Zilferia

I wake up suddenly. Looking around, I see that I am, once again, in the hospital. I am instantly filled with relief, for that means I’m safe. I notice a doctor standing near me. He looks relieved that I’m awake. I recognize this doctor. I smile at the thought this puts into my head.

“…Why are you smiling?” he asks me.

I laugh. “It’s just that I’m here so often the hospital is basically my second home!”

He’s not amused. I can tell he thinks I’m crazy. I sigh. He obviously doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.

“Where… where are Nathan, Nora and Greg?” I ask, suddenly panicked about my friends’ welfare.

“They’re fine,” the doctor assures me. “Although it seems they had inhaled a fair amount of toxins. …However, as far as we know, there are no such toxins anywhere near here.” He looks at me, expecting me to tell him how it happened. I shrug and don’t reply, deciding that it’s far easier not to tell him the truth- or anything at all, for that matter.

I can tell he isn’t too happy with me avoiding his question, but he pretends not to care. “…We saw what happened last night through the security cameras, so we heard what that man said about his plans. We have a theory as to what group those men belong to. …Did they tell you where they were going? Who their leader was?”

“…Yes,” I reply. I quickly tell him what happened- excluding the part that I turned into a dragon- and what they told me. He grimaces when he hears the name Patrick.

“It’s just as I thought. They are part of a group called…”

“…The Dragon Hunters,” I whisper, my voice filled with unmasked dread. The doctor’s surprised.

“Yes. How do you know about them?”

“Uh… I just… um, heard about them from people.”

“Did you hear what they did to your family?” he continues before I even say anything, suddenly becoming animated as he relates the story. “Patrick came with his goons and snatched you and your two brothers away from the King and Queen, and although one of your brothers is still lost, the other one is with Patrick. Your parents are in a coma right now, so they have no idea that one of their children is back. In fact, that reminds me…” and with that, he leaves the room. I shake my head, quietly laughing at the strange doctor.

Hmm… I think after he’s gone. I heard that the King and Queen had three kids and that they were all lost, but Vlad told me that the other two are presumed to be dead. Then again, I don’t think I would have reacted well if he told me everything right then and there, either. …So one of my brothers is with Patrick and his goons… is he even alive? Those guys aren’t exactly nice… Sighing, I push these unanswerable questions from my head and get dressed.

I find a nurse once I’m ready and ask her to take me to see my friends. At first, she tries to make me go back to bed, but I refuse. I’ve been in bed far too much lately. She finally gives in and takes me to Nathan’s room. The two Familiars are in there with him as well. I sit in a chair next to his bed as the nurse leaves. I watch him as he sleeps for a little while. I’ve never seen him look so… peaceful. That is, until his face then suddenly fills with pain and I’m shocked and unsure of what to do.

I’m about to wake him up when he lurches upright, shouting. After breathing heavily for a few seconds, he sees me next to him. His face instantly fills with relief.

“Oh, good. You’re okay,” he says.

“Yes, I’m fine,” I respond. I refrain from telling him about my kidnapping since the nurse told me that he was sleeping the entire time and had no idea that it had even happened. I figure what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

He grimaces and lies down again. I notice that he’s covered in sweat. “I… I had a dream. It was just a nightmare, really. But… I dreamt that you were kidnapped once we got back from the dragons and then you turned into a dragon and you ate one of the guys, but then they blew off your arm and you couldn’t move… and when you could, you crawled away and you were bleeding like crazy… and… and then… you… you died. Again- just like what happened with the Zyloff. It happened right in front of me… and… I couldn’t do anything…”

I calm him down and assure him that it was just a dream and that I am just fine. He believes me until he notices the bandages on my arms.

“What… why… your arms- they’re hurt in the same place as in the dream!”

“Um… yeah, about that…”

“Was my dream true then? You… you really were captured?”

“Well, some of it was similar,” I concede, then tell him the whole story, starting with what happened at the Dragon Council and finishing with me waking up here just a few minutes ago.

“Are you okay?” he asks. I smile a little at his concern when he’s in worse condition than I am.

