Fan Fiction ❯ Journey of Hope ❯ Journey part 13 ( Chapter 13 )

Journey of Hope
Written by VegetandAru (lord of the underworld)
Everything is my own, Please be nice as far as criticism goes, however if you do have something about it that you don't like then don't flame, just tell me about it if you would.

This was written quite a few years ago now, but I just stumbled across it on my hard drive and I've began to patch it up, it's still not finished but I'm working on it.

Yours VegetandAru (vegetandaru@yahoo.com)

<o0@0o>

'To the world you may be one person,
But to one person you may be the world'
(anonymous)

<o0@0o>

Nadia looked back into Tovasan, she had made good time and had already passed the border into Wallfault. It would still take Trayant another day at the least to get where she was. Maybe she would take a break and stay in a town for a day. She could look round the shops and get herself fitted out with all the latest weapons and armour. Then she could stop at a cafe and get some lunch. She smiled at the thought. It sounded like a good day out and she had heard from some passers by that Faut-lon was a great shopping place. Nadia could see her sub conscious self frowning at her.

"What? It's not like I'm breaking some long forgotten rule that overlords can't shop, all I want is a day to myself. I may be an overlord but I am also a nineteen year old girl who hasn't shopped for over a decade. As a women I feel that I have needs." She stated this loud and clear but her sub conscious self still tutted disapprovingly. "Oh be quiet."

"Who are ya talkin' to?" She looked around and saw a little boy sitting at the side of the road she was following.

"No one." she snapped.

"Okay! Okay! I was jus' askin'. No need to have a fit."

"Children." She sighed in annoyance and looked away

"I'm not a child." She turned to look at him again, rolling her eyes. But he was right, he wasn't a child. He was Fire. The nymph smiled at her and stood up.

"You better be careful how strong you get or that top might split." A tight black top was pulled over Fire's blazing hot muscles. Unlike Nadia then Fire really had only lived nineteen years. When a nymph dies then a new baby nymph is created to take over from the previous one and will grow up at the same rate as any human child, but when an overlord dies then they are not really dead and within a period of two to three days will be reborn. For the first few days then they will age about 5 years but from then on will be able to live in their own monument, only aging when they are out of the stone monument, but luckily this time they age then it will be at the normal time rate. If you count Nadia's time both in and out of the monument then she would age in the 3,000 somewhere.

Nadia always flirted with fire because he was the only man that she knew who liked her, most men weren't too keen on meeting a women who is stronger, faster and smarter than them and if there is then they never seem to want a girlfriend who can be 3,000 and 19 at the same. Nadia had to admit that that could be a bit off putting, but fire liked her and if it hadn't of been for the fact that she couldn't touch him without getting burnt then she knew he would be a great boyfriend. She knew that he liked her, they talked sometimes in the stone world (inside the monuments) and often they flirted but it was never anything serious. Sometimes she wished that it could be, but it was just a wish, nothing more.

"What are you doing here Fire."

"Oh nuthin' much."

"Come on tell me."

"Ya really wanna know?" She nodded, curiosity mounting up inside."

"Well, okay. I'll tell ya. I was lookin' for ya, 'cause I thought dat ya might need some 'elp."

"Help?...Off you? Ha! Why on Gillis would I ever need help from a nymph."
"Well...ya might need a nymph ta tell ya dat the top button on ya jacket is undone so's dat ev'ry one cun see ya bra. Jus' for example." Nadia blushed and looked away, doing up her jacket in quiet embarrassment. Fire laughed softly and turned to look at the mountains in Gobi, where the sun was rising with a pale yellow glow that seemed to pick out all the detail on each of the towering white peaks. Each of which was shimmering like silver, with the shine of a thousand snowflakes.

"Nadia?"

"Yes."

"Do ya know what's goin' on." Nadia's eyes narrowed to thin green slits as she looked Fire up and down desperately trying to read his body language to see what he was getting at, but to no avail.

"Fire, what exactly do you mean?" He didn't answer but instead kept his eyes fixed upon the far off mountains. "Hey! I'm talking to you, so you better answer. Now what did you mean?" Fire sighed and turned his blazing body back to her.

"If ya du'n already know den there's no reason dat ya should find out... yet. Things are changin' Nadia and ya need to be wary of both ya future and ya past. Be careful a'right." His body shone with a fierce white fire. So bright that it blinded Nadia and she had to look away, her arm across her face to shield her eyes. She immediately felt her face burn with embarrassment and fury at her own timid nature.

"I'm an overlord I should be strong, I shouldn't of had to shield my eyes from a little bit of light." She turned back to where Fire had been. But he was no longer there. She looked around, her eyes bright with confusion and curiosity. "Nice trick." She turned away and walked onwards to Faut-lon. The sun had risen high in the sky now and had cast its yellow beams to the farthest corners of the world. It was turning out to be a beautiful day with the sun rising ever higher into the pale blue sky. A few subtle white clouds were drifting gently over a landscape of small slopping hills, filled with the yellows and blues of flowers and alive with the buzz of bees. The sun shed its glorious golden rays over the lush green grass and shimmered off the crystal clear dew drops that speckled the fields of grazing cows and sheep with moisture. As far as Nadia could see then the sun was shinning and the grass was green and in the distance stood a bright little town filled with the reds, golds and oranges that symbolized the beginning of Sala-mar-ta. The celebration of the sun. This meant that Lea-crease was soon to begin too and in a weeks time the purple, blue and silver flags of Lunarise would be flying over the continent. She pressed on over the continent eager to stop and shop.

