Chapter one

Alizeh was antsy. Not just a little antsy. She was pacing the floor and pulling at her hair on both sides. She had the sudden urge to bang her head against the wall. She didn’t know what to do. She had never felt this way before. There was a darkness growing inside her, festering. She was afraid it was going to take over. She found out this morning that Geneve was still alive. She is supposed to come and help Alizeh learn to live with this cursed murk inside her soul.

Alizeh had been a regular person until they messed up the wave function of the universe. She was battling Geneve at the time and their powers were just too much. It caused the wave function to break, and it caused pieces of Geneve to corrupt Alizeh from the inside out. She used to be calm cool and collected. Now she just wanted to punch everyone in the face.

Why did this happen to her? It’s not like her life wasn’t already shit, the universe had to throw this in on top of it. Geneve gets to be the living goddess of Anwyn, while I am stuck picking up the pieces of my life… it’s not fair.

She decided she needed to see her old friend Cade. They had been in love since they were small children, but circumstances changed and she was in love with Orion too, so she decided she would abstain from both, but the feelings never changed. They were always there boiling over.

She walked down the long corridor with a little bounce in her step. Cade always knew how to cheer her up. She was already starting to feel better. She turned the corner and was about to knock on the door. She realized it was open, so she just walked in. if she could take that moment and time and change it, she would in a second. She walked into Cade with his arms around Trixie. He was looking into her eyes like she was the only person in the world.

It was too much for Geneve. Luckily, they didn’t see her. She backed quietly out of the room and planned. She could not stay here any longer. Next thing you know, she’ll turn a corner, and Orion would be with someone. It was too much to bear, she knew she had the power in her to jump dimensions, she just was not sure where she would end up.

She ran to the Garden closest to Cade’s room and put her hands in the air and said fire, fire, I know you’re there, it’s time to come out and get some air - and nothing happened. She raised her hand to do it again and before she could recite the word, she noticed a little bit of smoke coming from one of the bushes. Then she saw a tiny orange flame creeping up turning the roses to ash. She quickly ran to her room grabbed a bag, stuffed clothes in it, and waited until she heard Cade and Trixie running down the hall. She knew they wouldn’t know how to stop the fire themselves. Seconds later they turned around and were running toward the fire – they now had Zeek with them.

Alizeh waited for the footsteps to fade, and she ran to Zeek’s room as fast as she could. She frantically looked around until she noticed a bunch of vials on a huge shelf. Luckily, the vials were labeled, and she was able to grab them quickly. She grabbed three vials. She put two in her bag and quickly downed the other one. She started to fade out just as she noticed Zeek coming back into the room, she could faintly hear him screaming “Noooo.”

Alizeh landed in a puff of sand. She looked around. It was breathtaking. In one direction she could see for miles. Yet, when she looked in the other direction there were beautiful rocky hills. The sun was setting, and it seemed like it was lighting up the clay-colored sand. She just stood there in awe. She was too distracted; she didn’t see the cloud of sand behind her. If she would have looked, she would have thought it was moving on its own. She didn’t even notice when a man came into view a few minutes later. She stared on until she saw him clear his throat and say, “What’s a pretty little lady doing out here all alone, don’t you know there are outlaws out here.”

He then had the audacity to wink at her. Her temper boiled, but it dissipated just as fast. What was that about? She wondered. She glared at him and said, “don’t you worry about me, believe me, I can take care of myself.”

He laughed at her. Her temper flared. She raised her hands up to shoot lightning at him, but at the last minute thought better of it. I am all alone here it might help to know at least one person, she thought. Her stomach rumbled just then and maybe he has something to eat. Out loud she said, “What do you want?”

He looked at her, and his face got serious, “I am out here running from the law. Don’t be scared I robbed a bank, I didn’t kill anyone, and I am not interested in you. I have the most beautiful woman in the world waiting for me at home.”

She laughed, “Like I’d be scared of you.”

He looked startled for a minute and said, “See that’s why I came over to help you. I have a sister, and I love her dearly, but she is not right in the head. When I saw you out in the middle of nowhere, I thought to myself Tom -

My name is Tom by the way

, now I thought, Tom this girl must not be right in the head. The more I talk to you, the more I am thinking I am correct.”

She looked at him with a confused look, ‘There is absolutely nothing wrong with my head. My head is just fine. Anyways tell me more about this bank robbery. It sounds fun. What is a bank? I am in the mood to steal stuff.”

He shook his head and looked perplexed Yes, definitely something wrong with this one, He thought to himself. Out loud he said, “A bank is where the money is kept, don’t you know anything girl.”

Her eyes shot daggers at him “Well we don’t deal in money where I am from, we trade and share things. By the way, my name is Alizeh”

He stared at her quietly until she stopped talking, and he had her full attention, “Welp, Alizeh I ain’t going to be robbing any more banks today, but maybe when the heat dies down, we will see. In the meantime, I have a camp behind that big hill over there. I was just out walking to scope my surroundings, that’s why I am here. My surroundings have been scoped, and I have found you. I have food to eat, and you can share my fire. My love packed me more than enough necessities I dropped off here, before I robbed the bank, so I am sitting kind of pretty.”

She nodded, “Okay then what are we waiting for, take me to your camp.”

He sighed and thought to himself, I am going to have my work cut out for me with this one. They walked silently to his camp which consisted of a canvas cloth stretched between to huge rocks, a fire, and a whole bundle of odds and ends stuffed against one of the rocks. He gave her a blanket, and said “Welcome to my humble home, temporary as it may be.” He walked over to the fire, and Alizeh followed, she loved fire she could stare at it forever. She was avoiding looking too deep into it right now, she sometimes had visions in the fire, and now was not the right time for that. So, she watched Tom, she sat by the fire and watched him go to a huge pot over the fire and scoop her out a bowl of soup. She was so grateful she met him, especially since he already was in love with someone else, no awkward turndowns need to be involved. She grabbed the soup, and took the first bite, she couldn’t believe how good it was. “See,” he smiled, “see why she is the only one for me. It’s delicious isn’t it.”

She could not help but agree. It was delicious. She liked being around Tom, his laid-back no pressure nature made her feel calmer, more like the old Alizeh. She could still feel the anger burning inside, but it was easier to keep at bae. The urge to destroy things and wreak havoc was not.

“Yes, it is delicious, I will have to meet this wife of yours, and thank her myself.”

His face lit up and he said, “you can she will be out here in three days’ time. She will let me know if it is safe to come home. I will take you to safety; then we will find somewhere for you to go.”

“She smiled a little, but it looked sad; “I can stick around for a couple of days. I don’t have anything else to do, but I will have to be on my way at some point soon. I can’t stay here forever. It is to tame here. I need to be in a universe where there is havoc going on, and then I just might go home with a new perspective on life.”

He looked at her confused but understood. Sometimes his sister had delusions too, he would just let her talk- there was no harm in that. If she wanted havoc, he would let her know about what goes on around here. Maybe it would scare some sense into her. “You don’t want havoc Alizeh. Not around here. There are groups of Bandits, and if they find us, we will not live through it. Their only goal is to kill and cause pain to as many people as possible. The plundering is only a bonus for them. “

Alizeh smiled and thought to herself Now we are talking.