My nails raked through soft soil as I opened my eyes and groaned. I was surrounded by Sapherine forests. I could hear water a few miles off and the sound of a village not so far off. The smell of soil and growing things overthrew my other senses and I could taste the dirt in my mouth. I spit some out. I had landed on my stomach none too gently and it felt as if I’d decided to wrestle a grizzly. I propped myself on my knees and popped my back. I took in my surroundings noticing Myra’s and Datha’s absence. I was alone for the first time since arriving on Sapherine.

  “Jonah!”

  Maybe not so alone.

  “Over here,” I yelled and could hear the snapping of forest twigs as my sister approached my location. I stood and dusted myself off as she came into view. By her looks, she probably landed as badly as me. Her cheeks were stained with dirt and her hair was a mess. Her dress was slightly in disarray and I figured we both resembled a couple of orphans.

  “Was Myra with you?” I asked, dreading her answer.

  She shook her head, “I thought she would be with you,” she said.

  ‘Nope,” I answered, that dread spreading.

  “The last thing I remember was us standing against several brigades and the council. We were whisked away from the arena by purple light and I landed about a mile south,” said Datha.

  “Myra erupted with Ether. She’d had no control over it. She must have used it to send us away but...why didn’t she send herself too!” I yelled, punching a tree and finding firsthand how hard one really was.

  “Oww!” I yelped sucking on my poor knuckles.

  Datha took my hand examining it.“She couldn’t control it...so maybe it acted on her base wishes like it would to a small child,” answered Datha as she ran her hand over my hand and chanted. Cool, green healing energy poured into my hand and fixed what I had undoubtedly broken.

  “Thanks,” I muttered.

  “You’re welcome,” she said smiling.

  “That’s not one I know.”

  “Mother taught it to me. She said one day I would need it. She was right.”

  I nodded. “Seemed like she knew everything,” I said, beginning to walk in the direction of the water and village. Maybe we could find someone there who would give us directions to Saphiros. I wasn’t leaving Myra alone with that council! Who knows how deprived they were? The fire witch alone was one to keep an eye on let alone the others. The purple-garbed one was really suspicious, but it was the acidic-eyed woman that gave me shivers. She seemed like the most depraved of them all. My uncle really seemed the sanest of the lot. Made me wonder where my old man was. For my uncle to have the throne meant my dad was most likely dead. He had it coming, probably one of his mistresses did the deed. I wasn’t crying over the loss. He wasn’t a real good father, to begin with, what with wanting me in slavery and all.

  “Jonah, where are we going?” Datha asked as I stopped to listen to the village we were closing in on.

  “The village should be a few miles that way,” I said pointing to the east. I knew it was east because the sun was to the west and this was the opposite side of it.

  “How can you tell there’s a village that way?” she asked.

  I stopped. Oh yeah. She had no idea of my near pterodactyl transformation. “I can hear them.”

  She raised an eyebrow and I smirked.

  “Long story short I was infected by a pterodactyl and was slowly becoming one. Myra and I did a complicated spell and got rid of it but it was too ingrained in me so I kept several abilities like their hearing among others,” I muttered.

  She tilted her head. “What else?” she asked and I smirked and dissipated into the shadows. I came out beside her, spooking her.

  “I kept this too,” I said.

  She stared at me before giggling.

  “Datha?”

  She started laughing.

  I think I broke her.

  “I’m assuming your array came in handy then,” she asked, clear amusement in her eyes.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Yes,” I groused, crossing my arms.

  “You do have some of Mother’s abilities then,” she said smiling.

  “Wish I’d known this,” I muttered, continuing to walk and brushing several branches from my face. I held them away from Datha as she passed and she gave me a surprised look. I rolled my eyes and let them go. I know I wasn’t the nicest Kin around but I wasn’t so bad, was I?

  “Oracles don’t know everything,” said Datha as she ran her hands through her hair. Was she only now noticing its state of disarray?

  I shrugged. “Mother knew what would happen to us didn’t she?”

  “She did but she didn’t know how it would end, only that we would survive.” She turned to me and pressed her hand to my arm.”Momma saw much more than that night Jonah. She wasn’t an oracle. She was a seer. I believe she passed that gift to you, I am an oracle able to see snippets of the distant future. You are capable of so much more if you believe.”

  I didn’t want to believe it but maybe if I had then this wouldn’t have happened and maybe Myra would still be with me instead of a prisoner of creep central. I had always avoided my ability because they weren’t natural for a male and I was already a hybrid and less in my father’s eyes but my father wasn’t here anymore and I had Datha to take care of now. I guess tonight I’d open myself to my gift and see what it showed. I was weird anyway right?

