Aria

"Aria. Aria, are you okay?"

I blinked my eyes open. My head was pounding and my vision was blurry, the images in them swimming around in a dizzying slosh of colours.

"Aria?"

I blinked a few more times, my vision slowly clearing. I was lying in a clearing, the sky blue and clear above me, and the trees blowing gently in the breeze. Carmen was crouching over me, her brow furrowed.

"Carmen? How...?"

Carmen helped me slowly into a sitting position.

"That's what I was hoping you would tell me. You and James just teleported in. You passed out upon arrival and you've been out for a few minutes. I have so many questions. Where have you been? How did you find us? Where is Caspian?"

Although her questions seemed innocent, the suspicious tone in her voice was clear. She didn't trust the fact that it was sheer luck we had found the group again.

"Aria and I were in Ezekiel's castle."

Carmen frowned. "Ezekiel? Who is Ezekiel?"

"The First," I whispered.

"The first what?"

"That's his title: The First. He is the son of the Creator, the first to break the rules and become condemned. He trapped the Creator, casting him out of the Upstairs, and was cursed for his actions. The curse he was given was the curse of walking the earth, plagued with disease. But it backfired. Ezekiel learned to control it, to use it. He started spreading it to others. He created Lycanthropy, ghouls, most creatures of the night. He's the first Vampyre. The ultimate incarnation of evil."

"So he is the one leading the opposing army? He is the head of the creatures of the dark?"

I nodded. "It's him."

Carmen's frown deepened and she pulled her hand away. "If he is the great and powerful leader of the darkness, how did you two escape?"

"We..." I brought my hand to my forehead. My head was still pounding. "I don't remember."

"You don't?" James questioned. "We just followed the plan, exactly how we said we would. After going to check the throne room, you came back to get me. Then, we opened a window outside the throne room and waited until Ezekiel performed Magyk so that we could teleport out without our Magyk being detected. It was amazing, you did the spell without even batting an eye. I don't agree with the methods he likely used, but I have to admit that Ezekiel was right about the fact that he would be able to train your powers."

"So the plan worked? Why don't I remember?" I asked.

Carmen sighed. "You did pass out upon arrival here. It is possible that exhaustion mixed with using Magyk to pass through the Magykal wards that were likely up on that castle knocked you out and caused temporary short-term memory loss."

"I hope that's all it is," I muttered. 

"By the way," James added. "Where are Axel, Christian, and Will?"

"Will and Christian are down the ridge, scoping out the enemy camp, though they wouldn't tell me why, and Axel is out hunting for our supper for tonight. Though now that the two of you are here, he probably won't have enough food with him when he gets back and we'll have to do a second trip."

"I should try to go and find Will and Christian, let them know that James and I are here," I said.

I pushed myself shakily off of the ground, brushing the pine needles off of my already dirty and worn out pants. They were threadbare linen pull-string pants that were one of a collection of many old, worn out clothing items Ezekiel had given me during my time at the castle.

"The ridge is this way, I'm assuming?" I guessed, pointing up the hill.

"You never answered my final question. Did the two of you see Caspian? Do you know where he is?" 

I squared my shoulders but didn't turn back to look at her. 

"He's dead."

With that, I started my way up the hill.