Pyrus (3 page)

Chapter 5: The Awakening

The next sequence of events occurred as I was dwindling between my subconscious and reality. I caught glimpses of the forest, but I was mostly stuck in the corners of my mind. During this time, I was sitting in front of a screen, watching memories of my life growing up along with the more recent ones, like my fight in the alley. All of it was played out like the movie of my life;. I always ended up in a fight, lost because I made some careless mistake, and got bailed out by someone else. This was true for every flashback except for one: my fight with the gang. When this replayed in my mind, it was from another person's perspective. My screen had a red tinge around it, and the quality was blurry, but I saw all the main parts: me getting the crap kicked out of me, Fred about to shoot me, and the cops showing up.
Wait a minute
, I thought.
The cops never showed up
. But they did, I was just out cold. I was glancing into someone else's memory, and I was watching from the sidelines.

I saw an ambulance come and two medics pick me up and put me onto a stretcher. I saw myself lying in a hospital bed, with no response from the heart monitor. A hand touched my forehead, and then the movie ended abruptly, like the film got jammed right before a climatic ending. The red tinge remained, and suddenly it became very hot. I noticed bright lights coming from behind, and I turned around to glance at … myself.

It was like facing a mirror. We stared at each other for a while, and then it spoke. Its voice was different than mine, yet similar.

“You are weak,” it said to me. “Though you continue to make reasons up, you do not fight for a real cause, do you?”

“Well, at least it's better than fighting without making up reasons,” I replied. The voice laughed as if amused by my remark. Then it said, “When you find a reason to fight, you will begin to understand. Until then, I cannot help you.” I stared at the reflection for a minute, totally confused by that statement. It made no sense whatsoever. Then it vanished.

“Hey!” I cried out. “Don't leave me to solve this stupid riddle! How can you help me? Who are you?”

My brain had tons of questions, and my reflection hadn't answered any of them—it only added more. Cursing under my breath, I sat down and heard a
pop
. As I searched around for the source of the noise, suddenly my eyes saw only a bright flame. I had to close my eyes or risk going blind.

When my eyes reopened, I was under a big tree. Orange light was passing through its branches. I glanced at my surroundings, only to see more trees illuminated by the light coming from the sun. There was no way that I could be in the forest, but as I looked at the floor, I noticed the rainbow flowers scattered everywhere.

“This forest used to be a peaceful place, birds and animals as far as the eye could see,” a voice called out, interrupting my thoughts. “But in the end, even the forest was corrupted by malice.” I searched for the speaker, whose voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember his face.

“Look up,” directed the voice. As I glanced upward, I saw that the voice came from the man who saved my bacon from the moth army; beside him slept his ocean blue wolf. I stared at him for a few moments, mostly because of the clothes he wore. His attire was a mixture of what seemed to be samurai armor, fur, and chain mail.

“Do I surprise you?” he asked me. I immediately looked away, embarrassed that I was staring at him.

“Well, I mean, I've never seen that outfit before,” I replied. He raised an eyebrow, then stated, “All warriors in Pyrus wear this uniform; it is tradition.” Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. Well, at least one of my questions had been answered. I was in Pyrus, wherever that was.

“So, Pyrus is …” I started.

“Pyrus is the country of flame, one of the twelve countries of Tereer, each with corresponding elements,” he interrupted. “Everyone knows this. What country do you come from?” I was now stuck. I couldn't answer him without giving away that I was not from Tereer, but I also couldn't let on that I was from Earth, or he'd think I was crazy. The only response I could give was, “I don't remember.” Yeah, I know, pathetic response, but given the circumstances, I thought he might believe my story. He gave me a questioning look but said no more. We sat in silence for a while, listening to the birds flying by.

“You were saying something about the forest earlier?” I asked.

“Correct,” he answered. “Life here is finally returning. Did you notice the birds?”

I assumed it was a rhetorical question and didn't respond.

“And this is all thanks to you,” he continued. “Without your help, I would have never defeated the moths.”

“Me?” I answered. “All I did was lie on the floor and get knocked unconscious.”

“But you gathered all the moths into one area,” he countered. “If one survives, then in less than a week, their numbers return. You fought valiantly, by the way, especially with your arms, which I have properly bandaged and cleaned to avoid infection.” He was right. Though they still hurt a lot, I noticed nicely layered bandages wrapped around each arm.