As she entered the sun soaked town, she raced towards the outdoor tables of a small restaurant eager to sit down, her train of thought had been scattered over the barren waste land of her own mind. She rested her head in her hands, their clamminess made her uncomfortable and she lifted her head and crossed her arms in silence annoyance.

"That nymph, that-that-that, that boy!" Her words had the cutting edge of a knife. "How dare he, this is my land, I need to know what is going on in it, how dare he try to out smart me. Me! Nadia Karease Felvia, an overlord of Gillis. How dare he!" The anger burnt brightly in her eyes. She looked at her hands and noticed that they were shaking, she hooked her fingers together in an attempt to stop them from trembling. She came steadily to her feet and in her outrage found it perfectly necessary to bury her fist into the wall of a nearby grocery shop before walking off, she heard the yell of the grocer from behind her, he was bawling complaints at her as she wondered off. She was no longer in the mood for shopping, she could have shopped, if she'd of wanted to, but she felt that the fun would had been sucked out of it. The look of concern on Fire's face flooded her memory every time she closed her eyes, every detail of worry and suppressed pain of heart that plagued his caring eyes had been scolded into her mind. She tossed the dreadful image aside, all this pain, all because of the look on a boys face, a look which filled her every waking thought, and diminished every trace of joy in her dull little life, only to replace it with a growing sense of fear and a terrible dread for the future. She felt herself bow down, once again, to her own emotions.

I'm being silly, she said the words to her self in the private quietness of her own head, emotions hold no power, they only thing they hold is me. They hold me back from my true potential. Her proud strides widened and she quickened her pace until she was safely in side the inn.

The friendly warmth of the inn seemed some what soothing to Nadia. The smell of cinnamon wafted through the air, and the taste of alcohol stuck to the back of her throat. The sickly sweet aroma of baileys filled her nose and tickled her taste buds. She made her way over to the counter.

"What can I do ya for luv?" A friendly looking man in a stained and dirty bar tenders apron approached her with a grin. He was cleaning a glass beer mug with the corner of his apron in a vague way that suggested that he had started cleaning it about an hour ago and had long since forgotten about it.

"I need a shot of tequila and a baileys. Now!"

"Anything else bab?"

"Huh? Oh. Yes! I need a room for the night. How much will that be?"

"Naught much luv, only be a few bob. Tell you what, since your such a pretty one, i'll let you have a room for two copper pieces. That's a bargain that is." He nodded to himself as he talked as if to try and confirm what he had just said. Nadia reached into her pocket and pulled out a purple velvet purse with a plaited draw string made of a fine threaded gold. It had the initials N F written in gold leaf on the front.

"Alright..." She sighed spilling it's contents on to the table. "So that's two copper pieces for the room, ahh i've only got silver and gold, you'll have to give me some change. And how much for the drinks?"

"Half a copper piece for the baileys and another half for the tequila, although each shot of tequila after the first one is only a quarter of a copper piece."

"Right." Nadia pushed a silver piece across the table towards him and placed the rest of her money back into her little draw string bag. He waddled back across to her with her change,

"I'll just get your room key and drinks darlin'."

Nadia fell to sleep that night with the warm taste of tequila sticking in the back of her throat. She'd fallen asleep in front of the bar and had been carried up stairs by a young man with red hair. She could remember feeling the burning warmth of his hands as she slept, but she had been to tired and to drunk to care that night and dreamt on as he took her to her bed. But now it was morning and she was sober once again. Her eyes snapped open and the recollection of last night flooded into her head.

"Who was that boy?" She whispered quietly to herself.

"G'mornin' Nadia. Ya sleep well." She tossed over onto her front and propped herself up on her elbows. The red headed flame Nymph was sitting back to front on a chair near the window arms folded lazily across the seat back.

"Fire? It was you who carried me up stairs yesterday?"

"Ahaa! Ya were tired an' I couldn' 'ave left ya downstairs, so I thought dat it was prob'ly betta me carryin' ya up 'ere rather dan sum drunk pervert." She nodded and smiled at him with appreciation. But she knew that other things had happened yesterday, things that led her to getting drunk, certain mental images. Ones that even now had crept into her head. She shuddered and tried to push the pictures aside.

"The alcohol didn't make you forget did it."

"Make me forget what?" She snapped the words at him and tried hard to cover up how she was feeling. She gave up and sighed, her eyes were closed. "Does it really show that much Fire?"

"Naa dun worry I cun only see it 'cauze I'm a nymph. I swear it's not dat obvious." She rubbed her tired eyes and tried hard to focus on Fire's friendly features. She watched a bird sitting on her window sill in silence, it was pecking at the fruit on a branch that hung over the window sill and bumped against her window with every peck.

"i don't understand you Fire, you're different to the rest of the Nymphs, I mean it really. I've met many a nymph and they're normally, well, pessimistic and self centered," she smiled at him sweetly, "but you're a good friend and really caring Fire. You're different." She found her chance to ask what she'd been dying to say. "Fire, I have to ask, what did you mean yesterday, what exactly' is going on?"