Chapter Twenty :

"Advice From A Friend" ( Part One ) / 

As we walked home, I felt like we were being watched. The breeze sifted through the tall grass and stirred my hair, it was cold now. And it wasn't just the leaves in the trees moving either, it was the entire frame of the trees swaying; limbs and trunk fluctuating to some rhythm inaudible to me. 

Then out from the woods stepped a creature mainly resembling a tiger. It was beautiful - black and orange stripes on its thick fur, butterflies fluttering around its head, flowers tucked behind its small ears. A rainbow hue illuminated its body, and its eyes glimmered hot pink with long, dark eyelashes. 

Standing in front of me, it was about two feet taller than my height. I wasn't sure whether to be intimidated or relaxed. Its glowing eyes probed my face. "I need your help," She stated in a rich feminine voice. 

I didn't say anything, I just looked at her questioningly. 

"When the realms merged, I lost my little sister... I think she may be in the arctic realm. I know the way there, but I can't enter it because I've been banished." 

"How old is your sister?" I asked.

"About five years in your human time - for our species, she's twelve years old. She's smart for her age but I don't want her out there alone... Besides, she doesn't belong in the cold." 

"I'll help you find her," I said, feeling the exhaustion seep into my bones. Sleep could wait, I had to help this tiger first. 

We made small talk as she led us through the forest. She told us that her name is Taika, and that she and her sister, Kiera, are the only ones left in her family. She explained that there's still more of her species in existence, but her mother and father and older brother were all killed by the Corrupt. 

Soon we arrived at a large tree, split down the middle. The opening was huge, big enough for us to walk through it. Inside the cavity in the tree, we had entered another world. 

Snow rapidly fell from the dark grey sky, piling on the ground. Snowflakes clung to me and melted, making me even colder. The wind blew horribly, howling, chilling me to my core. 

I looked back at Taika, who stood outside the entrance in the tree. Her worried eyes were the only thing that could make me trudge through the countless snowdrifts ahead of me. "We'll be back soon," I reassured her. She nodded, and Dolion and I started into the winter wasteland. 

We had only been wandering through the snow for minutes, but it felt like hours. My exposed arms and legs were so cold they felt hot, and my fingers were pink. I regretted dressing in shorts and a t shirt earlier today. In the thin layered gown it wore, Dolion was completely unbothered. Its pale hair and white feathered wings were now covered in snowflakes.

Looking out into the distance, I shivered. Hill after hill of snow awaited us...

My legs felt numb but I continued walking anyway, shuffling through the snowdrifts. I worried my eyes had turned into icicles because even they felt frozen. My breath came out in huge white puffs, and I thought my mind was vaporizing like that, too. 

But we came across another figure trekking through the snow. "Kiera?" I called out. No answer. The figure came into view, and it clearly wasn't Kiera. Actually, it wasn't even her species. 

It was a tall shadow-like being (almost as tall as Dolion ), with a huge brown fur coat that covered its entire body and feet. Cuffs of grey-ish brown long fur were around the neck, wrists, and bottom of the coat. Its face wasn't visible; just strange white beaming eyes almost hidden behind the thick hood of the coat. The wind stopped as it drew closer to us, and the howling was replaced by a deep, calming hum. 

It held its arm out and a pale, bony finger pointed to a path marked by small lamps planted in the ground. I assumed it wanted us to travel that way, so we did. Dolion went first, and as I trailed behind, the figure grabbed me by the arm. I felt as if it was looking right into my soul with its scrutinizing eyes. It spoke in a voice so quiet and peaceful that it shocked me. "Advice from a friend - don't listen to what everyone has said about you. You are important, whether that is a bad or good thing. But, soon you'll have to figure this all out. Because it all depends on you." Then it let me go. 

Awhile later, I looked behind Dolion and I, discovering that the figure in the coat was nowhere to be seen. My mind was too vacant to wonder about how it disappeared like that. The wind resumed and snow continued blowing in huge flurries. My eyesight became blurry, and my limbs turned into rubber. 

When I thought I couldn't go any further, we found her. Sitting in a snowdrift, snowflakes clinging to her dark brown striped fur. Her light pink glowing eyes looked distant, and she was shivering. 

"Kiera!" I yelled. Her head turned at the mention of her name, and she limped over to us. "Where's my sister?" She asked in a small voice. "She's all right," I assured her. "She's the one that asked us to find you. Are you okay?" She nodded. "I'm just cold..." 

"You won't be for long. Come on, we're taking you back." As I turned to hurry back, my knees gave out and I collapsed in the snow. What happened next I can't really explain, except that I wasn't fully conscious. 

My eyes were open, unseeing. I felt a little like my parents, and I wondered if this was what they were going through. I had almost no feeling in my body, besides an occasional sharp pain of glass shards coursing throughout my veins. I heard Dolion yelling my name, but I couldn't see or move. My breath was delayed; there was a stack of bricks on my chest. 

It was Dolion that picked me up and carried me back the rest of the way; I knew because of its strong arms and calm gait. I heard faintly the questions of Kiera, "Is she going to be okay?" and "How much longer do we have to walk?"

Then we were out of that horrible freezing place, and my breathing was easier. I heard the deep female voice of Taika, like dark chocolate. "What happened to Lavender?" And I felt the slow beating of Dolion's heart, my head against its chest. 

I faded in and out of reality as they talked; their voices became jumbled and twisted in a whirlpool of shapes and colors that I couldn't visualize. Then there was nothing...