“Yes, I’m fine. …Are you okay? You breathed in a lot of toxins on that mountain…”

He starts assuring me that he’s good to go when he suddenly starts coughing like crazy so violently and for so long that he has to catch his breath when he’s done. “Yeah, I’m good too,” he manages through his scratchy, dry voice. I hand him a cup of water that was on his bedside table and watch as he hastily gulps it down. His voice is better now, but it still sounds painful to talk. “In fact, we need to go train with Thaddeus. He told us that no matter what, we had to go to training when we came back. If we hurry, he might not find out what happened.”

I look at him, concerned. Not only has it been an entire day since he wanted us back, but it is also late in the afternoon. I feel his forehead and find that it’s burning up. It’s obvious he has a fever. I shake my head. “No, you can’t go in this condition.” He starts protesting, but I quickly stop him. “No, you can’t go. You have a terrible fever and you are coughing like crazy. I’ll go.”

“But…”

“No. I will go- alone. But don’t worry, I’ll come back and tell you everything he says, okay?”

He isn’t too happy about it, but he agrees reluctantly. Talking to me must have depleted his meager store of energy, because he falls asleep again very quickly. Before I go, I walk over and check on Greg and Nora. They have not yet awakened. Their breathing is shallow and even worse than Nathan’s. I wish that there was something I could do for them, but I am powerless, so I have to depend on the doctors to help my friends. As I head out of the hospital, I talk to a nurse to tell her that Nathan has a very high fever. She thanks me, although I can tell she already knew this, and tells me not to worry. They have everything under control. I nod and start heading out the door, but another nurse comes by and stops me.

He insists that I need to eat something, so I grab a sandwich and head out the door. I eat it as I head to the building where we do our training with Thaddeus. When I get there, I see the lady at the weapons again. I ask her if Thaddeus is here. She replies that he’s at the top. It’s his favorite place to think. I ride the elevator to the top of the building and head towards him. I walk up next to him but don’t say anything.

He sighs heavily and I can see the weariness on his face. Not looking at me, he stares out at the forest. I follow his gaze, but I don’t see anything. “It seems that you get into trouble a lot, Crystal,” he begins.

“Yes, but I don’t usually seek it out.”

“True, the Dragon Hunters sought you out this time, but what about the dragons?” there’s a knowing tone to his voice. What- how does he know about that?! There’s no way… the only one I told was Nathan… “Of course, you didn’t really get in trouble there…”

“What!” I exclaim. “How… how did you know about that?”

He chuckles slightly. “Come on. You really think I fell for the ‘working on our friendship’ thing? I kept an eye on you with magic.”

“You… you were spying on us?!”

“Well, I wouldn’t call it spying…”

“Then… did… did you see the other me?”

He nods solemnly. “Yes, and I was quite impressed, both by your actions as well as your skill. I knew you were the Dragongirl. …Well, alright. I didn’t know for sure, but I had a feeling. What I’m truly surprised about, however, is how you were able to raise a dragon right under my nose and I not know about it! Not only that, but your willingness to give him away! I saw the bond between you two, and it was strong.”

I sigh. “Well, I’m still going to miss him.”

“Of course.” He stares out at the forest again. After a while, he says, “One thing concerns me, though.”

“Oh? Just one?” I tease. He doesn’t smile.

“Yes. You see, I tried to see you with magic once you were kidnapped.”

“…So?”

“I couldn’t see you.”

“Um… what does that mean?”

“It means that the Dragon Hunters have somehow found a way to not be detected by magic. Which is very bad… that means that they could take you again. We will have to keep people around you at all times.”

I groan. “Really? …Can’t Nora just look out for me?”

“Perhaps, once she is back to full health. For now, I will look for volunteers to guard you. Alright?”

“…Okay.”

“Good. Now then, it’s about time for you to be getting to bed. It’s getting late.” I look around and realize it’s true. The sun is about to go down.

“But I’m not ti…” Even as I start saying this, I am interrupted by a sudden yawn. This surprises me. I thought that after sleeping so much, I wouldn’t be tired again so soon.

Thaddeus smiles wearily at me. I notice that there are bags under his eyes like he hasn’t been sleeping. “Don’t worry, you’ll be feeling better soon. How is Nathan? Is he well enough to come train tomorrow?”

“No, not even close,” I reply as we head to the elevator.

