Light of the Unexpected Adventure

Chapter 13 Help

Gabriella's POV

Without hesitation, my head is shaking vigorously, I don't even look at the small item before I am pushing it right back into her hand, hoping she will take it back. She has too much faith in someone who knows nothing of what she speaks. "I don't know what to do with this, let alone protect it. You can see I have no experience in protecting myself, let alone anything else. Especially something important, as you say." I explain as if it should be obvious, but since she is willingly giving me whatever this is, it doesn't look like that is an issue in her mind.

Her hand gently covers mine as she makes sure it is right back in my hand. I still don't look at it but just feeling it between my palms as I listen to her. "That's why you need to see the witch, she will tell you what to do.. Now let me give you my gift.. It will help you in the hard trials to come and even help protect you when you need it most. The threats will ignite it like a flame to a dry stick. You will not survive without it. So please, take it." She insists as I get confused feeling that the item is small, smooth and round. I thought this was her gift, so what is she talking about?

I feel my eyebrows furrowing before the words come out. "Was the stone or whatever this is, not your gift?" I ask curiously before she grunts out. "No. It was not the gift, but needs to be protected with the gift itself. This will help with the problems that will be coming your way." The response sounds exhausted, as if it's taking the last bit of strength she had within her to say it. Maybe it is. That idea makes me feel bad. I am trying to help her, not make things harder.

"I am sorry.. But.. How do you know this? You speak as if you already know what will happen to me when I get out of here.. If I get out of here, because as of right now, my odds are not looking too great." I state with disbelief as she coughs out, scaring me right now, in more ways than one. I jump, rearranging my gentle hold around her body. She looks up to see the worry in my face so her pained features then shift to a softened look that shows understanding. "I have seen it in a dream.. I have had many dreams such as this. It is a gift I have, but I cannot give it. I have seen this moment coming, and I knew what to expect in my last moments." she says this as she lets out a deep breath.

A light instantly starts to illuminate from within her chest as if there is a lit candle sitting inside of her. This is unsettling for me, so I try to lean back from her, not knowing what that light means. I feel one of her arms wrapping around my back as she holds me in place while her palm lands on my forehead. I jump in reaction as I notice that she is using the strength she has to pull me in, bringing me closer to her than I ever expected. I could feel that her fingertips were drifting through my hair, gripping the top of my head tight, keeping me in place, with the help of the hair intertwined between each finger.

I am in shock as I try to get away, but she holds me in place. "No, stop.. What are you doing?" I asked, feeling my mind panicking because of her strange hold that I couldn't easily get away from. I can see that her head is shaking, trying to get me to stay still. But I have a different plan as my hands instinctively reach up and grip her hand, trying to pry it from my head. With this instinctive reaction, my hair is being pulled, sending a pain through my scalp that is almost unbearable because of me fighting back, making me almost regret my actions if it wasn't for the motivation to live.

I groan out, not knowing what is happening until she tries to calm me down. "Shhh.. it's ok. Please, trust me, I am not trying to hurt you. I swear on what there is left of my life." She declares as I shake my head, not knowing what about her actions I can trust, especially since I don't know her and she is hurting me right now. "No this hurts." I say between whimpers as he tries to hold me still. "Just stop fighting this please.. You're making this much harder than it needs to be. I just have to transfer my light on or the likes of it will never be seen again. Please.. help me.. This is all I have left of my family and I have no one else to give it to.. Please don't let this fight be for nothing." She begs of me as I really start to think about what that means for me.

I am confused about what she is meaning. "What is your light?" I ask through pain, just confused about what she means by this comment but the pain radiating from my head is making it much harder to comprehend anything else going on. "Please let go of me, I have your light stone.. So why do you need to hold me like this?" I yell out, just wanting her to let me go. "My stone is not my light.. My power is my light.. You need to take my power." She says as I watch her eyes close as the light within her chest gets brighter scaring me completely.

I know this could help her, but I also know what they do to beings with powers. I have seen first hand what they do when they figure that out, so what would they do to me? Not to mention the fact that the light inside of her is scaring me beyond belief. What is this light going to do to me when it looks as if it is burning her from the inside out. I saw what the balls of light did to the ogres just a little bit ago. How could she think that I would be ok with this when I saw the damage that could be done with light in this dark place?

