The Seal of Oblivion (22 page)

“I’m not a ditz!” Sakura snapped

White Rose looked at the two,
perplexed that in the middle of a battle the two would argue over such a thing.

“Yes you are.”

“Take it back!”

Adria started to reply, but
suddenly Sakura pulled Adria behind her and caught the energy that Aurian had
sent hurtling at Adria’s back. She glared at Aurian, and in the span of half a
second she pulled her hand back with the energy and rebound it back to the gold
clad Anaxar. Aurian was obviously surprised by the power with which Sakura had
sent it hurtling back and moved out the way, but still got hit in the
shoulder.
 
That part of his body slammed
into the wall with a painful sounding crack. Aurian slid down the wall holding
his shoulder.

“Yay!”
Sakura said jumping up and down.

“
Where’s
Nightshield, Plainshield, and Chasity?” White Rose asked.

“Going to help them,” Adria said
taking Sakura along as they went to the second floor, holes in and icicles on
the ceiling being the only indication that there was fight going on there.

White Rose turned her attention
back to Isis when she heard the girl cry out. Isis was on the ground, eyes on
Sahajah, left arm hanging limp (mostly limp, because it appeared Isis could
move it, just not without pain) from a cut on her forearm. Isis looked
nonplussed by the blood that was seeping out of it as she gripped her sword and
blocked Sahajah’s downward blow, using the strength behind it to get back to
her feet.

White Rose started to call her
until she remembered the ice shards and without hesitation she rooted the
bottom of her staff to the ground and called out, “Earth!”

The ground shook violently, and
White Rose yelled to Isis to cover her head. The girl did so, and White Rose
leaned on the wall as the ground shook. She didn’t quite know how to stop her
quakes yet, only that her current one shouldn’t last more than a few seconds,
especially for the effect she wanted. The shards fell off the ceiling and one
nicked Sahajah in the hand causing her to drop her sword as her hand went numb
from the cold gash on the back of her hand and wrist. Seeming to realize
something, Isis put tip of her sword in the ground and instead of stopping, the
quake continued.

“Isis!” White Rose yelled. “What
are you doing?”

“Your powers are nature.”

“Tell me something I’m not already
aware of!”

“You can’t win this fight so long
as you’re stuck in here,” Isis said as the house began to collapse.

White Rose dodged falling pieces of
the ceiling as she went over to Isis to try to shield her, but it wasn’t
needed, the pieces of debris bounced off a shield Isis had to have created,
though that didn’t stop them from being buried under the rubble when the house
fully collapsed.

When the shaking of the ground
stopped, and the house finished falling, White Rose asked Isis, “What did you
do?”

Isis sat up with an intense look of
concentration on her face, and then forced the shield outward to create a
pocket for them to climb out of. After doing so, Isis replied, “Helping you
out.”

White Rose climbed out the hole and
grabbed her cousin’s uninjured arm to pull her out and on top of the debris.

“How?”

“You can’t defeat Lady Sahajah in a
house like that when your powers are directly from nature. Now she’s in your
playing field,” Isis explained.

“But now you’ve buried everyone
under the house,” White Rose pointed out.

“Don’t worry. They’re fine.”

The debris near the two girls
suddenly combusted and created a massive hole where an angry Lady Sahajah now
stood. Her sword pulsed with power as she stared at White Rose with murderous
intent. She didn’t make a sound as she charged directly at White Rose, the two
flying into the building across the street.

White Rose was vaguely aware of
Isis calling her name and telling her to do something.

“Idiot girl!” she heard Chasity
Pearl yell soon after. “We went through all the trouble to find the staff. Use
the damn thing!”

The problem was that although White
Rose felt more connected and in tune with her powers than she ever had been over
the years, she didn’t know how to exactly use the staff properly to attain the
power she sensed she could attain without losing control over it. While she
tried to work it out mentally, White Rose kneed Sahajah in the stomach and
butted her in the chest with the head of her staff. White Rose then stood back
to her feet and ran out the way of Lady Sahajah’s dark slashes.

“Why won’t she fight? Why does she
keep running away?” Chasity Pearl demanded of Nightshield. “What kind of
warrior is she?”

