Chapter 29

Present...

Her life, if it could be called that, was a living nightmare. It had been three years now, give or take a couple months since she had been taken from her home. Her father had valiantly tried to protect her and her mother, but his struggle was in vain as he was killed.

She and her mother were taken and trained to serve their master. She and her mother were repeatedly raped in front of each other, sometimes by multiple men.

If she or any of the other girls or women even hinted at disobedience, they were taken to the Caliph and he would use his skills to torture them into submission.

She harbored love only for her mother, and hatred for the Caliph and all of the Elementals from the Night Dragon Circle.

The Night Dragon Circle was a congregation of thirteen elite members who each possessed a minimum of two gifts. One gift was ruled as being 'common, ' by the Caliph. The Caliph was by far the cruelest most sadistic man Melissa James had ever had the misfortune of meeting.

On the night of her arrival to the Circle's Dungeon, the Caliph, as he was introduced, gave the captured women a brief and idiotic speech about why they were brought to that location.

The point of the speech being, "We are Elementals, we have powers, you don't therefore we are taking you as our personal whores."

One woman, who tried to make a run for it, was incinerated by the so-called Caliph as flame spurted from his mouth and enveloped her. This wasn't the only time the women were subjugated to the Elementals mysterious powers; the slightest provocation seemed to invoke the wrath of the Elementals.

And so it continued for three years, torture for disobedience, and good behavior was rewarded with rape. It was a catch-22 all around as far as Melissa could see.

Melissa also hated herself, for the lives she had ruined. Melissa was forced to scout for candidates that the Caliph could add to his unwilling harem.

She was dreading having to pick another girl whose life she was about to ruin. She hoped the girls at Thoran High were mostly evil sluts, but she knew it was a useless hope.

Two days had passed since Arrian had walked through that 'portal, ' with Sarah. Cindy was calm; after all, Arrian was the best, and he would die before anything happened to Sarah.

Helen was a mix of calm and anxiousness; she kept expecting Arrian to pop in with Sarah.

Miranda and the rest of the girls knew he would return when it was time, not before. That's not to say they weren't worried for Arrian and Sarah, they just didn't worry about when they would return, why worry about something that was certain?

Greg had taken Arrian's request to heart. He was carefully watching over Sam and Kailynn at school and watching over the entire family when they were all together. He also practiced the few lessons Arrian gave him concerning control.

Lesson One: Control your emotions as best as you can. Greg thought.

He smiled as he remembered the lesson, Arrian had made it a point to ask Sarah to float as he tickled her, she would go up a few inches only to lose control and fall on her behind.

Arrian had Greg try to move some dirt as he held a small flame underneath one of Greg's hands. Greg would move the dirt a bit before he too fell to his emotions.

"Practice using your powers until using them feels like extensions of yourself," Arrian had said.

Arrian had told Sarah, he would help her control her powers. She wasn't to use her powers without his supervision.

As for Greg, he could work on his skills as much as he wished, as long as he did so away from people's prying eyes So, Greg shaped the ground beneath him, slowly and with heavy concentration.

For the remaining Michaels family, the desire to see both Arrian and Sarah was overwhelming. Cindy had placed her trust in Arrian. Nothing would happen to her daughter as long as she was with Arrian. That's not to say they didn't worry, oh worry they did. But, they had faith in their man; he had done amazing things, things that warranted trust and faith.

Still for Kailynn and Sam school had been a bit of an odyssey. Almost immediately Arrian's absence was noticed, and not long after a long string of boys accosted the pair.

One encounter was perhaps the most disturbing for them. They were walking down the hall heading for class, when a group of three boys, one a jock, and the other two looked more like groupies, walked into their path.

"How would you ladies like to party with me and my crew?" asked the jock.

"Who are you?" Sam asked.

"I'm Josh Redding, that's Kyle and Lenny."

"Thanks for the offer, but my boyfriend wouldn't like that," Sam said off-handedly. Kailynn mimicked her response.

