"You have to go now before anyone sees you." Sylvaine hurriedly pushed us down the path I was so reluctant to climb earlier. It felt like it had only been minutes since the start of this dreadful day, but the sun was already beginning to set.
"I have to see my mother. I need answers"
"Then you must hurry, I've made preparations for you Leon and my grandson to go into hiding. I will accompany you until you leave to ensure Eric doesn't try anything"
"Your grandson?"
"Yes, now lets go" Sylvaine took off her cloak and tossed it over me concealing my newfound powers. She shoved me towards Leon and he swiftly scooped me into his arms.
"You do know that I can run faster than both of you, why not just put me down."
"Because this is so much more entertaining." He chuckled. He took off with astounding speed away from the everyone waiting at the platform. With the chaos going on no one bothered to even look at us. We dashed down the mountain and I wasn't really sure if it was towards something or away from something. With every step Leon took I felt my heart drop. I wasn't ready for what was ahead. It's like I'm standing in front of a stage afraid to step on; Feeling like I don't belong but the spotlight is for me.
"What's got you so quiet?" Leon asked through huffs.
"How do people even get chosen for destiny? Supposedly it's already written. But what about our lives? The plans that we had, the futures we saw for ourselves are thrown out the window. We don't get a say in our lives anymore. Now we fight to stay alive because the universe said so." I rambled. Leon didn't reply and just kept running while Sylvaine came up behind us.
When we arrived at my house my mother was standing outside, her face unreadable. Leon slowed and carefully put me down but my legs were jelly from all my anxiety of this moment. I held on to his arms until I was confident my knees wouldn't buckle.
I stood there staring at my mother not knowing what to say. The atmosphere was heavy, and the silence between us didn't help. As we kept our eye contact I began to grow more frustrated with her lack of emotions.
"Was it easy for you? Lying to me all this time" I finally spat.
"You don't understand."
"I don't? Then please explain, please I'd love to know why you hid Victor from me." When I said his name she flinched and that angered me even more.
"When I lost your brother I lost myself, I forgot how to live, how to love. Burying a child is one of the hardest, most unfair things in life. When Victor died I closed my heart. I found it easier to shut off all my emotions. I didn't want to feel that pain anymore, much less have another child. But your father insisted that it would be good to see the joy and purity of another child to heal my wounds. And then he died leaving me alone, so I never spoke of it... it was just easier that way."
"So you didn't even want me?" I seethed. I balled my fists and stepped towards her. Leon grabbed my arm and I snapped,
"Let me go" I said flatly. He immediately released my arm and stepped back,"So you found it easy to shut out the child you never wanted. To never tell her she had a brother?"
"You don't understand-"
"No I don't, I can't fathom why you would try to love your child. It's outrageous to give your daughter a shot at feeling loved. " I said sarcastically. I advanced, closing the distance between us.
"I remember when dad died. I felt that pain too! You weren't alone in that mom! I lost more than you realize. I lost both of you that day. I was on my own thinking there was something wrong with me because my own mother couldn't speak to me or even be in the same room with me! But I never had a fucking chance. I could have understood but you wouldn't speak a word to me. You would just sit there and watch me have to figure shit out on my own, you watched me today knowing what would happen. That I would be killed for having no magic or being gifted like Victor." As I spoke the wind around me grew stronger lashing my hair around me wildly.
"I'm sorry Heidi" she spoke softly.
"You have to stop taking the easy way. Life isn't easy and it's not fair. Do you even love me? Or is it just easier to feel nothing for me?"
I searched her eyes and waited for some glimmer of anything that would prove me wrong. Anything to prove that my mother wasn't a complete stranger. That I was just delusional and she really did love me and this was all a joke. But it wasn't, she remained stoic.
I felt my heart break at the truth of her silence. I felt a lump in my throat and tried to swallow it as I spoke. "I love you mom, but I can't do this anymore. I can't fight for your love. I can't fight for a place in your heart. I have to go and fight for my own life." The air around me died down as I ran out of anger and the heartbreak settled in. I turned and walked towards Leon and Sylvaine, Leon looked as heartbroken as I was.
"Let's go, I have nothing left here."
As Sylvaine began to speak there was a sudden rumbling around us. Before I realized what was happening Leon tried to pull me away as a rock spear emerged from the ground and impaled me. I gasped and felt hot blood spill down my dress as white hot pain radiated from the left side of my body. The world slowed as the spear yanked itself out of me and back into the ground. Just like it had with Victor. We're my final thoughts as I lost consciousness, again.
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Everything was hazy, I thought I heard shouting and fighting. But I couldn't let go. I couldn't let go of the heavy blanket that dulled my senses and mind. I didn't have enough energy left to fight. I don't want to fight, at all. What's the point? Just going to sleep would be so easy...so simple. All I had to do was let go.
"Heidi!" Someone yelled. I wanted to tell them to let me be but my words wouldn't form.
"We have to go now while we have the chance" it all sounded like loud echoes. I just wanted to tell them to shut up and leave me alone. I felt so cold and just wanted to sleep under my blanket. I suddenly felt someone launch me upwards and it rattled me back to reality, but I still couldn't really focus.
I opened my eyes but everything is bright and blurry. I realized I was back in Leon's arms and he was running at breakneck speed. Right now, he could give me a run for my money. He was covered in dirt and something dark.
"Why are you so dirty?" I rasped, I coughed from how parched I was and while I coughed I felt something wet come out.
"Dammit Heidi don't talk right now and don't you dare close your eyes. I'm not losing you today." His deep voice tumbled through me and sent shivers down my spine. And I felt excruciating pain in the center of my body. I looked at my hand and saw splatters of blood from my cough. Then I looked down at my stomach and I swear I could see through it.