“She can’t help it. It’s in her
nature,” Nightshield replied. “She represents the duality of nature. It’s very
calm and serene until it’s disturbed, and the White Rose’s personality reflects
it.
 
It’s one extreme or the other for
her. So right now, she’s like a brewing storm. It’s behind her eyes. Lady
Sahajah just has to trigger something so she’ll unleash it.”

“But Laqiya never gets angry, even
when she’s frustrated,” Isis pointed out.

“Exactly,” Plainshield said as she
tended to Isis’ arm.

White Rose knocked Sahajah in the
face with her staff, causing the mistress’ head to snap back, and then caused a
brief violent wind storm to camouflage her as she hid in the shadows of a side
alley. Sahajah snapped her head back forward, piercing yellow-red eyes
searching for White Rose as she walked down the sidewalk.

“You’re a cowardly little girl,”
she said. “Always holding back, restraining yourself, never able to reach the
height of the power you were granted because you were so afraid to hurt
everyone. Your children you called them, and when the Tyrant threatened your
precious humanity, you went after him, and you couldn’t defeat him.”

White Rose’s amber eyes glazed over
as she lost herself in a memory, a memory Sayyida was no doubt sending to her
despite her request that her former self not interfere.

“I’m
just tired Nightshield… Nothing in this life has been easy for me. I didn’t ask
for any of this. I couldn’t help it. Why won’t they just leave us alone? Why
not leave me alone?”

“Sayyida…”

“You
never call me that Nightshield… Thank you. It makes me feel normal. Would you
call me that from now on? If only you and the others do it, I think I can push
on…”

“She didn’t want it either,” White
Rose said closing her eyes. “She was just like me.”

“Found you,” Sahajah said as she snatched
White Rose forward by the neck.

Despite the fact that her airway
was cut off, White Rose opened her eyes and looked at Sahajah with an eerie
calm.

“I didn’t ask for this,” she
whispered as a tear fell down her cheek. “We didn’t want this…”

“Aw… crying like a little child.
You don’t want to play anymore? Pity,” Sahajah whispered as she threw White
Rose to the ground a few yards ahead of her.

“Yes. No more playing. Such a
pity,” White Rose said gripping her staff as her amber eyes lit with fire.
“For you.”

Thunder boomed in the sky as dark
clouds suddenly rolled in. Just a moment after that, rain began to pour from
the sky, combined with harsh winds and earth flying through the air.

“No more playing Sahajah. You want
to face me, want me to fight you,
want
to see why I’m
a threat! This is why!” White Rose screamed at her. “This is why it’s not nice
to mess with Mother Nature! You can’t fight her. Now do you want to fight me or
do you want to run away like a coward.”

Sahajah obviously had been waiting
for this, for her powers reacted violently to White Rose’s display of power. A
dirty black aura consumed her as she charged forward at White Rose; however,
White Rose had the advantage of the storm that was now raging and took control
of the wind to send Sahajah flying into the air. She twirled her staff and
launched herself into the air behind the dark mistress. Then White Rose grabbed
the woman out the air and slammed them both into the ground so that Sahajah
took the brunt of the attack. Sahajah cried out when something in her shoulder
broke with a loud crack, and out of reflex, she tried to stab White Rose in the
back with her sword. Despite the rain soaking them, White Rose swiftly moved
off Sahajah and the mistress’ sword was imbedded in the ground.

Sahajah stood up, snatched out her
sword, and launched into a deadly sword offensive, the silver blade colored
dark blue, almost black, as a result of it being imbued with Sahajah’s dark
power. For all her rage, White Rose still couldn’t match up against Sahajah’s
attacks and ended up with a long gash across her stomach. She gasped and
stopped to readjust her breathing before glaring in rage at an equally raged
Sahajah.

“Why won’t you
just let me kill you?!”

“Because,” White Rose said lifting
her bloody left hand, “you started this fight. I’m going to end it.”

Sahajah lifted her sword, which had
turned back into a chain again and for the first time, White Rose really looked
at it. She knew the key was to get it out the woman’s hand, for it appeared
that like Isis, Sahajah could only channel her abilities through objects, but
there was something else about it. The chain didn’t sync to Lady Sahajah like
Isis’ sword or White Rose’s staff. With that realization, White Rose caught the
chain around her right arm and her staff before twisting her arm to grab it.