“Thank you,” I said, but
thank you
wasn't nearly significant enough a word for how grateful I was to this man. “You've done so much for me, and I don't even know your name.”

“My name is Kris; I'm from the water country of Tidran,” he answered. The wolf suddenly stirred and growled, cutting off Kris.

“And this little monster,” Kris said playfully, scratching its neck, “her name is Aquas, and she is my Kreysor.”

“My name's Jack,” I said. Then I asked, “What the hell is a Kreysor?” The man suddenly gave me a suspicious look and jumped from the tree, with Aquas not far behind.

“How can you not know what a Kreysor is?” he questioned as he walked up to me. “Kreysors are animals of an element that assist a Kreydur in battle.”

“And a Kreydur is …” I retorted, slightly annoyed at his change of tone.

“A Kreydur is the summoner, or user, of a Kreysor. Kreysors only come to those who are special,” he responded. “At least, that is what I was told.”

Kreysors? Kreydurs? This is the most confusing topic I have ever heard
, I thought.

“Really, Kris, this man obviously does not understand a word you are saying,” a female voice said. The thing was, it was coming from Aquas.

“Ah!” I screamed, “Y … y … your Kreysor, dude, just t … t … talked,” I stammered.

Aquas then turned to face me and said in an impatient and irritated tone, “What? Did you think we lacked the capacity of human speech? Of course we can talk!” She then turned and walked away in a huff. I just stared dumbfounded at her. Here I am, trying to understand the laws of this world, when my logic is crumbling before me. Everything I learned from Earth I had to discard.
What else did this world have?
I wondered.
When would I find out?

“Ah, do not mind her; she will come back after she cools down,” Kris stated. “Here, have some berries. Aquas was able to find them in the grove where the moths resided.” He threw a leather pouch onto my lap. I opened it up, and inside the pouch there were red berries. I tried one and immediately spat it out. It tasted disgusting. The skin was like a rotten apple's.

While I was coughing and trying to get the disgusting fruit out of my mouth, Kris was laughing. He finally said to me, “Wow! I never thought I would see the day when someone ate the skin of the rumbleberry. Everyone knows that the skin tastes disgusting to everyone but animals. You are a brave, brave man, Jack.” Feeling rather foolish about eating the skin, I peeled the skin off of another berry and put it in my mouth. It was delicious. This rumbleberry had a flavor that combined sugar and sour in perfect harmony.

“How do they taste?” Kris asked.

“They are amazing!” I exclaimed. “Haven't you tried them already?”

“In a way, yes, in a way, no,” was Kris's reply. Was there really a need for all the mysteriousness? I mean, it's a berry. Not like it was some major detail that could affect my life forever. When I tried to ask him what he meant, he just changed the subject as if nothing had happened. By doing that, he didn't kill my curiosity, but instead fuelled its flames. After learning nothing by my continuous pestering, I finally gave up and just gazed at the sky.

After a while, Aquas returned from her fuming. Without saying a word or even looking at us, she sat down beside Kris and rested her head on her paws. I felt like I should apologize to her, even though I didn't know what I had done wrong. I didn't know that much about her, so I was risking having her temper flare up again if I said the wrong thing. I decided to do what I usually do in that type of situation: nothing.

I leaned my head against the tree, still exhausted from the events of the previous day. At least I thought it was a day. I opened an eye and asked Kris how long I had been asleep.

“You slept for two days straight,” he said, “and in five minutes it would have been three.”

“Isn't there a nighttime here?” I asked.

“What is a night in this country?” Kris asked me. “There is always a sun up.”

“How can you tell the time here then?” I questioned, puzzled by his response.

“There are two suns in this country. The red one is called Pyre, and the orange one, which you see now, is called Pyro,” he answered.

Aquas then raised her head and tilted her ears. She suddenly started snarling and growling.

“What's wrong?” Kris asked nervously.

“Something's coming, fast,” Aquas replied through gritted teeth. “Be on your guard.”

Kris sprang into action. He grabbed the pouch and put it into a leather bag that he strapped onto his clothes.

“We need to go now!” Kris shouted at me. He helped me stand, taking no consideration of the condition of my arms. He then raced off into the forest with Aquas. I was left standing there, unsure of what to do. With a huge sigh, I sprinted off in Kris's direction, hoping to catch up with him.

