Heavenly Mortals-Act One

VI-Calum ( III )

Calum leaned against the tree, drawing in deep breaths.

"Ugh," He put his hands to his temples. It was his turn to have a convulsion. Usoara, what was that?

Well, you certainly are dense. Those were her memories!

Why did you show them to me?

You know why. I'm not going to spoon-feed you the answers, child,

Calum glanced at her. She still had her eyes squeezed shut.

"Uuugh..." She massaged her head, thoroughly disoriented, no less.

Calum tapped his fingers against his legs.

"Umm..."

The girl shot upright and darted away from him. They were immediately a few feet apart.

Silence. Calum bit his lip.

"Uh... hi," Calum began.

No response.

"Well... This is going to come as a shock, but I just saw your childhood memories. And a goddess just told me you're essential to our quest for universe maintenance work,"

She looked at him like he was crazy. That was the first time she showed any actual emotion.

"Your name is Qi'ra, right? My name's Calum. I'm not sure if you understand just what you're getting invo-"

The shadows at her feet darkened and swallowed her. She immediately came back, gasping like she couldn't get air.

"Woah," Calum stood by, ready to use his Chakra again. She managed to catch her breath.

The two of them looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

"I saw your memories," She said.

"You too, huh?"

"And some weird glowing lady talked to me,"

"So... what did she say?"

"I'd rather not say,"

Calum could force her to tell, but for once he didn't feel like treating her harshly. They had a lot to talk about.

"So... you know what we need to do?"

Qi'ra didn't answer.

Calum remembered how Usoara had persuaded him to go on this quest, "Okay, what did she offer you?"

"You had my answer," She said, rather harshly. The murder was back in her eyes, however slight.

"You do know you're no longer in the position to kill me, right? Judging from your current condition, you aren't winning any fights anytime soon,"

"You do know what the goddess told you, right?" She shot back, her tone now mocking, "I'm essential to your... quest. You can't kill me. Or hurt me,"

"Okay, now you're draining away whatever smidgeon of concern I had for you,"

"Like I care,"

Calum folded his arms and looked away. She was difficult. And he fact that she closely resembled his sister didn't help matters.

He took a deep breath. The girl had a terrible childhood. She grew up an orphan. He should be more considerate.

Calum glanced over to the campfire he'd used for cooking. He could smell burnt meat.

Calum tore the meat in half and offered a piece to Qi'ra.

"Leave me alone. I don't need your pity," She spat.