Coveted Power

Dream Spirit · Mar 16, 2013

Clara smiled blissfully as she gazed dreamily at the clear blue sky. Her blond curls shimmered softly in the sun's warm light, seeming to make a golden halo around her head. She was sitting at the back of her family's wagon which was packed with crates, barrels, and baskets all full of food. Clara and her family were heading towards the capitol, Archeon, to sell some of their crops. As they got closer to the city Clara began to hear the murmur of the city. Her smiling face soon became crossed with worry. The city always seemed to make her feel nervous. There were so many people there it was hard to focus. While thinking about this she heard a soft thump beside her and felt someone shake her shoulder.

"Hey, what's with the long face?" said her younger brother Timothy with his blond head cocked to the side. "You really shouldn't worry so much. You look ugly when you frown like that."

Clara frowned even more, and glared at him.

"Oh, come on. I'm just joking, gosh" Timothy laughed "Really now, you shouldn't worry so much. It'll be fine" With his last word he gave his sister a quick hug and then made his way back up to the front of the wagon.

Clara felt a little better after that, and stopped frowning. It wasn't long after they arrived at the city.

Clara looked around nervously at all the people around her. She walked closely to her older brother Matthew. He had short brown hair, light brown eyes, and was quite a lot taller than her. He was carrying some of their goods to their market stall that they were to set up.

There were a lot shops and stalls set up in the area and people were moving all over the place buying, selling, and trading various goods. The cobblestone here was quite dirty from all of the people and it was very noisy. All around the sounds of merchants shouting could be heard. In addition, the market was also quite colourful. Banners, flags, and brightly painted signs were nearly everywhere. All of this made the market quite a chaotic place to be in.

Clara's parents and her older sister were currently getting two rooms at a nearby Inn called the Blue Fairy while she and her two brothers had been sent to set up their stall in the market. Their family was going to be staying there for a week. There was supposed to be a festival soon in honor of the god of Nature. Clara and her family were planning on staying for the celebration. They wanted to join in on the fun, and to sell a lot of stuff, and hopefully buy some interesting trinkets. Timothy had actually just left them not long ago to go look at some interesting merchandise that he had seen.

"I hope Timothy gets back here soon," said Matthew sounding slightly annoyed as he shifted his arms a little as they were getting sore from carrying so much weight.

"I can help carry some" Clara offered as she held out her hands.

Matthew looked down at Clara. He didn't look very convinced that she could help him at all. She was so small.

Clara sighed and grabbed one of the smaller boxes out of her older brothers arms, having to go on her tiptoes to do so. "I'm not a child anymore you know," she scolded "I can do at least this much."

Matthew grinned sheepishly and gave a little laugh. However, he did watch Clara closely as they walked, seeming to think that she would tire very quickly. He never needed to help her though for soon enough they reached their reserved place and began setting up their stall. Timothy arrived right after as well and helped them set up.

"How's it going?" said Timothy as he grinned. He had a brand new blue hat on his head that he had obviously bought while he was gone.

"Fine. I see you got a new hat." said Matthew as he motioned with his right hand towards it.

"Ah, yes. It's quite nice, isn't it? Timothy said to the two as he tipped it with his left hand.

The other two nodded as they unloaded some of the boxes.

"Oh! I just remembered something," exclaimed Timothy "You know what? Earlier I saw some weird people in some long cloaks. I dunno what they were doing wearing them since it's so sunny out. I guess they don't like the sun."

Matthew raised an eyebrow quizzically and muttered, "Hmmm... does sound a little strange."

"Maybe they just don't like others to see their face?" Clara offered.

"Pfft. I dunno Clara. If they don't want others to see their face it's probably not for a good reason. They sound like some shady folk to me." said Mattew "Probably best to avoid them."

Clara's brow furrowed as she began to think of various reasons as to why they would be wearing a cloak. Maybe the people had a strange skin condition so they couldn't go in the sun's light, or maybe they didn't like getting tanned skin. Perhaps they were unhappy with their appearance and wore a cloak to try and hide it. Soon more and more strange ideas started popping into Clara's head, each one getting increasingly more ridiculous.

"Hey Clara, are you daydreaming again?" asked Timothy "We got work to do remember."

Clara shook her head as if to get rid of the thoughts in her head and then got back to unpacking the goods.

((sorry this is so long O__o I got a little carried away))

redblood · Mar 17, 2013

Jonathan looked towards the rising sun, he weren't that much of a morning person, but sometimes just watching the sunrise made it worth going up early. Though he wished that his brother Anthony would have warned him the day before he woke him up before sun rise. If he had known that he were supposed to get into town with parts of the harvest then he wouldn't have gotten home so late the day before.

