A Visit From The Seas

I blink and the statue is gone and so is everything else. Darkness is all I can see. I can't even see myself, Masid, and Aela. Closing my eyes and opening them back up again doesn't help. It seems that I'm stuck here. I hear footsteps nearby but they sound strange. They sound heavy, many, and wet. I know won't be able to see anything but I still tried to look around. The sounds are closing in. I attempted to slap myself awake but I didn't feel it. I hit myself again, again, and again but nothing. Numb. I can't see anything, can't feel anything. What is happening to me? Suddenly, I hear someone or something breathing right next to my ears. It's some kind of an odd smacking sound.

          I scream as I hear resounding disembodied guttural wailings around me. I hear myself but Masid and Aela can't seem to hear me. I force myself to run even though I can't see where I'm heading. "Stay away!" I say to whomever or whatever it is tailing me. I can tell something's following me because of the nearby echoes of the footsteps that surely aren't mine. I try not to think about it but I hear multiple pairs of footsteps probably a dozen or more of them. "Saints, please help me." I mutter.

          "T-This is your fault!" A voice shouts from nearby. He sounds like he's struggling to speak.

          "You must d-die." That sounds like a younger woman. Loud cries of children soon follow.

          I hear the winds rush past me as I catch some speed. I can't shake them off. I don't even know where I am now. Am I still in town? Where are Masid and Aela? I hope they're fine. In desperation, I try to close my eyes again. When I open them back, I'm finally out of that nightmare. However, I feel cold and wet. I find myself standing in the middle of the ocean. The level of the water is alarmingly close to my chin. I can swim but I'm not sure if I can do it in open waters. Luckily, the waves aren't that disturbing at this time. I can just walk back up to shore.

          "Crap!" I say angrily, wringing some parts of my clothes to remove some excess water.

          The day is so fine yet I feel dread coursing through me. The sun offers its shine to everything it touches making me able to appreciate the scenery I'm in for the very first time in so long. I'm at a beach. I forgot what it's called but it's the beach at the edge of town. If there are pirates coming or some castaways to wash up on this island is where they'll first land. As Aela thought, no pirate ships were in sight so I should be fine. I just need to shake off some more water and find them somewhere in town. They're surely worried about me.

          Before I can leave the shore I see something in my peripheral, hiding almost perfectly under the shade of the trees. It ducks in to fully conceal itself. I'm sensing it's not Aela and most definitely not Masid. If that was Aela, she should've approached me and helped me by now but no. That person is just hiding there. Is it a pirate? I thought they already set sail a month or so ago. I don't sense any hostility so it's probably a castaway. Or if worse comes to worst, I'm still in this damned nightmare I seem to always find myself in at random points in my wake.

          "Hello?" I call out. "Is anyone out there?" I try to sound as friendly as I can, placing a hand on my back to hold a dagger just in case I need to defend myself. I hear no response.

          I approach even closer and I almost smell the sea from behind the tree. I see that person run off back into town but towards the opposite side where the town square is. I wonder if Masid and Aela are waiting for me there. I should probably get to them as soon as I can but there's someone else here. I must uncover this first before I come back. This person turns out to be a woman based on her shoulder-length blonde hair and her slender body. She's surprisingly fast. I struggling to keep up. She looked back at me and I was surprised as her ocean-blue eyes greeted mine. The rays of the sun as they kiss her face make them glow even brighter.

          "Miss!" I'm hoping to sound unthreatening but the situation is not helping. A man is chasing a woman who clearly doesn't want to be chased. I see her rush inside some sort of a garage, closing the door aggressively behind her. I contemplated following her further but, for me to learn the answers I seek, I have to face the questions I have to ask. I'm going in.

          I muster up my courage as I slowly close the distance towards the garage's entrance. The day's heat doesn't affect me as much as the stampede of feelings brewing inside of me. Why did I even chase a random woman deep in the outskirts of town? No time to question my actions now. I'm already right in front of the door. All I have to do is twist the knob and swing it open. I slowly walk in and sure enough, it's a closed space and the only way out is the door we just used to come in. She's not here.

          "Hello, miss?" I calmly call out, squinting my eyes because the light inside is too bright for me. "I mean no harm. I just want to talk."

          As soon as I reach the center of the garage, I hear the door closing shut. By this time, my sight has already adjusted to the brightness of the light. I turned around to look at the door and I saw the woman looking at me glaringly. Her looks alone could kill me if she wants to but what's more terrifying than that is the rifle she's pointing straight at me. Where did that even come from? Is she really going to shoot me? I raise both my arms up to signal that I'm not going to fight her but the tension in her muscles doesn't ease.

          Getting a chance to look at her longer, I now see not only the scared expression on her face but the rest of her features. I see her not-so-long blonde hair, touching the edges of her collarbone. Her blue eyes are as blue as the ocean which compliments her slightly tanned tone. Her facial features are stronger than Aela's but she's equally pleasing to the eyes. What's more interesting is that unusual pattern plastered on her right arm just below her shoulder. It's a tattoo of what looks like a burning moon. She wears a blue tank top, brown pants, and boots. She looks too refined to be a pirate. She's definitely a castaway.

          "I've seen the likes of you!" She sounds a tad bit fiercer than Aela and it's somewhat scary. "You're not going to take me away." Her aim is still steadily pointing at me. She's not budging.

