Chapter 9

I awoke to my face being wet. When I opened my eyes, water was poured on my face, causing me to sputter a little and try to sit up, but Emma stopped me, almost holding me down while Katie gave me a once-over.

“Hold still Riley,” said Katie, “Let me give you some water.”

Katie brought a mug to my mouth, and I happily drank the water that was inside. I noticed that nearby, a fire had been started, surrounded by some stones. When the mug was empty, I took a moment to breathe, then asked the first question that came to mind.

“Where did you get that mug? And how did you get that fire going?”

“I stole the mug from my room before we got brought here,” said Katie, smiling as she examined her prize, “As for the fire, Emma still had her lighter. Apparently, whoever took our things when we got here missed it.”

“Cool.” I said, “But how did you get away? I thought we were being chased?”

“We were,” said Katie, “Not to mention, Emma was carrying you, so I had to think. Turned out, throwing off those assholes was easier than I thought it was going to be, all I needed to do was leave some scraps of cloth from our pants on the ground in a river we came across, and suddenly they thought we went for a swim.”

“Wow, and that worked?” I asked.

“I didn’t think it would honestly, but I was super desperate,” said Katie, “Good thing the Runners can’t attack us right now.”

“Huh? Why?” I asked.

“Tarja didn’t tell you?” Katie asked. When I shook my head, she explained, “The Runners can’t harm us in the dead of night, only when the sun is in the sky. So we should be safe, as long as Emma and I sleep in shifts so we’ll know when the sun’s coming up.”

“I want to help!” I said, motioning to sit up. The moment I tried to move, Emma made me lay back down.

“Riley, we’re gonna be fine,” said Katie, “Emma and I got this one, you’re still banged up. We’ll keep watch and everything will be fine. Right, Emma?”

“Yes.” Emma said, though I noticed Emma was following Katie’s nodding, probably prompted by it. I wasn’t in any position to argue, so I just laid back and allowed myself to nod off a little, at least until I noticed Felice sitting next to me.

“You doing okay, moor-acu?” Felice asked.

“Huh? What’s that?” I asked.

“Oh, moor-acu?” said Felice, smiling, “It means… partner. Since our souls are combined, that makes us partners, right?”

“I guess,” I said, “Should I let the others know you’re here?”

“Right now, you need to focus on surviving,” Felice said, “Don’t let the others think you’re delirious or crazy or something. It’d be too much of a hassle to explain me right now.”

“You’re right.” I said, “For now, can we talk? The other girls have to watch for the Runners, and I don’t want to be alone.”

“I can tell,” said Felice, “That’s why I’m here.”

“So, let me ask you something,” I said, “I noticed when I told you the names of the Runners, you shut down on me. Did you know them?”

“I… that’s a bit hard to explain,” said Felice, “But I think I did know who they are.”

“You ‘think?’” I said, “You’re not sure? What’s up with that?”

“I don’t remember,” Felice said, “I have some names and faces, and the emotions that come with them, but it’s like everything else in my mind is being blocked by a thick, black fog. No matter how hard I try to remember, nothing can penetrate the fog in my mind.”

“Oh… that sucks,” I said, “How did something like that happen?”

“It might have something to do with transferring my soul into the gem,” said Felice, “It’s possible that I did it in a hurry, which means… I’m basically incomplete, at least for now.”

“You mean you might recover your memories as we go along?” I asked, “Just over time?”

“Possibly,” said Felice, “I don’t remember exactly what I did, of course, so maybe I’m just hoping that it’ll all come back to me sooner rather than never.”

“Agreed,” I said, “If there’s any way I can help with that, just let me know. We’re a team right now, whether we like it or not. And when you’re ready to let the other girls know about you, I’m sure they’ll be ready to help us too.”

“You have a lot of faith in these people you just met,” said Felice, “I hope that faith is founded.”

“They showed up to save me before I could die of exposure,” I said, “So as far as I’m concerned, that’s all the proof I need.”

“Sounds good enough for me too,” said Felice, “So… where are you from, Riley?”

“Huh?” I said, “Why do you ask?”

“I mentioned when we first met, but your name is incredibly foreign to me,” said Felice, “I’ve never heard your name in Xeastea before, so what providence are you from?”

“Uh, none of them,” I said, “I’m from an entirely different universe, same with Katie and Emma.”

“Really?!” said Felice, “What universe? Is it like ours?”

“Not really,” I said, “Where I come from, things like orcs and elves and magic are all fictional, they don’t exist at all. We’re also incredibly technologically advanced.”

“How so?” Felice asked, the moment I had been waiting for.

“We all carry small electronic devices on us,” I said, “Devices that contain archives for all the information we could possibly want to know, created and utilized by the public, for the public.”

Felice looked amazed.

“That same device allows long-distance instant communication through voice and text, taking instant photos of anything at any time, and recording any audio on the spot for later use. Did I mention they all operate on a touch screen?”

“That sounds amazing!” said Felice, “It sounds like some kind of utopia!”

