I woke up to a battering ram banging against my skull. I kept my eyes closed, not wanting to fully wake up. I rolled over in the bed I was in, burying my head deeper into the cloud like pillow. I wondered why the bed was so comfortable, and why the covers felt like silk. It made me think about when I went to sleep last night. When did I go to bed? It suddenly stuck me. The memory of last night flashed across my mind. I opened my eyes, positive I wasn't in my own house.

I opened my eyes to see a bright room dressed with large glassless windows, and at the walls, had large pale gray arches that had an elvish like design. The walls and arched ceiling were a light tan, and an oak wood floor. The room was circular, about the size of a large bedroom, and was mostly plain except for a bed,  a couple chairs, a body sized mirror, a wash stand, a wardrobe, and night stand. There was a thick, old fashion, wood door that was settled across the room from me. I was laying upon a king sized bed covered in wedding white sheets.

I lifted my head looking around at the new world around me. What I failed to notice was the man beside my bed. It was Theo leaned back in a wood chair beside the bed. His eyes were closed, and his breathing light. A ting o fear tangled into my stomach, and I sat up in the bed with silent movements, hoping not to wake him. The sheets that covered me fell slickly off my chest, like milk spilling down on to my lap. My eyes laid on the door, my exit, but I had to pause when I caught a glimpse of what lay beyond the grand windows.

The world outside was mesmerizing, and in a way magical! I could see I was in some sort of valley with sloping mountains that served as stone guardians at the borders. The mountains were dressed in water ways of clear fountains. Everything was embellished in fresh spring green. It seemed that a glittering gold from the high noon sun, reaching every crack and crevice, making that there was not a shadow to be seen. It was like a dream that would wash away in the blink of an eye, yet it never vanished.

My eyes were abruptly taken from the wondrous world outside the window, to the a rustling of a man. Theo had adjusted his position in the hard uncomfortably wood chair. I focused on him for a moment. He appeared to have cleaned up. His cloths were no longer travel stained, and no dirt was scuffed on his skin. I looked across the room to the broad door. Oh, yeah, escape.

I placed a bare foot atop a cool wood floor. As I lifted my weight from the bed, I felt fabric of silk against my leg down to my mid calf. I looked down to realized that I was clothed in an ivory dress, that could easily be mistaken for a night gown. The dress was flowy and light. It was a simple design, it was plain, with a white binding on the ribs. It has a small V neck, and had sleeves to the wrists. I had a suspicious wondering of how I got onto this dress. Automatically, my eyes flashed by Theo with curious images.

I quickly swiped the thoughts away, and continued to make my way towards the door. I tip-toed across the wood planks. I grabbed the metal ring handle, gently heaving open the thick door. Opening a crack side enough for me to slip through, I hear a voice behind me.

"What are you doing?" I turned my head to see Theo's head cocked to the side. His silver eyes staring up at me. He lay lazily back in his chair with his arms crossed.

Words fluttered out of my mouth, while I decided my next move, "Oh, you woke up..." I pulled open the door and  made a run for it. It wasn't long before he had an arm around my waist, pulling me back into the room. "Let go of me!"

"Alright, calm down." He released me once we were back in the room, and closed the door leaning against it. I glanced through the window, we were really high. Therefore, Theo blocked my only exit.

Taking a step back, and a calming breath, I looked back at my kidnapper. I was surprised to find sympathy, were I expected threatening eyes. "Please, relax and sit down for a moment. I deserve you an explanation."

Taking a seat on the bed, I decided to cooperate.

"Thank you," he said with a sigh, running a hand through his untidy hair. Walking over he slid the chair in front of me, taking a seat. He looked at me formulating his next words. "Well," he leaned forward placing his elbows on his knees, " as I said last night, this involves your mother. I know you didn't believe me last night, but, hopefully, you'll be able to think more clearly now that you got some sleep." I let out a small snort, but he appeared to have ignored it. "Anyways, your mom is something known as an Arikan, and so are you."

"What's an Arikan?"

