Tale from the Deepwater

Chapter 21

The ever louder howling winds, which till now, only plucked clothes and lighter objects, had now started uprooting thinner trees and the more poorly built tents and roofs. Everyone was dispersing, trying to find a sturdier shelter before they could escape from the common grounds and go back to the residential areas, and it seemed like it would soon create a stampede.

" Why suddenly!" Wyn and Nia were shouting as loudly as possible to be heard amidst all the chaos and clamor. They held each other's hand tightly and pulled Maren with them as if they would soon be sent flying lest they found something to hide under soon enough. They ran till they reached a stable and quickly ran in.

" Shall we go to the underground shelter? " Wyn asked.

" I am sure it is very crowded now with everyone trying to get in now. Let's wait here for a while. "

Soon, the winds were accompanied by rainstorms and thunderclaps.

"Oh, lord! " Nia looked at the sky with exasperation and continued, "Why today! There were no signs at all today. But this happens here unpredictably occasionally, " She informed Maren.

Maren hardly had her mind on what they were saying, instead, it was filled with snippets that flooded like the heavy downpour now deafeningly pattering against the roof. Something from the past that she remembered as images of what seemed to be long gone days vaguely filled her vision, even though it hadn't been that long. She remembered the first sight that she ever saw when she opened her eyes. The thin pool of blood-like water and the two burning crimson holes were starkly vivid in her memory, even though everything else from that time was vague as a mist.

Looking up now, the sky, for a brief moment, appeared to her as if it was the same red even when it was pitch black, turning ghostly white and blue every now and then because of the thunder. She looked down at the pearl hidden by the long sleeve of her rob that reached till her mid palms. It was extraordinarily luminescent now, glowing fiercely. She walked out in the rain as if in a trance.

" Hey! Wait! Where are you going? " Nia held Maren's shoulder forcefully.

" I need to go. "

"You can't. It's not safe. Wait for the sky to calm."

Maren was about to shrug her arm off her shoulder, but a slight hesitation pulled her out of her daze as the warning voice of Nia was heard in sync with the recollection of the serious voice in her head telling her not to go. That was, in fact, one of the reasons she had come to the village tonight because the man had asked her to stay away from the waters.