One With Nature

Voices

I was back in the cave. Yang was still holding on to me but she fell asleep. She was laying on my lap. I wanted to dry the tears in her eyes, but none of my forms allowed that with my claws.

Maybe I should get some cotton element? I will consider that once this headache goes away.

I heard a grown and saw Yu walk into the cave. "You didn't kill anyone, did you?"

"I wish. That would have been way less tiring," Yu groaned at my question before looking at the hole in the wall. "You made that so you better-" A simple thought was all it took for the stone to flow back in place and meld together. "... fix it."

"So, what did you do?" I asked in a low voice to not wake Yang.

Yu walked to the seat across from me and sat down. "I had to alter a lot of memories. I managed to make the humans think that a volcano erupted but didn't hurt anyone. You're lucky. If it wasn't for the fact you're Archtype Earth, other Elementals in the land would have demanded your head for trying something so... so..."

"Visible to humans?" I offered.

"I was thinking of 'insane' but that works too," Yu finished.

We just sat in silence. The place was laminated by the campfire that Yu usually boils her tea in but nothing was cooking on the fire right now. I placed my hand on Yang's head and ran it through her hair.

I'm giving her a haircut as soon as this headache calms down.

"She could have been killed," I mumbled.

"I know."

"Or worse. That crazy fox is into some really messed up stuff."

"I'm well-aware. I've seen what she did to a village once."

"What if I didn't get there in time?"

"You're gonna start an episode of self-loathing on how you're not doing better, aren't you?" Yu asked sarcastically while raising an eyebrow.

"What do you suggest?"

"Teach her how to defend herself," Yu stated bluntly.

"At her age?" I asked.

"You said you took care of someone before. How old were they when you began their 'training'?" Yu asked me.

Dammit. She got me there. Yang is probably the same age as Svend when I started training him. This might be the headache talking, but I'm actually considering it.

I groaned while running my free hand through my face. "Fine. I'll think of something. Hopefully, she won't face anything on the level of that fox bitch, but having prepared is better than nothing."

"Did you just swear with the brat nearby? That's surprising," Yu commented on how I called Daji.

I groaned again and held the side of my head. "It's been an annoying day and I have a splitting headache. I really don't care at the moment."

"... You have a what?" Yu asked me with obvious confusion.

"A headache. I thought you of all people would know-"

"No, not that. Since when do you even HAVE headaches?" Yu asked me.

"Since..." I stopped as I realised she was right.

I have never experienced any kind of physical reaction. No pain, no ticklish, no warmth, and no contact. I couldn't even feel Yggdrasil when I held her.

So... How am I feeling a-

*RIIIIIIIIIING!*

"AH!" I jumped to my feet and held my head as ringing and pain filled my body.

"Zack!" Yu cried out and Yang jumped awake and looked at me in concern.

I just fumbled on my feet while still holding my head. It felt like something WAS actually trying to rip my head open. I think Yang and Yu tried to say something but I couldn't hear it over the ringing.

That's when I felt it again. Just like back when I was fighting Poseidon. I felt the whole world at once, but I didn't hear a heartbeat this time.

"Can you truly fix me as you claim?"

Instead, I heard a voice speak directly into my head. It was like a thousand people speak at the same time.

Suddenly, the headache, ringing, feeling the world, and everything just stopped.

I was on my knees and Yang was hugging me real tight. Heck, judging by the fact I can feel tiny foreign objects inside my body, I'm pretty sure her claws were digging into me.

Yu was standing besides me with a few talismans in her hands. She looked like she just came out of the emergency room where she did a surgery.

Yu looked at the Talismans in her hand. "Either the cleansing I just tried worked or whatever was happening to you stopped."

"It was.. the latter," I groaned while tried to pull Yang off me. "Yang, I'm okay. You can let go."

That obviously didn't work because she just held in tighter and her claws digged deeper. "No!" She shook her head.

"Yang, you-"

"No!"

I groaned and decided to just leave her there. It didn't hurt anyone and if it comforts her, so be it.

"What just happened? You just snapped," Yu asked.

"I think...Gaia was giving me a call."

(Discord Server: https://discord .gg/ Kf96XCaQ)