"Let me go! Let me go!" I shouted desperately, being held back by Markus and two more guards after the disappearance of the Thunderbird and Drake through the mountains.
"Le-Let me go... please..."
Feeling guilty for my inability to protect Drake, my body finally gave out, falling to my knees from extreme exhaustion and the little mana I had left.
Feeling the cold of the snow through my knees, guilt began to invade me until I was roughly lifted from the ground by Axel, who grabbing me by the clothes looked at me seriously, saying something that finished killing what little peace remained in my mind.
"Zoe, listen to me carefully!" He shouted, his face wounded and stained with blood while the others watched us. "Why the hell didn't you stick to the plan!? This is your fault! You disobeyed a direct order! Because of you, the formation broke! Because of you, we lost three more with that last attack!"
His words felt like stab wounds, sharp and meant to harm. Not knowing what to say, I stayed silent, before saying softly 'I'm sorry'. Seeing my expression of sadness and guilt, the fury in Axel's eyes changed to one of disgust, before letting me go with a push to the ground and ordering the other members of the caravan and the medical team to heal the wounded.
He is right... All of this... is my fault. Completely mine.... Hot tears began to freeze on my cheeks as I stayed on the ground, trembling from the cold I felt without a mana cloak to protect me.
Being on the ground, a human from the medical team approached and began to heal me, filling me with a warmth that managed to calm my broken heart a little.
"Calm down girl, don't feel bad, this was just the result of a fight that no one expected." She said, closing the superficial cuts I had on my body. "Besides, I'm sure that friend of yours will be fine, because I saw him fight from the medical caravan, and I saw he is someone strong."
Strong...? It's true, I can't give up yet. I thought, feeling my brain start to work on solutions thanks to the words of the middle-aged human woman.
Looking up, I began to devise a way to search for him immediately, because knowing the procedure, they wouldn't go looking for him at least until nightfall.
"You're right, he's not someone who would be easily defeated. Thank you." I said, before telling her I felt better and that she should go help the other guards, she going to Markus who was sitting on the ground resting.
With a plan in mind, I stood up looking for the pair of magic crystals Drake had given me. Finding only one, I used it immediately, absorbing the mana from within it, being enough to use a weak Perception, managing to find a faint trail of Drake to the northeast of where we were.
Again tired and without mana, I hid my presence without much effort to sneak among the medical cart, managing to steal nine magic crystals which I began to absorb immediately, leaving three in case I needed them with Drake.
Being outside again, I took advantage of the confusion and pain of those crying for their dead to get down from the back of the caravan. As I was about to jump from a fairly high area, a voice from behind me stopped me cold.
"I knew you would do something like this." Said Markus leaning against a rock, with his wounds not fully healed.
"Don't try to stop me." I said, my voice sounding colder than I intended, making Markus respond with a sad smile before starting to speak.
"You have to be reasonable, waiting for a rescue team is the best option right now, because in your condition and with this weather—"
"No." I interrupted him, shaking my head. "Markus, I'm going now. I don't care what happens, or who tries to stop me, I'm not going to stand by and do nothing."
Markus looked at me for a long second, and instead of arguing, he sighed and took a Yetsu from his own pocket, this one being somewhat different from the ones in the carts, smaller and silver.
"It's okay Zoe, I knew you'd say something like that, but, I had to try anyway, you know." He said smiling, placing it in my hand with his hands full of wounds. "This is one they only give to the nobles of the Kingdom, with much more range. Take it, so at least we know you're okay."
I grabbed it, feeling a lump in my throat seeing how the only friend I had had in these last decades knew me and trusted me so much.
"Thank you, Markus." I said, my voice breaking a little. "For this... and for everything you always do for us."
"Haha, it seems you're getting better at being yourself, and you're no longer acting like a shy and reserved girl." He replied with a mocking smile, before giving a thumbs-up goodbye.
"You just had to.... When I get back, I'll make sure to punish you for ruining a moment like this." I promised, before turning towards the medium-sized cliff that separated the mountain from a snow-covered forest.
Taking a deep breath, I jumped, remembering the practices Kadian did in the middle of training for the Auguries. Who would have thought that training would be more practical than I expected.
...
About two hours had passed since I entered the forest, gradually following Drake's trail with the help of Perception.
The path was difficult, and the snow made every step an effort to continue, but despite all that, I didn't stop. With the snowstorm completely over, I found an almost frozen river in the middle of the forest, and following its bank I confirmed Drake's location every 20 minutes until after a while, I felt something different.
