Chosen One

Legend

"Okay, stop. We've walked through this cave forever, and I've definitely seen that rock at least twice. Not to mention the number of infected feral Mages around these parts that I've had to defeat."

"C A L M down cupcake. You'll get wrinkles if you stay G R U M P Y for too long."

"Oh, no need to remind me that you're still acting weird. What are we even looking for anyway?"

"Remember, D U G said this cave was home to a purifying L A K E, that would H E L P me get rid of the P O I S O N still in my body."

I watch as Patrick struggles against the curse that still tries to take over his body. Dug said I couldn't touch him, that he mustn't touch anything that he doesn't want to poison. We continue to walk through the cave, my blue hair dripping down my back soothing my spine. Vaporeon, Espeon, Jolteon and... Quakeon, all my evolutions, but only a handful, I still have so many others I can become. Still, I don't really know how I change. All I know is I somehow turn into whatever is super effective to that environment.

Patrick and I decide to walk down another path that we hope we haven't been through before. With every step, I can feel Patrick's pain, the poison sinking deeper, trying to hijack his soul, but he soldiers through. His forced smile doesn't hide his internal battle. A voice is then suddenly heard in the distance. I swear if it's another infected Mage...

"Oh my gosh, visitors, I better clean up. They can't see my cave inside a cave and realise how much of a mess I've made. How did they even make it this far? They must have a good purpose. Otherwise, my maze would've been impossible, and they'd eventually just find the entrance again."

"E X C U S E me,"

The little figure turns around in fright, falling over in the process, her long grey dress draping over her legs perfectly; "Oh my, you two walk fast."

"And you are?" I say, somewhat suspicious.

The lady picks herself up, her long sleeves flowing as she brushes herself off, "My name is Mesprit."

"Can we trust Y O U won't just go all I N F E C T E D or feral on us and slit our throats?"

She pulls out two lengthened grey hairs from either side of her neck that stop like stars with jewels at the bottom. She then sways her lower half as she walks towards Patrick, "By the sounds of it, you've been with the wrong Poison Mage, that means you're here for my lake." The small lady holds herself as if floating on air.

"If memory serves me right, and if my theory is correct, you are the Being of Emotion, Right? The protector of this lake?"

"Correct," the legend announces as if surprised by my knowledge, "and my brothers protect their own lakes, I just so happened to have inherited the lake of." Patrick drops. "Purification..." I run over and immediately go to put my ear to his chest when the legend stops me in my tracks, "Don't touch him!" The psychic Mage pleads. She slowly turns to face Patrick, "I've seen this before, Maiden. That seductive slut doesn't know how to stop, let alone care." She walks over to Patricks' pained figure outlining his body with a blue light to float in the air. "Come, I'll take him to the lake."

I follow the legend that supposedly taught sorrow, pain and joy to beings. Her pink hair floats as if baring Patrick's weight, although he hovers in mid-air. I watch as the perfect model still sways back and forth, confident in the way she walks.

"What is this boy to you? I can't seem to decode your emotions towards him fully."

"Get out of my head!" I snap. taking a breath, I look at Patrick's distressed limb body. "He's a friend, and he saved me, so I owe him, that's all."

"If that is what you believe, then I won't argue," her hair softly floats down as Patrick's body is lowered into the glass-like aqua lake. His head laying on a rock while his body drowns, "He'll survive if he can prove to the lake he is worthy of living."

"And how does he do that?" I ask sincerely, walking to his side.

"The water will create trails in his mind, and as long as he has deep emotions towards a being or purpose, actions that are unfulfilled and the knowledge to know this, he'll be fine." Subconsciously I find myself knelt by his side, his breaths... lifeless. His body... dead to the world, "While in the water he can be touched, but not the water itself, otherwise you'll be put through the test as well... The poison will now be out of his body. It's now a matter of whether or not he is worthy of life."

Mesprits' voice echoes in my ear... it seems so far away, as if Patrick and I are in our own atmosphere. My hand reaches for his cheek, his skin jolting at mine before going warm and soft. My drowned hair flows over my shoulder, slowly dripping my mage onto his face. I laugh a little. He looks like he's crying.

"Does my pain entertain you?" I look at Patrick, his face gradually coming back to life. I walk him from the water, and he drops his head as he puts his hand on my shoulder, "Remind me to never go to the Toxic Meadows again,"

---

Back home, I lay in my bed, listening to Patrick's mattress in the other room squeak as he lies down. Sleep seems like such a difficult task as my brain rushes through the events of the past week...

While leaving the exit of the cave, Mesprit telepathically spoke to me, plastering words in my mind that I now can't manage to erase, "I was searching Patrick's soul as you were leaving... keep an eye on him..."