ZaVeraid Trilogy: Awe

by Alexa Hoffman

So, I explained everything from waking up in the sleep-filled light column, right to the part where Warren was awake.

  “I thought you weren’t coming back” I said to finish the story, eyes cast downward as I repeated the words warren told me when he about sent me to Verania.

  “Hey,” He said, his voice was barley audible, no more than a whisper, “no need to think about the past when we’ve got the future ahead of us.”

  Warren was definitely right, and the future ahead of us was hard. We worked on getting stronger. Warren made me rest in the bush for at least five hours so my power could regenerate. I made him rest and talk as less as possible. When I went out in search of food, Warren gave me a half-hour talk on safety.

  Warren had filled me in on what happened to him. Four very fierce, all male Tranel had discovered Warren as he was trying to sneak into their underground tunnels. They had a huge fight. Warren sent a strong transfer wave over all of them, and three of them got sent to some random light column. Warren said that the fourth must have had some type of earplugs in because he wasn’t affected. Warren had put up a one-on-one fight, opening a fatal wound in the Tranel’s head, which explained the blood on him. Warren thought the Tranel was as good as dead and turned around. The Tranel took this as an advantage and had savagely shocked Warren with a high powered electric rod before he dropped to the ground, dead. Warren went flying forward, into the giant field of thorn bushes. His heart must’ve stopped beating from the blow. Then I had to of come just a bit later, when his brain was still functioning.

  I convinced Warren to teach me some attack moves that I could use with my powers. The sessions weren’t long, but were very tiring. After a few days of resting, Warren said what I had been patiently waiting to hear.

  “I think it’s time to go save your friends.”

  I got so excited, and then Warren ruined it.

  “I’ll send you back to the rainforest. The moves I taught you should be enough to keep you safe if anything happens. You’ll be safe there.” Warren said matter-of-factly

  “Excuse me? I will NOT go back to that rainforest while you face more danger saving my friends!” I yelled.

  “Shhh! They might hear!” He said.

  “You know what happened the last time,” I said in a quieter voice, “I will go with you whether you like it or not! If you send me to a different light column, I will… I will kill myself! How good would you feel then?” I said, and meant every word.

  I knew I won the argument. “Fine, then listen to the plan, and listen closely.”

  Chapter 16

  The plan wasn’t complex. Actually, it was quite simple. Warren and I would enter though the closest exit possible. We would then go steal the universal cell key from the central office, located in the center of the tunnels, then go to the thirtieth row on the fiftieth column and get Carmen and Liz out. Then we would take the shortest route and make our way out of the tunnels, then find a way to get back to the soggy jungle as quick as possible.

  At least that’s how the plan was supposed to go.

  The first adjustment to the plan happened when we saw that the opening to the tunnels we were going to go through was locked tight with electric wires entwined in the gate. We had to walk another mile until we found the next unlocked entrance. We slipped inside, and Warren said that these tunnels looked familiar. I was relieved.

  Being back in the tunnels reminded me of that horrible day when I saw all the dead animals, and was almost killed myself. We went past twists and turns. I asked Warren if he still knew where we were going. He only shrugged. Getting lost in the tunnels again, hooray, I thought to myself. We went around a couple more corners. Warren’s face was getting more confused by the second. I was getting worried that we were totally lost, when Warren’s face brightened up.

  “I recognize the shape of these tunnels.” He said.

  “What’s the difference? They all look the same!”

  “Ha, that’s what my little sister used to always say when I took her through mazes at the county fair.” Warren said, sorrow in his eyes.

  I didn’t want to ask, but curiosity was gnawing at my thoughts, “What happened to your sister?”

  “Earthquake, she fell down a crevice when I was thirteen and she was nine. I changed my name to Warren, because she always thought I was so good at mazes.”

  “And a warren is a maze.” I said mostly to myself.

  We reached the opening of a huge room I had never seen before.

  “This is the central office.” Warren informed me.

