Prologue
4,000 Years Ago- 2430
Golden and Red fires were always projected onto the skies of the reigning one, Dimension 5. The fires set a glow to the skies and heavens up above the dimensions. The fire had been ablaze for centuries, nothing could stop it.
The dimensions had been at war for two hundred years, and had been called The Great War. Not due to a grand victory, or named by the winner, probably because there was no winner, no victory. It was great because of the vastness of its reign over the dimensions. Billions upon billions dead; whether a solider or not. Nobody knows exactly why this terrorizing war even started though.
All anybody knew was that all they could ever here was the warning sirens, the children and mother’s crying, the attack vessels, and the screams of their comrades dying. All they could smell was smoke, gunpowder, and everything rotten. Worst of all, the only thing they could see was darkness. When they were attacked it was the same for everyone, as if there were no lower, middle, or upper class, just people trapped and dying in the terrifying darkness.
​ ​Now, how did The Great War start? I’ve made it clear that it’s not known why, but I know how it started and ended. What a grand story it is.
Let me start from the beginning, there are 30 dimensions by barriers that had never been weaker. All the dimensions were aligned in a ring with an empty center. Multiple dimensions, including the one that reigned throughout The Great War, took an advantage of this and invaded others. Some wanted to rule, some made packs with other, and the richest of them all paid to have armies go to battle just so they could sit back with their sparking glasses of champagne and watch the chaos. Most citizens however, stood back and were constantly attacked; they were unable to do a thing to contribute.
The violence never stopped, it was madness all day and all night, but one day, in the greatest of all dimensions, three young women came from their place in the shadows of Dimension 27. The three were sisters, and born with extraordinary powers unlike any other. No one had ever seen the faces of this strange group of sister roaming through the darkness. They hid for fear of being killed for their powers, or beaten if anyone had the chance. They always had similar thoughts, but one would change the war for good, not to fight with violence, but with peace.
The women called upon citizens of all the dimensions who shared their idea. Together, they formed an alliance and took a pledge of loyalty one by one. The sister thought it was a good a time as any to tell their powers. The youngest showed her powers of life, the oldest showed the powers of death, and last, the middle sister showed her powers over all four elements. They decided to end the war with peace, they needed to give each alliance member a power for what they would protect, and so they did.
The alliance used these powers and ended The Great War with their ways of peace. Once the war was over, the alliance came together and realized these dimensions would never stop fighting and need much supervision. They all used their powers to make the barriers between the dimensions stronger than ever before so people couldn’t cross them again. They all used these same powers to break the ring of dimensions and bring their golden dimension to the center to keep a watchful eye over the others, leaving a gap in the ring.
The alliance had a series of buildings constructed for them to stay and command in high of the most populated city. The group had become well known throughout the dimensions. Followers called them “The Guardians”. Others mocked them with the nicknames “Monsters”, “Atrocious”, and “Beasts”. The Alliance did however adopt the name The Guardians, and their dimension they lived in adored them to the point the dimension was renamed Guardian.
With being a guardian came a few catches. For one, guardians are immortal but could be killed in certain circumstances. What was behind it though, was that a new guardian would be born on another dimension to fill in their place. The new guardian would not reach full guardianship until they were between the ages of twenty-three and thirty-three. The guardian would still have their powers at birth though. In these two rules, there were three exceptions. The Guardian of Childhood and Memories would reach full guardianship between the ages of five and ten to keep the childhood part of their guardianship true. The second was The Guardian of Life. The first of this guardianship from the original three had been far younger than her sisters and received her powers in her teenage years, which is when all of The Guardians of Life received guardianship after that. The biggest exception of all was The Guardian of Death. With powers unlike any other and far too dangerous to have, any Guardian of Death would not receive their powers until they were a full guardian.
Around three hundred years after the war ended, the three main guardians had died and all been reborn into another family together; the same happened anytime two or more guardian were related by blood.
Now, I know this is all very confusing, but it will all make sense in time.
-Tiolardo, Dimension 27
2: Chapter 1Chapter 1
Present Day- 6,438
As of now, The Great War and The Guardians were just part of the history books. Of course The Guardians were still in existence, it’s just that no one cared anymore. Maybe people did, but it was just a mutual respect nobody talked about it.
The dimensions had been completely rebuilt from the mountainous destruction a thousand years after the war ended. Some areas people were still not to enter due to the inability to be inhabited. Another change was that the barriers had been changed. Technology had been built up to where people could pass through to other dimensions as long as they had the paperwork.
Changes were being made every day at this point. Everyone assumed the ideas would run out, but science and just normal citizens would prove that wrong. It honestly was hard to believe and some shrouded themselves away from the growing technology as much as possible; which is understandable if you’re as old as I am.
