• Chapter Three
    Perils and Peacocks


    Zeach was a fighter. I could tell from the moment I met him that he was and now as I watched him in action I found myself in awe. His Force seemed to be the very image of power and grace as it danced about to the rhythm of battle. It was both mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time and I was now very grateful that he was my ally.

    Chips of concrete exploded into my face as an arrow ricocheted off the slab in front of me. I growled and scanned the enemy lines. I had been right. There had been more coming and now their size had doubled. Things were not looking good for me and my new friend- Wait had I just called him my new friend? I quickly glanced at him again and swallowed.

    This is not the time for that! Get your head in the game Lera! I nodded determinedly and clench my hands into fists. "Zeach." I hissed quickly with a furtive glance at the hunters. He did one final lash at the feet of one of the enemies before ducking further behind a large disheveled block of concrete that had once been a pillar for the old roads.

    "What?" He asked, clearly agitated at the fact that I had forbidden him to kill unless necessary. I knew my next decision would upset him even more though.

    "It's time we got out of here. I can create cover for us but you have to make sure not to leave a trace to where we went." His face twisted in disgust.

    "Can't we at least leave them with a few wounds? I'd hate to leave them without giving them at least one good lash." With this he looked back at the hunters who were still shooting futilely at us. I shook my head and nodded towards them.

    "They have to go home with the shame of not laying a hand on us. That's good enough for me for now…" I gave him a small smile. "Besides, if-"I was interrupted by the high pitched whine of a weapon charging. Both of us quickly got up and searched for the source. The horror that grasped me was thorough and sent my body into a total standstill. I could do nothing but quiver in fear as I stared down the barrel of Pyro-Electric Canon.

    It was a weapon especially designed to annihilate a group of Witches in case some decided to band together and lead a revolt. The barrel electrically charged the shell to make it impossible for us to block it using Force and it detonated upon impact releasing a powerful explosion. The result was extremely deadly for anyone and since we had put our selves in this crevice it was an ideal weapon of choice. However, they were incredibly hard to get your hands on so how this small clan of hunters got one, I would never know.

    Zeach seemed to be just as horrified as I was with the situation. "So anymore brilliant plans Lera?" He asked half heartily. My reply was an incomprehensible croak. The whine was at it's peak now and we only had seconds. Everything was moving in slow motion now for me now and seemed to have a surreal glow. The hunters' mouths were forming words that sounded like nothing more than a muffled mumble. Zeach's torn face, twisted in an expression that I couldn't read with his messy hair dripping with perspiration from his efforts as he seemed to be thinking of his mysterious past. Even the aged road around my seemed to have some deep emotion in it. Perhaps it was sad with all of the destruction it had beheld over the years as it continued to try and support a busy society, even after that society had forgotten about them. Would I be forgotten too? I didn't get to think of an answer before a loud blast near by that sent hard, fast sound waves slicing the air.

    "GET DOWN!" Zeach slammed into my body, knocking the air out of me. He curled around me and created a protective casing on me. I only got a glimpse of his eyes before my world was filled with light, fire, and searing heat.

    We were thrown roughly across the crumpling road and slammed into one of the upturned slabs with such force I was surprised that I hadn't lost consciousness. I wish I had though because my body became just as crumpled and unusable as the road we were on and I could feel flames slowly eating at the parts of my clothing that were flammable and some of my hair. I only found enough strength to slowly roll my head against a near by piece of rubble to put out the flames on my hair. Then I submitted to lying still if only to avoid causing anymore damage that I might already have. Thick, black smoke and sot entered my lungs making me cough feebly and my eyes water. All vision was hopeless and I found I could only see the faint silhouette of things. Finally as the smoke began to clear I could see Zeach who despite everything was standing up with his Force around him, looking just as powerful as ever.

    "Zeach?" I wheezed, struggling to keep my eyes open. You can't let your self fall asleep yet. If you go to sleep now you might never wake up. It was that same cautious side I had heard the night before but this time I thought better of myself and listened. Sleep was bad. Sleep could kill.

    He hadn't heard me but I knew it was pointless in trying to get him to. So instead I laid there and watched him as he continued to fight for freedom as I could no longer. It was odd but everything I had been fighting for before now seemed silly and trivial compared to what I was watching now. I felt as if I was watching a master artist at work. His Force spread out from his back in strange patterns now reminding me of a beautiful peacock rather than some terrifying octopus. They all seemed to have a mind of their own as the attacked separately and I realized he had created, in a way, his own personal army. The more I learned about Zeach the more I respected him. Perhaps our alliance wasn't such a bad thing after all.

