Nawx (Project IzeBorn Book 1)

by Andrew Jones

  The Queen stared at Nova, showing no sense of pity or remorse for her. Though her eyes looked directly at the journal once again. It seemed like she was very familiar with it, and it made Nova question the relation Drenawx had with the Fairy race. She questioned who Drenawx was entirely.

  "Let me see the journal, child." The Queen ordered.

  She pointed her finger at the journal, forcing the journal to appear in her hands with some sort of hidden power she wielded. She used the unseen magic to flip the pages for her, quickly turning each and all of them until she spotted a sentence. The sentence Nova had spotted when she was with Atreyu.

  "This is the Ancient Language." She muttered as she began to analyze the writing, reading it slowly. "Tell me, Nova. What do you think of this world? Not what you have thought in the past, or what you think it will become. What do you think of its conditioning as of now? This very second."

  Nova frowned.

  "I must know what is happening outside this forest. Have you seen anything odd, anything that shouldn't be happening?" The Queen asked again, strangely becoming worried about the situation. "I've sensed trouble for a long, long time. But ever since you arrived, it has become more than just a headache."

  A loud shake was heard and felt a great distance away. All of the beings of the village turned toward the direction of the sound, the village was completely silent. But within a few seconds, there were the little chatting of the Fairies heard throughout the village, most of them asking what that was. The Queen stood up, looking even more concerned about the situation. It was the first time the forest had become in trouble.

  "Did you bring trouble into our sacred land?" The Queen asked, her voice growing more aggressive as she spoke.

  "N-No! I don't know what that was!" Nova shouted as a response, concerned for the situation as well.

  The Queen tossed the journal back to Nova, glaring deeply at her as she held her spear toward her, in an act of giving a direct threat.

  "I order you to leave this sacred forest, and take your trouble with you. There's no place for pathetic humans like you around here!"

  Nova caught the book and held it tightly as she turned around. The Fairies of the village all stared at her, becoming quiet again. Evol held her head down, looking ashamed of herself for bringing Nova into the village. Nova sighed as she walked away from the Queen and Evol, and proceeded toward the entrance of the village, rushing as she had remembered Atreyu had been hanging out around the area of the loud sound. Evol stretched her hand forward and cast a spell that would teleport Nova to the beginning of the village, Atreyu's position.

  "Good luck." She whispered.

  "Atreyu!" Nova yelled in a great distance when she noticed that she returned to the abandoned campsite. "Atreyu!"

  She heard no response, but she heard something else. The sound of cracking trees, and the roars of a great beast. She rushed toward the sound only to see Atreyu on the ground. She gasped, pulling out her dual swords and rushing to his side.

  "A-Atreyu..." She muttered as she knelt down to him and placed her hand on his chest, feeling for his heartbeat.

  Atreyu grunted from his pain, "L-Look..."

  He pointed behind her, just passed a wall of trees. She pulled her comforting hand away from his chest and stood up slowly, wary of any danger that was around the area. But she proceeded toward the wall of trees, for Atreyu.

  She was honestly surprised. The area behind the wall of trees was destroyed; some trees were smashed into pieces, leaves were everywhere, and the smell of rotting bark made up its aura of the area around the trees. She approached, not knowing what to expect.

  The Dragoona laying on its stomach roared loudly in pain. On it's back was a big claw from another creature, probably the other Dragoona it was fighting in the air so long ago. It must've been hit out of the air with a critical hit. Nova approached it slowly, the Dragoona opened it's big eyes and huffed black smoke into her.

  "What... Do you want, human?" The Dragoona spoke.

  "You look hurt..." Nova answered, slowly placing her hand on the Dragoona's nose.

  It huffed again, "A dragon such as I do not need nurturing. It'd be quite a disgrace."

  The Dragoona attempted to get up but roared again from the pain of the claw stabbed through its body. It held it's body upward, exposing the tip of the claw stabbing its way through its stomach. A pool of black blood poured out, rotting all the flowers that had created a swarm just underneath them.

