No risk, no story.
The Lake of Life , By the Koa Forest, Southern Ardeneon.
April 10
"Why are you guys looking at me like I killed a man?" Dexter lifts his hands up in defense.
"We're not thieves D" Emily face palms.
"We stole the map" He points out.
"Borrowed" Elijah corrects.
"Well then, it's not thieving is it?, just borrowing like with the maps" Dexter shrugs.
"We're not stealing" River tells Dexter placing emphasis on 'not' to make it clear to him.
"If you think about it guys, we don't have much of a choice" Skai shrugs supporting Dexter.
"You too Skai?" Emily gasps in disbelief.
"We need them, and we're broke what else do you suggest Emily?" Skai blinks innocently at her.
"We can return them after our journey" Skai assures her friends.
"We won't be back here after our journey genius" River rolls his eyes at her.
"I mean if y'all are that worried about a bunch of scroll touches then we probably should" Dexter supports her.
"Both of you clearly have a few loose nuts in your brain" Elijah says, "But I commend that, because the rest of us could not have thought of that."
"Oh my God" River groans face palming
"Not you too" Emily whines shocked that her boyfriend is in on it.
"Look guys, we're in a risk or lose situation, we either take risks and get what we want, or we lose it all before we even get it." Elijah explains
"He's right guys" Skai agrees.
"It's really now or never" Dexter adds. "You two were the ones preaching this a while ago, suddenly you want to back out?"
"Fine" River mutters.
"I'm not doing the stealing though" Emily informs them.
"First stop: The technology store then Maver Island" Skai jubilates.
And so, their journey begins.
Through the Koa Forest to the main city of Thairo. Thairo is one of the quietest inhabited plots of land in Ardeneon.
River's eyes shift to his little sister, hoping she can stay strong through the journey. She's walking beside Dexter and they're yapping about God knows what as usual.
Elijah is walking directly behind Emily, like as if he's guiding her every step, his eyes watching her intensely.
Their relationship often made River want to fall in love again, it makes him want to have someone he can take care of and call his.
They don't talk a lot these days, but River could see that they still very much love each other, it was beautiful to watch.
They were walking for about 3 hours when they finally made it to the city, 30 minutes and they would make it to the store if River's calculations were correct.
"I'm so tired" Skai whines beside her brother, leaning her entire body weight on him as they kept walking.
He placed his hand around her shoulder letting her lean on him, he would have carried her, but he was just as drained, and she was still walking fine.
"Maybe we should meet a serumist for the memory thing" Elijah tells them.
"Good idea" Dexter agrees.
"Just about half an hour and we should be there" Emily smiles
"I'm honestly scared" Skai tells her, and River rubs her shoulder in assurance. "What if the Bolveras catch us, we'll have a lot of explaining to do" she shivers
"It'll be okay" River says.
"Should we take a break?" a familiar voice comes from behind them.
"How long do you think it'll take before they realize that we're following them?"
Delta and Amari.
"Speak of the devil" River mumbles.
"Run" Dexter whispers and they didn't have to think twice, The Bolvera younglins ran after them.
Before they knew it Skai turns around blowing air through her lips at them but it fails, it didn't stop the little menaces.
Skai turns around again and at full force she does something she had never done before taking her hands back on instinct and flapping them forward swiftly a massive gust of wind takes the Bolvera younglins far away from the five screaming.
Her brother turns around quickly running towards her.
"Guys wait!" he yells at the rest of them, and they stopped turning to face the two. Skai falls to the floor panting heavily.
"What did you do?" River asks rubbing her back.
"I ...don't know...., it ...was ...on instinct" she spoke in between gasps for air.
"Come on, I'll carry you" he sighs squatting in front of her so she could climb on avoiding further questions so it wouldn't stress her out.
"Aren't...you...tired?" She asks still gasping for air.
"Nah" he lies.
She climbs on his back, and he stands to his feet.
"Are you good?" he asks her, and she nods on his shoulder.
"Let's keep going" he tells the others walking up to them, grateful they didn't ask any questions because he wanted his sister to catch her breath, and he knew he was too drained to answer any questions. The 30 minutes went by quickly, and they arrived at the city market before they knew it.
"We should probably see if we'll get water" Elijah says.
Skai was asleep on River's back by that time.
"Yeah, I'm parched" Dexter rubs his throat.
They were able to beg for water successfully, a kind woman bought some for them while they were begging the store owner, the streets were practically empty, but businesses were open.
After a short water break, they find their way to the tech store and River wakes Skai up so they could talk about the plan, he gives her the water he had held onto for her as Elijah and Dexter were deciding on the plan 'this really could've all been talked about on our way here.' He thinks
"Okay this is what we're going to do" Elijah finally speaks up.
"Scroll touches are small, so we can easily fit them in our pockets." Elijah begins.
"So, what's going to happen is River and Emily, you guys will distract the shop owner, while Dexter, Skai and I do the needful" Elijah tells them.
"But obviously we'll all have to go to the counter together first, because it would be a bit suspicious if three of us were wandering the store." Dexter adds and they continue their walk to the store. It seemed like an hour long walk for River as his legs were quite literally shaking.
