My consciousness returned slowly, I opened my eyes and was immediately hit by harsh white light, for a moment I didn’t remember why I was lying down. The brightness faded and my eyes were able to adjust enough for the blur to turn into outlines; walls, ceiling and a face watching me, and then everything went dark again.
I heard a voice but couldn’t make out the words. I tried figuring out what was going on and what had happened, when I was suddenly hit with a throbbing headache, my memory dragged along with the pain; I was hit by a hover-car. I tried figuring out how, and the full picture finally flooded in leaving one thing on my mind. Darius!
I jolted up but was immediately forced back by the pulsing headache, I definitely wasn’t expecting that. I wish I didn’t wince so much because it made the person watching me chuckle, why do I always meet people that are amused by my pain. I tried getting up again and still couldn’t, the person reached out to stop me.
“Hey. Don’t push yourself, you’re still recovering. I’m sorry for knocking you down, you appeared out of nowhere.”
“Huh?”
And that was when it hit me, the features on the person’s face became clear. It was a girl, still in her teens, blue eyes, big splotches of freckles on her cheeks and lightly on her nose, skin that look like porcelain, arms that looked so lean it could snap but yet gorgeous, she looked like she had never lifted a finger a day in her life, she was immensely pretty; she was a Vaedrins.
My eyes widened, I had never seen a Vaedrin before, I had never even seen an Arazin, today was supposed to be my first time. I was lost for words, the rumors about how they looked were true. They were gorgeous. She smiled at me with kindness in her eyes, that didn’t exactly match any of the rumors I heard about a Vaedrin’s behavior.
And that was when it hit me. The air in the room was clean, like really clean, I have never experienced air like this before. It was so indescribably nice, this is what they enjoyed, this is what it felt like to be an Avarin. I had to admit it was amazing.
“Wow! Your eyes are actually brown.”
I guess I wasn’t the only one who was amazed.
“You must be a Nadrin, what society are you under?”
“Uh Nafren, I’m a Nafren, born and raised.” I said and laughed awkwardly, I must have hit my head pretty hard because I wasn’t sure why I was talking weird.
“Nafren. Hmm, I’ve never really met a Nadrin before, this is my first time seeing a real Nadrin.”
“Don’t Tholens like work for Vaedrins.”
“Yes but they aren’t supposed to be close to us, it’s like you can do your work but don’t cross paths with a Vaedrin.”
“Whoa, first time hearing this one. Well, this is also my first time seeing a Vaedrin and I know I’m not supposed to so I’ll just leave.”
“What? You can’t even get up. How exactly do you want to leave?” she said laughing.
“Okay. Good point. I actually have no idea.”
We both looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“This is the very first time I’ve clicked with someone this fast; we must be really close in another universe or whatever,” she said with bewildered eyes.
“I’m generally a social person, so that must be it.”
“Not me. It takes years for me to warm up to someone, and meeting new people isn’t really my thing. I feel like we’d be good friends.”
I smiled, she was right though, I don’t think I’ve ever clicked with anyone this fast. Well, anyone except Darius.
“If you don’t mind me asking. How did I get here and where am I?”
“Oh yeah. So after I knocked you down, this hot guy came running out of the trees yelling what I assumed was your name but can’t really remember it right now. I came out of the car and he started bowing or something, at least that’s what it looked like. He helped me put you in my hover-car and I told him you’ll be fine, he hesitated but left. I brought you into my room, well sneaked you in actually and gave you first aid. You’re lucky I read a lot, it was my opportunity to finally put my theories into practice; and you seem to be doing really fine.”
“Darius was the hot guy?” I immediately burst out laughing, I must have laughed too hard because the pain in my head made me stop as I winced touching my head.
“So that’s his name, he seemed to really care for you. He was really worried.”
“He’s my best friend, we kind of snuck in to see how this place looked like, he wanted us to go back but I wanted to explore a bit more and then…”
“I hit you with my hover-car. I’m so sorry”
“Well we were breaking the rules anyway.”
We then heard knocking on the door, and started panicking, she helped me get up and I limped till we got to her closet, it was a walk in closet, something I had only heard of but there was no time to marvel at the place. I sat in one of the shelves and she quickly threw a blanket on me.