A yawn escaped his lips and he stretched his arms up in the air.
"You should have gone to bed earlier." An annoying voice said teasingly behind him.
"Someone should have told me that it was today." Jonathan complained at his brother. Anthony laughed and ruffled his smaller brothers hair. It took some seconds before Jonathan hit away his hand, he weren't in the mood so early in the morning.

"I can go into town tomorrow, so you can return late if you want to." Anthony said after a small laugh at his little brother. Jonathan's eyes brightened up and he were even able to smile so early in the morning.
"Really? You're the best Anton." Jonathan said excited and hugged his brother. Even though he were 19 years old he still acted like a kid some times. "I'm off then." He then said and ran to the front of the carriage. First he checked so that the horse, Altivo, had everything put on correctly. Then he sat down on the carriage and started the trip to the city.

It took around three hours to get to the city with a horse and carriage, much faster if only riding a horse. His brother usually stayed in the city over night, but Jonathan couldn't relax with all the thoughts around him so it was easier for him to just get home when he was done. He often gave the excuse that he didn't want to waste money to sleep somewhere when he could just return home the same day. And he liked to travel anyways, especially on the small roads where barely any people were. There were no thoughts to read, and he could talk freely with animals without anyone looking at him as if he were a maniac.

That was probably the only thing he had ever learned to control, not because there were anything to control. He simply just got animals feelings and thoughts and then he gave them his. It wasn't like he did anything.

When they had been on the road for fifteen minutes he suddenly saw Maja coming running towards them, then she jumped up at the carriage when she got close enough. She immediately laid down in Jonathan's knee.
"Yeah yeah, I'm sorry I went without you. I won't do it again." He apologized as he got some disappointed feelings coming from the cat. Maja let him off the hook but her brainwaves told him that she wouldn't allow such a mistake again. He couldn't help but laugh a bit, being threatened by a cat wasn't something he could take seriously. And she had given the exact same tantrum every year when he did something she didn't like.

He arrived in the city a bit earlier than expected, Altivo had been in a good mood and probably hurried up at some point. Jonathan's family always started the year by selling to only their regular customers and then in the end of the harvest season they started to sell what was left to everyone. They were still in the period where they only sold to regulars so he knew exactly which people he were going to talk to and how much he would earn this day. It was always a relief when he didn't have to talk to strangers and try to hear if they were trying to trick him or not.

It didn't take long before a familiar face appeared in front of him, he hadn't even been able to get to the stable where he kept Altivo when being in the city. His cousin lived in the city and owned a small business where he bought and sold jewels. He always let Jonathan and his brother borrow the stable and he often looked after the carriage while Jonathan were delivering things during the regular customers period.

"Jonathan, long time no seen." The familiar man said. It was his cousins father, also one of his customers. Since they were related they often gave each other things a bit cheaper.
"It has just been a month since last time." Jonathan told his uncle with a polite voice. They talked for just a moment before Jonathan had to go and take care of his deliveries. Altivo didn't like to be left alone in the stable but after some arguing he accepted it, like always.

Maja followed her master, or as she said, her servant. After some hours of carrying stuff to different people he decided to rest for a bit. Sometimes he liked it better when he hadn't regular costumers since then he just had to stand behind a stall and sell to whoever came. That might be exhausting for his mind but not for his body. "Should we take a small brake Maja?" He asked and she agreed. She had thought that he meant that he would cuddle with her, but that wasn't what he had in mind.

To Maja's disappointment, Jonathan rose from where he had sat down to rest and started to walk around instead. "Lets see if we can find some nice flowers. It has been a long time since I went to mothers grave, it would be rude not to give her anything." Jonathan said and started his search. The graveyard were only a bit outside the city. Since he didn't know when he would finish working he decided to buy flowers immediately so the stalls wouldn't be closed when he were done. Then he could go to the grave with them when he was done with everything that needed to be done.

Suddenly a chill went down his spine. Among all the voices he could hear in his head, all the thoughts people were thinking, there were one.. no two minds that made him feel uncomfortable. But he had no idea why, because he couldn't make out what the thoughts said. He only saw some pictures coming from their brain. They were looking at him. Not only looking, they were definitely watching him for some reason. He turned his head a bit and stared into the eyes of two dark haired guys. They were a bit away so he couldn't see their eye colors, but they were too close to his liking. Instead of getting angry he became afraid. There was something about those two he didn't like.

He turned his head and walked forward, trying not to look back. It wasn't like anything could happen in that big crowd anyways, so what did he worry about?

He bought some flowers from a nice lady he knew. Fact was, he knew almost all the people selling things there, at least those who sold things regularly there. It didn't mean that he liked everyone of them, he only liked a handful of them, those with nice thoughts. There weren't many of those though.

At his way back to the carriage he noticed a blonde haired girl. He hadn't seen her there before. He wasn't certain if it was her first time in the city, or if he just hadn't been there at the right times before when she had been there. It wasn't like he and his family sold things everyday. Mostly they worked on the farm.

