 
Awaken Illusionia

By Zoe Wynns

### Praise for Zoe Wynns

"Zoe Wynns is a talented young writer who is off to a terrific start with SpyCam: The President Plot. This is an entertaining and well-paced read, driven by spirited 14-year-old Cam and her plucky BFF, Stella. Zoe's novel has suspense, adventure and a lot of heart — a combination that will leave readers eager to take more fictional journeys with Cam and crew!"

—Tracie Fellers (fiction and nonfiction author with work in Long Story Short: Flash Fiction by Sixty-Five of North Carolina's Finest Writers, and 27 Views of Raleigh)

"Zoe Wynns is an amazing author. Her first two books were well written and interesting. I have read Journey to the End five times. Her book, Flicker, Fade, Soar, that I recently just finished, was awesome. This new book is obviously another masterpiece. Keep going Zoe!"

-Caleb McLamb (CEO of M-Tech)

"Zoe Wynns has done it again. Her SpyCam books are the sort of chair-gripping page-turners that grab you at the prologue and continue to hold on after the final page has been read. But it's not only the 394 unexpected plot twists that make her writing impossible to put down; her characters, too, are unforgettable. Whether it's selfless Cam, spunky Stella, or power-crazed Shardstorm, Zoe's characters don't just come alive off the page -- they jump out at you with every witty remark or infamous almost-kiss, throwing confetti into the air (or in Shardstorm's case, bombs). In short, Zoe's novels are the rare, wonderful kind that will touch your heart and stay there forever."

-Luna Hou (winner of Wake County's annual Teen Poetry Contest)

"If you are into spies, youth fiction, and adventure, Zoe Wynns is an up-and-coming author you should definitely check out. Her SpyCam series features a strong, bright female protagonist who faces a world of conquering the bad guys with ingenuity, humor and a minimum of blood and gore. Wholesome excitement that will keep you turning pages until the end... and then you start the next book!"

-Kathryn Tinsley (former college psychology instructor)
I am fourteen years old. Awaken Illusionia is my sixth self-published book. Feel free to send me feedback if you find a mistake in the book, but know that I tried my best, worked very hard on the book, and I am very proud of the final novel. Thank you for downloading or purchasing this book.

If you enjoy this book, feel free to download my five other self-published books. Journey to the End is available on Kindle, iBooks, and Smashwords. Flicker, Fade, Soar is available on iBooks and Smashwords. SpyCam: The President Plot, SpyCam: The Android Attack, and SpyCam: The School Secret are available on iBooks and Smashwords as well.

### Please rate this book or write a quick review if you enjoy it! Thanks in advance!

I hope you enjoy Awaken Illusionia.
This is a work of fiction. While some businesses and places do exist that I've mentioned, any interactions inside those places or any descriptions of those places are purely fictional. All persons are fictional, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This book is published by Smashwords. No part of this book may be copied or reproduced without the consent of Zoe Wynns. All questions to thewynnsfamily@gmail.com.

Summary: Krystina wakes up in the hospital to discover that her whole life was a dream.

Smashwords Edition License Notes:

Thank you for downloading this eBook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

Copyright © 2017 Zoe Wynns.

### Prologue

I've always wondered if the "extras" in dreams have minds of their own.

Do they consciously choose to chase after the person who is currently sleeping, warm in his or her own bed, but who feels like he or she is sprinting through a jungle, escaping the demons inside his or her own mind?

Why, sometimes, do these people inside all of our own minds, want to kill us, while other days, they try their best to make us the happiest we can be?

Do these "extras" spend the whole day, while the sleeper is awake, plotting the dream for that night, wondering if another nightmare would be too traumatizing for the poor soul, yet still planning it because of the excitement? The rush of the chase.? The thrill of the catch? The sadness when the person slips out of their grasp, only to awake in their own beds?

So, do this for one moment. Close your eyes, wherever you may be. Imagine sinking into a restful, deep, sleep. Darkness. Silence. Peace.

And then snap your eyes open again and imagine waking up.

But not really.

Because now you're stuck. Stuck in a dream.

Now, go. Go continue your daily life. Stop reading this, if you want. I don't mind. Nobody probably wants to listen to the musings of my confused mind, anyway.

Yet you're still here.

Maybe because you think it would be rude to walk away now. Maybe because you're bored and don't have anything else to do.

Or maybe it's because you feel a little tingle in the back of your mind, telling you that something I just said was important.

Go on. Listen to the feeling. I'll wait.

Can't figure out what it's telling you? I'm not surprised. People rarely do.

I didn't, after all. I didn't let the little voice in the back of my head bother me. I ignored it, ignored it for my entire life, waving it off cavalierly.

"It's just a headache," I told my friends when they asked me what was wrong.

"It's just a phenomenon of the human brain," I told my science teacher when she asked me to diagnose myself.

"I'm fine, really," I told my mom when she asked. "There's nothing wrong. I'm right where I'm supposed to be, after all."

But the truth was, I wasn't.

I was never where I was supposed to be.

Now back to the original question: do "extras" in dreams have minds of their own?

I'm hoping and praying that the answer is yes, because if it's not, my whole life was a lie.

I am a lie.

Because everyone I thought I was living for- my close friends, my caring family, my hopeless crush that I still chased after...

Those were all fake.

Because my whole life...

My whole life has been a dream.

### Chapter One: Elli/Krystina

My legs pumped across the pine-needle covered forest floor as I sprinted for my life away from the monster that was chasing me.

I glanced furtively over my shoulder. Green leaves sped past my field of vision as I heard the growl of my pursuer behind me.

I sped up.

Faster, faster. Couldn't slow down. Where was my friend? Where was Lily? Had she already been consumed by the beast, or had she, at least, made it to safety?

Suddenly my best friend, Lily Green, was beside me, her long red hair bouncing wildly in her ponytail. Stray strands of orange and red poked through as she bolted alongside me. Terror filled her gray-green eyes as she gasped, "I-it had me! It almost killed me! We're going to die, Elli!"

"Not today," I growled, grabbing Lily's hand, determination in my own hard blue eyes. I veered right, my feet thudding against the well-worn trail that I knew so well.

I heard a crash behind us, then a whimper, and then a roar as the monster searched for our retreating forms.

I pulled Lily into the cave that had appeared through the trees. She opened her mouth to say something, but I covered it with one tanned hand. "Shh!" I hissed quietly, pulling her deeper into the blackness.

We were on my home turf now. I'd explored every inch of these cave systems. Every stalactite and stalagmite, leak in the ceiling, every hole and tunnel on these gray stone floors were mapped out. I walked with careful confidence as I squeezed Lily's hand tighter. The ever-present tickle in the back of my head gave a twinge and I ignored it.

"This can't be the way we die, after surviving the battle yesterday that we could have bravely sacrificed ourselves in," Lily moaned. "All hail Akla!"

"Would you please be quiet? There's no need for us to die at all but if you're not silent we might!" I whispered frantically, choosing another tunnel and making sure Lily was beside me as we headed further underground. My blonde hair swished annoyingly and I wished I had something with which to pull it back.

The darkness down here was unquenchable, all-consuming, overwhelming. I couldn't see a single hint of light as I inched along, Lily's terrified panting a steady presence beside me in the midst of the gloom. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, my heartbeat steadily slowed. I took a deep, shuddering breath.

"Do you think we're-" Lily started.

The monster leapt out of the shadows, fangs bared, teeth yellow and rotten, claws extended.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, felt Lily's hand clench in terror in mine, and tried to sprint, but I was too late- the monster was on me, ripping, tearing, destroying as I spiraled into blackness, unconsciousness, death...

But it wasn't death. Not really...

...because this had happened before. And every time I'd woken hours later in my own bed, with the tingle in the back of my mind at its greatest. My mother had soothed me every time, asked what happened. I was always crazy sore for a few days afterwards, so I tried not to let it happen too often. It was okay, though, because then Lily would awake in her own bed, (usually I was killed first, because I was the braver one) and we'd lay on our beds and talk for hours about anything and everything until we were back to full health and could go out exploring again.

We actually had an ongoing list of our deaths (my total count after this most recent one was five, Lily's four.) The first time, Lily and I had explored the woods and discovered the monsters, the Rippers. One had leapt out of the shadows into our path, smelling blood. We'd tried to run, but our short little five-year old legs were just not long enough. That was the only time I had survived longer. I had watched in terror as the Ripper ripped the life out of my best friend and she melted into shadow and dust.

The second time, Lily and I wondered what the Consuming War of Illusionia really looked like in person. We were a little too aloof in the face of death on that one, because as soon as we peeked out onto the battlefield, where the two main warring tribes of Akla and Jero were battling, we were both hit by bullets immediately and dissolved into dust, shadow, and death...

The third time, I was exploring the caves alone and fell off a very tall cliff. I was incredibly sore for weeks that time, and that's when I started to realize that the intensity of injury the death would have caused, had I happened to survive it, directly correlated to the pain I felt afterwards. Lily came to visit me that time. But she couldn't be there every moment in those painful weeks, so I'd sat in my bed, lonely and hurting, for days at a time.

That's when I started to be more careful.

The fourth time, Lily and I were in the woods again, taking a shortcut from home to school. This was the day that I thought that the boy I'd had a crush on for forever, Micah, would ask me out. Lily and I had thrown caution to the wind and sprinted through the forest. We hadn't been killed in years, we felt giddy and free, and most importantly, we were safe.

But then a pack of Rippers jumped out of the shadows and tore into us so fast I didn't even remember what happened next.

They were getting braver, because just a week later, the chase through the caves had occurred, with the boldest Ripper I'd seen in years. And as I sunk into the blackness that was death, my final thought was that this would be a good one to add to the list.

But this time was different. This time I didn't wake up, warm and cozy and safe, in my own bed, slightly sore but very much alive, with only a telltale tickle letting me know that something was off. Something was wrong.

This time, I woke up.

For real.

***

So. I'll try to introduce myself now, but it might not go very well, since my whole life (or rather, what I thought was my life) was essentially a lie.

My name (I thought) was Elli Image.

My hair was blonde and my eyes were pure blue (I was sure).

(I was almost certain) that I was bold, friendly, fun, and loved people.

(I knew) that I had a best friend named Lily, who was nice, sweet, shy, and probably dead for the fourth time because of me.

(And I really, really believed) that I had been alive for thirteen and a half years.

Turns out, my name was Krystina Stark. I was almost fifteen years old. I had long, dark brown hair and deep brown eyes. I was pale and skinny, since my body hadn't seen the sun in fourteen or so years. Nobody knew much about my personality. Why?

Because I had been in a coma since I was two years old.

The first thing I remembered after getting killed (for the fifth time) was the beeping. The horrible hospital beeping that drilled through my head and rattled my fragile bones. As I pried my weary, extremely heavy eyes open, the beeping got louder and louder until I couldn't take it anymore. I was exhausted, I was annoyed, and I was confused. Did somebody renovate our house... a lot? What was that incredibly irritating beeping?

I reached up for my hair, which felt... different. I pulled away a small hair that came loose in my hand. Brown. Dark brown.

I stared. I'd never had brown hair before. My hair had always been nearly bleach-blonde. My mind worked frantically, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I was confused, I was scared, I was... different. A lot different.

Had I been kidnapped? Oh my gosh, had I been kidnapped? I'd heard of the kidnappers dyeing the hair of their victims to make them unrecognizable if the police looked for them. My heart beat faster. Kidnappers were the worst, because I'd heard some of them knew how to alter a person so that when they died, they never came back. Fear shot through my veins as I started to assume the worst.

Then I rationalized with myself. There were people all around me, people who looked official. No smart kidnapper would take me to a place as public as this. I glanced blearily around, taking in my surroundings for the first time.

Patients lay still around me, looking like they hadn't seen sunlight in a very long time. The whole room was white, and smelled like cleaner and rubbing alcohol. No sunlight was able to pour into the room, and only a few lights flickered dully above my head.

I should have been more exhausted, seeing as I'd just woken up from a death. But my tiredness was peeling away like layers of an onion. I felt so alert, even though I'd only opened my eyes minutes ago. I felt so alive, even though the patients around me looked so very... dead.

Where was I? I was becoming more and more certain that no place in Illusionia looked like this one. Illusionia was fairly small, I thought I'd explored it all. Maybe this was hidden somewhere? I shifted in my bed, trying to catch the eye of one of the official-looking people dressed in all white. Nobody even glanced my way, like they thought I didn't need to be paid any attention, which made very little sense, seeing as a lot of the other patients had people scurrying all around them, checking on them.

After about a minute of looking around I was too exhausted to hold my head up any longer and dropped it to the pillow. I wasn't used to being this weak. I was used to having strength in my bones and power in my limbs. I had just been sprinting through the forest, feeling like I'd never run out of adrenaline, and now I could barely support my own weight. Was this just a particularly painful, nasty death that I'd be sore from for a long, long time?

Or was there something else wrong?

Suddenly, I caught the eye of a nurse. She stopped dead in her tracks and dropped her clipboard. We stared at each other for a full five seconds, before the nurse slowly backed away. "Doctor Stone? Uh, Doctor Stone?" She raced out of the large room into a smaller hallway as I heard her call, "Krystina is awake!"

Krystina? Who was Krystina? Maybe another patient. I glanced around, half-expecting to see a person obviously labeled with that name staring at me. But they were all asleep. Or unconscious. Or dead. Definitely nobody was awake, except me. But I couldn't have been who they were talking about. My name was Elli, and I wasn't supposed to be here.

The same nurse strode into my small little room. "Hey, honey," she crooned. I opened my mouth, but she cut me off. "Don't move, little one. You've been asleep a long, long time."

"I have?" I asked. My throat was dry and cottony but the words still forced their way out. "Where's Mom? And dad? And Lily Green, my best friend?"

The nurse did a double take. "Wow. You're... chatty for having the mental capacity of a two-year-old," she gasped, her dull green eyes widening momentarily.

"That's offensive," I growled. "Now, I would like you to please tell me." I summoned all my strength and sat up. "Where. Is. My. Family?"

"They're on their way to the hospital now, they're so glad to hear that you're awake," the nurse soothed me. "Now, who's this Lily you're talking about? There's never been a Green family in this small town."

I relaxed. My family was on their way. Everything was going to be just fine. "Maybe the family I'm thinking of lives somewhere else," I murmured and closed my eyes. What was this feeling coming over me? The only time I'd only felt this way before was when I'd just woken up from dying in Illusionia.

"You're tired, honey, I know, but you can't sleep yet," the nurse said, gently shaking me.

I pried my eyes open again. "Sleep? Like what happens after you die?"

The nurse raised her eyebrows. "Die?"

At that moment a tall woman with curly black hair and a shorter man with gray, fading hair sprinted into the room.

The woman cried, "Is it true? Is our baby--"

Then her eyes met mine. She gasped. "Krissy! You're awake!" She strode to my bedside and wrapped me in her arms. Hot tears trickled down her face and fell onto mine.

The man walked up and smiled at me, a little sadly. Tears pooled in his eyes as he grasped my hand.

"Hey, buddy," he whispered. "I'm so glad you're up."

I wriggled out of the woman's grasp. Who was she and how did she know me? "Who are you? Where am I? I want to go home!"

I started sobbing. I couldn't help myself. "I want to go home."

The woman looked surprised as she stood up. She glanced at the nurse. "Is it normal for her to be talking so much... so soon?"

The nurse shook her head, confusion mirrored in her own eyes.

The woman's curly hair bounced and she looked at me. "Hon, I'm your mother." She gestured to the man behind her. "This is your father."

She took a deep breath.

"And you just woke up from a coma you've been in for thirteen years."

"What's a coma?" I croaked, trying to stop my tears, but I could already feel it, a sense of foreboding, telling me something was wrong.

Very wrong.

My "mother" glanced at the nurse, then my "father." "It's when... you're asleep. Unconscious. For a long, long time. You've been asleep since you were two, honey. Now you're fifteen."

Fifteen? How was I fifteen? That wasn't possible! I was thirteen years old and the only times I'd ever been asleep in my life were after I'd died.

"But I remember everything," I whispered. "I remember Lily, my best friend. She has fiery red hair and bright green eyes. She's careful, and a little bit of a worrier, but she always stands by me, and she's loyal to what she believes in." I paused. A tear plopped onto my hospital gown. "She's perfect...

"I remember my mother, Amy. She is beautiful, with short, shiny brown hair and glittering blue eyes that perfectly matched my own. She always made me cookies after a tough day, and she gave me a hug every single day after I came home from school, whether we were mad at each other or not." I saw the hurt on my "mother's" face but I ignored her. She wasn't the one who'd cared for me when I was hurt. She didn't bake me cookies on a bad day. She didn't love me the most out of anyone in the world.

"I remember my father, Josh. He's tall and strong, with wavy blonde hair. Everyone told me that my hair looks just like his." I ignored the straight-as-a-stick dark brown hair that was stubbornly refusing to be blonde on my own head. The man claiming to be my father tried to look at his own hair, as if checking that it wasn't wavy and blonde after all.

"I remember everything," I said again, my voice cracking on the last word. "And now you're telling me it was all..."

"A dream," the nurse finished.

"What's a dream?" I asked nervously, fearing the answer but somehow already knowing it.

"A dream is... a scenario that the unconscious mind creates. While you're asleep," the nurse said carefully.

"My whole life was a scenario that my unconscious mind created while I was asleep," I answered numbly. "I don't believe you."

But suddenly I realized that the ever-present tickle at the back of my mind that had haunted me in Illusionia was gone. And that, maybe, was what finally made me believe.

"Hey." My mom moved to put a warm hand on my shoulder and I didn't stop her. "It's going to be okay, Krystina. We'll get through this."

"My name is Elli," I snapped, pulling away. "And I don't know what you want me to say. I don't know you. I don't think you'll be able to help me." I buried my face in my pillow. "I just want to go home." Tears trickled down my cold cheeks as I sobbed into the softness.

"Don't you want to hear your story?" my dad spoke up quietly.

My tears stopped slowly. I didn't say a word, but I listened.

I had to listen.

"I never thought I'd tell this story again. It was too painful before, but now..." my dad, my real dad, took a deep breath. "Now that you're awake... awake for good... I think I can get through it.

"We don't know much about what happened," he started. "All we know is that one normal day... our entire life was thrown into chaos." He took a deep, shaky breath.

"Your teacher called a few hours after the preschool day started. She said you hadn't come back into the school after recess. Nobody had any clue where you might have gone." He paused for a moment and looked me right in my strangely new brown eyes.

"We were frantic. Search parties were sent out everywhere. There was no news for almost a day and we were starting to lose hope..."

"When all seemed lost, someone found you lying in the middle of the woods. You were barely alive. But the strange thing was, you didn't have any visible injuries." I imagined myself as a little two-year-old, wandering off alone and suddenly collapsing to the ground. I shivered.

"Eventually you got better, but for some reason, you didn't wake up. Some say it was the trauma of whatever happened to you. Some say it was because you were only two years old. But there really was no reason for you to stay... asleep... for so long."

My father sighed, finishing his story with, "You've been unconscious ever since... until today."

A series of memories assaulted me in the face. A Ripper in Illusionia attacking me, tearing into me, ripping out all of my life and then turning on my best friend...

But no. That was a dream, I told myself firmly. I was safe here; no Rippers could reach me inside this place. "So, do you think a Ripper got me?" I asked quietly, taking my head out of my pillow, "and covered up the injuries somehow?"

Now my parents were the ones to look confused. "What do you mean?" my mom asked curiously. "Was that something in your dream?"

"Wait... Rippers don't exist here?" I said slowly. A mix of emotions washed over me as I imagined a life without running, without fear, without pain, without death. A small smile tugged at my lips.

The nurse smiled. "I'll bet that's a relief, honey. Now that we know you're awake for good, you can get some sleep if you need to."

I closed my eyes, the storm in my heart stilling for one moment as I slipped into sleep.

### Chapter Two: Lily

Blood and shadows dripped down my face as Akla died all around me, fighting for a single stretch of forest.

"Push forward!" my mother, otherwise known as Commander Everly, screamed.

A war cry rose up among the Akla, straight from our hearts and bones. Any outsider could tell that we truly believed that Akla were the ones entitled to rule Illusionia. I believed it too, of course, I wouldn't be a very good member of the tribe if I didn't, but sometimes I thought that there was a much better way to solve problems than constantly fighting. We fought, we died, we woke up and fought again, and now all the tribe pride and meaning had washed out of the war, leaving dry, useless battles behind.

Fight, die, wake up, repeat. A comrade beside me with dark amber hair was hit with a bullet, stumbled backwards, and fell onto a rotting log, splintering it into a thousand pieces. He lay on the cool hard ground, slowly dying. One of the members of the Jero (the opposing side) gave a triumphant shout.

A bullet whizzed past my shoulder, scraping me and bringing blood up to the surface. It wasn't deep, but it stung like fire. I hissed, shaking my arm and readjusting my grip on my gun. The man beside me died and disintegrated into dust. I knew he would wake up hours later at his home and rush back to join the fight, but I still felt a pang of sadness in my heart as I ducked behind a tree, trying not to step in the shadows he'd left behind.

Another bullet scraped my shoulder, this time deeper. Much deeper. Pain shot through my arm. I staggered as blood and shadows gushed from the wound, falling into the remains of my dead comrade. I fought off the black dots in my vision and raised my gun again.

"Stay with me, Lily!" my mother called as she took a bullet to the leg but stubbornly continued fighting.

"Commander Everly, we have to pull back!" shouted one of the generals to my mother. "We're losing too many new soldiers!"

I bristled. I, after all, was a new soldier, and I was still here, fighting, even though blood poured from my shoulder with no sign of stopping and I felt like blacking out. I grabbed my gun and fired, hitting a Jero in the chest. She fell to the hard forest floor, already dead, and I felt a twinge of sadness, for I was a killer and I knew it and hated it.

And somehow, I was proud of it at the same time.

Suddenly, a growl pierced the cool forest air, masking the screams of the injured and the war cries of the healthy. The sounds of the battlefield slowly died down as soldiers glanced nervously at each other.

"What was that?" whispered my mother. I'd never heard her sound so scared.

Then the trees burst apart and more Rippers than I'd ever seen before burst onto the battlefield and began killing.

Screams rang out across the stretch of forest, I saw one of my mother's trusted generals get eaten, then my mother herself attacked. Shadows spilled from her body and her blood poured out onto the ground as she died. "Mom!" I screeched, feeling unexplained fear as her life spilled on the forest floor and she crumbled into shadow. Why did her death this time feel so... final?

And then one of the Rippers turned on me.

"Oh, no you don't," I muttered as I stumbled backwards, dizzy from blood loss but still determined to escape the beast. The Ripper slashed at me, at my chest, and pain shot through my already weak form. Blood dripped from the wound. It wasn't pouring fast, but I knew that I couldn't lose more than a few drops more of my blood and survive.

I felt my face draining of all color as the last of the blood spilled from my body and I collapsed to my knees, knowing that it was the end but not wanting to die, still holding on to my last sliver of life as another Ripper saw me and stalked closer.

Then I saw the cave.

It wasn't far away, just a few feet. I could make it if I ran. But I couldn't run, not now. So, I did the next best thing and crawled, inching across the forest floor, hands scrabbling on the pine-needle covered ground, persevering until my hands met cold stone and I was able to haul myself into the darkness and stand on shaky legs.

The Ripper couldn't see me in here, I knew, because I couldn't see me in here. If I just kept moving they wouldn't be able to find me. I started down the first tunnel, walking as fast as I could in my current pain-wracked and weakened state. I wished Elli were here. She knew the tunnels much better than I did. She knew which tunnels would send me straight off a cliff, which ones opened up into Ripper dens, and which ones led to the Akla village, where I could get care for my wounds and be safe.

