Story of a warrior

“I just told you it twice already. You want to hear it again?” Adin questioned, having arched an eyebrow in my direction. It has been 4 years since I’ve been here and 2 years after the way ended. I was now 7 and Adin was now 10. We had grown inseparable during the past years, and this summer wasn’t something that changed. We were outside sitting at the hill, Adin polishing his sword.

His grandfather gave it to him as a present. Adin has gotten his powers 3 years ago when he was 7 years old. He had fire powers as well as powers linked to his anger and love emotions. Whenever he experienced those emotions, his eyes would change colour to either red or purple. He was destined to be an assassin. I wanted to be as well. Adin sighed.

“Fine, I’ll tell you again. Long ago, before we were even born, a huge war broke out caused by the Shadow Mist King. He was the most brutal king anyone has ever witnessed. But a group of friends came together and formed one and banished the Shadow Mist King. Legend has it that the Shadow Mist King will once again reign, through his descendant, and a group of mighty warriors will defeat the king again, also falling in love as well.” He looked at me with a smirk as I sat there, enthralled.

“Imagine if that will be us. If we will be part of the next group of warriors and defeat the Shadow Mist descendant!” I exclaimed. Being a warrior sounded cool because then I can be an assassin, just like Adin will be. Adin smirked at me again.

“And fall in love?” he questioned. I pondered the question. Did I want to fall in love? Yes, I did. But with who? I simply shrugged.

“I dunno maybe. Do you want to fall in love?” I asked him, my eyes huge staring back at his green eyes. He blushed slightly and nodded.

“Yeah, I don’t mind. Because then I can do this to them,” Adin grabbed me by the waist and spun me around. I squealed, giggled and protested for him to stop. After he stopped and set back on the ground, I noticed that his eyes changed colour.

“Look, your eyes changed colour to purple!” I pointed out. Adin’s eyes went large, and we both ran down the hill to the small lake. Jacinta told us that it used to be a magic river, where warriors and heroes used to come to get nourished. I still believed that it was magical. We kneeled on the bank and peered over the edge.

“Hey! They are purple! I look good with purple eyes, don’t I?” Adin said pretending to be a model. I couldn’t stop laughing. He looked ridiculous making those faces and poses. He looked like a monkey in a circus. I don’t know what a monkey is, or a circus, but Jacinta read us a book once about monkeys and circuses. An image came into my mind of Adin being a monkey in a circus, which set the bomb for me. Before I knew it, I fell headfirst into the river.

“ANNALIESE!!” Adin screamed. I struggled to stay afloat, and the current was pulling me away,

“ADIN!! HELP!” I shouted back, being pulled underneath the swallowing waves I created. This happened for a few minutes and all my strength was leaving me. Everything went black.

***

“Will she be, okay?”

“Only time can tell. She’s going to have a huge scar on her eye for the rest of her life and she has a lot of water in her lungs. We only must wait for her to get it out herself.” The first voice sighed.

“Can she have visitors?”

“Of course, she can. Now if you don’t mind, I must leave now.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” Loud and heavy footsteps left the room and quiet ones replaced the loud ones. I struggled to open my eyes.

“Body, please move. Work please,” I thought to myself. I wanted to let everyone know that I was alive, but my body refused to obey my commands to function. There was a muffled conversation, and someone left the room. Who was still here? I could feel their presence. Wait- I can feel their presence? But… how? Contemplating my questions, I felt someone hold my hand and tears fall on my hand.

“Annaliese, I know you are still alive and can hear me. I’m so sorry that you fell into the river. It was all my fault; you could have died. Please forgive me, I can’t bear the thought of being away from you, knowing that it was all my fault. Please show me a sign, anything.”

It was Adin. My heart sank and instantly my body worked. Finally. I sat up and stared at Adin, His head hung low, and he was holding my hand with both of his. A purple kind of mist formed around the room, like sparkles.

“I won’t leave you, crybaby,” I responded. Adin stopped crying and slowly looked up at me. His eyes were purple again and full of tears.

“Annaliese? You’re alive!” he exclaimed. I gave him the death stare.

“If I wasn’t alive, would I be talking to you?” He smiled at me, and I could tell he was glad that I was alive.

“Yeah, I know.” We both giggled.

My recovery took a good six weeks. Adin came to visit me every day. Unfortunately for me, it was my birthday. My 8th birthday. To my surprise though, there was a huge part for me in the room I was staying at. Extra merit points for that. Despite the huge party, I had private times alone with Adin, Jacinta or even just myself. On the day of my release, it was Adin’s 11th birthday. He had made me promise I’d come a few days ago.

