Chronicles of the Kiridians

For it is written in the Chronicles of the Kiridians:

Everyone’s destiny is written

Everyone’s purpose is there

Don’t be scared of what is to happen

Don’t back down when the moment is there

Everything has been moving in slow motion

Everything has been moving in slow motion. We opted to go straight to the bus station rather than trying to spend the night in a hotel, granted, we didn’t really have that much night left once we finally got out of the woods. Raina and Joey continued to giggle and talk with each other, and Brodie opted to be a silent loner, leaving me to awkwardly go in the middle of two groups.

Both Raina and Joey have inquired about the sword that I’m walking around with, but neither has managed to get the story out of me. I just don’t have a desire to talk about it yet.

“Now boarding the bus back to Sanora, Texas.”

We walk to the bus and groggily step onto the stairs. The bus driver gives me a concerned look when I step on with a sword, but apparently doesn’t think too much of it as he lets us pass. We turn down the aisle to find a quad that’s open, and we walk all the way to the back of the bus before finding a group of four seats that are together. Raina and Joey are still chattering about anything and everything. The euphoria of young love falling on both of them as they continue recalling the events that happened in the woods.

“I don’t even like getting dirty, but that was rather fun!” says Raina. “I still can’t believe how brave you were, Joseph-”

“We get it,” I say uncharacteristically angry. They both look at me surprised and I clear my throat. “Look, I’m sorry. Our experience in the forest wasn’t as magical. I just want to forget about it.”

“Kara,” says Joey, his eyes illuminating his hurt feelings, “You can talk to us about anything. What happened out there?”

“Ralph died,” says Brodie haughtily. It’s the first time I’ve heard him talk since we decided to come straight to the bus station rather than the hotel. “He shot at Kara, she was as good as gone until the sword appeared out of nowhere, and shot the blast back at him. It hit him square in the chest. He told us that father is coming and this is officially a war. Now if you guys don’t mind, I would like to sleep.”

He quickly turns toward the window and closes his eyes as Raina and Joey look at me shocked. They open up their mouths to speak, but I shake my head no and point to Brodie sitting next to me. I pull out my phone and open our group chat.

He’s been through a lot. Let’s just give it until we get home.

They nod and I readjust in my seat closing my own eyes. I clutch the sword close to my chest and drift off to sleep.

“Delmund, we can’t do this!”

“I’ll decide what I want to do!” he says. “You’re either with me or you’re against me. If you’re against me, no amount of armor can protect you for what is to come! Now bow before your king and agree to work with me or suffer the consequences.”

I take a sip of the drink that was placed next to my dinner and then look back at him. “You know I can’t do that.”

He smiles at me, and I’m confused as to what is going on. My body begins to feel weak as I look down at the cup he had placed before me earlier in our meeting. He had this planned. He knew ahead of time I could never agree to what he was doing. I get up from the table and try to run away from the room. Everything is wobbly and the world seems to spin.

“You can’t run forever, Lena!”

“Kara! We are here!” says Raina as she nudges me softly.

My breathing is heavy as I look around the old bus that took us back to Sanora. My back is covered in sweat, and I have to remind myself that I am okay. Raina gives me a concerned look and sticks out her hand to help me up. “Another nightmare?” she asks me.

“Something like that,” I say.

My parents are waiting for us when we step off the bus. Their faces are a mix of relief and anger as we get our bikes from the back and begin to walk toward them. My mom’s eyes don’t move from the sword that is currently in my hand. That is until she sees Brodie. When my parents see Brodie they angle their eyes at each other, but it isn’t a look of disapproval. It’s something I can’t quite place.

“No talking until we get home,” says Mom. She gives me a quick hug, and then she and my father walk slightly ahead of us whispering as they go through the bus terminal.

“This isn’t like her,” I whisper to Raina. She turns toward me confused. “Something is off. I feel it.”

“I mean, had you asked them the day before yesterday if their teenage daughter would ditch school and run away out of town without telling them overnight, I’m sure they’d have said no,” says Raina. “This is uncharted territory for them, Kara,”

I look to Joey for help explaining what I’m talking about, but he nods his head in agreement with Raina. Brodie walks silently next to me not taking his eyes off my parents. When we finally reach the truck, my dad pushes the middle seat up and allows me to climb into the middle between him and my mom. Everyone else piles into the back of the cab.

“So are we going-” I begin to say but am cut off from by my mother.

“Shh. Not yet, Kara.”

We ride in absolute silence. My parents ignoring me could be punishment enough. It’s driving me crazy to not know what is going on in their heads. We drive by Joey’s neighborhood, and I look at my parents confused. “Joey, there is no easy way to say this, but last night your grandmother’s health took a turn for the worse.” says mom from the front seat. “They had to leave for Georgia immediately. They didn’t have time to wait, sweetie. Why don’t you go give her a call.”

