Chapter 73

Moon 73

Lord Andrie groaned, Anna could sense him getting enraged and irritated. It made her fear. 'What should I do if he tries to hurt me? I don't think I could fight him. She thought. She looked around and saw someone or something lurking in the shadows, her eyes tried to search for an opening, she needed to get out of here and fast. Not only that, she attempted to run, but something unexpectedly attacked her engulfing her with something she no longer has control over. She couldn't move a muscle, it froze everything even the snow hangs in the air. It froze everything in the frigid land and whatever it was Anna was grateful.

The frozen landscape was the ideal page awaiting new strolling feet. In that icy land, the perfect moments froze, so she savors them all the more, if not under any circumstances she might memorize this moment. Yet, the snow and wind had frozen any earthly object, the sun still rose and illuminated the slopes as if proud of illuminating their every tiny feature. The sunrise came as if it had missed the sky and wanted nothing more than to warm up those blues to a radiant gold.

Already the adrenaline coursing unrestrained, persuading her to do what she cannot. Sure, her muscles were tougher, and she was more awake than she had ever been, but this was not a situation where running faster was going to help. She was hopeless, It was as if she had retreated inside herself; she was like looking at, in the same manner, she watches television. It was as if the whisper were arriving in her brain from far, far away and her sense of touch was disconnected. And so, she told herself over and over that she was there. However, Anna tells herself even at a fraction that reaches inside and reassures her mind. It took time for her spirit to reemerge, to pursue the sunlight instead of the shadow, but there was no other resort - it felt like she was watching herself develop, keeping it permanent and genuine in her mind. Yet, she was staring at herself from another perspective. She was like a mirage of her dream. Her intellect had shut down. What the hell is this? Am I going crazy? She asked herself.

She was sweaty and there was the glisten of cold sweat. Her eyes were as huge as if someone was coming to convey the final blow. Yet what she saw, no one else could see. Trapped in her madness, a living hell for one tailor-made by her mind to play on her deepest fears. Yet, in a moment she heard someone, a whisper so soft telling her to wake up, instructing her not to believe whatever she heard. Telling her to summon her inner fire. 

And she did.

Eyes snap open, Anna is covered in a cold sweat, her heart battering, and looks around her surroundings, skeptical and paranoid that the fear may have followed her here, she gets up, shivering, she rubs her head, and eyes and tries to fully awaken. The sun shines bright through the opening of the cave, washing away the traces of the terror, leaving her relieved to withdraw to her mundane reality.

Looking up from the corner of the cavern, she tried to steady herself trying to comprehend what was going on around her and where she was. Anna looked around the cave, it was empty except for the campfire next to her. Slowly she got up from the corner holding onto the wall for support. Her body felt as if she had been bruised in every corner. Her legs felt shaky and could not support her body yet her head was the only thing that was feeling heavy.

"Thanks to the gods, you woke up," Ashley murmured, watching her closely.

"...Anna, welcome back." The woman announced. "Ashely? Where are we?" Anna inquired.

"You don't remember?"

"No," She responded, looking around, "...where is Harry?" Her brows are drawing together. It confused her, for a while her brain wasn't working.

"He was outside, picking up some wood and more twigs for the fire." 

"What happened? Anna squeezed her eyes shut. 

"Anna, what was the last time you remember?" 

Anna replied, opening and closing her mouth several times before forming any words. "Well, ... the Sandjinn attacked me from behind and spit venom on my face." She nibbled her bottom lip as recognition dawned on her face.

Ashley looked at her intently, under any circumstances, it would kill you on the spot, their Venom was deadly yet. The fire inside you welcomes it instead and turns the Venom into an antidote." She knew that she was the human who killed her twin but how could she hurt her now? She was also the one who saved her, and right now her priority was to kill Lord Colton for betraying her and for trapping her for how many years in the human world.

"Oh," Ashley closed her eyes, then opened them up again.

"Ashley, I met him."

"Who?"

"Lord Andrie, I saw him inside the tree, I mean in the cursed land. It was so scary."

At that moment, Ashley remained unmoved, lost in her thoughts. They had been sitting there for some time and Ashley had offered no words, no hint of any desire to ask her any further. She went back to where it happened. She wanted to take away the power of the painful recollection of her beloved girl and prove to herself that she could choose to move on. The Lord took the one she loves the most, her lovely innocent daughter, and on that spot they made a splendid memory, a happy one. Now when her brain goes back, she diverted it only to the good memory, to the healing one. It was as if she wrote a great story over the top of a horrible story, and in time the ink of the dreadful story receded away until only the positive one lingers, yet her hatred towards him was out of this world. He will pay, he will pay for the lost time she didn't have with her girl. But those old scars were best left alone unless she's got the moment to stick by her anguish. She knows it seems kind to forget and forgive, but in this situation, it wasn't. Every one of those scars was some of her terrible pain, that's why she did her best to accept people as they are and be compassionate. 