So who am I? I can tell that may be what you’re thinking, or how I’ve come to know all this. Well I’ll tell you. My name I Tiolardo, The Guardian of Time. I am from Cordatio of the eighteenth dimension. My purpose is to oversee the events of time and watch it carefully, but that is not the reason I know about The Great War. You see, I am the oldest guardian to ever live. I was like a grandfather to the Main Three as we call them. I saw the whole war from start to finish and it feels like it all happened just yesterday.
But this is not my story; this is the story of the next three guardians, the new Main Three.
Dimension 3- Earth- Geneva
“I’m just saying! Why does nobody care anymore?” I exclaimed, “How does the fact that we’re constantly watched by “guardians” that nobody knows a thing about not concern anyone?”
Besnik chuckled and put his hands on my shoulders to calm me down. “Because nobody has your insane, overactive mind.”
I smiled and rolled my eyes, “You’re terrible to me.”
​ ​He nodded smiling. “Kinda the point, ya know?” I elbowed him in the side and he laughed again. “So, what are your plans this weekend?”
I sighed and answered,” I have to go to Madilia’s summer showcase in Andrail.”
“Andrail? Where’s that?” Besnik asked again.
“It’s one of the cities in the Garvail system.”
He nods, “Right, that dumb thing we had to learn in Astronomy.” I laughed and nodded. He elbowed my side suggestively and smirked, “You know, I could always be your bodyguard, or even plus two.”
I laughed even harder and wiggled my eyebrows, “I just might, but you probably won’t have the pleasure of hanging out with this goddess at a showcase.”
He rolled his eyes and retorted, “Don’t flatter yourself.”
“Don’t intend to.” I smirked at him. He just rolled his eyes again in response.
“So what were you going to ask me if I didn’t have plans?” I questioned.
He just shrugged, “Just if you wanna hang out.”
I raised an eyebrow at him and pushed further, “You mean like we do every day?”
“Yeah I guess,” he replied.
Well, not getting anything out of him, I thought sadly. What was the point anyway? He had girls all over him all day. He is the best at hoverball anyway.
When I pushed the thoughts back I realized I’d stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and Besnik was waving his hand in my face. “Hey, you okay? I lost you for a minute there,” he asked me, a concerned look on his face.
I nodded and pushed his hand away. “I’m fine, just thinking.”
He scoffed, “Uh huh, sure you were.” I stuck my tongue out at him.
“So, how long is your season this year?” I asked him, changing the subject.
He shrugged, “Depends on how far we go into the finals.”
I just nodded, still not grasping the concept of any sport but swimming. It was all completely foreign to me to be honest. I did know a bit about gymnastics from what my older sister, Madilia, taught me when we were teenagers. Even then I was still reading in the stands during the competitions.
“You gonna try out for any sports this year?” Besnik asked me hopefully.
I shook my head and replied, “When will you learn the answer will always be the same?”
He smiled and elbowed me playfully. “Probably never.”
“Believe me, I can tell,” I told him.
“Ally look!” I turned around and saw twin sisters that couldn’t have been older than seven looking at something in the grass. I smiled watching them get excited and run back to their mom to show her.
“Stalking kids again Geneva?” Besnik asked me smirking.
I elbowed him the side and retorted, “No, I was just seeing what was going on.”
He laughed shaking his head. Then he took off running into the grass, towards the forest. “Geneva, come here!” he called to me.
Skeptically I walked towards him, looking around to make sure nothing would pounce on me. “What is it?” I asked when I finally reached him.
He started to climb the tree in front of us excitedly. I raised an eyebrow, trying to track him through the dense layers of leaves. “What the hell are you doing Besnik?” I asked him confused.
“Climb up here!” He called down to me.
I started to get frustrated with him. “Besnik, you know I can’t climb trees!”
He started climbing back down the tree and pouted. “Fine, then I’ll show you from here.” He spun me around so I was facing the street.
“What is it? All I see is a street in the middle of summer and people walking,” I told him, trying to figure out what he was excited about.
He had a defeated look when I turned to face him again. “I thought you loved scenery though,” he said, obviously upset.
I sighed, “Not the same scenery I see every day of my life.” His defeated look still didn’t leave. “Let’s just get home.”
Dimension 3- Andrail- Madilia
I ran into the room down the hall from me and checked to make sure everything was in place. I sighed in relief when I saw it was.
Turning around when I heard someone laughing behind me, I saw my youngest sister, Cecilia. “You’re going absolutely crazy, you know that?” she asked from the doorway, arms folded over her chest and an everlasting smirk on her face.
“Shut it,” I told her, absorbed in the dress I was working on fixing.
Cecilia walked over and observed the puffy, midnight blue dress. “I’m no designer, but are you sure the stitching is right?” she questioned.
I nodded and explained, “This isn’t for the models; it’s for the mannequins. If someone wears it, it would fall apart.
She raised an eyebrow. “So it’s just a cheap peace of crap?”
