Chapter 18: Forlorn

The surrounding air around Tiadora felt humid. Although her window was wide open, Tiadora tossed and turned in her bed. Flashbacks of her encounter with her mother kept on repeating itself in her dreams. The same words played back like son broken recorder. She grabbed a fistful of her blanket and threw it over her bed, gasping for air. "My daughter," the dream repeated for the fifth time, "a guardian is still alive and looking for you. He's here in the 21st Century. The sacred animals are close by. Be on the lookout."

Be on the lookout. On the lookout! Tiadora jolted out of bed, clutching her pillow. Her room was still in tact. Nothing out of the ordinary yet. She hugged her soft purple pillow and leaned on the wall beside her bed. Mother, she thought. Where are you? You told me so minimal. Did you teleport? If you did, where are you and are you okay? The white nightgown that Kiara gave fitted her body perfectly. Though it disturbed her that it was so exposed and figure-showing.

Her room felt too hot, as Tiadora got out of her bed and headed towards the window and gripped the grills tight. She didn't need to close her eyes to concentrate but room the window grills melted in her hands into a strange silver liquid. The fluid instantly disappear when she was done, leaving the window bare as she pushed the glass further away. She pulled a wheeled chair close to the window and without hesitation; she jumped out of the window which was three-storey above ground.

Her landing was as silent as could be. She dropped to the ground and landed safely without injuring the roles of her bare feet. In front of her was a wife empty space and in the middle of the void, a block tower rose higher than the girls' dormitory. The analog clock showed one-fifteen a.m. Friday. Without hesitation, she strolled casually to the block tower and found an old door. She sighed and turned the doorknob. Inside was dark and dusty. A small say of light lighted the place by the moonlight from above. Tiadora managed to find a circular staircase leading to the top in the dim light.

Curiosity pushed her forward as she gracefully danced her way all the way to the top. There weren't any cracks or sound that the stairs made and the wood of the steps didn't scratch her toes. The higher she climbed, the more light shone bright, and when she finally came up, she saw the translucent they of the girls' dormitory through the big clock. Tiadora walked towards the translucent clock and tried to reach for the minute hand. Too bad it was on the other side of the clock. That's when she noticed that someone was standing still behind her. She was still facing the clock but she could feel the presence of that person who stood right behind her, with only an inch apart.

"Tiadora?" the voice sounded familiar in her ears as she turned around to who it was.
"David?" Tiadora gasped, "How long were you here?"

"Ever since eleven. Mokona was rolling all over the bed and I couldn't sleep with it snoring. I didn't know animals could snore," David wondered. His black sleeveless showed off his jean muscular body which Tiadora never notice whenever he word his usual blue shirt. A pair of black pants matched his outfit with another pair of slippers. That's when Tiadora noticed that her feet were not covered but it didn't matter. She was here already. He ruffled his jet black hair as his green eyes reflected a luminous colour and continued, "This is my favourite usual spot. Unlike the usual tending machine, this has a spectacular view. Ta-Daa!"

David ushered her towards the opposite end from the clock. It was not covered with the dark walls like the ones on her right and left. There, in the opened edge she could see the sparkles of the clear blue sea. It was like seeing an ocean-sized diamond. A small platform was stretched out into the open space as David walked towards the furthest edge and sat down, swinging his legs to and fro. Tiadora didn't dare move forward. She was afraid that the platform was unsteady since David was sitting at the edge.

”Erm...does the bottom of this platform touch the ground?" Tiadora wanted to make sure its safe.

"Nope," David turned to face her, "...don't worry. The platform is about a history book thick. Plus, I've been here like a million times and it doesn't fall. Trust me." David held out his hand towards her. Reluctantly, she took the outstretched hand and was ushered to the platform where she sat uncomfortably. The cool breeze swept her hair off her shoulders as it swayed to the wind. She closed her eyes and inhaled a mouthful amount of oxygen into her lungs. It felt fresh. None of them uttered a word for the next ten minutes, appreciating the crystals of the sea, until David broke the silence, "When I heard the voices in my head saying 'someone's coming', I initially thought it was Kiara."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Tiadora still faced the beautiful scenery, "but I had trouble sleeping."

"Was it because the nightgown that Kiara gave you was itchy?" David eyed her outfit.

Tiadora's cheeks glowed pink with embarrassment as she looked at herself. She knew the gown was a bad idea, and she wasn't even wearing any footwear. Stammering to answer back, she replied, "No! Surprisingly, this gown was comfortable. Actually, I'm worried for my mother. I mean she just came and told me that a guardian and some animals were here but there was no 'how are you?' or 'where are you?' or 'if you need me, contact me at etc.’ Nothing! And it's driving me crazy."

"At least you still have yours," David's face grew dark and hurt, "Mine left me when I was only ten."

"I...I'm so sorry, " Tiadora apologised. She didn't want to hurt him like this but something struck her thoughts as she asked him, "A person will turn ten years old once he or she is fourth grade, right?"

"Yup. Wow. You're catching up quite quickly."

"Then was the reason for you to have that mental breakdown and turning into someone so secretive, lonely and Goth, was for the loss of your mother and not because of the cheerleaders, is it?" Tiadora finally realised the reality.

David didn't make eye contact but he soon nodded at her explanation. He turned and looked into Tiadora's eyes. It was the first time he had realised how close they were, side by side. "So far," David started again, "you're the second person who has figured that out. Everyone including Kiara thought it was because some girls made some bad comments about me."