“Promise you’ll be well for my birthday?” he has asked pleadingly. I nodded securing the promise and I made sure to make it happen. I was reading a book called, “Romance, Hate, Jealousy.” Jacinta had given it to me to read. It was about this wolf who experienced so many emotions, mainly love, hate and jealousy, that he had to be outcasted from his tribe. He became a human and one of the most dangerous assassins ever. Most people would believe it wrong for an 8-year-old to read such books, but I didn’t mind. Anyways, as I was reading, Jacinta came in with the doctor.

“Annaliese, the doctor is here for your final check-up,” Jacinta informed me. I sighed and got out of bed. The doctor, a short and rather plump man prodded me and checked everything. After 10 minutes, he stepped back and smiled.

“She is as healthy as ever before and can be released out,” he said. Jacinta beamed and smiled and escorted him out before running back.

“You can now go to Adin’s party. He wanted it to be your favourite theme. Medieval castle theme. The local dressmaker agreed to make outfits for everyone for free, and there is one special one for you,” she winked. Helping me leave, Jacinta took me to my room where a mannequin stood in place. The dress was floor length with long sleeves made from lace and a beautiful shade of baby blue.

“I love it!” I exclaimed. After a difficult battle of getting me inside the dress, it was time to go to the party. The dining hall had been decorated to show a castle theme. Everyone was decked out in pretty dresses or suits. Adin was outside on the hill, so I went there to meet him. He has his back towards me and was looking down at the river. I moved forward slowly and tapped him on the shoulder lightly. He turned around and stared me in the ye before bursting into tears and hugging me tightly.

“Annaliese, you’re well,” he said. I hugged him back and lifted him. When I put him back on the ground, he looked at me with shock.

“How did you get to be so strong?” he questioned. I shrugged and looked at him confused.

“I don’t know. Do you think it could have been from the water?” Adin shrugged back.

“Who knows. I’m only glad you’re here, alive and well.” We both walked back to the dining hall and had so much fun. There was fencing which we all failed at, except for Jacinta. She bet Hans, one of the caretakers who also had a crush on Jacinta, with ease. The food was something from a banquet and the cake topped things off. It was a night never to forget, not only for Adin but everyone.

***

I pulled the cloak around me tighter. Winter had just arrived with a bitter bite to the bone. I was out ploughing the snow when some big girls came. I groaned. It was Sasha and her small group, Hannah and Nicole, who stuck to her like leeches.

“Hey! Baby Annaliese, whatcha doing?” Sasha called. The only reason she ever talked to anyone was to bully them. Pretending to ignore her, I continued, only to move at the last second to avoid her punch. Wait, when was she going to hit me? How did I know? Sasha tumbled down into the snow. Her eyes were large and bulging with anger.

“You little brat!! How dare you do that??” she spat. Her minions rushed to her side and helped her up. I just shrugged.

“No biggie. Why did you try to punch me?” I challenged her. A few people overheard and a crowd began to form. Sasha, enjoying the attention, lunged forward at me, but I managed to pin her down. Not giving up, she stood back up and tried to pin me down, but I punched her in the face and hit her back down again. The crowd began to cheer my name.

“Annaliese! Annaliese!” All except for one voice. Harsh and incredibly recognizable. Jacinta!! She stormed towards me angrily.

“Annaliese, how dare you do this? You know better than this! To your room now and we will have a little talk. Rest of you, back to your chores and Hannah and Nicole, take Sasha to the nurse,” Jacinta commanded everyone. I stood there and as Hannah and Nicole took Sasha, she gave me a dirty look.

“You’ll pay for this…” she snarled. I looked at her and shrugged and went to my room. Just as I closed the door, Adin opened it and stormed in.

“What were you thinking? You could have killed her!! I’m proud of you though,” Adin started. I sat in the corner and said nothing. He sighed and sat down next to me.

“Come on, tell me what happened,” he said, nudging me gently. I sighed deeply and told him everything, from the fall to me feeling different, my sudden strength, increased agility, speed and everything else. Just then, Jacinta entered the room and locked the door.

“You both need to leave now,” she said her eyes wide. Adin and I looked at each other confused. Jacinta came to the corner and knelt in front of us.

“You both are too strong for this orphanage. Adin, you have your fire, love and anger powers and Annaliese, after looking more deeply into it, you have the powers of a leader. I have seen you both grow up to be strong in every way, but now you both must go. Promise to always look after each other, okay? Now go. Now.”