Burning Sea/Ocean of Flames

Burning Sea

Crash.

The sound of bottles smashing on the floor, glass shards spraying everywhere. Marella's mother moaned, opening more cabinets, dragging bottle after bottle off the shelf and onto the ground. Their contents exploded all over the kitchen, colors mixing to form a brownish sludge.

"Mom?" Marella watched from the stairs, a shadow falling across her frightened face. "Mom, what are you doing? Are you looking for something?"

"I need to take the med-the medicine," Caprise hiccuped.

"What medicine? You already took some tonight."

"No, I feel... I feel terrible. I need medicine to feel... feel better," she insisted, sitting down and breathing hard, coughing intermittently.

"W-what's wrong, M-mom?" Marella asked. Caprise had never acted like this. Something must be wrong. When she didn't respond to Marella's question, Marella raced upstairs to her room and grabbed her Imparter. Elwin could help. He usually fixed things when something was happening with her mother. Everything would be fine.

"Marella?" Elwin looked as if he was in bed. He probably was. It was very late. "Is it your mother?"

"Yes," Marella told him. From downstairs, she heard a scream, the sound of more glass breaking, and sobbing. She turned back to the Imparter screen, eyes wide with fear."Please come."

Elwin was there in seconds, shouldering an enormous bag full of hopeful cures. "Where is she?" he asked urgently, pushing his way inside. Marella pointed cheerlessly at the kitchen, where Caprise sat crying, surrounded by shattered bottles and the liquid they used to hold.

Elwin rushed over to Marella's mother, helping her stand up and move to the couch. He snapped orbs of light all around her body, checking for signs of different sicknesses. This strange behavior and obvious pain wasn't anything like what Caprise's brain trauma usually caused. After a few minutes of Elwin mumbling to himself and giving Caprise various elixirs, he patted her on the shoulder and walked over to Marella's corner.

"Marella, I need to tell you something, but it'll be very difficult to hear. Are you ready?" Marella hesitated, then nodded, looking up at Elwin. He seemed extremely tall all of a sudden.

"I'm ready."

"Your mother is... ill. I don't know what she has, she's not responding to anything that I'm doing. It's not something I've ever seen before. And... I don't know if I can fix it."

"W-what?" Marella whimpered, glancing over at her mother, collapsed on the couch. "B-but you can fix it. You can f-fix anything." Elwin smiled sadly at her.

"I'm sorry, Marella. I'll keep trying. You know I won't stop until I find something that will help."

"What c-can I do?" Marella asked, opening Elwin's medicine bag and rummaging through it desperately. Elwin placed a hand on her arm and put it back down by her side.

"I don't think you want to be here while I work. Why don't you hail one of your friends and ask to spend the night?"

"B-but I-" Marella stuttered.

"I know you want to help, but I just don't think it's the best idea right now. It's late, and you have school tomorrow," Elwin reasoned. Marella bowed her head.

"Okay. F-fine."

"That's my girl. How about you go and grab some things from your room to bring with you?" Marella nodded and started up the stairs, purposely not looking at her mom. She made it to her room and hailed Sophie. No response. She hailed Biana. No response. She hailed Keefe. No response. She hailed Dex. Once again, no response. Marella sighed. It was late. Who else could she call?