Memories of Gaia: Seeking Shadows in the Storm
Chapter 8 The imposter

“Let me go!” Akari screamed as she pulled hard against the strong arms of the soldiers that were half dragging her across the polished floor of the laboratory. Her hands were bound tightly in front of her with a thick, gray rope, nearly cutting off the circulation to her fingers. Her feet were bound with the same rope, but not as tight, forcing her to take tiny, quick steps or be drug.

“Let me go!” Akari shouted again, her pleas falling on deaf ears. Her head throbbed painfully from where she had been struck, awaking on a ship flying in the air hours later. Akari had tried to escape, but the ship was several miles above land and jumping over would have been certain death.

Lights flashed on overhead as she continued to fight against her restraints, her feet slipping on the smooth floor. They were taking her down a long corridor that branched off several times to other rooms and parts of the castle basement. There were no windows causing the area to feel stuffy, suffocating as they passed through a single open door to the right.

The strong men said nothing as they picked her body up and dropped it haphazardly onto a silver metal operating table where she was promptly strapped in with large, green buckles. She continued to struggle; the one strap restraining her across her chest prevented her from breathing normally as it was incredibly tight.

“Let me go!”Akari tried again, watching as the men left the room, neither one of them glancing back. An aging man entered several minutes later, walking with a hunch. He had a handlebar mustache on his wrinkled face, yet his eyes appeared young. He said nothing as he opened a drawer that was attached to the cabinet to her left and proceeded to pull out medical instruments, the light flickering off their sharp edges.

“Please!”

“Can we please do something about the excessive sound coming from her noise hole, Gast?” Queen Maylee barked as she burst into the room, glaring at the old man. The queen was wearing a horrible orange and red dress and had tried to curl her hair, making her appearance similar to that of a giant pumpkin.

Professor Gast opened a drawer to his right and swiftly pulled out a white rag, shoving it into Akari’s mouth as she fought to move away.

“Much better.” The Queen said positioning her bloated body near the table so she could watch the scientist work. She quickly became impatient and began to drum her fingers on the table beside Akari’s hip, the noise reverberating in the empty room.

Professor Gast quickly returned to the table holding a scalpel in his right hand, roughly grabbing Akari’s head in the other.

Akari felt the tears burn in her orange eyes and slide silently down her cheeks as the man brought the scalpel close to her skin, just under her crystal. Akari squeezed her eyes shut, praying to the Gods that she would survive.

Professor Gast placed the tip of the scalpel carefully under the crystal, ignoring the Queen as she whispered for him to be careful. He waited until her large head moved out of the light before continuing. With a gentle twist of the scalpel, the crystal lifted up off the skin, allowing Professor Gast to peel it completely free.

“Well?” Queen Maylee exclaimed, unable to contain her excitement as she bounced on her fat feet, watching eagerly as the scientist held the crystal up to the light, shaking his head in confusion.

“It is nothing more than colored glass.” He reluctantly informed the Queen, watching as confusion swept across her freckled face. She stared at the scientist in disbelief before turning to the terrified girl.

“I do not understand! She had the Light Crystal! I’ve watched her perform at several events! Colored glass?” The Queen ripped the towel painfully out of the young girl’s mouth, nearly striking Professor Gast in the face as she roughly tossed it aside.

“Explain!” Queen Maylee demanded, irritated as the girl stared at her, eyes wide, her mouth gasping as though she were hyperventilating. The Queen rolled her olive eyes and waited impatiently for the girl to stop gasping.

“I-I-I am-am… am-.” Akari began having difficulty breathing as the strap compressed her chest. Queen Maylee seemed to realize this and ripped the strap free, using her plump hand to hold the girl against the table. After several moments of gasping, Akari shook her head and began again.

“I am not a Crystallian! I pretend to be! When Akari has anxiety attacks or does not want to perform, I go in her place! My name is Tawny!” The girl stopped talking as she saw the Queen’s body begin to shake as anger surged through her. She had been tricked, made to look foolish.

“Find them!” The Queen shouted, her anger echoing through the castle basement. Professor Gast fumbled with the towel that had been swung at him, his nervous hands twisting the fabric in his fingers.

“But you made a deal with-“ Professor Gast shut his lips tight as the Queen rounded on him, her hand stopping before she made contact with his skin.

“What did I say?”