I glared at her and retorted, “No it’s not “crap”; it’s just easier.” She nodded, obviously not believing me. Sighing quietly, I shook my head ignoring the look she had.
I went back to working on the dress and Cecilia put a hand on my shoulder. I turned back to her and saw the worried look on her face. A frown on mine now, I asked her, “What’s wrong Cece?”
“When was the last time you got a full night’s sleep, or went an hour without working?” she asked sadly,
Thinking back, I realized I hadn’t in the month we’d been here because I was so worried about the showcase, and I admitted that to her.
I expected her to get made, or frustrated, which was normally my job. Quite the opposite happened though. She pulled me into a hug and told me, “Get some sleep and get your mind off the show.”
Shaking my head, I pulled away. “The shows in four days, I’ll sleep after,” I promised. From the look in my baby sister’s eyes, I could tell she wasn’t buying it, but she still nodded and walked out of the room.
I’d always hated upsetting her and Geneva; they were all I even had anymore. It was my job to make them and myself happy, but whenever they came to work with me, it didn’t quite turn out that way.
The thoughts to the back of my mind, my focus went back to the multicolored outfits in front of me that needed their finishing touches. I looked over all the colorful different types of dresses, skirts, shirts, and shoes and sighed. How is this gonna work anyway? I thought. My mind went back to Cecilia and answered itself, No sleep, that’s how.
“Maybe Cecilia’s right; maybe I am losing my mind in my work,” I muttered.
3: Chapter 2Chapter 2
Cecilia- Dimension 3- Andrail
I watched as Madilia ran past me in a fancy, dark green dress and black heels. “How does she do that with barely any sleep for the past month?” I asked myself.
Once I’d ducked back into my room, I walked to the mirror and fixed the strapless, white dress Madilia had made for my sixteenth birthday. I stumbled a bit walking away from the mirror due to the fact that I don’t agree with the dumb heels my sister had me put on.
While I tried to adjust the revolting things someone started knocking on the door. After I opened it, the first thing that happened was I was tackled to the ground. I screamed and pushed the thing off just for it to start laughing.
“Well hi to you too sis!” my sister exclaimed through her laughter.
“Geneva!” I yelled at her. God I hate her surprises, I thought. I sighed as she helped me up off the floor. I looked down at my yet again wrinkled dress. “Seriously?”
Geneva was smoothing out her shin black dress as I said it. “At least yours hasn’t been sitting in a closet wrinkling for two years.”
​Besnik stepped into the room laughing and remarked, “You never were one for dressed sweetie.” He put his arm around Geneva’s waist and my eyes widened.
“Wait, are you two?” I asked confused.
Geneva rolled her eyes and pushed his arm off. “No, no we are not.”
I laughed watching them. Besnik and my sister had been friends since birth, yet Madilia and I hadn’t managed to get them together. We both knew they liked each other and wouldn’t admit it, but now they’re just resisting.
I saw Madilia run past my door again and back up to see who was in my room. “Geneva!” she exclaimed, then looked up at Besnik, “Hey, didn’t expect you here.”
He smiled at her and replied, “Guess I’m just full of surprises.”
“Well great, but could I talk to my sisters alone for a minute?” Madilia asked him with an innocent smile. “Just for a minute anyway?”
​ ​Besnik nodded and walked out into the hall, the door closing behind him. Right after, Madilia grabbed Geneva’s hand and started jumping up and down. “I can’t believe you’re finally with him!” she squealed.
Geneva yanked her hands back wide eyed. “What!? No we’re not!”
All the happiness left Madilia’s face as she frowned. “But you two-”
“Are just friends! Why has that been so hard for you to figure out over the years?” Geneva cut in. Once some of her frustration left she budded past me and walked out the door. “I’m going to grab a seat.”
Once we were sure Geneva had left with Besnik, Madilia sighed and rolled her eyes. “She’s so oblivious.”
“You know, maybe she’s over Besnik. I mean, she’s had more than enough time to,” I admitted.
​ ​Madilia shrugged, “They’ll eventually get together at some point, I know it.”
I shook my head and walked over to the door. “I think I’ll go get my seat too,” I told my sister. Je nodded and left so she could get the models ready for the showcase.
Once I was in the main showcase room, I found a seat next to Geneva. The room was brilliantly decorated with green and yellow sparkles and curtains everywhere, along with the green tint the light had to them. There were green holograms of my sister’s past works lined up against the wall; her old showcases being projected above the stage. The only thing that wasn’t green or yellow was the spotlights shining onto the stage and the crystal looking back drop. Summer music was being blared over the speakers around us.
I turned to Geneva who still had a frustrated look on her face. I leaned up and whispered to her, “Don’t mind Madilia, she’s going crazy again.” I saw a smile twitching on her lips and smiled at my progress.
“Isn’t she always?” Geneva joked. I giggled and nodded.
“So, how are things back home?” I asked her.
