Page 141 of Forsaken Secrets

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Kaiya

Itumbled through the icy darkness for what felt like an eternity until suddenly it just … stopped. I was back in the mind realm, but this one was different..

Around me were still waters. They lapped peacefully on a sandy shore. An unfamiliar white-haired man sat on a small chair in the sand, staring at one of those portals.

Why did this keep happening to me?

I tried to move, to reach out for help, but whatever I was bonded to trapped me in place. I looked down, trying to locate the source, but below me there was just darkness.

Through the portal, a beaming woman stood in a strange sort of purple garment. Long black hair cascaded down her back as she climbed atop a magnificent silver dragon. She waved at the man, then bent over, and the dragon lifted her into the air.

The picture shifted. This time it showed the same woman, her hair now silver and topped by a beautiful golden crown as she sat atop a strange throne. Men sat to her left and right, but gone was the playful smile from before.

She just looked cold.

Once more, the picture shifted. This time she lay inside an amber chamber, hands resting peacefully atop her chest. The white-haired man stood and walked to her, reaching out a hand.

My teeth chose that moment to start chattering from the cold, and the stranger spun around, the portal he was interacting with vanishing into the water.

The ice had spread from my feet, up my calves, to my thighs and stomach. I stood there as it touched my heart … the inky cold pressing into me, stabbing through my defenses.

I pushed hard against it, trying to resist.

"Relni, it seems we have a watcher."

A second form appeared beside the man, this one dressed in a brown cloak, their face not visible.

"Would you like to go to them?"the newcomer asked.

The white-haired man nodded.

And then we were on a new island. This one was covered with big, bushy metallic-looking trees. Waves lapped in the distance, and gulls flew silently through the air.

"Ahh. Little bond mage, so brash as to intrude upon my mind. Let us see just who we're dealing with …"The strange figure in brown was gone, but the white-haired man remained. He strode confidently to the water and pulled up a stone portal from the depths.

It was hard to speak. My body felt numb. But I summoned up the energy. "Who are you? Why am I here? Where am I?

"Why, I thought you knew! This is your mind korra. Have you never been here?"he asked. "I retreat to my own often. To think. To reminisce. You know how it is."

I shook my head, korra … whatever. "I don't understand. Can you just tell me how to return?"

"Oh no,"he said, "I don't think so. These memories of yours are proving far too interesting." He glanced up, and I stepped away from the pools of dark emptiness that lurked where his eyes should be. "Besides, what really waits for you back there, anyway? If it's anything like these memories, it's just more heartbreak. Sadness. More failure …"

"No,"I said. "I have my aunt and my friends. They're in trouble … I need to save them."

"Oh, the friends you pushed away, and the aunt you ignored?"He chuckled. Pulling up portal after portal, he just watched and then pushed them away. Each one a memory from my past.

Memory after memory flooded my vision.

My mother leaving me at the front door of my aunt's, waving as she walked into a storm.

Aunt Grace trying to get me to live with the Ellingsworths.

Uncle Calix frustrated, voice loud as he told Aunt Grace that I was her niece. She would regret not taking me.

And then Aunt Grace bending over and bringing me into her arms, sobbing that she was so sorry.

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