“Hmm,” he grunts. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to tell you about the Third Challenge. Now get some sleep, I’ll send over a couple of people to guard you. Don’t worry about anything. The Dragon Hunters won’t be able to get you again.”

I don’t reply, deeply annoyed with the idea of being babied- but strangely comforted by the security at the same time.

I wake up feeling refreshed. In fact, I feel so good I completely forget that my arms are still pretty much in pieces- until I sit up and the blood rushes to my arms. I gasp as my arms burn with pain. After a couple minutes, the pain subsides and I can see clearly again. Looking up, I see a guy sitting in a chair next to the door. It’s a guy from the rescue party- the one with the warm brown eyes.

At first I’m confused about his presence, but then I remember that Thaddeus was going to find some people to guard me all day and all night. The guy smiles at me.

“Good morning!” he says, standing. “I am going to be one of the people protecting you until your Familiar is able to watch out for you.” He stands and walks over to me, holding out his hand. I shake it carefully. “My name is Dallas Peterson. Pleased to meet you, Princess Crystal.”

“Uh, yeah. Same,” I say, a little surprised he knows who I am. Not that I should be. My guards would have to know who I am and why they are helping me out, so it only makes sense. “Before I go and train with Thaddeus, I want to check on my friends,” I tell him, sliding out of bed.

He nods. “Of course.”

Nathan is still sleeping when I go in, but there’s a nurse there, so I ask her how he’s doing. She tells me that his fever broke and they are still trying to flush out all the toxins he breathed in, but he should be good to go for the Third Challenge. I sigh with relief. The bad news, however, is that neither of our Familiars will be able to help by then.

I thank the nurse and Dallas and I head to the breakfast area. The hospital actually has surprisingly good food, but it’s still not as good as other food I’ve had in Zilferia. We then head to train with Thaddeus. I take the elevator again, since climbing the stairs may be too much for me in my condition. When we reach the top, I see that Thaddeus is once again in the same spot, gazing out over the forest. He turns around as we approach.

“Ah, good,” he says. “You’re up and moving. Don’t worry, we won’t be doing any physical training today- so you won’t have to train with Vladimir today- although we will tomorrow.” Fear flashes across my face before I can hide it- the thought of doing anything in my condition scares me. “Don’t worry, it won’t be very taxing at all. We will be very gentle at first- although your arms should be much better by then anyway.” I don’t believe him. My arms can’t improve that fast! Especially seeing the shape they’re in now- they just keep throbbing with pain in time to my heartbeats.

“Now then,” Thaddeus continues, heading toward the table. “Let’s get down to business. I need to tell you about the Third Challenge.” Before he does, however, he sends Dallas over to a chair by the elevator. I suspect that it’s so he can’t hear us as well as to make sure that no one else comes up.

He then peers at me seriously. “First of all, I want to ask how Nathan is faring. Will he be able to train with us tomorrow?”

“No… but,” I add, “he will be able to participate in the Third Challenge, luckily.”

“Yes, that is very good indeed, for he would be put into the arena no matter what condition he’s in.”

“Wait… what?” I say, disbelieving.

“Yes,” he confirms, his voice sad. “I’m afraid it’s true. Like I said at the beginning, these Games are rigorous. They are unforgiving, and there no way Vlad would put them on hold for one boy in the hospital. Either he plays in the Challenge, or you are both eliminated.”

“Wow,” I mutter. “What a jerk.”

“I believe he is just having a hard time lately. He wasn’t like this last year… perhaps the pressure has gotten to him.”

“Yeah… I guess…”

“Now then, about the Third Challenge. It is water themed this year, so I hope you can swim.”

“Yeah, I can swim,” I say. “…Usually. I probably can’t now, because of my arms.”

“How well can you swim, though? The entire thing is underwater.”

“I’m almost as good of a swimmer as a chess player,” I gloat.

Thaddeus raises an eyebrow. “I find that hard to believe, but I guess I’ll find out myself tomorrow.” When he sees the question on my face, he explains. “We are going to go swimming tomorrow to see how good you are, as well as to strengthen your muscles and lengthen your endurance. I suppose since Nathan cannot participate, he will just have to learn and adjust while in the arena. You might have to help him during the Challenge,” he warns me. I nod.

“What’s the goal for this one?” I ask.

He grimaces and doesn’t answer, refusing to look me in the eye.