"Ashley, are you okay?" Anna nudged her a little.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Did you saw him? In the wasteland? The eternal prison?" Ashley inquired, standing up while her expression closed up. The color drained out of her face as she realized something.

"Yes, before that, I was chased by the Sandjinn Wolves, and he saves me from them."

"Impossible." Her eyes widened.

"What?.. why?"

"He was frozen there for years for a reason, and you..." she pulled off. Her face hardened. Her jaw clenched. She was beyond anxious now. Whatever happened inside the tree conveys bad news. "Anna, did you talk to him? Ashley's eyes flickered with worry and fear.

"Yes,"

"Oh God, this is not good, not good. Such madness" pacing around, Ashley was panicking, 

"Why?"

"Because Anba, he was not supposed to talk to anyone, he was frozen there forever... by any chance did he touch you?"

"No, actually he almost did, but everything froze the moment he almost grabbed me."

"Frozen?" Ashley asked. Her curiosity was more aroused this time. If Anna could converse with Lord Andrie, his power was returning and that was not a good thing. Bad news indeed.

"Yes, all had frozen then it felt like I was frozen too, but kind of like I was watching myself freeze... does it make sense?" Anna replied. But it was more than that. There was a nervousness in Ashley that she wasn't even trying to mask. She backed away. Nothing about this was making sense, now Ashley was curling her fists or that was anger that radiated from her skin. Anna knew her hatred towards the man was beyond comparison, he murdered her daughter, but she saw something else in her eyes too. Something familiar yet unavoidable.

"Oh fuck! Anna... it made sense, I think he was playing a trick with your mind, after all, he was the most powerful creature of the dark, and I fear that he was awakened and used you to release him from that land." She looked up at her again, this time with widened eyes. 

"Oh, fuck sake...you mean he lured me in?" Anna's blood drained from her face, and her heart hammered. She was never afraid of him before, but now the Dark Lord was on her tail. It's a different story.

"Yes," replied Ashley.

"Shit! The asshole… wait, Ashley what do you suggest that we do next?" Anna asked.

"Well, do you have the medallions?

"Yes." 

"Then they will tell you what to do," Ashley uttered. Her eyes gleamed with wonder.

"I don't understand...He told me this was just to an ordinary medallion and just to lure someone to free him from that prison." Anna trailed off, taking It out from her neck. "There was nothing in here, I mean..." her whole face lit up as she observed it.

"Anna, it wasn't just an ordinary medallion, Lord Colton wanted it so much to free Lord Andrie too, that thing is important, look at it with your mind, not with your eyes."

"How would I do that?" She asked.

"I don't know you're the daughter of the moon so I guess it will come to you, I'm not even allowed to touch it. But let your focus bring that prophecy to your mind, to yourself, to your loved ones, to this land. For the luck of one is the luck of all. The journey of one is the journey of all. And within that, free your mind, free yourself and follow your moon-given path."

Silence followed. 

"When you concentrate on that objective and plan when you learn to seek yourself for real..." Ashley spoke again. Her pupil dilated as she looked at Anna. "...what is your intention, what is your quest? Ask yourself that. Then visualize all the medallions, it will tell you whatever you need to know."

Five seconds later, "Oh, I see it now." Anna paled.

"In the Land of Ice, they will fight,

A frozen soul with purest of heart

Darkness shall end with good intent.

A sacrifice shall begin."

She opened her eyes and was confused suddenly.

"Land of ice? Is that White Mountain?"

"I believe so," Ashley answered as she paced with her. Trapped as she felt, caught within an interlocking triangle of her past, present, and future at the time, she grew tired of solitary walks among the restless dunes of shifting sands of the desert land. She thought of her daughter while contemplating suicide out of boredom. But then she recalled her own still vivid memories of her death and wished none of it. All she craved was revenge.

"And a sacrifice?" Anna asked and lifted an eyebrow.

"You have to choose dear, whatever it was, somehow a sacrifice is needed." Ashley blinked twice and added nothing.

Anna thought, her path doesn't care about her quest, that's for her to deal with. The path was the path. So, whatever comes, she needs to continue going. When she gets knocked down, she has to get up, 'cause there's no other way. She sees what was out there though, she felt it 'cause the coins told her. It said "just think" and so she did, she still does. It says at the other end was peace, genuine happiness for everyone, and she has to keep moving even if the journey makes her bleed. Sometimes it has, constantly so much she just wants to stay down and feel the chill... then she remembers why she had started this journey and finds her mind again.

"Where is Harry, I think I know what to do." Anna stood up and looked around.

"...Ashley, I need you to bring together all our allies. Send a messenger. We need to go to White Mountain, and we demand an army. If we wish for peace, we demand to confront the darkness." She added. "...we need to work together, summon everyone willing to challenge the enemy this stupid was needs an end, I think I know what the prophecy tells us." Anna surveyed the entrance. Hoping for Harry to appear. 

