Chapter 3: Everything

I was out before I could hear anything else.

Chapter 3: Everything

I woke up with tear-stained eyes. It hurt to move my face because of the dry tears. Still, I had this calmness to me and felt warmth against my stomach. A cat was lying on my stomach just purring away. Where was I? I sat up and the cat leaped down. It ran into the other room where Gabe and Jack were. I also heard a woman’s voice I couldn’t recognize. When I stretched and pulled myself out of bed, I then went into the other room. Gabe was twirling his fingers into his silky, black hair, smiling away with the cat on his shoulders. The cat was mostly black, but it had some silver across one of its eyes. Jack finally realized my presence and bowed his head slowly towards me.

“Good morning sleepy head!” Gabe looked at me and smiled. I rubbed my forehead where the bump was.

“Where a-am I?” I asked rather weakly. Jack stood up. He had a mysterious look to him. His hair was black, and it was clean cut. His facial features were rough. The scars that he had on his face gave him an aged look and proved to me that he traveled a lot.

“You’re still in Grysmont. It’s the very end of it. It’s rather deserted. You also have a concussion and should take it easy for a couple of hours.”

The memories of that morning were starting to flow in my thoughts.

“You’ve also been asleep for ten hours. It’s good that you’ve rested up,” Jack sat down and pulled a plate of apple slices close to where I was. I realized that I was hungry, starved even. Before I sat to eat though, I remembered the woman’s voice.

“Umm, wasn’t there a woman here? I heard a woman’s voice.”

“I am most definitely not a woman.”

I jumped to hear the woman’s voice again. The voice was near Gabe. I looked and all I saw was Gabe giggling.

“Where are you?”

“Right here.”

The gasp that came out of my mouth made Gabe roll with laughter. Jack even chuckled.

“But, you’re a cat!”

The cat jumped onto the table and grinned at me.

“My name is Marie.”

Gabe, still giggling, gestured a finger towards her and moved it back and forth telling her no.

“No, it’s Quabbles!” he laughed even harder. Marie hissed and pushed out her claws.

“Don’t call me that Gabe!”

“Why? It is your pet name.”

She sighed and looked at me. I was laughing at Gabe. He reminded me so much of Robin. I had almost forgotten about him. I stopped laughing suddenly and almost fell to the floor crying. Gabe quickly got up and went towards me. Jack stayed seated, but he sat up straight like he was ready for anything to happen.

“Robin, oh, Robin! I’ve got to find him!”

“All in good time, Riley.” I tried to stop crying and looked up at Jack. Jack was standing up now.

“Sit down, you need to know all of this.” Jack gestured to Gabe and Gabe helped me sit down where the apples were. 

“She’s just a child Jack, and in mourning for her family. Now is not a good time,” Marie said to him.

“Now or never Marie. She needs to know, and she won’t be a child long,” Jack said as he looked at Marie.

I finally got sick of them talking like I wasn’t there and broke into their conversation.

“Know what!” They all stopped to look at me. “I wake up to a strange place with people I do not know but they seem to know me. What is going on here?!” I almost screamed at all of them with the pain of loss tearing at my chest. I didn’t mean to sound so harsh I know they were only helping me, but it was hard to stay composed with trying to process my parents being gone with no warning.

  With sincere eyes, Marie jumped into my lap and curled up purring. That same calmness in the bed was back and I could control myself again. My frustration seemed to disappear.

“Now she’s ready Jack.”

He nodded at Marie and then looked at me. “This will be a long story.”

Curiosity started to overwhelm me, so I nodded, waiting for him to start.

“Okay, this story goes back to almost a thousand years ago when every land was at peace. Every race and creature treated one another like brothers, except for one. The Miock council believed that they should overpower all the lands because we were fools to think peace would last forever. Miocks are basically human, but they’re marked with a unique design decorated throughout their skin from a very powerful dark force deep within the depths of the world. They are strong and think very little of any other living being other than their own. They are an evil form of human and are very smart creatures. The dark force that they use also helps them live longer. A Miock can live up to six hundred years. Six hundred years ago, when the time came for all races to come together to renew vows of peace, they were nowhere to be seen. It worried many, but chaos or battle was not declared, so they forgot about the Miocks. They knew that without the one who was believed to be the true heir of the Miock kingdom, war was impossible. The true heir was the only one who could harness the full power of the dark force that they possessed.        