It took all my willpower to not burst out laughing, right then and there “I wouldn’t say that,” I said, “But I think we try for that. And that’s just our personal device, there’s plenty of other things, like automatic horseless carriages, electricity and water for every residence, electronic archives that can store billions of pieces of data, so much stuff I could go on for hours.”

I could tell that Felice was barely able to comprehend anything I had said because it was just so alien to her, which made me smile. I wished I could show her my world and all the amazing things there.

Talking to Felice was a great distraction, but thinking of my own world made me start thinking of my home, and my family, and my friends. I could see Max waking up in the hallway in a state of panic like I was right there next to him, running all over the building trying to find me.

I could see my mother getting a phone call asking where she and my sister had heard from me last. My mom having a mental breakdown at me vanishing, just a couple of months after my dad died, my sister having to make a go of life without me to keep her on her toes…

“Moor-acu, you’re crying.” Felice said. Sure enough, when I put my hand to my face, my eyes were watering and tears were dripping down my cheeks. I wiped them away and turned to Felice.

“I… I just want to go home,” I said, “I want to go home so badly.”

“I know,” said Felice, “For now, you should sleep.”

“I’m… afraid,” I whispered as I struggled to keep my eyes open, “I’m afraid to sleep. I’m afraid I won’t wake up.”

“You will,” said Felice, “Everything’s going to be okay when you wake up. Your body’s a little busted, but it’ll heal, especially once you get your hands on some nectar!”

“Some what?” I asked.

“Healing nectar!” said Felice, “You know, consistency of honey, light red, feels good on cuts, rejuvenates skin… nothing?”

I shook my head.

“Wow, how do you speed up healing injuries in your world?” Felice asked.

“We don’t,” I said, “We bandage them up and they heal on their own.”

“But that takes, like, forever!” said Felice.

“Depends on the injury.” I said. The whole conversation, Felice looked shocked, like someone had told her the apocalypse was on the horizon and we were all about to die. It was so amusing, I couldn’t help but smile and feel the tension ease away. My eyelids became very heavy.

“Thanks for distracting me,” I said, “I think I’m ready to sleep now.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep the nightmares away,” said Felice, “You have nothing to be scared of.”

“… Thanks.” I said. I allowed my eyes to close and my breathing to soften. Soon enough, I went out.

I didn’t remember dreaming until I was shaken awake. When I opened my eyes, Katie was staring at me with worry in her eyes.

“Smoke!” Katie yelled, “Fire! We gotta get the hell out of here!”

I sniffed the air. Sure enough, it was thick around me, and a gray cloud was keeping me from fully seeing Katie’s face.

“I’m… I’m trying to get up…” I groaned, struggling to push myself up. I hadn’t even made it a quarter of the way before Emma scooped me up in her arms and she followed Katie into the woods, leaving our little camp behind as it was suddenly engulfed by fire.

“What’s going on?!” I screamed, but no one responded as Emma and Katie turned a corner just in time to avoid some kind of whooshing sound I couldn’t see.

“Emma, down!” I heard Katie yell, but Emma suddenly shrieked, and the horrible, unmistakable smell of rotten flesh went up my nose as a blast of fire seemed to rip and tear its way out of the girl’s back.

“NO!” I shrieked. Next thing I knew, I was rolling out of Emma’s arms in bright daylight, down a grassy hill. Somehow, we had pushed through the trees just in time to trip down this place.

I couldn’t stop myself from rolling, so I just tried to protect my head with my good arm. The pain was awful, from constantly slamming my bad arm and ankle on the ground.

Eventually, the rolling stopped, and I was face down in the dirt. I pushed myself up on my elbows, wincing at the pain shooting through me from my bad arm, and looked around.

The field we had found ourselves in was green and luscious like that scene from The Sound of Music, except for the fact that Emma and Katie were lying on the ground in front of me. Emma’s back was smoking and she wasn’t moving.

“E… Emma?” I whispered, no longer able to speak loudly, “Emma? Katie…?”

I forced myself forward on my elbows, crawling towards Emma. My heart was pounding and there was a ringing in my ears, but I couldn’t just lay there. I managed to make my way to Emma.

“Emma?” I whispered again, placing my good hand on the girl’s body.

Emma was cold. Ice cold. Dead cold.

Time had stopped. I couldn’t comprehend it. She had just been carrying me like I weighed nothing, and now she was… dead.

“No…” I whispered, “No…”

Something grabbed my shoulder and forced me onto my back. I looked up into the smug, hateful face of Xelsa Polimtal, the loud, annoying wolf-man.

“Damn, Kydro did a number on that maiden with his fire magic,” said Xelsa, “But hey, looks like I’m getting a double kill! Any last words, maiden?”

I hated him, I hated them all, I hated everything that was going on. I just wanted to curse this man out and make him see how much I hated him...

But I was just so done. I wanted to rest. When Xelsa finished what he was about to do, I was in for a long one. I closed my eyes and looked away, with only a limp cough being a response.

“Good enough for me.” said Xelsa, “Buh-bye, maiden.”

I kept my eyes closed. No one truly knows what happens after death, and I wasn’t ready to be the first to know. I didn’t have a choice in the matter anymore.

A whooshing in the air.

Darkness.