Am I Not The Hero?

Chapter 7 - Ravi Aldine

Ravi watched as Draigh's expression changed; his eyes widened, his face went pale, his smile vanished, and his eyebrows furrowed. "What was that?" he asked, but Draigh did not answer. Ravi wasn't sure if he was even listening to him. He just stared off into the distance. As if his soul had left his body and left an empty shell behind.

"Draigh, are you there?" The siren rang out once more, but still no answer. He looked at the others for help, but they did not seem to know what was happening. "Esperar to Draigh. Can you tell me what's going on?" he shook his body to get him out of the trance.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. We need to hide." He said as he walked towards the shore. „Draigh there coming from that side, you'll never be able to hide," Akira shouted from next to Ravi.

„We'll hide underwater."

„What? We don't have gills; you know that, right?"

„Neither do I. Just trust me."

Ravi did not trust that man at all. But if he has to choose between being kidnapped by aliens and drowning underwater, drowning seemed nicer. „If we die, I'll kill you" „Sure, Esme. Everyone grab each other's hands," Akira ordered. Ravi held out0 his hand to Z and Draigh, who grabbed Esme and Akira's hands.

The siren rang out again, this time a lot louder. He could feel Draigh tense up through his hands, his fingers piercing into Ravis. He could see the goosebumps on his arms and his legs trembling. „Everything's going to be fine," he whispered over as he squeezed his hand. „Okay, everyone gets underwater on my sign," Akira said as he started counting.

One

Two

Three

The group dunked their heads under. The cold sensation of the water, the bubbles of their breaths, and the slow sinking; made him feel unexpectedly free. Though his breath was running out, he hoped that whatever Akira planned would work. They could hear the siren ringing, dimmed by all the water above them. As Ravi let the last bubble of air escape his mouth, Akiras hands illuminated in yellow light; Tendrá. It traveled along Esmeralda, lighting up the most at her throat when she suddenly gasped. It went over to Z, then Ravi, and at the end, it reached Draigh.

It was a strange feeling, having someone else's Tendrá run through your body; it starts with an itch along your fingertips, like hundreds of bugs crawling along it, up your arm over to your chest, and then into your throat. It felt like he was being choked for a second, but then the water's oxygen traveled into his lungs, and he could breathe again.

Tmesis Soldiers had shown up at the lake, but since the group was underwater, they could not see them. Their plan was working. He stayed underwater with the others until the soldiers had left. As Ravi swam upwards, he did not let Draighs hand go, in fear he would tense up again.

They reached the shore and tried to dry themselves, "How did you do that, Akira?" Esmeralda asked as she squeezed the water out of her green curls. "I transferred my Tendrá into your body; I constantly use it for breathing underwater myself; I figured that it would work if I borrowed it to you guys," Akira explained.

Everyone gathered their stuff, and they got back on track to return to Pravda. The others were all chatting, but Ravi did not feel like it. He was thinking about what he would tell Saxtan when they arrived back in the city. Ravi had just left the tournament without saying a word to anyone; he would not be surprised if they had already sent a search party for him. Also, what would he say if Ravi told him that aliens from space killed his mother and that he and his team would now go after said space aliens to get revenge?

"What are you thinking about?" He was so in thought Ravi had not noticed that Draigh was walking next to him now. "Nothing important, but what happened earlier to you? You know, as the siren went off for the first time." He did not want to make Draigh uncomfortable or invade his privacy or anything, but if he had any issues, it was important for Ravi to know it so that he could protect Draigh if anything happens.

"I don't know. I guess it's just PTSD from all the years I've been at Tmesis. Nothing you should worry about it. I just didn't expect to hear it at that moment, that's all," he explained; Ravi did not know what to say, so he only nodded. As they continued walking southwest towards Pravda, Ravi loosened up a little and started chatting with the others too.

They joked and laughed and told each other stories of when they were little. And the more fun he had, the faster time seemed to pass by. As Pravdas stonewalls showed up at the horizon, he could see a figure walking towards them. "Everyone, pull your weapons out. It could be a Tmesis Soldier" they continued walking towards them with caution. Akira had his bow drawn, ready to shoot if the figure turned out to be hostile.

"Wait here; I'll see who it is. You guys monitor the environment; this could be a trap." Ravi said as they got closer to the person and left the group behind. His fingers wrapped around the handle of the sword tightly, and with every step, he could make out more details of the person walking toward him. "Ravi?" They shouted for him. He recognized the voice. "Uncle?"

He jogged towards him, and Saxtan slung his arms around Ravi as he reached him. "I was so worried for you." "It's fine; I only wanted to pick up a few things before we leave town again." Ravi pushed his uncle away from him and slid his sword back into its pouch. "What? No, you're not leaving now. Where do you even want to go, and with who?" He immediately raised his voice as he spoke to Ravi. "By Pravda's law, I am an adult and can make my own choices, so you can not stop me. But if you really want to know, I found a lead in Mother's investigation, and I have a team ready to help me figure out what happened to her. So if you excuse me, we'll be heading for the armory then."

He waved the others over, "Ravi, don't be ridiculous; I thought you wanted to join the academy; you can still do that; I can talk to the headmaster. And what about Pravda? This city needs you; you can't just leave us behind." His uncle pleaded with him, but Ravi did not care anymore. If Saxtan did not want to help him, that was fine with him. He never expected him to do so anyway. The only thing that mattered now was that he went to that Portal and found out whoever killed his mother.

"Let me do what I need to do, okay? I need to find them, I need to get my revenge, I need to be her hero so let me do that, alright? It's not like you ever cared about her in the first place anyway, but I did, so I have to do this!" Ravi shouted at him. The others had already walked past him, and as he caught up with him, he could hear Saxtan call for him, but he decided to ignore it.

Everyone stayed quiet as they packed all the necessities into the bags. "Does anyone have to say goodbye to their family before we leave?" Ravi asked the others, but none of them answered, "alright, then we would be ready to go, but there is one more thing I have to say."

He gathered the others in a circle, "this is not a joke or a fun hiking adventure; this is an ongoing investigation on my mother's death" "and a rescue mission for my sister," Draigh interrupted. "Yeah, that too. What I mean is that this is important and should be taken seriously. You could get injured or captured by Tmesis and, in the worst-case scenario, die in a fight against them, so if you choose to stay, I would understand, but if you decide to come with me, then it better be for a damn good reason.

"So, are you guys in or not?" Ravi had to admit that he was purposely scaring them. It's not like he hated the others or anything, but he did not want anyone else to get hurt because of him. He felt enough pain in his life and did not want other people to go through those same things only because of him.

"Well, I am obviously in since I need to save my sister and undo whatever brainwashing they put her under," Draigh contributed to the group. He was the last person Ravi wanted to put under all this stress, but he knew he could not convince him to stay. "I'll come too; I owe it to you, Ravi," Z said, he was not sure what they meant by that, but he did not want to ask. "We're obviously in, too, right Akira?" Esme asked him, and he nodded.

"Okay, then let's go."

(1543 Words)