Awakening and Doubt (7)

After a long time, I stir and groan in pain. I sit up, touching my face a bit. It feels like my eyes and cheeks are burning...

With a heavy sigh, I arise before looking around. My eyes land on Merle, and a tiny, glowing creature floating in front of him.

I squint my eyes slightly, wincing as the burning sensation increases noticeably. It seems like Merle is talking with the spirit.

However, he seems nervous instead of scared. He's not harmed either... Now that I think about it, the vengeful spirits are gone. I'm glad that it's over.

I stumble a bit, my legs feeling slightly weak after what happened earlier. I walk, and an old, dry twig snaps under my feet, the sound catching Merle's attention.

"Alaire?" He calls out, and I give him a small nod of confirmation. He rushes over and supports me after seeing that I'm stumbling.

For a while, he doesn't do anything and simply stares at me. I turn to look at him, now almost fully awake. I raise an eyebrow slightly, but the burning sensation refrains me from raising it much, hence why I tilt my head instead.

"Is everything alright?" I ask him, sounding confused at his own puzzled expression. My words seem to snap him out of his thoughts. 'I wonder what he was thinking about so deeply...'

"Ah, yes! Are you okay?" He asks and checks my condition while supporting me. 'Weird... Was that his power awakening? Judging by his markings, it seems so, but I've never such a powerful awakening.' He thinks and looks at me with worry in his eyes.

"Mhm, I'm fine. Just a bit dizzy. It also feels like my face is burning slightly, mostly around my eyes." I reply with a nod and touch my cheeks lightly, trying not to trigger the burning sensation any further.

It's rather uncomfortable. But I want to know why it feels like it's burning. 'I don't have a fever. That much is clear. It burns the most under my eyes... But I can't feel anything out of the ordinary.' I think and touch my face carefully.

Merle just looks at me with a somewhat knowing look before realising something. 'Is it just me, or did the aura surrounding him before less suffocating?' He thinks and examines me to see what might be the cause.

"Do you know what that was, Alaire? And do you feel anything different?" He asks, as if he's trying to confirm something, but I just ignore him.

I'm more concerned about Hewie since she's awfully quiet and doesn't look too well. It's almost like she became a bit see-through... transparent, even.

"We should continue the search first." I cut Merle off, enduring the pain. 'At least it's bearable.' I wobble subtly while we walk through the now clear, yet still depressing Haunted Glade.

It takes us time to get to the parts where Haunted Glade borders with Silvailia. I can see the protective barrier, which surrounds the elven village... We're almost there. I need to recover a bit after we arrive, and then we can search again.

I don't think that Ellirith will be too happy about this, but what can I do? Risks are all part of life, and with us trying to find her lost sister, they're even bigger.

It's also not my fault that I got tangled up in all of this. I never asked for this at all! I groan in frustration and glance at Hewie, who's resting on my shoulder, looking slightly drained of energy.

I can't help but wonder what's going on with her. She's usually so cheerful and a bit crazy that it's worrying to see her like this.

I really want to ask her what's wrong, but I'll look like a madman to Merle if he sees me talking to a god damn bird. The only thing that I can do is hope that she'll be fine after some time...

'Speaking about Hewie... she always mentions markings or whatever when we meet someone new. I should look into it once I arrive in Silvailia. Let's just hope that they have books about those markings...'