Then, like my thoughts had summoned her, I suddenly saw a pair of bright blue eyes, eyes that were the exact same color as Elli's, my best friend.

Or were they the eyes of a Ripper?

The figure in the darkness spoke. "Lily? Is that... is that you?"

I recognized her voice immediately. "Oh, Elli," I said, weak with relief as I allowed myself to slide to the cool stone floor. "I am so glad to see you."

"Why am I back here?" Elli said nervously. "They said it was a dream and the chances of it recurring when I slept were very small."

"They said what was a dream?" I asked, confused.

Suddenly a thought struck me, quick and hard. "Wait. Elli, you shouldn't be back here. They closed the gates to your mind when you finished your training..."

"My real name is Krystina, by the way. And what training?" Elli said, eyes narrowing.

"I shouldn't have said that," I realized. I closed my eyes as nausea laced its way through my veins. I couldn't think straight. "I'm not feeling well, Elli... not at all..."

I was vaguely aware of my body slipping to the ground, of Elli yelling my name. Trying to stop the blood from my wound that I'd just accidentally opened again. Too much blood, spilling onto the floor, painting the rough gray floors red.

Elli wrapped her arm around me and helped me stumble dizzily to a tunnel. We turned, then turned again. Just had keep moving... I needed to survive. Why did it feel so important to survive this time?

The tunnel seemed long and endless, but finally, we burst out into the light. I blinked, feeling a little better, as my eyes adjusted to the bright sun that was beaming down on the Akla village. "We made it," I breathed, leaning against the end of the tunnel and allowing myself to relax. I was safe now. "And I'm not dead."

I looked around. The village seemed the same as it always had, but... stiller. There was less movement, less life, less bustling marketplaces and children playing on the streets.

I turned to Elli to see what she thought about this, but Elli was fading, her body slowly becoming more and more transparent. "I'm... waking up," she choked. "I'll... be back! I promise!"

And then her consciousness faded from Illusionia and reappeared in the real world. In simpler terms, she woke up.

Man, I wondered what it felt like to wake up.

### Chapter Three: Krystina

They released me from the hospital the next day.

"You will need to come see us once every week," the nice nurse who'd first discovered me awake, Miss Jillian, told me as they rolled my wheelchair out to the parking lot, "to make sure that everything is going smoothly as you adjust to your new life."

"Don't worry, we will definitely do that," my mom told Miss Jillian, laughing a little and patting my back gently. "We wouldn't do anything to risk little Krissy's health again."

"Can you call me Krystina, please?" I asked stiffly, shifting in my wheelchair uncomfortably. It was hard enough re-learning my own name, I didn't need a nickname to be added to the mix.

"But that's my..." my mother trailed off as my dad gave her a warning nod.

I would have been confused if I hadn't overheard my parents talking with the nurse when they thought I was asleep. "Her normal is going to be very different from yours, because of her extended dream," Miss. Jillian had explained to them. "Try to go with hers whenever possible near the beginning, but slowly adjust back to the real world within the next couple weeks."

I was glad of her previous words as my mom gave a reluctant nod, probably remembering them too. "Yes... well... okay." She pushed me for a few more seconds. "Krystina," she said slowly, like she was trying the words on her tongue for the first time. Somehow, I knew that she wasn't getting my attention using my name, she was simply getting used to saying it.

We made it to our car, an old Toyota with stickers on the back, saying "My child is an honors kid at Rose Elementary school!", "Free Spirit Dance Studio" and others.

"Whose are..." I started, but my mom interrupted me. "Your sister's."

I had a sister?? I had been an only child my whole life in Illusionia. Man, this was going to be really, really strange.

My father wheeled me to the side of the car. He opened the door and picked me up carefully, like I weighed nothing at all, gently placing me in my car seat and helping me buckle my seatbelt. My mom opened the trunk, grabbed and collapsed my wheelchair and loaded it inside. She slammed the trunk with a resounding thud and opened the passenger seat of the car, sliding inside.

Dad started up the car. It spluttered and spit fumes before revving up. He smacked the dashboard.

"Maybe we can use some of the money we were spending on hospital bills to buy a new car now," he murmured softly to my mom. Guilt shot through me without warning. My parents, whom I didn't even know existed, were breaking the bank for me while I was asleep and couldn't thank them.

Dad slowly backed the car out of the parking space. The car groaned, like it didn't want to leave, but he gave it the evil eye and it slid out of the lot without more complaint. I couldn't help it, I chuckled. Dad glanced at me, his eyes sparkling. "Got to teach this car to behave, don't we?"

I smiled. That seemed like a fatherly thing to say. My heart swelled. Maybe living in this new world wouldn't be so bad after all... but then my heart sunk again when I realized that every time I dreamed about Illusionia, the chances of me dreaming about it again went down. I didn't know what I was going to do when I finally had that final dream, I had to hug the parents I'd known for thirteen years goodbye, when I had to fade from the world that I loved so much for the last time.

My dad must have seen the change on my face because he gave me a sympathetic glance. "Not feeling well, kiddo?" He turned left onto a busy but small road. "Don't worry. We'll be home soon and we can get you settled in bed. If you're feeling better, though, you might want to explore the neighborhood a little. If so, we can push you around."

"I hate this wheelchair," I said, frustrated. "I feel like I know how to walk, but I just can't. It drives me crazy. But yeah, I think it would be nice to see the neighborhood."

I needed to start living in the real world as soon as I could.

***

We didn't live too far away from the hospital, but I almost wished the drive could have gone on longer. I stared out the window, taking in all the new sights and sounds.

Cars were lined up bumper to bumper, beeping and honking at each other. We'd never had traffic in Illusionia because a lot of people liked walking better than driving. We passed a small little general store. In Illusionia, everyone just bartered and traded for what they needed after currency was a cause of the Consuming War. We flew by nice, neat little rows of cookie-cutter houses that all looked the same. In Illusionia, it was an insult if your house looked too much like the house of another.

Our house in Illusionia was bright teal, my favorite color. It had a beautiful white front porch and a cozy little kitchen right smack when you walked in. I really loved that house.

We turned onto a street bearing the sign, "Violet Road." "This town really likes flowers, doesn't it?" I muttered. Rose Elementary. Violet Road. I hadn't even seen a single flower yet.

"I suppose we have to like flowers. We do live in Bloom City, after all," my mother said rather brightly as we turned onto a small driveway on an identical cookie-cutter house to the rest of the ones on Violet street.

My father helped me into my wheelchair as I compared the house... my house... with the ones all around it.

Same drab gray walls. Same slightly inclined driveway. Same monotonous colors alternating around the house, like having two boring shades of gray rather than one made the house more interesting somehow.

"For a city called Bloom, it isn't very colorful," I said quietly. I missed the wild hues of Illusionia neighborhoods, the pop of the brightly colored trees all around our house, the sound of the breeze whistling through the trees in the deep forest near my cave.

"We're home," my mom said cheerfully. But her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, just like this new house didn't quite touch my heart like a home should.

Dad wheeled me up the driveway and stopped at the steps in front of the front porch. "We should install a ramp or something," he told my mom. "It's going to be really hard to carry her up these stairs every..."

I summoned all my determination and rose up out of my wheelchair. "Honey-" my mom started, stunned, but I didn't let her finish, I put one foot down on the ground, then another. My legs wobbled weakly but I knew how to walk, and the fact that this body hadn't been used in years couldn't stop me.

One foot in front of the other. I saw my dad give my mom a disbelieving look, but my mother's eyes were fixed on mine as I took one more step, then reached the small banister in front of the stairs. I grabbed onto it like a piece of driftwood in a stormy sea and took a deep breath. "I did it. I walked."

"This... it's just not possible," my dad spluttered.

My mom cut him off. "Shh. Let our baby walk." Tears sparkled in her eyes as I hauled myself on the first step, then up the second, becoming more confident in my own brand-new skin with every step I took. I was Krystina, and even though I barely knew my own parents and I lived in a cookie-cutter house in the most boring city of all time, I was starting to find myself.

The real me.

I finally made it to the front door, getting faster and stronger with each step. My dad rushed to unlock it and help me to a nearby couch. I sank into it and closed my eyes. I had done it.

"Maybe you should take a nap," my mother said quietly, smoothing my hair back from my face as I reopened my eyes and looked into hers. "You've had an adventure today, sweet pea."

"No," I decided. "I want to take a walk around the neighborhood. I think I can do it now."

"I'll come with you," my dad jumped in, but I shook my head.

"I'm going to explore alone." I stood up and stretched. I almost felt back to full health... Illusionia health. But wait, Illusionia health was fake dream health. So, it couldn't be a method of comparison.

Then how was I improving so quickly?

"Stay on this main street," called Mom as I opened the door. "And stay safe!"

I turned back and gave her a real, true smile. "I will."

I slammed the door behind me. The wreath rattled as I made my way down the drab stone stairs and onto Violet Street.

It wasn't very violet at all, I thought. There were no flowers embellishing the walkways. No bright green bushes in the grass. No leaves changing colors slowly like they should in the fall.

Brring! A bike bell rang out. I jumped onto the sidewalk as a big red bike shot up the street. A boy with curly brown hair, a baseball cap, and bluer-than-blue eyes sped up the road. He slowed down as he passed me. He squinted and took off his cap, putting his foot down on the ground to stop himself. "You look really familiar."

"Well, I can't say I've ever seen you in my life," I said bluntly.

"Don't be like that, help me out here," the boy said with a smile, shaking his curls out of his face like a slightly cute, slightly annoying dog. "Did you go Daisy Middle School?"

I was sick of the flower names and sick of this conversation already. "Look. I've been in a coma since I was two, I just learned how to walk, and I'm still trying to figure out what America is really like because most of my whole life has been a dream, so no. I did not go to Daisy Middle," I responded, giving up on trying to sound even remotely nice.

"Oh." His face fell. "I'm so sorry. That's horrible." Then he brightened. "I know! You went to the same preschool as me! Tulip Learning Academy?"

I opened my mouth to say no, but then suddenly a memory hit me in the face, and I stumbled backwards.

First day of preschool. I'd eavesdropped on my mom, my real mom, talking with my real dad. "She's obviously incredibly bright, but she's so painfully shy, John. Should we give her another year? To get... braver."

"Krystina is ready, Amy. She's going to be fine."

So, into Tulip Learning Academy I had gone. The sign out front had a large tulip on it. I'd tugged on my mother's hands. "Mommy, why does that have such a big fwower?" Yes, I had said flowers like that when I was little! I remembered!

My mom had laughed. "It's called the Tulip Learning Academy, sweetie, and tulips are a kind of flower."

"Oh," I'd responded, rather thoughtfully for a two-year-old.

We'd pushed open the old wooden door, walking into a room full of colors and brightness, laughter and friends, happiness and hope.

I had hidden behind my mother, shy as I was, but a teacher came up to us minutes after and smiled at me. Her warm eyes made me smile back as she told us, "Hello! Welcome to Tulip Learning Academy!"

Then a little boy with curly brown hair and bluer-than-blue eyes had come up to me. "My name is Sam! Let's be friends!" he told me happily. At ages two and three, it was as simple as that.

As I opened my eyes, startled from the memory, Sam looked at me strangely. "You okay?" Then he reconsidered. "Of course you're not okay. You've been in a coma for years. Man, I'm sorry. That was rude of me."

"No, it's fine," I told him quickly. My heart swelled because for the first time, I had remembered something! Something real, not just from the dream! "It's no problem, Sam."

"Hey, how do you know my name?" he questioned, a little awkwardly, but I was already walking off as I gave him a smile.

"See you around!" he called as I turned the corner of the street. I turned back and smiled at the kind boy who I'd used to know.

Being friends with Sam surely wasn't going to be as simple as it was when we were two and three, but maybe it was still within reach.

***

I headed back to our house after a while, tired out. My mom met me at the door. "How was it, Krissy... Krystina?"

"Great," I told her, sinking into the couch. But not my wheelchair. I had quietly vowed to myself without even realizing it never to use that hideous thing again.

"Do you know that guy named Sam?" I spoke up after a moment.

"Oh yes, he's our next-door neighbor. Very sweet boy, he brought us cookies last Christmas. Why? Did you run into him?" There was a mischievous yet motherly twinkle in her eye.

"Yes," I said reluctantly but with a smile. "Don't say it..."

"You know, he's very handsome. You two would be cute together."

"Aw, seriously?" I mock-groaned. "And I even saw it coming."

Mom laughed, and in that one moment, I felt like I belonged, like I actually had a family in this new, strange world.

I headed upstairs. It was almost nighttime, and the stars were beginning to come out, not at all deterred by the bright city lights that were trying to outshine their natural light. It seemed like a new dot appeared every second, beckoning me to come, to come bask in the light of the darkness. I stepped towards the window, enthralled.

Suddenly I felt my mother beside me. She put her hand on mine, resting on the windowsill. "The stars are beautiful tonight."

"Beautiful," I whispered, and suddenly I felt like crying.

The moon slowly rose before our eyes, like the giant hand of God was pulling it upwards into infinity. I rested my head on my mother's shoulder. "You know, I think maybe it won't be so bad living here, in the real world, after all," I told her, my voice cracking a little.

There was a pause. The stars sparkled brighter. Then...

"Did you know how worried I was, Krissy?" Mom whispered, not even trying to correct the use of my nickname. "When you slipped into the coma, they said... they said they didn't know whether or not you'd ever come back. Your brain was working fine, there was nothing wrong, but you wouldn't wake up. You just wouldn't wake up."

My mom took a deep, shuddering breath. "And in the back of our minds, we knew that the day would come that we would have to make a decision. Keep spending all our money and time on our baby girl who just probably wouldn't ever open her eyes again, or..."

She didn't say the other option. She didn't need to. Goosebumps traveled across my limbs as I suddenly felt very cold. I shivered in the warmth of my room as I tried to beat back my next thought.

I could have died.

They could have decided they couldn't take care of me anymore. I could have died. Suddenly life felt like a much more precious thing. I was aware of every moment, every heartbeat, every breath I drew in and out. I could have lost it all.

But I didn't. I was here. And yes, it wasn't Illusionia. I knew it would never be Illusionia.

But I was here. I was alive.

I was home.

"I love you, Mom," I murmured. Then I smiled as I realized this was the first time I'd called her Mom since I'd woken up from the coma.

It felt right to me.

I climbed carefully into bed, tired from a long day and ready to go to sleep early. Sleep still scared me a bit, taunting me with its terrible darkness. In the back of my mind I was still scared that I'd go to sleep tonight and never come back... not even after thirteen more years...

"Good night, sweet baby," my mom said softly as she smoothed my covers and kissed my forehead.

I let my worries fade into the darkness. "Good night," I said sleepily as she closed the door quietly behind her.

I closed my eyes and felt myself starting to drift away. Tonight, I would be content not to visit Illusionia. I would be content to have the time I'd saved Lily from the monster be the last time, a good memory to hold onto.

But of course, my fate was more closely entwined with the world of my dreams than I ever knew.

### Chapter Four: Lily

Elli was back.

I thought the other time was just a fluke, maybe the Master of Illusionia didn't close her mind to us quite enough. But she was back again.

This couldn't be a fluke. There was something weird going on here. Had something horrible happened to the controller of this world?

I was starting to think yes, because nobody had come back from the dead yet.

Elli appeared on the slope right outside the tunnel that led us to the village. I was still there too, her days in real life were a lot longer than mine. Ours were maybe one hour, maybe two, and hers were somewhere around fourteen. At least until she slept. That counted as a whole new day for us, because everything changes so very much when she... or any other person... travels to this world.

But an hour would have been more than enough to make it to the village, so why was I still at the end of the tunnel?

Confession: I was weak.

Confession: I was scared.

Confession: I didn't want to see what awaited me at the village, whether or not everyone I ever knew was gone, or not. I didn't want to see the tearstained faces, the worry, the impossible, wild hopes that maybe they just got delayed in death, and they'd be back soon. I didn't want to see their faces when they realized that in the back of their minds they all knew their loved ones were gone for good.

Elli slowly faded in from the real world. She cursed, one of the real-world words, not the Illusionia curses, I noticed. Wow, she was picking things up fast. "Seriously? Why the heck am I back here again?"

"I don't know, Elli!" I said wildly. "Why are you asking me?"

She whirled around. "Lily? What are you still doing here? Why aren't you up at the village? And I said to call me Krystina!"

"I don't think anybody came back from the dead," I whispered.

I watched the color drain from Elli's face as the pictures of her family and friends who had died in that battle whirled through her mind. I knew her parents were among them, I'd seen them both be struck down by Jero warriors near the beginning of the battle. "None of them?" she echoed.

She grabbed my hand and pulled me up, then started sprinting for the nearby village. "You're lying!" she called, but with the ring of a girl who knows the truth in her voice.

I sighed, then dashed after my ever stubborn, ever proud, ever amazingly loyal best friend.

***

We made it to the village a half hour later. It was still and silent, like I knew it would be. "See?" I told Elli exasperatedly, but she was staring at her house, obviously not listening. I glanced at the bright teal siding that surprised me a little every time, at the flowers dotting the sidewalk leading up to her front door. I listened to the wind making its way through the full green trees, to the birds singing sweetly from their nests. And then I listened to the silence where voices would usually be, drifting out of the teal home with the sound of a happy family.

"I'm going inside," she announced, throwing her sweatshirt in my arms that she'd gone to sleep wearing but was too humid for in the middle of Illusionia's summer. I wondered what season it was in the real world.

I had so many questions about the real world.

I followed after Elli as she carefully pushed her familiar oak door open. It creaked slightly as Elli peered into the silent hallway, shutting the door absentmindedly behind her. The sounds of her footsteps were the only noise as she slowly walked down the hardwood-floored hall and turned into the living room. I followed close behind her.

The dark blue couch that had been well-loved by their family of three sat unused in the middle of the living room, like a big colorful reminder of what was gone. The TV was silent and off, I knew they'd never really watched much, anyway, always preferring to be out in nature going for a hike or having a picnic together.

It was starting to feel really creepy in here. "Ell..." I started, but she was already determinedly making her way up the stairs, headed for her or her mom's room. I sighed and followed, my feet softly thumping on the stairs. I still felt a little weird from losing so much blood, and all this walking was not very helpful.

"Maybe we should go find my dad, Elli... uh, Krystina," I suggested, making it to the top of the stairs. I felt dizzy and leaned against the banister. Elli was already peering into her room, ignoring my advice.

I guessed it was because I was her best friend, but I had always adored Elli's room even more than I'd adored my own. Her bed was soft pink and light green, embellished with matching embroidered pillows. The walls were covered with posters, some with artwork, some with books, some with quotes, some with music. Her dresser was cluttered and messy, but it felt so homey that I didn't mind at all.

But her room, as great as it was, was one hundred percent empty. Yet Elli stubbornly marched in, as if her mother would be lurking in the shadows, ready to pop out and say "Surprise!" when Elli discovered her hiding place.

"Ells," I tried again, adjusting my grip on the banister. "Elli. Krystina. Whoever you are!" I said, frustrated. "She's not in your room. Let's check her office and get going."

"Fine. But you look like you're going to faint. Stay right where you are," Elli told me sternly, pointing to my place on the banister.

"Oh, trust me, I'm not moving an inch," I murmured, sliding to the ground and putting my head on my knees. As much as I hated dying, I hated this feeling of weakness from losing so much blood even more.

Elli disappeared down the hall to her mother's office, leaving me alone with my dark thoughts. What were we going to do if her mom and dad really weren't here, if they really had died forever in that battle? Oh my gosh, my mom had been killed! What if my dad was too? I sat bolt upright. He hadn't been fighting in the battle, but accidents happened. They always did.

Elli returned, the answer written on her face. "They're gone," she whispered. "They're dead."

"We've got to find my dad. He'll know what's going on," I rationalized, standing up slowly and feeling a little better.

"They're dead," Elli said again. "I can't believe it."

"Stop it. Don't say that. They'll be fine," I answered quickly, trying to believe my own words. "We just need to figure out what happened."

I gave her a tight hug as she buried her face in my shirt and red hair. "I'm scared, Lily," she told me when we broke apart.

"It will be okay," I replied soothingly.

What a lie that turned out to be.

***

As soon as we opened the door to my house my heart rose, because I heard the telltale voice of my father, talking on the phone.

"Dad!" I yelled, racing towards our kitchen. "Dad!!"

I veered sharply around the corner and launched myself into the arms of my father. Dad breathed a deep sigh of relief, patting me on the back, saying a few more words to the person on the other line and shutting off his phone. "Lil, girl, where were you? I was so, so worried. I thought you'd been killed in the battle along with..." he trailed off. A tear trickled down his cheek slowly as his thoughts undoubtedly turned to his wife.

"So, is it true?" I asked, pulling apart. "Is Mom really gone?"

"I think so," my dad whispered, looking like he was going to break down sobbing right then and there. Then he took a deep breath and composed himself. "I think this is what happened. I might be wrong, though."

"No, tell me," I said quickly, desperate to satisfy my hunger for answers.

"Nobodyisbackfromthedead," my dad said hastily, like ripping off a Band-Aid quickly so the pain didn't last quite as long.

My heart sunk. So, it was really true. All this time I'd held onto a small amount of hope that maybe our families were lost. Or maybe just planning some weird, creepy, surprise party.

"Go on," I said heavily. I saw Elli put her head in her hands on our tile counter. Her blonde hair spilled over onto the mix of gray stones, like a waterfall of gold in a land of black-and-white.

"We think something has happened to the Master of Illusionia, the one who created this world and the one who controls our lives... and us. He's the only one who would be able to bring back all of our loved ones."

"We have to find him," Elli and I said quickly, together. Then we looked at each other and a hint of a smile tugged at the edge of my lips. "Jinx," I whispered. "You owe me a leaf."

But Elli didn't play along with our special childhood game, which was perhaps the most saddening thing of all to me. She just stared bleakly at my green eyes with her blue ones. I shifted my feet awkwardly. "Don't you remember?" I murmured. I tried to stop the flashback that was tugging on the edge of my memory, but as I closed my eyes to block out Elli's tears it swept me away.

"Tag! You're it!" The ring of children's laughter filled my ears, breaking the cool autumn air of the morning. I was at the playground, Elli chasing me through the jungle gym, giggling. Her blonde hair was so light it was nearly white, and her blue eyes didn't hold the tragedy and pain that sat in them now.

"Silly Lily, you're it!" Elli said loudly. Another young child looked at us, his eyes wide, but Elli glanced back at him and put a finger to her lips. Shh. We're playing alone now. I could hear her voice, hear the commanding ring in it, without even hearing it. And the boy could too. He obediently went back to playing with his friends, but not without glancing at Elli's blue eyes one more time. Even though my hair was bold and red, Elli's eyes were much fierier than it would ever be. Once glance from those shards of ice and people shut up. Or did what she wanted them to do.

I'd never been able to do that.

Then Elli turned back to me. She opened her mouth and said, "So what do you want to do now?" just as I said the same thing.

A gust of wind rustled through the park, blowing our hair into the air and into our small little faces. We giggled, carefree. The wind slowed down to a slight breeze, caressing our hair. A leaf fell into Elli's. I plucked it out and dangled it in front of her eyes. "Jinx! You owe me a leaf!"

"A leaf!" Elli said incredulously. "What good is that?"

"It's a friendship leaf!" I improvised, tearing a small hole in it that was somewhat in the shape of a heart and handing it to her.

Elli held the leaf close to her chest. The browns and reds and yellows clashed horribly with her bright pink t-shirt, but Elli took a small piece of string and wrapped it around the leaf so it stayed, pinned to her chest like a badge of honor. "Lily, I will keep it forever," she said, rather seriously for a five or six-year-old.

And in that moment, I knew she would. She would keep that leaf forever, because she was my best friend, and she promised.

Elli never broke her promises.