“I don’t know much about fighting,
but I’m sure there’s a rule somewhere about fighting with a stolen weapon,” she
pointed out.

If the weapon had feelings, White
Rose would have thought it felt guilty for answering to a wrongful owner. The
chain trembled in her hands and around her wrist, and Sahajah visibly struggled
to keep hold of it.

“Fire!”
White Rose yelled and fire erupted from her hand and heated up the chain.
Sahajah let go of it immediately when she figured out what was going on.

The chain slackened around White
Rose’s wrist and fell to the ground, the combination of heat and the still
raging storm causing the chain to begin to crack and then suddenly disperse
under the pressure.

By now the storm was raging so
badly no one could see in front of each other, but White Rose’s amber eyes
almost glowed so that they were clearly visible through the downpour. Lady
Sahajah launched herself at her and grabbed her around her neck yelling, “Die!”

“Only if you go first,” White Rose
choked as the storm got worse and the wind began to howl. The earth beneath
them began to shake and the ground cracked open, twisted vines and branches
sprung up and curled themselves around Lady Sahajah’s arm forcing her to let go
of White Rose.

White Rose fell to the ground,
holding onto her throat as Sahajah fought to get out of the death grip of the
vines. White Rose put a hand to her head as she dropped the staff to her side,
losing control over the assault as the storm seemed to concentrate itself
around Sahajah. The ground opened up more and a vicious whirlwind encased both
the mistress and White Rose.

“You won’t win!” Sahajah screeched.
“
He
won’t let you!”

“Just leave me alone!”

Thunder boomed in the sky again,
and Sahajah launched forward again trying to possibly grab hold of White Rose
as she was swallowed whole by the Earth itself. But the mistress’ restraints
held fast to her, continuing to pull her down against her struggles. Finally,
the woman was buried alive, the Earth sealing itself back up leaving nothing of
Lady Sahajah’s behind. Her presence flickered and for a moment White Rose was
worried that she would have to be concerned about Sahajah escaping her prison
until the presence flickered out completely, not beyond the reach of her senses
but completely gone out of existence. Lady Sahajah was dead.

With that thought, the storm began
to calm and in a few minutes it was gone completely revealing the clear night
sky; however, the evidence of it remained. Twigs and fallen leaves lay
everywhere, the streets were soaked with rain, windows in buildings were
shattered, and cars flipped over.

“Remind me not to ever get on her
bad side,” Sakura muttered as they climbed out of the protective spot in the
basement not filled with debris from the collapsed house.

“That’s what happens when Mother
Nature in whatever incarnation gets angry,” said Nightshield.

“Where are the Anaxars?” Adria
asked as she tossed a large wood board out her way.

“Forget that. Where’s Laqiya?” Isis
asked as they looked in the street.

It was not hard to make out a still
lying figure in white lying on the ground clutching her gold staff amongst the
mess. Plainshield got to her first, running a quick diagnostic before saying,
“Unconscious, fatigue, probably needs just a few days to rest.”

“A few days?”
Isis said. “This is going to take weeks for her to recover from.”

“No,” Nightshield said. “If she’s
anything like I remember, she’s got too much get up and go about her to let
herself stay down for long. Don’t worry about her. She may be a little
emotionally scarred, but otherwise, she’ll be fine.”

Chapter
Seventeen

Recovery

Laqiya was not quite sure what to
feel as she looked at the pictures. She was stuck wondering whether she should
be horrified, amazed, confused, or relieved. In the end, she settled somewhere
amongst awestruck, dumbfounded, and disbelieving.

“I did all that?”

“You’ve got the meteorologists
stumped. That’s for sure. There wasn’t really too much damage, just debris
everywhere, and there’s no trace of where Sahajah was swallowed. Plainshield
went back and checked later,” Chasity Pearl said obviously enjoying Laqiya’s
reaction, so she continued. “You’ve got the whole world in a stir, especially
the UFO community. Someone caught a picture of you shooting into the air to
take down Sahajah. Can’t imagine how anyone would have been brave enough to go
out into that, but the point is you’ve caused quite the stir.”

