THE WRETCHED

TELEPORTED

Arold could never put into words what he experienced; the sudden sickness in his stomach, the feel of someone pulling his body from every direction and then suddenly he was falling through a dark tube screaming while a frowning Jenna stared at him. How couldn't she be shocked? one moment they were talking outside the garden and the next second they were falling down a black spiral and the darkness dissolved and they were falling from the sky into a river and that's when he heard her scream as cold water splashed on them.

Jenna couldn't believe what had just happened. She was soaked from head to toe. She wiped the water off her face and took a deep calming breath. Her cat-like eyes surveyed the area, her shock still intact with wonder at the new surroundings she found herself in. The sky was clear, the sun was shining high in the sky and she noticed they were in a river flowing downwards, massive green trees mostly pines lined the river in a majestic manner and not far away from them stood a couple of kids about their age in chitons. Their eyes portrayed shock and amusement as they watched them. 

"Where on earth are we?" Arold asked. His arms were up in the air trying to avoid the water from getting in his golden watch. It was a gift from his mother before she'd passed away and he held it close to his heart just as the cross necklace she'd gifted him.

"Aren't you a genius!" Jenna snapped sarcastically, "we were just teleported, how am I supposed to know?"

Arold pursed his lips, "It was a rhetorical question," he said, a victorious smile on the edge of his lips.

She clicked her tongue, "look over there," she said, Arold following the path of her eyes, "maybe we've been teleported to ancient Greece," she said. 

Arold studied the teenagers who hadn't uttered a single word but only stared at them in shock.

"let's go find out where we are," he said while leading the way. They swam from the river to the bank, a little bit intimidated by the curious glances of the strangers.

"Hey," Arold greeted them, a nervous laugh coming out, they only blinked at him and he lost the will to go on. He scolded himself, the reason why he avoided people was because they expected him to be chatty whilst he just loved being in his own company. He had to force himself to talk to them and show a little confidence, he cussed himself, "damn me for being shy!" he thought.

"Hello, am Jenna and this is..." she hadn't asked his name, she suddenly felt like the worst person in the world but he stepped in, "Arold," he said, smiling at her.

"We are trying to find our way back home but I seem to be having an amnesia," Jenna added, her voice unwavering, Arold admired her confidence, "do you mind telling us where we are?" she asked, crossing her fingers at the back, somehow she was hoping they weren't in Greece.

"Hi," a tall curvy girl with sparkly green eyes smiled at her, reaching out her hand to greet her but then a short petite girl with beautiful grey eyes slapped the latter's hand, a scowl on her face, "what if she is one of them, Maia!"

The girl, Maia, shook her head, "they don't look like to me," she replied, casting a curious glance at the two strangers before them, a conservative wall behind the depths of her forest eyes but she smiled once again to the two strangers fallen from the sky. They had been about to go home when Kastor had screamed excitedly while pointing at the sky. 

"Are you nephilims?" Hero asked, a protective hand going around Kalli's waist.

Jenna's head jerked backwards in shock, her forehead crinkling, had she heard right?

"Nephilims?" a confused Arold asked.

The five teens nodded uniformly.

"Aren't they a crossbreed of humans and fallen angels?"

They nodded again in unison.

Arold blinked, not sure what to say, the five teens before them were without a shadow of doubt using very hard drugs.

Jenna decided to take the logical way and assume perhaps they were making a joke, that was the only explanation, "definitely not," she laughed it off, "we are humans," she added for emphasis.

The quintet didn't seem as amused as Jenna would have liked, "humans don't fall from the sky," the girl with grey eyes said.

"That is right," Arold said, earning a hard glare from Jenna who stood beside him in her ripped black jeans and a red crop top all dripping water, "but we are also trying to figure that out. We have no idea what happened. One minute we were talking in the garden and the next we're falling into a river," he explained, his eyes avoiding Jenna's murderous ones.

Maia could tell that Jenna and Arold were not lying, from the way they spoke, they didn't seem the types to lie. The boy in particular seemed very trustworthy with his child-like eyes and infectious smile. She found herself trusting the two strangers but she knew the other four weren't as trusting, particularly her sister but maybe Kalli's came from a place of jealousy as the girl who had called herself Jenna had a stunningly exotic beauty that rivalled her sister's. Kalli was never one to share the spotlight and Maia doubted she would give Jenna an easy time.

"where are you from?' the less conservative Nike asked, his focus on the girl with the beautiful brown locks that had some pink highlights.

"Kenya," she answered, "where are we?" she asked, her eyes targeting Nike.

"The Living Valley," he answered, "I have never heard of this place you call Kenya,"

Jenna struggled not to roll her eyes at his ignorance. Of course, he wouldn't have heard of it! Many white people thought Africa was a country and not a continent.

"It's in Africa," she answered.

"what's Africa?" the tall slim boy with black eyes asked and Jenna had to refrain herself from giving him a proper kick in the groin.

"Haven't you heard of continents?" Arold asked rather plainly, a frown on his face.

"what are continents?" the boy who had a protective hand on the girl with grey eyes asked. Jenna noticed the curiosity in the depths of his brown eyes. There was no way they had never heard of continents. She begun to doubt their level of civilisation afterall, they wore tunics wrapped around their bodies. They gave her Julius Ceasar era vibes.

"Africa, America, Asia and the sort," she said, "like the seven continents?"

They had a blank look on their face.