"It is a skilled warrior who has the ability to turn into an animal."

"Right... cause I've always been able to turn into animals."

He narrowed his eyes at my sarcasm. "No, you have the ability to transform into one particular animal. In your case, that animal is a wolf."

"Oh, then how does it work?" Yes, it was ridiculous, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued.

"Let me demonstrate." He stood up from his chair, and scooted it back he stepped back to give himself room. "I am also an Arikan, but my animal is a lion. To be precise, the lion you saw last night." The memory of yesterday night's lion, flooded back to me. "Okay, an Arikan has the chance to take a form of three. The first, as you can see, is the form of a human. The second, the form of a lion." He backed up, and after two steps, he was suddenly covered in a translucent, glittery, silver, wave of energy swirled around him, and a moment later, emerged a large, thick maned, golden lion. I jumped slightly back into the bed, lifting my feet a little as if keeping their toes from being eaten by a vacuum. I looked into his lion eyes, and felt a sensation of vulnerability, like he was getting ready to pounce, and devour me, and could easily do so. He appeared to notice the uncomfortable feeling that swept over me, because he instantly turned and jumped up, creating the silvery energy once again, and emerged a man.

"Wow... so you're serious about this..." I said under my breath. He circled around to his center position, a smug smile hinted at his lips.

"And for the last form an Arikan can take. This is known as the 'natural form', and will be the form you are mostly in. In this form, you are at your most powerful. You are half animal and human, and have the powers from the both forms." He stepped back to transform again, but when he emerged , he was still human, but had lion ears sticking out of his hair, instead of his human ears. He also had a flickering golden tail. I stared at him in amazement. This has easily been the weirdest week of my life.

"And, you're saying, I can do everything you just did, just with a wolf?"

"Yes." He said adjusting his chair again, and taking a seat. "But, moving along, your mother was captured not long after you were born, and I need your help saving her.

"Why do you need me?"

"First, understand, she was not the only one who was captured. Three others are with her. All of them Arikan. They were the great protectors of the worlds and — "

"Wait, worlds?"

"Did you really think your world was the only one? For example, where do you think we are right now?

"We're in a different world!?"

"Yes, that is what the shot was for last night. It gave you the ability to travel through worlds." I was finally getting the pieces to this week's puzzle. "To get back on topic, they were the great protectors of the worlds, commonly called the Sith Othwan, and fought against Derkon and his minions, the grievers. When they appeared that they were winning, they thought it safe enough for them to settle down themselves, and they all started a family. The problem was Derkon was weakened, but came back stronger than ever. He captured the four heroes, and built a prison for them barely holding enough food and water for them to survive, but leaving them to live horrible atrocious lives. The only way to open the prison was from the outside, in which the key is the blood of its prisoners. Quite a clever prison, if the prisoners have no descendants, but luckily, what Derkon didn't know was the fact they had all recently had children. And by the time he found out, the children had already been safely hidden among the worlds."

"Now, I am putting together a team of the four children, and saving our parents."

"Our?"

"Yes, my father is among those prisoners."

"My mom's really alive?" I asked myself, the realization finally hitting me.

"Now the question I ask you. Are you willing to risk your life to help me save our parents?" He asked with sincerity, and eagerness. He looked into my eyes hungering for my answer. The reality of the situation washed over me. Did I truly have the strength to do this. I am no warrior. But I have to do it, for I'm not the only one this would benefit. If what he's saying is true...

After a moment of balancing out my answer, I looked back into his eyes and replied, "Yes, I will help you." Although his face didn't show it, I saw his eyes light up.

"Well then," he stood from his chair. "Follow me. There's someone I want you to meat."

I followed him out the door, and into a slender bridge like passage. The bridge has a curved roof, lined with wood. It had half a wall for railing, and changed into pillars that came up to create arch designs running along the passage. I looked over the edge to have a better look at the wondrous landscape. When I looked over the railing, I was granted a queasy feeling at the pit of my stomach. We were easily one hundred feet in the air. I quickly pulled my driveway from the edge an began walking again.

