"Lisbeth! Can you hear me?"
"Isa!"
I woke to the panicked voices of Isaac and Zeke, slowly sitting up clutching my head as the world around me spun. Isabella groaned beside me. We were both on the ground next to the pillar that held the crystal which was now in my hand. It shimmered faintly in the light from above.
"What...what happened?" Isabella groaned as she sat up, holding her head.
"That last thing I remember was touching the crystal and then... the goddess!" I turned towards the men who stood on the other side of the chasm. Their faces coated in sweat, Isaac looked like he was about to lose it. His eyes were wide and frantic.
"Lisbeth? Thank the goddess. Are you okay?" Isaac shouted.
"Yeah! We're fine! Just a bit of a headache." I stood up carefully and brushed the dust off my pants. Reaching down I grabbed Isabella's hand and helped her up. She was paler than normal and her eyes glowed vibrantly. This daughter's stuff is getting confusing.
I looked down at the crystal in my hand. It was heavy for its size and was all white except for a tiny violet light that shimmered faintly. She was in there...I'm literally holding the goddess in my hand.
Isabella looked over the edge of the chasm shaking her head. "How the heck are we supposed to get back across?"
"I'm not sure, Zeke and I tried to follow you but the path seemed to only solidify under your feet. I think... if you trust in it and don't look down it will carry you back across."
"Are you serious?!" Isabella yelled.
"It shouldn't be too hard, it's just like the paths between the portals," I said, trying to keep my voice calm. Out of all the fears, why did it have to be heights?
"Those paths aren't entirely invisible, only see-through, they still have an outline so you can see the edge!"
"Come on Isa! You can do it!" Zeke encouraged her.
I reached out my hand to my sister. Her face was pale as she took it and stepped behind me. Slow and steady I closed my eyes and stepped off the edge. The path solidified under my feet, I turned back to my sister with a smile.
"See? Trust that it's there."
She gave me a weak smile and took a step onto the platform. Like before light danced under our feet. We continued to inch our way across, Isabella's clammy, shaking hand never left mine, until we reached the other side.
Isabella collapsed as soon as her foot touched the stone floor. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as if she had been holding her breath the whole time. "Can we take a break from high ground, please? I don't think my heart can take it."
"I thought you were the brave one, Isa." I laughed. Though my pounding heart agreed with her. After this, I just wanted to relax for a bit.
She waved her hand dismissively which Zeke caught mid-swing and helped her up.
"You did good, Isa. Now that we have the crystal, let's get out of here. Being this far into the jungle has really set me on edge."
Isaac stepped up and pulled me close, giving me a quick kiss before following the others out of the room. We did it, we got the crystal and were one step closer to closing the breach. Now we just have to figure out how to use the darn thing, and possibly release the goddess from inside.
The air in the temple felt lighter as we walked through the main room as if the removal of the crystal had lifted the weight of protecting the goddess off its shoulders. The temple could finally take a breath and sleep. I gently placed the crystal in my bag and smiled.
"I'm so ready to get out of here and back to the city." Isabella chimed, bouncing lightly on her feet. We were all distracted by what we had accomplished that we forgot about the traps. Until a soft click sounded and everyone froze.
We didn't know who triggered it until it was too late. A spear shot from the wall and pierced Isabella in the hip.
"Isa!"
Everything moved in slow motion as I watched my sister's face scrunch up in pain and then her eyes rolled back and she collapsed. The world shifted and I was back in the forest, drenched in rain and covered in mud, rocking back and forth, with a dying Isaac in my lap. My heart screaming for it not to be true. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe.
No...No.This isn't happening, it couldn't be, right?
"Lizbeth?!" Isaac's voice broke through my trance, he was kneeling in front of me. Tears streamed down my face. I tried to focus on him but my vision kept blurring as I looked behind him. My heart pounded in my ears.
Zeke knelt beside Isabella, frantically tapping her cheeks, magic pouring from his hand as he tried to heal the open wound. The spear lay shattered in two next to him.
"Isaac we have to go! Now! Is Liz okay?"
My sobs caught in my throat as he picked Isabella's limp body, her arm swung back and forth against his side.
"Lizbeth? Honey, we have to go. We have to get Isabella back to the city." Isaac said calmly. His hands gripped my shoulders, shaking me gently. His brows were drawn and he looked so tired. His hair had fallen out of the bun and framed his sweating face.
"I... I can't move. This can't be happening...Isaac?" I whispered.
"Hey." His hands moved up and cupped my face "she's going to be fine. But we have to get back to the city before the Arvellalei come back."
My body didn't want to move but I made myself stand. Isaac gave me an encouraging smile, grabbed my hand, and started running.
The forest blurred around us as we raced back to the city. Isabella tightly strapped to Zeke. Our Engi rode hard and fast, kicking up dirt with each stride, in less time than it took us to get to the temple we made it back to the sparkling city.
The Keeper was there waiting for us in the courtyard outside the stables, with a couple of healers. Her face was set with concern as she helped Zeke and Isabella off his Engi.
"Our forward scouts said one of you was injured, what happened?" she asked.
Isaac and I handed over the Engi to the stable hands and followed the Keeper into the main house. Zeke didn't stop; he carried Isabella down the corridor towards the bedrooms.
"Isabella will be okay, she's strong and we have the antidote to the poison the Arvellalei use. Now tell me... What happened? Am I to expect Arvellalei on my doorstep?"
We sat down on the soft couches, after an hour of hard riding it felt like I was sitting on a cloud. But I couldn't relax. Not with Isabella in the state, she was in. I couldn't lose her too. I only just started to get to know her, she was my sister.
