Be Holden

Chapter 22: Belong

You sit down on the white sheets of Ether's big bed. You close your eyes and Ether helps you navigate through the memories Ishin shared with you. The memories speed by the back of your eyelids and you can barely focus on any of them. Ether slows the memory flow down until you stop on a scene where two teenage boys were sitting on a fallen tree's trunk. One boy has black hair with a hint of blue in his skin tone and silver eyes. The other boy has white hair, purple eyes, pointy ears, and white intricately designed wings. You knew exactly who they were the moment you saw them.They are the younger versions of Ether and Zen.Zen grabs your tanslucent hand and says: "This is my wife, Ishin. I am older than you think I am. I have told you this before young boy and I am telling you this again." Zen says to Ether. Ether looks at you with furrowed brows and says: "Is this true?" "Yes, I am married to Zen. I have been married to him since I was seven years old and now I am twelve years old." You say.

"I am happy for both of you but may I ask you a question. Why are you with him? He told me he is five hundred thousand years old and I am one hundred thousand years old. What can you two possibly have in common?"

"I was given to him by my village in a ritual for good crops. My village sacrificed me so that many villagers would not starve. I still remember when they placed me on the altar..."

"I do not know what to say to that. I am truly astonished by this revelation."

"That ritual is common in my village. Actually, I remember they did it every year."

"Oh...It's good that you are still able to smile after that. Once someone has wronged me, I do not think I would be able to speak of them with a smile on my face as you have done."

"Did someone wrong you?"

"Yes...My uncle devoured my father and my mother to become more powerful."

"Oh no! That is terrible. So, what are you going to do to make sure you feel better?"

"I want them to suffer. Him and his children, I want them to feel the pain I feel. He took my parents away from me and his children treat me like an outsider. They all relish the power their father has acquired. He seizes worlds and universes with the help of the stolen power."

"I believe you can do what you set out to do and I support your decisions, right Zen?"

Zen looks between the two of you. "Of course, you have nothing to worry about Ether. We can take down common enemies together." Zen says. Your vision blurs. "One, two; three... Come out wherever you are!" You here other children laughing but you cannot see them. One little boy with short, brown hair sticking up on his head stands before a hut and says: "Ishin, you are so slow that I don't have to run." You run towards him and he runs out of your grasp at the last moment. You stomp your foot and give up chasing him. You look for the ones that are hiding. You find a blonde girl behind a tree. She helps you find two other children. One of them is a girl with kinky, black hair swept into a puffy ponytail. The other is a girl with dark brown hair that reaches her shoulders. Everyone has brown eyes. "Did we get everybody?" The blonde girl with a light tan says. "No, we still have to catch Brenton. I think we should give up on catching him, Valeria. He is really fast."

"No, we cannot give up! That is what he wants us to do. We should trap him by running up to him from behind and the front of him. What do you think?"

"I think we should have let Evelyn play with us instead of asking this annoying boy to play with us!"

"I don't like Evelyn! Brenton is nice. Are you my best friend or not? I am helping you in this game. Let us just catch him and play another game afterwards."

"Okay, I guess we can play a better game afterwards."

You two try to trap Brenton but he escapes several times. You both chase him to a river. He hops on some stones and successfully crosses the river. You both follow him and get lost in the woods on the other side of the river. You both decide to walk toward a cloud of smoke rising from the trees in the distance. You find the Brenton standing next to a black hooded figure in a black garment at the mouth of a cave. He nods at the hooded figure. Then he runs toward you and Valeria. "Valeria, he wants to show her the place I showed you yesterday. My parents have a gift for you on the other side of the river but we will meet up with her afterwards." Brenton says. "Ishin you can trust Brenton. He is going to be my husband in the future after all. Our parents told us that. I'll see you afterwards, okay?" Valeria says to you. "If you say it will be fine, then I trust that it will be fine." You say. Your light brown hand waves at her and you run to the black hooded figure. The figure leads you past the torches and the bonfire outside; he leads you into the dimly lit cave. The torch in his hand flickers and smokes as you walk deeper into the cave. You see an altar with dried blood on it. A skeleton hangs from the wall behind the altar. There are two black pools on either side of the thin dirt path leading to the altar. You feel something heavy smack the upper back portion of your head and you stumble. It is smacks your head again and your vision is engulfed by darkness. Your eyes flicker and indistinct images and shadows move about your vision. You hear men chanting and you open your eyes. The faint image of a blonde girl detaching from the skeleton on the wall above passes you vision. You touch your straight, soft; black hair and feel the strands sticking to one another because of some strange fluid coming from your head. You groan and try to get up as everything around you sways. You fall back on the altar and fall asleep.