Aurora

Part 1, Chapter 11

Arrabella.nine

I don't know how long we’ve been here or where we were before, but now we both were too weak to move and neither of us knew why.

I blinked in surprise when I heard shouting coming from somewhere that was not in this room.

“Tessa, do you hear that?” I asked her and she nodded softly.

“I don't feel good.” She groaned and I slowly sat up, looking over at her. Something inside of me swelled, compelling me to put a hand on her.

Once I came in contact with her, something deep within me began pour out into her and she almost immediately brightened, sitting up.

She stared at me with wide eyes before going loudly. “Oh my gosh!” She exclaimed before scrambling to her feet. I felt extremely fatigued as I slumped against the wall behind me, watching her move towards the wall opposite of me. She has a device in her hand that glowed green and blue.

“Arra, we've got to- Arra!” She exclaimed as she looked over to me before pacing the room for a moment. She was mumbling something under her breath that I wasn't able to hear, but my hooded eyes caught the movement of her lips.

She stopped in her tracks when she heard shouting, before running back over to the wall and hitting it with all of her might.

I slipped in and out of consciousness, only catching onto a couple of things. A shout here, a curse there, before I felt hands lifting me in the air. I inhale deeply as I was carried out into the open, the pure air refreshing my lungs.

When I came to, I was in the infirmary on one of the lower levels of the castle.

“Thank goodness!” I heard someone exclaim from beside me, prompting me to look over. I frowned when I saw Tessa sitting there. I opened my mouth to speak but no sound came out. I sighed before looking up at the ceiling.

“I um, I'm supposed to be gone now, but I wanted to stay until you woke up to make sure you were okay. You uh,” she stood up, going to the foot of my cot, before picking up a tablet that hung there, “you have internal bleeding and paralysis in all four of your limbs.” She looked up at me and her eyes glazed over before she looked away.

I closed my eyes and reached inside of me, feeling for my magic. When I couldn't find it, my heart began to race. What I found in its place was a thick, ugly mass of glowing black magic that ran through my veins.

“You told me that were we going to talk about our kiss.” Tessa whispered and my eyes flew open to look at her. She pulled in a quick breath before looking away. “Don't look at me like that, I know you can't talk. I just wanted to talk about it before I left.”

I blinked at her, sighing. I didn't know what she was talking about.

“I meant what I said, you know. I just wish I didn't… say it like that. There were so many different ways that I could've expressed myself. I don't know what was wrong with me.” Her lips pressed into a thin line. “That was so-”

She was cut off by a commotion outside of the door. We both looked in the direction and saw a nurse arguing with someone that was trying to enter.

“I'm sorry ma’am but you cannot go in there! Her highness is resting.” I heard the nurse exclaim and the other person seemed to grow even more frustrated before she yelled through the door.

“Tessa! Get out here before I have to hit this woman!”

“Could you give me just a moment, please?” Tessa called back before looking at me and whispering. “Sorry, that would be my sister Analeigh. She isn't very happy I stayed longer than I was supposed to.”

I looked at her questioningly.

“We were in there for two weeks. If-If you want to know more, it's all in the tablet on your bedside table.” She pointed over to it and I turned my head to look at it.

“Ma’am? Ma’am! Get out of there this instant!” The nurse yelled at Tessa’s sister as she pushed through the doorway. I took this moment to look over her. She had long orange and black hair held up in a high ponytail with curly bangs shadowing her forehead. She sported a black, leather bodysuit that wrapped around her neck in a simple choker style.

“You touch me or say another word to me and I’ll knock your teeth down your throat.” She said menacingly to the nurse. She turned back to her sister, yellow-green eyes ablaze, “Tessadonia Emile Claymore, if you don’t come on here.”

Tessa looked at me apologetically before turning away from me to look at her sister. “You caused such a commotion. You didn't need to, I was perfectly fine here.”

