I am sure by now you are so caught up in the love story of Eric and Serena; you might have forgotten the rest of us still here. Let’s test your knowledge to see if you remember who I am. I am Eric’s sibling and the third in line. That I’m sure was a dead giveaway. Yes, it’s me Justin! I only had two minor parts in the last novel you read.
The first part was our journey to the elf kingdom. The other one was when my brother and I dueled. Well the latter one was a bit scary since things went awry. I do say though, that the first part is what I will start with to begin refresher course, only through my point, of course. Now let’s begin back where I was born. Ah, yes good old Utah, probably under ruins now. I remember it as it were yesterday. The day was warm with a bit of breeze as I recall. Our little town was visited by some strange visitors. Mind you, we hardly ever get visitors in our small town. (We are not exactly a popular destination for vacations.) I really didn’t care for these strange visitors. I mean I was sixteen and did not care for those things. I do remember feeling hungry so I went home to see what was for dinner.
It was getting late by the time Eric go home. One could only assume he was with Serena. I think everyone in our little town knew they loved each other except those two. It was almost a bit sickening. Mother though it was cute. Before I get off on a tangent (which I normally do because one never knows where a tangent might go. In fact, that reminds of this… whoops! There I go again!) Now…um…yes…Eric. The night was darker than normal. There seemed as if the stars and moon were hiding. The only thing illuminating the sky was this eerie green light. My parents wanted the whole family to stay inside. Not a problem for me! I didn’t want to go outside when the sky looked like there was toxic waste floating through it. Who would want to breathe that except a person who lives in L.A.?But, that’s another topic for another time. So, Eric comes running in to tell us about the glow in the sky. (He was always the slow one in the family. Pointing out the obvious after everyone else already knew.) We told him we knew about it and quickly shut the door behind him.
That’s when we noticed a sleek figure walking up to the house. I got a cold feeling and went directly to where my parents told us to go … the basement. Unfortunately the door did not have a lock. So we waited to see what would happen. That’s when the front window shattered. This thing had just broken into our house. Eric was the closest one to the door. We heard some commotion upstairs. It sounded like was coming from the kitchen. Great! There were two of them and they were probably disagreeing about how to destroy us. Then it went silent.
We heard footsteps approaching the door and we all froze in fear. The handle slowly turned and I was ready to (for lack of a better word) poop my pants. As the door opened the light revealed a very beautiful woman. I was shocked. Apparently so was my brother because he was stuttering over his words. That is when we discovered magical creatures. On top of that, our mom was an elf, not even dad knew that! My oldest sister, who was rebellious at the time, (is doing much better now, with her wolf man, aagghhh! I’m afraid I slipped too much information, back to the story) she was absolutely not believing any of it. It took her some time to get used to the fact that mom is an elf. It took us all by surprise, so she was not the only one that had a hard time with it. Dad even took awhile before he got used to the idea.
Fast forwarding so that way you’re not completely bored. The next interesting part was our short of a fiasco in Boston. I cannot believe we were discovered. I had no idea the other side had I in for us. We barely escaped with our lives. Even with Eric’s strange gravitation to that creature. It just goes to show how much power the other side has. Since you probably remember the next events over the ocean and all that, I’ll just bring you up to speed with what our family did while Eric decided to go for swim.
Yes, we were worried about Eric but, as soon as mom found out she wanted to get right back on the horse and fly back. Father decided that would not be safe and Esmerella persuaded my mom the merfolk would take care of him. Sure enough the King himself brought Eric back. Now I’m sure you are wanting the rest of the story because the last one ended abruptly. But, before I let Eric and Serena tell the rest of their story I do have to say that our family has enjoyed the elf capital. Training has been difficult since one never knows when evil forces may attack, which leads me into…
“Alright! Let us finish our part of the story.” Eric interrupted. “Well Serena what should we tell our readers?”
“I think we should tell them what interrupted our first kiss”.
“Really?” Eric groaned, “ I mean we could tell them so much more.” “Why don’t I just tell them? since you are crying about it.” Serena cooed.
Eric mumbled “Fine”.
