CHAPTER TWENTY

I opened my eyes in slow motion and saw Jason looking at me anxiously, he was saying something and I could see his mouth move but I could not hear what he was saying. It was like there was a film covering my ears from the world and I could hear a dull ringing. I shook my head trying to loose the feeling but instead I was struck with a terrible headache that left me feeling like a group of horses ran a marathon on my head. I held my head and started feeling nauseous. Jason immediately held my back to support me and rested my head on his shoulders while he patted my back to comfort me.

Gradually the feeling subsided and I could breathe and hear clearly again, 'What happened?' I asked him with a quiet voice, 'Don't you remember what happened before you blacked out?' he replied. I tried to recall what happened and the memories rushed back to me, 'How did i do that and why did Dillan help us?' I asked him.

'I don't know why yet, I wanted you to be awake when we questioned him.' 'Okay, lets go then, I really want to know what is happening and why there are people trying to kill me.' He supported me as we walked down stairs, I saw Dillan seated in the sitting room with Jessica and the rest of the crew when we got there.

'Thank you for helping us.' I said to him as soon as we were seated. 'You are welcome.' 'I am grateful for your help although I want to know why you helped us and how you knew we where in danger.' 'You are not very observant are you, if not you would realize that I was like you, the people that attacked you are also like us.' I took a deep breath to breath in his scent again and that was when I realized what was so familiar about him, he smelled like me. I could see that the rest of the people in the room where not surprised because they had already probably guessed this much.

'I was sent by your father to protect you although it took me a while to track you down even with the spell he gave me, your mother hid you very well and added to the fact that you barely stepped a foot into the ocean before your transformation, it was almost impossible to trace you and it was not until you changed and started swimming in the ocean that I could find you.' 'My father? Why would I need protection and why would he want to protect me after he abandoned me?' I asked him trying to hold back my emotions but I must not have succeeded as I could feel Jason's hand tightening around me as if to give me comfort.

'You should hold off on passing judgement before you know the whole story, your parents did not mean to abandon you, the circumstances led to it. Your father is called Marvin Assan Strom, he is the oracle of the people and helps us contact the gods. Your mother was called Sequana Marin Marmaduke, she was the crown princess and heir apparent to the throne. Your parents fell in love at that time, your father was not yet the oracle but he was training to be one. They broke an unwritten rule with their love, it is frowned upon for the oracle and the ruling house to marry, the elders believed that the oracle, ruling house and the elders should all be separate so that they could check each other and to prevent any one power from being too powerful and overthrowing the others. They knew there was such an unwritten rule but they felt their love could conquer all but they where wrong.

Your mother had a little brother who wanted the throne for himself, in the Kingdom of Zenevieva the throne is passed to the first born child no matter what their gender is. He wanted to be king by all means possible and when he found out about your parents, he collided with the other elders and they where summoned to the palace to face trial, they were found guilty and asked to stay away from each other, your father was put under what you humans call house arrest for three years until he would finish his training to become the oracle while your mother was stripped of her position as crown princess and was to be married to a neighboring prince. That was when she found out she was pregnant, she tried to tell your father but your uncle had spies everywhere and he found out, she knew her life was in danger so she sneaked out during the engagement and went on the run, the people and government that did not know what was going on sent the warriors after her because they felt she betrayed them. She ran and some of your fathers friends hid her but just two days after she delivered you, they found her hideout, someone probably betrayed them. She ran away with you and since then she has not been found.

Everybody thought she was with you and your father have been searching for the both of you but he did not find anything until he got wind that your paranoid uncle sent assassins' after you because he feels like his power will be threatened since he has no heir and there have been talks of finding you and your mother since an heir needs to be trained properly before they take the throne.'

There was a quiet pause as we all tried to digest what he said, 'Is that awesome avatar like power from her father?' Jessica asked after a while as I was still shocked from the information I just received. 'It's from the both of them, the ruling factions have some powers they where blessed with from the gods, the oracles have more powers since there are in direct contact with the gods but each oracle have different powers, your father is good with spells and fore sight while the ruling family can generally control the sea but they usually have one or at the most two powers but what she did was complex. This is why they are scared off mixing the bloodlines, from what I could tell she displayed three powers, generating water from nothing, controlling water and changing its composition by freezing it. From our history I don't think anybody could do what she did and I don't think that is all she is capable off.

I will need to contact your father to send one more trainer since I can only train you on powers related to being a priestess.' There was another pause again as we tried to digest this new information and what it may entail for me.