The memory faded and I opened my eyes, back in the present. Elli stared at me, probably wondering what was going through my mind.

Sometimes I wondered the same thing.

***

So, a decision was made. We would go find the Master of Illusionia, wherever he may have been, and if something seemed like it had gone wrong, we would try to rescue him (Him? Her? I had no clue) so he could bring back who we'd lost.

Elli and I had talked about it for a few minutes, and now we were standing on the front porch, in a heated debate with my father, who disagreed with our idea. The wind blew hard and fast, making my ears tear up and my hair fly everywhere. I swiped my now-tangled hair out of my face angrily as I put my hands on my hips and faced my father, determination in my eyes.

"Lily, listen. This is not a good idea," he told me strongly. Then he lowered his voice. "What would I do if I lost you too? I couldn't live with myself."

"I've got to go," I told him quietly but powerfully. "It feels like my responsibility. I couldn't save Mom, so I'll just have to get her back."

"It wasn't your fault Mom died. Nobody could have stopped the horrors of that battle..." Dad told me seriously. "But if I can't talk you out of this, then I need to come with you, to keep you safe," Dad answered quickly. He swiped his hand through his graying hair as his dark brown eyes sparkled with fear and love for me.

"Dad, you need to stay here," I told him gently, trying to push him back in the open doorway. He pushed back. I gave a quick huff.

"What if Mom is still alive, or she was just delayed in coming back? If she comes back and nobody's here, she's going to be terrified. Devastated. You don't want her to feel what you felt when you learned she was gone, do you?" I rationalized, knowing that Mom was never coming back unless we found the Master but still wanting to make my Dad feel useful while I was away.

Dad heaved a deep sigh, knowing I was right but not wanting to admit it. "Lily, please don't get yourself killed," he pleaded, wrapping me in a bone-crushing hug and sounding a little like a child when he said, "I don't know what I'd do if I was all alone."

"I'll try very hard to survive," I said truthfully, knowing that I'd put all my effort into surviving, but also knowing to expect the unexpected... not necessarily always in a positive sense.

"Okay," my dad whispered, pulling apart from me. "I love you, Lily, did you know that?"

"Of course I did, Dad," I told him comfortingly. "I love you too. I'll be back soon," I told him, then turned my back on the only home I'd ever had and fixed my eyes on the great unknown.

"Let's go."

We had food rations in our bookbag, heavy coats for the cold night, and all the supplies we'd ever need for multiple days out in the wild, but I still didn't feel ready as I walked slowly down the stone porch stairs and waited for Elli, behind me.

When Elli reached me, I started walking again. We headed down the brick path that led out of the village. There wasn't really a need to go out of the village, usually. Only few had traveled this path before us, and I definitely wasn't feeling their presence as our feet kicked up dust with every step from the path's disuse.

"We're not going to have much time," Elli mentioned slowly as I unfolded the photocopied map my dad had found in an old, dusty book on his shelf and placed my finger on the icon that was labeled, "The Master's Rumored Home."

"Rumored," I muttered, pondering the significance of that word. Then I registered that Elli had said something. "Hm?" I turned my attention to her. "What?"

"I said we're not going to have much time," Elli repeated, a little exasperatedly. "I'm going to eventually wake up. And by eventually, I mean sooner rather than later."

I mentally groaned. I had forgotten this vital piece of information. I looked at Elli. "Is there any way you can control your body in your world from here?"

"I haven't really tried," Elli told me honestly. "Let me see." She closed her eyes like she was thinking hard. I shifted from foot to foot, trying to look anywhere but at Elli. I had no idea why, but this moment seemed personal for some reason, like something she wouldn't want me to witness.

Suddenly Elli took a deep, shuddering breath and opened her eyes. "Oh, holy cow." She took another deep breath, bending double like she'd just run a mile and needed to catch her breath. "I... saw myself. In the real world. In my world. I was asleep... and I drew the small bit of my consciousness that was left in my real body... I brought it into here. Into Illusionia. Oh, Lily, did I just put myself in a coma again?"

"No, of course not," I answered quickly, but I was sure that she could hear the uncertainty in my voice.

I backtracked, trying to reason with her. "You know what's important? Saving our family. So, putting yourself into a coma, even if it did happen, wouldn't be so bad, right? You don't really care about those people in your world at all."

"You're right," Elli replied slowly, but I saw a glint in her eyes that made me think she was lying.

It was very rare for Elli to lie to me. I'd only seen that look in her eye once before, when I'd asked her if she really did like Micah, the boy who was a little nerdy, a little awkward, but definitely cute, and very chivalrous. Elli knew that I had a crush on him too, so she had lied to me.

"No," she had responded then, and that's what she said now. "No, Lily, I don't care for them."

"You do care for them. I can tell. At least somebody," I accused. "You're lying to my face."

"Fine. I'll tell you about who I met." Elli swiped at her eyes, trying to hide the tears that had started to slowly squeeze out of her eyes, and stopped walking.

We'd made it out of the village by now, and we were about to enter the forest ahead of us. The path that led out of the village had ended beneath our feet. There was no way we knew where we were going except for the papery, dry, dusty map that was currently clutched in a death grip in my hands. Thunder rumbled above our heads. A fat raindrop plopped onto my head, sinking through my thin red hair in no time and making me shiver as it ran down my scalp. A few more drops of rain plopped on the ground, making the dirt soggy in no time. I crossed my arms across my chest, trying to cover the bare skin that was quickly becoming covered in goosebumps.

Elli suddenly started walking again, quicker this time, like she was trying to escape the story that she was about to tell. "I met a boy. His name is Sam. He went to my preschool when I lived in the real world."

She paused. "He was my friend," she added, like that was an important piece of information.

"I thought I was your friend," I whispered.

Sure, I knew friendship wasn't a one-person-only kind of thing, but in that moment, I felt like Elli could only choose one of us. And maybe it wasn't even a choice of friendship, even. It felt like choosing between Sam and me would also be her final choice between Illusionia and the real world. Which would she choose, the world that had raised her and nurtured her, or the world she actually existed in? The choice was simple but impossible. Past, or future?

And in that moment, I was terrified that she would choose the future and leave me behind, stuck in the past, stuck in a bad dream, stuck in Illusionia.

Why did that suddenly sound like such a horrible fate?

***

We walked through the woods for hours. The fact that by this time Elli should have already woken up in the real world weighed heavily on my mind. But Elli didn't seem to be thinking about much at all, except for putting one foot in front of the other, as fast as she could. I was panting for breath, trying to keep up as we trekked quickly through the forest, and I'd been in these woods many more times than she had.

"Elli, could we slow down a little?" I gasped, stopping to tie my shoe.

Elli didn't even miss a beat. Her feet crunched on the pine needle covered forest floor. "No! I can't keep my body asleep forever. I can already feel my real-world parents getting worried about me. Maybe they'll take me to the hospital again. I can't go to the hospital again!"

I finished tying my shoe and jogged to catch up with Elli. "Seriously, we're going to be so exhausted we can't accomplish anything by the time we get there if we keep up this pace!" I panted, pulling out the map and finding the small wooded path that we'd recently discovered that was marked on the map as a thin brown line. The landmarks surrounding the X that marked the rumored home of the Master were a large gray rock and a distinct twisted tree. "We still have a while until we get..."

I trailed off and looked to my left as something gray flashed past my eyes. The large rock was towering above my head imposingly, like a warning. The Master of Illusionia awaits you here. Be prepared.

"Let's run! We've got to get there as fast as we can!" Elli yelled, taking off down the rugged path.

But something didn't feel right to me.

"Elli, wait," I said quietly. She must have heard the fear in my words because she stopped stone-still like someone had frozen her in a block of ice.

"It's too quiet," I told her slowly. No birds were chirping in this part of the forest. No animals were skittering around at our feet like they had when we'd first entered the Dark Woods. The only sound was the sound of the wind, ever-present, drifting through the trees and making them sway and brush against each other with a soft shhhing sound.

"But look! There's a little hut!" Elli protested, pointing ahead.

Sure enough, there was a small house. It was made of logs stacked on top of each other and it looked like the living embodiment of the childhood toy, Lincoln Logs. The roof rose to a sharp point rather abruptly, and the door was made of whittled oak wood. The path leading up to it twisted rather unnaturally, like somebody had made an effort to make it look terrifying.

"It's too quiet," I said again, starting to pace up and down the path. "Wouldn't we hear the Master of Illusionia if he was, in fact, inside there?"

"Not if he didn't want to be heard," Elli argued, which I had to admit was a good point, but it didn't change the fact that it was silent all around us, and that was never, ever a good thing. Especially in a forest that usually burst with living things.

"I don't like this. Let's get out of here," I said nervously, spinning around on my heel towards the direction of home, and gasping at what was behind me.

It was the Master of Illusionia, there was no doubt in my mind about that. He was wearing a cloak of pure silver, that seemed to crackle with electricity as he glided towards me... and as I looked down, I realized he was gliding because his feet were dangling a few feet above the ground, making his six-foot-tall frame look even more imposing. His face looked like it was chiseled out of stone, and his hair was pure black, with a single stripe of blonde zigzagging through the center like a lightning bolt. Self-sureness was written on his face as he reached my terrified form and leaned over me, observing my green, terrified eyes, my bushy red hair, and the fear that was evident in all of my limbs as I slowly inched backwards.

Elli, however, had no such fears. "Master!" she called, relief in her voice. "We've been looking everywhere for you."

"I know." The Master spoke for the first time. His voice was smoother and higher than I expected it to be. It was quieter too, but I had no problem hearing him. His voice was rather like Elli's, it had a certain commanding ring in it that made it impossible to ignore.

"Elli..." I started to caution her, then I decided against wasting my breath and turned towards the Master. "Uh... we don't really need you anymore, actually. Sorry for the trouble! We'll be leaving now!"

"I told you my name is Krystina," Elli snarled at me, then turned to the Master. "Is something wrong with your power, Master of Illusionia? Is that why those who died have not returned?"

"Oh, it's nothing wrong with my power," the Master said in a bone-chillingly quiet voice as he turned slowly to look at Elli. "Hello, World-Walker."

"What did you call me?" Elli asked, confused. "What's a World-Walker? Is it because I've had this dream so many times, and so you say I'm walking between it and the real world?"

The Master laughed softly. "This one's ignorant." He turned back to me. "You really haven't told her about her powers? About Illusionia? About why she's here?"

Elli gave me a strange look. "What haven't you told me?"

"S-something I was forbidden to tell," I stammered nervously. "They said I could never see you again if I told you that Illusionia is actually-"

"As touching as this little feud is, I must cut you off here. You see, there is a reason none of your family is back from the dead. It is my doing!" the Master roared. Then he calmed down a little. "Now, now. Sit, children. Let me tell you a little story."

I had no intention of sitting, but suddenly the Master raised a single finger. The earth directly behind me splintered and a rock rose from the cracked dirt and tangled grass. I tried to move forward, but the Master raised his hand and the wind picked up, smacking me in the face and making my eyes tear up as I stumbled backwards and sat down hard on the rock, just as the same thing happened to Elli. Vines rose from the seemingly barren earth and wrapped themselves around my legs, pinning me to the rock. I struggled, but they were as hard as solid steel cords.

"See, now wouldn't it have just been easier for you to sit?" The Master shook his head and chuckled quietly.

"You really do control everything in this world," Elli said, awestruck.

"Well, World-Walker, I control what I believe I can control. I created this world, as you already know, so I believe I can control everything in this world. Therefore, I can." The Master paused and raised a hand. A third rock rose from the earth right in between ours, cushioned with moss and petals. He rose from the earth and sat down on it. "World-Walkers have a fairly strong will. That means they usually are able to control at least a little of the world by now. Looks like the Illusionia council didn't choose very well when they picked you," the Master said to Elli with mock sadness.

Elli's eyes blazed. She raised a hand. The wind that had just smacked me in the face picked up again and gusted onto the Master. His cloak billowed and his eyes grew wide as he raised a hand and the wind stopped abruptly. I sat there, unable to move, mouth agape. My best friend had just controlled the wind.

"Not bad, World-Walker," the Master replied with a little bit of respect as he composed himself, smoothing his cloak. "But you'll need to be much stronger than that to prevent what I plan to do to this world. Now, listen quietly."

I opened my mouth to give a sharp retort, but suddenly my tongue seemed to twist in my mouth, tying itself up. I tried to cry out in pain, but I couldn't make a sound, and I knew that it wasn't just the landscape that the Master controlled. It was the people, too. Fear shot through my veins the Master began to speak.

"I have ruled over Illusionia for centuries," the Master began. "For centuries I've been content to let the people have their way. Their nonsensical governments, their odd traditions, their pointless battles."

"But then I realized that I was growing weaker," the Master continued. "The people were starting to control more and more of Illusionia, and they didn't worship my awe-inspiring power anymore. Because the fact was, I didn't have that power anymore. The people wanted to rule themselves, not to be ruled over by me." The wind started to rise again, swirling around me and throwing my hair into the air and across my face. I couldn't even raise a hand to brush it away. Anger burned in my soul. I hated the Master, and he hadn't even said what he was about to say next.

"I could have killed them all in one fell swoop. But it would have taken a lot out of me." The Master rose up off the rock into the air. Electricity seemed to crackle around him and his silver cloak as his eyes flashed like the thunder that was still rumbling over our heads.

"So, I altered their minds, their consciousness. All of them. Now, when they die, they won't come back." The Master laughed, a higher and colder sound than his chuckle just minutes earlier. I hated him. I hated him.

"I didn't need to kill them, I realized. Humans want to kill each other by nature. That is proven by your people's incredibly stupid war. I just needed to give them a little... help. If I hadn't altered them so that they didn't return from the dead, it would have just gone on and on forever. An endless cycle. Fight, die, wake up, repeat."

I jolted in my chair, not from anything the Master had done, or from the highly rising tension and fear around me. It was because I had thought those exact words in the middle of the battle that had killed my mother and Elli's family. I tried everything to stop the thought that came into my head next, but it still somehow wiggled its way in.

The Master of Illusionia and I were alike in a lot of ways.

We were both sick of the endless cycle of Illusionia. We both wanted change. But we went about it in very different ways. I was no killer...

Oh my gosh. Yes, I was. The battle for the forest. I suddenly saw the fear in the Jero's eyes that I had killed just the day before as he faded into shadows. He was not coming back now, and now I knew it.

I sank back down onto my uncomfortable perch. I was no different than the madman who was currently hovering above my head. Lightning shot down from the sky right onto the Master, and though any other person would have been immediately electrocuted, the Master simply glared at the lightning, and it retreated. I started to breathe faster. I was a killer. I was a murderer. I was no better than the Master.

The fury in the Master's eyes died. He sat back down on the rock again. "Well, children. You've learned too much. I'm going to have to kill you. It will be simple. It will be clean." He snapped his fingers once. Lightning hovered in the sky right above both my head and Elli's.

But then a realization hit me like a bomb. It was all about the intention. The Master wanted power, and he would do anything to get it. All I wanted was for my family, my friends, my village, the Akla, I just wanted them all to be safe.

And if Elli was killed beside me, then I had failed at my mission. We had to escape. I looked at Elli just as she looked at me. Determination was set in both of our eyes. We would get out of this nightmare. I believed in us. But how?

That question was answered a moment later as I heard a growl from the woods.

A Ripper's hideous black face slowly peeked out from between two trees in front of us. He sniffed around, like trying to pick up the scent of prey he'd been tracking, and slowly raised his head until the Ripper's horrible beady black eyes were staring into the Master's.

And as I turned to look at the Master of Illusionia, the man who had created this world and the one who controlled everything in it, fear was written on his face and in his eyes.

And I realized that he didn't quite control everything in Illusionia.

The Ripper launched itself at the Master. He screeched, summoning wind to blow the Ripper back, but it just snarled and scratched his face, leaving a long, deep cut that I knew would scar if it had been anyone else. But somehow, I doubted there would be a trace of it on the Master the next day. Soon the Ripper and the Master were locked in a fierce battle, man versus beast, nature versus the one who controlled nature.

Well, he controlled most of nature.

I saw our chance. My tongue loosened in my mouth. The vines had slackened across my thighs. Red welts were starting to form there, but I wouldn't feel the pain until later. Right then adrenaline was rushing through my veins, and I ripped the vines off myself with unknown strength. I glanced at Elli as I started to sprint away. "Come on!"

"I-I can't!" Elli tugged at the vines binding her, but they were as tight as ever. I glared at the Master, who was somehow managing to fight the Ripper and control the vines that were binding Elli at the same time.

The Ripper snarled and lunged with a claw, slicing open the Master's chest with a blow that would have killed any other person, but just made the Master snarl and lift a hand. A rock rose out of the ground, shuddered, and took flight, defying gravity and hitting the Ripper hard in the back. But it only paused for a moment before launching itself at the Master again. They were evenly matched, and I knew this fight would last forever if someone didn't do something. Elli was still trapped, and was fruitlessly struggling against the vines.

"Elli," I said softly. "You need to control the Ripper."

"What?" she screeched, so loud the Ripper turned its head for a moment before going back to fighting the Master.

"Man, it really wants to kill him specifically, doesn't it?" I muttered thoughtfully, then raised my voice. "Ells. You've got to control it. The Ripper is a beast, it's not going to beat the Master with all his strategy unless a human with equal strategy is controlling it."

"I've got a better idea," smirked Elli.

She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, obviously concentrating hard.

"Ells..." I started, but then a rock in front of me started to shudder.

It slowly rose out of the ground, a little shakily, and then abruptly flew towards the Master and Ripper. The Master, now having to avoid the rock and fight the Ripper at the same time, didn't have enough concentration to also control the vines binding Elli. I could almost feel them loosening from across the small clearing that we'd made.

"Let's go!" I yelled, motioning to Elli. She slipped out of the vines and started to dash towards me, but then she stopped for a moment, glancing back at the Master. Sweat beaded on his face, but he was winning the fight. We didn't have very long until he noticed that we were escaping and came after us. We had to escape. We had to get back to the village. We had to tell the people to stop fighting, or else they'd all be extinguished from existence... forever.

### Chapter Five: Elli/Krystina

I couldn't believe I had these kinds of powers.

Like sure, in dreams before, I'd fly, or use my mind to control something, but this felt different. I could actually feel the difficulties of controlling Illusionia pulling on my mind and my body as I directed the wind with my mind towards the Master of Illusionia. I could feel the effort that pulling the rock out of the centuries-old earth took.

As I ran for my life back towards the village, Lily by my side, I realized that I'd never felt so alive. It was a nice day, even with the threat of destruction for all of my civilization looming in the air. The thunder had nearly receded, and the rain had died down to a light sprinkling, frizzing my hair. The sun had started to peek through the clouds, shining weakly but bravely on the back of my neck. It was the kind of day that I'd usually take a book and go sit out on the front porch, reading for hours on end as the real world faded away...

But it wasn't the real world. Illusionia was a dream, I reminded myself. That was weird, actually. If I got lost in a different world while I was in a different world already, what did that make that world? My brain hurt just thinking about it, so I pushed the thought away and sped up.

We ran for a couple more minutes, then slowed down. By this time the rain had come to almost a complete halt. Just a couple small drops plopped down onto my head and arms every now and then. But then something strange happened. A raindrop fell from the sky, traveled towards my arm, and... passed through it, hitting the ground with a slight pitter sound.

I looked at Lily. "Um..."

But I hadn't even finished my thought before Lily gasped and jumped back, stopping altogether. "You're a ghost!"

"No, I'm waking up," I realized. Powers or not, I couldn't keep a body asleep forever that wanted to wake up. I stared at my rapidly fading arm as I felt my mind start to fade from the dream. "I'll be back, Lily! As soon as I can!"

And then I stumbled forwards, because I didn't have a body anymore, I was just a shapeless lump of consciousness and jumbled thought and...

Darkness. The darkness entangled itself in my mind, suffocating all my thoughts, as I was asleep again.

But not for very long, because then... a little light.

I slowly became aware of a soft bed underneath my back. I pried open my now-brown eyes and took in the room around me, the room that wasn't quite someone else's, but wasn't quite mine. And then I shifted in the bed and felt the body that wasn't quite someone else's...

But wasn't quite mine.

I slowly sat up and stretched, raising my hands high above my head, unofficially saluting the sun. My muscles felt like it hadn't been used in weeks. Sun was streaming through my window. I glanced at the clock on my night table. 2:02. In the afternoon. Good gosh! I'd never slept in that long before.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps on the stairs. Each step was taken with the deliberate care of someone trying not to draw much attention to themselves, to be as quiet as possible. I bet my mom and dad were surprised I had slept in this long. I would have woken up long before this if I hadn't been controlling my mind from the dream...

But that wasn't possible. I couldn't have powers in a dream that carried over to the real world. I started to doubt myself. Maybe my powers were normal, for "World-Walkers," as the Master of Illusionia said, those who could travel easily between the dream and the real world...

Oh my gosh. The Master! The war! The dream! People were dying right now! I needed to go back to sleep, fast, and get back into Illusionia.

Then I stopped myself. Even if people were dying, was it really that important? They were dream people! Sure, I knew them, I'd been around them for years, but they didn't actually exist. Was it that important to save them?

Then I thought of Lily. I would never be able to live with myself if Lily was killed, and I knew it was my fault, whether she existed or not. She was my best friend. She'd been there through my trials and all my hard times. That had to stand for something, didn't it?

I reached to my left and closed my dusty white blinds, then lay back down on my pillow and squeezed my eyes tightly shut. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

My door slowly opened. Out of pure instinct, I opened my eyes to see who it was. My mother was at the door, still in her pajamas. Her pants were long, light blue, and loose, and her shirt was an old race shirt that she may or may not have actually run. "Hey, babe," she told me with a smile. "Sorry, did I wake you up? You sure slept in, I thought you might have been awake on your own in here and I wanted to let you know that you could come down for breakfast whenever you wanted."

Mom checked her watch. "Wow, it is pretty late!" She laughed softly and walked over to my bed.

I sat up, pretending to yawn. "Man, I'm still so tired."

"Silly Krissy- uh, Krystina. You got over twenty hours of sleep! You should feel as fresh as a daisy." My mom grabbed my hands and pulled me out of bed, revealing the worn T-shirt I'd pulled on the night before and the soft shorts I'd been wearing in the hospital.

"Really, I'm so tired. Can I get a little more sleep?" I lied. Sure, I wasn't as awake as I'd felt in Illusionia, but tired was stretching it. I could have happily gotten up right then, enjoyed a nice breakfast as a family with my real parents, maybe met my sister, gotten closer to the ones I was supposed to love the most. I could have read a book, gone on a walk, talked more to Sam, made some friends. But all I really wanted in that moment was to sink back into a dream and save the life of my best friend.

"If you're really so tired, I'll send you to bed early tonight," my mom compromised, "but you've got to spend some time with us today." It was only then, as my mom kissed my forehead and stroked my foreign hair out of my face, that I realized how worn and tired her face was. Lines marred her natural beauty, and it was all my fault. She had probably stayed up all night, waiting by my bedroom door, listening to me sleep, breathe, making sure I didn't slip into nothingness again.

So maybe it was that fact that made me force out the words, "Okay, Mom."

My mother smiled. It was kind of a sad smile, but I'd take what I could get. Not much smiling was directed at me these days.

We headed down the slippery, tall stairs. I grabbed nervously on the banister, my house in Illusionia's stairs were a lot less terrifying. My mom laughed from behind me. "Don't be scared, Krystina. They're just stairs."

When I finally made it down, I emerged in the kitchen. I was glad that I didn't have to go far, because I would have gotten lost in this strange house. The walls were pale pink, like undercooked salmon. The doors were bleached white. "Ugly colors," I muttered. But it was true. They were absolutely disgusting compared to the elegance of my Illusionia house.