"If was second," Tiadora wondered, "who was first?"

"Jason," David smiled, "You know, both Jason and Cornelia are twins."

"Really? Wow! Twins of different gender is quite a rare find," Tiadora finally realised.

David chuckled and continued, "Well, they just came to the academy last year. I think they were from United Kingdom, and you know Jason's out looking to find attention or anything. Then he found nibbling on my sandwich one day, and he asked me, 'you're that David guy, aren't ya?’ And for a moment, I thought he was gonna beat me up just like the other jocks but he just sat beside me and patted on my shoulder. Then he said to me in a soft voice, ‘You’re that kid that everyone thinks is grieving over split lemon juice when he’s actually lost someone dear’. Man! My jaw almost dropped. Some guy.”

Tiadora smiled. Jason was a really sweet guy. He’s been a great help all this while, on how he had helped to carry her to his room even though she was a total stranger to him, on getting rid of her hiccups, helping to defeat Oberon and to get to know the 21st Century better. He was the first person to believe and trust her, the first to be a real friend. She looked at her wrist. Once it rested a special friendship band which Jason had bothered to make, but it was gone now. Tiadora recalled the time when he had chased after her when she gave back the friendship band and ran away. “Tia! Tiadora! Please come back!” Jason huffed and puffed along the corridor with Tiadora running further away, “Princess Tiadora!”

She remembered covering her ears, ignoring his words. That’s when she turned to a dark corner which Jason had missed, going straight to another direction. The damp floor soaked her heels and stained her toes as the dark alley was long and winding. There was light in front of her and her surroundings grew narrow. The blinding light pained her eyes as she finally got out of the damp humid area. She couldn’t see a thing. Everything was so bright, that’s when she heard a scream, and when her vision came back, a crane was right above her, collapsing. Her eyes widened with fear though her legs were rooted to the ground.

“Tia!!” Jason shouts were far away but in an instant, she felt someone pushing her back into the dark alley. Her eyes flickered as she jolted out from her unplanned landing. Jason had fallen on her but when he quickly realized it, he got off Tiadora and helped her sit upright. Blood oozed from a cut of her right shoulder when Jason put her brown hair behind her ears. He was about to tear his light green singlet from under his darker green jacket but Tiadora stopped him instead and looked at her wound. Her skin around her wound, covered the cut in a mere five seconds. Jason’s jaw dropped as he was dumbfounded with the speedy recovery.

“It’s my special ability,” Tiadora smiled at his awed expression, ”Every guardian has one and mine is the ability to heal any injury. A very useful technique indeed.”

Jason snapped out from the sensation and held both of Tiadora’s hands. He took a deep breath and sighed,”Why must you run away? Isn’t it already difficult enough to find somewhere to rest and take shelter? Look, in the 21st Century, most of the people will not believe all of this magic stuff because it doesn’t exist. Tia, no matter how much the world has to go against you; you can believe me when I say that I’ll always be by your side.”

“Tiadora? Snap out of it!” David snapped her mind back into the real world, “Look over there.”

David pointed towards the shore of the beautiful sea. It didn’t look different at all, but that thought changed when visible bubbles formed around the shallow waters. Then the strangest thing happened. The water glowed a bright shade of pink which lasted for a time of a blink of an eye. And instantly, a black shape had emerged from the waters. It was a man who wore a black coat with a hood covering its face. Once he was out, standing on the surface of the sea, he walked slowly towards the white sand and on queue, more people started to emerge out from the water. This time they weren’t wearing any coats. Tiadora could see some boys and girls with some women and men.

Tiadora stood up, looking frightened. Her eyes glued to the scene as her spine shivered. She squatted down and shake David, “Up. Stand up, David.” He obeyed and almost fell off the edge. Tiadora turned his face towards her own and spoke very seriously, “Do you give me your fullest trust?”

“Well, yeah but…” David didn’t get to finish his answer as Tiadora jumped off the platform and pulled him along. Tiadora adjusted her body to fall head-first and aimed at the shore. She could feel David struggling as she gripped his right wrist which held his green element. David grew scared and tried to do a spread-eagle position to lessen the speed they were going but Tiadora was going too fast for him to do anything. The distance between them and the shore shorten and David could feel all the pressure pounding on every inch of his body. All of a sudden, Tiadora switched hands. The right hand which had gripped on his wrist was replaced with her left hand instead.

And the magic unfolded in front of his eyes. Soon with her right hand, Tiadora sent a blaze of energy to the sand. The purple beam made a spiral pattern on the shore and soon, David felt lighter. Gone with the beam, instead of landing flat hard on the ground, David managed to land on his feet. Dizzy and confused was what he thought of the stunt. It took him a few seconds to be able to walk steadily again. He felt like as if he was in a dessert with the sand dunes playing see-saw. That’s when he realized that Tiadora wasn’t holding onto his hand anymore.

David tried to see through the fallen sand where Tiadora was and when he finally did, the small army of twenty who were standing on the water’s surface, stood stationary. Tiadora stood in front of David, staring into the dark hood of the leader of intruders, who was about five feet away. No one uttered a word for quite some time like as if they were waiting form the other party to strike. The person in the dark hood came forward and kneeled down towards Tiadora with his head bowed down. But David’s senses went frantic when the man began to speak, “Tiadora, the reason that I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting. Villain am I none. Therefore, farewell. I see thou know’st me not.”