She shrugged, “The same, sunny, and this idiot’s still bugging me.” She elbowed Besnik in the side and he laughed.
They both looked up when the all the lights in the room but the spotlights went out.
“Let the chaos commence,” Geneva whispered in my ear as Madilia walked onto the stage. The crowd applauded her and she smiled back.
Once she began talked, giving the normal, boring showcase opener, the audience fell completely silent. As she talked her brown, eccentric curls were bouncing up and down, showing her excitement.
Once she was done with all the speech containing the cheesiest dialogue I’d ever heard in my life and walked off stage, Geneva started giggling, which was thankfully masked by the music that had started blaring again.
As the models came out, the chorus of “oh’s” and “ah’s” rippled through the crowd. I looked around to see some whispering to each other; Besnik and Geneva included. Most of the outfits were extremely gaudy, others too flashed, and some way too showy. To me it was appalling, but to others, my sister’s vision of summer clothes were works of art. I could never explain where she got the ideas for the outfits, but then again, we always did have different tastes in the clothes we wore.
I myself had always been the type to wear old t-shirts and jeans that were still too big for me. They were always tattered and greasy from all the shop classes I took and machines I’d made and fixed. Madilia though, she preferred the more sophisticated style of blouses, dresses, and skirts so she could keep her reputation up.
I looked over and saw Geneva elbow Besnik in the side and him bite back a yelp. Raising and eyebrow at them, Geneva just smiled. I looked back up at the stage to see an incredibly showy, red sundress one of the models was wearing. “He wanted you to wear that didn’t he?” I asked her giggling.
She nodded, obviously annoyed, and replied, “And the one before it.” I put a hand over my mouth to contain my laughter. Geneva glared at me and turned back to the stage.
I turned back myself when I’d composed myself again, only to see a model in a barely showy outfit with a nice black top and jean skirt. She had worker like boots on. I smiled looking at the outfit, knowing it was one of my sister’s ways to show that she loved you.
After the showcase, we were all backstage in a greenroom just sitting around. Madilia had passed out on the couch though. Geneva smiled and put a blanket over her so she wouldn’t freeze to death in the cold room. I smiled as she handed me one and whispered, “I can’t believe she’s finally asleep.”
​Besnik chuckled on the couch across from us. “I’m sure she’ll be fine till the next showcase,” he assured us as Geneva sat next to him.
She nodded and yawned, “I might just end up the same way pretty soon.” Besnik smiles and put his arm on the back of the couch so Geneva could use his shoulder as a pillow. “Thank you,” she mumbled, closing her eyes.
I smirked at Besnik and whispered, “Not dating huh?” He just glared at me. “Don’t get your panties in a twist.”
Geneva opened her eyes and looked over at me. “Stop,” she ordered. I smiled and nodded till she closed her eyes again. Quite frankly, I wasn’t far behind.
Madilia- Dimension 3- Andrail
I stood up in the dark, all too familiar room with no walls and never ending; the same place I’d been going to every night. It was always cold for a reason I could never understand.
“Welcome back Madilia,” the same, tormenting voice from all those nights before greeted me.
I sighed, “What now?” As I said it, as if on cue, a ball of fire hurdled past my head. My eyes went wide when I jumped back. “What the hell?!” More and more started coming at me as I began sprinting away. “Stop it! Please!” I screamed, hoping to stop what was happening
“But it’s so fun,” the voice cackled, drawing out his sick words.
I turned around eventually, hoping to finally see him, but I didn’t quite see what I’d been hoping to.
I screamed as the colossal ball of fire came at my face, just inches away. I felt the heat of it building up, waiting to blow. It seemed like it was going in slow motion as it got closer.
I covered my mouth when I sat up on the couch in a cold sweat, trying to hold back my screams. None of the others in the green room had woken up thankfully.
I guess I finally trained myself to stop screaming during the dreams, I thought. My screams of terror always woke up Geneva and Cecilia when they were little though; ever since I’d been having them at less than fifteen. But even then, they always got worse and worse every night, and that damn voice was always there. I’d tried every the medicine the doctors had given me, anything on the holonet that would calm them down or stop them. None of it ever worked though, which confused me greatly as a kid.
But after my parents died, I stopped trying. I kept letting them nightmares get worse and I even welcomed them. The pills to make them go away turned into anti-depressants to make the pain the nightmares couldn’t even cause go away. I didn’t know what was happening to me and I didn’t care. All I knew was that I had to go with my sister’s and stay at our Aunt’s. I could never tell them, or the therapists my aunt got me the truth. I used my showcases as an excuse to not sleep so Cecilia wouldn’t get suspicious.
Getting up, I walked out of the room to wake myself up more. I started going down the hall when I heard something call my name. When I turned though, nothing was there.
“Hello?” I asked, looking around for someone.
