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    It seemed like it took forever before they even reached the grass lands, and before she knew it, there in front of her was the largest building she’d ever seen. People were walking the streets left and right, while vehicles of all shapes, sizes, and colors flew above her.

    Before she was at all ready, the hover took off of the ground with a jolt and flew through the horizon. It was unlike anything Geo had ever laid eyes on.

    She didn’t even realize when they were landing because she was so astonished by the city’s structure, its breathtaking skyline. From the time she was a little girl, Geo had always dreamed of visiting a big city. Her father had always promised her that he’d one day take her to see Xea, the capitol of Liedra.

    He never had the chance.

    She started suddenly as she felt a tap on her shoulder.

    The man from earlier cleared his throat. “Excuse me, but would you like me to leave you here to stare out the window all day?”

    Her ears became suddenly hot. “Excuse me. But maybe a whole day of staring out the window can make up for a lifetime of seclusion.”

    The man cocked a thick eyebrow and laughed with more girth than appropriate, which was any laughter at all.

    Geo locked her jaw. How long did she honestly have to endure the company of these self-righteous animals?

    “Well,” he continued, “if you want to stay here all day then fine. But if the prospect of overheating and possibly suffocating at some point sounds unappealing to you, you can come with me, and I’ll show you around later for an even broader view of Xea.” He flashed that appealing smile again.

    Ignoring the offer, she returned her attention to the window. It was childish for a 19-year-old woman to behave this way, she knew, but it seemed the proper response to his equally childish manners. Besides, Geo had never claimed to be significantly mature.

    “Suit yourself.”

    Geo pursed her lips, suddenly embarrassed by her behavior. She had expected some sort of retort from the man.

    But as she looked out the window at all of the huge buildings, something in the distance caught her eye. It was a small shop that read, Gally’s Ice Cream. Her eyes grew wide as excitement began coursing through her body, a rush of adrenaline rarely felt outside of a battle.

    The last time Geo had had ice cream, she was about 10 years old. The ice cream man in her village died of old age and left behind no legacy.

    When she noticed that the hover door was wide open, she concocted a plan. Her eyes lingered from the man to the fountain of water on the landing deck, and she smiled menacingly. Energy immediately began running its course through her body, concentrating in her hands. She loved the tingling sensation it left behind in her limbs, so much power that she felt she could fly.

    She pushed her hands forward at the appropriate time, manipulating the air around her in such a way that an unswerving gust of wind tracked down the ill-mannered man and knocked him to his knees. Geo then gracefully extended her invisible energy to the fountain and transformed the water into a levitating ball of liquid, her body on fire with elemental energy.

    Still on the ground, the man looked up nervously and immediately noticed the huge orb hovering above him. He shook his head, non-verbally pleading mercy.

    “Sorry about this!”

    Geo pushed her hands down violently, consequently causing the wall of water to crash down on top of the man, forcing him onto his stomach. Geo could hear his gargling screams as he swallowed a mouth full of water.

    She laughed hysterically, and using the wind as speed, ran as fast as she could out of the door. When she looked down, she could see that she was a good hundred feet above ground. But that didn’t scare her. She looked down and then behind her.

    Lying beside the fountain was a large carpet. With a sinister smile, she grabbed the carpet and backed up to the other side of the deck to gather some speed. As she began running to the edge, the man realized with dread what she planning to do.

    Coughing up the excess water from his lungs, he created a massive bundle of energy with his hands.

    Geo held onto the carpet and leaped as she approached the edge, defying gravity as she flew off the ground.

    Unfortunately, before she could blink, a large wall of cement halted her liberating display. She was dazed and in pain as she slid all the way down to the ground. Geo’s face burned angrily as she heard the young man laughing.

    She rubbed the goose-sized egg forming on her head.

    “What's so funny?”

    “You! Exactly how far did you think you could get by the way?”

    She irately clenched her fist and stood up, dusting the dirt off her shorts, her breaths short bursts of fury.

    “Well are you going to follow me or not,” the man asked matter-of-factly.

    Geo crossed her arms and stood her ground, her mouth set.

    The man heaved a heavy sigh, finally admitting defeat. “Listen,” he pleaded. “If you come with me, I promise I’ll take you around the city. Deal?”

    She pursed her lips and shifted her weight to the other leg, her eyes narrowing on the man. After weighing her options, she calculated that while the prospect of spending another minute with this man was daunting, it did result in the least amount of tribulations.

    “Fine,” she groaned. “I’ll go compliantly. But only if you promise not to make me run into any more cement walls.”

    The corner of his lip slanted upward as he gestured for her to follow him.

    Geo looked at the man with an unusual interest and asked, “So how’d you do that anyways? Are you some kind of cement bender?”

    The man laughed abruptly and shook his head.

    “What’s so funny,” she asked, feeling suddenly insecure.

    He stopped laughing when he realized that she was being serious, and he cleared his throat. “No. I’m an alchemist.”

    Geo gasped. “An alchemist? I heard that alchemists are the most powerful branch of the military.” The man nodded but only half-heartedly.

    “That is what the government wants people to think. But really, we’re no more powerful than any other branch. Everyone has something to offer that the others don’t.”
    When they reached the entrance door to the building, Geo looked up and saw about fifty levels of windows—thousands of windows.

    “Wow! It’s huge,” she said with childish amazement.

    “The capitol of Xea. This is where the main man operates—gives orders from.”

    She nodded as he put his hand on a small computer-like object. “DNA accepted. Enter now.”

    She started at the electric voice, and the man couldn’t help but snicker.

    The large metal door beside it opened, and he curled his fingers, gesturing her to follow.
    “This way.”

    As they were walking down a long narrow hallway filled with offices on each side, Geo looked at the man and asked, “So do you at least have the decency to tell me your name?”

