Chapter 3 - Chapter 2

        Chapter 2

                The murmmer of voices flowed into the room lke a silver stream of water flowing to quench a parched deer's thirst. The mumbling was what awoke Toren. She opened her eyes and saw a plain white popcorn ceiling. Soft blankets surrounded her sore and tired body; a fluffed pillow lay beneath her head.
                " Where am I?" groaned Toren pushing her tired body into a sitting position.
                Toren was laying in a normal mahogany bed made for two with white linen sheets covering her like the grass covers the earth. At the foot of the wooden bed was a small trunk and a standing lamp. A pair of cream-colored french doors leading out onto a compact balcony sat next to the lamp on the left. Opposite the glass doors was a normal brown wooden door leading to who-knows-where! Beyond the french doors stood a minature writing desk and its companioned chair. Standing on the desks right were two folding closet doors painted a light blue. Behind the backboard of the bed rested a vanity and its matching stool which was also surrounded by standing lamps. Adjacent the vain mirror was a dark blue couch which looked well-worn with all of its patches and stains.
                Suddenly, a muted laughing sounded from behind the mysterious brown door. Startled, Toren let out a small squeak and pulled the covers over her head.
                Where am I?,wondered Toren, Where is Mom? And Dad? Conner?! What happened to the strange man and his red eyes? Oh!why did I get the messed-up adventure?!!
                Toren let out a deep sigh and collected her courage and stepped out of the bed. The hard-wood floor was coll on her toes. Looking down at herself, Toren saw that she was not in her usual atire, but in a different set of clothes. A long white night-gown reached all the way to her knees and suddenly cut short. A torn blue lace skirted the edge.
                Who changed my clothes?!, screamed Toren's thoughts. A small but cruel chill ran down Toren's spine as she thought of the man with eyes that sparkled with the gleam of murder.
                More unexpected laughter rose up from behind the wooden door. Quickly but quietly, Toren tiptoed over to the door. Leaning her ear cautiously on the door, she listened for any talking, but the laughter had lowered to a murmer. Unable to make out what the people were saying, Toren leaned even more on the old door. A loud creak sounded from the weight put on it.
                " Oh no!!" gasped Toren in horror as the quiet babble behind the door ceased. I am so dead!
                Toren took a small step from the door and was prepared to run, but it was too late. The brass doorknob twisted and the wooden door creaked open to leave the strange man with the terrifying eyes standing right in front of her.
                " Good, your awake. I was just coming to get you. Come," he ordered, taking Toren's hand and leading her out of the warm room. He lead her through a four-way hallway into a separate room. As they passed, Toren was able to cathch a glimpse of each hallway. The corridor leading to the left led straight to a dead end with a white door on one side. To her right, it led to another dead end, but with no doors of any kind.
                Out in the new room, Toren looked around and discovered it was a living room and kitchen melded together to create one big room; the left the living room area and the right the kitchen space. Three dark blue couches just like the one in the first room, but wholer-looking, sat on a cream colored carpet. They were positioned around a flat-screen television and low coffee table. The kitchen contained all of the everyday kitchen utensils and most on the large instruments, like the fridge and the stove, were stainless steel. A stack of bananas and other asorted fruits lay ripened in a bowl on the granite countertop.
                Turning to Toren, the stranger lifted her up off of the ground and threw her over the back and onto a couch. Sitting on the couch next to her's, sat two more men.
                " So you really did find one of them," breathed one of the new strange men, scrutinizing Toren carefully with his bright blue-gray eyes. Light blue hair that fell to the mid-back surrounded the man's pale-peach face. Toren thought she saw pointed ears poking out as well. The new stranger was garbed in a light gray tunic and black slacks. This man was a little less muscular than the red-eyed man, and he wore no armor.
                " Yes," replied the red-eyed man," So it seems." The third man grumbled something that Toren didn't catch.
                Turning to inspect the last man, Toren saw a short-tempered man the second she glanced at him. This man was clothed in a pair of dress slacks and its matching shirt. Ebony gloves and boots enclosed his hands and circled his feet. Small red rubies were inset in the gloves, but were covered with dirt in places. Black unruly hair was combed forward to overhang a tanned face. This man's ebony gaze was almost as bad as the red-eyed stranger's.
                I'm suprised he's not wearing a trenchcoat and out hunting vampires, thought Toren, letting out a soft chuckle.
                " May I help you?" asked the black-eyed stranger. Toren's breathe caught in her throat. Oh Toren! What have you done now?!!
                " Oh stop it, Therin. Your scaring the poor thing." The black-eyed man turned his disturbing glare to face the blue-haired man. The black-eyed man must be Therin, then.
                " Shut-up, Furlilly," was the tart remark the Therin gave.
                " Make me."
                " If I have to I wil-"
                " Both of you, shut-up!" snapped the red-eyed man, cutting off Therin mid-sentence. " In case you've forgotten, we have a guest." He gestured toward Toren and all eyes turned to stare at her. The youg girl could feel the blood rush to her face and she knew she was blushing.
                " My name's Rune Cornfellious," continued the man, taking a seat one cushion away from Toren," This is Furlilly Burkforth," he gestured to the man with blue hair and then to Therin," And Therin Mellfordion, and we are your new mentors."
All Toren did was stare at them until Rune began to chuckle.