When they step into the shop, River instantly spots a couple chairs in front of the counter. "Thank you Jesus" he mutters his legs so close to giving up on him.
They all walk up to the counter and greet the lady.
"How much are the scroll touches" Dexter asks.
"Is this your first time here?" she asks in response and they all nod.
She lifts a brow up before going under the desk, River couldn't help but think about how Dexter, Elijah and Skai could have used that as a chance to grab the scroll touches. 'They'd make terrible thieves.'
The lady pops right back up with a box-like device and scans them one by one.
"You must be aware that first time purchases of scroll touches are free" the woman adds.
"Every sprite has the right to communicate, it's part of the fundamentals" she laughs at their confusion "You younglins need to pay more attention in scire" she shakes her head at them.
"Do your parents know you are getting them?" she asks "I'd need their signatures"
"We're orphans" River quickly lies, knowing playing the pity card works 70 percent of the time.
"Oh" her expression morphs into one of pity like he wanted "So would you all like to get yours registered?" she quickly changes the subject, and they nod in response.
"Okay just give me a second" she smiles.
"You know you can customize it too" she tells them while going through whatever it was on the floor. "You usually have to pay to get that done but it's on me!"
"Really?" Emily jumps into the conversation.
"I'd like mine bedazzled pink" Emily tells her, and River turns to face his friend.
"Bedazzled pink?" he scoffs, and she sticks her tongue out at him childishly.
"Well, I'd like mine blue" River tells the woman.
"I want a black one" Elijah adds.
"Mine green" Dexter says.
She placed all their orders on the table.
"What about you, young lady?" she looks at Skai.
"I don't really know anything would be fine" she tells her.
"How about the classic white?" the woman brings it out.
"sure" Skai nods.
After they get the scroll touches from the store, they make their way to the local serumist.
Entering the little hut, a bell rings.
"Who's thereee!" A jolly voice sings out.
"Blessed evening" Elijah greets.
Their eyes roam the shelves, bottles of serums and ingredients fill them, a serum for practically anything.
"Ah I see you're back" the man chimes a big smile plastered on his face. "How can I help you younglins?"
"We think our memories might be a bit messed up, I don't know if you could maybe help us" Elijah says.
"Messed up?" he asks, and they nod in response.
"So, you need memory redemption?" he questions them.
"I guess that would be it" River nods at the man and his hands begin to roam the shelves.
"Open up children" He faces them as he grabs a bottle from his shelf.
"Can we pay on credit?" Emily asks the man.
"On the previous card you used I presume" he says, and she nods reluctantly. They felt wrong using the Bolveras card to pay without their permission, but they weren't presented with much of a choice.
"One drop of this and everything should be in order in about 3 days" he smiles at them.
"You don't have anything stronger?" Dexter asks impatiently, 3 days seemed too far for him.
"I do, but it has side effects, I'm not authorized to give any sprite under 200" the man tells Dexter "And besides if you all really lost your memory, they should start coming back by the morning or noon"
They were able to purchase basic necessities from the man using the Bolvera credit card, literally just toothbrush and toothpaste.
He didn't actually have toothbrushes, but he had those tiny little serum brushes, he gave them 10, which they found really unnecessary, but he claimed they tend to break so it probably wasn't enough if they were planning to live on it.
And a tube of toothpaste.
Midnight came around and leading them with a ball of fire floating above her right palm as a source of light is Emily. Although the light the ball of fire is radiating isn't nearly enough, but it was good enough for them to see where they were going. River and Skai walk side by side with Emily, River at her right holding the city map and Skai by her left, Dexter and Elijah were following shortly behind, discussing future plans without coming to any agreements.
"We need to find a ship going north" River stops in his steps reading the map as they reach the little field before the docks.
"How are we going to find one by this time" Emily looks around in frustration.
"We're not" Elijah tells them.
"So, we wait?" Dexter asks.
"Seems so" Elijah answers.
"Why don't we sneak on to a ship first" Skai suggests "Just to wait the night"
"That's not a bad idea" Dexter agrees.
River scoffs in disbelief "Leave it to the two of them to think of crazy things that could put us in trouble as a solution to our problems."
"What if we get caught?" Emily asks Skai.
"Then we just don't get caught" she shrugs.
"Yeah, we'll stay alert" Dexter adds.
"You guys need to spend less time together" River leans on a pole. "Because if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were criminals".
"It's not like we have a choice" Skai rolls her eyes. "You saw those Bolvera insects chasing us, they clearly have motives" she adds.
"You have a point" Emily says "They didn't look very friendly"
"yeah we don't have much of a choice" Elijah looks over at the ships
"The place is practically empty, so it shouldn't be that hard to get into one" Dexter chirps.
"But we have to be off them before the sun rises, so we don't get caught." River tells them, giving in to the crazy plan. "First ship leaves at sunrise"
"I'll stay up and be on the lookout, you guys should some get sleep" Elijah offers.
"That wouldn't be fair, we'll alternate" Dexter tells him, and Elijah lets out a small smile glad that Dexter wasn't upset anymore.