“What is it?” I demand. “I need to know. I don’t care how dangerous it is, I am still going to do my best so I can go home.”

He nods and takes a deep breath. “…You… you have to retrieve the Mermaid King’s Trident.”

I somehow miss the significance of this. “…What? A mermaid? That’s what you’re so afraid of? Really?”

He shakes his head at me. “You don’t understand. Mermaids aren’t gentle girls with fish tails like the people on Earth seem to believe. They are all- male and female- fierce warriors that are masters of the sea and nearly all the creatures that live in it. They are much more dangerous than sharks, moving so quickly that one can barely see them. They are just a blur, indistinguishable from the seaweed permeating the area. Some eat any humans that foolishly wander into their domain. The King’s Trident has the power to take control of your body if you are not strong enough to resist it. They are all at least as intelligent as you and I. …Now do you have a better understanding of what you are up against?”

It takes me a while to find my voice. “Yes,” I squeak out. “But… I thought that the point was not to kill us, but to help us get our Gifts! It seems to me that Vlad is seriously trying to end this thing here and now! …Does he really hate me that much?” I am now truly terrified of Vlad now that I know just what he can do to me if he so wishes.

He shakes his head again and sighs. “I don’t know. All I know is that he isn’t acting like he normally would. …Did you ever notice a difference from when you first met him and the next time?” I think about it. I remember he did seem a lot less… uptight when I first met him. In fact, he was almost… nice. Now he is obviously trying to get me killed, no matter the cost- even at the price of other, innocent people’s lives! I suddenly remember that night he told me about the Games… he put Kiki to sleep, and he said that it was because she needed uninterrupted sleep and so she wouldn’t hear his ‘story’ and be frightened.

When I tell Thaddeus this, he nods. “Yes, that is how he normally is. However… he has changed so drastically I know something’s up. I am simply not quite sure what.”

“What are you saying? That… that he’s not the real Vlad?”

“Perhaps. Either that or he is being controlled somehow.”

“Well, what should we do about it?” I ask, concerned.

“…Nothing. We can’t do anything about it until the Games are over. I will, however, keep a close eye on Vladimir and try and protect you from him as best I can.”

After that, we grab Dallas and go get lunch. Before I eat mine, however, Thaddeus dumps something into the soup and stirs it before handing it back to me. When I ask him what it is, he tells me that it’s just something to speed up the healing process for my arm. After we eat, the throbbing is a little better, but Thaddeus tells me that it mostly works overnight.

After that, since we can’t do anything physical, he sends me back to the hospital to rest and keep an eye on Nathan and make sure he’s recovering. Dallas, of course, comes with me.

Nathan doesn’t wake for about half an hour, so I talk to Dallas while I wait. First I ask him to tell me about himself, but he says that he’s just a normal guy, nothing special. When I say that surely he’s unique in some way, he confides that he enjoys playing chess. I get excited and I challenge him to a game sometime. He says sure, he’d love to. He then suggests doing so right now, since we have nothing to do anyway. I agree, so he goes out and looks around for a chess board.

Soon after he leaves, Nathan wakes up and coughs, and although he still doesn’t sound very good, he does sound a little better. Once he catches his breath, he asks me to tell him all about the Third Challenge. So I do, and when I’m finished, he’s silent and I can see fear on his face.

“…Can you swim?” I ask him.

He nods. “Even better than I can run, but that’s not what I’m worried about. Those mermaids sound like monsters. …I’m not so sure we should do this.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, confused. “What else can we do? We have to get home!”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean we have to win, right?” When I don’t respond, he presses me. “Right? I mean, they want their winners and everything, but who says we need to win to go home? They just said that we can go home once the Games are over. As long as we’re not dead, that is.”

“But do you think that they will let us just quit? They made us come. I don’t think they’ll let us go that easily.”

“No… but we don’t have to quit to not get eaten by mermaids.”

“…I’m sorry, I don’t think I see where you’re going with this,” I say as he pauses to see if I will catch on and figure out his plan.

“We’ll just hide,” he explains. “In the water, but away from any mermaids or other creatures. We can just wait for someone else to win, and then they will end the Challenge- just like they always do.”

