Conviction's King | Damian Book 1

Chapter 24

I stand for a few more moments, seething as I calm myself down. My body tingles and I run my hand over my face, a war raging within me as the smoke from Morgiana dissipates around me. Was this a good idea?

Of course it was. Cressa-la can't defeat Morgiana unless I push her to defeating me, right?

I can feel my body hollow out as the storm seems to rush back through, kicking the prowling animal out. My throat clogs with emotion and I have to reassure myself several times that this is the right thing to do. That I will always be on the side of Cressa-la I don't want to be: against her, not beside.

Finally finding my courage to leave the room, I push the double doors open and step into the hallway, the sounds of the city echoing softly through the winding tunnel. Slowly, I shut the doors, hearing them click, and I breathe out, trying to calm my nerves. When I've finally got a grip, I take a step back and nod.

"This is the right thing to do," I tell myself.

"There you are."

It takes me a moment to realize the voice isn't in my head, but outside. How did she...?

I turn to see Cressa-la hastily moving up the winding slope, followed by a very surprised Amawa-na and a rather confused Tamir.

I swallow hard, a skittish side of me coming out and making itself known as I back away from the three of them as they approach, knowing I'd be unable to handle talking to them. I wouldn't be able to do what I need to, should they speak to me like they do: as a friend.

So I do what I always do when I'm unsure or scared: I get mad.

"You went and got my friends?" I grumble the animal pulling back into existence, filling me up on the inside and ready to lash out at anyone who comes near me.

Cressa-la stops in front of me, staring me down as Tamir and Amawa-na do the same. They say nothing about the city, although I know I'll have to explain it when this is all over—unless I just disappear.

"She came to find you," Amawa-na says, a small razor in her voice. Is that jealousy? "She said you were going to meet with her and disappeared for a few months. When we said we hadn't seen you either, and that you were stuck in your house for a whole month, she had an idea of where you would go."

Tamir grimaces. "So long story short, you shared secrets with a random girl from a different tribe before you shared it with your best friends."

My eyes snap up to Tamir, my brain going in all kinds of different directions. They had met. How did they feel about each other? Did they have a chance to get a good look at one another, or has it not hit them yet that they're each other's 'soul mate'? Back then, Tamir believed in that. I didn't. Our opinions changed as we grew, and now... now we're in the same boat.

"She's not some random girl," I snap, feeling more hostile toward him than I should. They just came to help me, but, of course, the animal doesn't care about that. All it cares about is that I love this girl and I just sealed her fate. I'm about to lose her to who I lost her before, and my original timeline was destroyed. What happened never happened and now if I screw this up, there's no going back to the old. The people I knew and grew with are no more.

I'm stuck with their younger selves.

His green eyes narrow as he holds my gaze, several emotions passing through his irises. He isn't as tall as me, and not as all as muscular or strong—I could take him. And with the advantage of my being a One and him only a One-Hundred, needing to touch water to attack with his energy, I would prevail. Just as I did when I stopped the world. I made his heart stop in his chest. He died, if only for a few minutes.

"Damian-sai."

Amawa-na's voice doesn't reach me as my body begins to radiate energy, invisible to the eye one more.

"Why are you keeping secrets from us, Damian-sai?" Tamir asks, taking a step forward, his chest nearly touching Cressa-la's arm. The fire flares within me and I nearly find myself staring at him with a snarl on my face.

"Why did you come? Why did all of you come?" My breath his heavy. I feel like a cornered, feral animal—the only difference is I know I can take all three of them.

But like before, I forget. I forget I'm only fourteen, hedging on fifteen. I forget my emotions are catalyzed by insane hormones within me. I forget that Cressa-la makes me crazy and Tamir makes me jealous. I forget the raging guilt I feel about what I had done to Amawa-na. In each moment of anger, in each moment of fear, I forget.

But somehow... they are the ones to bring me back to earth.

"We came because we were worried about you," Tamir snaps back, his eyes alight with his own anger. Taken aback by his brashness, he steps back a step and his eyebrows pull together, face turning red. He doens't like confrontation. Never has. "Dude. It seems like you're going through a lot..." he breathes. "We were worried."

Amawa-na nods quickly. "What he said."

Then she steps forward and smacks me on the arm, earning a shocked look from both Cressa-la and Tamir.

"Idiot," she mutters. "Don't scare us like that."

"Amawa-na, I don't think you should—"

I glare down at her, fire still raging. She stares back up at me, fearless.

"Shhh, Tamir. I'm fine. Damian-sai would never hurt me."

That did it. I came rocketing to earth and crash-landed into the sea, the pressure suffocating me.

I take a step back from her, the animal replaced by clouds. Cursing, I retreat into the furthest hallway, feeling helpless.

Damian-sai would never hurt me.

She doesn't know the half of it.