:D This book ends at Chapter 14, get ready for awesomeness!

Destiny Calls

Chapter 11

"You can't stop being afraid by pretending everything that scares you isn't there."

-Day XVII-

Max was still a little shaken up from Alista's sudden appearance. He still had so many questions, and he wished he could ask her. But she didn't seem the type to want to answer his questions. It was while they were walking through the forest they found what looked like an abandoned home for them to hide out it. They could see the village behind the home, however it seemed this little abandoned little home was isolated from the rest of the village. Which was really good for them.

"It's already getting late. Tomorrow I'll head into town to find anything else on the gateway. Ross, Barney, it might be safer if you don't leave the home, and Max...Max? Max!"

Max jumped at Red's voice, he'd been thinking about what Alista had said earlier today, "Y-yes?" Max looked up.

"Er...nevermind, maybe you should stay too. You look a little out of it..."

Max just nodded and laid down on the dusty wooden floors of the abandoned home. He sighed, so much was going on.

What did Alista mean by candidates? And side-effects? What side-effects. Who was the other person that Alista had fought. He was so close to all the answers, yet so far away.

Max fell asleep while thinking.

~~~~~

-Day XVIII-

It was midday the next day when he woke up. He found that Red was not here and Barney was mulling around the abandoned home.

"Where's Ross?" Max yawned.

"Ohs, he wents to the rivers to refills ours waters." Barney replied, "Heres," Barney handed Max a loaf of bread.

"Thanks," Max tore off a piece of the bread and ate it quietly.

"Oh yeahs. I forgots to say, Reds said we'll stay heres one mores day. And thens tomorrows head to the gateways."

"Ok..." Max was hardly paying attention as he continued munching on his bread. What did Alista mean??? Max furrowed his brow in concentration, but of course he was getting nowhere. He couldn't remember. He needed to know more about the void, and what Alista meant by side-effects.

He needed to know why did the woman who gave him his powers send Alista to essentially try and kill him. He needed to know who the mysterious other man was who apparently had better control over his curse. Why must everything be unreachable for him!

Max groaned and stood up, "I'll be right back Barney."

"Waits, where are y--" Max had left the room, left the home and left the village. Maybe if he headed back to where he saw Alista, maybe, just maybe she would still be there. If he hurried he could get there and back before nightfall.

The Duhitian forests was thick and dark, even on the outskirts. When he and Red, Barney, and Ross traveled through it earlier, they actually almost got lost, and they were only 3 steps away from the outside of the forest.

A good 15-20 minutes later Max was by the same area where Alista had attacked him. He figured she probably wasn't here, but he felt better being here than that creepy old house. He sighed, as he looked around he was correct. Alista was indeed not here. Max decided to hang around here for a little while.

He sat against the trunk of a tree and stared up at the clouds. The calming wind passed him by and he sighed. He wondered what would happen. What would the future be like. Was he really going to figure everything he had questions to out?

Max closed his eyes, he thought back the events of these past couple weeks. He remembered waking up to a blazing fire. He remembered finding Red, Ross, and Barney. He remembered turning Ross and Barney into morvics and the guilt and terror he felt. He remembered the several days of travel to get to Neim. He remembered seeing that boy on the back of that horse holding on tightly to another man.

Wasn't his name Seto? Hmm, how did Max know his name? At first he thought he must have met him somewhere and he just couldn't remember due to memory loss. But the more he thought about the more the idea seemed wrong. The feeling he had when his eyes met his was more like a connection, like the sudden acknowledgment of a string between them. It was not the feeling of possibly know him, but definitely a connection.

"What the nether! Why are you back here?" Max opened one eyes leaving the other closed. He sat up and immediately when he saw Alista's towering figure.

"I thought you weren't here!"

"I wasn't," she rolled her eyes. Max noticed that Alista wasn't carrying her scary black sword, "I went home and came back."

"And where exactly did you come back from?"

"Vragan, obviously, you know the kingdom to the far north completely covered in snow and ice."

Max's eyes widened. She went home that far north and came back in less than a day, how the-- "How!"

She rolled her eyes, "It seems you did not pay attention to our fight... Did you not see me teleport..."

Max sighed, right...that thing she did, "So why are you back?"

"I see no reason why it is your concern, but if you must know, after completing my job with you, I received another task, that also involves being here in Duhita."

"What, are you going to try and kill someone again?" Max deadpanned.

Alista growled and grabbed Max by his sweater, "I'm here on a surveillance mission dork. Between me and my brother I'm the active one, while my brother is the behind the scenes guy. Not everything I do involves a fight." She threw him down, "Now why did you return here?"

Max dusted himself off and pushed himself to a seated position, "I was actually hoping you could answer some of my questions..."

Alista snorted and laughed, "Me? Help you? Like I'm interested in associating with you, now if you please, I'd like to rest in my tree thank you, shoo." She waved her hands at him to leave.

"Please, I just have a few questions--"

"Gah! What is with you humans and questions. First the short and pale human, now you the dumb and dorky human. Can you all just leave me alone!" She threw up her hands in the air.

Short and pale? "Who are you--"

"Gah! Leave! I want to be away from you humans before I have to begin my job. Shoo! Shoo! I'm not answering your questions!"

"But--"

Alista glared at Max, a purple flame lit in her hand, "Leave!" Max's eyes widened, and he took several steps back before turning and running back into the forest. He didn't look back, what was her problem, why was she so mean to him, and humans especially. She looked plenty human herself. And now instead of getting his questions answered, he had more than before. Max wanted to scream in frustration but instead he stopped running and punched a nearby tree.

"Oh f*cking nether, that hurt like the mother of f*cking Notch. Dear Notch why!" Max yelled and clutched his hand. And of course he used the hand injured from a burn. As he held his hand he realized he never fixed the bandages from when he fought Alista. He gasped and ignored the pain before looking at the tree he had punched.

The section he had punched had turned to stone. He glanced around him and then back at the tree, "Sh*t," he didn't know how to fix it... Max took one step back, and then another, and another before turning around and running back towards the abandoned home. The sun was setting. It would be nightfall soon.

~~~~~

"Max! Where were you! We were just about to go looking for you!" Red exclaimed as Max entered the home. He hid his injured and exposed hand behind his back.

"I went out, no worries. I'm fine," He grumbled. As he closed the door behind him and walked away from his concerned friends, "I'm going to sleep..."

"Max? Are you--" Ross was cut off as Max left the room and into another room away from them. He just needed some space. At least tomorrow everything would end, right?

~~~~~

"Let's leave him be, he must just be tired and anxious..." Red said, though none of them believed it.

"Oks, find anythings in towns?" Barney asked Red.

Red sighed, "Not really, just the same information Ross had. They told me nothing but their little myth, so I got no actual logical facts or answers."

"Ohs..."

"I guess we just have to hope Max's 'benefactor' shows up. You know, I can't make sense of any of this. Why would this woman or whatever do something like this, there is no merit in it..." Ross muttered.

"Who knows, we can only hope after this Max remembers..." Red answered.

"Yeah..." Ross looked away a little guiltily, his palms sweated a little, but Max was not around to see or hear the conversation.

Man, Alista sure is angry lol. If you're currently reading Grasping Fate, you'll see more of her there.