The Thunderbird's trail, had begun to move erratically, until it suddenly plummeted, crashing into some trees about 10 kilometers from where I was, followed by a large explosion in the area.
After the impact, I refocused Perception immediately. The bird was still, lifeless, while Drake... Drake was next to it, wounded.
"No…" I whispered softly before starting to run, picking up the pace as fast as I could, ignoring the branches that hit my face and the deep snow that tried to slow me down. I kept running along the difficult path until the forest suddenly opened up, reaching the mouth of the river.
It was a frozen lake, huge, in the middle of the mountains and the dull, cloudy atmosphere. By enhancing my vision with mana, I saw him, there he was, in the distance, on the opposite shore, lying on the snow.
Drake!
One part of me celebrated seeing him alive, while the other sank into desperation and worry about the condition he was in. Quickening my pace, I ran along the lake shore while a strange feeling grew in my chest.
With my mind betraying me more and more from the hours of solitude, I began to remember various moments of my life with every step I took.
Since I was little, my parents educated and instructed me to serve the Royal Family, specifically Kadian and his wife. Without understanding much of the why, I accepted out of the love I had for my parents, but after escaping from Cherphy, that love turned into confusion, confusion that grew with the difficulties we faced in our escape.
Being in Alister, I felt shattered by the death of my parents, a death I had to witness with my own eyes, powerless to do anything to save them. On the way to the tents after that fight, I felt my world falling to pieces inside me, how all... all the promises I made with the people who gave me life were crumbling.
When Drake was born, I hated him… I hated him because I thought he had caused the death of my parents, and all the pain I felt even though the Helkars had taken me in as their daughter.
Without me foreseeing it, that pain and hatred faded over the years, especially when I saw him, striving more and more to create his own path, something I respected.
My heart began to understand that he had nothing to do with it, that he was just... Drake. And without realizing it, that respect turned into something more, something that emerged unintentionally, interest.
I clearly remembered that night in the Birton forest, when he was unconscious after exhausting all his mana. My heart was beating so hard… because I thought I would lose him too, just like everything I loved. Drunk on that feeling I didn't hold back, and ended up kissing him. It was an impulse, a secret I kept only for myself, a wish for him to know he wasn't alone, even if he couldn't hear me.
Tears began to fall, blurring my vision, freezing on my cheeks as I ran, stumbled, and got up, just to be there for him.
No more. I thought, my decision becoming as hard as the ice under my feet. I can't hold it in anymore. No more lies.
He deserved to know the truth. About my parents, what happened... and my feelings.
When you recover, I swear Drake, I will tell you everything. No matter what.
Upon reaching the crater where he was, I hurried to go directly to him, who was lying on red snow while looking at the sky that was beginning to clear.
"DRAKE!" I shouted, trying to get his attention from afar.
After no response, I finally reached him, him receiving me with a strange, lost look.
Wait, what? What's happening to him? I thought quickly, after seeing a strange, faint golden glow in his closed eyes. I knelt in the red snow beside him, putting my hands on his shoulders.
"Drake! Drake, wake up!" I shouted, shaking him to react or say something, but his body was tense with a light groan of pain coming from his throat, seeming like he was suffering, or worse, dying.
"Drake! Look at me! Please...." I begged, not knowing what to do.
With time turning into an eternity, I didn't know what to do, other than try to heal his wounds and grab his hand to calm him down.
It continued like this until then, he suddenly opened his eyes. The glow was no longer subtle. His pupils were an intense blue, swirling like liquid against the golden background, looking at me without seeing me.
B-but what's wrong with him? I thought confused, having never seen anything like it in my life. After a while, he began to get more and more restless, until he began to release a mana I could recognize. This mana is that of the Dragon God's spark... if so, he is... of course, it makes sense. He's having a vision.
With that conclusion in mind, I looked at him in more detail to try to understand his behavior, until I stopped when I saw his face contort into a mask of pure agony and terror. B-but why is he suffering? what is he seeing?
His hands closed into claws, scratching his face hard as he screamed in great pain.
"AHHH!!!!!"
I tried to stop him from hurting himself more, as his nails were causing wounds all over his face, increasing the bleeding on his body.
"Zoe… leave me alone, please… or I'll end up killing you." He said with coldness in his words, while the glow in his eyes continued to make it clear he was still dreaming.
