Mythic (NaNoWriMo14)

Chapter 40 - Memories

Cayden nodded again. "It might have something to do with why you've got nine tails now, or maybe it's the new key--"

"Wait." Rena glanced behind her, spreading her tails and counting them. Yep. Nine. "When in the ley did that happen? Were they like that when he revived me?" 

"I don't think so," said Cayden. "They were still orange then, but you kept them twined so I didn't get a chance to count. Isn't that why you're asking if Nazine revived you?" 

Rena chewed on her lip. "I don't think he revived just me. I think he revived, well, my human side."

Cayden's face froze. "Care to repeat that?"

"I think Nazine revived my human side," said Rena. "There's a voice inside my head, and she's talking about remembering things earlier on, then darkness. The exact reverse of my own memories. Her darkness begins where my memories end, only in her darkness, she doesn't remember anything. Cayden, I think she died, and that's why I took over the body. Why I was Unbound without realising it." 

Tell Cayden he looks nice. I wanna touch his hair. Can you touch his hair for me? 

Rena exhaled. "She wants me to touch your hair. Would you mind if I touched your hair?" 

"Uh," said Cayden, remembering how to speak. "Sure?" 

Rena stepped forward and ran a hand through his hair, drawing even more giggles from the voice--her human. "We still have the problem of the djinn, right?" 

"We do," said Cayden. "Though, at this point, I'm not sure how we're going to fix it. The spectre's inside the actual portal and there's a bunch of super chaotics running around destroying everything. Even with a nine-tailed kitsune, I'm not sure it's going to be enough."

Rena glanced to the new crystal key in her hand, feeling its warmth, its light, and the ley inside. 

"I think there might still be a way to fix this," she said. "I remember things from inside the portal, when the ley spoke to me. I think I know how to fix the chaos." 

"Any idea is better than none at this point," said Cayden, already running back the way they'd come. "Let's move, before the spectre finishes turning the entire portal chaotic. If there's any portal left to turn, that is." 

Together they ran, back down the path cleared by the dae's rampage. Broken branches, long gouges in the earth, every mark guiding them back towards the portal, not that Rena needed it. She could have been blindfolded and knocked over the head several times and she still would have known exactly where it was and a fairly good estimate of how far. It was a beacon, a lighthouse in a field of lanterns. 

After a minute of running, Rena was surprised to find herself far ahead of Cayden. When she slowed her pace to match his own, he waved her off. 

"Get back to that portal!" he said. "I'll get there after, but they need you now!" 

Don't leave him behind! squeaked the voice. What about his hair! 

Sorry, said Rena. When you're older, you'll learn that there's more important things in life than Cayden's hair. 

Like Cayden's face? 

Try to think outside of Cayden. 

The voice considered it as Rena kicked it into speeds a centaur would have been jealous of and made a bee line to the portal, ditching the dae's path. 

The forest around her was angry. Rena could feel it in her bones. It was rising up, something more ancient than the trees or the ley that sustained them. As she leapt off yet another rock, catapaulting herself forward, a chill wracked her body. It wasn't from the freezing wind that pulled back her hair, the fire in her stomach ensured the cold didn't bother her.