Anima

By: Kaya Nguyen

Prologue

I woke up with a jolt. I breathed slowly and gripped my hands to the side of my bed to calm down. It was the same old nightmare I’ve been having for years. I don’t know how I was still afraid of it or why. It wasn’t a nightmare at all really. It was just me. I would be floating in darkness and hear several voices whispering my name. Calling me out. I try to follow them but they’re all in different directions. Making me get confused and all twisted up. Then flashes of pictures always come rushing by. They make my head hurt. They go faster and faster, spinning around me till I can hardly breathe. Then I wake up shivering.

I took a deep breath and sat up from my bed. I groaned and looked around. I went to my mirror, afraid to look into it. Sure enough, my fears were correct. My hair was a rat's nest. I sighed and sat. I took my brush, holding it up against my hair. It was my only weapon against the coming threat. It was a great and honorable battle, but I finally tied my hair down. I had what people called thick, “wavy” hair. More like evil, wants to kill me in my sleep hair. It was also red. Like a fiery orange-red. And then everybody thinks I have a temper. Everybody knows I follow the rules. So they think

I put on my clothes and looked at the mirror. I stared at my face. I had deep blue eyes and a scattering of very light freckles across my nose

“Anima stop staring at yourself! Are you wishing to be prettier?” I turned around to face the demon called my little sister. She raised her sassy little eyebrow and looked me up and down. She gave me a pitying look and said, “Keep on wishing.” I bolted across the room and held her upside down. I shook her. “TAKE IT BACK!” I said, poking her side. My sister laughed and said,” NEVER!” I dropped her on the floor. She made an oof sound and slithered away to hide in her room. My sister is extremely sassy.

Ariel had deep red hair, bright blue eyes, and very noticeable freckles on her face. Don’t think that just because she’s cute that she’s nice. She’s a demon in disguise. She steals my necklaces all the time. Not that it matters. I only need one necklace.

My mothers.

She was the best. She was kind and patient. From what I can remember. I was ten when it happened. My sister was three. She got sick with a disease that wasn’t supposed to be fatal.

They were wrong.

We all thought that she would be like the others who got sick with this. It would move on and she would be fine. It was hopeful thinking. She got worse and then on her death bed, she gave me her pearl. The thing that mattered the most to anybody. She told me not to listen to the voices. I didn’t understand what she meant at the time. She died. This necklace was the only thing I have left of her. But, seven years later I can still clearly hear her voice as if she is still softly singing into my ear.

I heard a knock at my door. I looked and saw my dad in the doorway. He smiled sadly at me. He saw I was twirling the necklace. I dropped it and let it fall back to my neck. We both knew the other missed her, but we didn’t say anything. My dad thought about my mom for a moment. I looked at his wrist.

My father had chosen to put his pearl in a bracelet. It was a deep blue. When everybody turns eighteen they open a clam the Queen’s wizard or witch chooses for them. Every pearl is unique, that’s how guards and other people check your identity. Or to see if some squid-brain teenager is trying to drink Chervil early. In four months I was gonna get mine.

My mother’s pearl, the one in the heart cage necklace was round and sparkly white. My dad shook his head, clearing it. He looked at me and said, “You and your sister are going over to Great Aunt Circe for a night.” My eyes wide with horror and betrayal, “WHAT! NO!” I yelled. He gave me his, too bad, look. “NO! ANYWHERE BUT HER HOUSE! PLEASE!” I shouted at him. “Keep your voice down!” He yelled back, anger in his voice. I shut my mouth and looked down.

He sighed and muttered something to himself. He then took a breath and said, “ I’m sorry for raising my voice, but I think that it would be good for you if you both went over there for a day. Circe is lonely and would love to see you guys!” I glared at him and whisper yelled, “Aunt Circe hates us and her house is as boring as watching snails race!” He glared back, “You’re both going and that’s final.” He stormed out of the room. I paced my room in frustration.

My little sister came in, looking at me with confusion, “What’s happening?” She asked. I sighed and said with defeat, “Dad’s making us go to Aunt Circe’s house for the night. You better go get packed.” Ariel’s face was full of horror, “You tried right? To convince dad to-” I interrupted her saying, “Yes. It didn’t work.” She sighed with defeat and went back to her room. I sighed and pulled out my bag. But I stopped. I looked out my window.

I went over to it and climbed out. It was only a small drop anyway. I went and sat at a rock at the edge of our forest. I looked up at the place I was never allowed to go to.