"Excuse me miss." Jonathan said politely. "I haven't seen you here before, are you new in town?" He was very curious about new people, especially if there came new sellers to town. It was good to hear about other sellers experiences and other farmers too. He rather not invade peoples brains to figure it out, a direct oral approach was more his style.

(I'm not much better x3 My intro posts often becomes long too xD)

Dream Spirit · Mar 17, 2013

"Excuse me miss." a polite voice said nearby "I haven't seen you here before, are you new in town?"

Clara looked up to see the speaker. It was a boy, and he looked to be around her age. "Ah, well, I don't live here," she answered with a little bit of a nervous quiver in her voice "But my family and I come here about twice each season to sell and buy goods. We live just a little ways south of here in the town Sundred, just a little less than a day away." Clara smiled warmly as she spoke, even though she did feel quite a bit nervous. She always felt so shy around new people, especially those close to her age. "Oh! My name's Clara by the way," she added quickly "What's your name? Are you from the city?" she asked. Even though Clara came to the city a few times a year she didn't really know that many people here except for some of her family's regular customers and some of the people that stayed in the Blue Fairy around the same time as them.

Clara began thinking of a variety of places that the boy could live. Perhaps he worked at one of the shops and she hadn't noticed him before, or maybe he was a servant at the palace, or maybe he was a prince in disguise? She quickly dismissed the last idea in her head. That was just ridiculous. He couldn't be from the Noble's district anyways since his clothes looked to be about as extravagant as her own. He was only wearing a simple white shirt and brown pants, while she was only wearing a simple blue dress with a plain white apron. He most likely was a simple commoner like herself.

redblood · Mar 17, 2013

The girl seemed nervous. Well, she weren't the only one. Jonathan always got nervous when talking to new people, but he had learned to hide it well. It surprised him that he didn't hear her thoughts as well as he usually did when he were so close to another person. He only got some pictures from her mind. It seemed like she were speculating about where he came from, but he couldn't really hear what her guesses were.

"I'm Jonathan." He said with a gentle smile. "I live on a farm a bit outside the city. Me and my brother takes turns to get the deliveries to town every week. Guess I must have missed you the other times you were here." He told her. He didn't meet people his own age that often, except for his cousin, and he had never met anyone whose thoughts didn't force themselves into his brain. It was a nice change. "I should probably get back to work, I have a lot of stuff to do. Deliveries and such. But if you don't have anything to do later then maybe you want to hang out for some minutes or so." He felt that he became more nervous, he wasn't used to talking to girls his own age. As fast as the last sentence escaped his mouth he regretted it. Why would she want to hang out with a total stranger?

Dream Spirit · Mar 17, 2013

So the boy lived out of town as well, and his name was Jonathan. I'll probably just call him Jon for short Clara thought to herself. It seemed that they actually had a bit in common, them both living on farms anyways. Clara was surprised though when he asked if she would like to "hang out" with him. Her cheeks began to blush a bit because of it. Why did he want to hang out with her? Should she say yes? He seemed really nice and he was around her age, and she really wanted a friend her own age that wasn't her brother. What would he think if she said no? Would he be annoyed or angry? As she thought more and more about it she began to feel more and more nervous and embarrassed. Why did she have to over-think things so much she thought to herself in despair.

"Yes!" she suddenly said, a little bit louder than she intended. "Um, I would very much like to... hang out... for a-a bit." she said with her voice much quieter, but she was very visibly nervous. Her cheeks were bright red from embarrassment. She then remembered that she didn't know how she could contact him and that they both didn't know where either one was staying. "Oh, and um, I'm staying at the Blue Fairy. It's not very far from here." she added nervously and then waited for his answer.

Clara felt so anxious. Did she do the right thing? Why did she have to act so weird? Her smile quivered a lot and she felt like she could almost cry. She probably was making him feel so uncomfortable she thought to herself. She hated it when she made people uncomfortable. He probably didn't even want to hang out with her anymore because she was so weird.

redblood · Mar 17, 2013

At first he thought that she would refuse, maybe give an excuse that her family wouldn't like her meeting a stranger or something like that. But then her feelings started to make their way into his mind. He still couldn't see any clear thoughts, he only felt how nervous she was. It could be because she didn't know how to refuse him nicely, but something told him that that wasn't the case. Then her body started to show signs of the nervousness she felt. Her cheeks turned red and it took some time before she answered. When she answered it was very sudden and loud, Jonathan almost jumped out of his clothes in surprise.

Jonathan couldn't help but chuckle, that girl, Clara, was very cute when she were embarrassed. "Okay, then I'll pick you up when I'm done." He replied, trying to sound and look a bit apologetic for chuckling. "See you later." He said before he started to walk away slow enough for her to say something more if there was anything on her mind.