Alright, let me tell you this gets tiring when your first kiss keeps getting interrupted. That siren that went off was to inform us about new developments on the forces of evil. We were all gathered in the ballroom since it was the room everyone was in already. King Neptune was there in the room was abuzz with speculation. The trumpets sounded and the audience went silent. King Neptune in all his grandeur arose and began speaking. “People of Atlantica, I bring tiding s of great news. The evil forces have retreated.” At this a giant roar of surprise rippled through the room. Serena looked over at Eric with joy in her eyes. Serena exclaimed “Could it be true?” “I suppose we can enjoy our honeymoon after all” replied Eric. “It just seems too good to be true.” Serena said as tears filled here eyes. The rest of the room was so excited that music started playing. King Neptune was finished and let the music continue. Eric and Serena went back to their spot in the coral gardens.
“I guess this means we can go back home right? Serena asked imploringly. “I don’t know” responded Eric. “I wonder what it means for our families.” Then a shadow crossed her face. “What if the evil forces come back” she said with fear in her voice. Eric grabbed her hand and she looked up into his beautiful blue eyes. She could see a tint of gray swirling in his eyes as the question she asked also left him with questions. She looked away and gazed over the coral gardens. She pulled his arm around her and rested her head on his chest. She could feel the warmth of his body wash over her. His other arm came up and wrapped her up like a present. She could stay in his arms forever feeling secure and not worrying about the future. The silence was broken when she her name. “Serena” whispered Eric. “Hmm?”
“I believe that we have something to finish” he gently whispered in her ear. She turned her head and met his piercing eyes and they had a sparkle. “What that?” she asked innocently. Eric lowered his neck until his lips touched hers. She closed her eyes and let his lips touch hers.
“Yuck!” “JUSTIN!!!” Eric and Serena bellowed. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I mean do you two have to draw it out? Just kiss and get it over with. “Well we were just about to end it” Eric said. “Right, and I’m just about to end my story. Good one.” “Just let us finish” Serena begged. Justin rolled his eyes “if you must.”
Right, now as Eric was about to touch my lips I closed my eyes. His lips were smooth. No surprise since we were underwater but, I could feel his essence melting into me.
Well when my lips touched hers I felt a shock and was about to pull back but the smoothness pulled me in. I have wanted to kiss Serena since I first met her and now I had my moment. It felt like I was just being pulled into her. I just let instinct take over since I have had no prior experience. Yes, I’m about as introverted as you get. I could feel pure joy infusing through my body. I just let my lips do what they do!
“Do what they do?” Serena questioned.
“Hey I didn’t have to think about it.”
“When do guys ever think about anything?”
“Watch it!”
“Or What?”
“Or, I’ll… kiss you.”
“Try it and I’ll slug you.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Enough you two” Justin rolled his eyes to emphasize his point. “I’ll just take over from here.”
Now you know as a reader (whether you were waiting for it or not) they had their first kiss. Yeah! Now that’s over with we can move on with the rest of the story. Now remember the evil forces had retreated. This is not to be confused with them ultimately surrendering. Though, one could only hope. This means life was back to normal right? Nope! The world was in ruins. It had to be rebuilt. This is where I come in. This is also where all those questions Serena asked will be answered.
The only question is, are you as a reader ready for this? It is kind of an ambiguous question. I mean are you ready for the details of this second chapter the series of Reborn? Are you ready for me, Justin, to actually tell you a story from my point of view? I’m sure by now you are either thinking one, this kis is a lunatic and I just want him start or two I’m not sure if I want to read this book. Well if you haven’t read the first one, that’s okay because I’m a better story teller anyway.
“And a bit long winded too” Eric snickered.
“Excuse me?” Justin replied.
Serena intervened and said “Why don’t you just start the story?” Justin sighed and responded “Alright, I was just a little melodramatic.”
“A little?” retorted Eric.
“Well, it’s better than what you could come up with in your version of starting our family adventures.”
“Just because you get a chance to tell the story does not give you the right…”
“BOYS!” Serena cut in. “I’m sure the reader would like to start the story.”
“Well I’m sure if they wanted to start they could have jumped straight to chapter one” Justin said.
