The Fearless One [discontinued]

Chapter Ten

"Cody...?"

He opens his eyes again, those green eyes never fail to shock her over and over again. She gently cups his cheek for him to focus on her, not on the voices that bring him back to a deep and everlasting sleep.

"Cody, please look at me!" Steph says desperately.

Cody finally listens to her. His head leans closer to Steph's palm which remains on his cheek. Steph stares at him for split second before she attempts to lift him up, he only winces in pain.

"What happened?"

"I should be asking you that question," he replies quickly as gravity pulls him back down.

He is going to be fine.

Steph ignores his question: "We'll talk later. Can you get up?"

Cody sits up quickly, almost bumping her in the head. Steph could tell, still, he's awfully exhausted.

"Ed was missing and all of us went to find him and the rest, I can't remember..." he mumbles weakly before standing up on his feet.

His body wobbles a bit before Steph reaches to stabilise him by the arm.

"We need to get you out of here."

"We? It's just you and me, the others...I have no idea where they are." He says breathlessly.

"Codian...?"

"Don't listen to it, focus on my voice Cody," Steph whispers in his ear and she sees him nod from the corner of her eyes.

"Codian, don't trust her..." the voice says, "she will be the death of you...one of you...."

She swings his arm over her shoulder and leads him out. She feels him swaying like the willow trees, except that the willow trees sway beautiful and is meant to be admired, this swaying means he's about to fall back down. Steph doesn't know if he can get up again when he does.

"We're almost there."

She sounds like she has a clear direction ahead of her, but in her head, there's a puddle of mud, mushy and sticky.

Surprisingly, she makes her way out of the mist pretty quickly. She lays Cody gently down near a tree and talks near his ears. His eyes are shut again.

"Cody, stay right here," Steph laughs mentally, it's not like he's going anywhere. "I'll go and get the others."

Steph turns around and almost falls over when she feels someone grip onto her wrist forcefully.

"No, you can't go back in there..." he says breathlessly.

"I can and I will," Steph says sternly. "you can't stop me."

Cody pushes himself up but then fails. He falls back down. Steph has never seen Cody so weak, he's been in there a bit too long.

"I will if I have to-"

"I'll be fine..." Steph forces his grip off her wrist and runs back inside.

---

"Can you heal her?"

"Is she going to be okay?"

Steph stares at the local wizard that is nearby the woods. Her house is located inside a tree, a magnificent structure. Many say the reason she looks so young is because she drinks a potion she makes every day keep her living for centuries. This potion is only unique to her and she took all her life to make it so that it works only for her.

"No," she shakes her head in disappointment. Her violet eyes glanced at Paige and her pale face show all seriousness in the world. "The power of the Mist, I cannot conquer."