From Sea to Sky

n i n e | l a n a

n i n e |  l a n a 

LANA FEELS HERSELF falling away from a bright light, spiraling into darkness.

Then suddenly, a door in her mind is opened and a memory unfolds on the other side.

The interior of a home take shape. It was dimly lit from the setting sun outside, which gives it a homey atmosphere. In the middle of a hallway leading to the front door, there are two children crouching beside an entrance to a room. It is a younger version of Skye and Lana, both of them listening intently to something in the other room. Skye loses focus after a second, his gaze turning to Lana desperately, but she doesn't notice him, her eyes trained on what was going on in the room. Her child like fingers turn over a little dragon pendant in her hand absentmindedly.

Unable to keep quiet anymore, Skye tries to say something and Lana finally moves her attention to him, quieting him with a severe look. She points at the doorway, then puts a finger to her lips. Looking disgruntled, Skye pears back around the corner into a room, his attention redirected.

"They aren't old enough!" a voice yells suddenly, making young Skye and Lana jump.

Inside the room, Lana's father faces a younger version of Skye's father, Atol. Lana's father looks worried, his hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully, while Atol is the picture of silent anger.

"They will have to accept their destinies at some point, Darius," Atol points out, his voice betraying his irritation. Lana and Skye share a glance, then turn back to their fathers, their small eyes filled with worry.

"They're just children, Atol. Even if we told them, they wouldn't understand. How could they?"

Atol's eyes ignite and he gives up on trying to hide his rage, "Did you read the prophecy? Our world is ending! Our greatest enemy is rising, and these children are our only hope. We have to train them harder than anyone else. We have to-"

"And you don't do this already?" Darius counters desperately. "We need to wait until the moment is right. Having a prophecy hanging over their heads for that long..."

"Our world could be ending now for all we know," Atol warns but fear was now creeping into his eyes, "The Morai could be gathering their forces, and we have no way to stop them."

"They're just children."

Atol's expression softens and he places a hand on Darius' shoulder, "I know she's your daughter, but she, Skye, and the others need to accept their destinies. It's the only way for us to survive."

Lana and Skye look at each other in shock, both of their mouths were opening and closing as they tried to speak but realize they would get caught if they did. The whole weight of the world was resting in their hands, and neither of them know how to handle that.

"That's what I'm worried about," Darius says and sighs, rubbing his forehead stressfully.

Lana tries to get a better look at what's going on as both men fell silent, when the dragon pendant she is holding in her hand, slips from her fingers. She scrambles to catch it, but it moves too fast and clatters to the ground with an audible crack.

Both adults turn in fear, their hands moving towards their weapons as Skye and Lana run in opposite directions, the dragon pendant laying forgotten on the ground.

The memory fades away with the door in her mind closing behind it. But just as soon as that door closes, another opens.

Lana is standing in an alleyway with a stubborn expression on her face. It is a sunny day, with a light so bright it even lit up the small space she is in. In a public setting, it was the only way to achieve some privacy. It was definitely necessary with the taller boy with Lana, who stands in front of her threateningly.

"I'm not going to tell you Bryan!" Lana snaps suddenly and crosses her arms, "It's not even about you."

Bryan takes a step forward, anger making him appear older than he really is, "It actually is."

"I don't think so!" Lana shoots back and she too, takes a step forward. Stubbornness winning over the fact that Bryan could take her down if he wants to. He is a good several inches taller than her, making most other kids their age scared of him. But not Lana. Nothing seems to scare her.

Bryan curls his fists, "You're going to tell me what I want to know or—"

"What are you two talking about?" Skye suddenly comes from the entrance of the alley and stands next to Lana, a cool expression on his face. Even with their young age, they are an intimidating sight.

"I want to know about the prophecy," Bryan whines, realization dawning on him that it is now two against one, "I know she knows something."

"We don't know anything about a prophecy."

Bryan tries a different approach. "My father was talking about it with your father, Skye."