I turned as I saw the door next to me open. “In here,” the voice from before led me. In that moment, I decided to me the idiot people yell at in horror movies and walk into the room. The thing is, I don’t know why; the voice was just so soothing, almost motherly.
My eyes went wide as I went back to the door as it shut in my face. “Crap, not again!” I yelled.
“Where are you going sweetie?” the voice asked me. I started pressing random buttons on the door’s key pad to get it open. “Don’t you want to talk to me?”
I slammed my fist on the key pad and fumed, “No because I’m living in a horror movie!”
“Sweetie, you know that’s not true,” the voice soothed me. I bit my lip, trying to hold back from giving in. “Just come talk to me and your father.”
I turned around to see the face to match the soothing voice, my mother. Her blonde hair and hazel eyes shining. She was still in the light blue dress she always wore when I saw her; the same dress she died in. She wiped away the tears I hadn’t even noticed were falling.
“Mom, why do you talk to me all the time?” I asked her, hoping to get the real answer this time around.
She gave me a soft smile. “Because I still want to take care of you and watch over you.”
I sighed, “Me, Geneva, and Cecilia are fine, now go be with Dad. You and I both know he’s not here too.” I hated telling her that, but it was the only way I knew how to convince her. Her smile faltered when I said it. “Mom, please.”
She frowned and shook her head, “Madilia, it’s too late for me to go. And in a few months, you’ll need me here, believe me.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Wait, what?” I asked her confused. She smiled and disappeared before telling me anything. “Mom? Mom what do you mean?”
4: Chapter 3Chapter 3
Geneva- Andrail- Dimension 3
The fire sparked on my fingers and I smiled. It always felt soothing for some reason, like all the bad things in life were burning away. It was something I could do from birth and I still found new powers all the time with it.
I brought my fingers to the sweet smelling candle next to me. I held them there until the fire on my fingers lit it. How it worked, I never knew. I didn’t know where my powers came from and didn’t think I ever would.
Fire wasn’t the only thing I could make or control oddly enough. I could control water, air, and earth as well. It was weird how it worked; how I could use them all even though they canceled each other out.
I wasn’t the only one with powers though. Cecilia could control plants, make them grow. A few months ago her powers got stronger and she brought a bird that had crashed into the window back to life. I always thought that was why she liked mechanics so much. She brought the hovercars, robots, and machines to life and gave them a purpose. Just before she turned twelve the only things she ever did were work robots in her room or fix all the electronics in her room that Madilia somehow managed to break.
Madilia though, she was the only one of us with no powers for some reason. It had always been confusing for us, and when we were little, Madilia would get jealous of Cecilia and me. I learned that the only way to make it fair for her was to not use them near her. I taught Cecilia the same thing when she was a little older and learned to control it.
Putting my focus back on the little flame in front of me, I made figures in the smoke coming from it. The smoke started dancing in the light the flame had made in the room. It was how I distracted Cecilia when she was little while Madilia was screaming and crying because of the nightmares she used to have. I would make little movies from the stories Mom had told me about the ancient Guardians in the twenty-seventh realm.
Mom had been a history teacher at the high school we went to. She knew everything there was to know about The Great War. She reviewed her history lessons by teaching us the dulled down version as bedtime stories, which were the best stories of all. She could never get over the subject of the all-powerful Guardians that watched over the realms and kept peace between them.
Dad though; Dad was a businessman that met Mom through a Dimension wide school deal. His base happened to be our tiny town of Demore. The way he tells it was that he swept Mom off her feet and she was head over heels for him. Mom’s side was more like that she hated him and the only reason she ever liked him at first was because of his dumb school plan. She eventually said yes to his constant date propositions and they eventually fell for each other. Dad took us to all kinds of Dimensions for his work. I’d been to nine realms by the time I was nine because of it. He loved us more than his insane love of travel and he was so enthusiastic about everything he did. Cecilia reminded me of him so much. They were both people that came off wrong, but turned out to be caring, loving, a little bit on the crazy side, yet one of the greatest people to ever exist.
But all great stories come to an end at some point. Dad was in the realm of Guardian, which we were not allowed to go to, and somebody assassinated him. He was ripped away from us and we all felt like part of us was ripped to shreds. Mom tried to be strong like she naturally was, but it didn’t cut it. She went into depression like Madilia and lost all hope. I couldn’t bare the sadness that was always in her eyes; it was like nothing else existed in her. Eventually after a few weeks she noticed Madilia’s anti-depressants she was on and led her further into depression herself. I went into her room at one point with Madilia and she wasn’t moving or breathing. She’d died from the depression that she’d been in for weeks, almost months. I remember lying next to her, praying she’d wake up, and the tears on her pillow from that night.
Madilia had never really been the same since then. We went to our Aunt Edila’s after mom died and she took care of us. Well, it was more like she took care of me and I took care of Cecilia. Madilia stayed in her room the majority of the time, only coming out for her medication, school, and meals. Though, once she became a junior five years later she came out all the time. None of us knew how or why, we just accepted it.
