The Mystical Knights: The Sword of Dreams (6 page)

             
Wait a minute.
Nia's brow furrowed hard, her lips parting slightly.
Wait-I've heard this before...
 

              "Meanwhile, back on Neterus, war had broken out.  The ideas of the new world, the thoughts of being all powerful gods had caused many of our people to become volatile and power-hungry.  The blood of our brothers ran like rivers through the streets of our noble cities.  Zindel'Tyr received news that his homeland was crumbling into nothing, and he left the maiden to save his family, never knowing the secret that she was hiding from him.

              "When Zindel'Tyr finally returned to Neterus, his eyes began to tear; his once beautiful home had turned to ruins.  As he went to his children, a vision crept through the dust and ash and appeared to him.  He saw a human child with eyes the same shade as his, full of laughter and light.  She was his child, born of
Neteru
and Man.  She came from a world that was peaceful and possessed greatness.  And he knew what he had to do.  Relinquishing five different amulets to his children, he said to his oldest daughter, '
Ustrina, Daughter of Fire, find your sister.  Find her and give her this,'
And he handed Ustrina a golden lion pendant studded with amethyst gems. 
'Together, each of you will have a power much greater than war and destruction.  Together, you must restore balance to Earth
—
make it just as this forgotten wasteland used to be.  But you must find your sister first and foremost.  No matter what the price.
'  And Ustrina and her siblings, Mare, Cataegis, Bronte and Tellus left in destination of Earth."

              The trees stood still, the forest was quiet.  Eerily quiet.  It was colder than before too; Nia wrapped her arms around her chest and hugged herself, shivering a little.  "I'm still confused," Nia said carefully.  "What does any of that story have to do with us?"

              Fiona sighed, her stare hardening on Nia once more.  "That," Fiona remarked, "is our lineage.  We are descended from the stars—the last of the
Neteru
.  And you," Fiona gave her a look that was a cross between extremely bored and very hopeful, "are the descendant of Zinde'Tyr's secret child and
demigod
: The great Nefertiti."

              Nia thought about this and swallowed hard, her arms dropping to her sides.  Her eyebrows raised incredulously, she said, "The hieroglyphs—on the walls of the temples and pyramids.  Stories of life that my ancestors have passed down for centuries...The Gods and Goddesses my people worshipped and praised...that the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten...they're all aliens?"  It would have been laughable if everyone else hadn't been looking at her with such sincerity.

              "Aliens."  Fiona winced as though Nia had cursed.  "Such a harsh word...but in uneducated terms, yes."

              Nia stared at her hard, unblinking.  "You're crazy," she said finally, taking a slow step back.  "That's just...there's no
proof
."

              "Oh, there's plenty proof," the red-head snipped.  "People are just too ignorant to look at what has been directly in front of their faces for centuries."

              "It's...just not rational..." Nia whispered, shaking her head as she tried to keep her feet on the ground.  She looked around at each of them, watching as their faces slowly began to disappear into the shadows of dusk.  "They're just stories!"

              "Is it really irrational to think," Quinn piped in, "that in a universe that is larger than we ever could have imagined, Earth is the only planet with intelligent life?  Don't all stories come from a place of truth?"

              Nia assessed him blankly, her mind reeling. 
Yes, you are right,
she thought. 
The concept is totally plausible. 
It was something her ancestors adamantly believed in.  It was something her mother would whisper to her before bed.  The Sky Gods—the
Neteru
—came from the stars to Earth in flying boats and turned mud and water into a new kingdom...but...

              "I've always believed those legends to be stories," she murmured, lost in her train of thought.  "I never thought..."

              "Everything is derived from truth," Fiona said, idly smoothing out the folds of her dress.  "Except for the whole concept that we
looked
anything like the
Greys
.  They come from the
Zeta Reticuli
."

              "Greys?"

              "Your common, everyday generic alien," Quinn explained.  "Creepy black eyes, slits for a nose, no ears, disproportionate bodies—think
Paul
, except less funny, heck of a lot taller and hell-bent on overthrowing other intelligent life forms."

              Nia's eyes lingered to the purple and orange colored sky.  The trees stood silhouetted against the setting sun.  A few stars had began to scatter the sky, peppering the strange hue of musky indigo with white.  The strange humming noise was back, tickling the insides of her ears like hushed whispers.  "What am I supposed to do?"

              "You make a choice."  The protracted lull between Fiona's words made Nia shiver again.  "You become a Mystical Knight: wear the amulet with pride, and fight to defend what Zindel'Tyr helped to create, or leave the amulet behind and go your separate way."

              The amulet burned against Nia's chest; it didn't hurt or scald her flesh.  It gave her insight.  Helped point out her decision as she stood staring outward in the heavens.  "I've always been a jumper," she said, giving Fiona a firm nod.  "I can't help but feel like I belong here."

              "Being a Mystical Knight isn't about friendship, or having a place to belong or wanting to be needed," said Fiona, watching Nia almost hesitantly from where she stood.  "It's about doing what is right in order to restore a more perfect world for the future.  For your children and your grandchildren and their children's children
.
  It's about giving up your right to be young and foolish for those who surround you.  To be a Mystical Knight, it can never be about you, or what you really want.  It has to be selfless.  And you once you've chosen your path, you can't ever go back."

              “I’ve never fought before in my life,” Nia mumbled under her breath, fiddling with her amulet's chain. In truth, Nia had never had the friends or enemies to fight with.  Most times as a youngster, Nia would often wander the playground, aimlessly pretending she had friends while her peers would tease and laugh at her from the jungle gym.  Kids didn’t like
different
.  Her old classmates had always secretly been afraid of her.  But when Nia was small, she didn’t know that there wasn’t difference between being afraid and being disliked.