My breath stopped. Those words. Kill me? Me? Why? The promise I had just made to myself in the forest, the decision to tell him everything, to stay with him... everything… I felt how everything was reduced to ashes by something I didn't fully understand.
The icy panic I felt was worse than the battle a while ago, worse than the cold that accompanied me being without my mana cloak.
"Sorry… forgive me Zoe… please… Forgive me… forgive me for doing this to you…." He continued, before his next words confirmed what I feared. "For killing you…."
Drake...?
Drake Helkar's Point of View
Breathing deeply, I felt the whole world reduce to just a screech, as the last Thunderbird dove, straight towards me.
Shit, shit, SHIT! I cursed quickly inside, being left without many options to defend myself or counterattack because of the little mana left in my draconic core.
With time growing slower, the air heavier, and the screams of the wounded guards, a vague memory came to my mind, a memory of the exact moment when the bus I was traveling on was diverted by another driver into the abyss in my last moments before coming to this world.
Ah, fuck... this feeling again. I said to myself, before returning to the present. That time I couldn't do anything to avoid my fatal destiny, but now, in this world, I can!
Being about to change cores to recover my energy, a promise from the past came to my mind, forcing me to look at Zoe. She was there, about twenty meters away, with an expression of pure worry as she watched me, and watched the attack coming towards me.
Shit... the promise. I thought, frustrated.
Turning my focus back to the bird, and using my last, pathetic mana reserves after the fights, I flooded my legs to jump aside. The world returned to normal speed, managing to dodge the main attack... but it wasn't enough.
CLACK!
The talons, large as butcher hooks, closed around my torso like a steel cage.
"AGH!!" I shouted, trying to break free, but it was useless. I was completely exhausted. The bird flapped its wings hard, and the ground disappeared beneath my feet.
No... no!
The pressure increased. The bird squeezed harder, I felt it suffocating my lungs and my ribs cracked. I couldn't breathe. My vision filled with black spots, until everything went dark, leaving me wishing I had changed cores.
...
Waking up from the intense cold that chilled my bones, I opened my eyes, with the wind howling in my ears.
What the hell...? Am I dead?
I looked down. The world was moving very fast. An endless ocean of snow-covered pines stretched hundreds of meters below, with jagged mountains scratching the horizon.
No, I'm not, in fact, this looks like the fucking Yukon, or some fucked-up place like that in Canada. I thought, before the memory suddenly brought me back to reality.
Right! I'm still in the bird's talons.
Confirming the time that had passed with the sun higher than before, this time I didn't hesitate to change cores to free myself and return to the caravan with the others.
Quickly changing cores, I felt the cold, calculating power of the Demonic Core flood my system, along with all my strength returning as if in a glorious wave.
Now then, you'll see, you damned bird on steroids.
Using this core's ability, I quickly activated Immaterial, Losing the solidity of my body.
The talons, which seconds before threatened to split me in two, became irrelevant, passing through me as if trying to grab only air.
Haha! So long, clown! I thought, as I slipped through them. A second later, I realized my tactical error, something I hadn't thought through in the heat of the moment.
Ah, shit... I'M IN FREEFALL!!
Seeing its prey vanish, the bird let out a screech of pure confusion. I was plummeting, the wind hitting me so hard I couldn't even scream, remembering a training session with Kadian when I was little. The Thunderbird saw me, turned in the air, and dove, faster than a damned fighter jet.
Wait Wait! It was just a joke! I thought for speaking too soon.
Just as it was about to reach me, I used Immaterial again, passing through it once more.
Seeing that its physical attacks were not effective, the bird, now truly furious, stopped trying to grab me, rising a few meters and opening its beak to begin crackling with its throat.
Oh, no. I said to myself.
Electrical energy began to envelop the Thunderbird, before it shot out of its body as if it were a damned pokemon.
Shit, I won't be able to use it so consecutively! I thought, an instant before the lightning bolt hit me head-on.
The agony was absolute. It felt as if every nerve in my body was being fried. My scream was drowned out by the thunder.
Taking advantage of my paralysis and fall in mid-air, the Thunderbird grabbed me again, but this time without gentleness.
AGHHHHH!!!
I screamed, feeling the tips of its talons pierce my clothes and skin, opening deep grooves in my side and shoulder. Hot blood gushed out instantly, mixing with the paralyzing cold of the air.
I was trapped, bleeding, and half-fried.
Damn it! If only I could useAtlas! I said to myself, wanting to activate it, before remembering I couldn't use it on living beings.
I cursed as the bird screeched victoriously, tightening its talons even more.