“Having fun there?” Madilia asked from behind, taking me from my thoughts. I turned back to see her leaning against the doorframe smiling at me.
She turned the lights on as I put out the candle. “I was,” I told her. “Has Cecilia been using her powers since you got here?”
Madilia shook her head and replied, “She was more concerned about upgrading the crappy mechanics shop a few miles away.”
I laughed, unsurprised at my little sister’s actions. “Of course she did.”
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Madilia sat down next to me and held my hand. The sad look in her eyes couldn’t be hidden by the purple make-up she had on, and I knew why it was there.
“Mom,” I guessed, a frown coming as she nodded. April 17, the day we’d all officially become orphans. My eyes went wide as I looked up at Madilia. “You saw Mom again didn’t you?”
Madilia’s eyebrow rose. “Wait, how did you know about that?” she asked me, the worry in her voice obvious.
“You used to talk about it in your sleep,” I guiltily informed her. Her hand instantly tensed around mine when I answered but she said nothing. “Are you okay Madilia?”
She stood up and started for the door. I followed her immediately. “Madilia, wait. Why are you still doing this? Hiding everything from me and Cecilia like we’re still little kids? I remember mom and dad too you know! I’m sick of you hiding them from everyone!” I yelled at her before she could leave.
“Geneva, I’m not hiding them from you! This isn’t something you want!” she argued, walking out of the room.
I sat back down and put my head in my hands. “Why won’t she tell me anything?” I quietly asked myself.
Cecilia- Andrail- Dimension 3
“Hey Besnik, didn’t your dad teach you how to work with wood?” I asked Besnik. He was currently reading a book, and not paying attention to me, in the room connected to the one I was in.
He looked back at me with a confused look and asked, “You’re a mechanic, shouldn’t you know how to?”
I rolled my eyes. “I took Welding and Mechanics in high school, not Workshop.” I turned my attention back to the wood and wiring circuits on the table in front of me.
I heard him get up and walk over to me sighing. “Mechanic my ass,” I heard him mutter, thinking I wouldn’t hear. “Just work on the metal and I’ll fix the wood up for you. What do I need to make?”
“A hollowed out nutcracker so I can put the electric wires in it,” I told him, handing him the wood blocks.
“Electric nutcrackers? Isn’t that a bit low tech for you?” Besnik asked me confused.
I shrugged and replied, “I wanted to try something new, and I’m not good with wood, so yeah.”
Besnik smiled and sat down next to me. “I think I can help you on this. Now where can I get a wood cutter or some laser pens and cutters?”
I shook my head. “Somewhere over twenty miles away I’m sure. Andrail doesn’t have a lot of technology because they were hit so hard by The Great War,” I informed him, screwing around with the wires in my hands.
“That was four thousand years ago though,” he pointed out.
“Andrail’s always been a poor planet and they never quite recovered,” I countered. “It’s a pretty sad story.
He nodded understanding and asked, “Where’d you learn all this? There’s no way that’s from school.”
I smiled thinking back to when my sisters would tell me the stories Mom told them. “Geneva and Madilia. Our mom told those stories to them and they told me,” I answered.
“Geneva is a pretty good story teller,” Besnik commented, looking at the wood in his hands with a goofy smile.
I smirked and pestered him, “Somebody has a crush!”
“I do not,” he argued, elbowing my side. He looked over the wood again while I giggled. “So there’s no way to cut this?”
“Only if you want to hand carve it or go to a factory. Nobody uses woodworks anyway. Not anymore at least,” I answered.
He shrugged and attempted to persuade me, “Well that way we have more trees for oxygen.”
I shook my head and sighed, “That’s how they sugar coat it so you don’t think about the pollution that’s killing those trees. All because the companies won’t invest in environmentally safe practices.”
“You’re so much like Geneva when you protest,” Besnik chuckled.
“I’ve been told,” I agreed with him. “Lover boy.”
I started laughing as Besnik began to pout while crossing his arms over his chest like a five-year-old. “I’m gonna go make a layout for the electronic nutcracker,” he muttered.
“Bessy, come on, I was just kidding,” I persuade.
He walked passed me, ruffling my hair as he did. “I know Cece.”
I slapped his back and retorted, “You’re an asshole; you know that?”
5: Chapter 4Chapter 4
Madilia- Earth- Dimension 3
I walked in to the design room for the first time in at least two months. It was exactly the way I’d left it too. The pale pink walls were covered in overflowing cork boards and papers I’d taped to the wall because the cork boards were full. My three drawing desks were still scattered throughout the room; one was in front of the window, another by the entrance door and the last in the center of the room. My main desk, drawers, and computer station was in the corner furthest away from the window. It had papers and drawings sticking out of the drawers from my millions of crap designs as a fresh out of college twenty-three-year-old. The background of my computer was practically covered completely by editing software and links I’d saved on it. The software had also been transferred to the hologram projector in the corner next to my desk. The tiny trashcan between the two stations was filled to the brim from my undesirability to empty it.