  “How do you know all of this?” I asked as I silently slipped in the room with him.

  “Lived down here for three months to get information for the people who used to live in the rainforest, and some places I never forgot.” Warren said.

  He grabbed the single key lying unguarded on an old moldy wooden table. We went through the tunnel at the opposite side of the wall.

  We passed wet tunnels, we passed dry tunnels. Once we even passed a tunnel filled with Tranel and had to squeeze inside a nearby crevice. Thankfully we weren’t spotted.

  Then we entered a room that was all too familiar to me. The cages that were lining the walls, and the animals snuffling around inside, the room where the last of Goldie’s puppies died, this room was a real- life nightmare. Then I saw the bundle of gray fur crumpled on the floor. The dead body of the gray puppy had not been removed from the spot of its demise. I froze. My mind had gone back to the day of his death. The shot in the air, the yelp, the—Warren’s touch on my arm brought me back to reality.

  “We have to let them out Warren. We can’t let them suffer like this one did.” I said.

  He silently took the key out of his pocket and quickly, but quietly, inserted the key in each of the animal cages, and let them all out to at least have a chance at life. All of them quickly dodged away from us and went through a tunnel instantly. I felt good that I could at least give those animals a chance at life.

  We traveled through twenty more minutes of tunnel before we entered the cave room. We found the southern wall and started counting the rows and columns until we found Carmen and Liz’s cages. They were both asleep, arms through the bars, clutching each others hands.

  I couldn’t wait. I ran up to the cages, and gently woke them up, excitement rising in my chest. When they woke up, there eyes were shadowed in sleep. Bewilderment swept across there faces. They couldn’t believe it. I was already running to where the cell doors would be. Warren was unlocking Carmen’s, and then Liz’s cages. They ran out on surprisingly stable legs.

  “Sam!” They yelled in unison. My two friends were with me once more.

  Chapter 17

  “There’s a lot to explain, and very little time to do it. The guy is named Warren, follow him. He’s a good guy. If you see any crazy things happen, ignore it, and try and act like you know all about it. Got it?” I said hurriedly, I was ready to be out of these dreaded tunnels.

  They nodded. I could see questions in there eyes, but they thankfully kept their mouths shut. I gave them a quick hug and then we started off at a brisk pace. Warren was already ready to go. He informed us that it should only take us fifteen minutes to get out of the tunnels. Carmen and Liz said they could handle that.

  We rounded a corner and were completely shocked. The tunnel had collapsed and there was no way to keep going the way we were going. Warren took no time to wonder. He just spun around and started in the opposite direction. We turned in a different tunnel, and found it blocked as well.

  “Warren,” I whispered, so Carmen and Liz couldn’t hear my worries, “What’s going on?”

  “I’ll tell you when I figure it out.” He whispered back to me.

  I was worried. Somewhere in the pit of my stomach I knew something bad was about to happen.

  We had to turn back around five more times, and all of us were getting tired. We entered a huge circular room with what looked like an escape pod at the ot
her side of it. It was small, so I knew it had to be for the dwarf-like Tranel. There was an opening to another tunnel at the other side of the enormous room. We were running to get to the other side. As we neared the center of the room, my worst enemy appeared.

  Betty was in a white lab coat. She was with six other people. One of them looked like Jim, the guy who didn’t want to kill me. The other four were all men. They were strong, burly men, ready to fight, and well equipped as well. Two had what looked like daggers, deadly sharp. The other two had spears, plenty of them. Jim had a miniature sword. Betty had a shield, a three pronged dagger, and I guarantee that she had some type of fatal potion in that suspicious lab coat of hers.

  She had a sinister grin on her face. She knew we were here the whole time! They were just playing with us! They used us, they brought us into a trap, and I bet they wanted to kill us. I wouldn’t let that happen.

  “What do you want?” I screeched at her, there’s no reason to be quiet now, “You’re a horrible little person! You killed my parents, you killed my dogs, and you almost killed my two amazing friends! How could you!”