She needs to mute the sounds in her head. The challenge now was how to figure out how to live without the intrusive voices. The shadow that constantly 'motivated' her: yet, she learns not to listen. She felt someone was playing tricks on her mind. The shadow was constantly defending and deflecting criticism from the sounds that became her entire character; her personality was defined by the voice, and the whisper discerned her mood. At times, she would mourn 'high psychotic activity' which was distressing if not scarring. It has molded the realization that the voices aren't real. However, Anna knew how to fight it.

"Okay, I will send a messenger immediately," Ashley replied.

"And see you there, for now, Harry and I need to return to the human world. We can't stay any longer, we will meet you there in White Mountain." Anna looked into her eyes, and she did something she thought she would never do. She let go of the last bits of herself that tethered her fury.  

*****

Human World

They awakened. Everything was blurred for a moment. "Harry? Are you awake?"

"Yes." came his answer. He turned around as he squinted his eyes.

"Mr. Faiz? Is that you?" Anna muttered. She glanced at the man. His worried demeanor confused her.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Camilton, Anna," Mr. Faiz replied, looking at them with pursed lips.

"Sorry for what, Mr. Faiz?" A line appeared between Anna's brows.

"I can't keep this any longer, you both need to know the truth." 

"About what?" Replied Harry.

"About your stepfather, he came here earlier and demanded to use the device." 

"How the hell did that happen? How did he know about it?" Harry's eyes glinted with hatred. Mr. Faiz looked towards Anna as he bowed his head.

"He planted it all. When Lord Andrie took Dr. Simon's mind, he began and sowed to persuade you into believing that he was there working when you were a teenager." He glanced towards her, his eyes glinted with sorrows and regret.

"He coaxed you to go to the Moonland; to find David and Leon because he realized they could help you with your quest for the medallions. He'd made sure that you and Harry would meet, and he'd been supporting me building the Dreamers Device, so he could track all your movement in the Moonland." He added his eyes went around and his jaw tightened.

"So the Nano trackers were working on me while I was asleep and yet, you made me believe that it doesn't work?" Anna's eyes welled up. He slashed at her with betrayal, and she was beyond pain. She was more than saddened but she grew silent, unresponsive as if she did not hear them talking, lost in her thoughts.

"Yes. I'm sorry, Miss Brown." 

"After all this time, I'm just the pawn? 

How dare you all play with my feelings, I trusted you." Her throat and heart kept in a mournful grasp and all she could do was glance at the brown eyes that took and a terrifying coldness she had never seen in him before. Yet, Anna had always thought his eyes were kind, but looking at them now she could watch no track of the vibrancy they once occupied, no sketch of the man she once knew.

"And Nathaniel?" Harry asked. His heartbeat was a little faster to catch on, like seeing a traitorous friend, one who had been loved as a brother.

"No, he doesn't know anything about your stepfather's grand plan." Mr. Faiz pursed his lips," he paused. "...I don't know about that." He paused. How his kindness turned to hate as if he didn't even fight it. He let that negative sentiment choke him and squirt acid into his soul. "Dr. Simon was the one who provided knowledge to the Dark Lord of your progress." He paused and shut his eyes. As he bent over to tie his shoes, a sharp pain surged up the middle of his back. It was a constant reminder of his last winter in his home -the gift that keeps on giving. After letting out a long and painful sigh, he recalled how badly his life turned into a sour mess.

"...he instructed me, the plan of Harry meeting you; because he felt that both of you were the bridge and could open the subconscious mind of Dr. Simon so he could cross to the Moonland. He helped the Dark Lord escape from the prison and with your help Anna; with you being there with the medallion ...helped him escape." Mr. Faiz knew he was wrong and there was no excuse for his doing. What hides behind the lies were facts that declined to get to the light.

What lies behind his betrayal may have been truthful at first sight. What suppressed his pain keeps reminding him of how naïve had been. He was confused at first, but he believes everything will come out when the moment is appropriate. And the right moment was now. He knew they would hate him. But it's too late to regret now.

"Dammit, Mr. Faiz! You were like my brother! Now you're nobody more than a mere slithering snake. I trusted you! I cared for you! And this is how you repay me? Deceiving us? Get out before I rip your filthy throat out, you son of a bitch! You are nothing to me anymore. You've lost all my trust, and you are fired. Get out. Get out." Harry screamed as the man went to the door and disappeared.

A couple of minutes followed.

"What happens now?"

"We need to find Nathaniel, we need his help before we go back to sleep," Harry replied.

"Good plan...." All of a sudden, Anna felt tired. "...we might need Lamia's help this time. Shall we ask her to sleep with us while Nathaniel watches over ourselves?"

"Yes, I can arrange that."