The outlines of colourful figurines started appearing hazily in the darkness. The edges slowly sharpened against the darkness as people started swaying against the loud music. Their skin reflected the colours of the lights, a red, a green sometimes a sleepy blue and changed rhythmically at each boom of the music. A mop of blonde hair suddenly caught her eye amongst the crowd of wriggling bodies. He seemed to be enjoying himself, swaying along with them, holding the plastic red cup above his head.
Tara's heart dropped drastically. Her eyes sped across the crowd as she spotted the girl, her pretty red curls bouncing, manoeuvring her way through the crowded living room towards her ex-boyfriend. As the girl neared him, Tara felt herself running, running towards them both hoping to stop the start of a nightmare. At the exact moment she almost touched them, they vanished, like a burning candle suddenly extinguished, causing her to lose her balance and topple on the ground.
A voice hissed. A brick laden wall suddenly appeared in front of her. She turned around and saw the large cold blue eyes, almost ready to splice her. Long shards of icicles surrounded it, pointed at her, almost ready to strike her. Around her, the shadows slowly enveloped, coming into to capture her. There were the dark silhouettes of these hands, some blazing and some holding onto ice shards, all closing in on her, suffocating her.
Tara tried to break through the swarm of hands that were pushing her down, reaching out to the bleak night. In the darkness she saw, a golden chain swishing and striking against it. The eyes and the icicles shattered, as Tara saw a small light glowing at the far end. It slowly took the form of her mother, walking towards her.
She kneeled down at her. 'Find Aaliyah.' Tara felt the surface below her vanish as she felt herself falling through the gaping hole, her heart rising and falling as she broke into the ground.
Tara burst open her eyes and jumped up, gasping for air. For a moment nothing registered in her vision and all she could she see were spots of darkness.
When the blackness in her eyes faded away, she could see the cool bluish white light that looked off against the dark night outside. Well-made beds, with white sheets pulled taut with fluffy pillows were arranged next to each other in neat rows across the large room.
Tara looked around the room with the walls of wood and cobble stones with the ceiling sloping towards the windows, wondering how she ended up here. There were a few people standing at one corner of the room, next to the long pantry filled with different coloured glass bottles, all in light blue robes.
One of them noticed Tara and then whispered to another in her group. Tara gulped. She could feel her heart racing in confusion as another suddenly appeared near the door, in the same attire as the other two women, but slightly masculine. He looked at his colleagues, and they nodded at him. He turned around and saw Tara, and his face turned slightly grim.
'You are awake. Good.'
'Where am I?' She asked him. His eyes were cold ice blue, just as blue as the woman who had attacked Tara. She felt her stomach drop in dread.
'All in good hands, dear.' He replied with a smile. 'Don't worry, everything will be fine.'
'No.' Tara withdrew her hands. Her voice was shaky. 'Answer my question, where am I?'
The man paused. 'You are in good hands. It is alright.'
As he was saying this, Tara noticed the slight sway of his arms, causing the water in the glass jar next to her shake a little. He leaned towards her, the water slowly moving out of the jar to his hand.
'What are you doing to me?'
'Please, calm down. No one is going to hurt you.' He said, as the water swirled around in his hands.
'No!' Tara bellowed.
She felt the energy burst out of her into rings of blazing flame. The force from the sudden outburst caused the man to crash against the opposite wall.
'What in the world!' She heard another voice shout from where the group of women had been standing. A guy around her age, stood there at the door, his cloudy white hair starkly reflecting the golden hues of the blaze.
'Hey?!' he shouted.
'Do not take one more step.' Tara panted; her eyes sharp at the guy.
'Hey! Its alright!' He said, Tara feeling the urgency in his voice.
'Where the f**k am I?!' Tara shouted back.
'You are in a healing billet!' The younger guy cried. 'We are trying to help you.'
The guy's eyes drifted towards the man lying unconscious. 'Someone help him.'
Tara's eyes drifted towards the man and she stepped in front of him, hoping to hold him hostage. 'Where the hell, am I?!' She shouted angrily and the fire in her hands blazed brightly.
Tara was surprised by the sudden blaze that she stumbled back a step. But before Tara even knew what was happening, she felt the pressure of the following wind hitting her chest, causing her to fly backwards across the hallway, hitting the ground with a thud.
The guy raised his arms and crossed it downwards with a force, causing the wind to envelope the room in a burst. The fire smoked out immediately and all the light in the left along with the wind.
'Arion.' A stern voice was heard from behind him.
