Day 241 - The Arrival of Rosakora

A girl, thin and haggard but with a fire in her eyes, slowly staggered to a giant wooden gate which stood between her and a great forest civilization - and the river which she so desperately needed to reach. She raised her hand and curled it into a fist, and weakly brought it down on the wooden door three times. Thrum. Thrum. Thrum.

"Hello? Is anyone there? My name is Rosakora. I sent a message almost three hours ago in code. I don't know if you can understand it, or speak my language. . . ." She began to cough. "Please let me in. . . I'm dying. . . ."

A wave of exhaustion washed over her, and she sank to her knees, head bent and her hair brushing the soil. All she could do was listen. So many curious sounds came from the forest - the rustling of leaves and the racing of water, a mysterious swishing sound ripping through the sky, and only now and then a curious footstep or two. And then, all became very quiet.

And suddenly, the door swung open.

Me and Zane landed and got out. When we were approaching the edge of the forest, I heard someone cough and I stopped dead in my tracks. "Zane, did you hear that?" "If by that you mean someone coughing, then yes," said Zane, "it sounds like it's coming from the gate." He pointed, indicating the fence that kept anyone who might bring harm out. Vertacre Forest was at the far edge of Levi, or at the far edge of anywhere someone might hope to find a town, and after Zane and the Crims had left and Sussy took over, she had decided to put up the fence. "Please let me in. . . I'm dying. . . ." a voice said. Zane walked up to the fence and I hurried behind. He opened it and I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. "Go get some food and water, and while you're back there, get Sussy," Zane whispered in my ear. I nodded and tried to say okay, but nothing came out. I turned around and ran back to the main part of Vertacre. "Sussy! Sussy?" I shouted. "What?!" Sussy yelled, sounding annoyed. "Sussy!" I said, running over to her. She grinned when she saw me. "Oh, Lynette! I didn't know you were here! Did Zane come?" Her face softened. "Oh, dear. Lynette? You look like you've seen a ghost." "Yes, Zane came," I said softly. "Someone else is here. A girl. We don't know who she is, but she's at the gate. She looks just about dead. Zane is back at the gate with her, he told me to get her some water and food, and to get you," I said. "Oh dear. You go back to Zane, tell him I'll be right there. I'm going to get the poor girl something to eat." she said. I nodded and headed back to where Zane was.

"She said she'll be here soon and that she was gonna get some food," I said, walking up behind Zane. "Alright," he replied. I sat down on a rock near by. "Okay! I'm here!" Sussy was holding a tray with some food and water on it. She set it on the ground and knelt down. "You eat something, dear," she told the girl. "You two, shoo! She needs space," Sussy said abruptly, standing up and backing away from the girl. "Okay, come and get us if you need us," Zane said, taking my hand and leading me away. "When you're done eating, I'll show you the way to the river so you can clean yourself off." I heard Sussy say. "Do you know her? The girl, I mean? I wasn't told about any new leviathans. Not that she looks like the new leviathans that come in. She looked like she was about to die. That's not normal. In fact, I don't remember that ever happening," I asked Zane after we had gotten out of hearing distance. "No," he replied. "But I think she'll be fine if we just let Sussy handle this." "I suppose," I said. Zane put his arm around my shoulders and I giggled. "So. How about you practice some of that bending of yours?" He said, back to his playful self. "Alright. Would you like to float in midair?" I asked him. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could reply I had already twisted away from him and lifted him in the air. "Oh, that is SO not funny." He said. I giggled. "It's very funny, and you wanna laugh. You KNOW you wanna laugh." He budged and laughed. "Now put me down," he said. "Fine," I said, reluctantly letting him down.

Consciousness came back to her, the blackness fading, and the girl began to realize that she was still alive. I hate fainting, she thought dizzily. It's such a horribly weak feeling. . . and I can't afford to be weak. . . .

She became aware that someone was standing over her, trying to pour water down her throat and causing her to sputter. She tried to hold her hand up to push away the glass and tell them she couldn't drink very well lying on the dirt and with gravity against her, but her arm felt too heavy.

"Where am I?" She managed to rasp after the coughing subsided.

After a while of walking around me and Zane had gone back to where we'd left Sussy and the girl. "You're in Vertacre Forest," I heard Sussy say. "She must be awake now," I whispered to Zane. He nodded and dragged me towards Sussy. "Okay, it's good you're excited and all, but I don't think I'll like it very much when you snap my wrist off!" I whispered to him. "Sorry," he said, letting go. "Thank you," I replied, rubbing my wrist. When we got there, I sat down a few feet behind Sussy, while Zane walked up and whispered something to Sussy. It must've been a question because she whispered back to him. He nodded and came back to where I was. "She just woke up, and she asked where she was. That's all that's happened, I suppose," he said, sitting down next to me. "Okay." I nodded.

"You're in Vertacre Forest," the person said. The girl's vision was slowly coming into focus -- she could see they had red hair. A woman in her early twenties, with pale gray eyes. "I'm Sussy, by the way."