She left the closet closing the door behind her. I couldn’t hear anything which meant the closet must have been sound proof, Darius would have been glad to see this place. He would be so worried; why did I leave him? The door flung open and two people walked in. I shut my eyes hoping that for the strangest reason it would make me invisible.
“Where’s the Nadrin,” I heard a voice say.
“You said you’d be calm about the situation,”
“Nadrins are beneath us, why would you bring it here, and for you to keep it in your closet of all places. Do you want an infection? Just point it out.”
‘It?’ I was definitely in trouble; why didn’t I listen to Darius. Hopefully she wouldn’t snitch. At that moment I felt the blanket being dragged away from me, revealing a guy; his face was sharply masculine, dominated by a formidable jawline. The intensity of his piercing blue eyes was amplified by the dramatic contrast of his thick, dark, curly hair. He wore the splotches of freckles across his cheeks and nose like a unique charming signature. He was breath taking.
I wasn’t sure how long I was staring but it definitely felt like it had been going on for long, it took me a while to notice that he was also staring. Then the girl came between us.
“Umm, hellooo, Reika to Erik,” she said bringing us back to reality.
“Uh umm, hi.”
“Hi,” I responded back, our eyes still locked together.
The girl rolled her eyes at the both of us.
“Okay, I’m going to close the door,” she said walking away.
We kept staring at each other, then it got awkward so I looked away. We kept stealing glances at each other; both speechless. Then the girl came back with folded arms.
“I think a proper introduction is due. I’m Yasmin Leif and this is my brother Erik Leif, were from the Leif house, which is one of the four pillars of the Vaedrin society.”
I was dumbfounded I wasn’t talking to just any Vaedrin. And quickly enough I was embarrassed, how was I supposed to mention my background without sounding like a street rat.
“And you are?” she said, cutting into my thoughts.
“Uh Tira Dagr, from the Nafren society.”
From all my life experiences, this is by far my worse experience, I’ve never felt this small. Here I am talking to the highest of the high in the Vaedrin society when I’m the lowest of the low in the Nafren society, an orphan tyrant some would say, my childhood full of mockery for losing my parents, like it was my fault anything happened.
“Hey,” Yasmin said putting a hand on my shoulder, “it’s okay, there’s nothing wrong with being from the Nafren society.”
She had no idea.
“For a Nadrin you look really good,” Erik said sounding dazed, “I mean not that you look bad for a Vaedrin, if you were a Vaedrin you’d also look hot like really hot, I mean not like you look bad as a Nadrin, I mean not like there’s anything wrong with being a Nadrin or a Nafren or anything.”
“Whoa, okay. You sound like you’re having a heart attack,” Yasmin said as we both burst into laughter.
“I just wanted to say you look good.”
“I think she got the memo.”
I couldn’t stop smiling, my face feeling red hot. I needed to get myself together, what was going on with me?
“Well um my sister brought me here to brainstorm on how to get you back home.”
“Shit, my schedule, I’m going to miss my appointments,” I said, finally being aware of reality.
“Um, you’ve already missed them,” Yasmin said.
“What do you mean.”
“You were actually out for two days.”
My eyes widened and whatever health issue I had that made me lazy left my body in seconds. I got up heading for the door when Erik held my arm to pull me back and I temporarily forgot how to breathe and my heart seemed to pump extra hard, it was a new feeling, I didn’t understand and definitely didn’t like. I pulled my arm away from him.
“You can’t just leave,” he said looking hurt, “If you leave you’ll be caught.”
“I can’t just stay here either.”
“We know,” Yasmin said stepping in, “that’s why I called Erik, we have to look for the best time to leave and the best route to follow.”
They were right. But I couldn’t waste any more time. I was going to be in a lot of trouble when I got home, and I already had a lot of things to be in trouble for. These are one of the times I wished I was living someone else’s life.
“Okay, so any ideas so far?” I asked.
“Unfortunately nothing,” she said with a disappointed look.
“What time did you bring her in and which route did you follow?” Erik asked.
She whispered something in his ears that made him roll his eye, I couldn’t help but to stare again; he looked like a moving art work.
“We’ll have to use somewhere else,” he finally said, bringing me out of my thoughts.