The guy turned around, allowing Tara to see the woman behind him, a tall figure of firmness, her hair pulled back in a half ponytail, straight and neat. She was wearing a long red overcoat, completely hiding the clothes underneath and appeared to float as she walked towards Tara. Golden yellow circles filled with mystical letters appeared adrift in the space around her.
'Sleep.' She whispered.
And Tara fell unconscious for the second time that day.
***
Tara blinked her eyes open.
There was a warm light within the room as the light and she realised she was in the exact same bed as she was, probably hours ago. Through the windows she saw the mist entangle with the green mountains, almost sprouting in hues of gold.
Underneath the covers of her bedsheet, she felt the slight sting of heat evaporating from her hands. Tara pulled out her hands from under the cover and looked at dark spray of coal coating on it.
'What exactly happened?' She whispered to herself as inspected it oddly.
'You should be telling me.' A voice very near to her head said, startling her.
It was the same woman as the day before, she realised. The one who had asked her to sleep. The one who was directly looking at her as she drank from an elusive white china cup. The smell of tea drifted to Tara's nose as her stomach grumbled loudly.
The woman smiled softly. 'Tell me, Tara, how long has it been since you have eaten?'
Tara pushed her hands against the bed and got up, standing straight. 'How do you know me?'
'You don't seem very surprised.' The woman commented.
'Well, you would think I should be right?' Tara retorted back. 'With how, things have been going on, I am not really surprised that you would know my name.' She tried to hold the tremble in her voice and in her lips. 'Question is, do you want to kill me or not?'
The woman looked a bit taken aback. She tilted her head slightly and frowned. 'If I wanted you dead, I do not think you would be retorting back at me like that.'
Tara stood looking at her, clutching her hands tightly. The woman sighed. 'Relax, girl. I do not intend to do anything to you.'
'What do you want from me?' Her voice broke.
The woman looked up from her tea again and stood up, her eyes suddenly filling with concern. 'Tara, it's alright. I am your aunt, Aaliyah.'
Tara felt her strength wither away as she stumbled onto the floor, her eyes no longer able to contain her desperation. She broke down into sobs, as Aaliyah rushed to her side and wrapped her arms around her.
'It's alright, it's alright.' She kept repeating as she slowly patted her back.
***
Tara sat on the bed, her hands clutched around a cup of warm tea as Aaliyah sat at the end of the bed, her hands folded. She looked at Aaliyah who seemed to be contemplating on what Tara had relayed in broken speeches filled with fear.
Aaliyah had been kind, helping her onto the bed and slowly patting her as she cried. Once Tara had calmed down, she had sent for tea and sat down back in the chair next to her.
'My mother had told me to find you.' Tara finally spoke.
'Well, I am her sister and the last person she had here whom she could trust.' Aaliyah replied. 'Was there anything that stood out to you?'
'Stood out to me how?'
'Well, aside from the whole ambush.' Aaliyah sat up straight. 'Something that felt…'
'Off? Weird?' Tara interjected.
Aaliyah nodded, reluctantly.
'Well, the whole thing was overwhelmingly off…' Tara trailed off as she glanced outside into the view. The horizon looked ethereal with the celestial bodies cutting across each other into semicircles. 'They were all wearing the same uniform as ma.'
Aaliyah's eyes pinned up. 'Uniform? The IDC uniform?'
'What's the IDC?' Tara asked.
Aaliyah sighed. 'Never mind.' She pressed her fingers on her forehead and pursed her lips. 'Tara, I will need you to stay here for the time being. And until I get back, please do not go anywhere.'
'Well, it's not like I have somewhere to be.' Tara answered. 'I don't even know where exactly I am.'
'I will need you to trust me on this.' Aaliyah replied as she hurriedly got up. 'Give me time. When I get back to you, I will explain everything.'
***
It was a darkened room with a sole bulb hanging from the ceiling, the fire burning in a glass icosahedron, an orangish flutter. There were no windows, just the one door for both entrance and exit. Aaliyah sat in the middle, on a wooden chair, with folded arms. There was a hot beverage steaming in a cup on the desk, which she would warm with the touch of her finger every few minutes.
It had been quite some time since she had arrived and as much as she didn't mind waiting, time was of the essence at the moment. Especially since it was the matter regarding her sister and her niece.
After a few more moments of waiting and thinking, the door clicked open, revealing Sadabrasi, her beautiful silver hair stylized by defined waves that framed her face and silver purple ornament pinning into a tight bun at the back of her head. She was wearing her casual clothes, the flowy dress with a flowy long overcoat, the bell sleeves of which completely hid her dainty hands. Yet the fire seemed to make her more greyish than lively.