“Tessa you’ve been gone two weeks. The first week, no one was too worried. ‘She’s just immersed’ they said. ‘They wouldn’t risk the alliance by not seeing to her safety’ they said. After the second week when you didn’t report in I had to come looking for you and what did I find? Nothing. Nothing but this shitty castle in this shitty kingdom that lost my sister and their own princess. Thank Erath that the younger one didn’t go missing, or the entire empire would have been over here.”

“I didn't get lost at all, I was just sidetracked.” Tessa huffed and I frowned from my spot on my cot.

“Is sis awake-oh! Hi Ana, glad I could help find your sister.” Acira smiled at her as she walked in with her two… strange friends behind her.

Speak of Najea, and she shall come.

“You didn't help at all, she did all the work.” The boy said, pointing at the little dasco girl, before Acira threw her fist back into him, causing him to double over in pain.

“Hah!” The dasco girl laughed.

All the while Acira kept her big smile on her face.

Is it me or is she Claire in disguise.

I shivered at the thought.

“Yea thanks kid. I’ll give you that battle you wanted...when you’re older.”

“Looking forward to it.” Acira giggled before turning to the nurse. “I've come to take Arra.”

“You can't do that, your highness.”

“I've come to take Arra.” She repeated.

“I can't let you-”

“I've come to take Arra.” She cut her off, smiling.

“Your highne-”

“I've come to take Arra.” She repeated once again, and the nurse started to get angry.

“You are not allowed! She needs her rest. She will not be leaving this room, do you understand me, Aciraprabha!” She yelled and Acira looked at her in silence for several moments. Acira blinks slowly at the nurse.

“I've come to take Arra.”

“I GIVE UP!” The nurse shouted before storming out of the room. Acira giggled before using her air to lift me off of the bed. She floated me out of the room before turning and saying hey goodbyes to Analeigh and Tessa.

“Time to go to the lake.” She told me before floating me down the hall.

. . .

“Here we are.” Acira smiled as we stopped at the shore at a secluded part of the lake. “The cleansing water will burn just a bit, but you'll be a-okay.” She giggled as she lowered me into the water.

The pain was immediate.

An involuntary scream ripped through my vocal chords as the water came in contact with my skin, burning it beyond belief. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I was lowered farther. I sobbed and screamed until I was all the way in the water.

“Get me out, get me out please!” I sobbed at Acira and she only looked at me sympathetically. I thrashed around in the water, screaming at the top of my lungs. I looked down at my body and saw red-hot blisters covering my arms and my body. The water around me was a dark, murky brown and stank like no other.

“I-I’m sorry Arra.” Acira told me and I looked over at her. She thrust her hand out and my upper body was knocked back into the water.

I screamed, watching the air leaves my lungs. I kicked and swiped at the water in front of me, trying to break through the surface, but it didn't work. I watched this black goo escape me from the pores of my skin and screamed even louder, inhaling the water I was under.

Immediately, I was yanked out of the water and onto the bank, regurgitating all the water that I swallowed and breathed in.

“Told you it would work.” Acira’s forax friend pointed out and I glared at him, coughing harshly.

“You’re all better now. See?” Acira smiled sadly, tilting her head to look at me, before looking away.

“Great,” I croaked out, “did you get the tablet that was on the table?”

“Of course!” She said before she floated it over to me. Slowly, I sat up and grabbed it, putting it in my lap.

Reading through all the information there quite quickly, I gave myself more time to mull it all over. Scrolling back to my diagnosis, I read it over again.

Patient has an abundance of time dilation, amnesia, and reversal spells in their system. Unknown how long spells will take to leave their system.

That would explain the two weeks that we were in there and why I forgot everything. But the reversal spell? Could that explain my magic and why it was so… dark?

“Arra, come on, it's time to get you to bed.” Acira said, holding out her hand, which I politely declined.

“How did you know what to do?” I asked her as we began to walk back to the castle.

“Ummm. A little birdie told me.” She giggled.