//Chapter 44//
1084 Words
"What do you mean?" Savin stopped me by taking my hand. "It showed you?"
"Yeah." I tugged at my hand. "I can't explain it. Nobody had ever done that to me in my entire life. I gave him an illusion and it gave me a memory in return."
"Are you sure about fighting it?" Savin still didn't let go of my hand. I looked at him. There were so many things I wanted to tell him. I knew it was the same for him. As our eyes collided, I saw the unspoken words taking shape in his green eyes.
"I am." I said. "Just because it traded a memory does not mean I lost before. And one more thing." I looked at him. "Don't interverne unless I'm dying."
He smiled sideways. Was it my imagination or was there really a hint of pride in his smile?
"I wasn't planning to." He said.
I went in to the tunnel, still letting him hold me by the wrist. "Look, about before. I can explain."
"Don't." He said. I looked at him, surprised. He smiled at me. The dim flow of the torch was casting shadows across his face, somehow making him even more handsome. "Come back to me after you slay that creature. Then, I will hear your excuses to leave me behind."
He was pouting a bit. I couldn't help it. I poked his cheek. He looked surprised for a moment before leaning in to my finger.
"Bring me to that tunnel." I said.
-
Finding the one I'm looking for was not that hard.
Upon entering I let out my power around like I did before, this time making sure to cover up under and above as well. All I had to do was to find the one who sent me bio electricity in return. As far as I knew, there was only one like it.
Savin stayed at the entrance. He threatened to kill me if I died. I gave him permission to do that.
I did not use my power on it. I wanted it to feel every ounce of pain, just like Kahlee did. I was planning to just cut a limb or two and leave it there to die, just like how it had done with Kahlee.
But things never goes as we plan them, right?
I barely stepped away as it tried to eat me, biting my head off. It's body rolled wave after wave of frustation at not being able to touch me as I swiftly darted hear and there, cutting two of it's thin, long fingers. It roared everytime I made a cut in him. Kahlee screamed because she was terrified. It screamed because I came back.
I did not want to finish it. I was going to give it a sleeping illusion so big that it would fry its brain deep. Instead, it turned his head towards my direction and shared a memory with me. I froze.
In the end, I killed him.
-
For a long time, I waited by his side.
Others were still trapped in an illusion, not even bothering to look in our direction. I buried its clear body in the ground. I plunged one of my daggers on top of it, marking his grave.
I looked at others. If I concerntrated hard enough, I could see their veins were filled with venom. The venom the healer asked me to collect. I did not take any.
Instead, I killed them all, one by one.
It took me a good four hours to bury all of them.
-
When I went outside, Savin was lying on the ground, tossing a clay ball to the sky and catching it. When he saw me coming, he put the ball in his pocket before turning towards me.
"Looks like you took your time killing it. He said, jokingly. "I sensed your magic, strong and steady, so I did not come to check up on you. What took-" He stopped after seeing the expression on my face. I grabbed my face, panicked. "What happened?"
I let the torch fall from my hand before hugging him. And the tears finally came.
-
Savin held me as I cried for a long time.
He didn't question me. I was grateful for that. I wanted to say it all to him, but the emotions were thousand times stronger as they surfaced and broke into sobs.
It took me a long while to get myself together. Savin kept rubbing my hands in a circular motion. As I controlled my emotions a little by little, I became aware of the fact that I haven't bathed or washed my face for several days. I was probably stinking.
Then again, he had carried me before when I was in a worse condition. "Care to tell me what happened?" He asked gently when I finally stopped crying and wiped my face with the handkerchief he offered. I nodded slowly.
"He can share memories." I said. "And he traded all of his with me just so he could bury himself inside an illusion completely."
"What did you see?" He asked gently. I wandered in to that long, painful memory on my own this time.
"What do you mean?" We asked the king, banging on the castle doors. "We are also your people. We haven't hurt anybody. How can you just throw us out?"
I knew that place. I had been to the old castle in Rawen, playing among the ruins with my friends back then. The giant statue of an Elf carrying an arrow decorated the entrance. Today, only the feet of it remained.
All around us, our own families came to throw stones at us. We are monsters, they said. I looked around to see my mother. I wanted to see her one last time, but at the same time, I did not want to see her in the crowd. I would not be able to bear it if she also looked at me with disgust and fear.
I turned to Savin. "Let's find the others first. If I start telling this now, we will be stuck here for three or four days."
He touched a wall with his fingers. In less than a minute, the walls shifted. Before us laid Resh, a girl and Zone. Kylan was nodding off with his chin perked on a sword hilt. Another man sat beside a cart fairly empty.
I sighed in relief. At least, they were alive.
- Writer