My dad was at the stove, flipping sausages. "Joining us for brunch, Krystina? You're lucky we eat late here," he told me kindly, shoveling a sausage onto a large plate, then handing it to me. "All yours. Dining room is to the left," he said, motioning through a short, small hallway. It couldn't be really called a hallway, it was like a little thin room that connected two rooms. Odd. In my Illusionia house, all the rooms were in one wide-open space. Very airy. This house was cramped comparatively.

I thanked him, taking my plate of sausage and eggs that I hadn't noticed before, and awkwardly grabbing a fork off a pile on the island in the middle of the room. My mom smiled encouragingly. "Make yourself at home, Krystina, baby," she told me warmly as I headed towards the dining room.

A small girl was already sitting at the table. Her hair was shockingly blonde, white-blonde even, like my hair in Illusionia when I was little. I wondered where she'd gotten it? My mom's hair was curly and black, and my dad's hair was slowly fading to gray. Maybe it had used to be blonde. I suddenly felt a lump rise in my throat as I realized I'd never know. I couldn't turn back time. I couldn't see what my dad's hair had used to be just as much as I couldn't see my sister as a baby, or go to middle school, or live any part of my life before I'd woken up. Ugh, now I was going to cry in front of the sister I'd never met because of something as stupid as hair!

I slowly took a deep breath. My sister turned her head. Her face was still childish, but I could tell she would grow up to be beautiful. Her eyes were the kind of blue that looked like the ocean, ever-changing, always perfect. "Krystina," she said slowly. Her lips curled upwards slightly in a small smile.

"That's me," I told her with a slight laugh, putting my plate of breakfast down at the seat across from her.

She looked at me and said quietly and slightly conspiratorially, "That's where Mom sits."

"Thanks for telling me," I replied, genuinely grateful, I wanted to start fitting in with their ways of life as soon as possible. I picked up my plate again and scanned the remaining chairs. "Where should I..."

"Nobody sits in that chair," my sister said brightly, pointing to the seat next to her.

I smiled a little and brought my plate there. "That sounds perfect."

I sank down in the chair and swung my legs underneath the rectangular, wooden table. "So, what's your name?" I asked. Man, this was weird. I shared half my DNA with this girl, and I didn't even know her name? I felt like I was making small talk with the nice girl who sat next to me in science class, not having a conversation with my own sister. Well, I guess everyone had to start somewhere.

"Mariah," my sister mumbled, then said louder, "but please call me Marie."

"Don't like your name much, huh?" I teased.

"It sounds like an old lady!" my sister moaned, and I laughed, feeling like this girl maybe could become my sister, with time.

My mom entered the room, my dad a few steps behind her, both laden with large plates of sausage and eggs. "We usually don't do this big of breakfasts, but it's a special occasion, since it's the first breakfast you'll be eating together with us at our house," Mom said to me with a smile, then sat down confidently in the chair that I'd tried to sit in. She noticed my plate. "Looks like you chose the right place on your own! I was worried you'd try to sit in your father's or my chair. What luck."

I grinned at Marie, who gave me a wink, then turned back to Mom. "What luck."

"Did you two silly girls plan something evil already?" my dad teased. "I'm not surprised." He leaned over to ruffle my hair and I let him. "This one used to always be mischievous. I should tell you the story of how you stole my socks when you were little," Dad suggested.

"Ooh, yes!" Marie clapped. I wondered if she hadn't heard any stories about me as a baby because they were too hard to tell when I was in the coma.

My dad adjusted his position on the chair and smiled before saying, "My work is long and hard, and I'm always tired when I come home."

"That's the truth," Marie muttered sneakily.

"So, when I came home one day when Krystina was almost two, I just wanted to relax in front of the TV. I went into my room, opened my sock drawer to pull on some comfy socks, and..." my dad spread his hands out wide for emphasis, "the fuzzy socks that I knew were in my drawer just that morning were gone!"

"I asked your mother, Carly, if she'd done something with them. She said she hadn't touched them." My mother's name was Carly? That sounded right. But I couldn't believe that I hadn't known my own mom's name before. What was my father's name?

"And so, I came to the only other culprit... you!" my Dad grinned, putting his hand on my head playfully. "And sure enough, there you were, innocently in your room, with my fuzzy socks on your head!"

I laughed, I had done something like that in Illusionia with my mom's shorts. I'd put them on my head and danced around the house. My mom had laughed, picked me up and swung me around. I'd giggled then, and I giggled now. Suddenly I felt rather lucky to have two sets of parents to raise me, to call me their own, to tell silly stories about my childhood. How many people could say that?

Comfortable silence settled in around the table as we all dug into our food. The sausage exploded with flavor and spicy sweetness in my mouth. Food tasted a lot different in the real world. Well, that made sense, I thought to myself, because dream food would never taste as good.

Dream food... I'd almost forgotten! Illusionia! The war! I had to get back to sleep and save that world! I faked a yawn again. "Man, I'm so, so tired. Could I go to my room and rest a little after breakfast?"

My mom gave my dad a look of slight concern. "You feeling okay, hon?"

"Yeah, I just am... tired," I said again. "I did take a walk for the first time in thirteen years last night. It's pretty tiring."

My mom softened. "You're right, sweetie. You go relax for a little while. We'll all be down here if you need us."

Then the doorbell rang, an ominous chime that echoed through the room.

My mom peered out the dining room window. "Why, it's Sam! With cookies! What a sweet boy." She turned to me with a mischievous smile. "Go answer the door, honey. Maybe you can chat with him for a little while. You two would make a very cute couple, you know."

"Don't start with this again," I groaned playfully as I heaved myself out of the chair and headed towards the old oak door. Before I twisted the doorknob to let him in, I gave my mother a stern stare. "Don't be embarrassing, mom."

"Boy, if I knew this was what it would be like to have a teenager..." my mom joked as I pulled open the door with a creak and found myself staring at the very cute, smiling face of Sam.

His curly brown hair bounced underneath his trademark blue baseball cap as he smiled at me. His blue eyes twinkled. "Hey, Krystina! My mom sent me over with some cookies for your family. We're so glad you're awake." He stepped into the doorway without being invited and slipped off his shoes. "Mind if I come in?" he added as an afterthought.

"Make yourself at home," I muttered, taking the cookies from his hands. "Should I put these in the kitchen, Mom?"

"Sure, sweetie," my mom called. "Hello, Sam! You're looking mighty handsome tonight."

Seriously?

Sam looked at me, a little incredulously, then back at my mom. "Uh, thank you."

"Don't mind her," I mumbled awkwardly, bending down to throw his shoes into the pile with the rest of ours, then straightening up and saying louder, "Want to come put these up with me?" I gestured to the cookies, like it wasn't obvious and I might have been talking about his shoes or a flowerpot. I cursed my weak flirting skills.

Wait.

Was I trying to flirt? Lily had sure thought I liked Sam when I described him, and I was starting to think she was right. Aw, man, the last time I thought a crush on a guy was going to go somewhere, I was killed by a Ripper. Why would this time be any different?

Well, this time I lived in the real world. And maybe that made all the difference.

"So, how's it going?" asked Sam quietly as we awkwardly walked past my family to get to the kitchen. Marie gave me a mischievous little wink as I passed, and I gave her a death glare that clearly said do not mess this up for me, crazy little sister that I have just met but already know well enough to know that the wink you just gave me means NOTHING GOOD!

"Not bad," I told Sam, placing the cookies on one of the only free spots on the counter and turning back towards him, trying not to run out of the room screaming with anticipation and nervousness.

Two choices floated to the top of my mind: I could choose to try to impress and make friends with this very real boy, or I could ask him to go away, go to sleep, and save my fake best friend's life.

Holy cow, why was that decision so hard?

I made my choice. Lily could fend for herself for a few more minutes. Meanwhile, I'd be trying to act suave and smooth in a body I barely knew. "So..." I started. Ugh, what did I say next? Say something, Krystina! I told myself quickly. "Um... I like your cap."

So stupid. Why was I so dang stupid? Man, flirting was so much harder in the real world! Why was it so much harder? In Illusionia, I went up to the boy I liked, Micah, and smiled. I told him I thought he was really cute. He blushed and said he thought I was pretty. That was that.

Sam leaned forward and brushed a strand of long, brown hair out of my face.

His fingers were warm, even though the house was absolutely freezing. I felt my face turn beet red. Suddenly it was way too hot in the room. "Let's go outside," I suggested carefully, turning towards the back door, turning the lock, and pulling it open with a creak.

A blast of cool air hit me in the face as the sounds of birds chirping in the afternoon sun reached my ears. I laughed a little. "Wow, it's really cold!" Then I realized I had no idea what date it was. I knew it was fall, but...

"It doesn't even feel like late November," Sam responded, like he could read my mind, as he confidently stepped out onto the porch like he'd been there many times before. Well, he probably had. "Let's sit."

I took a seat on one of the small, squishy, light green sofas that were arranged around the porch with a small table in the middle. Sam plopped down on the sofa next to me after pulling the door shut. "So, what was it like... being asleep for so long?" he asked after a moment's pause.

"I don't really know," I said honestly. "I was in a dream a lot of that time, and the rest I don't remember at all."

"Wow," Sam said quietly. "Man, I can't even imagine. How are you walking? Talking?"

"The doctors didn't know," I admitted. "Apparently, I'm a medical miracle. I should still slowly be learning to form simple words again right now."

"Well, you're far beyond that!" Sam said with almost a slight laugh. He scooted a little closer. "If you're going to high school anytime soon, look for me. I can help look out for you, because it can be a tough place."

"Oh, I-" I stopped myself. I was starting to say, "I know," because I'd just started high school in Illusionia. I was very young when I'd started, still thirteen, but I'd loved it. It was a lot of work and there were some really weird and mean people, but you had so much freedom, so much creativity.

Then I realized I had no clue what high school really was like, because I'd never been to one. Illusionia high schools might have been ten times worse or ten times better. I had no idea. All I knew was that high school, when it did come, was likely to be a rude awakening for me.

***

Sam and I sat on the porch and talked for nearly an hour, until the midday sun rose completely and it was finally warm.

The sun beat down on my head, feeling a lot warmer than late November, and making me yawn with sleepy, warm, coziness.

Sam yawned too. "Man, it's nice out here," he murmured, settling back into the sofa. "Mind if I take a quick nap?"

"Sure," I answered with a shrug, then yawned again, laughing. "Maybe I'll join you."

And the funny thing was, I wasn't thinking about Illusionia at all. I was tired, and I wanted to sleep, right there, with Sam beside me, comfortable, warm, and together.

I settled into the sofa and closed my eyes. Almost immediately I felt myself sinking into darkness, and sleep. The sun beat down heavily, but darkness ruled in my mind. I adjusted a little bit to get the most comfortable position, and with a start, felt my hand touch Sam's.

He didn't move it.

I didn't move it.

And so there our hands stayed as I fell asleep, and sunk into darkness and oblivion.

Slowly, I felt my consciousness transfer over to Illusionia. But this time, I wasn't alone. Something was still touching my hand, traveling with me, making the jump from the real world to the world of my dreams.

And I cursed myself for letting an innocent Earth boy named Sam get involved in the mess that was my life.

### Chapter Six: Lily

I'd just made it back to the village when Elli woke up in Illusionia again.

This time, with her boyfriend.

Sam, she had called him. He had curly brown hair, a blue baseball cap, and bluer-than-blue eyes. He was cute, but he wasn't supposed to be here. He looked around wildly.

"What is he doing here?" I screeched as Elli opened her eyes and looked around.

"What am I doing here?" Sam asked nervously. "Uh, where is here?"

We were in the middle of a battle. Akla and Jero were fighting furiously, using swords and guns to snuff the other side's life out of existence. And little did they know, when they killed the next person, they wouldn't come back.

"We have to stop them!" Elli screamed. "Sam's not important right... well, Sam, you are important, but these people are dying!"

Sam proceeded to look around him at the death and carnage, look mildly surprised, then faint.

"Great," I grumbled. "He's out of our way for a minute or two."

"Be nice, Lily!" Elli chided as she rushed over to the battlefield, "and we've got to stop the battle!"

"Stop! Elli, we've got to make a plan! I hate it when you're this impulsive!"

"Every second we stop and think about a plan, another person dies forever," Elli snarled as she launched herself onto the battlefield, climbing up onto a large gray rock.

"It's no help if you get yourself killed too!" I screeched at her, but then followed, nearly slipping as I climbed. After all, she was my best friend, and I had to back her up.

"STOP!" Elli yelled, as loud as she possibly could, waving her hands above her head to get the attention of the fighters.

Amazingly, by some miracle, the battle did stop for a moment. People murmured and looked up, but then saw it was a child and laughed.

"Get out of the way, young'un!" one of the Jero taunted. "You're going to get yourself kill't! Not like we mi'nd."

The man had a strange accent and I tried to ignore it while responding with strength and courage, "Don't talk that way to my friend."

Elli gave me a grateful look and continued, "The Master of Illusionia has turned to evil. He's altered it so that whenever anyone dies, they don't come back. He wants to rule over Illusionia alone, forever."

Mutters and mumbles traveled through the crowd. "She can't be telling the truth!" one Jero said very clearly.

"Then how do you explain the fact that none of our comrades have returned to battle?" muttered an Akla, obviously thinking about it.

"They're weak cowards," snarled a Jero tauntingly.

"Say that again," one of my mom's Akla friends growled, cocking her gun.

"Weak cowards!" at least four or five Jero screeched simultaneously.

All the Akla fired as one unit, sending multiple Jero sprawling to the floor to disintegrate into dust and memories.

"STOP!" Elli and I screamed together. Tears ran down my face. I finally understood the horrors of war like I never had before. Was this what war was like in the real world? Tearstained faces watching the only family they'd ever known get killed? Pain, blood, darkness, and then no waking up again?

They didn't get it. The soldiers didn't get it. Only two teenage girls, standing on a lonely rock in the middle of the battlefield, one with dirt and soil in her hair from nearly getting killed by the very bullets that were whizzing across the battlefield, and the other with the memories and feelings of two worlds, only we got it. Only Elli and I understood the consequences of the carnage below our feet.

I used to trust adults, trust that they knew what was best for me and best for my life. But I was rethinking everything now. If Elli and I, two ignorant, immature, teenage girls, who still had crushes on cute boys and giggled in the night about girl stuff and weren't yet old enough for half the movies we wanted to see, if we were the only ones that understood the finality of death...

Then Illusionia was doomed.

"We're the only ones that understand," Elli whispered, like she'd read my mind.

I jolted. Had she read my mind? Elli had powers that I'd only ever seen in the Master. Maybe now she could do that too. I shivered. Best friends always joked about reading each other's minds, but I didn't really like the thought any more.

"Not the only ones." I suddenly heard a deep, confident voice from behind my head. I turned, and there was Sam, with mud streaked across his face and his curls unkempt, but looking dangerously determined.

He was climbing the rock, and when he reached the top, Elli gave him a hand up. He took it and planted his feet firmly on the rock, letting go of her hand immediately.

"Thanks for leaving me there, Krystina, scared and unconscious," he said, a little angrily, turning to her. Then he softened. "You look terrified. Where are we? I just remember waking up here... and then..."

"Fainting," I supplied cheerfully.

Sam whirled towards me like he'd noticed me for the first time. "Who are you?"

"Lily," I answered, then defensively added, "her best friend. Now, who are you?" I mimicked his question, even though I knew full-well who he was.

"Sam. Krystina's friend. I never heard anything about her making a best friend in the couple days she's been awake from the coma. And how are we suddenly here..." Sam abruptly stopped talking. "Well, I'm stupid. This is a dream." He looked around at the bodies falling to the floor around us. "Apparently my mind is more twisted than I thought."

"Well, it's a little more than a dream-" I started, but Elli interrupted me.

"We should definitely all get together sometime and talk about life, and death, and asleep-ness and comas, but right now, MY PEOPLE ARE DYING!"

"Mine too," I whispered weakly, but Sam's next words drowned mine out.

"So, these are the people in your dream you've lived with your whole life? I'll save them," Sam growled, jumping down from the rock in one leap and landing on his feet, rushing onto the battlefield.

"You've found yourself a brave one." I shook my head disbelievingly. "Incredibly, impossibly stupid and ignorant, but brave nonetheless."

"He's not stupid, he's never been to Illusionia before!" Elli yelled, "and he's going to get himself killed!"

"Liiike I was saying..."

Elli climbed down the rock quickly, finding handholds in unlikely places and jumping the last couple feet. She gestured to me. "Come on!"

I joined my best friend at the foot of the rock in the heat of battle.

At this point, Sam was waving his hands in the air and screaming, "Stop killing each other!"

And for one second, everyone did stop. But it wasn't because of Sam.

It was because of the growl that had just sounded from the forest.

"Please, Rippers, not now," I pleaded with the world.

But my words were pointless, because just a moment later, the woods rustled and burst open, revealing the most Rippers I'd ever seen all in one place.

They looked around for a moment, their terrifying black faces turning from side to side. Nobody on the battlefield moved, not an inch, not even to quiver in fear or raise their weapons. It was like time had frozen, right there on the warm summer earth and in the humid air. I hardly dared to breathe, taking shallow gulps of air as to not break the stillness that was keeping us all alive. Rippers had very good eyesight, but were sensitive to sunlight, and so with all that was pouring onto us, if we all kept still, we might be safe.

And then one of the Rippers launched itself at my mother's friend and the spell was broken.

Some of the bravest soldiers in Illusionia ran and hid, maybe starting to reconsider whether or not they really would die forever if a Ripper tore into them. I jumped out of the shadows and grabbed the crossbow of a fallen soldier, shooting an arrow at a nearby Ripper who was tackling one of my fellow Akla. The Ripper made a gurgling groan and crashed heavily to the floor, dissolving into blood and shadows and leaving the Akla I'd saved heaving for breath.

"Thanks," he called to me, staggering to his feet and picking up his sword.

"No problem," I answered with a small smile as I jumped into battle.

Sudden movement across the field caught my eye. A Ripper had jumped out at Elli, who didn't have a weapon. She screeched and scrambled backwards. I grabbed an arrow, notched it, and let it fly.

Missed. The arrow embedded itself in an oak tree with a resounding twang. The Ripper advanced further on Elli. I ran towards her as fast as I could. "Hold on, I'm coming!" I screamed, sprinting across half the field, realizing that I was easy prey for Rippers but knowing that I could not just keep fighting mindlessly when my friend was in danger.

I wasn't going to make it. I could tell that I wasn't. I didn't have enough momentum on the windy day, and the squelchy grass was just holding me back. The Ripper stalked closer to Elli, and closer, and then pounced. "NO!" I screamed, my voice cracking.

But the Ripper never got its hands on its prey. A bullet flew out of nowhere and embedded itself in the Ripper's side. It collapsed in a heap, not dead, but wounded enough where it wouldn't be bothering anyone for the rest of the battle.

I looked around for Elli's savior, and to my surprise, Sam lowered a gun and smiled at Elli, jogging towards her.

I was still far enough away that I couldn't catch the words he murmured in her ear, but I did catch one thing clearly.

"You saved my life," Elli said, astonished, and hugged him tight.

I was the one who was supposed to save her life. We were supposed to be hugging right now, as friends, as those who stood by each other no matter what. Elli wasn't supposed to be hugging a boy. Boys weren't loyal.

Well, some were, I knew, but I hadn't managed to find one yet.

A screech from the other side of the battlefield broke up their hug. Elli pulled apart from him. "We've got to keep fighting," she said breathlessly.

Sam tossed her an extra sword. "Let's do this."

They raced across the battlefield together and left me standing alone in the middle of the bloody field, slowly sinking into the swampy grass, and wondering how it had come to this.

I wrenched my feet out of the earth with a huff. I raised my crossbow and shot another Ripper. He dissolved into dust, but it seemed like four more ran out of the forest to take its place.

"We're outnumbered! We have to find somewhere safe and retreat!" screeched a Jero general, climbing the very rock I had stood and talked on.

I looked around for Elli and Sam. If I could find them, we could head to my house and we'd be safe. With a sigh of relief, I saw her bright blue eyes flash nearby. I dashed towards her as she looked around wildly. "Wait. Where's Lily?" Elli caught my eye and motioned to me. "We're going back to the village! We'll bring as many soldiers as we can so they'll be safe!"

"Okay!" I responded breathlessly, starting to jog towards the end of the field. A path there led to the start of the village. I just hoped that the Rippers wouldn't follow us. Suddenly a thought struck me. "But Elli, the battle could end now if you just controlled the Rippers!"

"All of them?" she protested. "I can't do that!"

Sam, who was beside her, stopped. "Wait, you can control these monsters? Can you do that now?"

"No, I can't," Elli snapped, "because I've never been able to do it in the first place! All I can control in Illusionia is small stuff. Rocks. Plants." As if to prove her point, she glared at a small stone. It shuddered, rose out of the ground, and smacked a Ripper in the eye. It groaned and clawed vaguely in the direction of the rock. But it was too late because the rock was now flying back to Elli, who caught it in her hand. She waved it around. "Voila," she said dryly.

"B-but... that's amazing!" Sam spluttered. "Couldn't you stay here and protect everyone with your powers? I'll be no help, I don't know how to use any of these weapons."

"So much for, 'I'll save you and your people," I murmured, the hint of a sly smile sneaking onto my face. Sam wasn't as amazing as he'd led Elli to believe.

"EVERYONE! EVACUATE THIS WAY," Elli screeched, trying to cover up the sound of the truth.

A few soldiers glanced her way, but the rest kept fighting the Rippers, oblivious to anything except the thrill of the battle and the rush of the kill.

"Krystina, I think it's great that you're such a caring person, but if we stay here much longer, we're going to get devoured," Sam gasped, dodging a Ripper that was sprinting by. "We've got to get out of here, there's nothing we can do to help the other soldiers. They're outnumbered and there's little to no chance for their survival."

I heard the truth and logic in Sam's words, but Elli's eyes hardened. "I will not let my people be killed, no matter how dangerous it may be to save them," she growled.

"So stubborn!" Sam huffed, annoyed. Then he lowered his voice. "Listen, Krystina. And..." he looked at me like he'd forgotten my name.

"Lily," I supplied, raising my eyebrows. "Didn't I just tell you that?"

"I don't care what the consequences are! I don't care if there's little to no chance for their survival! Imagine if it was your neighborhood getting attacked," Elli answered Sam, ignoring our little side conversation.

That truth made Sam stop and think for a moment.

"Man, you're right," he said slowly. "Let's fight them!"

That was when the Ripper jumped out of the shadows.

It was like it happened in slow motion. One second there was no movement behind the rock that we were all standing against, the next second, there was, as the biggest Ripper I'd ever seen launched itself at Elli.

I knew, right then and there, that if the Ripper were to reach its target, Elli would be killed. I couldn't let her die. Elli was Illusionia's only chance! She was the chosen one, the World-Walker, the only one who had ever rivaled the powers of the Master of Illusionia. She was the one who could control the world, and I had faith, that with time, she could control the Rippers too.

The thing was, time was one thing Elli was about to lose.

And I knew that I had a whole life ahead of me, with friends, family, love, laughs, and time. So much time would have been in my life.

But Illusionia needed saving.

And I wasn't the one meant to save it.

I threw myself in the path of the Ripper, shooting my crossbow at the same time.

Instantly white-hot pain ripped through my body as the claws that were intended for Elli tore into me. Teeth tore at my chest, ripping my clothes and skin into shreds. I felt the blood start to flow before I was even aware of falling to my knees on the soft grass.

But my intended target had been demolished. The Ripper was dead, and I knew it only was because of the angle I'd gotten. It was only by killing myself that I'd saved Elli's life.