As we wined throughout corridors and rooms that resembled the bridge and the room I woke up in, I walked behind Theo, and watched as his lion tail flickered back and forth, like a dancing flame. As we walked, I peered through open doors with curiosity. Some intrigued me, but most were plain with almost nothing but beds in them. A heavenly scent crossed my nose, when walking down one hall. I peeked through the door the smell was coming from, to find the kitchen. It was then I realized how hungry I was. I rubbed my hollow belly, while looking longingly at a loaf of freshly baked bread.

"Skyler?" Theo called back apparently noticing I had stopped. I pulled myself away from the amazing aroma, and caught up with Theo. We reached the end of the hall to another one of the large wood doors. He pulled on the ring handle to reveal a small sitting room. A woman was sitting across legged on a small wood couch, with a pale blue fabric. The woman had shoulder length light brown hair, and had very sharp features. She was slim and tall, sandy skin. She wore black tight pants, with a dark green vest like shirt that stopped mid thigh. She had a brown belt, and matching petite boots. The shirt had swirling plant like designs on it, as well. The outfit as a whole was fashionable, yet flexible.

The woman noticed our entrance in the room, and greeted us with a gentle smile. At first, she said nothing. She examined me with an approving smile.

"Hello Skyler, I am Mariah." She said breaking her observing .

"Hello."

"I believe Theo here has informed you on our situation?" Her gaze switched between the two of us.

"That, he did."

"And you'll be joining us?" Theo replied for me with a nod. Her small smile grew. "Well, I believe that settles things, and we can begin your preparation." She turned her head towards Theo as she began to give him instructions. "Go and get some food, I'm sure she's starved." She glanced at me. "Afterwards, get her fitted, and teach her the basics before night fall."

"Fitted?" I questioned. Mariah turned towards me.

"Oh, yes, were you're dress, and used it to create something more suitable. Our taylor is quite fast, it should be finished soon." That explains where my cloths went. Theo gave an understanding nod for what his instructions were. He gave a sharp turn out of the door without a word. Mariah gave me one more smile then vanished into thought.

I followed behind Theo once again, but this time eager to get to our destination. We turned into the kitchen at the end of the hall. I walked in the large room with scents that made my stomach jealous, circling me. A little plump lady, with short mud brown curly hair, was bent over a large pot sitting on a old fashion wood powered stove. A little girl, about the age of six, who was on her toes in attempt to look into the pot,was at the lady's side. She had thin braid of brown, and had a towel tied at her waist, that sufficed as an apron, but failed to keep her from being covered in powdery flour.

The little girl turned her head at the sound of our foot prints. A giant smile grew in her on her face as she caught sight of Theo.

"Theo!" She yelled with joy. She rushed to his side and squeezed one of his legs. He replied to her with a small laugh.

"Hello Rosie." He embraced her hug to his leg. "I see you've been baking" he looked down at one of his pant legs now covered in flour.

"I helped mama make bread." She giggled with accomplishment.

"I bet it's delicious!" He smiled, and lifted her up in his arms. She reached up, and started meddling with one of his lion ears as if natural.

"Theo, you hungry? Just about finished with a lot of stew." She yelled behind her without taking her eyes off the soup.

"Starved." He began to walk to a table chair. "Smells fantastic, by the way."

"I guaranty it'll taste even better."

"I don't doubt it." He pulled out a chair for himself, and sat. He saw me still standing at the door, and ushered me over to him. He reached over Rosie, who was kneeling up on his lap fiddling with a spoon on the table, and pull out a chair for me. I walked across the room to the chair that pulled out for me.

"I hope you don't mind I brought a guest, who will be eating with us." He said as I was sitting down.

"Oh, who is it?" She looked over her shoulder. Rosie barely noticed my presence as well. When her attention was drawn from the spoon, she turned and looked at me, then afterwards, kneeled down on Theo's lap, and let her eyes wander to the ground in shyness.

"Good gracious, I'm so sorry miss. I didn't notice you before. What's your name?"