She looked sternly Aaliyah as she closed the door. 'We shouldn't be coming here right after the meeting, Aaliyah.'
'Really?' Aaliyah raised her eyes from the cup to Sadabrasi. 'You are teaching me about tracing?'
Sadabrasi rolled her eyes as she walked inside. 'What is this about?'
'We have two Openings.' Aaliyah replied. 'One from Earth and the other to Earth. Both manually created.'
Sadabrasi's eyes widened.
'To Earth was secretly authorised by someone.' Aaliyah said.
'How do you know?'
'Because it was only noticed after the one from Earth was opened. And as you know-'
'The authorised ones are already recorded and therefore when they come up, they don't raise the alarm.' Sadabrasi continued, nodding her head. 'I know the rules, I am not that new here, Aaliyah.'
'And not many of us knew about it.' Aaliyah took in a long breath, trying to wreck her brain to put the pieces together. 'There are too many things happening to put together at once.'
'Is this about your missing sister?'
Aaliyah pursed her lips but didn't answer.
'Who is that girl in your billets, Aaliyah?'
'My niece.' She answered.
'So, it is about your sister.'
Aaliyah simply shrugged.
'Why would they go after her now?' Sadabrasi asked. 'Justice, Revenge?'
'Those things don't matter now, Sadabrasi.' Aaliyah answered. 'My sister had run off the moment she realised she had nothing left here.' She crunched her fingers, feeling guilty. 'What we need right now is a solution, to this problem.'
'Erasing portal openings is not that difficult, we just need a few resources-,'
'Lajos knows.' Aaliyah cut her off.
Sadabrasi cursed under her breath. 'Working for you is now becoming a pain in my ass, Aaliyah.'
'But he sent Sevianth to meet me.'
Sadabrasi raised her eyebrows. 'He wants to work with you now?'
'Maybe proposing an alliance.' She replied. 'I cannot be sure, Sadabrasi.'
Sadabrasi crossed her arms. 'Why exactly did your sister leave town, Aaliyah?'
'I told you,' Aaliyah spoke as she looked into Sadabrasi's eyes, 'She has a knack of running away when she realises that she has left nothing.'
'She was formidable force during the war, it's out of character for her.' Sadabrasi pointed out. 'Whatever your reasons may be, Aaliyah, I hope one day you will trust me enough to tell me the truth.'
Aaliyah sighed. 'We need to stop dwelling on the past. We need a solution.'
Sadabrasi moved across the room and walked to the other side of the table. A chair materialized as she sat down, while Aaliyah crossed her arms and tapped gently onto the cup of hot beverage.
'We have a Na'ar in our hands. She is in our environment. You are her relative and you could provide a refuge.'
'I meant the issue about portal opening to Earth, someone inside the IDC has enough power to authorize a portal opening and has access to technology we have. What is it that they want?'
'I can answer that question if you will tell me why would someone go after your sister, Aaliyah.'
Aaliyah let out a sigh of frustration. 'Let's for Serephina's sake say its revenge. Even then, they are authorising people outside the IDC through portals and has enough power to open the interdimensional portals, Sadabrasi.'
'Then that would mean, they would come to know about your niece here. Maybe not now, since you and Lajos are involved but at some point they will.'
Aaliyah licked her lips and got up from her chair as Sadabrasi sat in silence, watching her pace around the room. 'What should we do? I am asking as an Aurome to her Argentine.'
Sadabrasi clicked her heels for some time as she thought. 'Keeping her in Barrier Hills would be dangerous. We need to send her somewhere.'
'Why would keeping her here be not safe? I am her aunt. And you know that Golden Hills is part of her homeland, right?'
'I am not questioning her heredity, Aaliyah.' Sadabrasi scowled. 'She is an anomaly, that came through a portal that was opened on Earth of all places. She will be monitored and watched. Which means you will be watched. And you are a f***ing Aurome.'
Aaliyah leaned back into her chair. Sadabrasi was right, in the name of monitoring her niece, she will also be monitored, and that is definitely not something she wants.
Aaliyah paused and turned towards Sadabrasi. 'I think I got a plan.'
'Well, that's good, because I am kind of stumped.'
'We would need to involve the higher-ups though. From the Academe. You have a few connections there, yes?'
Sadabrasi pursed her lips. 'Oh great.' She replied, with a roll of her eyes.