                " First-thing's-first, where am I? Were is my family? Who are you freaks?! What Do You Want With Me?!! AND WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?!!!" Toren was screaming and trembling with rage and fear by the time she was finished.
                " Just calm down," said Rune, reaching out his hand in a comforting manner.
                " Calm down? Calm down?! How can I calm down after I've been kidnapped?! I want to know, and now!!"
                " Oh really?" challenged Therin.
                " No duh. I've only been sitting here, screaming my head off about being left out of your little circle of information." Therin stood and walked over to stand in front of Toren.
                " Do you really want to know?" he asked.
                " Yes, for the final time--"
                Toren was cut off by a swift smack belonging to Therin. A stinging sensation spread through Toren's cheek making it feel numb. Tears sprang into her eyes. That's gonna hurt in the morning, thought Toren.
                " Therin!" cried Furlilly.
                " Like I said before, shut-up," and with that, Therin stormed through door next to the couch he was sitting on and away. Silence consumed the room except for a little sniffling coming from Toren who had begun to tear.
                " Well," said Furlilly breaking the silence," I guess I'll just be going to bed now. I'm leaving you to inform her on the reasons." He stood with less of a angry manner and left the room. Silence resumed for a good ten minutes as Toren cried silently. Rune got up at some point and got a glass of water for Toren and himself.
                " Thanks," sniffed Toren taking the glass and gulping down half of it in two seconds.
                " Your welcome," smiled Rune, leaning back and laying his head on the couch cushion.
                " Still, when will you tell me why kidnapped me."
                " If you really want to know, I'll tell you now." Letting out a deep sigh, Rune continued.
                " We'll start with me and my comrades. We three are an almost extinct side-race of human beings--"
                " What do you mean?" interupted Toren, finshing off her glass.
                " Just wait! I'm gettin' there. Yeesh! As I said before, we are part of an almost wiped out race. I take back what I said about Steils being a branch off the human race, that's more of a vampire or were-wolf."
                " But vampires and were-wolves aren't real."
                " Wanna bet?" mocked Rune. Toren shook her head 'no'. "Good. Now will you please stop interupting me? Gosh. Steils are a race of extremely durable people. We have massive amounts of strength and super-natural powers. Each Steil has his or her own element,
                " Elements are the source of our strange power. The four Elements are Fire, Water, Thunder, and Air. No one controls the earth, because the earth is the one gave us these gifts. You must choose what Element you belong to, but if you get it wrong, you die." That's probably why your race is almost extinct, dummy, thought Toren shifting her position to a more comfortable one.
                " I, myself, are one of the Fire people. The Fire people have their own clan and special tecniques, but I must keep these names secret or else die of a terrible curse placed upon my people. Everyone has a curse placed upon them by their clans, making them keep their mouth shut about the clans secrets or die a horribly painful death. Everyone's curse is different though, so I can't tell you anyone's, but I heard that the Thunder clan's was the worst." Rune got up and filled up their glasses once more.
                " So you're part of the Fire clan," said Toren, what's so special about it?"
                " You know you just insulted me in two ways," chuckled Rune, sitting back down, " Number one, the Fire clan is the most popular and it isn't as terribly special as the others. Number two, being in the Fire clan lets me do this," And with that a small flame appeared on the tips of Rune's fingers with a snap.
                " How did you do that?!" gasped Toren, reaching out to touch the dancing blaze.
                " I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Rune, blowing out the flame," Fire Steils blazes are hotter than normal fire. They burn you badly and usually leave scars. I'd show you mine, but we're getting off track and it's late."
                And was Rune right. Toren glanced out a side window and saw that the sun was disappearing behind the shadowy veil of night.
                " The second most popular clan and the first that ever exsisted was the Thunder clan. Everything about the clan is mysterious, even the clans whereabouts are unknown. That's how secretive they are. Therin is actually the prince of the clan, so you'll have to excuse his snob-like prince moments. He thinks he can do anything, but don't let his lies get to ya'. He isn't any more powerful than Furlilly or me.
                " The last two Elements are the rarest of all. First, there's the Air clan which Furlilly belongs to. They aren't so secreative, though. They share all about their flying tecniques to others, but they say they're bragging, not telling the whole world their secrets. Their weird, so watch out.
                " Last but not least, there is the Water clan. This race is extinct as we know it, so prey to God that that isn't your clan.
                " Why? When my friends and I were little and pretended we could control everything, I was always the one to be the 'Water Queen'," said Toren.
                " Well, you don't want that Element, because Furlilly nor Therin nor I could teach you anything about you Element because it's secret, duh. Now, it's getting late, so go to bed," finished Rune, getting to his feet.
                " But you never told me why you kidnapped me!" cried Toren, standing inbetween the door and Rune.
                " Move. I'll tell you tomorrow."
                " No! I want to know now!! Ah!!" yelped Toren as Rune shoved her aside and stepped out the door.
                " Goodnight," he called over his shoulder as he closed and locked the door.
                "UGH!!!" squealed Toren stomping her foot and walking back to the bedroom. Toren flopped down on the bed and let out a trembling sigh.
                Why did I get the messed up adventure?

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