Eternally Luminous

Chapter 7

Leeroy’s cottage was small but very cozy. It was one entire bedroom with windows framed with a dark timber all around it. It’s roof was also made of the same timber but it’s walls were made of a type of stone that Ana had never seen. It was a pale gray colour and was very hard and durable. A small fireplace was alight and it’s flames blazed vigorously whenever Leeroy was near it.  A single bench appeared to be his kitchen as knives were hung on the wall above, as well as various animal pelts. The cottage was warm and toasty compared to the strong winds and cold breezes, which were signs that winter was very near. Royan had made herself comfy upon a small couch infront of the fireplace, where she curled up into a ball under a woolen blanket Leeroy had given her. Ana sat in front of the couch staring at the fire, watching its flames dance.  The way the coloured blended together fascinated her. Leeroy entered the cottage with the door thudding closed behind him, a cold breeze followed him in. Ana shivered and turned around to look at Leeroy. He was only wearing his long brown pants tucked into his leather boots, his upper body completely exposed to Ana’s eyes. She blushed as she realized she had been staring a little longer than she intended. He was covered in sweat and carried a load of firewood.

“Aren’t you cold?”, Ana questioned him feeling the coldness of the draft that entered.

“I never get cold, that’s the beauty of my ability”, he said grinning.

Ana watching him curiously as he placed the firewood down next to the fireplace and brushed his chestnut coloured hair between his fingers. She watched his body, admiring his muscles. He wasn’t skinny, but he most certainly wasn’t fat, with the outline of his abdominal muscles and his shoulders clearly visible through his perfectly smooth looking skin. She shook her head, snapping herself out of this weird admiration for him.

“What exactly is your ability?”, she asked him.

He went to the fireplace and squatted down infront of it. He turned around and grinned at Ana cheekily then he stuck his hand into the fire.

“Stop! What are you doing? You’ll burn yourself”, Ana said reaching her arm out to pull his out of the fire.

He pulled his hand out of the dazzling flames and to Ana’s amazement he wasn’t burnt but most fascinatingly his hand was on fire.

“So you can play with fire and not get burned”, Ana said feeling slightly stupid but pushing him over. They laughed but then he fixed himself up and asked her

“So now that you know my ability, what’s yours?”.

Ana wanted to reveal her ability in a bizarre way that he had. She looked around the room at the various objects she could use to stab herself, the knives, a sword, various sharpened pieces of scrap metals, and the fire. Ana walked over to the kitchen bench and took down the largest knife there which was a hunting knife. Leeroy watched her curious as to what she was doing. Ana ran her finger down the blade admiring it, and then suddenly stabbed herself in the stomach with him. Leeroy sprung up and ran over to her shouting “ANA! ANA! WHAT DID YOU DO?!”.

Ana felt the pain but exaggerated it. She sprawled herself across the floor on her back and clutched her stomach. Leeroy crouched by her side holding her stomach and trying to stop the blood. She couldn’t help but laugh and sat upright. “Ana, what the fuc-“ he said while watching her dazzed and confused. Ana took his and her own hands off her stomach as told him to watch the wound. He watdched, stunned by the rebuilding of tissue. They both laughed and sat down.

“You could’ve done it a less dramatic way” he said, breathing heavily – recovering from being scared.

The next morning, they discussed a plan whilst sitting around Ana’s map, for travelling to Fort Greene. Leeroy suggested riding directly there through Ashen and straight down Northern Tustille to hit them in their front entrance. Ana felt bothered about this plan because it was the most risky. Royan stood next to Ana inspecting the map and then suggested that they should head east into the Eastern Forest and then cross over down through the top of Mortali. She pointed out that this would be the less congested way and had the least risk of encountering people they didn’t want to. Leeroy inspected the map further and then agreed that it was a good plan because they could hide amongst the forest for a couple of days if they needed to. Ana hesitated but then stared at the map, finally she agreed and suggested that it was probably a good place to retreat to after rescuing people like them from Fort Greene. 

Within a couple of days they were well on their way to the Eastern Forest. Royan upon her stallion, Dusty, Leeroy upon his horse, Blaze, and Ana upon Lumen. Together they rode hard heading east across Netherlile, cautious and careful of the people they ran into heading towards the Eastern Forests. Leeroy said once they were in the forest they wouldn’t encounter anyone because hardly anyone travelled through it anymore. The weather had gotten even colder than it had been a couple of day’s prior. Both girls felt the cold and shivered terribly, their teeth chattered and hands shook underneath the layers of clothes and coats they wore. Leeroy, wearing his navy blue shirt and long brown pants, often lit fires for them. Numerous times when they would stop for a short break, he would light his hands instantly and hold them close to Royan and Ana, whom appreciated it immensely. Ana often found herself watching Leeroy in amazement, as he had offered to help the two girls on their journey the moment Ana told him about what was happening. He seemed mysterious, which made Ana even more intrigued by him as he hadn’t revealed anything about his past yet, only that his mother had a similar ability and that his father, like Ana’s, had never been around. Ana didn’t reveal to him about the incident with her master but made up  that she fell out of a tree and landed on her arms, breaking them but healing straight away. She felt bad lying to him, as he seemed like an honest person but she didn’t want him thinking she was some kind of murderer. Ana still couldn’t accept it herself.

They rested for the night under a piece of tarp that Leeroy had brought. He hung it over a low branch on a tree, pitching the four corners to the ground. When they woke, they were surrounded by whiteness. Ana sat up and stared in amazement at the landscape. Everything was covered in snowy, it was as thought the the trees had a beautiful white blanket  over the top of them. She turned over to Royan, only to realize that the girl was there, and neither was Leeroy. She ventured out into the snow, he feet sinking into it. Only the top part of her boot wasn’t covered. She looked around, almost blinded by the sun reflecting off everything. Suddenly she was hit by a cold, wet ball in the back of her head. She spun around and saw nothing, then another hitting her in the back from the other direction. She crouched and scanned the trees, seeing no one. She heard a giggle coming from behind a tree and scooped up a handful of snow, moulding it into a perfectly round ball. Hiding it behind her back she shouted, “All right, I give up!”. Royan appeared from behind the tree she was looking at, a huge grin on her face. “LOOK AT ALL THIS SNOW!”, she shouted with glee, patting the snow on the tree. Ana calculated her where she would need to aim, and then lauched the snowball at the small girl. It hit her in the thigh and she bursted out laughing, toppling over behind her into the snow. Ana looked around, not being able to see Leeroy. “Royan, where’d Leeroy go?”, she shouted out to her.

“I don’t know, he said something about seeing how far ahead the forest was or something, I didn’t pay much attention”. She said, picking herself up and walking towards Ana, trudging through the snow.

By the time he arrived, the girls were completely packed up and mounted on their horses ready to go. He had a horrified look on his face and then quickly signaled  for them to follow him, and then he galloped off disappearing through the white blanketed grounds and snow-covered trees.