“That’s why you wear your amulet
no matter what
.”  Fiona poked Nia in the chest, her index finger painfully pushing down on the lion pendant.  “I don’t care if you’re showering, I don’t care if you’re on a date with some guy and you think the it is too gaudy!  You wear it, listen to it—”

“How do I
listen
to it?” Nia asked incredulously, laughing loudly as she spoke.  She grabbed it by the chain and lifted it away from her heart, shaking it fiercely.  “It’s a heavy piece of metal!”

“You wear it close to your
heart
for a reason.”  Fiona flared dangerously, seething at Nia as though she had just cursed her a thousand times.  “And it may just be a heavy piece of metal to you—but to me, it is
your
destiny.  These grounds won't even let you enter here without it.  Your very existence begins and ends with that amulet so don’t come
crying
to me when
you
end up hurt due to
your
own stupidity.”

The amulet pulsed gently in Nia’s hand; Nia jumped, dropping the amulet back down onto her chest in surprise.  Its amethyst eyes twinkled brightly up at her, shining with hope and determination.

“This isn’t a bunch of magic tricks,” Fiona said quietly.  “This is
real
.  If you take on this title, you’ll give more than you’ll take.  You
will
get hurt.  You might even
die
fighting for something that might not be within our reach.  But you take it or leave it because it is your
will
, Nia. 
This
is your purpose.”

“I take it,” Nia said quickly, without much of a second thought.   

“Good,” Fiona scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest hastily.

Nia chewed her bottom lip and looked down at the golden amulet resting on her chest.  “I’m afraid.”

“You should be.  Death is a very real possibility.”

Nia wasn’t afraid of dying.  She wasn’t afraid of being improperly trained.  She was afraid for Rowan and Kenzie, Quinn and Thor—and even Fiona too—afraid that
they
might meet their untimely ends on this road.  She looked around at them all, watching them with wise eyes that penetrated deep within their souls, sensing their own fears as well. 

              “It’s getting late.”  Fiona’s voice drifted through Nia’s mind, but she barely paid any attention to it.  She heard movement around her as the rest of them began to shift.  “I say we meet next week at my house—unless anything comes up.”

There was a murmured reply, a buzz of affirmations but Nia only nodded, her lips suddenly tight and frozen.  She looked up just in time to see Fiona’s red hair bobbing away through the trees.

“You okay?”

Nia jumped; she thought that she had been alone, but Rowan stood beside her, assessing her with watchful eyes.  Nia gave him a small smile and nodded, unable to find her voice.

It took about five minutes to get back to Rowan’s house—funny how it always seemed to take forever to get to an awaited destination but just seconds seem to tick by during the trip home.

“I’ll walk you home,” Rowan offered.  It wasn’t dark; the street lights had yet to turn on.

  Side by side, the two walked up the road in silence.  Nia observed Rowan from a small distance, noticing how his hands were casually shoved into his pockets—how he had a certain bounce to his stride as he walked slightly on the balls of his feet.

"Who sent that basilisk in the woods today?" she wondered, giving Rowan and sideways glance.  "Did—did something shuttle it down to Earth?"

Rowan chuckled and gave her a sideways glance. “No,” he said with hidden certainty.  “Some people have the power to open up different dimensions.  The world that you and I see—it's pretty one-sided.  Well, maybe not so much for
you,
particularly.”  He gave her a crooked smile.  "You see things differently than I do."

"Not really," Nia persisted.  "I see the trees, the grass, the sky..."

"What I mean is," Rowan stopped in his path and turned to face her, "you can see fragments of the future—pictures of what could happen, what
will
happen if certain events are put into motion.  But what if you see something—and it
doesn't
turn out the way you see it?  Does that mean it never existed?"

"I'm not sure," Nia pondered, frowning at Rowan thoughtfully.  "What do you think?"

"I think that it does exist—on some level of consciousness, or in a parallel universe maybe."  He kicked a pebble with the toe of his shoe.  "This...this guy...Axel—he has the power to open different dimensions and bring otherworldly things onto this Earth.  Bad things...monsters, even.  We believe that he's in league with the
Greys
somehow.  They want to claim this planet for their own."

A few cars hurdled past, the drivers desperate to get home to their families after a long day’s work.  Nia wondered if it was even five o’clock yet as she kicked a small stone with the toe of her shoe; it bounced, knocking against the concrete twice before it stopped again.  Nia caught up with it and kicked it once more.

"It's so weird," she said suddenly, nearly wistful.  "I've never doubted anything I couldn't see or touch.  I've always just...trusted myself that what I felt was real.  But this," she exhaled deeply, and gave Rowan and exasperated look, "this is
almost
more than I can take.  Aliens from outer space—fighting over what? 
Ownership
of Earth?  Different quadrants of space?"  She shook her head, laughing a little at the sound of it. 

"It could be
a lot
weirder."  Rowan paused reflectively. 

They walked a few more steps in silence.  Through the hedge of trees and forest, Nia could just barely make out the shape of her house.

“There’s more to this Axel, isn’t there?”  It wasn’t so much a question rather than a statement. 

“I don’t know much about Axel,” Rowan replied.  They had finally reached Nia’s driveway.  Her father’s old pick up was absent.
He's probably still working
, Nia thought, absentmindedly noting that the inside of the tiny house was dark and unwelcoming.  “I’ve only heard about him. I just get the pleasure of meeting his summoned minions and followers,” Rowan muttered darkly, nudging a tiny pebble with his sneaker.