Everglow: The Trials Of Agaron

13 - Prisons

Ko stood at the edge of the jetty wrapped in her cloak. The past few days ran circles in her mind, filling it with more questions than answers. Thoughts of the vision she had were in abundance, constantly buzzing around in her head. 

It still didn't make any sense. Who was this voice that kept talking to her? What did it want? It seemed like it wasn't going to go away anytime soon either. For almost two months now, it had constantly spoken to her in her sleep, anytime she was unconscious. Kori and Trikka had said something about 'angels' and a 'Temple of Agaron'. It helped, but it still got them no closer to actually finding out what was happening to her.

Ko had asked about it earlier, Kori had said the temple was off of any known maps, that no-one actually knew where it was. Or if it even existed at all. He also stated that there were billions of planets that were still yet to be unexplored, and that there was always the potential that it could be located on one of those uncharted planets. Even with the technology of the day, a billion is a very very big number.

She looked on out to the horizon and gazed at the two enormous skyscrapers in the city. Every time she looked at them, she got the feeling that whatever this was, whatever was talking to her, was much bigger than any of them could imagine. And certainly much bigger than a single little zapher girl. 

She closed her eyes and tilted her head upwards as the rain from the black clouds above poured down. It was a strange feeling, experiencing rain for the first time. She'd explained to Fischer earlier that because it was so cold on Diamar, it never rained. The only thing that fell from the sky there was snow. 

Feeling the rain gently splash on her snout and trickle down her cheek was actually quite relaxing, almost soothing. It felt. . . freeing, somehow. It felt like she had left her old life behind. That Ko was no longer just a name she was called. 

Ko was her.

Ko was who she was. And right now, she was scared.

"Hey there. You alright?" A voice she immediately recognised as Quin caught her attention. Turning around, she saw the carcan standing behind her, a gentle smile on her face.

"Oh, hey Quin," She replied.

Quin walked up and stood beside her. Ko noticed her stripes where a light shade of blue. 

"Everything alright? Folks usually tend to avoid the rain normally, not stand directly under it," The carcan asked.

Ko clutched her arms together, gently rubbing her forearms. "I-I've just never seen rain before. Diamar is always so cold it's always snowing. Too cold for rain."

"Ah. I take it you like it?"

"I guess. It feels nice. It's something different. It's relaxing."

Quin gave her a smile. "You really are something different Ko. You know that?" 

The zapher turned and gave her a shy look of confusion. Quin noticed her horns were tilted slightly downwards.

"Sorry. It's not often I get to talk with people who aren't Kori or Trikka. I love them, I love them to death but. . . you know, it's always nice to have someone else to chat with. Speaking of which, you never answered my question?" 

"What question?"

"You alright?"

Ko took in a big breath before sighing heavily. "I. . . I don't know. I-I don't know what's happening to me, I don't know how to make it stop. And I'm scared."

Quin gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked down at the crashing waves below in a moment of brief contemplation. "Yea. . . yea I know. I know it can't be easy what you're going through. I mean I can't even begin to understand what it's like to have all that going on in side of your head. It can't be fun. But I know what it's like to be scared. I know what it's like to not know what comes next, or if there's ever a light at the end of the tunnel. I know how that feels."