chapter 12: whispers of the river

You can, " he alleged, stepping even tight. "Because I'm here. Because we're in this together. "

The word of honor hit me like a stone to the chest.

Together.

My breather caught, the wind around me faltering.

"That's it, " Orin encouraged. "Retard down. Breathe with me. "

I tried.

The storm pressed rearward, resisting, thrashing inside me like a cage beast. But Orin didn't back out. He stood firm, unwavering, his script outstretched.

"You're not alone, Kael. "

The wind wailed one last time.

And so—it broke.

The power holding me in the air crack like a tether cut wanton. My body overlooks. I braced for impact, but before I could score the priming coat, Orin berated me.

His sleeve wrapped around me, solid, steady. I clung to him, my body trembling, my breather ragged. The silver grey glow in my eyes faded, my hair dislocated back into its normal shade.

It was over.

The storm's cause passed.

But the wrong was done.

I could see the murmurs of the villagers, and felt their terrified stares on my rachis. They get laid what I was now.

And there was no going back.

The moment my body went limp in Orin's branch, the wind that had one time hollow through the lame died down into an eerie silence.

The villagers abide frozen. Their faces were pale, heart encompassing with brat.

Some clutched their cloak, while others held onto whatever they could as if the ground itself might betray them next.

Then, one by one, they began to back away.

"She's not human…" someone whispered.

"She's the Shadow Chosen. "

Another gasped. "Did you go through her eyes? "

They murmured among themselves, their interpreter rising in fright. And then—they ran.

A few mess about at the bound of the chaos, uncertain, unwilling to believe what they had seen.

But here and now their leader, an older man with a trembling bridge player, turned and claimed off, They followed.

Soon, the square was empty.

Except for the wreckage behind.

And the three of us.

Zorro kneels beside me as Orin cautiously puts me down against the broken remnants of a cart. My entire soundbox finger is hollow.

The energy that had erstwhile soar upwards through me like an unbreakable force was now nothing more than a whisper.

My tree branch refused to move, my chest felt big, and my head beat like a drum.

"She's burning up, " Orin mussitate, brushing a damp Strand of tomentum from my face.

"She used too much power, " Zorro pronounced, his expression undecipherable.

He stood, raking the destruction around us. "We need to move before more people get along. "

Orin nodded, but I barely heard them. My mind was rudderless, drifting somewhere between enervation and something else—something deeper.

And So, a new representative participated in the scene.

"She won't hold up in this state. "

I storm my eyes, opening my imagination as a figure tread forward.

She was tall, with a mystifying blue robe that rippled like waves, and her peel shimmered faintly under the Moon.

Her dark hair was braided with silver shells, and her eyes—her eyes were like the sea, endless and filled with knowledge.

"A Water Healer, " Zorro gnarl, tensing.

Orin moved protectively in the straw man of me. "Who are you? "

She knelt beside me, completely unbothered by their distrust. "My name is Nyla. I get from the River Tribe.

I felt the break in the air, the psychological disorder in the current.

" Her gaze minced as she studied me. "And I hope someone will need help. "

I wanted to speak, to ask questions, but my consistency refused.

Nyla reached out, pressing her fingers lightly to my forehead.

A cool hotshot scatters through me, consoling the combustion in spite of appearance. It was like settling into a still wee wee after a storm.

I sighed, my dead body gave up to the touch of her healing.

"She'll be alright, " Nyla murmured, though there was something distant in her tone, as if she smelled something more than in me than yet I understood.

Zorro exhaled sharply. "Good. Because we need her ready."

Orin shot him a glare. "She needs rest, Zorro. Not another plan."

Zorro crossed his arms. "We don't have the luxury of waiting. They know what she is now. The entire Tsaki region will be hunting her soon. We need to get ahead of this."

Orin's jaw clenched, but he didn't argue. He just glanced at me, his grip tightening on my wrist as if grounding me.

Nyla's gaze flickered between them before settling back on me. "She has more power than she realizes," she murmured.

"But if she doesn't learn to control it… it will destroy her."

The heavy weight of exhaustion crushed me while Nyla brought soothing relief to my overheated body.

From the destruction I had brought upon the town I could barely hear the voices and smell the earth and smoke while feeling completely detached from the world around me.

Orin kept his firm grip on my wrist to prevent me from disappearing.

"She's barely conscious," he muttered.

"She'll recover," Nyla reassured him. "But not here. She needs the River."

Zorro crossed his arms. Time lacks enough to carry her toward the river. We need to move—"

Nyla used a calm voice to speak directly to him while fixing her eyes on his like the ocean: "If you prevent me from helping she cannot be useful to you."

Right now her body fights against the power that has been given to her. She is too damaged to move and she certainly cannot flee for her life.

The room grew heavy with quiet.

Zorro exhaled sharply. "Fine. But make it quick."

Nyla nodded. She and Orin silently picked me up between their arms as they walked toward the riverbank which lay beyond the town limits.

The flowing water glimmered like a ribbon under moonlight as it reflected starlight into a diamond-like pattern.

The cool water of the shallows touched my body without me realizing since my condition was too weak while my mind floated between awareness and blackout.

Nyla got down to my side as she rolled up her sleeves. With eyes shut she lowered her hands into the water while a deep humming sound emanated from her mouth.

The river responded. The water waves extended peacefully from our bodies while shining softly throughout their surrounding pattern.

Orin hovered nearby, tense. "Is this supposed to happen?"

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