"The Arvellalei had the Temple rigged with traps, on the way out Isabella triggered one and we weren't fast enough to stop the spear." Isaac sighed.
"So you found the Temple? And no Arvellalei were alerted?"
Isaac shook his head.
"We uh... We also found the Goddess." I said slowly as my mind caught up with all that had happened. I felt Isaac stiffen next to me and the Keeper's eyes widened.
"What?" The Keeper leaned forward as I reached into my bag and pulled the crystal out. It shined brightly, a shimmering swirl of violet and silver pulsed deep within.
"The Goddess is trapped inside this crystal. She told Isa and me to use this crystal to close the breach but I haven't got a clue on how." I handed the crystal to The Keeper. She took it gently so as to not drop it. She turned it over, inspecting it carefully.
"I... I can't believe you found the Goddess... we've been searching for so long. We thought she might have abandoned us." a tear slipped and fell down her cheek. She brushed it away and handed the crystal back. Composing herself she shifted in her seat.
Ezekiel came out from the hall, his face pale and his eyes tired. "She's going to make it... we made it just in time. but...I don't know the state of her leg... she may not be able to walk when she recovers..." His voice broke as he looked at me. "I'm so sorry." tears fell down his face, and my heart reached for him. I stood up and wrapped my arms around him, his body wracked with sobs.
"She's alive... that's what matters. You did all you could." I soothed. "She'll be a little annoyed that she can't walk and crack so many jokes, but I know she will be glad to be alive." I helped guide him to the couch where he sat, deflated. He really cared about Isabella, the short time that we had known him I could tell that he had feelings for her. I see the same look from Isaac when he doesn't know I see him.
"Do you have any ideas on how to free the goddess from the crystal?" I asked Zeke, trying to get him to focus on something other than Isabella's condition.
"Free the goddess?" His brows pinched in confusion as he stared at the crystal in my hand. "The goddess is trapped in the crystal?" Slowly he came back to us and his eyes widened.
"Yes, she reached out to Isabella and me when we touched the crystal. I think she's been trapped since she banished Estora."
"We had no idea... our people built those temples to honor the magic that was gifted to us by the Goddess. The star fragments we found have been scattered after countless wars... this was the only one we managed to hold on to." he picked up the crystal and examined the light that shimmered inside. "I have no idea how to free her... maybe another look through the archives might help?" we all sighed. I was tired of books and libraries, I just wanted to fix this and go home to my father and see Jess again. I missed them so much...
"well... " she cleared her throat and shifted to stand when screams echoed from outside. We all jumped up and ran to the window. People were running, screaming as fire and explosions sounded in the distance.
"I thought you said the Arvellalei didn't see you!" The Keeper yelled over the panic.
"They didn't! I don't know what this is." Isaac grabbed my hand and we ran outside, the Keeper following closely behind us. I think I caught a glimpse of Zeke running back towards Isabella's room, he would keep her safe that I knew. We stepped outside into chaos, people screaming tripping over themselves. The Keeper reached out and stopped a frantic scout.
"What's happening?"
The scout's wild eyes focused on the Keeper, his body jerked wanting to get as far away as possible. "We don't know! There was fighting and then the fog showed up and started swallowing people! Keeper we have to run!"
She let the poor scout go and he stumbled away in a panic. We turned just in time to see what the scout was talking about. A dark thick cloud of billowing fog swept through the trees, covering every inch of the city. It swallowed everything in its path, and it was huge.
"What do we do?" I asked and braced myself, ready to sprint away at a moment's notice.
The Keeper straightened, her eyes glowed brightly as she waved her hands in the air, crystal formed out of thin air, covering her body in elegant shimmering armor, and a sharp spear formed in her hand.
"Whatever is controlling the fog is inside it, we need to fight our way through and find the source."
"But we don't know what happens when it swallows people," Isaac said. His hands sparked with crackling magic. I followed suit and formed my whips. I wish I had more time to learn other forms of magic, but for now, it was all I knew how to do.
"I can't just leave my people, Lord Isaac, you and Elizabeth are free to flee if you must, your mission is important. We need the goddess back." She said calmly.
Isaac and I looked at each other, Isabella was in no condition to travel, we had to stay and fight whatever this was. The fog rolled closer, people kept getting swallowed but none came running back out. My heart raced and my magic flickered as I attempted to keep my composure.
"We will be okay Lizbeth. I won't leave your side.'' His words gave me some comfort, but I couldn't help the ache in my heart that something was horribly wrong. The fog reached us, it was bone-chillingly cold and so thick you could hardly breathe. I couldn't see my hands in front of my face or my whips. All I could see was dark fog.
It was so hard to breathe, my chest started to ache and my heart rammed against my ribcage. I reached out to Isaac, hoping to find stability in his warmth, but I grasped at nothing. My eyes widened and I frantically reached out into the fog not knowing where I was.
"Isaac!" I screamed with what little breath I had, my head started to get woozy and the world started to spin.
"Lizbeth!" I heard his voice, it was so far away. How did we get separated? My heart hurt as it struggled to pump oxygen to the rest of my body.
"Isaac!" I cried. Warm tears streamed down my face, blurring my vision.
I stumbled further into the fog towards where I thought I heard Isaac. It was like everything disappeared and it was eerily quiet. Who was causing this? I gripped my bag tightly against my chest, stumbling until my legs gave out. It was never-ending. The chill seeped into my bones and my eyelids grew heavy,
What's happening?!
Where am I?!
My head exploded with pain, I gripped my head and screamed until I ran out of air. My body gave out and everything went dark.
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