I’m about to argue at first, but then I think about the predicament we are in and agree. I really don’t want to be killed today- or any day for that matter. After that, a nurse comes in and tells me that I should go back to my own bed so I can rest and heal. I warily agree and say goodbye to Nathan. As I stand to go, Dallas comes back with a chess board. We head to my room and play one game. He’s tougher than a lot of people I’ve played against, but I still beat him. He seems a little disappointed. I offer a rematch tomorrow. He agrees, then leaves. He is replaced for the night with another guy who doesn’t talk much, which is fine since I need my sleep anyway.

When I wake up, the first thing I notice is that my arms don’t hurt anymore. I sit up with a start, electrified. For a moment I don’t move from shock, but then I quickly begin pulling off the bandages. A nurse comes in and tells me not to do that, but I ignore her and finish pulling them off. We are both astounded by how much they have improved. Before, they looked raw and bloody- completely disgusting. Now, there are some scabs, but other than that, they look almost like they usually do. I carefully touch them, and I can’t keep my spreading grin off of my face when I feel no pain. I’m elated. I’m healed! Well, mostly. Maybe the water will soften the scabs and they will just fall off… that reminds me, I need to go train with Thaddeus! After I get dressed, I start to leave and see that the other guy had been replaced by Dallas. Dallas must have the days and the other guy must have the nights, I figure. After grabbing some breakfast, we go and find Thaddeus for training.

He’s not by the building we normally meet at, but there’s a lady there who directs us to the pool. We follow her directions and find him talking to another person. As we draw closer, I notice more details of the man with Thaddeus. His skin, perfectly tanned from the sun, glistens gloriously against the light green of his swimming trunks. Thaddeus introduces us. The tall, muscular man is from Quagon, the watery universe, so he is an excellent swimmer. He’s going to help me swim and point out ways to better conserve energy in the water.

Thaddeus hands me a swimming suit, and I have to choke back a sigh at the colors. I’m really getting sick of black and purple. After I change, Thaddeus tells me to do whatever I want in the pool, just warm up and get comfortable with being in the water. The water is clean and cool, and doesn’t have chlorine in it like the pools on earth do. It’s refreshing and I feel more alive than I have in quite a while. After I swim around for a while, I just float on my back and gaze up at the clear blue sky.

Then the guy from Quagon jumps in. He swims over to me and has me do a few exercises, from simple things like just staying afloat to doing the breast stroke across the length of the pool four times without stopping. It’s exhausting, but luckily, I can do everything he asks. He has me do all of the strokes I had ever heard of as well as some that I haven’t, so I have to quickly learn some new strokes. They are surprisingly easy, and I can tell that they were made to reduce the amount of energy spent in the water.

I even learn how to best swim underwater, since I will need to be underwater for the entire Challenge. When I express my concern about being able to breathe, he laughs a little.

“I can tell you are not from Quagon,” he says with a light accent that sounds like one that I heard on Earth, from a New Zealand tourist. “You may swim like one of us, but you would know about the technology we have if you were there for even a day. You see, we invented a device, small and convenient, to enable you to breathe and see clearly underwater. However, it is permanent. But while you have it, you can still breathe air when you’re not in the water. It only activates once your nose and mouth are in water. It does not give you gills, but we can do that for you instead if you prefer. The gills would fade almost all the way while you are not underwater. All you would be able to see is thin white lines on your neck. Which would you prefer?”

“Uh, the first one,” I say, still boggled by the concept of breathing underwater. He nods.

“Very well. I will get one for both you and your partner during lunch.”

“Do… do you have one?” I ask him.

He laughs. “Of course! Anyone over the age of eight in Quagon has one or the other. …Do you wish to see how it works?”

“…Sure,” I say. He nods and dives underwater. I peer down and see him calmly sitting at the bottom. It looks like he’s breathing normally, like the water is actually just air. After a few minutes, he comes back up. He’s not breathing hard, so I can tell he wasn’t holding his breath.

“…Wow,” I say. “That’s really cool! …And you can’t even see it?”

“Not easily. Do you see mine?”

“…Well no, but I don’t know where to look,” I say sheepishly. He smiles and points to the base of his throat, where it connects to his collarbone. I look closely and see a tiny black dot. “Cool,” I say.