The surface.

Chapter 1

“Millions of years ago, in the 21st century, humans were killing the earth, destroying the animals and plants. So Mother Nature took its revenge. Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, and diseases ran through the earth, bigger than anyone had ever seen. Humans had to either adapt or die. They chose to adapt. But little did they know that they were evolving. They became one with nature and the human race split off, along with the land. It became known as The Seven Lands. The Kingdom of the Sea, The Kingdom of the Sky, The Kingdom of Sand, The Kingdom of the Forest, The Tundra, The Jungle, and The Marsh. The four Kingdoms fight endlessly still over things no person knows anymore. The Tundra, Jungle, and Marsh keep to themselves. They believe in freedom and do not have royal families like the Kingdoms do. When the human race split it also split into seven. And those sevens split farther. The majority of humans in the sea turned into mermaid-like people but some turned into other things such as octopuses or crabs. The people of the Sky lived on a mountain, the humans there grew great wings and got hollow bones, their legs became bird-like and had talons instead of feet. The people of Sand grew tails with barbs on the end, like a scorpion’s tail. They grew sharper vision and more resistant to heat. They were able to live long times without water or food. The people of the Forest were split in two. Some became like trees, with bark-like skin, able to do photosynthesis. The others became like elves, able to live almost forever. Their pointy ears gave them sharp hearing and able to pinpoint where something is. Their eyes became very sharp and they are known as the best bowmen on Gertaria. The people of the Tundra got long thick white fur and grew very strong. They can withstand any low temperature and some became like ice or crystal. They are completely see-through, their insides also. Some are rumored to breathe ice that can freeze anything. The people of the Jungle became panthers or jaguars. They ran on four legs and could speak. They are hunters that are nearly impossible to see. A few though became like Sky, except their wings were the colors of a paradise and they sang magnificently. The people of the Mash grew scales, claws, and sharp teeth. They can hold their breath for hours and can see in murky water. When this all happened, they found something amazing. Magic. Now that they were one with nature they could finally use it. Human has been completely apart from nature to broken and corrupt to figure out how to use it. But now they were a part of nature and could use little magic. Only the pure of heart people could do it well. Or people with the darkest of hearts. Each land had a thing that was most important to it. Something that the Grand Mage gave to them. For Sea, the perfect pearl. Use for Queening and used to severely strengthen the next queen’s powers. For Sky, it was a diamond that let you summon lightning. Given to the mightiest warrior of the year. For Sand, it was a staff that let you command the weather there. Given to the chief of the clan. For Forest, it was an unbreakable bow that always struck true. Given to the person of truest aim. That person could be challenged at any time. For Tundra, it was a fishing hole with an endless amount of fish. The whole kingdom used it for food. For Jungle, it was a tooth that gave the wearer the power to turn into a human with heightened senses. It was given to the person who had to journey to the other lands. But no one left their land unless attacking others. And for the Marsh, it was a pouch that held unlimited cattail bombs. Cattail bombs are scarier than they sound. It’s what the human race called a grenade. Given to the person who also had to journey to the other lands. The Sea and Forest are always only ruled by the Queen. The Sky and Sand are ruled only by the King. The Marsh, Tundra, and Jungle are guided by the elders of their tribe, but everyone had a vote. Which is what we should be doing!” My Aunt Cerci said, ruining the magic of what she was talking about.

I looked up from up book I couldn’t read and groaned, “Aunt Cerci it’s never going to happen! No one would go against the Queen.” She huffed and said, “Well someone should stand up to that old witch.” I glared at her and said, “That kind of saying can get you killed,” I swam over to Ariel and said, “It’s time to get to bed.” She groaned but followed me.

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I sighed. It was nighttime. My sister was snoring. I couldn’t sleep. I looked at my tail lightly floating above my seaweed bed. It was purple-blue. It seemed to shift and change color every second. My top was more purple and my bottom was bluer. I had speckles of gold on it too. It was like my mother except my mother had a lilac purple. My father had a deep blue with yellow speckles. My little sister Ariel had a scary orange that faded to an orangey-yellow at the top. She had speckles of deep red. We wore a type of lace shirt and we also tied some around our waist and tail. I hear the whispers in my head that began every night. I twirled my mother’s necklace. What the others didn’t know was that this gave me powers. And it whispered to me promises that it always kept. I loved my mother but my mother had been a fool. She didn’t listen and it got her killed. All I had to do was follow its every word. No matter what it said.