He didn't even know what people his age did when they 'hanged out'. Would they just chat or did she expect him to have some kind of plan for what to do since he invited her? Even though it was many hours to the end of the day, he still couldn't help but feel mighty nervous. This might be the only chance he would have to get to know another teenager, all the teenagers that actually lived in the city didn't care about the marketplace except for if their parent had sent them to get something. And a kid from a farm wasn't so popular among city kids.

Dream Spirit · Mar 17, 2013

Clara was filled with relief when Jonathan answered. She didn't mind that he had laughed at her. He seemed apologetic about it anyways. "A-Alright. See you then," she said, looking to be a lot more at ease. Once he left Clara let out a long sigh of relief. She was thankful that he hadn't said no and acted politely. But then, she felt a sudden nudge in her side.

"Ooooh! Clara's got a boyfriend." said Timothy jokingly. He then proceeded to make annoying fake kissing noises.

"Timothy!" exclaimed Clara "Don't say that! We only just met." Her face then became extremely red.

Timothy ignored her her and proceeded to say "I think we might have to call you Miss Tomato now because you're exactly the same colour as one."

Matthew gave Timothy a light smack on the head and glared down at him.

"Pfft, it was only a joke," said Timothy "Clara knows that I didn't mean it, right?"

Clara nodded slowly, but she did look a little bit upset.

"Oh, I'm sorry Clara," said Timothy a bit more affectionately. "You just look so funny when you're upset," he said with a soft laugh. He then gave his older sister, whom he was a bit taller than, a tight hug and a soft smile. "Why don't you go look around the market?" he offered.

"Um, alright." she replied softly. A walk might help her clear her mind.

Matthew nodded and added, "Just be careful not to get lost. Don't go anywhere you're not to familiar with."

Clara nodded and laughed. Matthew always seemed to treat her like she was still a child. "Don't worry" she said as she walked off into the crowd.

Clara wondered where she should go as she wandered about the market. Perhaps a bookstore she thought. She hadn't bought a new book in a while and she was eager for a new story. Her mood started to lighten a lit as she walked down the cobbled streets. They looked quite lovely as many were being decorated for the upcoming festival. As she was walking she came across a small stand selling flowers. A pleasant old woman owned the stand who Clara chatted with for a bit. As they talked the old woman made Clara a small daisy crown and offered it to her. Clara accepted it gleefully and thanked the woman. Suddenly though, she got an odd feeling.

Clara turned around. Across the street she saw two hooded figures, and they seemed to be looking directly at her. They made her feel extremely uncomfortable. It felt as if they were looking right through her. Clara quickly turned away, hoping the feeling might pass. Eventually it did, and she slowly turned her head to look again. The two figures had left. She wondered who they were. Perhaps they were the same people that her brother Timothy had spoken of before.

"Are you alright?" the old woman at the flower stand asked. She looked a little concerned.

"Um, yes. I'm fine." replied Clara quickly.

"Are you sure?" the old woman inquired "You looked a little pale."

Clara nodded, "Yes, yes, I'm alright" she said, giving a reassuring smile "I think I'll go back to my family now though. Oh! and thank you for the crown."

The old woman smiled and nodded as Clara waved goodbye.

Clara arrived at the Blue Fairy. Just as she arrived her brothers also walked in. They greeted her and then proceeded up to their room. They had finished setting up the stand and sold a few things and were now done for the day. Clara decided to stay downstairs, just in-case Jonathan came. She sat down at one of the empty tables. There weren't many people in the inn right now. There were only three people conversing at the bar, one couple eating at a table, and one ragged looking man looking to be sleeping at another table alone. Clara sighed and played with her blond curls. She was still wearing the daisy crown that the old woman had given her.

redblood · Mar 17, 2013

Jonathan worked non-stop until he was completely finished. He sat down exhausted on the empty carriage, that must have been the fastest delivery in his life.

"I am going to be in so much pain tomorrow." He mumbled to himself, knowing that he would get muscle fever the next day because he tried to carry more than he usually did and tried to be fast at the same time.

"You will scare the lady away if you're sweating like that when you meet her." A familiar voice teased him. His cousin had walked into the stable.

"Very funny Adam." Jonathan said without any enthusiasm before realization hit him. "How did you know?" He asked a bit confused.

"You're kidding right? First I saw you pass by with a blush, a blush!" Adam repeated the two last words with slowly so that Jonathan would understand how rare that was. Jonathan just rolled his eyes. "And then you finished your work in half the time. So, who is it?"

"Her names Carla, there's nothing really. We just happened to meet each other and she seemed friendly so I asked if she wanted to do something later." Jonathan explained, trying to make his stupid cousin understand that there was no romance going on.

"I don't care if its nothing or everything, you can't meet a lady looking like that. Take a bath and then go meet her." Adam proposed.