  Surprise lit up on Betty’s face, “You mean Warren hasn’t told you about your parents?”

  I knew everything about my parents, they died long ago, and the ones that Betty caught were just fakes. However, I decided to use what Betty thought was her advantage as my advantage, “What happened to them? What hasn’t Warren told me?”

  “Honey, your parents died long ago in an accident, there car went off the edge of a lake, and they drowned. The ones that you have been raised by are just made of elements.” She said in fake sympathy.

  “W-What?! Warren, is this true?” I asked in fake surprise and shock.

  One of the burly men with the daggers lunged at that time, thinking he would take me out. I, however, was ready for him. I blasted him with wind, slamming him against the wall. I heard a crack and knew he was dead. I just killed someone on purpose! I thought horrifically.

  I gave Betty a sure surprise, “Warrens not that dumb you idiot, and I’m not either. Tricks won’t work on me, or my friends!” I said.

  Betty issued a silent command and all of the men came after us, even Jim. We started an all out fight-to-the-death battle. I killed the other dagger man right off the bat, just signaling my wind toward him, and he was dead. Spears were flying everywhere, and I saw Warren in a thick fight with Jim. Both Carmen and Liz were fighting Betty, and I dashed over to help. The deadly dagger was coming hard down from above Carmen, and I didn’t have enough time to summon air. Electricity suddenly crackled in the air, making a metallic smoke envelope all four of us. When it cleared, Betty was laying on the ground a few feet away, shaken, dusty, and had a bit of static making her hair rise. I touched Carmen, and her skin shocked me.

  “Electricity,” I mumbled. Carmen’s blue eyes were staring straight into mine in wonder, amazement, and fear. I shook my head, now wasn’t the time to ask questions, and turned around to help Liz. She was battling with one of the spear men and I could tell she was struggling. I ran in with a burst of wind. Just when I sent it, fire erupted from Liz’s fingertips. It was just a spark of flame, but my wind brought it to life. It enveloped the spearman, and he ran away, cursing and screaming in agony.

  Liz didn’t hesitate like Carmen did. She just accepted it and looked for the new challenge. Betty was fighting with Carmen again, and Warren and Jim were still locked in battle. Warren gave me a wink, and I knew that he would be okay. Liz had gone to help Carmen, and I knew that there was still a spearman about. I looked around and right when I saw him, he had just let go of a spear, and it was heading right for Carmen’s chest.

  I wasn’t thinking. I could’ve sent wind and blown it off course I could’ve yelled at Carmen to move, I could’ve done a lot of things safer, but instead I jumped straight in the spears path. It hit me on my low right side. I let out a choking scream and fell to the ground writhing in pain like a fish out of water. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jim fall to the ground with a dent in his skull. I saw the spearman burn to ashes as quickly as light, and then I saw Betty retreating like a coward toward the escape pod. As she was getting into it, she pushed a red button on the control panel inside the pod. I heard explosions and then rocks started cascading towards the ground. Warren ran toward me, scooped me up in both arms, and carried me out into the tunnels like a baby. Carmen and Liz were right behind Warren. They were all running for their lives to get out of the collapsing tunnels.

  Chapter 18

  My head bobbed up and down as we ran out of the tunnels. The pain was dull now because I had gotten used to it. Every time that I was about to doze off in what had to be a peaceful sleep, Carmen would shock me, or Liz would burn me. I finally saw light off in the distance, and my half opened eyes widened. I had never thought that I would ever see light again.

  “Sam,” Warren said to me as we reached the light, “You have to stay awake, just like you did the first day you met me. It’s important that you do.”

  The spear was still in my side, I had overheard Warren saying that if they took it out I would bleed to death. They found a bush with a cave under it, just like the ones with the thorns, except this one was thorn-free. They laid me down on a pile of soft leaves and Warren examined my injury.