"What he doesn't find out about can't hurt him," said Lenny.

"You shouldn't bother them," a soft voice said from behind the girls.

As they turned they were surprised to see Jessica Walker standing there. Kailynn remembered Jessica as the cheerleader that threw herself at Arrian and he softly denied her request.

"Her boyfriend is Arrian Michaels, the guy who won that tournament a few weeks back. Unless you forgot?" Jessica told Josh.

"So what, everyone knows all that shit was just for show," Josh sneered.

"Don't be an eager idiot. Leave them alone. The last thing you want is Arrian chasing you with that giant sword of his," Jessica calmly said.

The two lackeys swallowed hard, while Josh began to sweat.

"He wouldn't do that," Josh said startled.

"Not if we tell him not to. Now, leave us alone!" Sam said, while Kailynn nodded.

Josh's reaction was somewhere between a 'gulp' and a nod, in either case he and his henchmen departed quickly.

"Ah... thanks... I guess," Kailynn said.

"Yeah... sure. I got to go," Jessica said hurriedly.

Before either girl could say more Jessica opened a classroom door and walked in. They stared at each other blankly for a moment before continuing their journey to their classrooms.

"I told Greg to wait for us, since I have to go to the ladies room," Kailynn told Sam as she pulled her friend by the arm.

They were walking by a few empty classrooms on the way to the ladies room when they heard faint crying coming from an 'empty' room.

"I wonder what's going on?" Sam said.

Making a snap choice based on curiosity both girls laid their ears against the door to hear the sounds a little better. What they heard left them completely pale and with a turning stomach.

"Please, not again," cried Jessica.

"It's not my choice, the Caliph wants you, otherwise, it's your mom and little sister... to be honest with you, it's not much of a choice, but it is a choice," Melissa said in a neutral tone.

"How can you be so cold! You saw what he did to me, you saw! And you did nothing!" Jessica yelled through her tears.

"He has my mother as a slave as well, but for some reason he fancies me, in exchange for better treatment for her. I do what he asks, whenever, wherever. Simply put, I am at his beck and call. If you think you have it bad, I've been in this hell for three years. I hate those fucking bastard Elementals, but overall, if I could, I would kill the Caliph!" Melissa said as a full of rage as tears fell from her eyes.

"I thought Arrian was the Caliph, it's what he said right?" Sam asked her perplexed friend.

"Something isn't right here. But she can't mean Arrian. She said three years; Arrian hasn't had his powers for one year."

"What should we do? What would Arrian do?" Sam replied.

The answer to that question wasn't any clearer after they finished eavesdropping on the conversation. It had so captivated Kailynn that she never did get to the rest room. In the car with Greg, they told him something was up, but that they would talk at home.

Brandon Foster was enthralled. Sharon was a beauty beyond measure in his eyes. He didn't care about her skin color; he found her 'intriguing' to say the least. He was also feeling emotions he had not felt in a long time; the last person he had these feelings were for, his long deceased wife.

But here and now in the backyard of Arrian's home, in the presence of the ebony goddess, he simply couldn't help it.

"Sharon?"

"Hmm."

"Are you involved with someone?" Brandon asked as he looked everywhere except towards Sharon.

Sharon didn't know how to answer his question. She could see he was interested in her and it made her feel good that she could attract a good man. The reason for her conflict concerned her past with her asshole ex-husband. Sure he was dead and so was her son. As far as she was concerned that was more than fine, but the wounds of their actions caused her feelings to be quite tender.

Sharon has been quiet for a few minutes and Brandon thought that it wasn't a good thing. Maybe she did have someone else she loved.

Fuck, I had to open my mouth and practically shove my foot in it. Oh crap, I think I just murdered any chance I had with this goddess.

"Brandon, I am carrying a lot of emotional baggage. My husband and son were monsters and they left me very scarred. I just recently learned from Arrian and his family about love and acceptance."