And yes, I was dying. I could feel the darkness creeping onto the edge of my vision already as Elli screamed, "NO!" and dropped down to me, feeling around, trying to find the wound so she could stop the flow of blood.

But there was no stopping it. The sounds of the battlefield faded away slowly as I slipped to the soggy grass carpet. I felt the dirty water seeping through my clothes and into my hair, but it wouldn't matter soon.

"Lily," Elli sobbed quietly, her long blonde hair tickling my bleeding arms. "You didn't have to do that for me."

I built up enough strength to manage, "Yes, I did."

And with those words, I closed my eyes and was swept away into the darkness.

And died.

### Chapter Seven: Elli

Lily was dead.

I had seen her body fade from this earth right before my eyes, but I still couldn't believe it.

She was my best friend. She had stuck by me no matter what and never let me go. She couldn't be dead. That would be impossible!

But she was. And as I stared at the place her body had disappeared like that might make her come back, I knew one thing for sure.

She wasn't coming back, just like all the thousands of soldiers killed by Rippers and each other weren't coming back.

I was on my own now. I was the only one who could save Illusionia. And to do that, I couldn't be trapped in this field of Rippers any longer.

I had to find and kill the Master.

"Krystina..." a deep, kind voice spoke from beside me and I jumped. I had forgotten. I wasn't quite alone, not yet. Sam was still here.

"Sam... you've got to try to wake up," I told him quietly, my voice cracking as I stood up and looked him right in his beautiful blue eyes.

"What? No! I'm not leaving you here alone!" Sam cried.

"You have to," I told him, urgency lacing its way through my tone as Rippers finished off the last of the soldiers all around me and slowly turned towards us. "I'm the only one who has any chance of surviving this messed-up world for very long." And the thought that I didn't add onto the end of my sentence: I would only need to survive it long enough to kill the Master of Illusionia. Then, I would be content to die.

I looked around the field. It was a barren wasteland, silent except for the growls and snarls of the Rippers as they looked for more prey. There were lines and pools of blood and shadows everywhere on the battlefield. I tried not to look at them as I stared at the world I'd once loved and a tear ran down my cheek. The destruction was unimaginable. It was a wasteland. My home was a wasteland.

"The Master will pay for destroying my beautiful world," I growled. "I've got to find him and kill him."

"Elli, no! You've got to try and wake up and never come back here! It's a dream! None of it is real, none of it matters!" Sam pleaded, taking my hand in his. "Let's go hide somewhere safe and wait to wake up."

"Illusionia is more than a dream," I answered with strength and certainty. "It is my home. And I will protect it with my life."

As soon as I finished the last word, a cold, unforgiving, and higher-pitched than I'd expected laugh rang throughout the forest.

I stumbled backwards. Sam caught me. "What is that?" he asked breathlessly.

"Oh, Sam, not what..." I started helplessly, "but who."

The Master of Illusionia floated out from between two of the largest trees in the forest like it was the gateway to a mansion and he was entering for a cup of tea. That was how utterly relaxed he looked as he lifted a finger and a tree rose to make room for his billowing cloak. Lightning crackled around him and his eyes found mine.

"Oh, lookie here. I thought I was going to have to search the world to find the pesky World-Walker that was ruining all my plans," the Master said softly. "But she walked right into my trap."

"You," I snarled. "You have killed my people and destroyed my beautiful world. You will pay for this." Using all my concentration, I lifted the biggest rock I ever had. I felt my hands shake as I used all my strength to fling the rock at the Master.

He batted it away with a gust of wind like it was a stray fly. "You will not get away from me this time," he leered, lifting his hand. A tree rose up from the soggy grass, right in the same place where Lily had fallen and died. Anger burned through my veins as I dodged to avoid the tree branches reaching out to capture me.

"Stop fighting me, child," the Master of Illusionia barked, raising his other hand. The tree branches moved faster. The Master was using a lot of his power, but it still wasn't enough to weaken him, even a bit.

Sam rushed to me. "Krystina. We've got to get out of here," he said breathlessly. "Let the Master use up all his power trying to kill you. We've got to hide and try to wake up."

"No," I said calmly. A cool breeze rushed over me just as a realization did. "I must kill the Master. It is my destiny as a World-Walker."

"You'll die!" Sam protested weakly.

"Then so be it," I told him quietly.

I slowly made my way out of the tangle of branches and into the glaring sunlight. The Master lowered his hands. "Hello, child," he said quietly, floating closer to me. His silver cloak crackled, sparks dancing across its surface. My hands trembled and I shoved them in my pockets to hide the fact that I was absolutely terrified.

I knew that I had to kill the Master, but I had no idea how.

"You might as well just surrender now," the Master snarled, gliding even closer. "I'll make your death quick and painless, instead of long and torturous like it will be if you try to fight me."

"The only thing that's going to be long and torturous is you begging for mercy as I get ready to destroy you," I growled, lifting both hands. The tree the Master had started grew faster and reached its limbs towards him.

"Why do you even care so much about ruling over a dream, anyway?" I scoffed as I let my strength build and flow out onto the quickly growing tree.

The Master of Illusionia laughed softly and disbelievingly. "Wait. They still haven't told you, the great World-Walker and chosen savior of Illusionia, what Illusionia really is?"

"A dream," I repeated, but uneasiness was growing in the pit of my stomach. Illusionia didn't feel like a dream. It never had and it never would.

It had felt way more real.

"Well, I'm not going to spoil the little illusion that they've caught you in," the Master said with a chuckle. "Go on! Keep believing it's a dream! Easier to think that then to know the truth of what the Council has done to your life."

"The Council... what does the government of Illusionia have to do with this?" I said carefully. A picture was slowly forming in my mind, a picture I wasn't sure I wanted to see.

"The Council was the one who put you into the coma in the first place," cackled the Master, gliding even closer. I knew I was in horrible danger but my feet seemed to be rooted to the ground.

"You're lying," I accused. My voice cracked. "They wouldn't do that... they wouldn't take me away from the real world, my true home."

"They put you in a coma and sent you here to train. You showed great potential in the real world, controlling little things even then. People always acted the way you wanted them to, even at age two. It was a gift only few showed, and a gift that could be used anywhere." The Master was almost on top of me now. I felt my hair stand on end as his electrical cloak lit up the slowly darkening sky.

Sam turned to me. "Krystina... I..."

"They trained you for years, sometimes without you even realizing it!" The Master revealed gleefully, ignoring Sam. "And your powers have been growing and growing since the day you first stepped foot on Illusionia soil. But you haven't needed to use them yet. Until now."

"You're all just dream people. You don't really exist," I protested rather weakly, but I knew what the Master's next words were going to be before he even said them.

"Illusionia is not a dream..."

"It's an alternate dimension."

I stumbled backwards like I'd been slapped. An alternate dimension? That was something straight out of a bad sci-fi movie. It couldn't be.

But it made so, so much sense. The tingle at the back of my mind, warning me I wasn't quite in the right dimension, wasn't quite in the right time. The fact that I hadn't had trouble walking when I'd woken up in the real world. The amazing miracle of me speaking immediately after waking up. It wasn't because I was a genius or some fast-learning prodigy, it was because I'd been using those skills for thirteen years!

"He's lying. Krissy, he's lying," Sam spoke up. His face was pale and his hands shook as he stared me in the eyes.

"But wait," I spoke up, suddenly eager, hungry, for more information. I needed to know everything, because not quite everything fit, and I still held out hope that I'd catch the Master and he'd have to admit he was lying, this was a dream, he didn't really exist. "How was my body in the hospital for thirteen years if the Illusionia council transported me here?"

"They didn't transport your whole body here, they just transported your consciousness and made you a new body," the Master explained, a fiendish grin spreading across his lips. "That's why they said there was nothing wrong with your body, you just wouldn't wake up. You wouldn't wake up because your consciousness was elsewhere."

It was starting to make more and more horrible, incredibly terrifying sense.

The Master was obviously enjoying himself. "And guess what else? They trained you for thirteen years, then sent you away! Sent you back to the real world. But they couldn't do it on their own, so they came crying to me. 'Oh, Master, would you send Elli back to the real world until we need her?' I agreed, to keep up the face of being on their side."

The Master grinned, revealing teeth that were way too perfect for a power-hungry madman who had destroyed an entire dimension. "They told me to close the gates to our dimension. I pretended that I had... but really, I hadn't. Because there was something else I hadn't told them. I was sick of being a slave to their wants. I was sick of being the most powerful person in the world yet the one who got to make the least decisions. I was sick of having so little power..."

"So, you kept the gates open. And altered it so that whenever somebody died, they died for real," I finished, disgust lacing my tone. "You're a monster."

"Well, technically, I'm not," the Master told me cheerfully. "The real monsters are Rippers. You see, I created everything in this world except them. They weren't here for hundreds of years, until the war started." He paused. "When I created Illusionia, there was a slight glitch. When someone died, they came back, until I altered them, of course." He looked me right in the eyes, like seeing if I would catch on to his next revelation. "But every time somebody died, their spirit became..."

"A monster. A Ripper," I whispered. Every time I'd stabbed one of those terrible beasts and watched their blood spill onto the ground, I was destroying the spirit of an Illusionia citizen. Holy crap, I could have killed my own spirit at least five times! I shivered, suddenly feeling all the strength leave my limbs as I slipped to the floor. It was all too much at once.

"And now that that's settled, I will be killing you," the Master told me, all of the glee vanishing from his voice and leaving a cold, hard growl in its place. "You are weak. I can tell. You have no power left in you. You couldn't control a gentle spring breeze." He laughed manically, slowly floating down to my level as thoughts raced through my head at a million miles an hour and I felt like blacking out.

"I'll kill him, Krystina," Sam snapped, jumping to my side and grabbing the crossbow Lily had held in her dying hands. "I'll..." he breathed heavily, then notched an arrow and shot it at the Master. It was a wild shot and so it missed, flying and hitting the very last Ripper, who had been trying to pounce on the Master from behind. It whimpered and ran off, licking its wound. The Master laughed and threw a rock at its injured form as it retreated.

Anger started to burn through my system, giving me power. The Master was the real villain, not the Rippers. The Rippers couldn't help killing. It was in their veins, just like it was in the veins of Illusionia citizens. But nothing would have ever gone wrong if the Master hadn't altered us to die forever. He was the one who ruined everything.

I felt a surge of adrenaline in my system, but I stayed on the ground, pretending to be slumped in defeat as the Master of Illusionia summoned a lightning bolt powerful enough to disintegrate me in less than a second and let it float above my head.

"Goodbye, World-Walker," the Master snarled.

That's when I jumped up and controlled the tree that was stretching over my head.

The Master reacted quickly, gliding quickly out of the way, but my powers were growing stronger, and I was just a millisecond faster than him. With all my strength, I directed the curving limbs of the tree at the Master and caught him in the tree's eternal embrace. The branches wrapped around his cloak and snagged him in place. The Master grunted and raised his hand, using just a little of his power to try and take control of the tree again, but he underestimated me and I easily kept him entangled.

"Let... go of me," snapped the Master, not really concerned but still annoyed by the hindrance that was keeping him from moving.

"Why would I do that?" I mocked. "You're the one who said you were going to kill me. But it looks like you're a little..." I gestured, "stuck."

Well, if you're ever considering taunting the creator of a whole dimension, I would suggest refraining. The Master of Illusionia's eyes blazed. He lifted both hands and the trunks that were surrounding him snapped, sending splinters flying towards me. I shielded my head with my arms, but a couple shreds of wood embedded themselves in my legs. I winced, pulling them out and watching the blood seep onto the already gruesomely bloody ground.

"I am stronger than you," screeched the Master, summoning a lightning bolt, "and don't you forget it!"

This time he didn't hesitate before directing the lightning it straight onto me.

It was the worst pain I'd felt in my life. I jumped up as I felt electricity run through me, sending searing white-hot pain through my veins. I smelled something metallic and burning, and I tasted blood in my mouth as I collapsed to the ground. I struggled to stay conscious as I felt myself blacking out. I couldn't move, and I saw my hair on the ground. The ends had been singed off. I was definitely severely injured, but also not instantly dead like the Master had promised I'd be.

How was I still alive?

The Master looked at my crumpled form lying on the warm earth, my half-closed eyes, and my singed hair. But all he did was grunt angrily. "You should be dead!" he yelled. "World-Walkers aren't special. World-Walkers don't have the power to withstand more volts of electricity than a normal human."

I struggled to open my eyes and stare the Master directly in his face. I still couldn't move a single muscle, but I would not be scared. I knew that my destiny was to kill the Master.

And in that moment, as I watched the Master of Illusionia rage like a sulky child, I knew my destiny was to succeed.

But how?

I'd forgotten about Sam, until I heard his voice yell, "Krystina!" He rushed to my side, putting his hands on my limp ones. "Are you alright? What did he do to you?"

"I'm fine," I managed, even though I was so obviously not fine. I motioned to Sam to come closer, and he leaned his ear close to my mouth. "Listen," I said softly, feeling my breath blow back his curly hair very slightly. "I can kill the Master. I know how. I just need time to regain my strength."

I stared Sam straight in the eyes. "I need you to distract him."

"I'm on it," Sam said instantly, but I shushed him.

"Sam. This is going to be incredibly dangerous. You might die. Are you prepared to die for a world you barely know?"

"No," Sam answered honestly, "but I'm prepared to die for you."

In that moment I knew I loved him, and I wanted to hug him and kiss him and never let him go, but I was only slowly regaining strength in my hands and legs and I knew it would be distracting anyway to throw myself at him like that right before he had to do something incredibly dangerous. So, I settled for just smiling at him. "I love you."

"I love you too," Sam whispered, before standing back up and facing the one true monster of Illusionia.

"Go, Sam," I murmured weakly before blacking out entirely.

***

I was suddenly aware of a bright light in my face as I woke up with a start. With a sinking heart, I realized I was still in Illusionia, and I probably wouldn't leave until I beat the Master, or died. I was pretty much stuck in this world for good. I was still lying on the ground, my arms and legs stretched out awkwardly where they'd fallen.

Sam was holding his own rather well against the Master, I noticed as I stretched my aching muscles as fast as I could. Sam was shooting him with a crossbow, actually landing quite a few shots. The Master was attacking him with lightning, but Sam was dodging it all.

At least I could move now. I carefully tried to control a rock. It rose out of the ground easily, maybe even more easily than usual. Maybe it was because some of the Master started to run through my veins when he summoned lightning to strike me. I doubted it would last very long, though, and so I needed to act.

"Master!" I screeched, waving my arms and slowly getting to my feet.

He glanced at me, ceasing the barrage of lightning that aimed at Sam for a moment.

"I see Sleeping Beauty is finally awake. You tried to play like the lightning didn't hurt you, but I could sense you were close to death," the Master snarled. "The next time I hit you, you won't be so lucky."

"You're probably right," I said cheerfully, "but that's why I'm planning on hitting you instead."

With that, I built up all the strength I possibly could. The Master looked at me, now genuinely worried. He quickly lifted a hand and the tree that had previously entangled him looped its branches around Sam's neck. The crossbow fell from his hands as he weakly clawed at the branches, coughing and choking and falling to his knees.

"Yes..." the Master said slowly as Sam collapsed to the ground. "Little girls shouldn't meddle, especially when their boyfriends are so deliciously easy to capture."

"NO!" I screamed as the power rushed out of me. I tried to build it back up and take control of the branches, but I couldn't manage quite enough. "No," I said again, sobbing, but there was nothing I could do but watch Sam's eyes roll back as he passed out and slipped to the floor.

The Master finally released the tree from around his neck, and slowly glided over to him as I sprinted towards his limp form. But the Master reached him first, slowly placing a long, pale finger against his wrist. "Alive," he said softly, "but just. Unless you surrender now, I will not hesitate to finish the job right here."

And as I stood there, staring at the man I hated with all of the heart and the boy I loved, anger built up inside of me and a realization dawned on me.

However much power I'd built up before, it would have never been enough. Love was strong, yes, but the strongest thing of all to a World-Walker, one who could control their surroundings, was anger. Anger burned in the soul and traveled through the limbs. Anger pulsed through the mind and flew through the veins.

And right now, I was angrier than I'd ever been in my entire life. So, I closed my eyes and with all my strength, summoned something even more powerful than lightning.

Fire.

The fire instantly appeared in the air above the Master. He looked at it, and then me. "Why, you little-" he snarled, and shot a bolt of lightning at me.

But he didn't have time to say anything else, because just as his lightning hit my heart, the fire fell from the sky onto him. The Master screamed, falling to the floor as the fire quickly consumed him and he crumbled into a pile of dust.

I wasn't aware of any of this, however. One lightning bolt had been pretty badly injured me. I couldn't survive another.

So as white-hot pain racked my body again, I knew I was dying. But all I felt was complete peace as a light breeze spread the dust that had once been the Master of Illusionia all over the bloody and worn ground. I'd seen a lot of pain. But maybe now, it could cease.

But I wanted to see Sam one last time. I needed to see Sam one last time. It took all my energy to crawl towards him and I was completely drained when I made it. Sam coughed and opened his eyes, slowly finding my own eyes.

"I think I'm dying, Krystina," Sam whispered, closing his eyes again.

"I am too," I said softly.

Sam's eyes snapped open and a tear squeezed out of his eye. "No! You can't die! I... I sacrificed myself for you," he sobbed.

I reached for his hand as the black dots gathered in my vision, and I felt a darkness deeper than unconsciousness pushing in on the edge of my mind. "I wish we could have had longer together," I whispered, closing my eyes.

Sam curled his fingers around mine. "I'll see you in my dreams, beautiful."

But death would be dreamless, I knew. Anyway, I'd never really known what a dream was like, anyway. I felt myself fading and I managed to say before the black dots carried me away, "I'll never forget you."

And then, (for I was very familiar with the moment of death by now,) I died.

### Chapter Eight: Lily

Very surprisingly, I opened my eyes.

Was I dead? I was supposed to be dead. Man, it would be incredibly embarrassing if I'd said all that touchy-feely stuff to Elli about sacrificing myself and I hadn't been injured quite enough to die. But I certainly wasn't in Illusionia anymore, so maybe I was dead after all. Where did Illusionia citizens go when they died? I'd never thought to ask, because I'd assumed we'd always just keep coming back to life, over and over and over.

Feeling was slowly coming back into all my limbs. I stretched slowly, feeling bright light pulse against my eyes. Maybe it was the sun. Hope surged through me. Was I alive?

Suddenly, I could see! And hear! And feel the cool wind tickle my face! I reached for my stomach and felt along it. No major wound... my heart plummeted.

And then the last voice I expected to hear reached my ears. "Lily? Is that... you?"

"What the... who are you?" I groaned, taking in the swimming face in front of me that looked nothing like my best friend's face but who had the exact same voice as she did. I looked closer. Brown eyes. Long brown hair. Freckles. My brain struggled to process.

"Oh my gosh!" the stranger in front of me squealed, flinging her arms around me. I winced. I was incredibly sore, just like I was when I woke up in Illusionia after a death.

"What's going on? I'm so confused," I replied nervously, my voice scratchy and dry. I propped myself up on one hand and stared the girl in the eyes... man, her eyes were a lot like Elli's. Not the same color, not the same shape. But they had a sparkle, a confident, playful glint, that I'd only ever seen before in the eyes of my best friend.

The girl cocked her head at me. "Oh, right right right. I look different in the real world." She paused. "This is the real world, right?" And then, along with me, she looked around at her surroundings.

The sun was just setting on the treetops of trees that looked like no trees I'd ever seen before in my life. They burst with colorful pink blossoms, making the whole forest look like a kind of fairyland. The sun... the sun was so much brighter! Even though it had nearly set, I could still see the girl's face as clear as in the daylight. In Illusionia, it would be nearly pitch-black by now. And the sunset... my breath caught as I stared in awe at the array of pinks, and purples, and oranges, and reds. They were all streaked across the sky like a giant hand had taken a massive paintbrush and, in a few brisk strokes, painted the sunset.

"Oh my gosh," I whispered, and then turned to the girl before me. "This is the real world! This is! I can feel it! The air is sharper, the sun is brighter, colors are clearer..." I laughed, a little hysterically, and then stopped abruptly. "But who are you? How am I here? How am I alive?"

"I'm Krystina," the girl beside me said softly. "And you're Lily. My best friend who refuses to call me anything but Elli."

And I finally realized that now, she was Krystina. Elli was dead. Elli was gone. In that moment I was certain she'd died somewhere in a cold, soggy, bloody field in the center of Illusionia. And I felt a lump rise in my throat as I silently mourned the loss of my best friend.

Sure, Krystina Stark, the resident of Earth, now sat before me, very real indeed. But I had only ever known Elli Image, the citizen of Illusionia.

"Look at the stars," Krystina said suddenly.

I followed her pointing finger to the shower of stars that had been strewn across the sky, almost haphazardly, like they'd been carelessly thrown there. Illusionia stars were in perfect rows, one after the other, after the other, on and on and on. My mind flashed to fight, die, wake up, repeat. The words marched across my mind like perfect little soldiers getting ready for battle.

"Stop it," I muttered to myself. I wanted to have good memories of Illusionia, not suddenly realize it was some perfect world where everything had to be exactly the way the Master wanted it. Oh, it pained me so much to think of the power-hungry villain called the Master of Illusionia creating our beautiful world. It would have been much nicer for somebody like Elli... Krystina, I corrected myself... to have created it. Then I could remember my life there with happiness and joy.

"So, we're definitely in the real world?" I spoke up, wrenching my gaze away from the beautiful stars.

"I've never seen stars like this anywhere else," Krystina said softly, and that was the best answer I could have possibly received.

"What do we do now? What happened in Illusionia after I..." I couldn't quite bring myself to say the word die when I was so obviously alive and breathing and talking and trying not to cry.

"I killed the Master, but Sam and I died," Krystina said shortly, then seemed to realize something and looked around sharply. "I think that when we killed the Master, his alterations to your mind were erased and instead of vanishing from existence, you were transported to the real world," she theorized.

"That sounds... like the most unlikely thing to have possibly happen, which probably means that's exactly right," I said with a short laugh. "So where would Sam be now, then?"

"Lying here listening to your conversation," a deep voice said from right beside Krystina, then laughed.

Krystina jumped about a mile into the air. "Sam! You're here! You're alive!" she said breathlessly, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a sitting position. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, before I gave Krystina a pointed glare and she jumped a little.

"Oh. Sorry," she said sheepishly, but at the same time, you could tell she didn't feel bad at all.

"You're hopeless," I muttered, standing up and almost falling back down again because I was so sore and exhausted.

Krystina stood up quickly and caught me. She grinned. "Girls before guys!"

"I'm right here," Sam protested playfully.

The sun fully disappeared under the horizon. Darkness bathed our little clearing in the middle of the fairyland woods. "Well, what are we going to do now?" I asked slowly.

"In the morning, let's look around. If everyone else who died in Illusionia woke up in the real world too, they can't be too far away," Krystina suggested. "And then, we'll make sure the Master of Illusionia really is gone forever.

"That sounds good," I said with a happy sigh, lying back down and putting my arms under my head as makeshift pillows. If the next day, we'd be able to find my family again, and they'd be alive... well, that made all the pain I'd gone through worthwhile.

I tried to sleep. I knew kind of what sleep was supposed to feel like, because of dying, but I just couldn't do it. I was exhausted. I wanted to sleep. But my body wasn't used to it, and so, eventually I gave up on trying to get any rest. I sat up and stared at the stars, and the darkness, and listened to the silence...

***

When I suddenly woke up from a loud bird's call, I virtually pumped my fist. I had gotten some sleep after all, which probably meant there was more of a chance I'd be useful today. The sun was just rising, and painting the sky with the same colors that had shown during last night's sunset.

For a moment, I looked at the sleeping forms of Krystina and Sam, then stood up and looked around. I made a quick decision and set off at a brisk pace towards the beautiful pink trees.