  “Looks like it hit your appendix.” Warren said. I heard Carmen and Liz sigh in the distance. Warren looked at them sternly, convincing them that this was life-threatening, “You know what that means.”

  I thought back to the time he told me about powers A ZaVeraid’s power is like a second heart or brain… It’s vital for you survival. The power regenerates, and starts, in your appendix. Warren had said to me. With my appendix being stabbed straight through was like taking a bullet through the brain.

  “Only an Intelligent ZaVeraid can save you. They’re in only in Verania. Sam, I have to send you there so you can survive.” Warren said.

  “…No!” I gasped, “… Can’t… leave… friends… again” I was struggling to breath.

  “Sam, you can do it. I figured out why you can go through portals without a Transfer. You’re the one who has to rebuild the portal so more ZaVeraid can come into this light column. You are the one that has to save us all!” Warren pleaded. Tears were falling from his eyes.

  “I have to send you Sam, there’s no way I’ll lose you!” Warren said.

  My pain from my injury was coming back, full force. Everything was like a dream. Things were hazy, sometimes I was seeing double. Warren saw how sick I had become and quickly mumbled something. Then he whispered the music in my ear.

  “Bye Liz… Carmen” I said with my eyes closed.

  I woke up in the middle of what looked like a tennis court. People were surrounding me, wondering where I came from when a double-winged airplane rocketed through the sky, right above me. A person came down from a cable, and grabbed a firm hold on me, making sure he didn’t touch the spear, and carried me back up into the plane.

  I was immediately tied to a soft, cushiony white bed. An IV with the blue liquid, or Seratil, as Warren said it was called, was injected into my arm. Then an oxygen mask was secured onto my face, after a few seconds the air in the mask smelled funny, and I drifted off to sleep.

 

  Chapter 19

  I awoke while doctors were working around inside my body. I thought that they were the Tranel for a minute, until I realized that these were definitely normal sized humans. This nice looking guy came up beside me and brushes the hair out of my face.

  “Hello Sam! You’re the first person we’ve seen from Earth in a while.” He said cheerily.

  Suddenly I screeched in intolerable pain, the doctors must have hit a nerve.

  My teeth were clenched together tight, “Why am I awake?” I said

  “We had to replace your appendix, and now we have to make sure everything is working precisely. There’s no way to do it when you’re out cold, I’m sorry to say.”


  I looked at him with a hatred that only the pain I was going through could bring. I took a deep shuddering breath and clenched the bed rails with my fists, screaming every minute or so because of the pain.

  What kind of twelve year old goes through this type of agony? I thought, apparently, only ZaVeraids who get stabbed in the appendix by a spear thrown by a dwarf.

  After an hour or so the surgery was finished and I was sent to a healing room to gather my strength. I wasn’t allowed any pain medications, but I didn’t think the after effect could be anywhere near the pain in the surgery. No one visited me on the following days except doctors checking up on my health. Finally I was allowed to walk, and I did as much as I could. It took my mind off of Warren and Carmen and Liz, though I still thought about them more than I wanted to. I was lonelier than ever.

  After a week my vision started to blur. The doctors said it was because I had an allergic reaction to the medicines they were giving me. They sent me into another deep sleep and surgically fixed my eyes—thankfully I didn’t have to be awake for that. However, when I woke, I was gasping for breath, thinking that a dwarf was going to come and stab me with another spear. Ever since having that sedative that the Tranel gave me, I realized, I couldn’t stand pain medications that lowered sensitivity. The upside to the surgery was that it gave me 20/20 vision, but I had a terrible headache for a week.

  I started asking questions about making a portal, wanting to get back to my friends as soon as possible, but everyone I asked either laughed or said things like, “No one can handle the power of making a portal” and “Your way to young to be doing that” and “There’s no way you’ll be getting back to your light column” also the one thing that most people said, and it bothered me the most, was, “There’s no hope kid, your stuck here in Verania.”