"Now how do we get on one of these ships." Skai asks.
"I say we just waltz in" Dexter shrugs. "The place is dead silent, no way anyone is here."
"Alright Bardo, we've entertained enough of your ideas for one night" River hits the back of Dexter's head.
"Yeah, there are people here" Elijah tells them.
"How do you know that" Dexter asks.
"Night vision or X-ray vision?" Elijah pauses "I'm really not sure yet"
"Wait what?" Emily's mouth forms an 'O' shape.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Skai voices Emily's thoughts
"Well between running from the Bolveras and walking for near 5 hours, I didn't think it was the right time to say anything" he shrugs "But you know now, so yay!"
"Alright so what do you see?" Emily asks him
"There's a person on each ship, they are out in the open, but they all seem to be asleep" he pauses "I don't know I can't really tell from here.
"So, we can just waltz in" Dexter says in a 'duh' tone.
"Yeah, but quietly" Skai tells him, and he smiles at her.
"Guys why don't we just find the one that is going North so we can get on it, it would really save time you know" Emily suggests
They decide to let Elijah look for it concluding that all of them looking for it together could constitute a lot of noise. They sat on the ground in darkness which made Emily a bit uneasy, the only light being the light coming from the moon and the stars, she had to admit, the sky was beautiful at night.
A couple of minutes had gone by when Elijah made his way back to them "The second one by the right" he tells them, sticking his hand out for Emily to grab. She takes it jumping to her feet.
"I saw a door by the side we could use to enter, not sure where it would lead us, but we can figure it out when we get inside" he informs them as they quietly make their way to the boats, Elijah and Emily leading the way, well Elijah led the way, Emily was just holding on to him.
Was she scared of the dark?
No, of course not.
She was just uncomfortable with the knowledge that anything or anyone could be near her, and she simply wouldn't know, she was grateful that she had her friends with her.
And her boyfriend. 'Hehe it still feels so unreal thinking that.' 'Focus Emily.' She cautions herself in her head.
They get to the docks quite quickly. Elijah climbs onto the ship carefully first, before pulling Emily on.
He helps everyone get onto the ship as quietly as possible before they pass through the door he had told them about.
"No one is here, you can brighten the place up" Elijah nudges Emily gently and she does as he says. Opening her right palm, she creates a little fire ball.
She really wished she could create a brighter one but sadly she hadn't been able to learn much. They look around the room, quietly exploring, it's some sort of storage space.
Walking around the room, Emily searches for a candle or something she could light up. Instead, she sees a fireplace, unusual but perfect. Carefully, she threw the fire ball at the wood and with her aim on point the place begins to get warmer.
"Good job love" Elijah's hands snake around Emily's waist engulfing her in a hug.
"Thank you" she stands on her toes, tilting her head, with him leaning down, she plants a kiss on his cheek. "Because if I missed, we would all be goners"
"We would work it out regardless" he assures her.
"You should sleep" he let's go of her motioning for her to go join Skai where she was sleeping on the floor.
She wasn't even going to argue with him, because she was genuinely drained.
"Goodnight" she stretches on her toes in an attempt to kiss him.
"Goodnight sunshine" he leans down kissing her. She leaves him walking over to where Skai was positioned, sitting on the floor next to her, she takes her cloak out of her bag and places her bag on the floor to use it as a pillow just like Skai did, then she uses her cloak as a little blanket.
Before she knew it, she had fallen into a light troubled sleep. Emily sits up in frustration after tossing, turning, falling asleep and repeat. She didn't know why it was so hard to fall asleep, she usually slept well.
She looks around, discovering that Elijah and Dexter were the ones on lookout.
'Shouldn't they have woken the rest of us to switch places by now?' She thinks watching the two boys who are both sitting on each side of the door they came in through.
"Isn't it time to switch?" she whispers out to them.
"We already did" Dexter whispers back. "I literally woke up like five minutes ago, River just went to sleep"
"I can't sleep, so I thought I'd just let you and Skai sleep in" Elijah explains himself.
"That's not fair, you should at least get a little sleep" she frowns walking over to him. "Did you get any sleep last night?"
"It's fine sunshine, did you sleep well?" he asks her ignoring her question
"Elijah" she says sternly.
"I slept in class okay?" he tells her, and she sighs not surprised, "Did you sleep well?" he repeats his question. 'His insomnia must be getting worse'. Emily realizes, but she decides to let him off for now. "Nah, but I had enough sleep" she assures him taking a seat next to him and leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Don't try to stay awake" Elijah whispers to her. "I'll sleep two hours before sun rise, that will be enough for me" he assures her "Now try to go back to sleep, we have a long journey ahead of us" He wraps his arm around her playing with her hair.
Her eyes begin to close, and she feels the cloak that was wrapped around him falling softly over her.
"Make sure you sleep, okay?" She mumbles through the sleep that she was currently fighting, crazy how a couple minutes ago she was fighting to go to sleep and now here she is fighting for sleep to leave her alone.
Elijah lets out a hum in response and that was the last thing Emily heard before falling into a deep slumber.