Chapter 22 – Fading Light (1)

Her eyes were wide, their blue shine almost captivating. She gasped for air as his fingers continued to squeeze. She clawed at his hands and arms, her nails digging into his skin. She kicked the air in futile struggle. Her face twisted with pain, a whisper he couldn’t remember escaped her lips.

Her left arm fell to the ground as her strength began to fade. She turned her head slightly, looking behind Midhir, towards the tear in the veil. Her right arm stretched towards it as tears rolled down her cheeks.

With the corner of his eye, he saw concentrated blue light gathering between her fingers. His heart raced, his instincts screamed at him to kill her. She was dangerous, despite looking like a young, innocent girl, she was the most dangerous thing he had fought against so far – that’s what his instincts screamed at him.

So he squeezed her small neck as drops of blood fell on her face.

Her hand reached for his face, he lifted his neck to keep away, but her left hand caught his hair. A wicked smile appeared on her lips. She pulled with immense strength, and as soon as she could reach his face, she pressed her right hand against his eye.

The blue light splashed against his face like a bucket of cold water. Pain struck, a scream escaped his lips as his eye felt like it was burning up. It lasted only a moment, but it felt like a lifetime. When he opened his eyes again, the blue glow in her eyes had begun to fade. Like the lights rising from the flowers all around them, the light vanished, leaving the girl with dark brown eyes, and a pained expression.

Something made him reel back. He sat back, pulling away from the girl. As soon as his fingers left her throat, she gasped for air. The sound of her weak breaths filled the air. Silence had covered the world once again, the buzzing sound was gone, and the whispers had stopped.

His gaze turned to his own hands. There was some blood on the back of his hands, but he looked at his palms. They were shaking, no, he was shaking. The realisation of what happened set in, bringing waves of emotions along with it. His jaw clenched as he felt something warm flow down his face.

He licked his lips. “Lillia?” he asked with a mix of hope and despair. It took effort to keep his voice steady. Was it really her? Or was that blue light going to return to her eyes? Was she going to reel back in fear, or attack him with revenge?

Her brown eyes shot wide open as soon as she heard her name. Her hands went to her own neck as she caressed her bruised, purple skin. Colour returned to her pale face slowly. Her eyes darted to Midhir as soon as he moved.

She tried to speak, but no sound escaped her lips. Her jaw tightened, she visibly shivered. “Who are you?” she managed a weak, barely audible whisper.

A wave of relief washed over him. It was her, thank the gods it was her and not some bloodthirsty creature from the other side of the Veil. She was alive – her blood wasn’t on his hands. “Your mother wanted me to look for you,” he forced a smile. “Rest for a few minutes, then I’ll take you somewhere safer, alright?”

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Lillia seemed hesitant, but she nodded. Her eyes closed again as she took deep, steady breaths. Aside from the occasional sound of her trying to clear her throat, breathing seemed to become more comfortable for her.

Midhir pushed himself up on his feet, while wiping his tears from his face. The blood that came with them gave him pause, but he hardly had the time to worry about that. His gaze turned to the visible section of the veil.

It looked like someone, or something, had vertically cut through reality itself. It was about two people tall, with the bottom of it being as high off the ground as his waist.

When he narrowed his eyes, he could vaguely see the veil around it, but looking at it just made his eyes hurt again, so he quickly averted his gaze. This wasn’t something mortals were supposed to see. The veil should have never been damaged enough to become visible in the first place.

“How did you fail to fix this?” his voice was but a whisper as he watched the blue-silver coloured rift. It wasn’t open yet, it wasn’t fully torn, but the damage was done already. If Arwen and the others had retreated to the airship, Lohssa was now covered in mist fully. Even after the Veil was repaired, there were going to be permanent effects.

Just like An’Larion, or Bareon, even Olisar.

The buzz he heard previously started up again. The hairs on his arms rose as he heard whispers coming from the tear again. A blue wisp of bright light passed through, then flew off into the forest.

His eyes widened. It wasn’t fully torn, but enough to let unwelcome visitors though.

“Lillia,” he spoke as he rested his hand on his sword. “Can you walk?”

The girl hesitated. “I think so,” she whispered, then coughed a few times. She winced with pain with each cough. Her small, malnourished body shook violently. She slowly sat upright, then rose to her knees, then finally on her feet. Her legs were visibly shaking from the effort she exerted.

Midhir’s gaze scoured his surroundings. He caught a few more wisps pass through and dart off deeper into the old growth. Howls from afar reached his ears again, sending a cold shiver down his spine. “Hold my hand,” he offered. They needed to get away from the tear, once it was fully open being here meant a painful death – if they were lucky.

He led Lillia east, since all the wisps had gone north and west. They needed to be as far away from them as they could.

Lillia stumbled often, and only a handful of minutes later, she collapsed. “I can’t,” she whimpered. “My legs, they hurt.” She touched her throat, “My throat hurts, my head hurts,” tears ran down her cheek. “I’m sorry,” she was visibly shaking as she apologised. Her hands clenched around Midhir’s as he knelt beside her. “Please don’t leave me behind!” She begged with wide eyes. “I’m scared!”

“I won’t,” he promised. The howls were ever approaching. He looked around to try and find somewhere to turn his back to. He didn’t need to look for long, he spotted several trees fused together, forming something like a half circle. He lifted her up with relative ease. She was so light, so thin. He couldn’t help but wonder when the last time she had a proper meal was.

He brought her to the fused trees, and put her down there, letting her rest her back against the tree trunks. “Are you cold?”

She nodded.

He took off his cloak and gave it to her. It was large enough for her to fully cover herself, and it would keep her warm. “Help will come,” he promised, “we just need to be patient.” His words were for himself as much as they were for her.

Howls drew closer, and a frigid wind blew through the trees, bringing with it the mist that had begun to grow thicker once again. Aside from where the tear was, visibility once again began to drop. He drew his sword and readied himself as silhouettes appeared in the mist.

“Close your eyes.”

image [https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1AE26oxRJ1VLUwn9TY2qt61ati41Cd6bv&sz=w2400-h400]