, the Gods intended it to save humanity from destruction. But now many of the wars are fought amongst ourselves; we have good and evil just like every realm and with the added power afforded to our realm, we present our own greatest enemy, it became a battle of the dark and the light. At the time your mother Bia became a warrior, the land was the most peaceful it had been in years, the land lay dormant. Your mother quickly became one of the most powerful warriors this tribe had ever seen, and also the first women to be a warrior, it is much more common now.

Some of the men in the town were disgruntled by this, also skilled warriors they banded up and planned to kill your mother” I felt myself growl in anger, but was silenced by a look.

“Your father Nualin was from the Faraq tribe, the second son of the long reining chief Osiris, the most powerful chief the dark tribes had seen in centuries. He was wise also, but he to lusted for power, colouring his tribe darker. The Faraq tribe are mortal enemies of ours; they present a constant threat to the peace. Nualin was unhappy in the tribe, he believed that there were other ways to live a way to have lightness, instead of the darkness that he had been surrounded by all his life. Nualin was greatly intelligent mainly used as a leader but not for the fighting he could fight well but Faraq had others to do their bidding, and Osiris would not risk his second son’s life, for all his evil Osiris cares a great deal for his family. Nualin eventually broke away from his tribe, to wander the realm. In our realm this is seen has a great dishonour, a crime that many tribes deem punishable by death. The Faraq tribe was no different and his father swore to hunt him down and make an example of his once favourite son. He swore that any who had accompanied and aided him would also be terminated. Nualin wandered our realm for days searching for a light he felt was missing in himself, he found himself drawn to Qualterio. He found a place outside, where he hid watching our encampment for days, finally he saw your mother, he found his light. The men who were banding together against your mother had almost settled on their plan, they would wait until she was deep under a powerful sleep, and then they would take her. They planned to take her into the forest surrounding the encampment and kill her. That night they managed to get your mother outside the village but your father was there waiting he killed all of the men, despite not being a strong warrior, his love was strength enough. He grabbed your mother and fled into the forest. Our people presumed Bia had been kidnapped, and set out to track down the person who had done this. I was the one to find Nualin and Bia, in a setting none of us had imagined. Anyone could see the love that went with them, he watched in awestruck adoration as she danced around the clearing. I entered the clearing and told your mother to flee with your father, they could not be safe or together in our world. They went to the realm of the humans, but I could not bear to be completely away from your mother, so I visited her when I could, pretending to be travelling to learn more. They knew that even in the human realm they could not stay in one place for fear of being tracked, which is why you moved all the time. Your mother never wanted you to be forced into the life she had, she wanted you to be free, I was the only one who even knew you existed.
I am sorry for all that has happened and the lack of explanation. But our world is once again under siege, the warrior dark lord Morcadai is preparing tribes of the best warriors and plans to take over the realms, he is strong and powerful, but also wise. He believes the strong should rule over the weak, the age old adage of battle in our realm. You have the best chance of defeating him; you have the blood of two strong warriors. We believe your mother knew Morcadai was coming for her, and left to meet him to protect you, we hope we can save her. You are the only one who can truly do this. If you will help us, we will train you, you will be one of the greatest warriors to ever live”.
“You can't know that, even the idea of this is ridiculous, although why you would tell me this I don't know. I have never had a fight in my life! If I am immortal why do I look so normal?" I shrieked in anger.
When I said this all four burst into riotous laughter. "Normal she says" laughed Finian, shaking his head at me.
Kaiden approached me slowly "you are anything but normal, your glow will become more and more pronounced as you learn. But you have never been less then beautiful." I caught a glance of dark emotion of Fin's face.
Exasperation and general teenage attitude won out at this point, leaving me nothing but sarcasm "fine I'm a supernatural warrior who's gonna save the world" I cried rolling my eyes. Four pairs of sombre eyes looked at me.

"Yes you are" smiled Altheda in reply.
"our people have been waiting for you, you will be our saviour. The three you see here are also warriors my hand picked elite as I like to call them, they have been learning since childhood, there is a lot to catch up you must be willing to focus and expand your mind. You will see and learn things you never felt possible. Coming into our world will open the talents and skills that have bubbled beneath your skin in the human realm." the certainty and expectation terrified me.
Something in my face must have betrayed my underlying scepticism, for seconds later, something heavy winged its way towards my face, as I raised my hand to stop it, my hand emanated some kind of force, heaving the object away from me and shattering it on the wall with a crescendoing bang . I stared in shock at my hand unsure quite what had happened, I could feel my heartbeat racing in my chest. For a second it was silent, then I could hear Finian being reprimanded in the background. I sat silently taking in what had just happened, this was getting stranger and stranger, nothing like that had ever happened to me before, why was it happening now? Could everything they had told me be true? I was struggling and losing my desperate battle with reality, I was beginning to believe.