“Why don’t you just start?”
“Okay, let’s begin!” both boys chirped.
So let it begin…
The Call
When the new came that the evil forces had retreated I leapt into the air and shouted for joy. Everyone around me had similar reactions. We had been gathered to hear the news at the Royal Palace grounds. It was such a big shout because there had to have been over 500,000 creatures there. Esmerella smiled at the reaction that was laid before her. She waited awhile for the noise to lessen before she went on.
She lifter her hands and silence immediately took over the crowd. You could see the respect and love they had for her. She went on to say “We will need your help and now ask for every young single man or woman to help rebuild our broken nations.” A murmur rippled through the crowd. Esmerella waited for silence before she began. “You will be called to various parts of the world and you will be receiving a white envelope in the mail for further details. We will only give assignments to those who want to volunteer and are age appropriate.” You can obtain applications from the office in the Royal Court at any time. The age limit is from 19-26 years of age. At this Brittney stamped her foot and whined “I’m only ten and I want to help too.”
Esmerella kept giving more details about the expeditions. “You will be laboring for about the space of two years for males and for females eighteen months.” At this comment some of the women complained and some of the men snickered. Esmerella smiled and said “It’s because it will take the males longer to accomplish what women can do in eighteen months.” This made the crowd laugh men and women alike. She went on with more details. “Since we don’t’ know when the evil forces will strike again, you will be paired up with another male or female respectively. You will have an experienced leader you report to and he will be in charge of your area that you are laboring in. General rules and instructions will be provided in your package. Now, sign up will begin tomorrow afternoon. You will be given a list of requirements that must be fulfilled before putting your application in. If you have any question you may ask your group leaders. They have been provided answers to most questions. Thank you, that is all for today, you are excused.”
At this, she simply turned around and walked into the throne room and the giant doors closed behind her. Excitement filled the air and the room became noisy with the sound of speculation. “Can you believe that?” I said out loud. It seems like my family dispersed and I was left standing by myself. Typical I thought. Everyone had gone off to talk with their friends about the places they might go. I just hope I get paired up with my brother. Just as I finished my thought I saw a flash of green light and I quickly turned my head to see this jewel.
“Wow, my brother certainly has a way with words doesn’t he?” Eric interjected.
“Hey I never interrupted your bad story telling.”
Eric sighed “Alright, keep going.”
“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I saw this beautiful raven haired girl.” The sun had caught the emerald hanging around her neck and it shot green rays off her um… well never mind. It was a beautiful contrast against her tanned skin. She was walking my way and looking straight at me and I could feel cold sweat run down my face. She was right up in my face and kept walking right on past me, as if I weren’t there.
“Hahaha!” Eric laughed, “That’s my brother! Such a ladies’ man!”
“What did I say?” Justin said with an edge in his voice.
“Sorry, sorry. Keep going.”
Justin mumbled “like you’re any better”
“What?”
“Nothing. I’m just continuing despite your rude interruptions.”
“I said sorry.”
“Forget it.”
I followed her and she went up and hugged one of her friends. They were laughing and her laughter sounded like Santa’s silver bells. I waited until they finished chatting and her friend walked off leaving her alone. I walked up to her and was opening my mouth when she said “I’m Latsyrc and I’m guessing you’re Justin?” My mouth dropped even more. I think drool was starting to form when she said “Surprised? Well you are well known because of your brother.” I closed my mouth and anger coursed through my veins. “You’re cute when you get angry. Your eyes have this hardness about them that makes you seem impenetrable.” I started to blush. Man what was wrong with me? It was like I couldn’t control myself.
She laughed. Again the air filled with the sound of bells. She walked right up to me and I thought I was going to pass out. She got right up in my face and planted one right on my lips.
“Whoa! Watch it there buddy!” Latsyrc said. “That is not how I remembered it.”
“Well, I had to give the readers something to read.”
“Oh, so like not being able to read your mind is good enough?”
“It’s just too cliché.”
“Oh, so lying is okay?”
“Well…It may not have happened at that moment, but it did happen.”
“Right.”
“Are you blushing?”
“Just keep going.”