"Skyler, and the soup really does smell wonderful."

"Mary," she said giving her name in return. "And thank you for the compliment. Visitors are usually too travel worn to give them. They just come, eat our food, and sleep under our roof, then head on their merry way without showing a speck of appreciation!" She said shamefully.

"Do people visit here often?" I asked her. She gave a small snort before responding.

"Quite. Do you not know where you are? This is Almera, one of the safest places you could be!"

"Why wouldn't other places be safe?" She looked taken back by This question.

"The griever of course! Goodness miss, you must be living in a dream world, if you don't know about the grieves! Every soul in all of Gardilia knows of them!"

"What's Gardilia?" The cook now looked appalled.

"It's the world we're in." Theo whispered over to me. He had a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Theo, you better educate this one before she goes anywhere." She said shaking her stirring spoon at Theo. She then turned back to the pot, muttering to herself, "'What's Gardilia?' HA!" She dipped in a ladle, and filled up two bowls of steaming stew. She served the bowls to us with a slice of the freshly baked bread, while passing me questioning glances. "Enjoy."

"Thank you." Both Theo and I responded. The little girl, Rosie, hopped off Theo's lap to allow him to eat. I dug into my food, unable to wait. The soup slid down my throat, and warmed my once empty belly. I drained my bowl, are my bread feeling satisfied.

"I underestimated just how hungry you were." Theo looked down in surprised at my empty bowl, after less than a minute after receiving it. My cheeks burned lightly at his comment.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it." Remarked the cook. "You are a strange girl. Where are you from?"

"I'm— "

"Sorry to intrude on your conversation, but Skyler and I should be off. We on a bit of a tight schedule." Theo intruded. He had just finished off his soup and picked up his slice of bread for the road.

"Well than, it was nice to meet you." She grabbed our dishes with a bit of irritation that Theo didn't let out conversation go on.

"Bye Theo." Called the little girl from across the table, without taking her eyes off her own stew.

We walked out of the kitchen and began to zigzag through the halls once again. We reached a spiralling stair case. At the bottom, there was a door, smaller than the others. We opened the door to a little room cluttered with a large variety of fabric. A short shrimpy man with over sized glasses. He had an expression on concentration, and had nimble fingers sowing in and out, as if it were as easy as breathing. He looked up at us with wide eyes.

"Ah, Theo! It's been a while since I've seen your face."

"Hello Jacob." Theo replied politely.

"And who is this beautiful lady, I might ask?"

"Hello, I'm Skyler." I said feeling flattered.

"Oh, I know what you're here for. He stood up from the the table he was stitching on, and disappeared behind some massive rolls of fabric. He emerged carrying a dress much like the one Jennifer bought me for the party. It looked to be made of a thick leather like fabric, and was darker than the other dress. It had sleeves, in like the other, and had gray leggings with dark boots. "I tried to make it as close to the original as possible. I hope you like." Jacob said examining his work.

"It's amazing!" I said actually quite fond of the outfit.

"I'm glad you think so." He said with a satisfied smile. "You can change in here. I have to step out for a bit, but I would love to see how it fits." He handed my the dress slid out of the room, and up the stairs.

I set down the dress, and got ready to pull off my own dress, when I remembered Theo's presence in the room. I looked at him but he appeared to be lost in thought.

"Ahem..." I said getting his attention. He looked up at me expectantly, then realization struck his face.

"Oh, sorry." He said before stepping out and shutting the door behind him. I continued to undress at his leave. I slipped off the dress I was wearing, and got into my newly made outfit. It fit perfectly, yet still had room for growing, which made it flexible. After finishing, I opened the door to see Theo leaning against the wall, arms folded, and one foot crossed over the other. He looked at me once the door opened, examining me from top to bottom in my new cloths.

"So why do I need new cloths?" I asked him.

"It'll be more suitable for the situations you'll be placed in."

"And what situations would I be placed in?"

"Well, we'll be doing a lot of traveling, and, I suspect, quite a bit of fighting."