I quickly walked across the frosty field, shivering in my thin long-sleeved shirt that I'd been wearing when I was killed in Illusionia. My feet softly crunched against the icy grass as the array of pink came closer and closer. As I neared the grove, I noticed little purple fruits hanging from the tree. Many had already fallen to the ground, rotting, with little flies buzzing angrily around them. The remaining fruits seemed heavy, like they'd plop to the forest floor at any moment.

I gathered as many as I could in my arms, hoping Sam or Krystina would know what they were, for there were no fruits like those in Illusionia.

As I neared our little makeshift camp, arms laden with the soft, purple fruits, I gave a little smile to Krystina, who had woken up and was gathering our few belongings. Sam was still asleep. I could hear his quiet breathing as he lay on his side, his curly brown hair flying out wildly in all directions.

I dumped all of the purple fruits onto the ground. "Are these edible?" I was hoping yes, because my stomach was aching from hunger. I hadn't had anything to eat since our epic journey to take on the Master and find him at his hideout using the map. Where was that map, now? I hope it burned forever in the abyss. Man, I hope that thing didn't come back to haunt us.

"Yeah, they are! These are plums," she said brightly. "My mom and dad had them in our fridge when I grabbed some milk during breakfast, but they were a lot bigger there. Maybe it's because these are wild."

"I never saw them at your house when I came over," I said, confused.

Krystina blinked. "Oh, sorry. I meant my real mom and dad."

"How can you say that now that you know that Illusionia was just as real as this world?" I asked angrily. "Those were the parents that raised you and taught you all they knew!"

"They're also the parents that agreed to put me in a coma for most of my life to fight for a world I cared nothing about," she snorted. "They're not the parents that came to visit me at the hospital every day, hoping and praying that I'd wake up and come to live in the world where I truly belonged."

"They just wanted what was best for you!" I shouted.

Sam stirred, lifting his head. "Whazgoinon?" he mumbled sleepily, yawning. He sat up and stretched, then fixed tired eyes on the plums. "Aw, did you gather those, Krissy? You're the sweetest."

"I gathered them," I snarled, "and your girlfriend is being incredibly stupid!"

"Not Krystina..." Sam quickly stepped to her defense, but I wasn't looking at him, because I'd already wished I could take it back when I saw Krystina's face.

She had recoiled like I'd slapped her. "We swore... we'd never call each other that... after..." she whispered as a memory hit me in the face.

We were ten years old (well, now that I thought about it, Krystina was twelve in the real world by then). It was the first day of fourth grade for both of us in Illusionia, and we were terrified. The year before, Elli had been bullied (I couldn't help but think of her as Elli during our time in Illusionia). We were worried that it would happen again.

And sure enough, right after the first bell rang for school, a girl, Ria, flounced up to Elli and I. "Ew," she had said with a smirk. "Did somebody die on your shirt, or is that just its natural color?"

"I-I..." Elli stuttered, unable to form an answer. I could see her holding back tears. There was nothing wrong with her shirt. This was the worst possible start to a year I thought would be a fresh start for us both.

"Look, she can't even think of a comeback!" one of Ria's friends called. Laughter traveled through the small crowd that had gathered to watch.

"Stupid!" somebody called.

The crowd echoed him. "Stupid! Stupid!"

"SHUT UP!" I had suddenly screamed. The murmurs and giggles died as people turned to each other and whispered about me. And Elli. We were a team, and that could work against us sometimes.

"Come on. Let's get out of here," I muttered, grabbing Elli's hand and pulling her away from the pain...

"You'll never call me stupid, will you?" Elli had asked nervously when we'd gone into a girl's bathroom stall and locked the door.

"Never," I promised...

And I was back in the present, and staring Krystina in her eyes. Hurt was written all over her face. And though I knew she'd come so far since she was a scared little fourth grader who couldn't stand up for herself, I knew in her heart of hearts, she was still insecure and worried about what people thought of her. And I'd just taken my promise, one of the constant certainties in her life, and stomped on it.

"Man, Krystina, I'm so sorry..." I apologized weakly, but a tear ran down Krystina's cheek and she turned away from me. Sam wrapped her in his arms, and she relaxed into him.

"So much for girls before guys," I muttered as I grabbed a plum and took a huge, angry bite.

Then I raised my voice. "We've got to try and find the other Illusionia citizens," I told them, taking another bite of the plum. Purple juice squirted out from the surprisingly yellowish-orange fruit.

"And we need to make sure that the Master didn't come back to life," Krystina added softly, wincing a little. I realized that I hadn't asked her how she'd died. Now didn't seem like a very good time, though.

"Right. Man, I really hate him," Sam agreed, shaking his head and pulling away from Krystina. "What sicko sends lightning down to strike someone twice, then chokes their boyfriend with a tree?"

Well, now I knew the answer to that question. I snorted a little to myself. Getting choked with a tree was the stupidest way ever to die. I bet Krystina had died much more bravely. Then I scolded myself. Sam was on our side. I had to stop disliking him so much.

Krystina gave me a sullen glare and started picking up plums from the ground and gathering them. "Let's head out."

"I'm sorry... please don't be mad at me," I told Krystina again, reaching out a hand for hers. She didn't flinch away, so I smiled a little. It was a start. It was at least a start.

"Where are we going to head first when we get out of the forest?" Sam asked, helping to pick up the plums and the few things that had traveled over from Illusionia with us. From what I'd deduced, it had only been the things that were directly touching our body. Perhaps that was the rule with things going into Illusionia too. That explained why Sam would have traveled into it with Krystina, if they fell asleep holding hands or something like that...

I wrenched my mind away from that topic and focused on the task at hand. I helped to gather our belongings. "I don't know. Maybe we follow that path?" I snorted, pointing to the path where the leaves had been obviously trampled, marking where others had traveled out of these woods, maybe even after waking up in this very clearing.

"Oh," Sam mumbled. "Right. Obviously." He blushed.

Man, I knew he was on our side, but what on earth did Krystina see in him?

"Don't be too harsh on him," scolded my best friend. "For all we know, that path could have been made by something terrible."

"Right. Because there's totally a bunch of Rippers wandering around in this world. Krystina, we're safe here!" I practically shouted.

That's when the Ripper burst out from the woods.

I knew Krystina would laugh at me later for being so horribly wrong, but survival came first, so we all three automatically froze. The sun was pouring a little through the trees, and since Rippers were sensitive to sunlight, if we kept completely still, it might be enough to hide us.

The Ripper sniffed around a little, then seemed to smell us and growled. I couldn't help but let out a small breath of terror. I was looking at one of the beasts that had killed me.

The Ripper took a step towards us. I started to breathe faster and faster. Krystina squeezed my hand tight, sending me strength.

The Ripper turned away and I let out a sigh of relief.

"We've got to kill it!" Sam shouted, picking up a long stick and hurling it at the Ripper's retreating form. It turned around and started towards us, its eyes fixed onto Sam's.

Man, what did Krystina see in him??

"I think now is as good of a time as any to... RUN!" shouted Krystina. The Ripper snarled and ran towards us. Throwing caution to the wind, Krystina and I bolted towards the little path that I'd noticed earlier. I just hoped it led us to more Illusionia citizens, not to a den of Rippers.

Sam threw down his stick and followed. "Wait up!"

You could give me all the plums and sunsets in the world and I still wouldn't have stopped for Sam. Mercifully, Krystina didn't either.

We reached the path and took off into the woods. The Ripper was right behind us. I managed to bend down and quickly throw a sharp rock at it. It hit the Ripper in the eye and it growled, clawing at the spot.

"Come ON!" Krystina screeched to Sam, motioning to him as we headed further into the deep dimness of the woods.

We felt safer in here, like the darkness might hide us, but I knew not to be deceived. The Ripper could find us even more easily in here. "Krys..." I gasped, making sure Sam was still behind us, "I'm so sore from being killed, I... I can't run much longer."

"I am not losing you again," Krystina vowed, speeding up and grabbing my hand, making it easier for me to keep up with her.

I could see an end to the path ahead. "Look!"

And then we reached the end of the path and our worst fears were confirmed.

A solid rock wall stood in our way. It was made of rough, unclimbable granite, and it was at least thirty feet tall. It had been closing gradually in on us for a while, but we hadn't noticed it in the thrill of the chase. Now to escape, we'd have to somehow backtrack along the wall without the Ripper noticing us, and quickly...

But then the Ripper burst out of the path and all hope vanished. It fixed its beady little eyes on us and growled, stalking closer, its yellowing teeth glinting with malice. Sam stepped in front of Krystina like that would help one bit when the Ripper was tearing into our flesh. I closed my eyes and waited to die... again.

But nothing came.

A moment later I opened my eyes and gasped. Krystina was staring the Ripper directly in its black, beady eyes, and lifting her hand. She was shaking from the effort, and beads of sweat were rolling down her face, but she was controlling the Ripper! And in the real world, too! I had no idea her powers carried over...

Well, I guessed there were a lot of things I had no idea about.

The Ripper slowly walked away in an ungainly way, moving its legs very oddly. When it was far enough away that it wouldn't be able to see us from any direction, Krystina let her hands down and promptly collapsed to the ground, white-faced and limp.

"Krystina!" I whispered frantically, bending down to her. Her eyes were closed and she was moving very slightly. Sam joined me at her level.

Krystina opened her eyes. "I'm fine," she gasped. "That was just... really, really hard." She propped her head up on her arm and looked at me. "Did you know that whenever an Illusionia citizen dies, they create a Ripper?" she asked me softly. "You know what that means? No Rippers would be created in this world unless our people were dying right now, because the Rippers definitely wouldn't be transferred over to the real world when they died." She gave a short little laugh. "That privilege was reserved for humans."

"Our people are dying right now," I repeated. "Oh, man. What are we going to do?"

"We're going to find out what's going on... and stop it," Krystina said confidently. And in her words, I still saw a little bit of Elli, my confident, determined, best friend, shine through.

That's when my mom burst out of the forest.

She looked... disastrous. Leaves and twigs were tangled in her hair. Her clothes were ripped and torn like somebody had deliberately shredded them. Her eyes were wild, and when she saw me, a wide grin spread across her face. "Lily! You're alive!"

Hope and joy swelled in my heart. "YOU'RE alive!"

We embraced and I buried my face in her shirt. "It's going to be okay," my mom whispered, rubbing my back.

We broke apart. My mother noticed Krystina for the first time. "Who's this?"

"Elli. Long story," I said awkwardly.

"Oh, good! More Akla. Come join the fight," she yelled, motioning us towards the clearing we'd just exited.

"What are you talking about?" I shouted, the joy in my heart deflating and fear replacing it.

But my mom had already run off again. I suddenly noticed the war cries and shrieks that filled the air towards the area my mother was running towards. I took a long, slow, deep breath and offered Krystina my hand. She got to her feet.

"If the Akla and Jero are already fighting again..." Krystina muttered.

"That would be really, really, incredibly stupid," Sam finished.

I couldn't help but crack a small smile. "Come on, guys."

We raced towards the clearing. The war cries got louder and louder. I glanced nervously at Krystina and Sam. "That sounds just like the wars in-"

But before I could finish my sentence, we burst out into the clearing. I groaned in agony at what I saw. The Akla-Jero war had traveled over to Earth.

And now... people from Earth were getting involved.

I saw a teenage girl who was definitely not from Illusionia talking to one of the Akla warriors, her brow furrowed, trying to determine what was going on. Another Earth citizen was having a heated debate with a Jero. While all this was going on, the Jero and Akla were throwing spears and shooting at each other, and people were dying. They were falling to the floor, still, and not getting up. I didn't think that the Jero and Akla realized that on Earth, when somebody died, they died forever.

I frantically turned to Krystina and Sam. "What are we going to possibly do? What are we going to do? My mom is out there! Any second she could be shot and killed!" I heaved a deep breath. "And she's getting these Americans into it! This is an Illusionian war, not an American one!"

"Calm down, Lil," Krystina said soothingly, putting a hand on my shoulder to quiet me. "I agree we've got to act fast, but we can't run out into the middle of a battlefield. That's what got us killed last time, and this time when we die, we won't come back."

"NONE OF THEM are going to come back!" I screamed, flinging her hand away. "The time for careful planning is over. You realize that every single time a person dies, not only is an innocent Illusionian gone forever, we get another thrilling Ripper to deal with?? We have enough problems already! Let's not make more for ourselves!"

"You're right," Sam, of all people, spoke up. "If it was my mother out there, I'd be doing anything I could to make sure she stayed safe."

"So, we're just going to be throwing ourselves into another war zone?" Krystina sighed. "Wonderful. Guys, I'm worried for her mom too, but no! I'm not killing myself for no reason."

"There is a reason," I snarled. "It's called saving my family. I know you have two sets of parents, so you're not that worried if one of them dies, but my mother is all I have left. My dad survived. He's still in Illusionia, and probably will be for the rest of his days. Now that the Master's alterations were ruined, if he dies, he'll just wake back up in Illusionia. And the gates are now closed. We couldn't get back in. I'm never going to see him again!" I told her, a lump swelling in my throat with the realization. "We've got to save my mother."

"Oh, you're not saving anyone," a soft, surprisingly high, surprisingly quiet voice spoke from the woods.

The last time I heard that voice, I died minutes later. But I still held out a slight bit of hope, maybe it wasn't...

Then my worst fears were confirmed when the Master of Illusionia glided out from the woods.

### Chapter Nine: Krystina/Elli

I felt like blacking out. He'd come to the real world, too?

Everyone on the battlefield took in the Master's form, his menacing smile, his electrified cloak, and his terrible hard eyes.

"Hello," he said softly. "I see that you all died in Illusionia from your injuries and ended up here. How unfortunate. What makes you think this time will end any differently? And this time, when I kill you, you're not coming back..."

"This time, we're ready," I told him, confidence in my voice even though I truthfully was so not ready. "We're going to kill you this time, once and for all."

"Oh, I don't think so," the Master said, a grin spreading over his face and revealing his way-too-perfect white teeth. "You see, maybe my plan in Illusionia backfired a little, but now, everything is perfect. I'm on Earth!" He spread his arms wide. "Illusionia might have been a fine place to rule, but Earth... oh, this will be so much better."

"You'll never rule us!" shouted Sam. "You're a monster! Nobody will allow it!"

"I don't plan on asking nicely," the Master said, chuckling softly. "You see, my powers are a little less strong on Earth, at least for controlling minor things." He lifted his hand, and all the spectators of our conversation gasped as a small rock rose out of the ground. "See? This takes much more effort out of me than it did in Illusionia."

He let the rock drop, fixing his eyes on me. "But the thing about this world is that it is controlled mostly by the people. People have much power here, and it's much easier for me to control the things that have the most power in the certain dimensions." He paused. "In Illusionia, it was nature. Everyone practically worshipped nature there, and so I was able to control it more easily."

The Master then turned his head slowly to the few people on the battlefield who hadn't come from Illusionia. "But here, you all worship people. Famous people, singers, politicians, actors, all sorts of people. Nobody cares about nature anymore."

"But that's actually works rather to my advantage," the Master explained to me. "In Illusionia, if I'd wanted to control one of you," he stared me in the eyes and I looked away, hatred burning inside of me, "it would have taken an incredible amount of power. But now, controlling one of you..."

He raised his hand. Lily gave a little gasp and her body suddenly went rigid. Her green eyes turned pitch black as she slowly raised a hand jerkily and pulled the trigger on her gun.

A bullet flew out and embedded itself in a tree with a thwack. Lily's eyes returned to green, then rolled back as she passed out and crumpled to the floor. "Lily!" her mother screamed from the battlefield.

"What did you do to her?" I screamed as I ran over and checked to see if she was breathing. She was, but it was unsteady.

"Well, being controlled by a force of darkness has quite the negative effect on the human body, it seems," the Master said thoughtfully, looking at Lily. "It's never been so easy for me to control someone before. Perhaps I should do it again..."

"NO!" I screamed at the same time Sam did. He looked surprised at himself.

"Well, what touching friendships we have here," the Master said, a condescending smile spreading across his face. "How much you must care for your friend to let her mother die on the battlefield without even trying to save her..."

Lily's mother had been sprinting up the field to check on her daughter for the whole time the Master and I were talking, and just as the Master said those words, she reached him. "You killed my baby," she sobbed, cradling Lily's limp head in her hands.

"Oh, no need to be so dramatic. She's not dead yet," the Master said with a small smile, starting to float towards the ground. His cloak sparked more intensely than ever as his feet hit the floor and he slowly stalked towards Lily's limp form that her mother, Sam, and I were bending over.

"You should be very ashamed of yourself," Lily's mother snarled. "Trying to kill children is for madmen and sickos, and it looks like you're both." And then with no further warning, she reached out and slapped the Master of Illusionia, the most powerful person I'd ever met and ever would meet, across the face.

For a single moment the Master was still. Anticipation hung in the air. My breath caught in my throat and even then, in that moment of silence and fear, I knew that Lily's mother had no chance of surviving the Master's punishment for the disgrace she had just thrown upon him.

Then the Master slowly turned his head towards Lily's mother. Commander Everly: The leader of the Akla army and the bravest woman that I knew.

"You... dare..." he said slowly. "You dare to offend me like this?" He took a deep, harsh breath and lifted his hand. Lightning crackled from above as he summoned the power of the storm. All that I could think of was the fact that perhaps his weakened powers over nature would save her life.

"Getting in the way of my beautiful plan to take over this planet is cause enough for me to extinguish your life. But this... this insult..." He gave a cruel, wicked grin and in that moment, all of the hope left my body in a rush. "This deserves a most painful death."

Even though I knew this was a time that I needed to stay strong and survive, and I knew that there was nothing I could do for Lily's mother, I still knew I'd never be able to forgive myself if I took the chance to escape with Sam and Lily and Commander Everly was killed. I had to try to save her. I had to try.

"Akla army," I screamed, as Commander Everly closed her eyes, waiting for death, "ATTACK!"

A whole sea of red and yellow, the Akla war colors, charged down the field towards the Master. "ATTACK!" The cry echoed through the army and I felt my heart swell with pride for my people.

But I already knew they weren't going to quite make it in time. The Master had only spared them a glance before returning his focus to the lightning above Commander Everly's head.

So, quickly, I took control of the lightning above Commander Everly's head, raising my hands into the air and summoning all my strength.

It was the weirdest thing I'd ever done. I could feel our consciousnesses battling for control of the lightning. I gritted my teeth and pushed harder. Sparks flew, literally, and one landed on my head, sending a strand up in flames. The Master's face was contorted in concentration and beaded with sweat.

And suddenly, incredibly, I felt myself winning. I gave one last surge of strength and pushed the Master out of the lightning entirely. "Yes!" I gasped, raising my hands even higher. I couldn't keep control of the lightning anymore, so I let it fade into dust, but I'd won in a battle of controlling against the Master. I felt so alive and impressed with my own powers, but mentally exhausted at the same time.

And as the Master bent over, the electricity fading from his cloak and leaving a dull gray behind, as he was obviously weakened but trying not to show it, I realized that my true love of nature and connection with it had won me the battle of wills. Maybe the people really did rule America and nobody cared about nature anymore, and that's why the Master was having a hard time controlling it. But I had a feeling that the Master didn't want to admit that he wasn't quite as in tune with nature as I was. I tried not to let myself gloat, but I was so proud that I, a humble World-Walker, was the one who had won against the great powers of the Master.

But I hadn't won yet.

The Master slowly straightened, a glint in his eye that made me want to run and hide and never come out again. "You have won... this battle," he heaved. "But the war... will be mine. I will regain my powers, and then I will return. And Lord help you when I do," he snarled.

Lightning crackled around him, and then a clap of thunder and a flash of whiteness blinded me momentarily.

When I regained my vision, the Master of Illusionia had vanished.

I whirled around, searching for him. But then I heard a groan from Commander Everly. Her eyes had turned pitch black and her body was rigid. "Oh, no, no, no!" I shouted, rushing to her and trying to take control of her with my own powers for a moment before realizing that it would do more harm than good, even if I did manage to do it.

At the same moment, I heard a little cough from Lily, who opened her eyes. Her face was pale but color was slowly draining back into it. She looked around for a moment, unfocused, and then fixed her eyes on her mother.

Lily gasped. "Mom!" She stood up quickly on shaky legs.

I grabbed her for support. "Lil... I don't know what to do about your mom," I admitted frantically. I glanced at Commander Everly. Her eyes were still as black as night and you could see her fighting against the control the Master had on her body, even now. Lily had blacked out long before this. I half wished that she would just pass out and then she'd be un-controlled and would have more of a chance of surviving...

Suddenly I heard a stunned voice from the battlefield. "Krystina? What are you doing here?"

I turned towards the voice and saw a small girl rushing towards me with whiter-than-white hair and ocean-blue eyes...

"Marie?"

Somehow, my sister had ended up on the battlefield.

She rushed up to me, her hair swishing around her. Her pink shirt proclaimed, "Fabulous." It didn't quite seem to fit the somber mood around us.

Lily's mom, Commander Everly, finally crumpled to the ground. I quickly bent over her, then turned to Marie. "Listen... I'll explain everything in great detail later, but for now, just know there's a madman who wants to wreak havoc on Earth..." I checked Commander Everly's pulse. Slow, faint, and rapidly fading. Not good. Lily sunk to the floor beside her unconscious mother, sobbing, "and basically, my dream turned out to be an alternate dimension."

"I'm so confused," Marie said slowly, obviously still having no idea what was going on. "Why is that person asleep? Who's that creepy dude that just disappeared into thin air?"

"Man, a ten-year-old should not be having to deal with this," I muttered nervously, then raised my voice. "Marie, I've really got to focus on this right now, but I promise I'll tell you later."

I turned to Lily, and to her mother, whose breathing was getting more and more spotty. "Oh, dang it all. Lil, I'm not trained for this. I'm not a doctor."

"Do something!" Lily sobbed, but even then, we both knew it was far too late.

Commander Everly coughed and slowly opened her eyes. She was obviously struggling to stay awake and not slip back into unconsciousness, and then death...

"Oh, Mom," Lily cried, grabbing her hand.

"Shhh," her mother said softy, giving a weak smile. "Lily. Baby. I love you more than you'll ever know. I'm so proud of you..." her words broke off in a cough. She closed her eyes for a moment, then with much effort, opened them again.

"Mom, no!" Lily responded, anguish in her voice. "Don't talk like you're going to..." her next word was much smaller, somehow, "die."

Lily's mom gave her daughter one last smile. And then she turned to me. I knew there were so, so many things she could be saying, so many people she could be talking to, with her final words. But she had chosen to spend them on me. And my heart swelled before she even started talking.

"Elli," she said seriously. I decided now was not a good time to point out that Elli had died on a bloody field near the Akla village in Illusionia and Krystina was the person who remained in my body. "The Council of Illusionia chose you for a reason. Ever since you were a little one, you controlled the world. People acted how you wanted them to act. Nature even obeyed you, even then..." A tree bending aside to let us by on our way to the first day of preschool... a ripe apple falling from a tree into my hand and my mother's disbelieving laughter...

"And so, the Council of Illusionia pulled you into our world. You were trained for years and years, but Illusionians still held out hope that maybe you wouldn't have to use your powers, your skills, your gifts, just like none of the World-Walkers before you had ended up not having to... maybe our world would settle into peace with only a gentle nudge from us humans.

Commander Everly drew a deep, rattling breath. "But it was not to be so. Our world yearns for peace, but we cannot find it alone. Krystina. You're the first World-Walker we've trained for centuries. You're also the most powerful one that the Council has ever seen.

"And I realize that it may seem hard now," she said, determination in her weak voice, "but remember... you are ready. You have been trained for this for thirteen years. It is your destiny to save the world. And you're the only one who can."

