Elder Amit and Elder Edmund appeared at the door in the early hours of the morning, at the wake of dawn. Acacia still lay sleeping in her room, the soft flutter of her magyk echoing through the halls and reverberating its way through my body. Her energies had become a constant hum in the background, creating a sort of lull to my ears. He was distantly aware of her presence and state of being at every moment, as they had noticed the bond seeming to strengthen with time. I suspected her of coming to the same conclusion, but she never mentioned the bond. If anything she tried to ignore it and push it aside, seeming to believe that that would somehow make him feel better, make him forget, but it was always there, screeching for his attention. She was always there.

He suppressed the sigh that wanted to escape as he looked to their worn faces, wondering what they had done now or what they were to be subjected to. They had been going easier on them ever since Acacia had healed the sick and wounded. His skin had been itching for the moment when they changed their minds and their training went back to its rigid and excruciating course. It seemed that they had chosen to deliver now.

He leveled my eyes with theirs. "Can I be of service?"

Elder Amit appraised him, eyes radiating with approval. He reveled in the constant respect his position demanded and the leadership it granted. "Where is Acacia?" Not the girl, the creature, the outsider. She was addressed by her name, just as any other person in Community. Their growing approval of her too was not lost on him.

"She is not an early riser, nor an easy one. Would you like me to wake her?" He said.

Elder Edmund paused. "I will do it. Elder Amit can explain what will happen while I do."

A frown momentarily marred Alias' face. Elder Edmund's interest in Acacia was unsettling to say the least, and it caused something inside him to rumble. Who was she to deserve the favor of his elders? Who was she to surpass him?

"Yes, Elder Edmund."

It took him a moment to move aside to allow Elder Edmund through the doorway and he watched his form warily as he dipped down the hall and approached the room where the annoyance was lost in a deep slumber, strange dreams haunting her mind.

He looked to Elder Amit.

"We are going to test the limits of the bond, see how far we can stretch it before it becomes crippling, with yours and Acacia's consent of course, but I assume that won't be a problem." He shot Alias a pointed look.

"No, not at all."

He smiled wryly. "I thought so. If all goes well, we will find a gap, some way to weaken it. Perhaps even come to better understand Acacia's powers. They're the crux of the entire issue."

Alias' heart gave a dangerous lurch in his chest, melody jarring. "Where will we be traveling to perform the test?"

Elder Amit exhaled. "Outside of these walls," he said incensed. "We do not have a room book enough to contain the two of you to test the abilities. Furthermore, Edmund seemed to think that it would be best for the two of you to get some fresh air and state... He was concerned for your mental states."

Alias frowned. What had brought that on? Did they know of –

"Acacia mentioned that she was feeling claustrophobic. Knowing that stress and anxiety can take a toll on a person and in return cause their magyk to lash out irrationally, we thought it best to avoid that situation entirely." He droned on.

She had told Elder Edmund of that night, and a place deep inside him was horrified of the thought that she had confided in him of how he had aided her, of how he had saved her from her madness and held her under the mist of the shower. The night had happened over a week ago, but it was crystal in his memory. He could see her screaming and bloodying herself against the door, see the bruises starting to form on her skin and feel the blood smear on his chest as her hand gripped him. But most extraordinarily, he recollected when she had suddenly stood so closely behind him that his hum had shifted, and her hands had pressed against his back and her essence had invaded him for a moment, pulsing in him with such foreign warmth that felt so sweet he fought the urge to bolt.

Acacia emerged beside Elder Edmund, hair strewn over one shoulder, the constant rebel, the steadfast outsider. He felt her eyes searing him and he casted a glare to her nasty enough to make her look away. The weakling couldn't handle an innocuous scowl.

She looked to Elder Amit. "We're going outside?" Her voice reeked of anticipation.

He nodded curtly and then turned, a sign that they should follow suit. Immediately trailing after him, Alias followed but he halted as he felt Acacia still unmoving behind him through the bond. Though it was difficult to see through the dim torches, he could make out Acacia facing the wall, and Elder Edmund standing behind her, gingerly sweeping her hair back and up, braiding it with nimble and quick fingers. His lips curling in disgust, he swiftly moved after Elder Amit, struggling to erase the image from memory.

He felt it when she began to move, heard the pair of footsteps walking softly through the hall, their rhythms effortlessly falling into synch, smoother than their bond, and he shook his head. What had happened to the time when everyone was suspicious of her strangeness, contemplating her demise? Now they braided her hair delicately.

He heard steps accelerating, hitting the ground quicker as they gained on him, and muffling the need to whip around and attack his hunter, he swallowed and clenched his fits. This was not the pits, but halls of the elders' home. Alana was not a corpse in his arms, she was buried in a ditch.

"Alias?" she murmured; voice silky and mere.

"What is it?" He croaked.

She frowned, brow scrunching in an unattractive manner. "What is the matter?"

"Nothing. I am fine. Nothing is the matter." He hissed through grit teeth.

She sighed. "You are many things, but I did not take you for a liar."

"I am not lying. In this moment, we are safe and sound. Nothing is wrong. What is there to worry about?"

"It is not this moment I fear for when thinking of you. You have memories that haunt you, and I worry for you. I want to help."

Her tender croon shredded him. "Just because I helped you once, and for my sake nonetheless, does not mean that we are allies. Do not mistake selfishness for an act of kindness. If you do, then I find that you are more foolish than I originally thought." He snapped.