Professor Gast nodded fleeing the room, dropping the towel on the floor in his haste. Queen Maylee did not look back at Tawny as she too left the room, leaving the terrified girl behind.

Valeena turned her back to Elden as he held his jaw, shock still written on his face. She ignored the laughter coming from Aira and the stone looking man, preparing to storm out of Kingyosou but Rowan stopped her.

“Valeena,” He began cautiously, flinching as Valeena forcefully glared at him, jerking her arm out of his hands. She continued towards the edge of town, hating the sensation of hot tears brimming her eyes. She hoped that the tears would not fall until she was well out of sight of Elden, but she was losing the struggle.

‘What right did he have to be here?’ Valeena thought, her head pounding from her sudden bout of anger, her hand throbbing from punching Elden’s strong jaw.

She brushed a tear from her cheek with her fingertips, hating herself for the weakness. Cutting her lovely hair had only made her look foolish, as the sides were much longer than the back, and she regretted the action.

“Valeena, stop.” It was Elden’s voice, causing her to stumble a moment, startled by the plea in his tone. Valeena took another step before pausing, crossing her arms and turning dramatically to face him, a look of hate painted on her lovely face.

“Well?” Valeena asked, staring directly at Elden, Rowan, Aira and the new person watching, not saying a word.

Elden scratched the back of his head, a nervous habit, and took several cautious steps towards her, stopping when Valeena took a step back, keeping her distance from him.

“Val, you have every right to be mad at me. But I had to go. There were things I needed to do without you. I am used to being on my own.” Elden said, holding out his hands and sighing. He then dropped his arms to his side in a defeated motion. Valeena sneered at him bitterly. He wished that he could tell her the truth, but he knew now was not the time.

“What a lovely apology.” She spat at him sarcastically, flashing Aira a look of disgust as the lovely elf snorted in laughter, whirling around so her back was towards Valeena.

Elden did not respond, instead, he reached out his hand as the stone man handed him a round object. Valeena felt her curiosity piqued and she did her best not to crane her neck to see what he was holding.

Elden held the object up carefully, holding it between his middle finger and thumb, allowing Valeena to get a good view of it. She could see that the object was solid black with thin threads of smoke in orange, purple and green emitting off it, like a smoldering coal.

Valeena felt her legs aching to move, to get a closer look at the object. But she stood firm, doing her best to appear annoyed.

“Nyles and I found the Phoenix Ash!” Elden said with a thin smile on his handsome face.

Valeena yawn, trying to appear bored and uninterested, but she was still longing to get a closer view of the beautiful object. She thought she heard the soft call of a bird emitting from within like its voice was trapped in the ashes. Valeena instead decided to change the subject, knowing she could always look it over later.

“That is really great because I lost the others.” She watched in joy as a look of shock crossed Elden’s face, his eyes darting about, searching for the black bag he had left with Valeena.

“We need to find them! We now have three of the five elements! Where did you have it last?” Elden pleaded, handing the Phoenix Ash back to Nyles as he stepped towards Valeena, stopping in mid-step as he watched her move away from him again. Valeena pointed to the dried dirt with the paw print still imprinted in the ground.

“There. After you threw it at me.” Her words were meant to sting and she was pleased to find they had.

There was silence, Elden rubbed the back of his head again, thinking, doing his best not to meet Valeena’s eyes. After several moments he dropped his hand and shook his head.

“We’ll have to search the city then.” Elden finally said, pointing to the lovely city of Kingyosou that sat to his left, the soft pink cherry blossoms blocking his view. Rowan shook his head and laughed.

“The city is crawling with Star Soldiers and Cryscales. And get this, Valeena made a deal with the Queen that she’ll hand deliver the crystals if she stops the war.” Rowan informed Elden, clapping him hard on the back as he walked passed him to stand near Aira who was enjoying the argument.

Elden rolled his black eyes and shook his head, fighting back the words he wanted to shout at Valeena. How could she be so stupid?

Elden heard someone gasp, pulling him from his thoughts. He glanced up to see a short girl in a gorgeous blue and green kimono scurrying away, having difficulty running in her geta, her feet stumbling to move quickly.

With cat-like reflexes, Aira had the girl by arm and had pinned her to the trunk of the nearest cherry blossom tree, her arm pressed tightly on the girl’s throat. Valeena stepped forward, arms crossed over her chest, glaring at the young girl.

“Hello, Akari.”

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