Chapter 6: The Chase

It was amazing how fast Kris was. I only took five seconds to decide to follow him, and already he left no trail for me to track. If it was going to be difficult for me, it would also be difficult for the guy coming after us. The only advantage was that the moths no longer darkened the forest, so I could actually see where I was going without having to spot the yellow flowers. I continued to walk in a straight path when a hand grabbed me by the collar of my T-shirt and pulled me into the shade of a tree. I struggled to break free of the grip until I faced my captor, Kris. Before I could ask why he grabbed me, he put a finger to his lips to signal me to be quiet. I was about to protest when Aquas let out a quiet growl, shutting me up

The enemy did move fast, and if I hadn't been pulled off of the trail, I certainly would have been busted.
I need to start acting smarter,
I thought.
It would certainly help me live longer.
Kris then jumped up into the branches of the tree. I swear to god, that man was athletic beyond belief, and his clothes, although baggy, did not appear to hinder any of his movements. I was jealous, I admit, that he was so muscular. He then whispered a phrase, and Aquas, who was right beside me, disappeared again. This time, unlike when I had been weakened to the point of blindness, I got to watch the magic.

Aquas let out a howl, and she transformed into the gigantic sword Kris had wielded before. Kris outstretched his hand once she finished the transformation and caught her. Well, I finally understood what he meant by Kreysors assisting the Kreydurs in battle. Judging by what I just saw, each Kreysor could transform into a giant sword whenever you said the magic words. What they were was still a mystery, but I had finally figured out how the whole system worked. At least, that's what I thought.

Kris was perched like a hawk on the branches, not making a sound. There were two words to describe the way he looked: silent assassin. I just stared at him and his giant flaming blue blade, waiting for the guy to come and get killed. I felt like a monster thinking like that, but let's face facts: you screw with this guy, you die. Right before the guy arrived, Kris whispered something, but I couldn't hear what it was.

I started to shiver, which was definitely odd in this place. I mean, they had two suns! My breath started to show in front of my face. Rain came down, soaking my hair, and when I looked up at the sky, I saw that what used to be a cloudless expanse was now completely covered with dark clouds. I don't know how he did it, but Kris somehow changed the weather and the environment to his advantage. Now that the clouds were covering the sky, no sunlight could get through, leaving the field in total darkness. The enemy couldn't see Kris, but Kris already knew where he was. Now I was completely jealous: not only was this man superior athletically, but he was a genius too.

Everything was going the way Kris wanted to, and then something happened that I didn't expect: A yellow axe was spinning toward Kris abnormally fast. Kris ducked out of the way, and the axe barely missed him and returned to the warrior like a boomerang. As it was retreating, it barely missed my hiding place. Luckily, I caught a glimpse of the axe.

It had a brown handle, and the shaft had a golden yellow color. The blade itself was normal, except for the fact that small lightning bolts were pulsing from the blade.
There was no way this axe was normal
. I realized that my Kreysors-turning-into-giant-swords theory was wrong. What I was looking at was another Kreysor. Judging by the lightning bolts coming off of the axe, I guessed this Kreysor's element was lightning.

“Kris!” I shouted, trying to throw my voice, “We're fighting a Kreydur, watch out!”

“What?” he screamed back. Turns out I made a mistake in yelling at him. I made him lose his concentration, and when the axe came at him a second time, he didn't have time to dodge it. As the axe made contact, his whole body went numb, and he collapsed. I wanted to scream for him to get up, but I had no Kreysor. As the Kreydur walked toward Kris, the clouds started to disappear, and I realized I had made another mistake. The Kreydur I had mistaken for a he was actually a she.

She looked just as odd as Kris. She wore the same armor, only it looked a little more feminine. She had long red hair, and she walked confidently. Kris was still not moving at all, and she was almost at his body. I knew I had to do something to help this guy; he saved my life. The only thing I could do was stay low and try to get closer to Kris. I was almost there when she reached Kris. I wasn't close enough to do anything dramatic, but I was close enough to hear what they were saying.

“You are not in your own country, Kreydur,” the woman said. Her voice told me she was around my age, but it had the tone of authority.

“Neither are you,” Kris retorted. “Should you not be protecting your own country?”

“It is not
my
country that I should be worried about.” She spoke in a menacing tone. “It's this one, and the fact that it has no Kreydur.” As I was overhearing this, my brain went into overdrive.
Why does this country have no Kreydur? What happened to them? What exactly are their roles in the countries?
I tried to continue eavesdropping, but there were too many mysteries all at once. My curiosity was preventing me from focusing.