I sighed and flopped into my swivel chair, my bag having already been thrown into a corner by the door. “Room sweet room,” I muttered, turning to the computer.
The majority of the day was pretty much just me messing with design software until I found something I liked. By the time I’d managed to figure out it was getting late, the sun had set four hours prior. The only light source during that time was the light from the computer screen. You could say I wasn’t the most attentive person.
“Miss Tridel, it is almost midnight.” I jumped as my house’s computer came over the speaker. Geneva bought it for me because she said everyone had one, but I knew that she got it because she was still concerned for my ability to be by myself.
I sighed and put my hand on my forehead, turning around in the chair. “And?” I asked groggily as my body began to realize how late it really was.
A tray appeared next to me after it came out through a slot in the wall with pills and water on it. “Your medicine ma’am,” the computer replied.
“Anti-depressants and sleeping pills, my favorite, thanks,” I said with a small, tired smile. Picking up the cups, I easily downed the two cups due to being too used to the feeling of it.
I stood up and walked to the door, knowing my designing computer would be turned off behind me. The floor squeaked under my feet as I walked on it.
The house was an older one, but it was cheap enough for a designer with little to no money and it was nice enough to begin with. Cecilia had helped me pick it out and even fixed it up for me.
Once I was in my room, I pretty much just fell on the bed. Sleep came just as I hit the soft, lavender blankets beneath me.
“Would you look at that pretty little face?” his deep voice remarked.
No way to get out is there? I thought to myself as I opened my eyes. The dark room was back, but something was different. The voice seemed different, even closer. I began to feel burning eyes on me and froze.
“No, no there’s not.” The voice was definitely closer and was answering my thought again as it loved to do.
Shivering a bit, my voice subconsciously came out, “Go away, please.” His hand was on my shoulder as I sat up. “P-please.”
“Madilia, you know I can’t,” he mocking voice tried to sooth me. The heat came to my back and tears started forming in my eyes.
“Please just stop,” I begged, “I’ve never done anything to you but you haven’t left me alone for one night!”
The last bit of the outburst honestly came from nowhere, but after it did, I was even more terrified. The hand pulled me up and turned me around to face him. “I’m here to guide you, to train you,” was all he told me as his dark red eyes were piercing into mine.
“Training me for what?!” I yelled at him, finally snapping.
The man’s featured tensed up and then relaxed again, his black hair covering most of the anger in his face. “Never mind,” he told me.
“You’re not getting away that easily with this! What am I training for! Why have I been coming here every night for seventeen years?” I pushed further, my anger growing.
I didn’t get an answer; he just turned around and started walking away. When I tried to chase after him it was like there was something that was keeping me from moving completely.
I sat up on the bed in a cold sweat. I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest and I immediately ran back into the design room. I began sketching what the man looking like before I lost the memory and turned the hologram projector on to find out who he was.
By the time it was morning, I’d had looked through every file I could find that were on men that seemed like the one in my dream. I couldn’t find one document that existed in all of Dimension Three that said anything about him or would give me any information. I was sitting in the swivel chair, oblivious to the bags under my eyes and stared at a very blurry picture of a man in a black hood that looked vaguely similar to the man from my dream. It was the only thing I could find even remotely close to the subject.
“Why the hell did it have to be me? Don’t I have enough crap on my shoulders to not have to deal with you?” I asked the picture bitterly.
The picture just stared at me, aggravating me further. Something was off, getting closer. Why else would he finally show himself? I set the picture down and sighed.
Maybe I should tell Geneva and Cecilia, I thought. No, bad idea. But maybe; no, I can’t. I couldn’t stop the miniature war in my head, and I knew it wouldn’t stop until I either told someone or figured this all out myself.
Standing up, I decided that I needed to actually eat and walked to the kitchen. The oak cabinets had practically nothing for me to work with and I settled on two month old bacon from the freezer. You know, it could be a delicacy.
“Miss Tridel, security cameras on Contiol have picked up video of the man you are looking for,” the house computer told me. My eyes went wide and I ran back to the design room. The picture was already printing and the video was playing on the projector.
I grabbed the picture smiling. It was him, I’d found him. “This is great, maybe I’ll actually find him soon!” I told myself, knowing I wouldn’t but I could dream.
“Madilia, why is there burning bacon on your stove?” a voice called from the kitchen.
I instantly froze. “Who the?” I quietly asked. I walked out of the design room and peaked around the corner to the kitchen. I honestly shouldn’t have been surprised when I saw my best friend, Pranvera, munching on the burnt bacon.
“This tastes like crap, but I’m hungry,” she stated.
I walked over and picked up a piece myself, turning the stove off as I did. “How did you even get in here?” I asked her.