“The elevator is an option, it’s private.”
“Yes but one of your dumb friends might come looking for you, this is why I told you to get them in check, they never ask for permission to visit.”
“We have a meeting time, they don’t just show up,” she shot back.
“I could follow the route Tholens use to leave, there’s nothing suspicious about that,” I said closing their argument.
“That’s a really brilliant idea,” she said, jabbing a finger upward, nodding in fierce agreement, “But wait. You can barely move and you’re far from healing.”
“I’ll figure it out.”
“It can work. We’ll meet you by the garden close to this building and pick you up, then drop you off where Yasmin found you. You can then find your way from there,” Erik said.
“Sounds good,” I said swaying on my toes.
Yasmin looked apologetic as she waved me goodbye; she was clearly not happy with the plan. I tried my best to pretend there wasn’t pain building in my head. Erik lead me out of the apartment and pointed towards the staircase, obviously meant for Tholens. I casually walked to the staircase and closed the door.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I said staring down the flight of stairs, it was an extremely long way down.
It was going to take me forever to get down. I suddenly had an immense respect for the Tholens. A day of going up and down this staircase was going to leave me drained. How exactly did Hildir have the energy to pick on me after climbing a staircase like this, I kept looking down to see if I was close to the bottom but no such luck; maybe I should have gone for the elevator option when I had the chance.
I wasn’t sure whether it was the staircase or the fact that I wasn’t fully okay, but dizziness hit me hard. I kept stopping to catch my breath, which slowed down my progress. Every step caused my entire body to ache. I wasn’t even sure I’d make it to the bottom.
My legs became wobbly, forcing me to grab the railing for support. My head was pounding, my vision blurring slowly and halfway down, at least it felt like halfway, I eventually fell to my knees. This was a stupid plan.
“Are you alright?”
I looked up at a woman, mid-thirties maybe, bending over me with a hand on my shoulder. A surge of emotion hits me so hard I started crying. I desperately tried to speak, but the words refused to form, trapped in my throat. It was embarrassing; why was my own body turning against me like this?
She consoled me and tried to help me up but my legs failed. She called out to someone but I wasn’t exactly sure, the place went dark, fast. A moment later, I felt very strong arms carrying me. My first instinct was to open my eyes and try to get down but that would mean that I had to do that on my own; the smart option was to keep my eyes closed and pretend to be unconscious.
I felt guilty for doing this to a stranger who was trying to be kind to me but it wasn’t enough to push out the thought of me going through the torture of going down the stairs again. It was my first time being carried as an adult, well at least my first time being carried while conscious and I wasn’t exactly hating it.
“I know you’re awake,” he said with a deep bold voice.
My cover was blown. I opened my eyes and tried getting down but he didn’t let me.
“It’s okay, you’re not feeling well; I understand.”
“Thanks,” I whispered, embarrassed.
“Here we are,” he said putting me down, “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you before. Mrs. Vishtaspa never said anything about new people being assigned to this spire-form.”
“Uh I was just…um,” I held my head and pretended to be dizzy, how was I supposed to say that I wasn’t even a Tholen.
“Are you alright,” he said reaching out to me.
“I’m fine I just need to catch my breath.”
That was when I remembered the plan, the only problem was how to leave here and head to the garden without anyone questioning me, I could barely make it through this interrogation.
“Ah Tira,” the woman who consoled me called out to me.
How did she know my name?
“I thought you had something to attend to.”
What was she talking about?
“Mrs. Vishtaspa,” the man called out to her, “I didn’t know you assigned new people.”
“She only came to attend to Miss. Leif,” she then turned to me, “They’re waiting for you.”
I nodded and walked away relived and confused. After walking past a few buildings I saw the garden they talked about it was built on geometric platforms of dark metal. Small, ornamental trees sculpted into perfect green spirals. Water channels followed straight lines, glowing with a faint, clean light as they flowed beneath the walkways. The paths were edged with the same thin blue light that traced the hover-lanes above, making the space feel meticulously ordered.
As I stood taking in the garden’s beauty, a sleek hover-car pulled right in front of me; the tinted window slid down revealing the person in the vehicle. It was Erik.
“Get in.”
I obeyed and quickly entered the vehicle.