    I gave the weakest smile in my life as my eyes slowly began to sag again. No… They still didn't stop their slow descent. No. My eyelashes were now in the way of my seeing. NO! Before I knew what was happening, I was like a shimmering blue firework that had exploded on the ground. The substance that made me what I am shot through the air at alarming speeds and exploded into tiny daggers that rained upon everything and everyone. I heard several cries of pain and others of panicking people. I couldn't see who it was though because I was trapped behind a wall of it as it spun around me like a sickening amusement park ride.

    Then I heard Zeach's voice. "Lera? Lera, what the hell are you doing?" He was shouting but it still sounded a bit distant to me. I cleared my throat to answer and got the bitter taste of blood in my mouth.

    "I-I don't know…" I shouted as loud as I could. My voice was very hoarse from all the debris I had inhaled and I wasn't sure if he had heard. He didn't reply for a while so I thought that perhaps he hadn't heard me but when I opened my mouth to shout it again he cut me off.

    "I'm going to try to cut in. This is going to hurt a bit but I think it might be the only way..." This had to be the biggest understatement I would hear in my life. This wasn't going to hurt a bit this was going to hurt a lot, an agony that would feel as if I was being torn apart from the inside of my already half dead body. I had to stop him somehow.

    Despite my faulty vocal cords I managed to scream, "Zeach you can't! My body is already in shock and if you-" I had to stop because I felt him make the first incision and it felt as if I had been stabbed in the shoulder. I cried out in pain and clutched at wear the pain hurt most. As he began to move the blade down word it felt as if he were slicing through my body. I screamed as tears ran down my grime covered cheeks. "STOP! PLEASE JUST STOP!" He lost perch on the force and had to stab it again. So much pain and emotion was running through me that I felt that I might explode with it! All I wanted was for everything to- "STOOOP!" And, much to my astonishment, everything did.

    My Force came to a complete halt and looked like a wall of melting ice as it slowly sunk to the ground, before finally dissipating completely. All the while I felt my consciousness slipping. This time, I knew, I could not win the battle.I managed to only get a glimpse of Zeach's mystified eyes before the deadly sleep finally claimed me and I knew nothing more.

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    Where was I during those days of nonexistence? I wasn't on Earth, that was for certain, for on Earth there was light, color, pain, happiness, hatred, and love. Here there was… nothing. Nothing but me and this emptiness.

    "Is this death?" I hear my voice say without lips to form them. In a way it was startling. I hadn't heard or seen anything in what had seemed like forever.

    "No." A voice answers sounding just as shocked. Something stirred within me. All this time my heart, or what was left of it, had been starving for emotion and I hadn't realized it. Now it latched on to this distant voice, desperate to escape the loneliness that has been gnawing at my soul. "Lera? How do you feel?"

    My heart told me to be honest and what reason did I have to lie anyways? "Lonely…" At first it was silent and then there was chuckling that grew into hysterical laughter. If I had had a body I'm certain there would have been blood rushing to my cheeks at that moment. I felt a need to defend myself. "You would too, stuck in this relentless darkness without a body to call your own. If this is how a lost spirit feels then I pity them. No one deserves this kind of deep emptiness."

    The laughing fell silent. I felt the slightest sensation of someone touching my hand but that quickly faded and before I knew it, it was becoming even darker. Why hadn't I noticed it getting lighter? "I'm sorry it was just that- Lera? Lera!" The voice was fading quickly as well. No! I don't want to be lonely again! Come back! Please, come back! "-Okay…Sleep now. We'll talk again when you wake up…" The voice said, now barely audible.

    I didn't want to have the voice go away again but I knew it was out of my control so I willed myself to give an invisible smile and said barely above a whisper, "Thanks for curing my loneliness…"

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    My lips were drenched in delicious water. It seemed that I was finally coming into contact with my body again and able to feel it's every aching need. These needs were quickly satisfied with the help of Zeach though. Yes, I had finally figured out who my mysterious care taker was even though I still could not necessarily move or open my eyes. I was only able to speak in mumbles and do the faintest facial expressions. He explained that is was the medicine he was using and the only reason I was still alive.

    I would occasionally slip back into a comatose like state but they were not nearly as long as the used to be which left me plenty of time to think. Most of the time it was about the events that had led up to this point. No matter how I tried to look at it, it didn't seem possible that Zeach could or should have been standing after getting hit by a blast from that rocket. At least not with the equipment that was available for a Witch on the run. Though there was no denying that he was now my ally, I wouldn't let this suspicious feeling in my gut go unnoticed and would definitely ask him to explain as soon as I think I'm well enough to face him if it came to it. That, however, was still a while away and until then I would need to try and learn a bit more about him.

