Rewinding Time (Narry)

Chapter Forty-Four

There laid the Timekeeper, body twisted in ways that were humanly impossible. It was evident that he had broken a leg, and by the way he was breathing in such a labored fashion, I reckoned his ribs had shattered and his lungs were collapsing in on itself—a feeling I had to endure more times than the amount of fingers I had.

Worry washed over me as I crawled onto my feet and forced myself to run over to his grotesque body; my legs were still shaking from the flight and seeing him lay there so helplessly was definitely not easing the queasy, unsettling feeling that blanketed my thoughts.

Things began to click in my mind, sending a flurry of butterflies in my stomach as I rushed to be by his side; the strong wind that saved me had not been a miraculous work of nature but rather it was the Timekeeper. He had dived beneath me, absorbing the energy propelling me to the ground and taking the fall for me instead.

He gazed tiredly up at me, breathing in shakily as I knelt down beside him. "You're terrible at flying."

I let out a small strained laugh at his attempt to lighten the mood. "Hurry up and heal yourself," I pleaded, disliking the sight of him in such a state. I began dabbing a bit of blood dripping from his brow, gritting my teeth as he flinched when I accidentally grazed a gash on his cheek.

"I've tried," he croaked. He blinked lazily as he tried to focus his eyes on me. "My crystal's much too weak now; I don't have enough energy left." His words came out labored and breathy, so fragile that they were easily carried away by the wind and dissipated into the air.

Cold sweat began to dampen my shirt as panic ensued. "Stop joking around," I grumbled, balling my hands into fists and pressing them roughly against the soft dirt beneath us to keep myself from having a meltdown.

Despite how much I disliked the Timekeeper in the very beginning and how much I despised his training methods, I had grown quite fond of him in our time together. In a way, he was almost like the father I never had. Even though he was hard on me, there were many times he would give into my constant joking and tell me stories of his adventures.

"I've been meaning to teach you the how to heal on your own; perhaps this is the proper time to do so." He chuckled humorlessly as his hand weakly flopped onto the ground beside me. "Take my hand."

I opened my mouth to protest, trying to remind him of the time when our target was to create an invisible barrier and how I ended up blowing a crater into the surface of the earth instead. He feebly nudged his hand against my knee, eyes twinkling with conveyance of 'just trust me' and 'I believe in you' as he weakly placed his hand onto mine. I swallowed thickly, gripping his limp hand tightly in both of mine and holding it to my chest.

"Relax and close your eyes."

I inhaled slowly as I tried to calm myself down; my heart was pounding in my ears and the sickening feeling in my stomach refused to cease. He squeezed my hand lightly, almost as if he could sense my distress. I gazed down helplessly at him, frantically trying to just relax—something I had been unable to do since I met him.

He smiled weakly up at me. "You're going to be great."

I tried to reciprocate his smile as I closed my eyes again and concentrated on steadying my breathing. A calm gust of wind breezed by, kissing the cold sweat peppering my skin. I shivered slightly and gripped his hand tighter.

"Imagine you are standing by the bank of a river. The soft swaying of the tall grass by the shore is calm, inviting you to come into the river. You almost fall for it, stepping close to the edge of the water and dipping a foot in. Though it seems you have underestimated the current of the river and it almost tears you off of your feet."