The girl tried to clear her throat, but this only resulted in a coughing fit. As soon as she had herself somewhat under control, she managed to ask, amid coughs, "Who runs this Vertacre Forest?" She then scrambled up onto her elbows, the aspects of her mission returning to her consciousness full-force. "What is the principle government. . . in place. . . for this planet? I must see someone. . . of power immediately. My people. . . are in danger--"

"I run Vertacre Forest," Sussy replied. She turned around and motioned for me to come. "This is Lynette. Her and a few other people are in Empire of Stars. They're sort of like the government here. The admiral's there each control a city, though not every city has an admiral to control it. Some have Empress's and others have regular people, like me, leading it. Anyway, Lynette's the leader of Eastlyn. Empress Star runs Empire of Stars, so she pretty much runs Levi," she said as I walked forward. "Hi," I said softly, kneeling down. Zane took a step towards me. "Empire of Stars can help you and your people. But first can I ask who you are and where you come from?" I asked the girl.

"My name," she coughed, "is Rosakora. I come from the Planet called Zyriad in the galaxy Omega, located approximately 22139 lightyears from this neck of the universe." She closed her eyes and swallowed before continuing, as if it were taking the last of her strength to even talk of where she had come from. "I'm afraid I must advise that you send word to your Empress and tell her that she should ready her fleet of warships. They're likely on their way now."

"I'll try and get in touch with her today. They won't get here for a few days, though, right? I haven't ever been off of Levi, so I wouldn't know," I said as Zane took another step forward and put his hand on my shoulder. "By the way," I said, standing up, "this is Zane Youngblood. He originally found Vertacre and built it." I smiled. "I'm going to go call Reaper and the others. If you need anything or have any questions just ask Zane," I said, turning around and pulling out my phone. I dialed Silver's number. "Hey, Silver. There's a, um, new arrival at Vertacre. You might wanna come meet her." I said as soon as it stopped ringing, not waiting for Silver to answer.

"There's Lynette." I told Silver as our ships approached Vertacre Forest. Silver and I landed our ships and ran over to Lynette. I had no idea what was going on but Silver said it sounded important. Lynette had a panicked look on her face, she was calling the others on her cell. Past Lynette I could see Zane and the new Leviathan. I couldn't believe it, she looked awful. She was laying on the ground and looked like she was about to faint. I heard Silver gasp.

I held up my hand as the phone kept ringing. "Reaper. There's a new arrival. And, um, she has some news. Get over here as fast as you can. You can bring Ax, too," I said hurriedly, hanging up. I turned to Silver and Tristin. "Well, you see, her names Rosakora and she's from another planet. It's called Zyriad. I think there's something bad going on there, but I'm not positive. She told me to tell Empress Star to ready some space fleets and that they're probably already on their way. When me and Zane opened the gate she was lying on the ground, practically dying," I said quickly, bouncing from foot to foot. "I'll give you guys a few minutes to digest this." I turned around and headed back to where Zane was standing with the others. He laced his fingers with mine and squeezed tight, which I assumed was supposed to be reassuring, but it wasn't.

The Zyrian girl took a deep breath and looked up.

"I wish I hadn't come here," she said, sounding more like her age and less like a hardened soldier as panic began spreading through her eyes. "I would have given anything to find a planet with sufficient oxygen and materials so I could repair my ship and formulate a plan, but I was on the brink of running completely out of fuel and I had to land."

She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead as if pain was thundering through her brain.

"This," she said shallowly, "is very bad. Not only are my people in mortal peril, I've put another civilization completely at risk to be forced to be become. . . to become like Them."

She drew a shuddering breath.

"I hope you have sufficient ammo supply, and know how to fight, because you're going to need every weapon and skill you can lay your hands on for Levi to even stand a chance."

As soon as I received Lynette's call i was on my feet. I quickly dressed and grabbed some breakfast on my way out. As i was flying toward Vertacre Forest in my spaceship, i tried to gather my thoughts. I shook An ominous feeling from my gut and focused. Lynette had sounded rushed, and her words sounded panicked. I landed and hurried over to where she and Zane stood silently.

It's been so long since Levi's had a war. I lost my parents in that war, I thought sadly as I turned to Rainblade and tried to give her a reassuring smile. She opened her mouth to say something, probably to ask what was going on, but I cut her off. "Talk to Zane. He'll explain." I indicated where he was standing next to Tristin, his hands jammed into his pockets. He turned toward me and I gestured for him to come over. "Explain it to her. I'll be right back. I need to clear my thoughts," I whispered into his ear. I kissed his cheek and hugged him, and then I turned around and headed toward the river. When I was out of sight I ran toward it and knelt down at the edge. I splashed some water on my face and laid down. A few minutes later I heard some footsteps coming toward me. Zane, probably. "Hey," he said, laying down next to me and pulling me closer. I laid my head down on his chest and sighed. "It's been so long since we've had a war, Zane." "I know, I know," he said, stroking my hair. "The others are wondering where you are. You should get back." I nodded and he helped me up. We headed back to the others.