A tear trickled down my cheek before I even realized I was crying. "I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to save the world. All I wanted was to be normal. To fit in somewhere." I took a shuddering breath. "And now there's a man so powerful he created an entire dimension wanting to take over our humble world. There's no stopping him."

A smile stretched across the face of Commander Everly, the leader of the Akla army and the bravest woman I would ever meet, for the last time. "If anyone can stop him..." she whispered, closing her eyes, "you can."

And then she was still.

Lily crumpled into a ball, sobbing, silent in her agony. Tears squeezed from my eyes as I held Lily tight, knowing that nothing could help her now except silent support.

A howl sounded from the woods. It was unmistakably the sound of a Ripper, but for some reason, I wasn't scared.

I was done being scared.

And then, like they were moving with one mind, at least twenty Rippers walked out from the woods.

I felt tears in my eyes. That meant at least twenty of my own Illusionians had been killed since they were transported to America. I hated war. I hated death. I hated fighting. I wondered who it had been that died and I silently prayed it was not my family.

Whatever Lily had said about me having two sets of parents, that wouldn't make losing any of them any easier.

But right then was not the time to worry about things that may or may not be true. Right now was the time to stand up and hold my head high, for even though we had just suffered a great loss, we would not be defeated.

The Rippers slowly started walking towards us. But I was not scared. I was not scared.

Because somehow... I knew that they came in peace.

The first Ripper reached us. It... or he/she... gave a little bark to the rest of the spirits and they slunk back slightly while the lead, head Ripper went to investigate.

It walked up to Commander Everly's still body and put its monstrous, hideous black head on her motionless chest. And I noticed something strange... something impossible.

Painted along the Ripper's back was a long streak of red and yellow... the Akla war paint colors.

"That Ripper... is... your mother," I whispered to Lily, who blearily looked upwards and saw the Ripper nudging Commander Everly's body.

"No! Stop! Leave her alone!" Lily half sobbed, half yelled at the Ripper.

"Shhh," I held Lily in my arms and said. "It's the spirit of your mother. It's free."

And as we watched, the Ripper gave one final howl of anguish, fear... and then a long sigh of relief, and slowly dissolved into red dust that was quickly spread by the wind across the battlefield. Red. The color of a warrior. The color of a true Akla.

The other Rippers gave howls, staring at the place their leader had disappeared, true pain in their black, violent eyes. And then, incredibly, they all dissolved slowly into dust. Each dust was a slightly different color. Red, orange, yellow, blue... I wondered if the green one was my spirit, I had always adored the color green, because it was the color of nature.

As we watched the last few Rippers become nothing more than the ground we stood on, I felt tears pool in my eyes. "It's... beautiful," I whispered, a tear trickling down my cheek. The Rippers, those disgusting, gruesome, violent beasts, had hearts of Illusionians in them.

And Illusionians were known for their loyalty... and their yearning, even through the violent war that had divided us for so long, for peace.

These Illusionians were finally getting their peace.

The final spirit disintegrated, sending gold dust into the air, and then spiraling back onto the ground. A sense of finality spread over the battlefield. My sister looked at me and whispered, "Wow."

I heard a few howls from the forest of Jero Rippers, but somehow, I knew that they wouldn't bother us. They wouldn't bother us ever again. They'd found their peace and we'd found ours. The constant death and destruction of the Rippers had finally ceased... and it was all because of Commander Everly's sacrifice.

"Your mom is a hero," I whispered to Lily. And though she didn't respond, and I knew it wasn't what she wanted to hear right now, I still knew in my heart that it was true.

### Chapter Ten: Lily

I was a wreck.

My mother was dead. Her Ripper had dissolved into dust. My best friend was trying to tell me she was a hero for dying, and didn't even seem to care that I'd just lost my mother.

And somehow, Krystina's sister had ended up on the battlefield. How the heck had that happened?

"So, sis," Krystina spoke up like she'd read my mind. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh!" Marie said brightly, unaware that my mother was dead and that nothing would ever be the same again. "So, we have a small forest behind our house, and I saw a little path that I hadn't seen before, and I followed it to this clearing, where there was a bunch of fighting going on!"

"We're right behind my house right now?" Krystina repeated. "Wow. That's... unexpected."

But now wasn't the time to talk about how or why we'd woken up right outside Krystina's house, because the one of the lower Jero generals yelled, "Just because your commander is dead doesn't mean you're going to stop fighting, does it?" A taunt, a dare was in his voice, and it made me want to scream. Couldn't they see now how terrible war was and how pointless it would be in the final battle against the Master?

It was time to stop this once and for all.

With all my strength, I stood up, determinedly not looking at my mother's body. Tears kept pouring down my face but I didn't care. Let them flow. Let all the soldiers see what war has done.

The Jero and my mother's general that had been eaten by a Ripper in Illusionia were engaged in a hot debate. I ignored them and walked towards the middle of the battlefield. Akla and Jero alike stared at me as the tears kept flowing.

"I... am... done," I snarled. A tear dripped off my cheek and fell onto the ground. It looked like a simple drop of dew on a blade of grass in the morning, but it was a mark of my pain. "I am done with the fighting. I am done with the hurt, with the pain, with the death. I am done."

The Akla and Jero started murmuring to other of their own. The generals kept talking to each other, but I didn't care. Let them talk. They couldn't fight without armies behind them.

"Listen. We're all the same on the inside. We're all the same loyal, peace-loving, strong Illusionians on the inside." I took a deep breath. "Illusionia is gone. The gates have been closed forever. We're never getting back in. So how about we stop this fighting and try... just try... for peace?"

The murmurs grew louder. From what I was hearing, it sounded like people agreed with me. My tears slowly stopped and a small smile grew on my face.

But then the generals broke apart and headed back to their armies. "Let's destroy them," the Akla general snarled.

A few people glanced at me, a bit sadly, but they all reluctantly lifted their weapons and began to start fighting again. I backed up nervously. I had tried my best. There was nothing more I could do. We had to run away and let them fight it out.

"No." A loud voice seemed to nearly shake the ground under our feet. "The girl is right. Why are we even fighting? Does anybody remember?" The owner of the voice stepped forward and I did a double take. It was Elli's mom. Not Krystina's mom... Elli's. From Illusionia.

"No," a Jero said softly but clearly. She slowly lowered her weapon.

The same answer was echoed through both sides of the battlefield.

"Maybe once there was true meaning to this war, but I am certain that all the meaning has washed out of it now." Elli's mother stepped to the front of the Akla army. "Do we really all want to die today for a cause we don't even remember?"

The same word again, reverberating through the armies. "No." "No..." "NO!"

"This is pointless. As general of the Akla army, the Commander now that Everly has fallen, I command you to fight!" the general screeched, probably feeling the power slip from his hands.

But the Jero Commander, a tall, beautiful woman, smiled. "We won't be fighting back."

As one unit, the Jero wiped their war paint away and dropped their weapons.

The Akla general stared disbelievingly. "Well, all the easier to annihilate you. Fire!"

And then again, the Akla spoke the word that would change it all, power in their voices. "NO."

Elli's mother was the first to wipe her red and yellow war paint away, then the rest of the army followed as the Akla general stared, stunned.

The Jero Commander walked up to the Akla general on slender legs. "I'd like to propose an alliance against the Master of Illusionia and a peace treaty for our people."

"No thank you," snarled the general.

Then Elli's father, from the depths of the army, spoke up. I saw Krystina's face light up even from all the way across the battlefield. "Well, it's not your choice anymore. Who votes Elli's mother as the new Commander?"

"This is ridiculous, it has to be a unanimous vote..." the general protested weakly as every single Akla hand shot into the air. A few snickers escaped from the mouths of the Jero. Well, some things would never change.

"Well, now that's settled, Commander Amy, what do you think about my proposal?" the Jero Commander asked with a small smile.

Elli's mother smiled and shook her hand. "Commander Casi... that sounds perfect."

A cheer rose from the Akla and Jero as they broke battle formation and started mingling and talking with one another.

At last, there could be peace.

Almost.

The Master was still out there. And until he was killed, there would never be peace.

I rushed across the battlefield towards Krystina, who threw her arms around me and hugged me tight. "You did it," she whispered. "You did it."

We broke apart after a moment. I stared Krystina in her brown eyes that I was still trying to get used to.

"I can't believe the Consuming War is finally over," I said breathlessly, grabbing Krystina's hand and walking down to where her mother was being congratulated by her fellow soldiers.

Sam ran up to us. "He-ey... where's my hand to hold?"

Krystina laughed and offered him her other hand. He took it with a smile.

Marie ran up to us and looked at Krystina, whose hands were both taken. Then she looked at me nervously, like what now?

I smiled in what I hoped was an encouraging way and wiggled my other free hand. She grinned at me and grabbed it. I grinned back at my best friend's sister, my best friend, and her boyfriend, who I was starting to like more than I thought I would. Well, at least I wasn't screaming at him in my mind anymore.

And then my thoughts slowly went back to my mother and father, neither of whom I'd ever see again.

I closed my eyes, trying to think of something, anything else, but I couldn't stop the tears that started coming, hard and fast.

"Aw, man, Lil," Krystina said sadly, letting go of Sam's hand and giving me a huge hug. "I can't even imagine what you're going through right now. But if you need a friend, or someone to talk to..."

"I ran away," I blurted, opening my eyes. Sam struck up an awkward conversation with Marie, who looked like she was drilling him to find out what his relationship was with her sister. I was just glad that Marie wasn't going to hear what I was about to say.

Krystina looked concerned. "When?"

"When Micah said he had a crush on you," I whispered, embarrassed, but glad to let the truth finally come out. "My family didn't understand. You didn't understand. Nobody understood. I was going through a... a lot, at that time, and when it was looking like Micah liked you, not me, it was just the final blow." I took a deep, shuddering breath. "I just wanted to be alone, even though feeling all alone was what got me to that point in the first place. And I didn't really care about staying alive anymore."

"But you found me," I said quietly, looking up at the brown eyes that still held the soul of my best friend. "You found me, crying in the woods. I told you it was about Micah, and it was, but it was about so much more than that too..."

"You brought me back to my house, and told me that you'd always be there for me," I continued softly, trying to stop the sobs that were bubbling in my throat. "That was the day I knew our friendship would last forever."

I looked Krystina straight in her beautiful brown eyes, and I came to a decision. I couldn't live in this world anymore, going on like nothing was wrong, like everything was fine. I still didn't know who I was on the inside. Closing the gates to Illusionia and my mother's death definitely didn't help. I just went on with normal life, I never would be able to know who I really was. I'd been struggling with that for a while, so I needed to make a decision now, or forever hold my peace. But it wouldn't be peace. Not really. And I think that was what finally gave me the courage to open my mouth and speak.

"I have to find myself," I told Krystina, letting my breath out. She started to say something, but I kept talking. "I can't pretend like nothing's wrong when I don't even know myself anymore. I've got to leave this place with all your memories and mine. I've got to go out into the world and remind myself that Illusionia isn't the only beautiful dimension. I've got to meet new people, try new things, and forget about the past."

And now the hardest part. I grabbed the hand of my best friend, the one who had stood by my side in every single situation and who I knew would never willingly leave me. "And you can't come with me."

Krystina started to protest immediately, but I shushed her. "Listen. If I have you with me, reminding me of the past, I'm never going to be able to imagine who I will be in the future."

I stood up. "And I've got to leave now. I can't wait a moment longer." I looked sadly at Krystina.

"Please don't leave yet," she begged, grabbing my hand and pulling me down again. "I can't fight the Master for the final time without you. I need you here for support and to... cheer me on."

Everyone was slowly dispersing from the battlefield. Someone had moved my mother's body, and I knew they'd be giving her a proper funeral soon. I wouldn't be there to see it. I knew that it would make things a lot worse for me. I'd honor my mother in my own way, once I was out in nature and alone.

"Kris, I don't know," I told her heavily. I felt the pressure of the world weighing down on my shoulders every second I stayed in the place my mother had died. I would be petrified if I had to see the Master, the one who had struck my brave mother down, again.

But then I thought of the times Krystina had stood by me when she didn't have to. There were times when I'd gone to do something terrifying, and without even me asking, she'd come along. I could endure a few minutes of battle if I didn't even have to help, couldn't I?

I was terrified and I felt like I'd black out as soon as I saw the Master again, but I tried to shrug the feeling off when I responded, "You know what? Okay."

"Oh, really?" Krystina gushed so disbelievingly that I doubted she thought I would say yes. "Thank you so much, Lily. You can even hide in the trees if you want," she offered, gesturing to a particularly thick clump. "I just need to know you're cheering me on."

As I laughed a little, imagining being perched in those trees cheering while Krystina fought to the death, I knew in my heart I'd made the right call. I wouldn't have been able to truly find myself if the whole time in the back of my head, I was worried that my best friend might have died fighting the Master of Illusionia.

"When do you think he'll come?" Krystina asked nervously.

"I don't think you need to worry about that," I said honestly. "You're ready."

Then a sly smile spread across my face as I got an idea. "But we don't have to play by his rules. Let's set things up so that we're at an advantage the second he arrives."

"We?" Krystina whispered, like she wasn't quite daring to hope.

I grinned, my first true smile since my mother had died. "You didn't think this fierce Akla warrior was sitting out of the best fight of my life, did you?"

Krystina flung her arms around me, burying her face in my (slightly bloody) shirt. "Oh, Lily, what did I do to deserve you?" she asked. Her voice was muffled by the fabric but I could still hear it wobble.

She lifted her head and gave me a little bit of a sad smile. "Let's set some traps!"

The next few minutes flew by. Krystina used her powers to control some netting that was left over from the battle into the air so the Master wouldn't be able to get through without moving it. Or, he could come around from the sides. But knowing the Master of Illusionia, he liked to make a pretty grand entrance. I couldn't really imagine him skulking in from the woods when there was a big wide-open sky right above his head.

But just in case he surprised us, we added a few loose rocks hanging from strategic points on trees in the forest that would be very hard to get past without knocking them off and alerting us to his presence.

It turned out I was a bit of a natural at this. As Krystina started running out of ideas, mine just kept coming. Vine tripwires on the ground. Poking sticks into anthills and spreading the anthill soil all around. I knew these things wouldn't really help us beat the Master in the long run, but it would give us an advantage to hopefully know when he was coming. Before a part of the problem with our battles with him were that he always seemed to sneak up on us when we weren't ready.

Well, we'd be ready this time.

Finally, all of our ideas (and us) were exhausted. We slumped to the wet, dewy grass.

"I'm hungry," Krystina said suddenly, grabbing a plum and shoving it in her mouth.

I laughed. "You're crazy, Kris," I said, shaking my head, as I grabbed a plum of my own and ate it just as nastily.

"Hypocrite," she said with a giggle, taking another bite of the plum and letting its juice roll down her chin. I laughed, and for a moment it didn't feel like we had the fate of the earth on our shoulders. It felt like we were normal teenage girls, enjoying a picnic in a field where people had definitely not just been killed.

But then Marie said something that made reality come rushing back.

She frowned and looked at me and Krystina. "Do you hear that?"

In fact, now that she said it, I did hear something. It sounded almost like a slight buzzing... like electricity...

Oh no.

The Master of Illusionia started lowering himself down from the sky. I could see a wicked grin on his face even from high above me. "It's time to finish this."

### Chapter Eleven: Krystina

The thing I noticed first was that the Master's eyes weren't even a color anymore.

They were just pure balls of electricity, yellow, sparkling, crackling electricity. And they seemed to buzz with lightning as he lowered himself slowly down.

I couldn't even see the silver of his cloak anymore. All that covered him was a thick layer of lightning, sparking and cracking and giving off jolts of energy, even from ten feet above my head.

And I could tell that the Master was angry.

"So, children," he snarled, summoning lightning to his hand, "ready to end this?" He raised his hand high and then sent the lightning towards us.

It would have all been over right then and there if we hadn't put the metal net above our heads.

The electricity hit the net and spread out with a crack. At the same time, the Master's foot hit the net.

It was like I could visibly see the electricity travel up the Master's leg, then into his torso, and into the rest of his body. He sucked in a breath through his teeth, but then seemed to shake it off.

That amount of lightning would have killed anyone else two times over! I glared at the Master, who had just seen the net. "Nice trick," he snarled, quickly gliding around the net now that he knew it was there. "But you're going to need more than traps to stop what I'm about to do to you."

Then he floated right into the rock, which fell directly onto his cloak, unbalancing him and yanking him down to the forest floor where he lay in a heap for a moment, disoriented.

"Lily, we're doing it!" I whispered gleefully, giving her a high-five and summoning fire to have at the ready when the Master came for us next.

"You... ignorant... stupid... children," the Master said, breathing heavily and summoning lightning to his palm. He glided quickly into the field of the dead, his eyes as electrified as ever. We faced each other for a moment, girl versus god, lightning in both of our hands as we waited for the other one to make the first blow.

"You first," I taunted. The Master growled and threw the lightning at me, faster than I'd anticipated. I dodged it, whirling to the side and throwing my own lightning at the same time. The Master wasn't ready for it, and so he gave an audible growl as it singed the edge of his cloak.

"Next time I'm aiming for the heart," I warned. "Want to surrender now to save yourself further injury?"

"I'm supposed to be the one asking you that!" roared the Master, summoning lightning bolt after lightning bolt and hurling them at me over and over. I quickly ran to one side, but the Master was more powerful from above. He could pinpoint my location. And a moment later, one of the bolts hit my hand. I winced, shaking my hand, but I wasn't as hurt as I thought I would be. Maybe because I had such a strong connection with nature, it was reluctant to hurt me.

"See?" the Master of Illusionia said softly, putting his lightning away for a moment, thinking he'd weakened me much more than he actually had. "See what happens when you mess with the creator of a world? You know, that's why I killed that girl's mother," he teased coldly, pointing at Lily, who was staring at him angrily, holding a crossbow. "Not because there was any real need for her to die, but because she challenged my authority."

Lily shot an arrow at the Master of Illusionia's head.

It missed, but just barely. Lily shot a few more arrows, distracting the Master from me. This was perfect, because the most powerful weapon of all for a World-Walker was starting to build up inside of me.

Anger.

Maybe my anger before, when I was in Illusionia, was strong. But I had never felt anger this strong before. I was so mad at the man who had killed my best friend's mother just for spite that I felt like rising into the air just so I could slap him in the face... I could even feel the wind rushing around me as I sped into the sky...

And suddenly I realized that I really was rising into the air. My feet had left the floor and now were dangling in the open wind. My hands were raised without me even realizing it. The wind was strong underneath me, pushing me off the ground and supporting me.

The Master was obviously and genuinely surprised. "Well. Your connection with nature is rather stronger than I anticipated." Then he waved his hands. "But no matter. I will have no trouble killing you anyway."

"Well, you see, I think you will have a little trouble," I said softly, raising my hands and letting rocks fly into the air behind the Master. "You see, you don't have any anger in your body right now. You just have minor annoyance, and maybe even a little bit of fear."

"Fear?" the Master spluttered. "Why would I be afraid of you?"

"Because I am much stronger in this real world," I told him, my voice getting louder and more powerful now as the Master resumed throwing lightning at me. The bolts of electricity sliced through the air, all heading towards me, but before they hit me I took control of every single one and sent them back at the Master. He dodged all but one, which hit him right in the chest when he couldn't dodge fast enough. This bolt he didn't shrug off so easily. He free-fell to the ground, body wracked with electricity, and landed in a crumpled heap of silver cloak and shining eyes, staring at me with pure hatred in his eyes.

"Now you've done it," he growled. He slowly got to his feet and rose into the air to meet me. "Now you really have made me angry."

Thunder sounded from above our head. Lightning flashed and cracked, coming down on the net over and over and over. The metal webbing was alight with energy, and I quickly levitated slightly down as to not catch my hair in its energy.

The Master was on my level now. With a snap, thunder clapped overhead so loudly that I was deafened for a moment. I threw my hands over my ears, losing the fire I had summoned to my hand. I also lost my concentration for levitation, and so I started falling slowly towards the ground.

The Master gave a wicked grin, following me downward, but obviously still in full control. My hearing slowly returned in time for me to hear him say, "Why did a child like you think you could stop me?"

He snapped his fingers again, but this time I was faster and I managed to cover my ears before the thunder sounded, leaving my hearing intact.

But I was still slowly headed towards the ground. Actually, by this point, I was nearly there. And a moment later, my feet touched the cool ground.

"What was that about you being much stronger in this real world?" the Master taunted, sending a barrage of lightning at me.

I dodged all of it except the last one. It hit the same hand that had been burned by the lightning last time. I sucked in a quick breath, losing the lightning I was building in that hand and falling to my knees, shaking my hand, which was now blackened and raw.

The Master laughed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of red. Lily was herding Sam and Marie behind a bush, where they'd be safe. I cursed myself for my stupidity as the Master followed my gaze. A slow smile spread across his face. "I thought you would have learned your lesson about bringing people you care about onto the battlefield!" said the Master, gleefully surprised. He quickly glided over to where Lily was finishing up hiding Sam and Marie.

"Stop it!" I shouted, trying to stand up and failing. My hand felt like it was on fire. I looked around for something to cool the burn. Water was kind of a bad idea right now, with electricity coursing through my veins. Man, where was some nice cooling lotion when you needed it? It would be so stupid if I lost this battle and got myself killed because of lack of lotion.

"Why would I do that, now?" the Master asked softly, "when I'm so close to winning?" He was almost to Marie and Sam by now, and I was still struggling to get up and make my way over to them. I finally managed to get to my feet unsteadily and stumble over to where the Master was slowly floating downwards. Lily had quickly moved to block Marie from the Master's might, and Sam was standing beside her. Pain was still ricocheting through my hand and arm, but I tried to ignore it as I took my place next to my best friend and boyfriend, standing strong and protecting my sister behind us.

"Oh, look," the Master said mockingly. "How sweet. The little children protecting the even smaller person. You know what, that just makes me want to kill her first."

"NO!" I shouted, absolute certainty and power in my voice as I stepped closer to Marie. I could feel the warmth of body against mine. She was shaking. I tried to send her courage with my body, but I didn't have much to spare.

"Really, when will you learn to stop being so obvious about the things you care about?" the Master taunted. He looked for a moment at Marie. "So, this is the sister of the famed World-Walker." He scrutinized her. "Not much to look at, is she?"

"My sister is much more beautiful than you will ever have been or will be," I snarled, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Eh, not really," the Master answered, as Marie gasped, her eyes turning pitch-black and her body going rigid.

"No, no, no!" I shouted, grabbing Marie, but her rigid arm raised up shakily and punched me in the head, hard. I reeled backwards, seeing spots and falling on my back onto the soft grass, my head slamming into the ground.

"Ooh, a betrayal by your own sister," the Master said gleefully, raising his hand and making Marie walk clunkily towards him. "What a plot twist!"

"You're the one making her do that, she would never betray me," I groaned, feeling dizzy.

The Master summoned lightning and said slowly, "Well, she did." He sent the lightning at me. I managed to roll out of the way just in time, but it singed the edge of my hair. I stood up, feeling like I was going to black out but knowing that if I succumbed to unconsciousness, I would die. But then the Master sent one more bolt at me, and this time, it hit my arm.

"Lily..." I whispered, swaying on my feet. Sam was frantically trying to notch an arrow on the crossbow, I let him do that. "Marie. Don't let her die."

I collapsed to the ground again, feeling the strength leave me entirely. The lightning had drained the last of my power. I was completely aware of everything going on around me, I just didn't have the ability to move anymore.

Lily ran to Marie and grabbed her. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, before kicking her in the head as hard as she could. Marie's eyes turned momentarily blue before they rolled back and she collapsed, unconscious, but at least not dead like she would have been if the Master had controlled her for much longer.

