116 Abduction (1/2)

I woke up with a start and felt the sweat pour down my cheeks like I'd been standing underneath rain.

Luca was at my side, shaking my shoulders as if that could help me relax from the pain that had sparked inside my brain after the elf forced me back into my body.

Azuma was there too, his eyes flitting between my and Luca in a questioning manner. Then his eyes drifted to the leafy packet between me and Luca and I heard him sigh in recognition. This sound was what brought my consciousness floating up to the surface of my mind.

Panting, I glanced up at Azuma and said, \”Y-you know what this is?\”

Azuma nodded. \”I've seen Ardeen Spellweaver use it before whenever he wanted to enhance his senses before a battle began. It's very expensive. How did you get it?\”

\”Albert,\” I said. \”He gave it to me.\”

\”Without telling what it was used for?\” Azuma asked skeptically.

\”He hinted… but I didn't think it would be that cr-crazy…\” I answered, placing both my hands over my face. \”There was just so much happening…\”

I felt a hand tap on my shoulder.

\”You have a sense gift, Dean… Even I know how beneficial it is… but using a drug to enhance it without understanding the consequences… how very foolhardy of you,\” Azuma chuckled.

I glanced at him through the space between my fingers. There was a warm smile playing on his pale lips. One I hadn't seen before in my sick instructor.

Azuma told Luca to help me up and that we would resume practice tonight as dawn was approaching.

Again, his choice of words jump-started my brain into working, and I got up quickly without Luca's help while my eyes darted for the nearest window facing west.

Yes, west not east. In the Fayne, the sun rose in the west and set in the east like a mirror opposite of Mudgard.

The western sky was turning purple. The sun would rise very soon.

\”Luca… I don't know what, but I think something's happening to Ty…\” I whispered.

Luca worriedly asked, \”Do you think… do you think they're going to abduct him like they did me?\”

He voiced the question that was also in my head.

\”He's not fourteen,\” I said.

\”Does that matter?\” Luca asked.

\”I… I don't know,\” I answered hesitantly.

There was only one way to resolve this. We needed to find Aura.

Luca and I trailed down the steps of the tower until we'd reached the first-floor entryway and found Aura seated on the lone wooden table there while in a heated discussion with Zarz and Varda about renovations.

When she saw the look on my face, she immediately dismissed the other two so we could have a private discussion.

Aura offered me a cup of elf tea before asking, \”What's wrong?\”

A full ten minutes had passed between us before they both asked questions, and I did my best to answer. Eventually, Aura's face turned paler. Her brow's furrowed when she said, \”You don't need to be fourteen to be taken. That usually only happens to kids whose parents gave up their children during child birth.\”

I glanced quickly at Luca and saw his face crunch up like he was in pain. I'm certain he was—at least the mental kind. It wasn't every day you get to hear confirmation from someone that your parents traded your life for someone else's—mine.

\”Th-then what about Ty?\” Luca asked, ignoring his own pain in concern for our friend.

I felt another swell of pride for my little brother. He really was one of a kind.

\”You told me that Ty was having dreams… like premonitions, yes?\” Aura asked for confirmation.

I nodded. \”They were about the Foolhardies…\”

\”Well… I've heard of something similar happening before… a very long time ago when humans could still use…\” Aura hesitated.

Her brow furrowed even more and I half-expected her to reveal some monstrous truth about Ty. I was right.

\”It's been decades since the last recorded occurrence happened, mind you,  and that was a single instance that hadn't been seen in hundreds of years, and never again in this era,\” Aura explained quickly. \”Not since Aleister Crowley…\”

I'd heard that name before. It belonged to a 1900's occultist and self-professed magician who many believed was a fraud or, if you believed in the occult, was a dabbler in the dark arts.

\”What does Crowley have to do with—\”

I stopped myself, suddenly seeing the connection Aura was suggesting.

\”No way…\” I whispered. \”Not Ty…\”

\”Prophetic dreams are the first sure sign of it…\” Aura countered. \”If they're real… and you said he described the tower and our other members perfectly?\”

\”Sure… but, Ty?\” I nodded but remained skeptical. \”And people said Crowley was a fraud…\”

\”Fairy propaganda to keep your human public from learning about the Fayne,\” Aura answered, dashing my one final hope as she did.

There was a hard slam on the wooden table, and we both turned to see Luca frowning at us.

\”Can someone please explain to me what you two are babbling on about?\” he asked, looking annoyed.