The Ancient City, part 1 :0Prologue: The girl: Deep along the wiry Japanese coast, a sharp, lean figure was crouched amidst the roaring waves. The girl stared up at the darkening sky, her brow furrowed and reflecting the eerie gaze of the moon. Her hair was the colour of lightning, long waves of silver blue running down her shoulders, and her eyes the colour of gold. Something was clutched tightly in her hand, a jewel, perhaps? It glinted evilly in the faded light, sending dark rays shadowing across the water. However, hidden under the surface, long-forgotten creatures prowled the deep, their stalking, flinty eyes masked with malicious longing, tracking the object clutched so desperately to the girl’s chest. Breathing deeply, the girl suddenly and unsteadily moved to her feet, shifting her weight to stay balanced on the slippery rock. Glancing once more around the ocean with terrified eyes, she took a deep breath... And dived into the deep.The ocean swallowed her. :>Chapter One: The darkness: Pako's scream was swallowed by the icy water as she plunged into silence. Cold, salty water filled her mouth , but she kicked desperately to the surface, fighting against the relentless grip of the tide, and struggling to stay upright. "Mashiro!" She gasped, the tide wrenching her in different directions. "Rip-" But he waves sucked her down and her mouth was filled with sea. Flailing, she kicked up again, to see her friend in fits of laughter above her, "Mash-" She chocked, her chest heaving with the effort to speak, "Mashiro! Riptide!" The words tumbled out, frantic and scared, and she saw his face twist, confusion morphing into horror as he realized the danger. The ocean roared around her, dragging her down, fear clawed at her throat, suffocating her and ever tightening like a noose. Mercilessly, each wave crashed over her sunken body, pulling her deeper into the abyss. She was alone, a lost soul in the chaos of the darkness. Something wrapped around her leg, and she screamed, releasing precious oxygen. She stared at the bubbles in hopeless despair as they floated upwards. Instinct kicking in, she swung her leg and tried to swim upwards, but she was being dragged deeper, her mind slowly losing consciousness. She looked down, and screamed again, her lungs burning. Deep below her, shrouded in darkness, haunting, feverish yellow eyes stared at her, and a pale hand gripped her ankle. Cold, dirty-blonde hair moved like tentacles through the water. She saw Mashiro’s face once more, white as a whip, standing rigid and frozen on the rocks, terror still sinking in, then the darkness swallowed her. :3Chapter Two: Silence: Pako's mind swam through a pool of thick, black ink. She slipped in and out of consciousness, fearing every breath would be her last. It was silent when she woke, her brain fuzzy and confused, as if it were filled with fog. She suddenly realised she was staring blankly at the ceiling, and had been, for hours. Coughing, she tried to sit up, but there was pain spearing through her head, and she collapsed onto something soft...a bed? Agony and confusion pulled her down, sweat trickling down her forehead as the memories came spinning back; the panic, the screaming, the pain. It was all a blur. Then she remembered the face. Pako sat up straight in bed, adrenaline hiding the pain, and gripped on the edge of the bed. Her brain struggled to piece together fact from fiction, but she cleared the fog, and remembered with a shudder the events of the past. Pako had moved to Japan when she was very young, and Mashiro had been one of her best friends from India, he'd begged his parents to them visit her in japan, and eventually they agreed. It had been amazing, Pako showed him Japan, all the best places to go...until she showed him Ugato, the legend of the ancient city. It was a cliffside area overlooking the city's biggest lake, Ancien. The lake was said to have been the home to a city, a city beneath the surface of the freezing water. The ancient city. Everyone knew the story. Of the girl, who ran away from home, who used the magic of a jewel to build a safe haven somewhere people would never find it...under the water. Many have dived into its depths to uncover the mysteries, but all have failed. There is a riptide hidden just under the surface, a riptide so strong it would throw you against the rocks either side... ‘It wasn't Mashiro's fault, I should have told him, before he pushed me into the core of the lake...,’ Pako's thoughts spiralled into silence. She looked around, trying to distract herself from the feelings of guilt.
She was in a small pristine room, the walls were pale, and patterned with swirls of dark blue, and the floor was light and soft, with an introcate design of sand etched into cedar wood. There was a table in one corner, and Pako was lying on some sort of mattress propped up with pillows where her head was. The only other piece of furniture was a purple doorway on on one side of the room, sheltering a locked, windowless door. She turned around as best she could, and realised the room, was as well, windowless. A sudden whirring startled her, and she froze; staring upwards in confusion as water droplets splattered onto her leg. There was a glass, full to the brim with cloudy water, levitating above the bed. She stopped, staring, as the glass came towards her and landed gently in her outstretched hand. A small cough made her look up in wonder. In front of her was a girl, her crispy blond hair tied bhind her in a thick braid looped over one shoulder, and those eyes... Pako scrambled backwards in horrible realisation. The glass clattered to the ground. "You!" she gasped accusingly, "You pulled me down in the-in the sea! "She stared, her eyes blazing with wild fury, "You pulled me away from Mashiro," The girl smiled, and tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear dismissively, "He wasn't going to save you," she said, "and if you'd tried to swim upwards the riptide would've smashed your head into the rocks," she paused, gazing up at the ceiling for a second, lost in thought. Then she regained herself and smiled daintily at Pako, whose expression was becoming more and more difficult to read. "Like the others," The girl finished. Pako stared..."The...others?" The girl nodded, "I created the riptide as a safety precaution against humans, they would capture us if they found this place, so I needed a way to scare them off," Pako stared at her. "Innocent people died..." she choked. The girl just waved a finger at the statement as if she were wafting a fly away. Suddenly, she let out a gasp, and slapped her head with her hand. "My name is Alik,” she bowed politely. Pako just stared at her, still wondering where she was and how the glass had levitated. Then a thought occurred to her, "If you let all the other humans die...then...why not me?" Alik looked at her with genuine confusion, "I-" she faltered, her eyes flashing suddenly with an unnatural amber light, "I'm not sure I-" Pako noticed her fingers sub-consciously fingering some sort of necklace hanging from her wrist. She coughed slightly, and bent to pick up the glass scattered across the ground. "How did you do that?" Pako asked, deciding not to push her about the other question. Alik's smile returned, only this time she looked slightly unsure about it, "The glass in the air?" she asked curiously. "It's one of my abilities," Pako stared. "Your," she faltered, "Your 'ability' is to make things...float?" "One of them," Alik said, "I'm sure you have one, being a-" She cut herself off with a look of panic. "I'm sure we can find it out, anyway.." She pulled the glowing necklace, some sort of jewel attached to a chain. It seamed to be whispering, calling Pako's name...Her eyes were fixated on the pendant, and she felt her hand reach forwards, wanting to touch it, to feel the smoothness of the amber... Alik tucked the necklace into her pocket and Pako's hand retreated with confusion. "Weird," Alik said, no longer smiling. "It's never reacted like that with anyone but..." she trailed off, and the silence left behind was deafening. "Well," she said briskly and suddenly, collecting the remaining pieces of glass into the same pocket the gleaming jewel was still in. She stood up, and turned to leave, but Pako stopped her, "Wait!" she said, "Where am I?" Alik stopped, and spoke without turning around, "Wow. You really don't know? Maye you're not the one..." she gave a short, sharp laugh. "Ugato, The Ancient city. Of course," |END OF PART ONE| What did you think? I will post part 2 maybe :)