  "That claw though... You're going to die." Nova muttered.

  "Maybe..."

  The Dragoona's eyes finally made it's way to Nova. It stopped it's huffing and roaring.

  "I can feel your emotions... Your fear, your confusion." The Dragoona admits, trying to hide the pain from its voice.

  "..."

  Nova didn't speak. She looked down at her dual blades that her hands held tight. The tightness was from her inner fear, but she couldn't have been that afraid. She was talking to a Dragoona, the most powerful being to exist in this world. She dropped her blades on the ground, letting the sound of the steel hit the rock directly. The Dragoona watched her actions carefully as she pulled the journal out and opened it.

  "Please, can you read the Ancient Language..." She whispered as she held the page of the book out toward his eyes.

  He could feel that her fear had vanished, but weakness had replaced it. She was vulnerable, but so was the Dragoona itself. It stayed quiet for a moment before speaking, from reading what was written on the page.

  "The three Dragoona awaken, to bring forth the New World." The Dragoona speaks as he reads.

  Nova gasped as she looks at the page.

  "So the Dragoona are really here..." She whispered as she looked up at the Dragoona.

  "Listen... I am Bastion. And I offer a pact to you." Bastion, the wounded Dragoona says with effort and pain in his voice. "I will give you the will to fight on if you do the same for me... I do not wish to die."

  "A pact?" She asked, dropping journal as she stared at the claw inside the Dragoona.

  She looked down, right at the palm of her hand as it started to light up. She had accepted the offer for a pact. She wished to gain the will to fight on and find Drenawx, to find out what he had to do with her existence. She gripped her hand and shut her eyes.

  The light from her hand shot a beam into Bastion. He lifted his head up in the air high as he roared once again. The light centered around the claw, squeezing it and destroying it from within. Bastion's wounds began to heal slowly. He closed his eyes as well and roared again, as a light from his mouth shot into Nova. She screamed as the light surrounded her body. Her scream slowly began to harmonize with the roar of Bastion. She fell on her knees, her blurry vision showed the dragon had become better physically. But it was only seconds until she felt her body hit the ground, seeing nothing but black. It was like she gave up all of her strength to heal the Dragoona. She had to regardless, if the Dragoona had died, no one would know how the balance of power of the world would shift if one had died. Although she felt no strength in her physically, she had strength in her mind, and she pushed herself to wake up. She had a strong mind now, as strong as a Dragoona. Nova and Bastion were now connected.

  Verse VI

  Sanctuary

  Nova had a dream. The sky was full of dark clouds, lightning shot down from the clouds seconds at a time. This was more than a storm. She stood by herself. The ground was cracked, and within the cracks, there was just a vague white background. Like if you were to fall into the void, you'd fall for an eternity. She sensed a beast behind her, she quickly turned around to find a man in front of her. He was laughing really loud as his head was hung low. He stopped laughing when he flung his head up and looked at her. His eyes were dark red and his lips were cut upward to where he had a bigger smile than usual, a smile forced upon him. His blood spilled, it was black. But he began to scream when he fell on his knees. His body had begun to be consumed by his black blood, to where his whole b
ody had become black apart from his red eyes. His laugh became crazier. His teeth grew sharp, cutting its way through his mouth as if he was mutating into some kind of beast. He screamed but laughed as the pain of the mutating seemed to pleasure him. Nova panicked as she saw his black blood shuffling their way toward her. She tried to back up, but her legs wouldn't move. She was completely frozen as the black blood would begin to fuse with her legs, heading up her torso and finally consuming all of her. She sounded as though she was crying when she had closed her eyes. She sniffed, but she began to laugh slowly. More crazy as she opened her eyes and her red eyes shined brightly.

  Nova screamed as her body flung up. She was panting heavily, gasping for any air she could get as she looked around the room she was in. It was a cozy room, one she had never seen, apart from the room she had at the factory. She laid on a bed, she felt that it was comfortable. An end table sat next to the bed with a lamp, a picture of a tree with a flower close up to the camera as it took the shot and a souvenir teddy bear that held business cards. She was pale, and she was still panting heavily as when the business cards caught her attention.