Yesterday everything was fine, surfing with SIlver and now today we are on the brink of a war. It's amazing how fast things can change, I thought to myself. Everyone seemed so nervous, Silver looked completely lost. I saw Zane bringing Lynette back out of the forest.

"Lynette, Do you know how much time we have?" I asked.

"I'd say two or three days. But I'm not sure," I told Tristin. "I'd say, if you guys want to hang out or anything, do it now. Me and Zane, and anyone else who wants to come with us, will go to the Empress tomorrow night. Meanwhile, Silver, since you just became an Admiral, we haven't had much time to do some Admiral things. But there's only two that are important, and one already happened, which is you running a city. The other is a space fleet. Me and Reaper will help you with that tomorrow. We'll go to Mallowwick Point and get it all organized. We'll do it before me and Zane go to the Empress, so we can tell her to get it all ready," I said.

"Wait," Rosakora said, holding up her hand and blinking as she tried to keep from just dropping off completely. She knew she had to sleep -- she had been awake for three days straight, trying with all her main and might to get to this planet's atmosphere with the limited fuel supply -- but she had to pass along whatever she knew as quickly as she could. "I know when they will be coming -- if they decide to come for me. And since I'm the last of the Resistance, I would bet my life that they will, because they either want me Reformed or dead. As long as I'm alive and remember what the Elders taught me, their control over Zyriad will be in question."

"All of their aircraft has a UPS -- universal positioning system -- installed into the craft's computer, so if the ship is lost, they can find it and salvage the materials. Every week, if there's enough battery left, it will automatically send out a signal as to it's location. I know what you're about to say; we need to go blow it up so it won't send the signal, but my aircraft has already done that; it did so the day before I crashed into the mountains here. I tried to stop it, but I just don't have the knowledge to hack into their supercomputers, even their old models," she said grimly. "The signal will take. . ." she stopped to calculate, ". . . approximately 29 hours to reach one of the thousands of satellites surrounding Zyriad. Which means they will be getting it very soon."

Her eyes darkened.

"Taking into account the time it takes to assemble a fleet. . . and they are experts. . . they should be here at sundown in two days, intenting on taking by force one of two things: my life or my soul. And this planet, with its resources and potential captives, probably won't fare much better."

"Not easily they aren't." I replied, trying to sound positive even though I wasn't so sure myself. "I'm going to help out Silver. I'm sure Ambrosine is capable of decapitating anyone it wants without my help." I said. We walked back to our ships and left. I tried not to think about what was coming in just a few days.

"Oh. Well. You should come with to meet the Empress," I said, still bouncing from foot to foot. "Bye, Tristin and Silver. I'll talk to you guys later." I waved. "If you need anything, ask Sussy," I told Rosakora. "Take good care of her, please," I whispered to Sussy. She nodded. "We'll talk to you all later. We're gonna go hang out for a while. Sussy, we'll be at his treehouse if you need us. I've got my phone, too." Me and Zane waved and then we went to the treehouse that he stayed in when he came here. We sat down next to each other. "I can't believe it," he said after a few minutes. "Neither can I. I can decide what I feel about it. I'm glad partly, because nothing ever happens, but then I don't want it to happen, because I don't want anyone getting hurt," I replied, looking out at the sky. The sun was setting, the sky getting darker by the minute. Zane nodded and pulled me closer. "It'll be fine, Lynette," He said. "I hope so," I said softly. "It's getting dark, you wanna go home?" He said after a few minutes. "Yeah. I guess." He helped me up and we walked over to our spaceships and flew back to Eastlyn.

Rosakora blinked as she watched the last starships fly off into the night.

"They're going to go 'hang out'? What does that mean?" She asked, turning to Sussy. Sussy smiled quizzically.

"Hang out is basically what people around here do everyday. . . be with friends. Do cool stuff. Have fun," she explained slowly as if these things were obvious.

"That's. . . so different from Zyriad," Rosakora said. "Over there, my people were always at odds with the Technad, and the Resistance -- a group within Those Who Abstained -- were always working to try to overthrow the government that was slowly crippling our rights more and more, and to try to discover who was really in control, because we knew it couldn't only be machines. There had to be some kind of intelligent reign. But we did have fun at times -- when I was with my friends," she added, and she looked as though she were about to cry for a moment before composing herself. "But most of the time we were training and being taught by the Elders. We had to fight for everything we had and prepare for the worst all the time, and learn like our lives depended on it, because it did. . . I can't imagine a place more different from Zyriad than Levi."

"Wow," Sussy said slowly. "I don't think I understood half of what you said. Look, you need to get some rest, but when you wake up tomorrow and you have the energy, I need to find out all I can about Zyriad and what's going on there so I can send out a memo to everyone else. Yikes, I sounded like a secretary for a second there. All right?"

Rosakora nodded, and so ended day 241.