Laqiya sat in the comfort of her
bed, covered in blankets and comforters per Nightshield’s advice. Since she
hadn’t gone to school, and Nightshield was doing some last minute checking over
the battle scene with Plainshield, Chasity Pearl had taken it upon herself to
entertain her. Laqiya, though, had the feeling Chasity Pearl was entertaining
herself more by enjoying the girl’s reactions.

She should have known that this
would be breaking news when she heard the sirens coming right before she passed
out. Every scientist and meteorologist on earth would be itching for a chance
to study the sudden phenomenal storm that had blown through Roselyn and then
disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“Don’t worry. You can’t be linked
to the scene.”

“I don’t know,” Laqiya said. “It’s
pretty suspicious that all four of us got sick over the weekend.”

Chasity Pearl snorted. “That’s what
happens when you get caught up in the storm. Besides, your mother bought it.
That’s what counts.”

Laqiya snorted. It had taken a
little convincing to get her mother to believe that. Isis literally dragged
Laqiya into the house the morning after the battle, and when her aunt began to
interrogate her, adamantly stuck to the story that Laqiya had suddenly fallen
ill. It had been difficult because of the gash across Laqiya’s stomach, but
that had been easy enough to hide with a long shirt since it healed
significantly in the time between the evening of her battle with Sahajah and
waking up in Sakura’s room the next morning. Laqiya’s mother nearly had a
conniption when the girl kept complaining about aches in her back and neck and
was two seconds from calling an ambulance for fear that Laqiya had meningitis.
But seeing that Laqiya was recovering easily enough without medical aid, she
only took off work and nursed Laqiya back to health. Laqiya wasn’t really sick
though. She just needed a long rest after battling as hard against Lady Sahajah
as she had (Nightshield offhandedly commented most grown men would need weeks).
Isis, Sakura, and Adria, however, had truly gotten sick from being caught in
the sudden drenching The White Rose had caused, but even now they were up and
well again, off to school, while Laqiya was stuck in bed still recovering from
her ordeal.

“This is only the beginning
anyway,” Chasity Pearl said. “Just think about it. This is one dark mistress out
of seven. Think of all the publicity and pictures there will be then.”

“Surely all of them won’t escape
oblivion?” Laqiya asked.

“They will.”

Laqiya jumped and looked past
Chasity Pearl to where Sheera was standing behind the bed. Sheera exchanged a
looked with Chasity Pearl, who rolled her eyes, got off the bed and made her
way into the hallway. No one was home since Laqiya’s mother had deemed her well
enough to be able to look after herself for a few hours.

Sheera looked at Laqiya and smiled
a little.

“You did a good job,” she said.

Laqiya sighed.
“And
nearly killed myself doing it.”

“It’s part of the job description.”

“I didn’t volunteer.”

“You weren’t supposed to. If you
had volunteered, it meant that the job wasn’t for you. The fact that you kept
running from it, even though your very soul knew you couldn’t,
was
a sign, a sign of how compassionate you are, of how
caring you are.”

“Being a coward was a sign?”

“You’re not a coward,” Sheera
assured. “You just didn’t want to shoulder the burden of being responsible for
the lives of others. Many people are going to want to die for you and even
those who don’t want to die are going to die, but because you don’t think you
will be able to live with it is the reason you will keep fighting anyway.”

Laqiya paused, a thoughtful look
coming over her as she remembered how tired and wary Sayyida had looked when
they talked.

“Is that why she was so sad?”

“Who?”

“Sayyida.”

Sheera looked surprised.
“Sayyida?”

“She talked to me earlier, right
before I defeated Sahajah. She sounded so sad. How many people died for her
that she thought she could have saved?”

Sheera huffed. “Sayyida always was
one who broke the rules. Then again, maybe that’s why she was the only one who
could stand against the Tyrant… among others.”

“So why is she so sad?”

“Same as you.
She didn’t feel worthy, and she thinks she failed because she really wasn’t
worthy. The Tyrant’s going to return and because both you and Sayyida share the
same soul, you have to make up for it. You want to make up for it. You don’t
like being told that you are weak.”

Laqiya had a feeling there was more
to the story of Sayyida’s life but didn’t press the issue. Instead she asked,
“So I’m just Sayyida trying to make up for my past failure? This isn’t really
my life?”

