The Curse's Breath

Chapter Thirty-Four

Celni's anxiety swelled over her in waves. Her thoughts were like arms flailing in the water, desperate to pull herself up but pushing herself down even farther. She was drowning.

Maybe it was better if she did. She was useless. The girl tasked to save the world when she couldn't even save herself. In the end, it was she who caused all of the destruction.

No! A voice deep inside of her screamed. Fight.

Light pierced the veil of darkness. Golden eyes appeared, the sun slowly evaporating the water. It was Lunar, pulling the other dragons off of her.

He shouted something, but the water that was around her distorted the words.

"Celni!"

The shock of him using her human name cleared the last of the water clogging her thoughts. She breathed in fresh air, her mind clearing.

Lunar pulled her over so she was upright. He rubbed her back with his wing. "That's right. Breathe. It's alright. You just had a panic attack."

Her heart rate slowly returned to its normal rhythm. She looked around to see what had happened to Kulliras and Zakten. They had been pulled away from each other and were back to normal now. She had overreacted.

Keltaril and Sephina raced over. "Are you okay?" Keltaril asked.

"I'm fine," Celni insisted.

Lunar frowned and tapped Celni's left wing gently. Celni winced and pulled away. The Elemental sighed. "She will be. Once we get this sprained wing taken care of. Hey boys, next time aim to get her tail, not to bowl her into the ground." He gave a pointed glare to the dragons who had tackled her. They shamefully hung their heads.

"Idiots," Lunar huffed. "Come on, Sotira. Let's get some herbs on that wing." He led her to the mouth of his cave.

Celni craned her neck to look back at the crowd of dragons once more. "Did we win?" she asked.

"No, Chalen's team got one more flower than we did." They came into the cave and Lunar had her sit down on one of the nests as he went to grab some herbs.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's just a game, Sotira." He called from the back of the cave. "No use crying over... spilled milk? Is that what you humans say?" The gray dragon emerged with a bundle of long plant leaves, which he set down beside her.

Celni snorted. "A long time ago, maybe. We don't use that phrase very often."

"Oh. Well pardon me for not being up to date on human sayings," Lunar said with a sassy smirk. "Stretch out your wing, please."

She did as she was told, clenching her claws against the pain.

"Now. Why don't you tell me what caused you to panic?" He began to wrap her wing in the long leaves. They had a sharp tangy smell to them, and she sneezed. "Gesundheit."

"In training this morning, a few of my friends—two of them were brothers—were affected by the... change. They fought each other. We could only barely pull them apart." She sighed. "When we were playing the Game, I saw Zakten and Kulliras fight, and..."

"And?" he pried.

"I thought... I thought the change had followed me. That it was because I was near them that they had begun to fight." She looked up at him. "That's not how it works, is it?"

Lunar shook his head. "I don't think so. If you're meant to save everyone, it wouldn't make sense for you to be the cause for them to be affected by the Curse."