  She picked one up and read it out loud, "Escape from the chaos of the world with the Sanctuary Inn, exclusive to the Village of Tilda's Old Life, or simply Tilda. Please enjoy your stay!"

  She tilted her head, confused as to what an 'inn' was actually. She had assumed that it was a typo or something, so she didn't give it much though. She placed the business card aside as she looked on the other side of the room, seeing a couch with Atreyu's black sweater tossed on it. She felt a little relieved seeing that, knowing he had been around, but she didn't know where she was. So she stood up and decided to walk to the door and open it.

  The brightness of the sun's morning light shined in her face, making her narrow her eyes to reflect some of it. Some people had walked by her, one even wished her a good morning as he raised his hat in kindness. She smiled at him, but she was still confused. She anxiously stepped away from the inn and headed up the trail. It seemed circular, as she would occasionally pass by some people, even some kids where were running around playing and shooting water at each other with some sort of water gun contraption she did not understand.

  She appeared to have arrived at the town plaza. Many markets were opened, and many people were shopping around and talking as if there was no trouble in the world. She wondered if this is how the world was in the past, she heard very little about it from records in the factory. But they were mostly scraps, vague invaluable information.

  "Hey! She's awake!" A man shouted from one of the markets.

  Nova glanced at the voice, seeing a man wave at her and gestured her to come to him. She approached him cautiously.

  "Looks like you recovered quite well. And quicker than that doc had expected. Typical." He exclaimed as he worked on sharpening a blade.

  Nova stood in front of his work bench and watched him work on the blade, seeing the sparks flying off the grinder and into the air as the grinder made contact with the blade. It was a nice blade; the tip was sharp, the steel was bright, shiny, and appeared to have just been made.

  "Eh... Your friend mentioned you'd be a quiet one, guess I should've believed him." He mumbled on and on as he stood off his little chair and took off his rubber gloves. "What do you think of her?"

  He held the blade by the hilt or the grip. He placed it in a little carrying case that held it by the end of the hilt that would become the pommel, and other would hold it by the mid part of the blade itself.

  She nodded her head, "It's splendid."

  He chuckled as he dropped his gloves on the workbench, "I like you already. The name's Jet, I'm the mechanic of this here village." He announced.

  "I'm Nova, where are we anyway?" She asked, tilting her head again.

  "Hah, you're- I mean, we're in Tilda!" He shouted his response with passion.

  Nova looked more confused, "Tilda? A town that had materialized hundred of years ago before The Incident occurred? Isn't Tilda destroyed?"

  "You're smart- but this is a... Well, a remake of Tilda." He laughed. "Tilda, according to documents recovered from the distant past, was a peaceful place where acceptance was very valuable."

  "And that's just who we are!" A woman shouted behind them, approaching.

  "Ah, Amaya! I have your new blade all ready to go."

  Amaya looked powerful to Nova. Perhaps she was the leader of this village. She had long brown hair, a trench coat with black pants that were slightly ripped, some goggles she had upon her forehead, and some combat boots. She surely looked tough.

  "Good work, Jet. And you must be Nova. Atreyu mentioned you."

  Nova jumped from hearing his name. She grew worrisome as she frowned at her.

  "Where is he?" She asked intimidatingly.

  "Don't worry, hun. He went back to the inn, probably to see if you were awake yet." She answered as she sat up on Jet's workbench, dangling her legs off the end. "So, tell me, did you really make a pact with a Dragoona? That sounds awesome!"

  Nova held her hand on her forehead, her eyes closed as she remembered that moment, "Did... Did that really happen?"

  "According to your friend and the palm of your hand, it did certainly happen," Amaya said as she took Nova's hand and observed the symbol that was encased on the palm of her hand. "Ey, Jet! Get a load of this and tell me what you think!"

  Jet dropped his tool on another of his work benches and waddled to them. Nova glanced at Jet and noticed the way he was walking. One of his legs looked different from the other.