"Are we in ancient times or what?" Arold spoke, his irritated tone doing little to show the quintet that they weren't dangerous.

Jenna couldn't wrap her head on why they didn't know these continents and then she recalled that the boy had said they were in the Living Valley but she had thought he meant the town they had been teleported to... he had meant something else.

"Who stays in the Living Valley?" she asked.

"It's the land of humans, the lost valley is where you'll find most vampires and then there are other lands occupied by other supernatural beings," Nike answered.

Jenna and Arold looked at each other, Arold mouthing the words, "crazy,"

"You should come with us, the chief will be able to find your parents and take you home," Maia said after she noticed the troubled look on the two strangers. 

Jenna nodded but Arold scowled, "what if they kill us?" he whispered to her.

"stop whining, they are the best chance of us finding our way home," she replied.

Arold sighed as he trailed at the back, Jenna next to him as they followed the group. The two girls carried a pot of water in their head. To him they looked like those pots one would find in a Jesus movie. He had a very strong feeling that they were not on earth but he forced such kind of negative thinking out of his system, choosing to be positive and believe that he had just been teleported to Greece or Israel or maybe Egypt.

The girl Maia shortened her stride so that Jenna could catch up with her, "your clothes seem very different from what we wear here," she said once Jenna caught up to her.

"yours seem kind of ancient," Jenna replied, not trying to sound mean. 

"you have a very different accent," Maia observed, "it's almost like we are from different worlds,"

Jenna could see the logic behind Maia's observation. In some way, Maia reminded her of Kara. She decided it was the aura; Maia seemed calm, collected and soft spoken just like Kara. Jenna found herself missing Kara but then the thought of Scott crept up in her mind and she felt a lump form in her throat.

"you seem troubled," Maia asked, her eyebrows crinkling in concern.

"am just tired," Jenna answered.

Maia nodded.

Jenna felt the need to keep up the conversation. Maia seemed open-minded and like someone one could have a full conversation with and she felt a pull towards Maia than anyone else in the group.

"Is she your sister?" she asked, her eye pointing to the petite girl at the front who was in an immersive talk with the boy who most likely was her boyfriend.

"Yes, we look nothing alike," Jenna could have missed the sadness in Maia's voice were it not for her keenness.

"bother of you a very beautiful," Jenna observed, "the beauty lies in your eyes," 

Jenna found it interesting that the two girls looked so different yet so alike, their difference came in their eyes and that's where their beauty lay, they each possessed beautiful ethereal eyes that Jenna wished she had.

"most would beg to differ," Maia simply replied, and Jenna noticed that her words bore no contempt for her sister, it felt like she was just spitting out facts.

Arold stumbled on a green stone. He cussed out as he nursed his foot, jumping on one foot to keep up with the others. They were on a straight path that went through a thick forest and then opened up to a view of small houses made of big rectangular blocks just like those houses he often saw in the greek coast when he was on vacation. The houses spread over a valley and onto the highlands. As they descended down the green carpet like highland, he noticed how the houses at the valley were closer to each other while the ones at the highlands seemed more spaced and were fenced with dry wood and others had short leafy trees that surrounded the homes. They came to the path that had beautiful flowers lining it with little streams of water along the path to water the plants. The whole area looked like a fairytale come to life and he waited to wake up from the dream yet nothing happened. He brushed his hand delicately on one of the flowers to make sure his mind wasn't creating an illusion...it felt real.

"They are beautiful," Jenna said.

"I wonder how they manage to keep such place thriving," he wondered.

"they grow out on their own, the stream of water is their life source, we never disrupt it," Nike answered, "don't you have one like this in your home?" he asked.

Jenna chuckled, "every stream is polluted with plastics and waste from industries. It's very rare to find a clean natural source of water," she answered, "we destroy the natural resources while trying to make artificial ones which I find very dumb,"

They passed small cottages in the first highland that had little kids in the various compounds playing. It seemed so peaceful and calm, it felt rejuvenating to listen to the birds' chirp in the dwarf trees lining the homes. Kastor, Nike and Hero parted ways with the two girls, the latter promising to talk to Kalli the next day as he winked at her and disappeared into a cottage just along the road.

They descended to the valley where everything became loud with traders trying to sell fish and other trying to buy vegetables. The streets were very clean and well maintained. Arold noticed that no one threw away litter but rather put them in wooden bins placed in every corner of a building. There were no carriages like he had expected which made him wonder how they moved about their business if there weren't any cars or carriages. Arold feasted his eyes on the beautiful decorations done on the buildings... it was art that seemed to come alive whenever he gazed into it. One that particularly caught his attention was the flying eagle. It had multicoloured feathers with a flaming beak and curious eyes that seemed to pull him towards it. He'd thought for a moment that it whispered his name and morphed into a crow that flew towards him.

"Arold!" he heard Jenna's voice call out to him. He looked around and realized everyone was staring at him but they quickly got back to their business. He was standing beside the wall where the eagle was drawn and his palms were caressing the eagles' beak.

"We should get going," Jenna scolded him.

He snatched his palm away from the wall as if he had been burnt, "will you stop daydreaming?" Kalli snapped.

Arold sighed and followed the girls past a path between two buildings that descended down into a path that led them to the highland. 

"These seem like a fairytale," Jenna whispered to Arold.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the vampires and Nephilims are real," he replied, "maybe this is a dream,"

"There'd no way you would be in my dreams,"