I had a smile on my face as we continued on in silence. Cellestra and I were both enjoying the scenery around us. More and more flowers started appearing in the grass creating the most colorful beds of purple, red, and blue that I’d ever seen. Their scent only added to the beauty of this place.
I giggled at the sight of Cellestra not knowing where to look. She kept turning her head to take in the view, whereas I could see everything at the sa ti without issues.
“I’m kind of jealous, you know?” The elf said with a smile of her own.
“Because of the eyes, right?”
Cellestra nodded. “Must be convenient.”
I was about to confirm that once again, when all of a sudden, I felt my legs grow cold at the ends. Within a second, the cold shot up and entered my core. When the chill invaded my body, I lost complete control over my limbs and fell forward. At the sa ti, everything around
turned to the blackest black.
What is going on? Cellestra…
I looked to where Cellestra was only to find out she’d disappeared. I was left alone in the cold darkness with nothing but my mind which was racing, trying to figure out what was going on.
I had experienced sothing similar after I’d touched the obelisk but it had only been very briefly. This ti, the darkness remained.
Then, a blue square showed up before .
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With my mind seemingly kept in place, there was nothing I could do but stare at the ssage before . What was written in the ssage scared .
The letters kept moving around, making it hard to read. Not only that, but they were tainted by weird symbols that I’d never seen before. I couldn’t tell at all what they were, or what they were even supposed to an...what was this?!
The darkness around
pressed against my mind, like it was trying to crush
from all sides. I tried to fight back against it, but I couldn’t do anything against such absolute darkness... Despair had begun to take root… I was fighting a losing battle and knew it.
Cellestra, Elysa, anyone, please… get
out of here…
“Kealyna!” A voice… Cellestra’s voice…!
I heard her call out my na, but it was muted, as if I was underwater. I jerked my head towards where I heard it coming from.
I tried to speak, to call her na, even to yell, but my voice was silenced.
“Kealyna!”
I saw a glimr of light in the darkness this ti as her voice called my na a second ti.
The coldness in my limbs faded and the light expanded, causing the darkness to recede. The first thing that my senses picked up was the sll of flowers.
I still felt pain in both my minds but the darkness was gone at last. I let out a groan and tried to find my hands. When sensations returned, I noticed I was down on the ground.
“Kealyna!” Cellestra called out again.
My face was down in the grass, but I could still clearly see the blue square with text before . Only then did it shimr before it faded away completely, leaving
confused and most of all, scared.
I had never felt so scared in my life before. Not even the ti when the tendrils of darkness sprouted forth from the portal in Elysa’s realm. This ti, I felt as if sothing was out for my soul, to crush it. What would remain of
if it did?
I heard Cellestra call out my na once more, softly this ti. I hardly registered it as I was shivering all over, not from the cold, but out of pure despair.
Everything… it was too much.
It had finally broken my spirit and knightly determination. I didn’t want to, but I was reduced to softly sobbing in the grass.
“By the goddess, Kealyna…” Cellestra’s soft voice ca again as she knelt next to .
I felt her hands on my neck and chest as I continued to let go. When she finally managed to lift my head off the grass, my tears flowed freely and in large numbers.
Cellestra, without words, took my head and laid it on her shoulder where I continued to cry. Her hands ran through my hair in an attempt to soothe , but it didn’t matter. I was broken.
I cried and I cried until there were no tears left to shed. Only then did Cellestra’s comforting touch begin to sink in. My hands found their way around her fra and I held on to her with all my might. Her light was slowly calming my troubled mind.
Ti passed wherein I’d just rested my head on the elf’s shoulder, my eyes closed the entire ti. My hands were shaking still, but slowly, I regained my bearings. As I did so, I refused to separate from the elf.
“What happened?” She finally asked with a whisper.
“I don’t know,” I replied softly. “There was… black all around . It was like before, but…”
I paused as I had to inhale deeply with shaky breaths. “It was worse. The darkness, it… it tried to crush . Then, a ssage from my blessing showed up.”
“What did it say?” Cellestra asked while caressing my hair.
“I… I don’t know. The text was tainted, corrupted. I have never seen it like that before. Sothing is wrong.”
I waited for a few more seconds. “I’m scared…”
“Shhh. You’ll be fine.”
Her words… they were warm and kind, but they carried little aning. The darkness that I’d seen… I didn’t know if there was anything that could stand against it.
Elysa, please keep … us safe.
It took
a long ti to recover, despite Cellestra’s help. Even after remaining in this position for what felt like hours, I still felt fear at the back of my mind, clawing away at my sanity.
“I cannot imagine what you’re going through,” The elf said softly. “But I’ll be here.”
She remained quiet for a while as she tilted her head up. “Let’s call it a day for now. It’s not late yet, but I don’t want to have you continue in your current state. Take so rest, sleep if you need.”
I nodded slightly. “Thank you,” I whispered as I never broke the hug.
Cellestra tried to get up, but stopped herself when I tightened the hug once more. She resigned herself and kept where she was, continuing to run her hands through my hair.
“Honestly,” She said quietly. “You scared the hell out of
when you suddenly collapsed. Look how dirty you’ve gotten yourself.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I hope you’re doing a bit better now. Getting you cleaned up shouldn’t be much of a concern.”
I nodded weakly.
A few more tears that I didn’t even know I had managed to find their way onto her completely damp shirt. I never opened my eyes, and continued to thank her in my mind for just being there. I could feel exhaustion start to kick in, but didn’t fight it at all. I simply let it take .
My dreams were filled with darkness, but unlike what I’d seen before, this was the comforting kind. Sohow, it put my mind at ease as I slowly drifted through it, free to go as I pleased. Then, Cellestra appeared in the darkness and smiled warmly as she approached . When we t, she took
in for a loving hug.
Despite having her hug
outside of this dream for so long, this was the first ti I felt happiness fill . In here, I didn’t feel scared anymore.
When I woke up, I found Cellestra in the sa position as before, still hugging . Her soft snoring confird that she’d fallen asleep at so point.
I looked around to see that it was almost dark, with the sun barely above the horizon, which left
wondering if it was dusk or whether I’d slept through the entire night. Half an hour later, I confird that it was dawn as the area surrounding us beca more illuminated.
Poor Cellestra. She must have passed out from fatigue, as I did.
I felt… much better already. I gave the elf so more ti to sleep while I finally got the presence of mind to start thinking about what happened yesterday.
The darkness, and the odd ssage… I could draw no other conclusion than that they had sothing to do with the obelisk. I didn’t know who or what it was that was banished, but it seed to ss with my blessing.
More worryingly, I noticed the clawing feeling at the back of my mind was still there. It felt as if sothing was trying to break in. It made
wonder, was this what Cellestra was going through?
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