After that, we swim around for a little longer until it’s time for lunch. I get out and change back into my other clothes while the guy from Quagon leaves to go grab the breathing devices. I head to the Village Square to eat lunch with the rest of the contestants for the first time in a while. I get my food and sit down with Ham and Sierra. They are both surprised to see me.

“Hey,” I casually greet them as I take a bite of my sandwich.

“…Hey,” Ham replies. “You’re already out of the hospital? I heard what happened, and they said they expected you to be out in about a week!”

“Yeah, well. I didn’t feel like waiting that long, and neither did Thaddeus, so he gave me something to help me heal faster.”

“Well, it sure worked!” Sierra exclaims, leaning forward to peer at my arms. “You don’t even have any scabs or scars! The doctors said you would at least scar, your arms were so bad.”

“Hmm,” I grunt. “So, what have you two been up to?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Sierra says, taking a bite of her sandwich. “Swimming and stuff. But Ham and I don’t really care anymore. We really don’t have a chance on this one. I don’t think anyone does, not even you and Nathan. I mean, those man eating mermaids?! Really? Is Vlad trying to kill us or something? …So Ham and I are just going to sit back and let the other teams try their luck. If nobody wins, then maybe they will cancel this Challenge. We figure it’s worth a shot, right? Because we really don’t want to be eaten or impaled by a giant fork that can control me. That’s just not my idea of fun.”

I laugh a little. “Yeah, Nathan and I were thinking pretty much the exact same thing.” I suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder. Spinning around, I relax as I see the guy from Quagon.

He smiles and hands me a little bag with two black dots about twice the size of a freckle inside. “Here you are,” he says. “Put one on now and you can try it out after lunch,” he suggests, and then leaves to get his own food. I put the bag in my pocket.

Ham and Sierra look at me quizzically. “What are those?” Ham asks.

“They’re supposed to make it so I can breathe underwater or something,” I say.

“Really? That’s so cool!” Sierra exclaims. “…Do you think we can have one too?”

“Probably. We will all need one for the next Challenge anyway. Just ask Zelda for one.”

“Okay, we will!” she replies, excited.

After lunch, it’s back to training with Vlad, my least favorite person. All we’ve really been working on lately is trying to get me to grow into one of my Gifts- I’m the only contestant left that hasn’t yet- but it hasn’t been working so well. I sigh and wait for everyone to clear out of the Square, wanting them to leave faster while at the same time wanting them to stay so I won’t have to be alone with Vlad.

Soon enough, the inevitable happens, and everyone leaves and Vlad comes walking up with some people behind him, hauling weapons. I feel better instantly. That means I only have to deal with the weapons person. When they get here, Vlad acts all nonchalant and barely acknowledges me, just tells me to fight with the weapons guy again. We pick rapiers again, since I’m not sure how much my newly healed arms can take, and it’s strong and light. As soon as we start to fight, I notice that something is… different about this fight than any other time we have fought before. This time I can almost see what he’s going to do before he does it. Everything is… more clear and detailed. Suddenly, he can’t even get anywhere near me with his sword. I see surprise on his face and decide to take advantage of it. In just a few more moves, he ends up with his sword on the ground and mine pointed at his throat. I won! We stay like that for a few moments, panting lightly. I then lower my sword and offer my hand to the guy and help him up.

“Well, it looks like you’ve finally grown into one of your Gifts,” he says as we put the swords back. “But you only beat me because I was caught off guard and because when you first get your Gift, you have a rush of energy. Next time, we will be much more evenly matched.”

“…I see,” I say. “And this means that I’m never going to lose this Gift, right?” I ask, just wanting a confirmation.

“Yes. But you can still get another one as well. Actually, in your case, you may get two or three more, since you are of the Dragon family. Well, good luck in the next Challenge- you’ll need it,” he adds grimly, turning and leaving, hauling the weapons with him. I walk back to Vlad and tell him that Extraordinary Fighting Skills is one of my Gifts- just like he guessed when he first saw me. He nods and tells me I can go.

So I do, and I swim around for the rest of the day, although I don’t use the underwater breathing device because it just doesn’t feel fair that I can do it and Nathan can’t yet, so I wait until he can do it before I try it out. Fortunately, the doctors tell me that I only need to wait for five more days.

The thing is… that’s when the Third Challenge begins.