"Fighting. I don't know how to fight!"

"Yet. You don't know how to fight yet." After he said this, Jacob came back down the stone stairs. He stopped, and examined me with satisfaction.

"It looks wonderful! Does it fit well?"

"Perfectly."

"Oh good, good." He said examining his work from every angle. "Well, if you run into any problems, you'll know we're to find me. Goodbye!" He said before disappearing into his small cluttered room.

"Come on." Theo said, walking down a hall. I followed after him, and began walking parallel to him.

"Where are we off to next." I asked, curious to what else this day will bring. He traded me a questioning glance for my enthusiasm.

"I'm going to teach you some of the basics."

"Basics of what?"

"I'm going to show how to work with your powers as an Arikan, to begin with." I felt slightly queasy thinking about me transforming.

We walked into a giant room with a padded floor, and rows of deadly weapons.

"What are those for?" I said eyeing the weapons.

"Training." Theo replied casually. The memory of Theo slickly killing the griever, the night before, flashed into my mind. "Okay, why don't we get started? First, let's have you turn into a wolf."

"How do you know I can turn into a wolf?"

"Well, I believe it's a wolf anyways. Your mom was a wolf, and it is usually passed down through the generations. It's rare to be otherwise. Now, let's begin. Stand over there." He pointed at the right end of the large room. Once I had my positioning, he began giving instructions again. "Now I want you to envision yourself as a wolf. Get into the mindset of a wolf. Then, start into a bit of a run, because the energy of the transformation needs movement, but keep your mind focused on the image of a wolf. You got that?" I gave him a nod while mentally listing everything he had just said. He gestured for me to begin.

I took in a deep breath, and envisioned myself as wolf, and started in a small run. When I got in the middle of my run, I saw gold flakes of energy, and broke my focus. I emerged at the left end of the room still human.

"Again." Theo said after examining my performance. I turned around ready, making sure I didn't get distracted this time. I kept my focus, but failed once again. "Come on Skyler, focus." I cleared my mind, and saw myself as a wolf, but yet, never seceded. I tried it a few more times without success, and even more after, but couldn't get it. We both began to get a little frustrated. "Concentrate Skyler."

"What do you think I'm doing?" I said through frustration.

"Well obviously not concentrating." I shot him an annoyed glance, but instead of fighting back, I tried it a couple more times, but no luck. "Come on, it's not that hard."

"I bet you didn't get it straight off either."

"Ya, but I had to figure it out by myself, you at least have someone to teach, and guide you through it."

"Oh, poor you." I said taking out my frustration with myself on him. He looked at me with an irritated expression.

"Hey, I don't have to help you."

"No, I'm sorry. Let's just keep going." He gave me a approving nod to start again. I closed my eyes to focus, and remembered what he said about getting into the mindset of a wolf. I imagined myself as a wolf in every way possible.

Opening my eyes, I kept the picture of the wolf locked in my mind. I started into a run, and found myself a trapped in a pool of golden liquid-like energy. I felt a tingling sensation cover my body. I came out of the energy sphere trying to land on my feet, but couldn't. Instead, I landed on my hands as well, in an strange position. I realized it had worked. I was a wolf!

I took a few steps, testing out my transformation. I looked at Theo, who wore a small satisfied smile.

"Good, now transform back. You do the same thing, just in reverse." I did as he said and transformed back. When I changed back, my legs felt slightly wobbely. I couldn't help but smile. Did I just do that!? My body still tingled a bit. I was taken back by my new found ability, and loved it. "Now, Skyler, I want you to get into the mindset of half human, half wolf. You got that?" I replied with a nod of understanding, and,once again, started in a run. When I emerged from the energy still human, but with a wolfish like feeling. I looked down at my self confused.

"What's different?" I asked.

"Look behind you." I looked down behind me, to see a long, puffy, gray, wolf tail. I almost jumped after seeing it. I waved the tail back and forth in astonishment. I put my hand on the tail feeling the the soft smooth texture of the fur. I ran my fingers through my hair to run two furry, pointed, wolf ears.

