The Psychic

Chapter 9

Third Person POV

The ridge trembled beneath them, but now it was no longer a battlefield; it was a tomb of stillness. Ruby lay sprawled on the jagged stone, chest rising only shallowly, limbs trembling as if her body barely belonged to her. Her friends circled her like frantic guardians, their own fear mirrored in the harsh lines of their faces.

“Ruby! Open your eyes!” Sarah’s voice cracked, breaking the oppressive quiet. She shook her shoulders violently, tears streaking her dirt-smeared cheeks. “Please! Don’t do this to me!” Her hands clawed at Ruby's arms, pressing and shaking and pleading all at once. “Not here! Not like this- ” but her voice was swallowed by the guardians’ low, thrumming growls.

Blessing shoved a loose rock toward a guardian, trying to distract it while keeping one hand on Ruby. “Go… leave us alone!” she yelled, teeth clenched, voice trembling.

Jace was right beside Ruby, blade drawn, standing between her and the nearest guardian. His knuckles were white, his chest heaving. “Stay back!” he roared, yelling at creatures that seemed to sense her weakness and circle closer. Every twitch of a claw or flash of a red eye sent his heart hammering.

The guardians hesitated for a moment, sensing Ruby’s lifeless body. One growl stretched into the air, like the ridge itself was echoing their hunger. It was as if the creatures knew the pulse… the thread… that Ruby had was gone now, leaving only vulnerability.

Blessing crouched beside her, pressing her palms hard against Ruby’s chest in some desperate attempt to force life into her. “Come on, damn it. Stay with us! You can’t leave us here! Not like this!” Her voice wavered, a sharp edge of panic running beneath her rage. She slapped Ruby’s arms gently, then harder, muttering curses at the world, at the ridge, at the shadows that had almost taken her.

“Blessing, Sarah, move her!” Jace shouted, slashing at a guardian that lunged from the shadows. “We need a safer spot… now!”

Blessing lifted Ruby carefully, groaning as her weight sagged against her. Sarah tried to help, supporting Ruby’s legs, but the ridge shook beneath them, a loose stone falling into the abyss.

The guardians closed in, coiling like liquid shadows. Jace moved like a shield, blade flashing, cutting a path, driving them back. But they regrouped, circling, waiting. Every second was a calculation. One mistake and Ruby wouldn’t survive.

Jace knelt on the other side, one hand on the back of Ruby’s neck, steadying her head, the other pressing firmly against her shoulder. His jaw was tight, eyes dark with worry, but there was a raw, unguarded panic there that he tried and failed to hide. “Ruby. Hey, you hear me? You’re not done yet. Not like this. Not here.” His voice shook, low and tense, controlled on the outside, but desperation threaded every word. He shook her gently, then roughly, alternating, testing for any reaction. “Come on. Eyes open. You’re stronger than this.”

Sarah sobbed against her side, clutching her like a lifeline. “You can’t leave me! I swear, if you die… I can’t- don’t do this!” Her hands shook as she pressed against Ruby, gripping, willing life back into her with sheer force of will.

Jace slashed at a shadow, felt the burn of its claws against his arm, but didn’t cry out. His eyes never left Ruby.

Blessing muttered, pacing the ridge, glancing down at the abyss as if the ground itself were judging her. “We can’t… we can’t just sit here. What if she doesn’t wake up?” Her hands were in her hair, pulling at it in frustration, murmuring frantic prayers, yelling at the mist, at the shadows, at the ridge itself.

Jace’s voice cut through the panic. “Stop moving her around too much. She’s weak- trying to stay alive. We just… stabilize her. Keep her warm. Don’t- don’t panic.” But even as he said it, his hands shook slightly, pressing harder into her shoulders, trembling, as if his own strength couldn’t hold back the fear gnawing at him.

Then, from the mist above, a figure appeared. A horse stepped into the clearing first, dark and strong, muscles rippling, red eyes blazing. And then it shifted. Human now, tall and powerful, with hair like fire and eyes that burned with intensity. The prince. He stood between them and the guardians, the air itself bending around him.

He raised a hand, and the guardians froze, snarling but unable to move closer. The prince stepped forward, eyes sharp, stance commanding. With a sudden, fluid motion, he propelled himself into the creatures, striking with a force that made shadows scatter and scream. Every claw and fang that had threatened them was driven back, the ridge trembling under the sheer presence of him.

Sarah froze, wide-eyed. “It… it’s him…”

Jace blinked, disbelief and awe warring across his face. “The prince… he’s… here?”

The prince moved swiftly, guiding Ruby’s friends to her side. With a careful sweep of his hands, he lifted Ruby into his arms. She was heavy, limp, fragile, but he carried her effortlessly, protecting her from the lingering guardians. The creatures hissed, retreating into the shadows, wary of him.