          "Please, I'm not here to hurt you." I swear, keeping my hands raised still. "You don't seem familiar. Are you a pira–" I was cut off by her shooting the barrels sitting right next to me. Well, I admit that's not a smart question to ask.

          "Are you blind? You look more like a pirate to me!" She winces. She's in some kind of pain.

          "I swear I'm not a pirate. Look, I live here and I'm with my friends. We'll help you go back wherever you came from." I attempt to reach out to her as calmly as I can. She's hurt. I can see it in her eyes.

          "Prove it!" She growls, sweeping my hands away with the tip of the rifle.

          How can I even prove that? I look at her sides and blood stains are revealing themselves. She's wounded. "You're hurt. We don't have time for this. I can help you." I reach out again but she's still not budging. This girl is stubborn.

          "You better stay where you are or else the next bullet will be in your chest." The conviction in her eyes tells me she's going to do it. However, there's no time for me to second guess myself. Someone needs my help so I have to help.

          "You want proof that I'm not a pirate, right? Here's your proof." While my hands are still raised in the air, I chant, "Etingi." Making both of my hands set ablaze. I expected to conjure the same ball of fire I showed Aela but this is good enough. I see the tension in her body leaving, pointing the rifle away. 

          "What are you?" She asks, astonished. Before I could respond, she lost consciousness.

          I run as fast as humanly possible to where she stands, sliding underneath to catch her before her head hits a metal pole. I carefully examine her face as she seems to still be bothered by the pain, breathing heavily, and sweating profusely. I place her on the ground, grabbing a nearby pile of newspapers to support her head. I work down my way to her abdomen where I suspect her injury is and as expected, she was badly injured. She's most likely impaled herself by accident or she intentionally did it herself for some reason. If this isn't treated right away, she'll die of blood loss.

          "Leah sith dnuow." I place my hands over the wound, letting the hum of magic reverberate to her entire body. I see her expression calm down a little.

          She regains her consciousness all of a sudden. "What do you think you're doing?" She asks almost in a whisper as she struggles with her lack of energy. She manages to grab me by the arm as intensely as she can with her remaining strength. I see that trust isn't on the table yet.

          "Don't move. You need to conserve your energy." The look of concern on my face seems to convince her enough that I'm an ally. She lets me continue to heal her.

          A few heartbeats and heavy breaths later, I managed to completely close the gaping wound this blonde woman sports but she still has to rest for a little bit more so she can replenish her lost energy. We didn't talk at all during the mending process. She seems to be the introvert type but I have a feeling we can be good friends so I'll shoot my shot once we're in a better circumstance. For now, I must focus on letting her recover. Suddenly, we both hear the metal door of this garage space open violently, hitting the concrete wall as it completely flings open. Heavy footsteps were soon heard.

          "You're finally here! How di–" My breath was cut short as I saw Aela aiming an arrow right at the blonde woman's head from the distance, readying herself for the kill. Masid's quick strides send him to my side as fast as he can, growling at the resting woman.

          Before I even realize it, the blonde woman is already on high alert. Although with heavy breaths, she's already aiming her rifle at where Aela is standing with her right hand. With her left hand, she stealthily grabbed one of my daggers resting on my left hip and aimed its sharp blade to where Masid was. This isn't a pleasant sight. I have to do something. The bile in my throat boils as it threatens to shoot out. Panic starts to rumble in my bones. I can sense the tension in their eyes sends disturbance to the hum all around us. Is this really how we greet new people now? My thought brings me back to the night I and Aela met. Hostility seems to be a necessity nowadays.

          "Get away from her, Vatic!" Aela howls, slowly walking in our direction. My muscles tick. I don't know what to do.

          "I agree with her on this, Vatic. Get away from her!" Masid growls.

          I'm not sure what's happening but I did what they asked. I stand slowly but before I can step away, the blonde woman quickly gets up still holding her rifle and my dagger. She stays low on the ground, extends one leg, and swiftly glides it to where I and Masid are. She's going in for an attack. My leg got hit rendering me off-balance. Masid jumps off making her kick miss. She quickly stands up, scans the area for other possible exits, and runs. Pride wells in me because it appears that I healed her well. She doesn't seem to be in such hurt but the stakes are still high. I don't know what this woman is capable of now.

          Aela releases her shot but the target easily blocks the arrow flying straight to the direction of her head with my dagger. I can see her pupils dilate as she looks at the window not too high up. She found her escape. Still using the same dagger, she threw it at the only source of light in this tiny cramped room. Before my dagger hit the light and let darkness engulf this place, I swear she looked at me dead in the eyes with a strange calmness. Is this her way of thanking me? Then, the blinding darkness comes. As soon as I can even conjure a flame, she's already gone.

          "Where have you been?" The tension in Aela's voice hasn't eased up yet.

          "What happened back there, Vatic?" Masid starts to roam around probably to check if this place is safe. "After you saw the nymph's statue, you took off while screaming all sorts of stuff."

          "I-I don't really know." I whisper.

          "I have to find that woman and…" Aela croaks. Her hands are still occupied with holding her bow and arrow. "Kill her."

          I am stunned. Concern washes over me. "Why? What did she do? Do you know her?" I walk towards her for answers.

          "She's a pirate." The stress in her tone didn't leave any room for argument. "All pirates must die." It feels like she's engraved that thought into stone instead of just responding to my questions.