Joey’s face drops but he slides out of the car and goes to sit down on the curb at the end of the driveway. Mom watches his through the mirror with a sad expression before dad looks at me with a look of anger. “What the heck were you thinking, Kara!” he says. “You can’t just leave the town like that without telling anyone! You had me and your mother worried sick. You have a lot of explaining to do!”

“Or maybe you can explain how you have LOTUS’ on?” says Brodie staring at my parents with a determined look.

“Oh my gosh,” says Raina. “Those are LOTUS! How did I miss that?!”

I look at my parent’s confused searching up and down their bodies for what he was talking about, but I don’t see anything different. My dad is in normal clothes, normal shoes, normal watch-

“Oh my gosh,” I say jumping over the seat and moving in between Raina and Brodie. “Who are you? What have you done with my parents?!”

My mom looks at my dad in a panic and then takes a deep breath trying to calm herself down. My father just looks at me calmly and sticks his hand out toward me. “Kara, we are still the same people. Come inside with us, and we can talk this out.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you alone!”

“Then bring your majesties,” says Mom as she gets out of the car in a huff. Raina and I exchange a glance as my mother and father walk through the door. Joey is off the phone with his parents and he walks up to us confused.

“She’s okay, she just needed help,” he says with relief seeping out of his voice.

“I’m glad,” says Raina. “Now keep up, Joseph, exciting things are happening.”

“I don’t know if I can take any more excitement,” says Joey.

When the four of us walk to the door, my mom and dad left it ajar and are sitting in the living room. They’re frantically whispering as we step into the house and walk past the stairs to join them in the living room.

“What is going on?” I ask.

“And since when do you call me your majesty? Not that I mind getting a bit of respect around here, but-”

“Raina!” I say. “More important things are going on right now.

“Right, sorry,” she says quickly bowing her head.

My parents look at us, then each other, and then back at us. My father takes a deep breath puts his hands on his head. “In order for you to understand what we are about to tell you, you have to understand that we weren’t wanting to tell you until later. I still don’t agree you’re ready.”

“Well it isn’t like we have a choice now, Kyle,” says Mom gently.

“Can you just tell me what’s going on?!” I ask them.

“Kara, we are so proud of you.” says my mother. “We have watched you grow into an exceptional young woman. When your father and I tasked ourselves with this mission we were not expecting to fall in love with the child we saved.”

“Excuse me?” I ask her confused.

“We better stop beating around the bush, Phoebe,” says dad as he reaches for his watch and presses a button. I watch in horror as my once young parents turn at least 30 years older. Grey hair is sprouting on the top of their heads. Wrinkles are all on their faces. An arrow appears on their arms and their eyes turn bright green right before our eyes.

Raina and Brodie gasp as they fall to their knees and bow their heads. “I’m so sorry I didn’t know sooner,” says Raina not picking her head up. “I genuinely didn’t know.”

“What the heck is going on?!” I scream standing up from my spot on the couch. Why are two royal family members bowing to my parents? Why did they just age thirty years before my eyes? Why does nothing in my life make any sense anymore?

“Kara, they’re the missing elders.” says Raina

“The what?”

“Elders of Kiridia,” says my father. “We are the council that is supposed to help keep the royal family in check. We work for the planet, and we are tasked with what to do through the planet. We have no diplomatic power, but we are two of six people that can help control the outcome of weather patterns, tapping into Kiridian powers, and training future proteges that wish to follow in our footsteps,” says dad.

“We are also in charge and the keepers of the Chronicles of the Kiridians.” says, Mom. “Your father and I were head council members. The Chronicles were our sworn duty to protect. There were six total members of the council or three married couples. We were the fail-safes if things started to go haywire.”

I start to feel dizzy, and put my head in my hands. This doesn’t make sense. Kyle and Phoebe were from a small town in Texas. We lived in a small house, and they taught me right from wrong. They couldn’t lie to me my whole life. “Wait, does this mean I’m Kiridian?” I ask them.

My parents look at each other and nod. “Yes, Kara.” says my dad slowly. “You’re a Kiridian.”

My mom’s eyes fill with tears as they start to pour down her face. My father grabs her hand and squeezes. “Kara, before we continue, we want you to know nothing has changed. We still love you very much. It has been such a gift to watch you grown into the person that you’ve become.”

“What are you saying?” I look at Joey who looks like he’s about to pass out. Raina and Brodie are on their knees still, not standing up from their kneeling position.

“Raina, Brodie,” says my mom. “What we are about to say might be hard to hear. I wanted to give you a chance to leave the room if you want.”

“If you think there is any chance at all I’m leaving, you’re sadly mistaken,” says Brodie.

“Same here,” says Raina.