I start trembling out of straight fear of what will happen to me when the light touches my skin. I didn't think I would ever be repulsed by light in this dark place, and yet here I am just cringing at the thought of it coming close to me. I shake my head in her hold before responding automatically. "No, what if the light hurts me like it did for the ogres?" I yelp out as she shakes her head. "It won't, I promise. It will give you a feeling of being completed, full inside." she replies without hesitation as I start to consider it, because that doesn't sound bad at all. The hesitation comes since I know that it won't just make me feel like that, it can be a pain to me and my life if I let it.

"But even if it doesn't hurt me now, it doesn't mean it won't hurt me by just having it in me. I will be murdered for your light, if someone bad finds out.. Besides, I don't know what I would even do with it.. It's better off with someone else. I am telling you this now because you don't know me, but I am not good at anything. There is no way that you could possibly believe I would be able to do what you expect of me. That's insane. I could take you into the village and you could throw a rock just to find one person better for this task." I state this with so much fear of what something like this will do to me, while also explaining what my village is like with magical beings. Since she obviously doesn't know.

I watched as she sends me a small smile, before gently bringing her hand down and over my cheek. I'm baffled by this action, so I try to stand up to attempt to get away, but she instantly pulls me back down to her as if I have no choice. "Please.. I know you're scared, and that's understandable, but please don't leave. I need your help." she begs of me before gently touching my chin to make sure I have direct eye contact with her the entire time. But the fear within me is at an all-time high, so I continue to try to stand but only getting to my knees since she won't let me go any further than that. "I swear I would help you if I even remotely knew what I was doing, but I don't.. So I can't." I say to her in a empathetic tone as I feel her grip tighten on me, pulling me in, so I am only inches away from her face.

"My dear, you don't know the strength you have, but I do, whether you can see it or not, I know that you can handle this. Just look at the strength you have already shown. Like, you came in here knowing someone needed help, and you knew there wasn't much you could do and yet you still came. Even knowing the threats that could have possibly been in here, or just the fear of knowing that this could have been a trap, but you still came." she declares in my defense as if she knows me but she doesn't, and yet has all the confidence in the world with me.

My head seems to be shaking constantly, but before I could even respond to tell her why she is wrong about me, she is adding on. "So fine, don't believe in yourself. But believe me when I tell you that this is something you can help me with. So please don't turn me away anyway. The fear of the unknown shouldn't be the reason to never experience anything new. You came in here not knowing what you would get, and this is it. You said you wanted to help, so help me please. All I have is you.. Please.. You can't let your fears control you, or you will never live the life you deserve to. You are good, and I know you can help me. So please, I am dying and don't have any more time or anyone else.. You're all I have.. Please, I am begging you, help me." she begs of me with a desperation in her eyes that I never expected.

Then in one swift move, her gripping hands that have a hold of my tunic, let go as if she has used all of the strength she had left in that one action, then instantly letting her hand drop to the ground. I watch her head hang as her sniffles get louder before I can see the tears pouring down from her incredibly sad eyes. This is a type of desperation that I haven't seen up close, only on display at the hanging block. So, I feel awful seeing this before I then notice that her body is trembling probably out of fear of death being at her side in this hard moment.

This sight is just squeezing my heart within it's saddened tight grip. I hate seeing anyone cry, especially when it is someone that I am hurting by not helping out, when I easily could. "Please, I'm begging you.. Help me.. I can see you have a good heart.. help out the one in need, like you planned when coming in here." she squeaks out between the groans and short breathes that make it seem like she is forcing the words out through overwhelming pain.

I let out a deep breath, knowing what it is like to have no one to lean on, to help you when you need it most. I have been there many times in my life and I never want anyone to feel like that when I am around. But the harsh reality is that she is alone and has no one.. She needs me in this moment.. I can't turn this down. I feel that in my heart. So as much as I want to say no again.. I can't. I suck in a sharp breath as I reluctantly say. "Ok.. I'll help you.. and take it." I let out a deep breath with those words, in hopes to calm my now rapidly beating heart. "Thank you." she breathlessly says to me as I leaned forward, pushing my hair out of the way so hopefully it doesn't get pulled again.