“The Miocks formed this organization around their royal family to know when the time came. Every time their Queen was with child, they rejoiced. But a female would be born and only a male could possess the dark force. Years and years passed, and they lost hope. The Queen was over five hundred years old and she was losing strength. About sixteen years ago, she gave birth to a son whom she named Logan. She was overjoyed but died soon after the birth. The king in grief gave his son to the man that would train him to be the one who would succeed to prove that peace could be interrupted, to be able to raise fear in every race and creature so overruling would be inevitable. Now, he is grown and is dangerous to all races and creatures.”

“But what does that have to do with me? The guards were saying they were looking for me specifically. What have I done? I’m not anything special.” There was a pause, so I took the advantage.

He looked at me for the first time during the story. Gabe gave Jack a fearful look, but Jack just waved his hand.

“Except for the fact that war is what they want and then can wipe the remains of all? We have no idea why he’s after you. We’ll just have to find out. Remember that Miocks are evil creatures and want nothing but power.”

“Well, I have no power and I am most definitely not strong. They had no reason to kill my family.” A lump in my throat formed thinking of my parents’ lifeless bodies, I stared blankly at nothing, and a tear sneaked out of my eye. Marie’s purring intensified and another overwhelming sense of ease went over me. I was wondering how she was doing this.

“All we know is they are looking for something that would seal their victory, somethi-” Marie started, but Jack shook his head at her, making her stop mid-sentence.

“Okay, that’s enough. That’s everything we know. Let her mind rest,” Jack said and Marie jumped off my lap and that aura of calmness faded. I wanted to ask further on what she was going to say, but my mind was suddenly elsewhere, back at my home burning down and my life shattering as I knew it. It was now hard to think of everything at once, so I folded my arms against my chest, hoping it would ease my thoughts and keep me together.

While I sat at the table eating the apples that were in front of me, I watched as they walked around the room, grabbing things here and there and stuffing it into bags. They were talking, but it sounded like buzzing to me. I was still trying to recover from the shock of my childhood home, my memories, and my family being destroyed all in one day. I barely tasted the apples when I plopped them into my mouth. I was hungry, but it was so hard to eat being in so much emotional pain.  

Gabe and Marie went in the room I was sleeping in and grabbed my black bag. They were packing horses outside. I then just realized that they were packing things into bags to leave. I turned my gaze to Jack, who was fastening a bag of his own to his shoulders.

“Where are we going?” I asked. His green eyes lowered to my level, so I didn’t have to look up.

“Out of the city. Since Logan is after you, we must keep you protected and out of his path. So, we will keep moving, not staying anywhere for too long. Until we know what he is after, we will keep you safe.”

I nodded slowly and got up from the table, making my way to the door to meet Gabe and Marie. I have always wanted to get out of Grysmont, but it felt so weird to leave now, wrong even. But, remembering that the town was now deserted probably due to the attack there was nothing else for me here, only pain.

When I stepped out and really got a good view of the horses we would be using, I stared in awe. They were beautiful!

“Here you go Riley, he’s yours.” He gestured at the horse next to him, smiling at me and I couldn’t help but smile back. He reminded me so much of my brother Robin, Gabe was filling a hole where he used to be. It was easy to talk to him and I knew that I would be good friends with him. When I find Robin, I know Gabe and him would get along so well.

“Thanks Gabe, do they talk to?” I asked jokingly, remembering my reaction to Marie. We both laughed and I saw Marie sneak a little smile at the remark.

“Oh, yea! We just can’t understand them. Wouldn’t that be cool? Quabbles scared the living daylights out of me when I found her.”

Marie flinched and turned around to face Gabe. “Gabe! Enough of Quabbles! Goodness you’re impossible!” We both giggled and then I turned to my horse. He was a beautiful black and white horse. His mane was silky black like Gabe’s hair and his body was white with black spots.

Everybody was outside now about to take off. My journey was beginning with people I just met, but I was comfortable. Marie rode with me against my stomach sitting up so she could see. We were off to my future. Wherever it went, this was everything to me now.