She held up the extra key saying, “You gave me this when you moved here.” I sighed, remembering when I did and currently regretting it.
“So you broke into my house for bacon?” I asked undoubtedly. I knew she would to be honest, but it’s worth asking.
She laughed and replied, “You really thought you left with such a little amount of food in your kitchen?” I slapped her on the arm smiling. “What? I’m a cheapskate and there was food going to waste!”
“You’re a terrible person!” I joked, eating more bacon. She stuck her tongue out at me in protest.
“So, how was Andrail?” Pranvera asked me.
I shrugged and replied, “Boring, tiring; showcase was good though.”
Pranvera nodded. “Yeah, Mom and Dad told me it was pretty low class though.”
“Cecilia threw a fit over it,” I added. She laughed and nodded in understanding. “So, what about here? How was it?”
“It was pretty good. Business has been slow though,” Pranvera informed me. She and her parents had opened a library like shop where people could pay for really cheap holonet access and wouldn’t have to worry about buying the whole insane system.
I nodded and told her, “People are probably buying more systems on their own with the economy picking up again.”
My blonde friend sighed, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I put a hand on her back and gave her a reassuring smile. “Have you done anything since you got back?”
“Just working,” I partly lied.
She laughed and walked to the dusty, oak living room. “You over work yourself, you know that?” she told me, sitting on the dark brown couch.
I sighed and nodded. “I can feel the bags under my eyes. So, do you want to do anything today?”
Pranvera just sat on the couch thinking and shrugged soon after. A thought with her, but when I looked over at the doorway, he was there. He just appeared and I screamed.
“Madilia, what’s wrong?” Pranvera panicked. She rushed over to me as I fell back in shock. She tried to pull me up as gently as she could and soothed me as best she could. “Just calm down Madilia. What happened?”
I shook my head and told her it was nothing. She looked at me unsurely. “I’m fine, I promise,” I lied again.
I’d never seen or heard him outside my dreams before. It was vaguely terrifying to be blunt. I quickly gave Pranvera a smile to make her believe me. I could tell she didn’t, but I honestly couldn’t blame her.
Now for another side story. Pranvera had been one of my friends since third grade when she helped me get gum out of my hair. She was also the only friend Geneva, Cecilia, and I had that knew about my sisters’ powers. After Mom and Dad died, she was the only friend I had that I would still talk to her. You could say she’s one of those wacky friends that kept you from going insane, doing worse things than you already did to yourself, and always tried to cheer you up. She took care of me and stuck herself to me like glue when my parents died. I would always be in debt to her.
She brought me over to the couch and sat me down on it. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she checked.
I nodded and smiled. “I’m fine, I swear,” I assured her. She sat down with me and leaned back, worry visible on her face.
We stayed like this for quite a while, unsure of what to say or do. Silence was something what Pranvera liked though. She thought it was blissful and got your thoughts going so I didn’t break her silence. The weird thing was how much it contrasted with her wildly colorful, bubbly attitude.
“So, how about I go grab us something to mess with from the back room?” Pranvera asked me. I shook my head in response. “Well what do you want to do then grumpy?”
I shrugged and replied, “I don’t know, sleep without nightmares?”
Pranvera sighed, “Same thing as always I see.”
I chuckled and nodded. “It tends to be.”
A look of shock suddenly came over Pranvera’s face. “Madilia, is today Friday?”
I shook my head and replied, “It’s Thursday.”
She immediately ran to the door screaming, “Crap, crap, crap! I’ve got work in, wait,” she checked her phone, “half an hour ago!”
I laughed, following her to the door. “Have fun with that,” I told her smiling.
“Yeah, yeah. Listen, I’ll call you later tonight, and get some shut eye. You’ve got major bags under your eyes.” She hugged me quickly and ran out the door. “Bye Madilia!” She got on her green moped and turned on the jets to make it hover about a foot in the air. I waved as she flew down the street.
I closed the front door, laughing at my friend’s insanity. Going back into the kitchen, I cleaned up the mess I’d made from making bacon.
“Quite the character isn’t she?” a voice behind me remarked. I screamed and threw the tongs in my hand at him. He easily dodged it though.
“Get out!” I yelled as soon as I saw who it was.
He chuckled and walked closer to me. “Madilia, please, I’m only here to help you,” he assured me, a cheeky grin on his face.
“Who are you?” I asked him bitterly.
“You don’t need to know right now,” he told me.
“The hell I do!” I yelled again. “Why are you here?”
He shrugged and smirked, “That’s what you think.”
“What are you talking about? And for the love of god would you stop talking in your weird code!” The man just smirked at me. “Who are you?” I asked again.
He chuckled again, “You’ll find out soon enough.” After he said it, he immediately disappeared as if he’d never been there before.
Sighing, I sat down on the couch. “You’re going insane Madilia, you’re going insane,” I told myself with my head in my hands.
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