It took some persuasion for Adam to make Jonathan listen to him, but after some time Jonathan gave in and took a bath. At least he could smell somewhat nice when he met a girl for the first and maybe last time. He only stayed in the bath for around ten minutes before he got dressed and left. It was a pity that he didn't have any other clothes with him to change into, but he hadn't really thought that he would need it since he hadn't any other time he had gone into town. He would have borrowed his cousins clothes if they had been the same size, but they were too different for their clothes to fit each other.

He would first go to meet Clara, then get Maja and Altivo, then go to the grave and after that he would get home. Luckily he had finished work much faster than usual so he had some extra hours and would probably not get home later than he had thought when he left home.

It wasn't hard for him to find the Blue Fairy, the previous owner had been a regular customer so he had often made deliveries to that inn. But then the owner sold the place and the new owner decided to buy from someone else. Oh well, for every lost customer, two new will come.

He walked in and felt his stomach started to ache of nervousness. He forced himself to ignore it and fast spotted Clara. He waved his hand in a small motion as he walked towards her. He took off the brown cloak he had on since it wasn't necessary indoors. It wasn't that necessary outdoors either at the moment since it still hadn't gotten cold outside. But the air would probably soon get colder as the sun went down in the sky.

"Hey there, hope I didn't make you wait for too long."

Dream Spirit · Mar 17, 2013

Clara looked to the door when she heard Jonathan's voice. She smiled warmly and waved back, "No, I didn't wait long" she replied happily. She then got up from her chair and walked over to where he was standing. She felt a little nervous meeting him again, though not as nervous as before. "Do you know any interesting places we could go to? Or do you just want to walk around?" she asked. There wasn't much to do at the inn. There was a bar but Clara wasn't old enough to drink, nor did she want to, and she didn't think that Jonathan would want to drink either. She then began to go through in her head some of the interesting places she knew about in the city.

There were many sites to see in the city, for it was the capitol. There was a restaurant at the east end of the market district, though it was probably too expensive. Usually Nobles only went there. However, by the centre of the market was a large plaza where minstrels and other entertainers often performed. Perhaps there would be some playing there, for many would be practicing for the festival. Then there was also a park just north of the market district. Clara had been there before to look at the flower gardens and the fountain that was located at its centre. She wanted to go there at least once during her time in the city, for it was so very lovely there. However, there probably wouldn't be many people there since most of the people were in the market district. She was then reminded of the strange hooded people she saw before, the memory felt very vivid in her mind, and the fear. Perhaps the best thing would be just to walk about the city and chat. It depended on what Jonathan wanted to do though. She wondered where he would like to go and waited for his answer.

redblood · Mar 18, 2013

Jonathan had never actually gone around in the city for anything else than work before. He knew where a lot of stores and restaurants were, but he had never actually gone inside and didn't know how the service were anywhere. And he had never actually gone for a stroll around the city so he had no idea what there were to see.

Then he heard some thoughts, or it was more some mental pictures. A flower garden, and a fountain. If he had been able to get the feelings Clara felt when she realized that it wasn't a good idea to go somewhere where there aren't many people, then he would probably not have proposed the idea. But Jonathan could only, for some reason, hear some of her thoughts. And there was no reason for him to believe that she would have changed her mind about the park in a matter of seconds. He had himself forgotten all about the two strangers he saw earlier that day.

"I have heard that there is a really nice flower garden close by. I have never seen it though. If you want to, then we can go and see that." He proposed. Maybe it was cheating when he had gotten the information from her mind, but the only other thing he could think about were taking a walk and talk. Sure that was nice too, but if there would become an awkward silence at some point, then it would be less awkward in the flower garden than if they walked just beside each other.

Dream Spirit · Mar 18, 2013

"Oh, really? I've been there before, actually." she said a little surprised, her bright blue eyes opening wide. It had only been a moment before she had been thinking about going there herself, though she still wasn't sure if it would be a good idea. Though, perhaps Jonathan had been planning on going there, and she didn't want to stop him from going just because she felt a little afraid. She would like to go there herself really, but there was still a small nagging fear in the back of her mind, however, she decided to she would try and ignore it. It wasn't like she would be alone anyways since Jonathan would be there with her. "Well, if you'd like to go, then that would be fine." she said a little apprehensively while giving a small weak smile.

redblood · Mar 18, 2013

Even though it might have been considered cheating from another persons perspective, he still felt happy about finding a place she wanted to go instead of choosing something she didn't want to see. That was probably the first time he had felt thankful towards his curse. Even though it had helped him on other occasions it still was more of a problem than a help. "Then show the way Clara." He said with a smile.