    “Hunter,” he said without hesitation.

    Geo slanted a curious glance his way. A name she’d never heard before. They eventually came to an elevator.

    “Going up,” he said tritely. Geo rolled her eyes disinterested.

    When they stepped into the elevator, a robotic voice asked, “State floor.”

    “One twenty-five,” he said and looked at Geo. “Hold on.”

    The elevator then shot upward at such a high speed that Geo lost her balance and fell to the ground. When it finally stopped, Hunter knelt down next to her and laughed.

    “I told you to hold on.”

    Geo pursed her lips, slightly embarrassed.

    After walking a good ways down another long, narrow hallway, Hunter stopped in front of one of the doors. A sign above it read, “Conference Room.” Hunter held the door open for Geo, but she crossed her arms and gestured for Hunter to go ahead.

    “Ladies first,” Geo said with a delighted grin.

    He pushed her through the door without a retort.

    “Hey,” she resisted, but was just as soon in awe of the room she had entered.

    The Conference Room was rather large and seemed way too extravagant for its purpose. On the walls hung many pictures of men in uniforms, and on the Far East wall, there was a hefty window that oversaw the enormous city.

    Geo flinched as someone cleared their throat from behind her. She turned around quickly to see an elderly man standing at the end of a long ovular table.

    “Welcome to Xea, Miss. Trinity.”

    She was unable to answer, distracted by the hideous brown toupee sitting atop the man’s head.

    Hunter walked past her urgently and saluted. “Good morning, sir.”

    “Please, Geo, have a seat,” the man gestured.

    Her eyebrow arched high. “I’d rather stand.” She saw Hunter tense from the corner of her eye.

    The man smiled awkwardly. “That’s fine, then. Whatever is comfortable for you.”

    When she saw the discomfort on Hunter’s face, her stomach knotted guiltily. She sighed inwardly before dropping her pride and joining them at the table without another word.

    Hunter cleared his throat. “Geo, this is Commander Phat.”

    She snickered low in her throat. Phat and Hunter exchanged confused looks. Her mouth immediately hardened at the realization that his name was no joke.

    “Geo, we’ve brought you here for a reason,” the Commander said, both irritated and most likely offended. Geo was sure, however, that she wasn’t the first to mock.

    “Really,” she began with intended sarcasm. “And all this time I thought I was on vacation.”

    Hunter’s eyes widened at her cynical remark. The Commander looked surprised but smiled nonetheless.

    “Geo, I’m sure you’re aware of the Dryad’s strange behavior lately.”

    “Strange?”

    Geo could see the discomfort on Hunter’s face at her disrespectful tone for a man of such high ranking. But she could care less. To her, Phat was just another military tool that could care less about the people of Liedra.

    Especially her people.

    Phat shifted ineptly in his chair, the legs creaking beneath his wide body. “We’ve been at peace with the Dryads for many years now as you know. However, the past few weeks have been devastating. They’ve attacked every newly built settlement we’ve created.”

    Geo laughed bitterly. “Maybe they’re sick of this government taking over all of the land.”

    The commander leaned back in his seat, his hands folding crossly over his chest. “Geo, we only settle on our territory; otherwise, we resort to sign a treaty. Why would they start attacking us now?”

    Geo leaned forward seriously and rested her elbows on the table. “The Dryads are extremely territorial. My people have been fighting against them ever since the exile. You may have been at peace with them, but they could care less about us Pariahs.”

    The commander wiped the droplets of sweat forming on his forehead. “Colonel Burns here is in charge of the investigation. Now, we already have heard of the success of your survival team against Dryad invasions, but when we found out that their leader was an Elemental—”

    Geo arched her brow expectantly, and the Commander swallowed nervously.

    “—we decided that we had to have him—or her—on our team,” Phat finally finished.

    Geo spared the commander one of her worst callous expressions. “You mean to tell me that you exile us from civilization, with absolutely no help or means of survival, and now you want us to help you?”

    The commander looked at her with empathy, but this only made Geo angrier.

    “Geo,” Hunter imposed.

    “No, no, Colonel. It’s fine. I can’t expect any more from her,” the Commander said. Hunter had to bite his tongue at the remark.

    They both started as Geo slammed her fists on the table.

    “And what is that supposed to mean!?”

    A slight breeze began whirling around the room, sending loose pages flying in every which direction.

    “I simply meant that Pariahs are hardly civilized,” Phat stated matter-of-factly. “I can’t expect you to understand the situation.”

    Geo guffawed. Was this man serious?

    “Well,” Geo scoffed. “Whose fault is that I wonder? Is it mine? Or is it yours!”

    In fear that she may not be able to hold herself back any longer, for once she decided to go against her natural instinct and remove herself from the situation. The breeze followed her outside of the room.

    Not far behind her, though, was Hunter’s pleading. “Geo, wait!”

    Ignoring the calls, she quickly jumped into the elevator and said to the computer, “Hurry up, take me to the first floor!”

    “State floor,” the computer said.

    “I said the first floor!” The elevator moved abruptly downward, but this time, Geo remembered to hold on. When the elevator stopped, she ran through the lounge and out the door onto the streets, unsure of where she was even running off to.

    Taking in her surroundings, Geo was overwhelmed by all of the large buildings and the hundreds of people walking through the sidewalks. She was surrounded my thousands of people, but for the first time in a long time, she felt truly alone.

    There was one building, however, that she knew would be inviting.

    Back at the Capitol, Hunter had returned to the Conference Room.

    “Commander, she’s left the building,” he said catching his breath.

    Clearly frazzled, Phat replied, “Well go after her! What are you waiting for? We can’t have a Pariah loose on the streets.”

    Hunter pursed his lips, but kept his thoughts to himself.

    “Yes, sir,” he saluted.


    Casperia Part 1
    Casperia: Part 3