  A wind- ether Kin was rare and I could control shadows too. Hmm, that first pterodactyl we encountered I remember it told me to protect Myra. I did a spanking job of that! She protected me! Maybe with my gift, I could help Myra in some way. We walked further into the forest, but it was becoming evident that my sister was not capable of long-distance traveling for long periods. We took some breaks until darkness was upon us and the light of day was low in the sky. I hunted and started a fire the old-fashioned way, using some wind to spread the small flame. We ate and decided to sleep curled together for warmth with the small fire going. I closed my eyes and lay my head down.

  I walked into the familiar room. My mother’s room and she was standing there smiling.

  “It’s not an easy gift to handle, dear boy,” she said.

  “I know,” I said. “But it's part of me, right? I’ve got to get used to it.”

  “It won’t always come when you want it to or show you what you want. Are you sure this is what you want Jonah?” she asked.

  I hesitated. Was it what I wanted? No, but it was needed. I nodded and she smiled.

  “Lay upon the bed and let the images come to you,” she said.

  I laid upon the only other item in the room other than a wardrobe and a small chair.

  “Relax and let them come. Some won’t make sense. For those you’ll need some help interpreting,” she said.

  I nodded and closed my eyes. Immediately images of a mountain with icy white peaks and blue caves appeared to me along with a pterodactyl in chains. Strange, then it started showing me people. Rock stance, boulder. Ruckus, Ilias, Niran and his silks, Atesh and his fire, Nero and Pallas. It showed me images of Myra in a dungeon rocking back and forth with that silly smile on her face and eyes glazed. Then it showed images of an older me holding onto a toddler with the prettiest eyes of galactic chocolate. The images twisted and then everything went black. It wasn’t the end of the images.I now stood within a memory. I watched as I stood frozen behind a violet protection, as my mom was cut down by a wind soldier. The minute she died her protection would fall.

  “Momma!” I screamed.

  “Run,” were her last words and Datha took them to heart as she took my hands and we began to run through the darkness evading squawking monsters.

  “Find them!” My father’s voice.

  Datha and I ran but the soldiers were on our tail. Datha chanted something and a rift formed in front of us.

  “I love you, brother! May Oppolomei keep you safe!”

  “Datha!” I screamed as she pushed me into the rift and I disappeared. I fell through the skies and I saw the stars fly overhead. A bright light blinded me and I landed on Earth using my Ether to float down to a park. Everything was dark and no one was around. Where am I? What happened? Where’s Datha?

  “Datha,” I shouted at the empty space. The swings creaked eerily in the wind. I didn’t know what they were and approached them with caution. After seeing that they wouldn’t harm me. I sat on one of them and cried. A policeman found me and brought me to a children’s home where I had trouble fitting in. A few weeks I tried stealing from a redhead. She took one look at me and frowned.

  “You’re not from around here, are you? We can change that.”

  A bright light surrounded me for a minute and then...nothing. I was an Earthling boy.

  A few weeks later I’m adopted by the Millers.

  Now when the images turn black I know it ended and my eyes opened to meet Datha’s worried gaze.

  “Are you alright? You were crying,” she said.

  I touch my wet cheek and nod. “Yeah, I was remembering that last night here on Sapherine. You sent me to Earth,” I said grinning.

  She smiled. “I did. I knew what I had to do to have my baby brother survive. Did you see anything else?”

  “Yeah, a place and people I knew from before.”

  She smiled. “I can’t say much about the place but as for the people, you will either meet them again and they will become central to you or they will become enemies to watch out for.”

  “I’d rather the first one. We already have enough enemies,” I muttered yawning.

  “Me too. Anything from the future?”

  “Yeah, a dark-eyed toddler with galactic eyes. She was being held by a bigger me, I think.”

  “Oh! You got to see your future daughter! How I wish I could see so far!”

  “I don’t plan on having kids,” I shrugged and she smirked looking more like me.

  “It might happen in the future. The future isn’t set in stone but your path is in direct contact with that infant right now.”

  “Whatever, not sure if she’s even mine. She could be yours.”

  “Yes, she could be.”

  “ Kid resolved then let's get some more sleep. It’s late or early,” I said, peering at my watch. Sapherine was two hours difference from the twenty-four hours of Earth. I compensated by doing a little math something Myra was horrible at.

  “Okay, goodnight brother.”

  “Night, Datha,” I muttered, shutting my eyes. No images came to my mind but the image of Myra rocking back and forth and smiling like a looney haunted me. We didn’t have a lot of time. I hoped she wasn’t like that yet.