She didn't retort back at him, she simply watched him with tired, infinitely patient eyes. "Alias, I understand you caution for me, but can you tone the harshness down a few notches?"

He stared at her, incredulous. "You are asking me to 'tone it down'? It is your ignorance and dimness that smothers me."

"There you go again. Just because you have a tragic past does, not mean you have been granted the right to be a brute."

She strode ahead of him, falling into step beside of Elder Amit, and he gaped after her. Their hushed voices carried through the dark, and Elder Admit emitted the most bizarre sound, something between a cackle and moan. His laugh was deeply deprived, and to hear it scratch out of the most grave individual Alias had ever encountered, unsettled him marginally.

As Elder Amit guided them to the front doors, and with the single sweep of his hand they rushed open, Alias felt himself grow light. The distant glow of torches from the buildings ahead moved something inside of him, and he exhaled shakily, his feet almost tripping over each other as he managed his way down the steps and looked at sweet, sweet Community.

It had been weeks. For days on end he had wandered black halls and gloomy rooms. The same crimson rock had leered at him, mocking him everywhere he had gone. Each night, he would had laid in bed, eyes clenched shut as he desperately tried to block it all out and find some tranquility, but always found it out of reach. How he missed his joyous rounds, his solitude as he ventured through the dark, glistening caves. How he wished he hadn't come across her that night.

They were led through the cleanly cut stone buildings, most not exceeding one story, but containing deep basements of caverns. He had once had one of his own, but that too had been confiscated upon the bond's formation. He closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh air, such a pleasing shift from the stale air of the house. Opening them he was entranced by the torches that shined outside shut doors. He heard the distant rustling of feet inside one house as they passed. The sound of other life, outside of the limited faces he had to face every moment, intrigued him. He shocked himself by the yearning to surge up to the door and knock, to converse about anything at all, as long as they were someone new and different.

As they neared the heart of Community, where the streams crept from a mounting fountain, a simple circle of piled rock, where one jet of water rocketed out and streamed drops out to the rifts in the ground, Elder Amit came to a halt, studying each of them in fierce detail.

"This is where we begin. Alias, you will begin sprinting north for as far as you can, until the pain sets in. When you start to feel it, stop and wait for the order to proceed. You will walk after that, and Edmund and I shall try to subdue it. Understood?"

Alias nodded as Acacia murmured, "Yes," gently. It was a battle to not roll his eyes.

Elder Amit addressed his peer. "Edmund you know to follow him, but stay near. We will need you if it takes an ugly turn."

As Elder Amit signaled Alias with a nod, he took off, gliding across the solid ground. His feet brushed the ground lightly, almost gliding across the surface as he sprinted with inhuman grace. He streaked through the town, reveling in the air that crashed against his face and the way his heart began to race.

This is how freedom tastes, he thought.

But as soon as he gripped liberty, a pain erupted across his body, causing his muscles to lock, and he gauchely fell to his knees. Panting, he managed to stand, his body straining against the weight as a weakness tore him apart in a way he was not accustomed to experiencing.

He angled his head to see Elder Amit and Acacia standing in this distance. Elder Edmund lingered nearby, halfway between the two. He yelled out to him.

"Move on."

Every fiber in his body screamed not to. It felt wrong, he felt wrong. He should stop, not proceed, but he was bound by order, and so he willed himself further. He pushed himself through the crippling torment, each cell in his body searing, his magyk pulsing.

He felt the swoosh of the elders' power, felt it electrify the air and cause his body to tense. He felt a pressure begin to mount on top of the pain, and he fumbled, feet lead against the stone path. Heaving and groaning, he worked past it, preventing his body from locking up.

It was a new world of agony with every step, everything in him screamed to stop. Knives pierced every crevice of his body, causing him to inhale sharply. But he had to move. He had to keep going.

The weight mounted and so did the pain. Black dots danced before his eyes, and he tripped and collapsed to his hands and knees, wondering if it was possible to get up again. The darkness seemed to jolt out from the elders' house behind him, and engulf the town, hurtling towards him until it threatened to smother him. He had to move. He had to get away.

Groaning, he dragged himself further and just as the black clutched him, light shot through the bond, and in the distance, outside of his fading awareness, it leapt up to the sky. He fell to his back, consciousness slipping from him immediately.

As the black surrounded him, light illuminated Community, streaking through every cavern and home, warming it as if the sun had manifested at its heart. It streaked from a girl that somehow managed to stand through the overwhelming magyk that poured from her. From the tiniest girl, the mightiest power emerged. She trembled at its magnificence, at her magnificence.

Her eyes flew open, meeting the bewilder expressions of the supposed leaders who stood before her.

She looked up to the lit up rocks that sparkled beneath her rays, to the houses that began to pour out people who gawked at her too. The darkness had been banished upon her reawakening and she beamed as she felt the warmth course through her, felt the fire wage that could never burn her as she was the flame.

She looked back to the panicked people, the poor people who had tainted hearts and torn souls. She owed it to them to make it better. She owed it to herself and her kind.

She met their eyes, gaze sweeping over each and every one of the corrupt humans, of what was left of their kind. "Some of you have dared to question my power, and in consequence you have awakened me. You have helped me to remember my purposed." Pausing as she felt their blinding hysteria, she sought for a clearer explanation.

Her voice was clear and firm. It rang through the lit up chambers of the caves.

"My name is Acacia Devi. I am the daughter of the gods."