    One morning after awakening from yet another comatose I was finally able to open my eyes. It was early dawn so the light was fairly dim but it still hurt my highly sensitive vision. I had to squint but even with that I could see one of my favorite birds nearby on the forest floor, searching for some food. Peacocks had beautiful feathers, especially the males, but their calls could make anyone want to shoot them. I had barely seen any of them in a while and I was beginning to wonder if people were doing just that. Humans had a tendency to try to eliminate every inconvenience along with of covering up mistakes. Those who were imperfect no longer had room to live these days…

    I frowned and turned my head away from the beautiful bird. Now I could see exactly what I was lying on. We were in the canopies on a bed of closely knit branches that formed something like a large hammock. We were low enough that it would be near impossible to spot us from the air, but high enough that no one could spot us from the ground either. The air was a bit cooler up here but that was probably just because fall was on it's way. I would need to be fully healed and a lot stronger before winter arrived or it was likely that I'd perish. For winter was when the leaves that gave me such blissful shelter were gone and I was left to stand on a white background of snow. I would be as obvious as the male peacock when he flaunts his beautiful feathers for all to see.

    My hand found grasp on the fabric and I squeezed tightly to check my strength. It was coming back, slowly, but it was still coming back to me. I cautiously shifted my elbows back a bit and began to attempt to sit up. This wasn't as hard as I thought it would be but that didn't stop my entire frame from shaking with the effort. When I was finally in a sitting position, I couldn't help but smile. I had finally taken the first step to recovery and now all my muscles ached to be used again. That wasn't the only ach I felt though. There was a dull ache throughout my body that throbbed a bit every time I moved.

    That must be the injuries. I took quite a beating but it could have been worse. I could have actually ended up dead... I would have if it weren't for Zeach. The last thought stung my pride. I felt so weak next to him. Just as these feelings reared their ugly head my Force reared it's. The light blue substance's brilliant shimmer hurt my eyes which had just adjusted to the dawn's slowly growing light. However I could not turn away from it because seeing it made a surge of strength run through me. A few of it's wispy tendrils went under my chin and held it up as sign of comfort and a silent message that could easily be understood. I smiled and gently caressed it with my hand. It was almost like petting a ghost but a little more solid like a steady flowing river when you stick your toes in it.

    "Oh! Your awake." I turned a little too quickly to see Zeach standing there with some freshly cooked fish in his hands. My stomach lurched toward it like a giant cat leaping for it's prey. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had eaten. I wasn't going to give away my discomfort though with my earlier feeling of weakness still haunting me.

    "And you have bags under your eyes the size of Texas. Do you always state the obvious?" I said coolly with a small, weak smile on my lips. At first he looked taken aback and then he chuckled.

    "Looks like your injuries haven't affected your attitude." He quickly glided to the spot in font of me and sat down, facing towards me. He quickly eyed me over and I tried not to blush. This is what you get for having no male contact besides hunters trying to kill you. I thought with a bit of irritation with myself, before quickly beating it down to the back of my mind. He was just my ally checking out my injuries. That's it. "They're healing up nicely by the way. It'll go a lot faster once we get some meat back on your bones though." He pushed half the fish towards me and said, "Once we're finished eating we can start trying to get you on your feet again."

    I nodded and took a bite out of the fish, chewing it thoughtfully. "Hey Zeach…" I said after swallowing my first mouthful. He looked up at me questioningly.

    "Yes?"

    Our eyes met and I thought better of what I was about to say. Instead I said softly, "Thanks for helping me. I wouldn't be alive right now if it hadn't been for you…" He frowned and looked back down.

    "Don't thank me yet, we still have a lot of work to do." After that he didn't speak anymore, nor look me in the eye.

    I him for most of the meal and came to a decision. Zeach was my mysterious savior, ally, and possible enemy. However, I planned to find out who he really was, one way or another and there was no way he or anyone else was going to stop me.

    Chapter Three End


    Thanks for reading! I posted as soon I was generally happy with it. However, I know it still needs some tweaking and I'm hoping for help when it comes to that. Thank you for being patient and hopefully this chapter did not disappoint. =)

    P.S. If any of the readers are artists, I would absolutely adore having some banners! If any of you are interested, Pm me and I can provide descriptions for any of the characters. (including some which have not been introduced yet. wink )