Who Loves Me?

2063

Andrina ran. She ran as fast as her legs would take her. The trees raked their branches across her skin and the dirt flung itself to spot her white dress and coat her feet in its murky darkness. Her copper hair flailed itself behind her in a wild mess as she ran for her life. They had finally come. It was her time for the awakening and they knew, they knew she would fight. Her vision had never been her strength but her ears had guided her through this forest for the last 16 years. She knew it better than most and certainly more than the infantry scum that had come for her. She heard the whooshing of the creek faintly to her right and so she veered left. Andrina knew they would assume she would seek refuge with others, and a creek meant a river and a river meant people, if there were any left.

Andrina didn’t honestly know if there were. She had been on her own since she was 10, when her father had passed. She did not know if he was actually her father, but he had been to her as a father should be. Kind, caring, nursing, apologetic of her failures and proud at her accomplishments. He was all she knew of the world even before it had changed.

2047

Andrina ran through the halls of Halloway House. The large white home with the blue walls that permeated throughout her memories of childhood. Dust scattered itself in the wind with every bellowing footstep she took. Here she was safe, perhaps for the only time in her life.

“Andrina! Where are you my beloved?” A charming voice called out to her in an almost sing-song manner. Her father stood in the main hallway between the kitchen and bedroom quarters. His snow white hair put on a brilliant display of luminescence, as the sun’s rays filtered themselves through the massive window that spanned the length of the hall. Andrina ran from behind him ready to cause mischief.

“I’ve got you now Father!’ Her lanky frame managed to slide between his legs, before he disappeared entirely. Why, oh why does he always do that?! It’s not fair! She thought to herself before suddenly being grasped from under the arms, to be held what seemed ten feet off the ground.

“It seems it is I who has you little one!” Andrina’s Father shouted as he spun her around in his arms. Andrina could not contain her squealing laughter. Her father was the one person who could always make her laugh. Suddenly, Andrina was plopped on her feet, scarcely regaining her balance before a shimmering silver thread appeared before her eyes. It glistened in the sunlight, so she brought it closer to her eyes and she could see the miniature woven strands that made up the chain, she let its cool silky metal run through her fingers as she dreamed of one day owning silver. The symbol of the witch. It was a right of passage, it meant you belonged to a coven. Halloway House was her coven, founded the year of the Mass Awakening: 2037.

“Andrina, this is something I had made for you. The child of my heart. My copper haired, golden eyed angel.” Her Father looked at her with pride. “I wanted you to never forget how loved you are. Who loves you?” His sky blue eyes glistened as a knowing smile spread across his face, hinting at the answer she would tell.

“Father does!” Andrina exclaimed closing her eyes and leaning into him. Her Father knelt down and opened his palm. Andrina peered through her blurry vision until a small, silver, heart-shaped locket was visible. It had a stone of what almost looked like Mrs. Agatha’s pearls, with a smaller silver heart in the center. Andrina took the locket into her hands and gently ran her fingers over the small swirls engraved on the sides. She felt an engraving rubbing against her fingers on the backside and so she flipped the locket over. She was met with five small words. Five small words, that held so much more meaning than she understood at the time.

Who Loves Me?

Father Does.

The shouting of soldiers in the distance, pulled her from her memory. Why did they not follow the river? Andrina thought in a small panic. Unless, unless they know there are no people towards the river… This meant no refugees, no refugees meant either she had dreamed of the laughter and gleeful shouting she had heard in the distance for years, or they were already gone. Tears threatened to sting her eyes at this realization, but she had no time for grief. She continued on, even while her breath felt like pinpricks and her feet bled from the rough terrain. Fear was not the driving force behind her speed, but the promise she made some years ago. A promise to her Father.

The hound dogs that hunted her were gaining ground, even at her maximum speed, so she paused behind the trunk of an ancient pine tree. She skimmed her hands along its moss covered roots till she found what she sought. She said a silent prayer and heaved the hidden door open. She slipped inside and closed the hatch. Keeping her breathing quiet, she focused her power on her hearing until the crisp sound of words were heard.

“She has a trail, but it’s winding in different directions.” A soldier spoke, confusion threaded his words. “It’s as if, as if she is everywhere at once.” His words finished in an almost whisper. Trail? Andrina thought. Nothing Father ever taught me mentioned I would leave a trail.

“That’s impossible!” another soldier barked from closer to her. She inhaled slightly from the fright. This one was only 30 paces away, from her best estimate. Her heart raced from the swiftness they had moved, but perhaps it was the silence they moved with that terrorized her most. She should have been able to hear him. “The scanner can find all of their type no matter the spells they use!” The soldier barked at the other in exasperation.

“Well, we never really know that until their change. It’s never a guarantee,” the first solider said sternly, as if he knew this to be fact. Their words stopped as they neared her hiding spot. Could it be that their technology had advanced to the point of eradication? No. No that can’t be possible. That would mean Fairness and Justice.. has… lost. The fear she had held at bay grasped her soul. She couldn’t breathe if she wanted to. She was frozen, wide eyed in the hideaway.

A voice rang through her mind, an ancient but familiar voice, ‘Fear does not have to be our undoing, Andrina. That is their undoing. We can use our fear to fight. Will you fight, child of my heart?’ Tears escaped her eyes as she whispered softly, ‘yes Father.’

So they had a tracking device for eradication? Perhaps she had one as well. Andrina summoned every ounce of power she could, electricity sparked from her finger tips, a blue, almost purple flame. She closed her eyes and sent pulses of her power into the Earth. Their technology could fail, but the Earth would show where all of her children were by their life force. Through the Gaia-link, Andrina was able to attach a small thread of magic to each of them. Swimming silently in the Earth she worked tirelessly on the astral plane, weaving her magic til there were no more to it weave to. She returned to her body, readying herself for her task. As soon as she felt herself in the middle of the insurgency, she released her magic.

She heard their screams more plainly than she felt their existence diminish to nothing. Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Andrina pondered. How close had she come to her own demise? How quickly did she forget that their technology only grew stronger? She would not be so naïve in the future. More will come, I should ready any supplies that are left and get some warm clothes, Andrina thought with a small sigh.

She lifted the door of ancient roots and listened for any sounds. Even the birds and crickets had gone quiet at her massacre. Necessary, but dreadful. She crawled out of the dust of her hidden haven and for once, was thankful her sight was not her strength. Red splashed across the blurry canvas of her vision, plumes of smoke appeared to be wafting from the lumps on the ground. Andrina closed her eyes letting the Earth guide her back to her home. As she neared the cave she had called home for so many years, she was lost in thought. Thoughts of her Father and of her coven. Those she had once loved more than the very air she breathed.

Crack.

Andrina paused. Her head snapped forward and her eyes shot open. A soldier stood 60 paces from her, holding up both of his hands.

“I come with no malice,” the soldier said with both arms raised. Andrina took a step back not prepared for the attack that would surely come. “I am a friend, sent by your Father.” The soldier spoke with truth threaded in his words. Andrina could feel the spell her father had placed on this man.

“If that is true you will let me pass with no issues.” Andrina spoke for the first time in what seemed like years. In fact, it could have been years. Sparks started at her fingertips, her power ready for the thought of self-preservation. Her breath stopped with his next words.

“I only ask, that you give him my regards when you see him.” With these words, the soldier let his right hand point towards the north. Towards Halloway House.

Andrina grasped the locket at her throat. Perhaps her silent prayer was answered after all. And so without a second thought, Andrina ran.