Blessing whispered, voice trembling, “He… he saved us. He saved Ruby…”

The prince glanced at her friends, eyes softening just slightly. “Stay close,” he said, voice low but carrying authority. “Move. Now.” He stepped forward, and suddenly, they were somewhere else. Hidden, sheltered, safe. A place beyond the ridge, beyond the guardians.

As they settled in the hidden place, somewhere deep in the void between life and death, Ruby felt it. A protective warmth, a hand reaching through the darkness. Though she couldn’t know it yet, the prince’s presence wrapped around her, shielding her, keeping her tethered to life.

They tried everything. Slapping her cheeks, pouring cold water over her head, shaking her, shouting her name. Sarah whispered prayers again and again, frantically, as if repetition alone could pull her back. Blessing cursed at the world, the shadows, the ridge, shaking her again, muttering, “I don’t care if it’s magic or prophecy or some stupid thread. Come back, damn it!”

Jace remained closest to her, hands steadying her head, whispering to her like she could hear him in the void. “Ruby… it’s okay. You’re not done yet. You’re not leaving me. You can’t leave me. I won’t let you.” His voice wavered, even as he tried to hold it steady, and his hands tightened, trembling. “Come back… please…”

Hours stretched on like days. The ridge remained quiet except for their breathing, their sobs, the occasional scrape of stone beneath them. Shadows flickered at the edges, curious, wary, but something kept them from coming too close. Ruby's lingering pulse of the thread in her veins lay ghost-like, weak, trying to guide her somewhere, but she couldn’t reach it.

Sarah clutched her hand, refusing to let go. “Please… just wake up. Just a little. I’ll do anything. I swear I’ll do anything.”

Blessing knelt at her side, fists digging into the stones in frustration. “I’m not losing you. Not like this. I won’t let the ridge- won’t let them- take you from us.” She pounded lightly on her arms, then her legs, desperate, refusing to admit her unconscious state could last.

Jace didn’t leave her side. Not once. He whispered, muttered, checked her pulse, pressed water to her lips, rubbed her arms, rubbed her hands. “You hear me?” he asked, voice hoarse, choked with emotion. “You’re not done. You can’t leave. I… I can’t let you.” His eyes, dark and haunted, glimmered with tears he refused to shed, jaw clenched. “If anything happens to you… I don’t know what I’d do.”

They argued softly at times about what to do, whether to move her or stay, whether it was safe, but no one left her side. Every now and then, Jace’s eyes flickered toward a shimmer in the mist, an almost imperceptible movement that wasn’t theirs. He didn’t speak of it, but someone or something was keeping her safe.

Night fell, and still Ruby didn’t wake. Sarah refused to move, cradling her head against her shoulder, sobbing into her hair. Blessing sat stiffly beside her, pacing, muttering, refusing sleep. Jace remained stoic on the outside, but his hands never left her, his eyes sharp, watching for any sign of life. He whispered her name constantly, almost a chant, trying to coax her back, his voice raw with fear and anger and love all at once.

By dawn, Ruby began stirring. Her eyes fluttered open, heavy, unfocused. The ridge was gone from her perception. The danger, the shadows, the chaos... gone. She was lying somewhere else. Safe. Hidden. Her muscles screamed, her chest ached, but she was alive.

“Ruby!” Sarah cried, shaking her gently. “Oh thank God. You’re alive.”

Blessing’s voice cracked. “I thought… I thought we lost you.”

Jace’s hand pressed to her shoulder, grounding her. “You pushed too hard,” he said, voice low, thick with relief and emotion. “You nearly didn’t make it. Don’t… don’t ever do that again. Not like that. I can’t lose you. Not ever.”

Ruby tried to speak, but her throat was raw, her body trembling. “Thread… thread…” she whispered, barely aware.

Sarah shook her head, sobbing into her hair. “Don’t think about it right now. You’re alive. That’s all that matters.”

Jace’s eyes flickered to the shadows around them, the mist, something almost imperceptible. “Someone… kept you safe,” he muttered under his breath, voice heavy with awe and fear. “I don’t… I don’t know how, but you’re alive. That’s what matters.”

Ruby shivered, weak, aware only of their presence, of warmth, of safety. Somewhere beyond her consciousness, the prince had intervened, hidden them, shielded them. She didn’t know it yet. She didn’t know she had reached him, even if only partially, through the thread’s last desperate pulse. All she knew was that she was alive, surrounded by her friends who had refused to leave her, and that somehow, impossibly, they had survived.

Sarah looked at Ruby, voice soft but steady. “We… we have someone we want to introduce you to.”

Blessing nodded, a mixture of awe and relief in her eyes. “There’s someone here for you.”

From the shadows, a figure stepped forward. Tall, burning with intensity, eyes like fire, presence commanding. The prince.