(sorry its short ^^')

Dream Spirit · Mar 18, 2013

"Alright," Clara said happily with a smile "Just follow me." She then led Jonathan down the market street towards the park. The streets were a lot less crowded now. Many of the shops and market stalls were closing now and only a few were still open. The sun was still high enough in the sky though that Clara didn't feel too worried.

It felt a little awkward while they were walking so Clara decided to try and start some conversation. However, in the end she ended up mostly just rambling. She tended to do that when she was nervous. Since Jonathan had said he lived on a farm she had decided to tell him about her own.

"We grow lots of different things on my farm at home. It allows us to come into the city a lot to sell goods. We grow strawberries early in the season and later do tomatoes, carrots and lettuce, and in autumn we have pumpkins and apples from our orchard. It's quite nice really. We also have a few cows and a goat, and some oxen to plow the fields," she explained to Jonathan. "What about you?" she asked "What sort of animals do you have on your farm?"

[FONT=&amp]At this point they had just reached the entrance to the park and were slowly making their way to its centre where the flower garden and fountain were located. There didn't appear to be anyone else walking there except the two of them. [/FONT]

redblood · Mar 19, 2013

Jonathan didn't mind that Clara were rambling, actually it was quite nice to listen how she had it at her home. He had never really talked to anyone that lived on a farm. Most people in the city was those who first went to a farm to buy things and then went to the city to sell those things again. As far as he knew, most farmers tried not to leave their farm if they could since they always had work to do. Being away for days to sell in the city mostly worked if there was someone people that could stay behind since someone had to watch over the animals. If Jonathan and his family hadn't lived so close to the city then they would probably have sold to a trader instead.

"Since its only me and my brother that works on the farm at the moment we had to sell a lot of our animals. When my first born brother and father still were alive we had around twenty cows to milk. But when both of them were gone we had to take off some of our burden so now we only have two so that we will get milk to ourselves. The rest were sold off to other farms. We have a lot of chickens though, and some cheeps. And we have a pet cat and four horses." He told her. It felt so easy to talk to her, maybe because they were the same age.

As he was done talking they had almost arrived at the centre of the flower garden. "This place is beautiful" Jonathan said when he actually noticed where they were. He had been a bit in his own world while talking about his home and barely noticed that they weren't around anyone anymore.

It was weird being in the city and only hearing one brain close to him. He didn't hear her thoughts, but he could feel her brainwaves since she were just beside him. But then he was certain that there were more than one. Maybe it was just his imagination but for a second he thought he had felt another brain close by, as if someone were thinking about him. As if someone were looking at him. The feeling of earlier that day caught him, it felt like when those two black cloaked people had looked at him. 'Pull yourself together, there is no one here. Stop being so damn paranoid' He thought to himself.

Dream Spirit · Mar 19, 2013

Clara listened as Jonathan told her about himself. She was happy that she had accepted his offer earlier that day, for she found the walk with him to be quite enjoyable. She nodded happily in agreement when he spoke of the beauty of the park. It certainly was a lovely place.

The two of them soon arrived at the entrance to the gardens. There were flowers of all sorts there, and in the centre was a large, intricately decorated fountain. "I just love this place!" she exclaimed. "It really is so pretty here," she said as she bent down to smell a rose. As she did though, she suddenly felt a chill go down her spine. She felt as if someone was watching them. She turned around to look, but nothing was there. All she could see was flowers, hedges and trees, and the only other person she could see here was Jonathan. She tried to give Jonathan a reassuring smile so that he wouldn't worry about her.

Just out of sight, a suspicious man wearing a long black coat decorated in gold and with long black hair and with dark violet eyes, stood hidden in the shadows. With him was a very tall and muscular man with short brown hair and two oddly coloured eyes, one being a very light piercing blue and the other a very light brown, and there was also the two hooded figures that Clara and Jonathan had seen before. The man in the black coat looked to be in deep concentration, his focus turned towards the garden where Clara and Jonathan were located.

Clara continued to look around the garden with Jonathan. There were so many different flowers that Clara had trouble identifying them all. Having spent enough time looking at them she turned towards the fountain. It was very beautiful and the water was perfectly clear and cool. She placed her hands inside and felt the clean water against her skin. However she then saw a random red colour begin to fill the fountain. She quickly took her hands out of the water and looked at her palms. They were covered in the red liquid. She smelled blood. Clara screamed and backed away from the fountain. She turned to look at Jonathan, but then noticed that she could not see him. A thick mist had invaded the area and she could barely see even a metre in front of her.

"Jon? Are you there," she called, her voice trembling. She couldn't see or hear anything. She ran in a random direction, hoping to find Jonathan, or at least get away from the area. Tears streamed down her face as she was filled with fear and doubt. Suddenly though, she noticed a large humanoid shape, and she thought she heard Jonathan, but then she felt someone grab her from behind and place something over her mouth, then everything went black.

