Element Restraint

Chapter 27: Acantha

As we all follow Amora, everyone begins to shiver. We all lack proper clothes for this weather. I am cold too, but I still find it bearable. I feel my body heat spread through my veins to warm me. It is probably the fire.

Everyone else follows in silence. Rawr fights off a yawn. Beside him, Paxon holds another book in his hand. One I have never seen. He probably got it from the Air Realm.

Galen limps his way through the snow, making us move slower.

Aella steps closer to me.

"You have heat coming off of you." She says. Rawr looks over his shoulder at me curiously. He turns around and puts his hand on my arm.

"Oh my stars!" He exclaims. "She is right."

Aella, Rawr, and Galen surround me as we walk, trying to get some heat off of me.

"Are you not half Iceling?" Rawr asks him later. "Because Icelings are supposed to be used to the cold."

"Who told you that?" Galen gets defensive.

"You said it in the jet," Paxon speaks up.

"Oh" is all Galen says, turning beet red.

"What else are you?" Rawr asks.

"Who wants to know?" Galen says. He seems nervous.

I am sure when people ask him this question, he does not get good responses. Who likes Mixlings? They get a lot of hate for being mixed with more than one Realm. The belief of not sticking to your Realm is a betrayal to humanity.

"His dark blue eyes show he is Waterling," Paxon says with his nose in a book. "Icelings have white, cyan, or light blue eyes."

Rawr and I look at Galen for confirmation. His silence shows that Paxon is right.

"When do you even take the time to look at us to know this stuff?" Galen says bitterly.

"I am always looking." Paxon turns his page.

After some time, a tall gray stone wall comes into view. I feel everyone speed up as we get closer.

"We are almost there," Amora says. I feel my palms begin to sweat the closer we get. This could be the end of me. Even if I do make it, what will I say to Valence?

I study Amora as we walk. She keeps a straight, neutral face as we track the snow. Every thirty seconds though she looks back at us and makes eye contact with me for a moment.

Soon a huge wooden gate comes into view. Amora stops and turns to us. In particular, she looks at Galen.

"I am sorry." She says, full of guilt.

Erik stops in his tracks. He looks up at the wall for something. His eyes grow wide, but it is too late. A shot is fired. A dark black dot appears on his neck.

Erik falls to his knees in agony. I look up in the direction it came from over the wall.

"Erik!" Aella cries out. As she rushes to her brother's side, a man points a pistol over the wall. I quickly push Aella to the ground, shielding her.

Something hits my neck causing a wave of pain, starting at my neck down to my toes. I fall into the snow in agony. I feel as if I am on fire. My brain is burning, melting!

Red needles cover my vision. Flashes of lights and alarms go off in my brain. Something is horribly wrong. I feel as if my brain will explode and a hot goop will ooze from my ears.

Rawr holds me in his arms as I groan in agony.

"What have you done?" He shouts to Amora. I look over through my tears and see Erik in excruciating pain next to his sister. Galen holds her in his arms trying to comfort her as she cries.

"It's a chip." Paxon answers for all of us. He is not looking at his book anymore. He looks above at the towers. "It is muting their abilities."

Pulses move through my body causing me to jerk.

"Get off of me!" Rawr shouts. In an instant, he is dragged away from me.

"What are they doing, Amora?" I hear Galen shout.

A man lifts my arms up and chains them together. I watch through tears as they do the same to Aella and Erik.

Amora looks at us with guilt. Paxon is holding Galen back as he freaks out trying to claw his way to a crying Aella. Two guards have wrestled Rawr to the ground.

"She will not hurt anyone." Galen keeps repeating over and over again.

Another man picks her up and swings her over his shoulders. Aella is not conscious anymore.

When a guard tries to pick up Erik, he still manages to fight. But it is not good enough. A man punches him to the ground and kicks his face.

Move Acantha! I scream eternally. My movements are weak and slow. It is so hard to ignore the pain in my brain, bringing scratches of agony down my spine.

I am barely conscious when we are all dragged into a cellar, just as Erik predicted.

The pain continues through my body.

They drop me on the hard cold stone floor. It cools my burning skin.

"Breath Acantha," Erik says. He sounds completely fine now. "It will pass."

And it does. The pain ends. I rapidly breathe on the floor. I feel an emptiness. Something is wrong. A shiver moves through my body and I begin to shake.

The cell is covered in brown slush. I am unable to warm myself from the temperature. I let out a breath, and see a white fog come from my mouth.

It is gone. My abilities are gone.