The Master slowly turned to look at Sam.

"Oh, no, no, no you don't," Sam said nervously, aiming the crossbow, but he barely had even raised it an inch before his eyes went black and the crossbow fell from his hands.

Lily knocked him out too.

"You realize you're just decreasing your number of allies?" the Master said with a laugh as he finally took control of Lily, raising his hand.

Her eyes went black immediately, but before her body went rigid she managed to say through clenched teeth, "Get... him... Elli." And then, without me even touching her, she collapsed to the dirty grass carpet.

I looked at the motionless bodies of my friends and sister, and then I looked up at the Master. Lily had called me Elli.

I think it was because she knew that I was going to need all the Illusionia bravery I could get during this battle.

"So," the Master said softly, turning to me. "It's just me and you now. No allies. No tricks. No unfair advantages and disadvantages. I wonder who really is stronger, the little World-Walker who thinks she's all special, or the all-powerful creator and controller of a dimension?"

Though I held my head high and said, "Bring it on," I was terrified of the answer to that question.

I quickly levitated into the air, determined to face my enemy as an equal.

The Master started with a huge cascade of electricity. It wasn't even really lightning, it was just like he took the essence of what made lightning cause injury and sent it at me. It's not like I could dodge that, so I had to quickly take control of the wave and send it back at the Master. But that immediately took away a lot of my power, and so I quickly floated back to the ground to save my remaining energy.

"You are growing stronger," the Master muttered. I wasn't sure if he'd intended me to hear him, but it put a small smirk on my face as I summoned fire to my hand and flung it at him. The Master easily dodged it, but at the same time, with a stroke of inspiration, I controlled the wave of electricity that was still in the air and used it as a force field, wrapping it around me so that nothing could get in.

"Resourceful, too," the Master muttered, sending more lightning my way. It just bounced off the field and back at him, hitting his arm. He blinked a couple times, but other than that, he seemed completely fine. Man, how was I going to kill him? He was invincible. Un-killable.

Yes, I was safe in my force field, but I couldn't hold it for much longer. A couple more seconds, then with a groan, I dropped the force field. It flickered and faded quickly. It had taken a lot out of me. My power was weak. I was vulnerable.

I grabbed the crossbow that had fallen from Sam's hand and notched an arrow, my hand shaking from the lightning that had hit it twice. My blackened hand was still burning, and I shook it quickly, willing the pain away. The Master gave a wicked, maniacal grin. He could tell that my power was fading.

"Well, I'm sorry it had to come to this," the Master said slowly, summoning lightning to his hand and throwing it casually back and forth, back and forth.

I closed my eyes, though I knew it was incredibly dangerous, and focused all my energy on getting my power built up again.

"You know, it's not too late for you," I said softly, stalling for time but also really meaning it.

I opened my eyes to see the Master raise his eyebrows, his black hair swishing. The blonde streak in the middle seemed to really be electrified. "What?" He didn't release the lightning in his grasp, but I did see it flicker a little.

"It's not too late for you," I repeated. "You don't have to be a monster. You don't have to be the madman that wants to take over the world. You could live in peace as the Master, controlling lightning and making lots of money from showing off your skills," I added, half-joking and half being completely serious.

"You could be loved."

"That's ridiculous," the Master snorted, trying to blow my words off, but I could see his hands shaking and the gears and cogs in his messed-up mind whirring. "All I've ever wanted was to rule the world, why would I give up on my dream now because of the idiotic words of a child?"

"That's not true," I told him.

"What's not true?" he snarled.

"That all you've ever wanted was to rule the world. For centuries, and you said this yourself, you were content to rule over just the Illusionia people, with their pointless battles and nonsensical governments. It was only when you got greedy that you killed them all so you could have the world to yourself," I explained. I was trying to hide it, but my hands were shaking too.

"Well, greedy might not be the word I use," the Master growled. "Maybe... wiser. I realized that there was no point in ruling over people who thought they were ruling over themselves."

"Don't you see? It's not about who's ruling over who," I said, exasperated, but hoping that I was getting through to him. I couldn't believe myself, that I was trying to reason with a god and hoping that it would work. "It's about the fact that you once knew how to love. I know it, because Illusionia is too perfect to have been created by someone who doesn't love nature, who didn't love their people..."

"You're right," the Master whispered, but with a menacing edge to his voice. "I did once know how to love." Then he straightened up, lightning in his palm, his eyes blazing. "But you should know better than anyone that those days are over. I will rule over the world. I will be a hero. A god. A Master."

"You'd be a hero if you stopped right here!" I shouted, but I could hear the begging, the pleading, even in my own voice, and I knew that the Master was right. It was too late for him.

The only solution to ridding this world of the Master was to kill him.

"I can't believe I almost let you convince me to stop my plans," the Master said, almost wonderingly, shaking his head...

That's when I remembered that my powers of persuasion were what started it all. They were the first powers of mine that ever showed up. They were the reason the Council noticed me and put me in a coma. They were what catapulted me into Illusionia in the first place. They were what got me mixed up in this whole mess. And though it was surprising, I realized that I was glad now that I'd gotten mixed up in all this. I was glad that the Illusionia council had chosen me. I was glad that I was the World-Walker chosen to save this world from the Master of Illusionia. I wasn't particularly glad that I was here right now, about to fight the most powerful person on the planet, but I knew that Lily and my friends were right.

If anyone could do it, I could.

And I had just the idea how.

"But think about it for just one more moment," I told the Master, using all my concentration to pour persuasion and certainty into my words. The lightning in the Master's palm fizzed and went out. "If you ruled the world, everyone would be trying to kill you. That would be a hard way to live!" I gestured to myself and smirked. "Look at how hard it is when just one person is trying to kill you!"

I saw the Master's lightning-filled eyes become unfocused for one moment. "She's right, she's right..." he muttered, then snapped his head back to me, his eyes clear again.

"No," he snarled. "No, World-Walker, I am not letting you get inside my head. I am going to take over the world, and I am sick of you children getting in the way!"

I knew what he was going to do a split second before he did it. He raised his hands but didn't have lightning in them. He fixed his eyes on my face but not with intent to stare me to death.

"Oh, no you-" I managed to say before the Master of Illusionia took control of my body.

It was hands-down the weirdest and most painful thing I had ever felt. I felt my eyes turn the other way, like the brown had been rolled back towards the inside of my head and black was now what was showing on the outside. I felt myself quickly lose control of all my limbs, and for them to become rigid. And the pain... the pain pulsed through my body like a tidal wave, ever-present, and getting more pronounced by the second.

I could feel the Master raising my arm, like he was going to make me control something. Um, no. Not if I could help it. I was a World-Walker. I wasn't some normal human who could be hijacked and taken control of like a ragdoll.

I summoned all of my strength that I had been building during our conversation and pushed against the presence of the Master in my body. I could tell what to shove out because it felt oily, greasy, darkness with a little bit of electricity crackling in it. I could feel the Master fighting back, for he wasn't lying when he said it was easy for him to take control of people in this world, but I had more strength reserved. And so, I fought against him for a few more seconds, before I finally pushed the presence of the Master out of my body.

The pain receded. My eyes flipped back to their normal color. I fell to my knees in the grass, definitely weakened, but definitely conscious.

"You little..." the Master cursed. "There is not one thing I can do to you that will kill you!" He glided around in tight, annoyed circles, rather like an annoyed human pacing around on their hardwood floor.

"You could just listen to me," I said bravely, pushing most of my remaining bit of strength into my words and knowing that they were the most persuasive ones I'd ever spoken.

I tried to stay kneeling and save the last bit of my pride but I felt my legs give out and I collapsed to the ground. My legs and arms flopped limply at awkward angles beside of me. I was an easy target for the Master, yet he didn't take a bolt of lightning and slam it onto me, finishing the job right there.

"Okay," the Master said, a little numbly.

The electricity faded from his eyes and cloak, leaving the shell of a man who had created a dimension and had powers enough to destroy me right then and there. His eyes weren't yellow and full of energy after all, they were a dull, light gray, like stone that had been sitting out in the wind and pelting rain for too long and had become worn. The streak of blonde in his hair seemed to get duller. Wind rushed through the field, shaking the trees and stirring the cloak of the Master, making him fall over backwards. The Master of Illusionia didn't even fight against it.

And I wasn't the one controlling the wind. Like I'd hoped since the battle had started, nature was on my side.

And as the Master sat helplessly on the ground, I tried to think of a single phrase that I could say using my powers that would solve this once and for all. I didn't think I could manage more than a few words.

And so, knowing that these would be the most important words I'd ever say, I softly spoke. "End this now."

And as I started to black out, knowing that my strength was finally gone, I saw the Master summon one last bolt of lightning, large enough to take down an entire city and powerful enough to kill a person at least a thousand times over, to his hand.

I lost consciousness before I saw where he sent it.

But it I had just managed to keep my eyes open for one more second, I would have seen the Master of Illusionia, driven by the persuasiveness of my words, send the supercharged lightning directly into his own heart.

***

I woke up to a deep but somehow very small voice over my head, "Krystina?"

I still didn't have the strength to do anything but lay there and listen as another voice, this one a little higher, spoke, on the verge of tears. "Aw, man, if she managed to kill the Master but didn't survive the encounter..."

"Why is my sister asleep?" an even higher voice spoke nervously.

"This is more than asleep," the second voice snapped, then sighed. "I'm sorry, Marie. I'm just really worried for my best friend."

"I'm sure she's fine," the deeper voice said again, though nervousness laced its way through his voice. "Here, let's just take her pulse, and then..."

I felt a warm, soft hand find my wrist and wait for a few seconds. "See? She's alive. It's going to be fine."

I summoned the strength to pry my eyes open.

Sam, who I'd suspected was the deeper voice, jumped. His hand was still over my wrist, and I could feel his breath on my skin.

I saw the crumpled, unmoving body of the Master behind Sam. Lily spoke up, "We already checked. He's dead. The Master of Illusionia is gone for good."

"It's over. Thank the Lord it's over," I whispered to Sam. He looked at me so lovingly that I felt my heart swell as I sat up with a smile.

And then, rather impulsively, I kissed him.

When we broke apart, we both laughed, a little awkwardly, a little nervously, but mostly happily. Lily took her hands off Marie's eyes where they must have been and rolled her own. But I could see the teasing glint in the midst of the green as she bent down and helped me up, giving me a bone-crushing hug.

"Oh, by the way," Sam broke in. "Happy Birthday."

"How did you know that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows as I realized I didn't even have any idea what day it was or what day my birthday was on.

"November 26th. Your birthday," Sam repeated with a grin. "I have a really good memory for stuff like that. Your mother told me one year when they were going to visit you in the hospital..."

"Wow, I never imagined I'd have my first kiss on my sweet sixteen," I said with a smile.

"It's my first kiss too!" Sam said excitedly, his bluer-than-blue eyes sparkling. His sweet ecstasy kind of made me want to kiss him again, but I refrained, thinking of Marie and her innocence that had already been marred so much that day, what with the Master of Illusionia controlling her body and her seeing a person die right in front of her eyes.

"You guys," Lily said with a laugh, but I could see the sadness sparkling behind her eyes.

"Does that mean you haven't changed your mind about leaving?" I asked sadly, already knowing the answer.

"You know I have to do this," Lily whispered, looking at the ground. "Killing the Master just made things clearer for me. I can't stay here any longer."

"I know I can't stop you from leaving, but when you get back, promise me you won't be afraid to come back and live with us?" I asked seriously. "You're going to need a home, at least temporarily, and we can give you one."

"Ooh, say yes!" Marie said excitedly. I was glad to see that her fun-loving spirit hadn't been broken by all she'd witnessed.

"Yes," Lily said with a grin, ruffling Marie's hair and making me wonder what had happened to bond them so much while I was out. Maybe just the fact that they both had experienced most of the same stuff today.

"And I think I saw my mom wander off in the direction of my Earth house, so I should probably catch up with her before both of my mother's and father's meet without me," I said with a big grin.

I was starting to think that living in America would be pretty cool after all.

### Chapter Twelve: Lily

A few days later I was sitting at the edge of a beautiful waterfall, thinking about life and death and my best friend and wondering how she was doing.

"Penny for your thoughts?" said the sweet old man beside me who I'd met at the national park I'd taken a bus to the day before. I'd told him that my mother had died and that I was trying to go out in nature to get realigned with myself. I hadn't told him more than that, the Illusionia citizens that had crossed over all ended up agreeing that the world would be a lot less of a mess if we'd kept the deal with the Master of Illusionia and the alternate dimension thing to ourselves. They didn't think planet Earth was ready for that realization, and I tended to agree with her. I knew that the truth would come out someday, though, whether it was our decision or not.

"Just thinking about... my mom," I said truthfully, letting my tanned legs dangle down into the mist. The waterfall roared, sending gallons and gallons of water down into a large pond. I felt bad for the plants that had to live near the waterfall. I bet it felt to them like they were carrying the earth on their shoulders. I could relate to them.

"I would be surprised if you weren't," the old man, whose name was Mr. James, said quietly. His gray hair was flattened by the mist and his bright blue eyes sparkled with sadness.

"I just wonder sometimes... what would happen if she was still alive," I murmured. "Would she be here at this waterfall, by my side? Or would we be living in a normal house like a normal family, going to a normal school and being just... normal?"

"What's the fun in being normal?" Mr. James asked with a slight scoff. "I think, if your mother was anything like you, you'd both be sitting at this waterfall right now, together."

"She was a lot like me," I whispered.

Then I took a deep breath. "I miss my best friend. I miss her sister. I miss my mom and dad, but I know I can't see them again." I had told Mr. James that my dad was overseas far away and I might never see him again. I think he assumed the military and I didn't correct him. It's not like I could have told him my dad was trapped in an alternate dimension.

"I think it's time for you to go back, then," Mr. James told me honestly. He ruffled my hair in a fatherly way and I felt my throat swell with missing my own father.

"But I'm scared," I admitted. "I know I've only been gone a few days, but I feel like everything will have changed."

"I doubt it," Mr. Jones said with a laugh. "Things change, but usually slowly. I think the sooner you go back, the sooner you'll be able to get back into the routine of their normal life."

I thought about his words for a moment and then I gave the only father I'd ever had on this earth a sad smile. "Not yet. I don't know who I am yet. I can't return until I know who I am. It's going to take time." I hopped off the rock and looked at Mr. James in the eyes. "And this is something I have to do alone."

I gave him a tight hug. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye..." Mr. James called as I walked off into the distance.

And if I was able to hear his thoughts, I would have heard him think, "She's going to do just fine in this world."

### Chapter Thirteen: Krystina

The smell of paint and new wood drifted past my nose as I painted a final stroke of teal onto my house and stepped back with a grin to admire my family's handiwork.

"Kris, this looks awesome!" Sam said with a grin, putting an arm around me. "I'm so lucky to have such a great artist for a girlfriend."

"Oh, stop it," I said with a laugh, leaning into him to warm up in the late November chill. "All I had to do was swipe my favorite color up and down on wood siding. Not that hard."

"Well, you did the best job swiping teal paint up and down on wood siding of anybody I know," Sam murmured teasingly.

"Hey, even better than your dear old mom?" Sam's mom, who had his same curly brown hair and kind heart, said with a laugh, putting down her brush and ruffling his hair.

Sam grinned. "Mom, of course I wouldn't be able to say if you were the best artist in front of Krystina," he teased.

"He-ey," I said, jokingly offended.

"So nice of you guys to invite us over for the first time to help you with chores," my Illusionia mom's voice carried from around the house.

My real mom laughed. "Well, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist helping your preschool student out with a paint job."

To keep the secret of Illusionia, my parents had bought a house a few houses down from the house of my real parents, and my mother was pretending that she'd taught me in preschool. It had been a rough decision, but I decided to live with my real parents and Marie. I knew that it was the right thing to do, but it was still hard to leave the parents I'd known for my whole life.

I'd vowed to see my Illusionia parents as much as I could, though. We were even talking about sending Lily to live with them when she came back, because she'd been almost as close to my parents as hers in Illusionia, and that would mean that she lived really close to me. That, and living next to Marie, who she seemed to love, would probably be very good for her.

The door next to us slammed and my neighbor, Zara, walked out. Her hair was beautiful and shiny black, sparkling in the midday sun, and her skin was chocolatey and smooth. In the days since I'd gotten back, I'd hung out with her a few times. She was nearly my same age, and was kind and funny.

I waved as she walked by. "Hey, Zara!"

"Hey! What are y'all doing?" she asked, walking up our driveway towards our newly-painted house.

I gestured to the wet paint. "Just mixing things up a little. My family agreed that gray was too boring to be the color of the house we're living in for probably the rest of our lives."

"Doing some gardening, too," Zara observed with a laugh. We had, in fact, planted violets up and down our driveway, deciding to make Violet Road really earn its name. They were hard to find fresh in late November, but we'd done it. My parents had done it for me.

"Well, I'll leave y'all to it," Zara told me with a smile. "Unless you're finished and want to come hang out at my place for a while?"

I looked at Sam, whose arm was around my waist, and Marie, who had wandered up to us. "You guys want to tag along and meet my friend?"

Sam and Marie looked at each other. "Sure," said Marie happily.

"Works for me," Sam said, giving me a grin and grabbing my hand. "Lead the way."

"Great!" Zara and I said at the same time. We looked at each other and laughed.

"Jinx," I said before I could stop myself. "You owe me a leaf."

And then... I couldn't help it. I discreetly raised my hand and controlled a beautiful red leaf on a nearby tree, making the wind pick up as the red leaf floated gracefully into my hand. Zara raised her eyebrows as I held it out to her.

"It's a friendship leaf!" I said with a grin, handing it to her and feeling my heart swell with happiness.

Zara laughed. "I will cherish this forever."

I looked around at my hilarious, beautiful sister, my funny, sweet, handsome boyfriend, and the friend that I had just met but already knew would be there for me forever.

A small smile spread across my lips, because for the first time since I woke up in a hospital bed to discover that my whole life was not what I thought... I was excited about the future.

### Epilogue: Krystina: SIX MONTHS LATER

After reading my story, you should know this by now, but if you somehow don't, I'd like to inform you.

Whenever an old story ends, a new one begins.

Maybe it's by a new birth. A wrong decision, or even a right one. A new friendship beginning. An old one ending.

Or maybe... by a young girl, the daughter of the man who was the most powerful, most feared and most hated man in Illusionia for a short time, and who did unspeakable horrors to Earth and Illusionia, meeting someone as simple and, in my opinion, boring, as me.

Well, at least I wasn't as boring as my biology class was. I had nearly fallen asleep while attempting to take notes, but somehow, I was still awake. At least half-awake. Well, maybe a quarter awake.

The girl next to me, though, who I thought was named Fire (which I'd always thought was a cool name) was very alert. She was writing down every word the teacher said, just like a model student. I leaned over to her and whispered, "How are you still awake?" and laughed a little.

"It's not that hard," she whispered back. "In my old dimensio- I mean, country, that I used to live in, we had classes outside half the day. I just imagine I'm there, and the wind is on my face, and in my hair, and leaves are blowing around me."

I felt my heart skip a beat. I lowered my voice even more. "You came from Illusionia, didn't you?"

Fire looked at me, stunned. "You're not supposed to know about that."

"Well, I came from Illusionia too," I told her quietly. I usually didn't brag about that stuff, but I couldn't help my next words. "I was actually the one that killed the Master when he started killing people and plotting to rule the world."

"You killed him?" she whispered, suddenly looking at me with a lot more disdain. Then she lowered her voice to the point where I was sure I wasn't supposed to hear it, and muttered, "Father said that the person he was fighting against was just as powerful and big as him. I didn't expect a child."

My blood turned to ice. I couldn't help but blurt, "Father?"

"Oh, you heard that?" Fire asked nervously. "Don't worry, I'm nothing like him. My powers aren't even that strong... yet."

"Please tell me you'll be careful about who you reveal that to," I told Fire quickly. "There are people who would kill you on sight for no reason other than who your father is... my best friend and my boyfriend being two of them."

"But not you?" Fire said, confused.

"I like to assume the best about people..." I told her, before quickly going back to taking notes.

But now you see. When one story ends, a new one begins.

I just hoped this story would have a happy ending.

### The end... or is it? Keep watch for the sequel, coming soon!

### Stick around after the Acknowledgments on the next page for an exclusive story!

### Acknowledgments

I have to start off by first saying, THANK YOU THANK YOU a million times to YWP NaNoWriMo! It was this amazing program that gave me the motivation to write this book (at least the first draft) in *drumroll...* thirty days! The editing and cover time took a bit more, but the bulk of this novel was done in the month of November! And thank you to all my friends on NaNo that gave me the push I needed to keep going!

Next, thank you so much to my mom! I first sent this book to her about a month ago, right when the writing finished, and she promised to read it. I waited a while... then reminded her again... and again... and finally she stayed up late to edit and finish it for me. I'm so grateful to her for that!

THANK YOU to Luna Hou! She is the best editor ever, period, hands-down. I'm just getting this out here right now: Luna, if you decide to go into editing when you're an adult, I get first dibs on you! But in all seriousness, Luna's comments on this book made it so much better than it was before and really helped make me think about the plot of this book in general. And she made me feel awesome about my novel with her encouraging comments. Also, she compiled a list of Illusionia curses, made out of all our inside jokes ever. Here it is, in case you're interested. "List of Illusionia curses, as compiled by me (Luna): - Giraffe - Jeffrey - Leslie - Turtle - Dove - Fpoon - Maggots- Immolate."

Thanks to all the people that I sent a frantic message to saying, "Hey! My new book's out!" for being so kind and supportive.

Finally, I can't forget that I owe all my success to God.

### Now turn to the next page for an exclusive story!

### Exclusive Story: Sam

Sam chewed on his lip for a moment. Was he really going to do this? What if writing the letter didn't change the way Lily felt about him, he wondered?

But he had to try. He couldn't continue living with a girlfriend who had a best friend who obviously didn't like him much at all.

He took out a piece of paper and began to write.

Dear Lily,

There was something different about Krystina.

I had been told that I was a handsome boy. Well, I didn't know about that, but I knew that a lot of girls had asked me out in the past.

I'd said no to every single one.

Why? I didn't know. I bet they were all nice enough girls. I bet they would have made great girlfriends.

But none of them made me feel the way Krystina did.

She made me elated. Excited. Nervous. Confident. I didn't even understand it, but I thought it might have been love.

And when she loved me back...

That was when my heart pretty much exploded.

So, I maybe got a little careless or impulsive. But all I wanted was to make my girl happy. And I think I succeeded.

Sure, I got myself killed. But I came back to life. To be honest, I still have no idea how that worked. All I understood was that Illusionia was an alternate dimension. I'm not really a science genius.

But I tried to understand. I tried to fight in her battles. I tried to comfort her, to defend her. I did it all for Krystina.

I love her so much it makes it hard to breathe. I think I knew I loved her even when we were two years old, heading off to preschool together. We were friends for only a short time, but that was long enough for me to discover how I felt about her.

So, I'm writing this letter to let you know. I get it if you never like me, even as a friend. But I hope we can get there someday. I hope that even if you don't like me for who I am, you can like me for how much Krystina means to me and how much I mean to her.

But, you know, it would be pretty cool if you like me for myself, too.

\--Sam

Sam sighed. He'd never been much of a writer. But nonetheless, he folded the paper up and stuck it in an envelope addressed to Lily.

He'd give it to her when she returned. It would be kind of like a welcome-home gift. Well, he'd never been very good at gifts, either.

But little did he know, this was to be one of the most meaningful ones he would ever give.

### If you enjoyed this novel, please take a little time to rate it, or even write a review. For a teen author in a big world of other authors, every review helps my books stand out from the bunch (and, it makes me really happy.)

Thank you for reading Awaken Illusionia!