"Sleep well, darling."

redblood · Mar 20, 2013

Jonathan's paranoia disappeared as Clara began to speak. "I just love this place, it really is so pretty hear." She said and Jonathan could only agree. He noticed a sudden uncomfortable feeling coming from Clara, and right afterwards she gave him a reassuring smile. Why had her emotions suddenly changed like that? Oh well, it didn't take long before the uneasy feeling seemed to have disappeared from her mind anyway.

They walked in silence for a little while, which didn't feel as awkward as Jonathan had thought it would. It was kind of nice to just walk silently and watch the beautiful scene before them. Jonathan kneeled down in front of a bush with roses. They were his favorite flower, so beautiful but still it had a great defence with its thorns. As he got closer to smell one of the flowers he suddenly saw something weird in the bush. He couldn't see what it was, but he was too curious to just let it be.

"Clara, I think I found something." He called out without realizing that she weren't behind him anymore. Or actually he thought that she were behind him at the fountain still since he could feel that she were there. But as he turned to look he noticed that she didn't stand there anymore. "Where has she gone too?" He mumbled, still confused that he could sense her from there. Was it some kind of emotional lingering?

Suddenly he could feel her fear, but he heard nothing, he saw nothing. Her mind seemed to be screaming so close to him but he couldn't see her. Then her mind started to fade, as if she ran somewhere. Jonathan was horrified by that experience, he had no idea what was going on. Everything looked normal and sounded normal, but it was far from it. He turned his head back towards the bush with a bad feeling. Then he moved some of the leaves and found a dead body staring up at him. He was fast up on his feet and backed away. What was going on?

A thick layer of fog fast surrounded him. Then he heard brain activity again. There was more than one brain, but he couldn't read any of them. His instincts told him to run, but his rational brain told him to take it easy. Even though he was terrified he tried to listen to his brain. He started to walk calmly, while trying to find Clara and the way out. "Clara?" He shouted, his worry clearly shined through in his voice. "Where are you?"

Then he saw a human shape. "Clara?" He asked, and he was certain that he heard her voice, but something was wrong. Why couldn't he hear any brain activity from the figure? It was as if no human were standing there. Instead of waking forward he started to back away. Even when he had a hard time reading people, he could at least feel their brainwaves. A person without brainwaves was either dead or not there at all. Then someone came up behind him. He couldn't see anyone but he felt it. "Who are you?" He asked angry while trying to find where the brainwaves came from, but it was impossible to completely locate it, he could only approximate it. He knew that someone were coming closer but he had no idea exactly were the person was.

Then someone grabbed him. Something strong smelling was covering his mouth and he started to black out. When the skin from the persons hand touched him he could see his thoughts, but only for a second before he had passed out. Clara had been in the man's thoughts. They had taken her too.

Dream Spirit · Mar 20, 2013

Clara slowly opened her eyes. She still felt a little drowsy and disoriented. 'What had happened to me', she wondered. She looked around and saw that she was in a large bedroom that was quite lavishly furnished. She was sitting on a large poster bed with thick red blankets, to her left was a window, but it was boarded shut, and across from her was a small fireplace, which was currently lit and was the only source of light. There was a tall red chair faced towards this fire. Much of the furniture here had gold designs painted or embossed onto them. It looked like a Noble's house. However, the room looked quite dirty and the walls looked slightly damaged, like the place hadn't been lived in for quite some time.

Clara went to get up but noticed she felt something around her right angle. She looked down and saw that there was a shackle locked onto her right ankle. Attached to the shackle was a long chain that attached to one of the bedposts of the bed she had been lying on. Clara began to feel afraid again. Where was she, and why had she been taken there? Suddenly though, she heard movement from the red chair by the fire.

A dark haired figure slowly walked out from behind the tall red chair and then leaned against the chair's side. He looked her over and put two fingers over his mouth and cocked his head slightly, appearing to be in deep thought.

"It's rather strange," the man said in soft, honeyed voice "The twins had told me you contained a large amount of destructive power." A smile began to creep up his face as he spoke and he began to walk towards her, looking like an animal stalking its prey. Clara felt like she was paralyzed. He gently put one of his hands against her face and turned it around, examining it. "Really though, you seem quite harmless," he said with a chuckle. Clara began to try and take a step back but then froze when his deep violet eyes stared directly into hers.

Clara saw herself being thrown into the fireplace and burned, but then she was suddenly looking back into the man's eyes once again. The imaged she had seen appeared to have been caused by him. He smirked as he watched her begin to tremble.