“You and Sayyida may share the same
soul and some of your personality may be from things imprinted on that soul
from Sayyida’s life, but you’re not Sayyida. You are very different in a lot of
ways. For instance, Nightshield has said that for all Sayyida’s compassion, she
was as cold and distant as the moon. You may be a little wary and have a
million things going on at the same time, but distant and cold are not two
words I’d use to describe you. So no, you are not Sayyida. You just happen to
be her reincarnation and have the same job.”

That certainly
made Laqiya feel
better, but still….

My
past will come back to haunt you…

There was definitely more to
Sayyida’s story, but Laqiya preferred not to know or ask about it. Sayyida may
be her past life, but it was still the woman’s private past, and she hadn’t
been very forthright about it in the few minutes they spoke. But speaking of
past…

“Why don’t I remember that night?
What happened that night I saw the Tyrant that I’m not supposed to remember?”

“You know everything you need to
know. When it’s time for you to remember, you will. No one ever truly forgets
anything. It just takes the right circumstances to bring everything forward.”

Laqiya looked at Sheera with a
piercing expression before saying, “I don’t think you want me to find out is
what you mean to say.”

“Don’t fret,” Sheera said. “We’re
fellow guardians now. I’ll be around.”

Laqiya didn’t feel the need to
really say anything, but she couldn’t help but ask, “When are you all going to just
be straightforward with me and tell me everything I want to know?”

“Ignorance is bliss,” Sheera
replied gently just as there was a knock on her door.

“Laqiya?
You okay in there. Chasity said you were talking to someone,” Isis said.

In the two seconds Laqiya took to
look at the door and then back at Sheera, the angel was gone. Laqiya called the
three girls in, muttering something about an angel and her disappearing act.

“Hey,” Sakura asked as she plopped
herself on the bed. “Did we figure out what happened to the Anaxars? They up
and disappeared between Isis collapsing that house, and you defeating Lady
Sahajah.”

“Nightshield and Plainshield can’t
find any trace of them. For all their talk, the Anaxars know a losing battle
when they see it,” Chasity Pearl said coming back into the room. “But don’t
worry. Our good friends the Anaxars will be back.”

“And my sister is on the lookout
for them as we speak,” Nightshield said coming in behind Chasity Pearl. “So
this means…”

“A well deserved break, and just in
time for summer too!” Sakura exclaimed.

“Personally, I think this should be
time spent learning to control your powers, but you can have your break. It
won’t be long before another dark mistress rears her head anyway,” said
Nightshield.

All four teenagers moaned, and
Laqiya pulled the covers over head, a breeze coming through the room just as
she whined, “Why?”

“You really need to get that under
control,” Nightshield said.
“Sooner rather than later.”

“What do you mean?” Laqiya asked.

Isis perked up. “Oh that’s right.
My sister is coming to stay with us in two or three weeks.”

“Nephthys,” said Laqiya

“What’s wrong with you all’s
mother? She can’t take care of her own children?”

Isis glared sharply at Chasity
Pearl before saying, “Our mother isn’t sending Nephthys. Nephthys’ dad is
sending her because he travels a lot and doesn’t want to leave her by herself.”

“Nephthys’ dad?
Don’t you two have the same dad?” Sakura asked.

Isis shrugged.
“Anyway.
Auntie is preparing the two rooms on the ground floor for us, so I’ll be moving
out your room soon,” she said to Laqiya.

“I get my room back,” Laqiya said
in relief.

“Yes,” Isis said and added, “And in
light of this recent development I’d start hiding my things and getting some
kind of control over those powers. If you by any chance give Nephthys the
slightest reason to be suspicious of anything she’ll look into it and you know
it.”

Laqiya rolled her eyes. Compared to
chasing staff pieces and almost being killed by a dark mistress and Anaxars,
handling her older cousin would be a cake.

“Whatever. I’ve got something more
important to deal with,” Laqiya said sighing.

“What?” everyone
asked.

“I have to go back to school in
three days, and I can’t decide whether to be flashy and come back with a bang
in my silk blouse and designer jeans or be modest and wear my black and white
outfit…”

“Laqiya…”

“Seriously…”

“No comments. I’ve earned the right
to be normal.”

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