Chapter Three (Akasha)

I jolted awake just as a migraine hit me, signalling a vision. Clutching my forehead, my vision went black, and pictures formed in my mind, until I could see the message clearly.

“Let me go, they’ll find you and they will make you suffer!” I promised.

“You’re a fiery little pixie, aren’t you?” Colonel Delano mused.

“Fiery and little, huh? I’ll show you little!”

My eyes turning grey. Colonel Delano screamed in pain as he fell into pieces as if being chopped up by invisible blades, blood puddled on the floor as the pieces fell, making a sick thud sound.

I looked around the room. Spirits of tortured creatures were everywhere, missing limbs and bloody. Smirking at the ripped apart colonel Delano, I had never been afraid of spirits before, but these were terrifying. I looked around for Ela and Karm, but did not see them. I was completely alone.

My vision slowly returning to normal, my migraine eased as sweat dripped down my brow and the colonel's scream echoing in the back of my mind. I shivered at the gory scene my abilities had showed me. 

My element is Spirit and one of the first abilities I discovered was the ability to read the fates of the people around me, grasping the silver thread of life that clung to everyone of us and read it like a book. Because the ability was so vivid and clear every time fate showed me glimpses of the future, the migraines I suffered lingered longer, as well as losing my vision. As you can imagine, in a fight, not being able to see can be quite debilitating. Luckily, my visions are spaced out and I maybe get one a year, but unfortunately I had no control over when they would come.

My sister Huricana could foretell the future as well, but less clearly. Her element being air. She could hear messages from the wind, but they usually came as riddles and puzzles that most of the time would be solved too late. We were getting better at deciphering them, so hopefully in the future these foretelling will be usable.

Our abilities had a price whereas I would suffer from migraines and loss of vision at inopportune times, Huricana’s mind was becoming more and more jumbled turning more to riddles like the wind she listened to, this side effect would eventually fade, but like my loss of vision the time frame increased with the frequency of the visions. I guess that was the toll (as heavy as it may be) of being able to foretell the future. 

My vision returned. Although still blurry, I checked on my sisters. They were all still fast asleep. I exited the cave, careful to check and make sure no one was around, and headed to the nearby creek. My sister chose our hideout well. 

Kneeling at the water's edge, I scooped water with my hands and splashed my face, washing the tiredness away and enjoying the cool water hitting my aching head. As soon as everyone was awake, we would need to keep moving. It will only be a matter of time before the Goblins find us. Drying my face on my sleeve, I stood and headed back to the cave. 

I paused and looked at my surroundings. The area was deadly quiet. No birds sang and the scurrying of animals in the forest seemed to cease as well. Gia must be up, I concluded. Animals reacted strangely to her. 

I Pulled the vines aside, my suspicion was right: Gia was awake, and she appeared to be in a mood.

 “Where were you?” She demanded.

“I went to the creek for a minute. Why? "

“I had a feeling something was wrong, and I woke up and you weren’t here.” She accused, “I thought something happened while I was asleep.” She finished as she looked over at me, scanning for injuries.

Rolling my eyes, I replied, “I’m the oldest. Leave the worries to me. Nothing happened, although I did have a vision.”

 “What was it about?” she ordered; her red brows furrowed in worry. “You know they are never wrong.”

Ela appeared with a worried look on her face, I turned to face her, “what’s wrong?”

“The Goblin Army is back tracking and heading here, you need to leave.”

“How long?”

“I’m not sure, maybe an hour, if not a little more.”

“Thank you, Ela.”

She nodded and disappeared.

“I don’t want to discuss this right now; can we just wake them and leave? Like now.” I gestured to our slumbering sisters. 

Gia’s honey brown eyes swirled and changed to emerald green, a sign that her power was slipping. It happens a lot when she’s frustrated.

Her long red hair falling in curls to her waist, the green of her peasant dress making her eyes stand out sharply. Taking deep breaths, she gained her composure, her eyes returning to their honey brown color. Like all pixies, she had wing tattoos on her back; hers were vivid, shades of greens, pinks and browns, the colours of the earth element she controlled.

“Well, obviously it hasn’t come true yet and we have time to prevent it from happening if we get out of here now.”

“If you don’t tell me, I can’t help prevent it.” She countered.

“We… need… to… go!” I emphasized, annoyed, the longer we remained immobile, the faster they would find us.

“Guys, we need to go. Get up!” she yelled as she narrowed her eyes at me angrily, while causing an earthquake that scared our sisters awake.

“What the hell was that for?” Ari yelled, shooting to her feet, eyes turning orange as flames shot from her palms at Sunama, who half asleep doused the flames with water like she’s done a thousand times before.

“Watch where you are aiming.” Sunama yawned as she stretched her arms above her head. “Every morning you try to set something on fire.”

“Huricana, can you dry our clothes… again?” Gia asked, annoyed.

“Sure, I do every morning anyway.” She laughed as she cracked her knuckles in preparation.

Ari grumbled, sitting on the floor, trying to go back to sleep. Huricana’s eyes turned white as the wind picked up inside the cave, drying everything and everyone, as well as forcing Ari to stand up.

I watched the scene play out; every morning was the same. You’d think that recent events would have changed them, but they were still the same. I smiled to myself.

“Guys, come on. Akasha had a vision. We need to leave. Now!” Gia stated sternly.

None of my sisters would pack up to leave until I told them about my vision. Bloody manipulators, so after a lot of arguing, I caved and shared what I had seen with them. They sat speechless after I finished explaining.

“Are you sure that it was a vision? You do not have that ability.” Sunama pointed out.

“The pounding in my head says it is.” I answered as I rubbed my temples, then added, “I don’t think it was just me, I think I was controlling the spirits or giving them the ability to go into corporeal form.”

“Scary.” Sunama mumbled.

“You haven’t left yet?” Ela appeared and scolded me with Karm right behind her.”

“No, my sisters wouldn’t listen until I told them my vision.” I told her.

“Oh, a vision do tell.” Karm stated, sitting on the ground. Ela slapped him.

“We don’t have time right now, geez,”

“What are you talking to the spirits about?” Gia asked, curious, only hearing my answers to them.

 "Can we finish talking about this later? We really needed to be going." I told everyone.

They nodded and gathered the few belongings we saved and headed out into the forest.