In a room across from where Clara was contained, an athletic looking woman with blond wavy short hair and unnaturally red irises played with a small flame within her palm. The woman was wearing a red tight-fitting, low-cut shirt and long red and gold skirt that was quite torn up and singed in some areas. The room here was decorated in a similar fashion to Clara's. However, it smelt strongly of smoke and there were burn marks in many places. Rather than a bed though there was a large sofa, which was where Jonathan had been placed, and instead of chains the whole area around the sofa for about two metres was contained in a large metal cage. The woman looked towards the cage and smiled when she saw Jonathan begin to stir.

redblood · Mar 21, 2013

Jonathan started to wake up, he felt immediately that he weren't lying in his bed. It felt like a sofa. Had he fallen asleep on the couch when he returned home? He remembered a terrible nightmare, he had been with Clara and then she had disappeared. He found a dead body and then the fog surrounded him. And then... What had happened? It didn't matter. It was only a dream after all.

He move a bit on the couch and realized as he became a bit more awake that it couldn't be his family's sofa. It was way too soft. His eyes shot up at the realization that he weren't home. The plan had been to get home the same day. Maybe he had stayed at the inn with Clara because it got too late. No, there was never a too late for him. In that case he would have slept with Altivo in the stable. He had done that before, it didn't disturb him at all.

The confused teen looked around, trying to understand the situation. A cage. Why was he looked inside a cage? He then noticed another brain in the room and turned to the woman. She were holding a small flame in her hand, Jonathan couldn't understand how she could do that. The second thing he noticed was her unnatural red eyes.

"Where am I? Why am I here?" Jonathan asked while standing up from the sofa. There was no reason for anyone to kidnap a country boy, his family didn't have any money. On the other hand, it didn't seem like these people were after the money. It seemed like they had enough as it was. Looking at the room he saw that it could only belong to someone very rich. That made it even harder for him to understand why he had been brought there. There was no reason for someone rich to kidnap him. It wasn't like he had something they could use.

Dream Spirit · Mar 21, 2013

Seeing that Jonathan had woken up the woman in red walked over to Jonathan's cage to inspect him. "So the little boy is up now," she said playfully, not answering his question. She walked around the cage, examining him as if he were some strange animal at a zoo. Finally, she decided to speak again. "My master believes that you can be of some use to us." she said as she casually threw a small ball of flame back and forth between her hands, "At least if what those two twins say is true." However, she sounded doubtful of that. Her head then perked up for a moment and she turned her head around, as if she were listening to someone, then went over to the doorway. "Ah, I am being called now though, little boy. Ta ta." she said as she went out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

About five minutes later the door to Jonathan's room opened once again. The man that had been with Clara strode into the room. He walked over to the Jonathan's cage and put his hands against the bars. "So, you're awake now," he said to Jonathan, his deep violet eyes staring eerily at him all the while. "I suppose you're probably wondering why your here. Well, you see Jonathan, you are a sorcerer. As am I" he said with an overly large grin "I can do many things with my power." as he talked he demonstrated this by making the room appear to be completely dark so that all that could be seen were him and Jonathan. "However," he said as the room turned back to normal "There are some things that you can do that I need. And that is why you are here."

redblood · Mar 21, 2013

Jonathan hated the feeling the woman gave him when she walked around the cage he was captured in. She made him feel like an captured animal. He was more concentrated on the fireball the woman was holding than the rest of her. After all, who knew when she would decide to throw it towards him to see if he could dodge. As she mentioned the twins Jonathan glared at the woman, so those two dark hooded figured he had seen worked for those weird guys. If he got out of that cage he would certainly do more than hit out a couple of teeth on all of them, that was one thing he was certain of. At least at the moment. Then the woman left him, without any explanation and without letting him say anything.

"Did she really call me a little boy?" He asked irritated to the empty room. How could he have gotten himself into so much trouble? And what did she mean with 'being called'? He hadn't heard anyone calling for her. And she had told him that her master thought he could be of use to them. What did she mean? Those five minutes felt like five hours as he walked around in the cage. Now he knew how animals in cages must feel, he would definitely never feel entertained by looking at one in a cage if he ever got out of there.

Suddenly the door was opened and a man came in. Something with the man scared Jonathan, but he refused to show it to that man. Those violet eyes seemed to be looking into the young mans soul. Jonathan felt like backing to be at least two meters away from the man but he refused to show fear. Instead he walked closer to the man and put his arms crossed over his chest as the man started to explain. He tried not to show how confused he was about the man calling him a sorcerer. But when the room suddenly disappeared it was impossible to not show his confusion.

He looked around in the room that wasn't there anymore, then he turned to look at the man again. How did he do that?

"I have to confess that I have no freaking idea what you're talking about." He tried to keep his voice even but some of his fear shined through. Then a sudden realization hit him, the man had known his name. How? And where was Clara? Did they have her too? "How did you know my name?" He asked a bit more angry than scared. "What did you do to Clara?" His hands had turned into fists and he felt a great desire to hit the man in front of him. But that would probably be the most stupid thing to do at the moment so he restrained himself. Especially since there was a cage between them.

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