  "Aye, looks like a bad cut." Jet observed the symbol on her hand.

  "No, you nimrod! This is the mark of the corrupted." Amaya argued.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes! I told you that I know my history!"

  Nova looked up at them, then just looked at Jet with a concerned tone in her voice, "Jet... Your leg."

  He raised an eyebrow as he looked down at his leg, glancing back at her.

  "Something wrong with my leg?" He asked.

  "It's mechanical..."

  Both Jet and Amaya look at each other and laugh.

  "Oh, darling. We know it is." Amaya answered, trying not to laugh again.

  Nova bit the bottom of her lip.

  "Okay, like Jet said. We are about acceptance. This is a town of peace and tranquility. Where humans, like me, and machines, like Jet here, can live peacefully together without discrimination."

  Jet frowns, "Wait, you were eavesdroppin' on us?"

  "Jet, when don't I?" She laughed, looking back at Nova. "So, since you know that now, what are you? Human or machine?"

  "..." Nova looked down, not knowing what to say because she did not know the answer to that.

  Jet and Amaya looked at each other again. But the voice of Atreyu was heard from a distance, along with the sound of running.

  "Hey! Looks like you found her." Atreyu said as he ran to them, panting from all his running around. "I looked everywhere for you."

  Amaya jumped off the work bench and placed her hand on her hip, looking at Atreyu.

  "You look beat, why don't you rest?" She asked him.

  "I can't rest until I repay you for what you have done for us."

  Nova looked at Amaya, wondering what he was talking about.

  "I mean, it was luck that we found them out there. We were gathering supplies for the village when we heard that loud sound. We followed and found the three of you unconscious out there." Jet explained.

  "Three of us?" Nova asks.

  "Bastion, Nova," Atreyu answered her. "You made a pact with that Dragoona before you blacked out."

  "Where is he now?"

  Atreyu shrugged his shoulders.

  Amaya appeared to be in deep thought, but her face brightened up as she came up with an idea.

  "Recently we had a visitor we came and stole all of our materials. Jet was lucky to even forge my new sword." Amaya explains.

  "What kind of visitor," Nova asked.

&
nbsp; "She looked a lot like you actually. But she had this white outfit on. Kinda revealed a lot. But she had this darker aura about her, with no emotion whatsoever." Amaya again explained.

  "You want us to find her and bring her back here?" Atreyu asked.

  "No! No, no, no, no! Keep her as far away from here as possible! She is dangerous! I just want you two to see if you can retrieve the materials from her for us. One of our members reported that they saw here near the entrance of the Ancient Deserts."

  Atreyu nodded his head, "Consider it done."

  Atreyu began walking, leading Nova but before she started to follow him, Jet placed his hand on her shoulder gently.

  "Listen, if you want to know what you truly are, the deserts are a good place to look. Most of that area is undiscovered."

  "Thank you." She answered as she looked back at him.

  "No problem, now go catch up to him!"

  Nova laughed as she turned and ran to Atreyu's side. Amaya leaned back on Jet's workbench, watching the two depart.

  "I have a good feeling about those two. I hope they end up staying." Amaya muttered aimlessly.

  Verse VII

  Nethernox

  The climate became hotter as time went by. The heat took over the land visually, as you could see the air cooking right before your eyes. Atreyu wiped off some sweat from his forehead. He took off his sweater, revealing his tight-ish black shirt that was snug under the sweater, and dragged the sweater along behind him on the ground. The green fields soon turned darker, as the grass fields soon disappeared into the dirt, and then the heat became more unbearable as the sands followed. And they weren't even in the deserts yet.

  Nova whined from the heat as she too wiped some of the sweat from her forehead.

  "It's hot," Nova whined. "How can anyone live out here?"

  Atreyu shrugged his shoulders as he continued to lead the way.

  "Thank you, by the way..." She muttered as she stopped walking.

  Atreyu stopped hearing her footsteps, turning back at her. He looked down at her hands, noticing how she was using her fingers to fiddle around, an obvious hint that she was becoming nervous.