When Men Meet Monsters

Casian ~ 13 Falling, Romantically & Literally

 I reached the surface and gasped at the fresh air like a dying fish. No more cave. No more dark, damp, murderous cave. Nixa and Samhil laid around me. I stared up at the bright blue sky and concentrated on the feeling of the lumpy ground beneath me. The cool breeze felt good against my cheeks. I tried to focus on that instead of the pain rippling across my body, from my aching leg to the new scrapes and burns on my hands, arms, and face. Or worse, thinking about that monster. What exactly did it mean about me stopping the Protector? It felt like an omen of doom. So much for finding answers and closure. The further I went from Thaedia, the stranger the world became.

I closed my eyes and stared at the sun through my eyelids. I was going to sleep here forever underneath the sun and the rain and the trees and nothing bad would ever happen. There would be no need for answers because I would transcend into the earth. It would just be peaceful and I would not have to live up to any expectations. Yes, that sounded perfect.

Someone gently kicked me. I turned my head and opened my eyes. Samhil stared back at me, laying next to me. Only he could still look attractive while dirty, bloody, tired, and hungry. "You alright?" I had no idea how to answer that. I mean, I was alive. That was positive, I thought. I looked back up at the sky. Not a single cloud. Not even one of those tiny wispy ones that looked like cotton. He punched me in the arm. I looked back at him, slightly annoyed. His mouth twisted into this unnecessarily adorable grin. My heart beat a little faster, and I smiled back. But I was also hyper aware of how close our faces were.

"Should I, uh..." Nixa struggled to stand. "Should I leave you two or, uh." He looked severely uncomfortable. I laughed awkwardly along with him. Samhil got up and offered me a hand. I accepted and he pulled me up... really close. His eyes flicked from my eyes to my lips, then back up. He grinned again and pulled away. I let out a breath.

Almost dying together. Well, that was one way to get a boy to notice me.

"We need to get that village," Samhil said. He looked around, trying to figure out where we were. I had no idea, except that the mountains looked a lot closer than they had before. Samhil seemed to think so, too. He turned around and squinted. He tapped Nixa's shoulder and pointed off in the distance, where a thin stream of smoke rose. "Village?" Nixa nodded. The village where we were supposed to rest and resupply was now in the opposite direction we wanted to go. I took a deep breath.

"At least we are closer to the mountain, right?" I said, mustering my optimism. Nixa's forehead creased, doubting my silver lining. "Closer to finding your brother." I limped closer to him and nudged him. He nodded and his lips strained to form a smile. "I guess you can show off more of those survival skills, soldierboy." The nickname earned me another smile.

"We need water first," Samhil said. I gestured to the woods that stretched to the north. The Forest of Ruins, named for its strange rock formations, or so I had read.

"Lead the way." Of course, he could not quite lead the way, since both Nixa and I needed help walking. So, we literally leaned on him and limped our way into the woods. We were slow going and in far more pain than any one of us would admit. But eventually we came across a thin stream. We knelt on the bank. My knees sunk into the moss and I cupped the cold water in my hands. Nixa, next to me, greedily slurped the water from his hands. I followed suit, then I splashed it across my face. It had to be runoff from the melting snow up in the mountains, because it bit my face with cold and it was fantastic. My skin prickled and my mind sharpened, and I was alive again. When I blinked the water away, Samhil was gone.

"Where did he go?" I asked. Nixa shrugged.

"To find food, hopefully. I am hungrier than I have ever been in my entire life. I could even eat lamb's brain I am so hungry." I scrunched up my face. That must be a Zakaisan thing.