They get up from their kneeling positions and take a seat on the couch on either side of me. Raina grabs my hand and squeezes it reassuringly as my parents get emotional. My mom starts to cry hard as my dad puts his hand on her leg.

“It’s okay, honey,” he says. “I’ll do this part.” She leans into his shoulder and quietly cries as he places his hand on her head. He starts to stroke her head softly and once again takes a deep breath. “Once the queen of Kiridia died her loss was felt all around the kingdom. None more so than with the king. He became obsessed with the Chronicles. He would come in all hours of the day just to read it. After a while, Phoebe and I became curious as to what he was looking at. Well, we came in during one of his study sessions, and he had the book opened to the legend of eternal life. Lena was with him...”

The way he casually brings up Lena gives me anxiety for some reason. He is avoiding all eye contact with me. This is so unlike my parents. “They were arguing,” my dad continues. “She was saying how they can’t do this, and it isn’t ethical. He wasn’t having any of it, and ordered us to escort her out of the reading room. Later the night we found Lena lying in a puddle of blood on the floor in the castle.”

“Wait that wasn’t a dream?”

Everyone in the room looks at me as I ask that question. Fear spreads across my father’s face, and Raina looks at me with a quizzical expression. “What do you mean that wasn’t a dream, Kara?” asks dad.

“I had a dream where Lena was running from King Delmund. An older woman tried to get her to go into a hidden door in the wall when he grabbed onto her. The old woman got away unseen, but right as he was bringing a knife down I woke up. I always assumed it was just because I was paranoid about everything with Raina. I didn’t realize it could have been a vision of her.”

“Kara,” says my mom. “the Chronicles also have other prophecies. One of them talks about an evil king,” she looks apologetically at Raina and Brodie, but continues the story. “This King is supposed to lead the planet into a time of great sorrow and despair. We think that’s King Delmund. It also talks about a hero that will put a stop to him, and save the planet, and bring Kiridia back to what it once was.”

“What does that have to do with me?” I ask.

“Oh my gosh,” says Brodie looking at me. “It all makes sense.”

“What does?” I ask him confused. “None of this makes sense!”

“Kara, we think you’re that hero.” says mom sniffling and wiping her nose. “We think you’re the person that is supposed to save Kiridia.”

“What?!” I say looking at her dumbfounded. “This is a joke, right? This has to be some big joke. Lena is obviously the person in that prophecy mom. She’s the one you need to be focusing on. We need to get the siblings together-”

“Kara, do you really not get it?” asks my dad looking at me. “Why do think you’re carrying that sword? How do you explain the green light that came down from the sky the first time the guards came searching for Raina?” he asks me.

“Because Lena is protecting me!” I say. “She’s called me to this mission and I’ve been working like crazy to get it done!”

“Kara, that wasn’t Lena...” says mom. “It was me using a LOTUS.”

“Wait what?” asks Raina.

My mom pauses and her eyes widen as she realizes what she said. She looks at Raina apologetically and bows her head. “Your majesty, I’m sorry for lying to you. I had to get you and Kara, I- I mean Lena onto the same page.”

Raina looks at her. “If you were Lena, then how do you know all of that about my father?” asks Raina looking at my mom completely disgruntled. “The whole reason we are doing this is because we think he’s going to kill me, right?” she says looking at Brodie and my parents. “Then why are we fighting him if we don’t even know that’s what he wants-”

“Raina, we’ve had someone working on the inside,” says my father. “Your nana, the woman that basically raised you, has all but been able to confirm the findings against your dad. Sweetheart, I promise that this is something we are absolutely sure about.”

“Raina, I wouldn’t have let Anya and Edwin take me and you if I didn’t believe it myself,” says Brodie. “This isn’t a he said she said situation. This is facts. Dad is not a good guy.”

She pauses and looks at me and then she looks down at her shoes and then wipes away tears as she looks back up at Brodie. “For a second, I think I just wanted to pretend like our dad wasn’t crazy,” says Raina. “Like we could all go home and everything be normal again.”

I get up and walk to other end of the room and start pacing along the perimeter. I look at my parents and everyone sitting in the room shocked as stare at me pacing. “I don’t think you understand what you’re saying,” I say to them. “If that was mom on the LOTUS, then I’m indefinitely in way over my head. There isn’t a way that I can be the one that is going to save everything. I can barely save myself!”

“Kara, you’re the only one that can save us,” says Brodie. Raina gasps and then looks at me with a shocked facial expression.

“Oh. My. Alpha.” she says with her jaw dropped. She looks back at me and then my parents as my dad suddenly nods in her direction. Her eyes get bigger than I’ve ever seen as she looks at me with a stunned expression. “Kara, I can’t believe this isn’t dawning on you,” she says looking at my parents. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but Kara, you’re Lena.”