"Fuck" I whispered, and I was out again.
I found myself walking across a beach with white sands and black water. The waves were rolling in strong but not violent. Something you could listen to all day and just do nothing. So that's what I did. I plopped onto the sand and looked to the horizon in its dark splendor.
I threw myself back and laid in the sand, not caring that it would be a pain to wash later. But the sky was so beautiful. Decorated with stars that I wanted to fly amongst. Just getting lost learning their positions, trying to turn them into figures like you did with clouds.In the corner of my eye I saw a tall man walking towards me and I recognized him as Victor.
I sat up quickly and instantly regretted it. Victor ran to me and helped me up.
"Hey, take it easy your hurt." Once I was standing I looked at him and gazed into his identical auburn eyes
"What are you doing here?" I questioned
"I could ask you the same thing." He paused "Do you know where you are?"
"Um, on a beach?"
"Yes great observation, but where is this beach?"
I looked at him baffled, "I don't know I just got here. You still haven't told me why your here"
"This is where souls wait to cross over. Sort of like an in-between."
"What the fuck? Wait...am I dead?" No no no no I can't be. What happened? I tried to think back to how I got here and my head felt like it was being crushed by a giants hands.
"Are you alright?" Victor panicked and made me sit in the sand again his hand remaining on my back. I recalled arguing with my mom and turning to leave and then the spike making an unwelcome entrance into my body
"Eric" I gasped through the pain "tried to kill me... I don't even know if tried is the right word. But he stabbed me in the back. Literally."
"Fuck not you too. You can't stay here. You can't die Heidi. You have to leave this place."
"I don't know how Victor, and I don't think I want to. It's all too much. How could I go from a girl with no magic to a girl who was to save the world?" I was still clutching my head but I wasn't in pain anymore. Well not any physical pain. "Besides what are you doing here? Why haven't you moved on yet?"
He laughed dryly "How could I move on? How can I be at peace knowing the fate of the world. Knowing all my potential was ended by a dark and envious man." He shook his head and brought his hand to my face and caressed it.
"Then you were born, and I watched you through everything. I can't rest now; I'm your big brother, I have to watch over you." He let go of my face and his hands found mine.
"I love you, but I don't want to see you here until it's your time. I'll be watching you and waiting." Then he put his hand right above my heart and it began to glow. "By for now little sister, please for the love of the my sanity take care."
I shrieked in agony, someone had shocked me, trying to revive me. I opened my eyes and I could still see the black water. Although I heard the sounds of wood creaking and bodies moving around in a frenzie. I tried to clear away the dark skies and come back to reality but I couldn't. It felt like someone grabbed ahold of my mind and wouldn't let go. And honestly I didn't want them to let go. I wanted to go back and see Victor. I wasn't ready to face reality, when all this time my life has been empty with the same old routines. And now I was dying and the world needs saving. What kind of reality is that? Mine.
I felt another agonizing shock go through me, summoning another shriek. My mind refocused and my vision cleared somewhat. It was still dark but this time I could make out wooden stairs in the middle of the room. I was laying atop some blankets splayed over a wooden floor. I almost thought I was still in the in-between when I heard the crashing water, but then I saw his worried scrunched face.
"I didn't know you were into torture Leon, you fucking masochist " I whispered hoarsely. I winced as I registered my overly dry throat.
He chuckled, "As long as you'll stay with me."
I smirked, "Needy much?" I began coughing and wheezed incessantly, I clutched my sore stomach and noticed there wasn't a gaping hole.
Leon leapt across the room and came back with a glass of water. "Drink it slow, you don't want to hurt yourself." I took the glass and glared at him, since a spoken rebuttal would probably get me more scolding and prove his point.
When the water touched my lips it was like a sweet rejuvenating nectar as it trickled down my parched throat. When I finished with the water I felt so much better. Leon took the glass from me and stood to put it away. That's when I noticed he was covered in dirt and blood, a lot of blood.
"What happened to you? Are you okay?" I saw him shake his head. When he looked at me he half smiled.
"Nothing I can't handle." But the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.
"What about the blood?" That's when his face fell, and the atmosphere got grim.
"This is your blood Heidi."
"Oh" was all I could manage to say. This was all turning into a nightmare really quickly.
"Sorry I ruined your clothes." I looked away and muttered. What a stupid thing to say at a time like this.
"I agree with that statement." Necro echoed in my head
"Hey, No one asked you" I retorted mentally.
"Idiot, I don't care about clothes. Your alive." He walked over and sat next to me on the blankets. "This much blood" he gripped his shirt tightly "You shouldn't have lived, but you did. You've got a strong guide, Heidi. Someone doesn't want you gone just yet."
"Hmph, of course I'm strong does he know who I am?"
I chuckled at Necro's comment, earning me a questioning look from Leon.
"It's nothing, trust me" I sighed " so where are we?"
"On a boat." He replied simply.
"No shit." I exhaled heavily. Man was he a pain, "to where?"
"Some island they used to train water users a long time ago. We should be arriving soon, Sylvaine left some clothes for you so you could change. I'm gonna check on some stuff while you get naked." He winked
I glared at him and mumbled, "Wow, thanks for your consideration" he chuckled and marched up the wooden stairs leaving me alone, or so I thought.
"That boy is a ticking time bomb. He's not facing his truths" Necro warned.
"I know" I whispered "Just give Leon some time. He's already lost his sister today, and I'm pretty sure I scared the shit out of him with my near death experience."
"You have also lost much young one. You must also allow yourself to grieve."
I scoffed "I'll grieve when I don't have to save the damn world anymore."
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To my readers thanks for your patience and don't worry there is more to come. please don't be shy and send me some feedback! I'm going to try and publish more often, my goal being once a week. Thank you so much again. Be ready for more!!