“Are you going to kill me then?” Kris asked. “It wouldn't seem fair to attack me when I'm unable to defend myself.”

“Bolt's stun effect should have worn off a while ago. You were just appearing to be stunned so you could kill me once I got close enough and you got the information you needed. Correct?” Kris said nothing. Like I said before, this man was a genius. I was now hiding in a bush, not even thirty steps away from them, so if she made any sudden movements, I could tackle her if necessary. I also got a good look at her face. She had a kind face and beautiful brown eyes. The only problem would be if I pushed myself at her too fast. Right then my arms were hurting so much that I considered breaking them, that way I would be relieved of this agony..

The woman then raised her axe and asked Kris, “Any last words?”

“So, Bolt is his name,” Kris said slowly. “Interesting.”

“Not my preferred choice, but it works for me,” she replied. “Good-bye, Kreydur.” I turned away, not wanting to see my friend's tragic end, and waited for the chopping sound.

“What's wrong, Bolt?” The woman screamed. “Finish him off now!” I turned back to see that the other Kreydur was struggling to move her axe.

“I'm not done yet,” Kris said quietly as he started to stand up.

“Bolt! Kill him now!” She had gone into a confused frenzy.

“You made a pretty big mistake telling me your Kreysor's name,” Kris explained. “Fortunately, now you'll have all the time in the world to think about why.” He was about to deliver the final blow. He raised his sword, and just as Aquas was about to make contact, I rushed out to stop him.

“Stop, Kris!” I said right before he completed his swing. He hesitated, but said nothing as I ran in front of the Kreydur to protect her.

“You're both Kreydurs,” I said. “Why kill each other if you both have the same job? Shouldn't you be allies?”

“Stay out of this, boy,” the girl warned me. “You do not know anything about how we operate.”

“How can you call me a boy when you're not that much older than me?” I countered, irritated at her lack of respect for the person who saved her life. She said nothing, then turned her gaze toward Bolt, still immobilized.
Was more magic involved?
I wondered.
If so, then I should probably learn how to cast spells—then maybe I wouldn't be so useless.
I then got my thoughts together. Right then, we had an enemy Kreydur to deal with.

“We should go,” Was all Kris said to me after a few minutes of silence. These moments of silence were becoming more and more frequent whenever I had a conversation with him.

“What about her?” I asked. She then turned her gaze toward me, and we made eye contact for the first time. She looked into my eyes as if searching for the answer to my question. I broke contact first, afraid to look at her if Kris made a bad decision.

“Well, since you are standing in my way, and I do not want to kill you, there is no point in attempting to finish her off,” he replied in his mesmerizingly calm voice. “By the way, Bolt should be able to move in ten minutes or so. Do not try to track us because next time Jack will not be here to save you.” Once again, Kris scared me with his calm but menacing death threats, but that time I felt relieved. Not about the woman being probably terrified; that would just be cruel. I was relieved that Kris was on my side, and I didn't have to worry about being hunted down. Kris then muttered something and walked away. It was most likely the cancelling phrase for his weapon because the sword disappeared from his grip, and in its place, Aquas appeared beside him.

I turned to face her again and asked, “Will you be fine until the stun wears off?” She looked at me for a few moments as if analyzing possible traps hidden within my words. I then caught a glimpse of a smile as she said, “I am a Kreydur; I will be fine. You should probably go; it does not look like he will wait for you.”

“What's your name?” I asked.

“None of your business,” she replied hotly. “But if you must know, it is Lyra.”

“Lyra …” I repeated slowly, committing the name to memory. “My name's Jack.” I then started to walk away, my bandaged arms hanging at my sides, when for some reason, I said, “I hope to see you again someday—only next time as friends.” I had no idea why I said that; something just urged me to say it. When I think about it, there were better things I could have said, but since I only just met her, that's what came out.

Once again, Kris left me with no sense of where he went. I was really getting peeved. I understood why he hid his tracks—I didn't want enemies to pick up on our trail either—but I thought I should at least be with him when he's throwing off the trail. Still full from the earlier meal, I sat down next to a tree and closed my eyes. I realized that, after all the day's happenings and with the adrenaline wearing off, I was really freaking tired.
Let him come trying to find me
was my last thought before I fell asleep—too tired to care about all the questions that had come from meeting another Kreydur.