Think, Drake, think... if I useImmaterialwhat will I do next, how can I defeat it in the air with this core? WithBelarus? I don't think so... it would be impossible to hit its thick skin in the air...
Bleeding out and with no ideas, I took a deep breath to calm down a bit, managing to come up with a slightly crazy and desperate idea. Atlasdoesn't work on living beings. But... what if I use something I already have reduced? something like a... bullet? Yes! That has to work! But afterward I'll have to be careful, because if it hits me, I'll die before the bird.
Gritting my teeth to control the pain that was beginning to increase after the adrenaline shot, I activated Immaterial again, just enough for the talons to stop tearing me, confusing the bird again.
Now!
Instantly, I finally used my Atlas Rune, concentrating the power of my rune on the potency and direction so as not to miss the blow.
With almost all my mana being absorbed by the rune, I was able to pull a small sphere from my pocket dimension, as small as a simple brown marble, a marble the Thunderbird ignored when it saw it heading towards it because it was so small.
The small sphere, which was actually a large compressed rock of tens of tons, passed through the bird's wing and its chest and, finding no resistance, pierced it easily.
After the sudden attack, the bird froze in mid-air. It wasn't a screech of anger, but rather a scream of pure, unimaginable agony.
It worked.... I didn't think it would work so easily. I thought, as the bird stopped flying, and we both began to fall.
OH, SHIT, AGAIN!!
Plummeting, the snowy forest approached at a terrifying speed, making me realize that luckily I would fall on the shore of a frozen lake and not on sharp trees.
Mana cloak, mana cloak, mana cloak! I thought frantically, remembering the tests Kadian did in the middle of preparing for the Augury.
Dammit.... I thought after crashing into a deep snowbank, which luckily had managed to cushion my fall along with the mana cloak I had formed at the last moment.
I lay there, half-buried, coughing up blood and snow. I'm alive... Haha... I'm alive… oh shit.
Looking up, I saw a small black dot that turned red from the heat falling at an alarming speed along with the thunderbird.
RIGHT!! IT'S FALLING AGAIN!! DAMN GRAVITY!! I complained in my head before using Immaterial one last time to save myself from the deafening impact.
An explosion of ice, snow, earth, and Thunderbird remains erupted exactly where I had been. Believing for a moment that I would actually die.
Ho-holy shit, that... that was close. I thought before changing cores to increase my body heat, causing my vision to blur almost instantly.
Damn it... I don't think changing cores was a good idea.... If I don't do something, I'll freeze to death or bleed out. I said, feeling the little energy left in my body. I-I have to do something... or... all will be lost.
Focusing my energy on staying warm and healing my wounds, I began to absorb mana from the environment, but being so tired and wounded my consciousness wavered, until I finally fell unconscious.
Despite being in a trance-like moment between life and death, my consciousness remained calm, as if it knew everything would be alright, something that seemed strange to me at first, but which I ignored later. Looking around I noticed everything was dark, full of emptiness and loneliness, something that was no longer so new to me.
Looking up, I started to think about the things I might leave behind if I died, things like my friends, my parents, my sister.... Zoe. It's true, when I decided not to change cores back at the caravan I didn't think this would escalate so much... I guess I got cocky....
The idea of leaving her with guilt bothered me like a bug crawling in my head. I hope my draconic body holds out... I hope.
Feeling tired, I began to relax until suddenly a warmth began to envelop my body, a warmth similar to what I felt when Irisha healed my arm after the incident in the forest.
With a warm sensation, my vision changed completely, realizing almost instantly what was coming.
A vision.
What I had in front of me was an immense sea, seen from the back of Mork who was flying next to Zoe riding Ness, heading towards what seemed to be an island in the distance. With a jolt, I swayed violently forward, the environment changing to night.
An island? That could be anywhere in the world!? I complained, before realizing I was in a camp alone with Zoe, both of us completely naked while holding something golden in our hands.
Wait, what the fuck? I said to myself, not knowing exactly how to react upon seeing that scene for a moment before it changed to one where I was standing on many gold coins, as well as precious objects, holding a small golden crystal in my right hand.
"Finally… after so long… I finally have the second fragment." I said with absolute happiness before absorbing it.
With an intense light coming from the crystal, my vision was blinded until after it faded, I only saw darkness, with a feeling of confusion, pain, and anguish, manifested in a deafening scream coming from my throat.
"AHHH!!!!!"