"What did he say?" Skye blurts out without thinking and looks at Lana sheepishly. She just rolls her eyes, making a point not to meet his gaze.

"Why should I tell you anything?" Bryan sneers with sudden confidence and takes a step towards Skye, "We aren't even friends."

"Because if you don't tell us, we aren't going to tell you anything we know," Lana says with a narrowed glare, challenging Bryan to go against her.

"Fine," Bryan says and his expression changes into something dark, "All I heard was that we and some other girl are part of the prophecy and..."

"And what?"

Bryan looks away and takes a deep breath. "And that one of us will die."

This door closes suddenly and instead of another door opening, Lana feels like she's being dragged into another one.

Lana is now older, around sixteen or seventeen, and is standing alone in a field, looking down with a sorrowful expression. The field is something from nightmares, with dead bodies strewn about and blood making the soil turn into mud. There is no movement, and no sound except for the buzz of distant cicadas. A single tear falls from Lana's cheek as she looks all this destruction.

Then suddenly, a hand grabs out at her foot. She looks down, startled, and quickly kneels down as she sees it's Skye.

Lana grabs his reaching hand with wide eyes, "I— I thought—"

"You did this," Skye gasps, looking down on a sword impaling his chest. It's a long bone white sword, with a plain hilt besides one milky white stone in the center. The white blade is stained with the red of his blood, and Lana jerks away from the sight.

"I didn't mean it, I swear," Lana cries, "I was just trying to save everyone."

"You can't save everyone," Skye says and looks her in the eyes unnervingly, his gaze never wavering in it's intensity. "You're going to have to sacrifice someone."

He coughs violently, blood trickling out from the side of his lips, a stark color against his snowy white skin, but his gaze remains steely on her. "You must choose."

"I can't." Lana sobs, clinging to his hand likes it's a lifeline then freezes as she doesn't get a reply, "Skye?"

But Skye is gone, leaving her alone in a field of death and despair.

She's slammed out of the visions and falls back into the darkness, hearing a voice repeating one word over and over again in a language she shouldn't be able to understand: vengeance.

•••

Lana sits up suddenly, and gasps in a breath. What just happened? What did she just see? What did it all even mean?

She finds herself shaking, and take deep breaths. That last vision...that couldn't be a memory but she can't be able to see the future...right? She groans in frustration and tries to get Skye's dead, lifeless expression from her face, but it's like it's been branded into her mind. What did that voice mean?

A more important question quickly appears in her mind: where is she?

She finds herself sitting up with several blankets covering her on a wooden floor. She looks around and finds that she is in what used to be a house. Where there should have been a ceiling, there is a gaping hole, exposing a dull grey sky. She frowns, unable to tell if it's day or night, but quickly give up when she smells smoke. She pushes herself up quickly, her joints feeling stiff and her muscles feeling weak.

As she stands, she stretches out her limbs, earning several loud pops from her stiff joints. Then she notices a door off to the right of her. She tries to walk forward to it but her legs shake, weakness overcoming them, making it almost impossible to keep her balance.What's wrong with her?

The floor creaks loudly underneath Lana as if every board is groaning with the effort of her walking on them. She takes it one step at a time, and walks to the rickety looking door. It's missing pieces near the bottom, with burn marks streaking up the rest. The smell of smoke gets stronger, and she moves towards it faster.

With rising panic, she opens the door, wishing desperately that Skye or Andena is with her so she wouldn't feel so alone. The carnage in front of her makes that desire even stronger.

Outside of the wrecked house, the street in front of her is streaked with soot and forgotten items. A wagon is turned over, with charred apples spilling from it. There's a doll nearby, looking at her with the same dead eyes Skye had in her vision...she closes her eyes abruptly, telling herself to forget about it. She moves her eyes upwards, away from the doll, and her jaw drops.

All the houses are on fire or gone. It's as if a firestorm attacked wherever she is, destroying everything in its path. Trees are merely skeletons coming from the black ground. Houses are just shells standing on their last broken limbs.

Where is she?