"Wow!" I whispered to myself.

"Moving on. Being in this form, like I said earlier, allows you to use powers from your human and wolf form. It also modifies
these abilities. For example, from you wolf side, you will have acute senses, and from your human, strength and flexibility. You may have experienced glitches of this as you were growing into your Arikan self." I had a short flashback on all of the odd occurrence of the past week. It was all being to piece together. What didn't fit though, was the change of color in hair and eyes.

"Why did the color of my hair and eyes change?"

"Sometimes that will just happened. My hair changed as well, it use to be strait brown. But the white in your hair, is something every Arikan gets. It is one of the most noticeable traits unique to Arikan. Now, you will be able to use your abilities best in your natural form, so it is best to be in it as often as you can, just so it's there if you need it."

"What are some of the abilities?"

"There's the ones I said earlier, fast healing, speed, you're agile, and a natural fighter. Any more questions?"

"Not at the moment, no."

"Okay, meet me here tomorrow at sunrise. Don't be late." Without another word, he was out the door.

I explored more of Almera than the parts I saw with Theo, but began to feel a bit tired, so I head back to what I guess was now my room. I stopped on the bridge outside of my door, and looked over the star lit valley. Looking up at the millions of stars, I remembered I was in a different world. I wondered if I could see Earth from were I stood. If it was one of the twinkling lights.

"I hope I'm not intruding." A sudden voice at the right of me said. I turned my head to see Mariah looking up at the stars as well.

"You're fine." She turned and looked at me as if noticing something interesting about me. "Yes?"

"Oh! Sorry. You just look so much like my sister."

"Sister?"

"Yes your mother, Claira, is my sister." This news was intriguing to me. I had never ment one of my relatives, not even from Dad's side. "I suspect you will be quite like her."

"What was she like?" I said unable to hold it back. An eagerness grew inside me. Dad hardly talked about her, and this was finally my chance to learn something about her. Mariah looked at me seeming pleased to answer the question.

"Well, there's so much to say, I don't know where to begin." I stopped for a moment thinking about how she would reply. "Claira... Was very head strong. She was both brave and stubborn. This allowed her to achieve many things, but get into a lot of trouble. When we were young she somehow managed to convince me to do these crazy things with her, naturally, this almost always lead to trouble. I didn't mind the punishing so much because I was always with her. We were close as possible, and now that she gone, I feel like a piece of me is missing as well. That is one of the reasons I'm pushing to rescue her and the others. It would not only substantially help everyone, but it would also help me feel whole again. I could finally be reunited with my sister." A sad joy swept over her face.

"Thank you for that." I said to her. "I appreciate hearing about her. Goodnight ." I said turning into my room. I left her gleaming into better times on the moon lit bridge.

I walked into my room to find the dress I woke up in this morning, laying on the bed, neatly folded. I slipped off the dress newly made dress, and slipped the other on.

I laid on my bed, reflecting on what has happened. I thought of the night of the party, about Mark, and how horrible things had gone. It made me kind of glad that this all happened at the time it did. It would be horrible to face Jessica, and her boyfriend Mark.

Maybe I jumped into this to quickly. The thought flickered in My mind, and I began to think of the down side of me staying here.

My thoughts swooped around until I arrived at the thought of Jennifer. I felt a stone in the pit of my stomach. It made me sick to think about not be able to see Jennifer. I hated to think about how I left her, and how worried she must be. How worried my dad might be. I felt a feeling of homesickness wash over me. The fact that I couldn't just turn the corner, and be home made me want to throw up.

I tried to push away the feeling. I said I would do this, and I would. Afterwards, I could go home. And not only that, I would have a mom! This was the right thing to do, and it would lead to great things.

Also, maybe it would be good for me to add some adventure into my dull life. This journey would help to experience the world, and possibly even help me to better see who I was.

With these comforting thoughts, I drifted off in to a blissful sleep.

A/N: please remember to vote, and thanks for reading!