CHAPTER 1:
Alexandria sat dejectedly on the swing on the porch. Fifteen years she’d lived in the foster home, knowing she was different, that she never really belonged. She suffered terrible fits in which she saw the future, but no one ever believed her. She’d looked the disease up and found a name for it: Cassandra’s Tears. The Greek god of prophecy, Apollo, had fallen in love with one of his priestesses, Cassandra. He offered her the world and more, even the gift of true prophecy, but she declined, for she had taken vows of chastity and refused to break them, even for a god. He gave her the gift anyway, hoping that this would entice her to give in, but she still held fast to her vows. In his fit of anger, he cursed her gift so that none would believe her very-true prophecies. And this held true during the Trojan War. They all fell.
Only one person ever tried to make her feel welcome at school and that was Zoe. She was a fair skinned, platinum blonde girl with soft blue eyes. She was corded and muscled from years of riding horses. And although Alex was an alright rider, she would never achieve the level of success that Zoe had. Other than that, the two girls had nothing in common. Alex was a golden haired, tan skinned girl, skinny like she was anorexic when she wasn’t, and shy. Zoe was the aforementioned blonde that was outgoing and popular, never having trouble making friends, or making people feel welcome.
Suddenly, blackness loomed on the edges of her vision. She recognized the symptoms of her condition and fought it, but the future hit her like a wave and sucked her beneath the surface. She was standing next to a dark haired boy, who was burly and ripped. They both held slightly glowing swords in their hands and had slashes around their faces, like they’d been fighting. Their breaths came in pants as their eyes darted around. They looked battle-worn and toughened, like they’d been suffering for many days and many nights.
“What are we going to do Derrick? They have us surrounded, a legion to 2. They want the urlictide.” Alex gasped, out of breath.
"Think you could summon some mounts?” the boy, presumably Derrick, asked.
Alex shook her head. She glanced behind her and touched the bag hanging off her shoulder in an old-style sling. Inside was cradled something so precious, it controlled the fate of the universe. It was long and oval shaped, a metallic shine to it. Her fingers grazed it lovingly, recalling what they had gone through to obtain it.
“We can’t let them have it Derrick. If they had it…” Alex trailed off, a full-body shudder racking her frame. The boy nodded sagely.
“On three, you run for Elva. She’ll get you to the hill so you can make it to Athens. I’ll cover your back.” He suggested.
Alex turned to him in horror. “You’ll be no use to the Divine in the war if you die here Derrick. What you are suggesting is martyrdom. To visit Persephone’s cold halls before your time…”
He pressed his finger up against her protesting lips, transferring to the Old Speech. “I will no’ be far behind agapi mou. By some sick chance ye are right though, tell Elva…”
The thought went unspoken between the two of them. “Aye, I will Derrick. But if ye escape by some miracle, but I dinna, I would have ye tell Nickolas the same.” Alex murmured through his finger. He nodded anxiously and then silently counted to three. When he hit 3, she flew into a dead run, flying over the ground as fast as her legs would allow, seeking the marble halls of Athens and the warm embrace of her other half, Nickolas. Just as she began to see the light of halls above and the small silhouette of a small elfish girl, the real world snapped into clarity.
She was being shaken roughly by a boy above her. As she peered at the face, she realized something with a sickening thud. The small, stringy boy above her had the same startling eyes and angular face as the boy in her vision. Derrick. She’d known him all of her life, he was her PIC. And yet he was supposed to serve some kind of Divine person? And then there were the other two people mentioned in the vision. Elva and Nickolas. Although she had no idea who they were, Elva’s name somehow inspired her. It made her want to respect the person that the name belonged to. And the name Nickolas…A shiver went through her. Just from the name, she felt sweat-slicked and giddy. From the way she’d said his name in the vision, it was obvious that they were in love. His name resonated deeply through her as if it had struck something and it was the right thing. Suddenly, she realized that Derrick was saying something to her. She focused on his words.
“What did you see? You only see impending disasters! What was it?” he begged her. She shook her head, knowing it would only freak him out.
“You don’t want to know.” She murmured. His face betrayed his fury.
“I’m the only one who ever believes you have visions. Not even your best friend says you do. What would you do if you lost that?” he demanded.
Alex flinched. “I would die. Go mad. You’re the only thing that keeps me sane.”
“Exactly. Tell me what you saw. People could be in danger Alex!”
“We’re the ones in danger Derrick. And possibly the whole world. Can you get me to a computer without anyone seeing my bloodshot eyes?” She asked. The downside to trying to hide her visions: your eyes got bloodshot and hurt worse than hell, so you couldn’t make a public appearance for at least 4 hours. And someone tended to notice if she hid in herself in her room for at least 4 hours. They would check and then make her drink a vile liquid that would repress her visions for at least a month. And without her visions, she felt weak, vulnerable, and selfish. She could save lives (she had before) when she had her visions.
He stared at her in surprise, and then nodded once shortly. He stripped off his hoodie and then handed it to her. She pulled it on and pulled the hood low over her eyes. Together they ran inside, she sheltered inside the crook of his arm. Derrick dragged her into the computer room and booted up a computer. Once it was running, she pulled up her favorite search engine and typed in “urlictide”.
Over 2 million results came up. The first was a wiki site. It said, as a definition, that an urlictide was a magical Greek artifact that had the power to amplify hundredfold the intentions of whoever held it. If the person holding it had good and pure intentions, then all of the world’s goodness would be amplified hundredfold. And it also depended on who held it. If an extremely powerful person held it, that was added to it. Suddenly she felt a tingle she recognized. The future was changing. For better or worse she couldn’t tell, but it was changing.
She greedily devoured the rest of the information and then shut down the computer. She allowed Derrick to support her as he lugged her outside. They traveled to the farthest corner of the fields of the orphanage. Once he sat her exhausted form down, he began to demand answers.
“What’s going on Alex? I have a right to know.” He demanded, sitting down next to her.
She sighed. He was right, as usual. “You’d better sit down. This is going to take a while.”
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Sorry about the length, I'll try to warn you next time or put it up in peices.
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