B-but what the hell is this.... I thought, unable to breathe from an absurd pressure in my chest, feeling more pain in my entire being than when Bernal gave me his Fragment upon arriving in this world.
Opening my eyes after hearing a crash, I found a more developed Zoe touching a wound on her face, a wound I had given her with a blow that destroyed a wall in the room and my heart at the same time.
"Zoe… leave me alone, please… or I'll end up killing you." I said without emotion as I looked at her face full of fear, wondering who she had in front of her.
Turning away from her expression, I started to walk backward so the environment would change to night, with me kneeling and surrounded by flames, holding Zoe's things surrounded by ashes with both hands while guilt was ending my life.
"Sorry… forgive me, Zoe… please… Forgive me… forgive me for doing this to you… For killing you…." I whispered, crying, before the night was stained with blood.
This... What does this mean...? I said in my mind before the vision ended and I returned to the present, with her watching me in silence as she healed me.
"Z-Zoe?"
She was kneeling beside me, her hands placed on my shattered chest, from where a constant warmth emanated, fighting against the cold of the snow. Her face was pale, stained with soot and dried blood, and she looked at me with a seriousness that chilled me to the bone.
Seeing her, seeing her worried face, the image from the vision superimposed itself with terrifying clarity. The blow. The destroyed wall. Her expression of fear... fear of me. And then, the ashes.
"Forgive me... for killing you..." The words echoed in my mind.
A sob escaped me, a choked, pathetic sound. Before I realized it, hot tears began to roll down my temples, mixing with the melted snow. It wasn't sadness. It was something denser, uglier. It was guilt. Pure, suffocating guilt, a feeling more painful and profound than any physical wound I had ever experienced.
No, no, no... please, no...
She didn't even blink at my tears. Her voice was low, cutting through the howl of the wind.
"You had a vision, didn't you?" She said in a low voice without looking me in the eyes.
I inhaled heavily, trying to catch my breath to calm down as I felt the world grow quieter than usual. She knows I had a vision.... But, I don't think she knows what I saw, or does she?
My panic, which was already on the surface from the guilt, skyrocketed. Scared by what I felt, by what I remembered, by her... only able to look at her in silence.
"Drake." She insisted with a firm voice, not looking away. "Did you have a vision?"
"...Yes." I managed to whisper, feeling as if I were trying to swallow glass with my words.
"And... what did you see?" She continued, forcing me to decide what to do.
No... I can't. I can't tell her. Don't tell her. Lie, lie to her.
I swallowed, trying to force my voice to sound normal, but despite my efforts it came out tense and high-pitched.
"I saw... I saw an island." I began, my voice trembling, desperately trying to force a calm I didn't feel. "Both of us… w-we were flying... on Mork and Ness, over the ocean, yes, over the ocean."
I kept my gaze fixed on the snow beside her, unable to look her in the eyes as I continued with my story.
"And... and you won't believe it, because then we were in a place... with gold, lots of gold." I continued, feeling my voice begin to break. "Then, I found... I found the second fragment. I absorbed it and... and that's it. That was all!"
I forced a laugh, a horrible, choked sound that sounded more like a sob. I scratched my head, a nervous tic that fooled no one. "Yeah, just... just that...."
The silence that followed was deafening, heavy, and unbearable.
Slowly, I gathered the courage to look up, to try to see her expression, but as I did, she was just watching me, with a cold, fearful expression, similar to the one she had in the vision. SHIT!! SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!!
With the feeling fresh, the fake, trembling smile vanished, and my face contorted, followed by a cry that I had been choking in my chest until it finally exploded with the truth.
"It's a lie!" I shouted, my voice broken as the tears became uncontrollable. "It wasn't just that!"
My body folded in on itself, as much as my wounds allowed, surrendering completely to the sobs.
I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't keep holding the weight of those images, of that pure, suffocating guilt.
A tense, unbearable silence settled between us, broken only by my sobs and the beating of my heart.
Zoe, looking at the ground, simply waited in silence, while my world fell apart, until her voice echoed so coldly that I didn't know how to respond.
"Drake, what did you do to me?"
.
.
.
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Joshua_Goose:I hope you liked this last chapter ofvolume 2. I feel that this volume focused more on exploring the world, and things from the past, as well as showing us more characters that will beimportantin the future.
Thanks for getting this far :)
Thenext volume, which will be titled:"Baby steps"Will be out onDecember 18th.
Also in two Thursdays, I will release aspecial chapter, I hope you like it too.