~Alexa~

Seeing my brother running around, doing crunches and lifting weights made me nostalgic for the days that were normal in our lives.

Not that we can't still do dour daily activities. We can, but it's just not the same.

Alex usually goes to the town's gym on weekends. On weekdays, he does his workout in the gym at home.

Today was Monday.
I felt refreshed and energised. You know, like when you just had an amazing spa day.

Many people don't know this about me: I love art.

I like drawing and painting and even carving and sculpting sometimes.

In my elementary school, I was always the best artist in my class and the whole school. Even up till middle and early high school.

But now that I'm almost graduating, I don't really draw for the public anymore. I still draw, but only I get to see it.

I have a special thick sketchpad that I doodle in or do some serious drawings when I feel like it.

I just finished day 7 of my 30 day drawing challenge.
I'm supposed to draw a clothing material.
Trust me on that one.

I drew this amazing short princess dress with opening at the sides.
When I was done, I walked to the last floor to check on Alex.

We had to go to school this morning.

The door to the gym was closed when I got there.
I pushed it open and walked in to see Alex sitting on a bench press.

He didn't even flinch when I walked in.
Which was weird because I always make sure everyone knows when I walk into a room.

He was staring at the floor, fiddling with the cross on the necklace Bru gave him.

"Hey Alex."
He looked up at me.

"Hey," he answered and returned his attention to  his jewellery.

I stood there looking at him in concern.
He tugged at the necklace until he accidentally tugged too hard that the chain escaped from his neck with a chink.

Suddenly, something blue started to spread from his neck, flowing all around his body.

He dropped the necklace in surprise and stood up.

In a few moments, Alex was covered in a body suit.

It was dark blue all through. It was perfect fit and had a turtle neck.

Silver lines ran from his shoulders down to his legs.

In the middle of his chest was a silver lightening symbol circumscribed in a black circle.

The suit gleamed like aluminium foil in sunlight.

It looked like it was made of thick leather but it also looked brittle, like it could get torn if he made a sudden movement.

"Woah."
Alex was speechless.

"The body suit... amazing...woah," I muttered, stepping forward to touch the suit.

Alex patted his body repeatedly, pulling on the suit.
His hands were covered and I noticed there was a white circle in the middle of each of his palms.

He moved his arms around his chest. As his hands connected with the circle on his chest, the suit vanished.

Alex and I were startled.

"What happened?" he asked, picking up the pendant.

"I have no idea."

He put the necklace back on and yanked it again.

To his dismay, it didn't work.
He was still in his workout clothes
He put it back on his neck finally.

Suddenly, the ring on my finger glowed and a hologram appeared atop it.

At the same time, Alex's necklace rose from his chest and hovered in the air.
A hologram projected from it.

A fuzzy image of Chang appeared in front of either of us.

"Hello, spirits."

"Hey."

"Hey, man," Alex said, trying to steady his breathing.
He was probably still shocked by the whole suit thing.

"So, we'll need you guys here today. "

He brought his hand up to his face and the hologram broke for a few seconds then it became stable again.
He sipped from a cup of coffee.

I didn't know there was coffee in a magical world.

"Dude, we have school today," Alex said.
He probably meant some sort of sport practice but... school was school.

"You guys have clones, remember? We've got everything covered. Also have you learnt to use your accessories yet?"

"I've... tried? And..." Alex faltered and went silent.
I guess Chang didn't notice.

"We need you all here now. There's no time. Now, I'll tell you each how to teleport here using your accessories...no Trevor, you'll be fine. It's just a simple process." He said.

"Wait...Trevor? Are you talking to all of us at the same time?" I asked.

"Yes, Alexa. You can also talk to the others if you wish. But...I'll leave you to figure it out on your own. Tanya...Tanya! Stop waving your arms, you can't  decapitate me. I'm a hologram...Lucy? Did you turn off the lights?"

He sighed.
"You people are stressing me out. You're giving me an earthquake sized headache. I gotta go. But before that, here's how to teleport, all of you."

After he told us each how to use our accessories to teleport, the hologram vanished.

Alex looked at me.
"So...I tap the back of the necklace and imagine where I wanna go? That's... where?" He said.

"Horei," I answered absentmindedly.
My attention was on my ring.
"...not the circle on top...spin..."

"So, how do you think we're supposed to imagine it?" I asked.

"I guess you'd think of an image in your head..." Alex started.

"I get that, smart guy. I meant how do we picture it in our mind?"

He shrugged.
"As a...magical, strange, brightly coloured place?"
So we did.
And we appeared in Shu.

We saw ourselves in a black river.
Overhead, I saw crows and ravens flying around.

The sky was red and columns of fire erupted from random points in the river.

"Wrong kingdom!" I yelled.

"But we imagined brightly coloured!" Alex said.

"Yeah! Alex, Shu is brightly coloured red! Try to be more vivid!" I screamed

"Hey don't blame me. Your the ones who's supposed to describe this place. You're the artist."

I rolled my eyes.
My body was starting to burn. I guess the river was to blame.

I twisted the ring repeatedly, thinking of peace and beauty. I actually had a lucid  picture of the hallway in Horei in my mind and I appeared there soon.

"Uh, Oh." I suddenly remembered I forgot Alex.
But he appeared next to me instantly.

"How'd you –?"
"We're twins. We can both be naïve and sensible in similar ways."

I blinked at him.
"Where's your hair band?"

He reached for his hair. "Shit," he muttered.

"I must've lost it in the river."

"Yeah," I said. "Let's find the others.
Alex flicked his wet hair out of his face and walked down the hallway dripping.
...not the cool kind.

Anyway, as we walked we heard voices.
We followed the sound and found people assembled in front of the training room door.

They were all complete. The four others, Bru and Chang.
I guess they were waiting for us.

Chang was dressed casually. He wore a  white T-shirt and black jeans with white sneakers. His hair was slicked back neatly.

Bru was dripping.
...the good kind.

He wore gold coloured shorts and a white hoodie.
He had a white head band beneath his sandy blonde hair.

At that moment, I remembered Bru was actually a really young prince, maybe in his early twenties and suddenly I felt very self conscious.

"You're dripping..." Trevor noticed as they all gaped at Alex and me.

"I know, the bad kind." I finished for him.
Trust Trevor.

"What happened?" Maddie asked.

"We appeared in Shu," Alex explained.

"What?!" Chang exploded. "You appeared in a river in Shu? Without magic protection?"

He waved his hands quickly and I saw a faint white light shimmer in front of Alex and me and we were dry instantly.

Chang heaved a huge a sigh.
"Thank Buda I still remember that spell...and that you're still alive!"

"What?" I shreiked.

"Shu's rivers are deadly. If you're not of Shu and you enter their waters, the magic of the river would sap your life force and you'll die after a short while," Bru explained.

"I'm surprised they're not dead yet," Chang said.

"I was feeling a little nauseous before now. I thought it was just the teleporting back and forth...you know... amusement park ride. Now, I feel so alive!" he said wryly.

"Oh, you're just getting started," Chang said, walking towards the training room door.

"Wait..that was sacrcasm–" Alex said.

"Let's go!"

Alex blinked.
I stifled a giggle.

The training room door opened and a flash of light partially blinds us.

"AAAAH!!!" We all yelled and the door shut.

---------------

Hey, Author here...well duh.

So if you've come this far mwah!

I would still appreciate your votes and comments!