A loud, undefined yet familiar noise woke Elin up. She hadn't realized that she'd fallen asleep, but that wasn't the important part for her right then.
She looked in he distance that she was pretty sure the sound had co from and saw a pillar of flas rising above the trees in the distance. At first Elin felt like she needed to run, but before she did, she realized sothing: the flas didn't seem to be spreading, which she hoped ant that it wasn't going to head in her direction, even with her being by a small river..
As she felt her heart calm down, Elin couldn't help but wonder if maybe that familiar sound had been from the flas. She wasn't sure how she knew, but that's what she felt. Though, as she glanced at Jonas' body, that was still unconscious, she wondered if maybe that feeling had to do with her missing mories.
While she would like to examine the crystal pendant again, she couldn't help but feel more drawn to what was happening around that pillar of flas. She took two steps towards it when a voice ca to her nearby, on the other side of the hill that she had been about to walk up.
"All that effort for nothing," the voice spat, a voice that sounded distinctly masculine. Elin wasn't sure why, but it felt familiar. Which could an that it was soone from her missing mories. "Maybe if drawing those stupid orcs didn't take so long she wouldn't have escaped!"
Elin had a feeling the voice was referring to her, even though she felt like it could still be referring to just about anyone.
"I can't even tell if she did draw her out either. If it did, then maybe that would explain the ease with which she escaped, but that doesn't explain who else might have gotten in here. Soone who shouldn't have been able to, but did anyway."
Elin wanted to respond, to call out and find out what the voice was talking about. Not to ntion answers for the questions that were popping into her head the more the voice spoke.
With how the voice was sounding, Elin had to assu that this was Douglas. Soone she really didn't care to encounter. Or at least not alone with soone who was under the weather, though Elin couldn't figure out how she knew that Jonas just had a small illness that would go away on its own without her needing to do anything.
Maybe if Jonas was awake he'd be able to help her understand what was going on and how she knew these things, but since he wasn't, she could only wait for him to recover. Since she sohow knew that he would, so long as she kept him drinking water from the river periodically.
"Maybe I should have made the ground dirt rather than rock," the voice mused. "Though, then I would have had to put so plant-life in there, and eventually that'd die, which would likely lead to this sa outco." The voice sighed, sounding like he was getting ready to leave. "Maybe I can draw her back in if I get one of the others. Even with her mories in that crystal, she'll likely not be able to resist. She should be easy to predict if she didn't escape with the help from Elysia."
Elin felt her breath catch in her throat. Who's Elysia? The na also sounded familiar, but even then it felt a little muted. She wasn't sure if there was a reason for that, but she hoped that it wouldn't create more questions for her if it got answered.
"Elin, pick Jonas up and co with . We can't wait here and hope he won't discover you here," a voice that Elin did recognize whispered suddenly nearby, startling her.
Elin turned to a nearby rock and was pleased to see Ember on the rock, looking at her like the falcon always had since she the bird.
She opened her mouth to respond, but the bird quickly beat her to the punch with its harsh whisper. "Don't. You're not likely to be quiet enough for him to not realize this is where you are. Follow and I'll lead you sowhere safe, okay?"
Elin nodded, closing her mouth. She wanted to complain and insist that she wouldn't, but at the sa ti, she had to admit that when she had been about to speak, she hadn't thought about the volu of her words. That she had been about to speak at the sa volu the voice she was listening to was likely speaking himself.
Elin turned to look in that direction, suddenly wondering if him talking out loud was because he was trying to draw her out. Like she would be confused or disoriented and drawn to another person's voice. Even if it wasn't one that she really knew, despite how familiar it seed.
She did have to admit that she had been tempted a little to do just that. Though, the only problem with that idea was the fact that she couldn't be certain if she'd been tricked in so way in the first place. Even if it was in order to get her hand in marriage or if they were trying to get back at her father for sothing he'd done.
After all, she seriously doubted that her father had done anything wrong, but she also knew that others probably wouldn't have the sa points of view, depending on which ti Elin thought about. Especially if they were on the other end of a deal that they suddenly felt like they had gotten the short end of. Even if they walked into it fairly with an understanding that things might not always work out the way that they'd like. Which always had annoyed Elin in the past.
Even if she turned around and tried to deal with Douglas, as if they were rely trading or trying to deal honestly with each other, Elin couldn't help but feel like it'd sohow involve her past with her father. She didn't understand how, but the feeling persisted.
Besides, she also had a feeling that no matter what deal she struck with Douglas, he'd go back on any part of the deal that he either didn't like or just didn't feel like honoring.
So, she followed Ember as quietly as she could, while lifting Jonas on her back. She couldn't say that she expected him to be light, but she also didn't expect him to be so heavy, either. It almost felt like she was about to break under his weight, even though she couldn't stay that she was holding up all of it, with how his feet dragged behind them.
Elin knew that they hadn't gone very far, maybe a few hundred feet when there was a massive explosion from where Douglas had been talking to himself.
"Where the hell is it!?" he shrieked, making Elin wonder how much more of a bad idea it would be for her to reveal herself to him now. "How could it have been found!?"
While she couldn't be sure what Douglas was referring to, Elin's thoughts imdiately went to the crystal she'd found. She wasn't sure what the crystal was about, but she suspected that it was important. Then with Douglas' reaction to what she suspected involved that crystal, she felt more certain that it was important. She just needed to figure out how it was important.
Thoughts of the images that she could see each ti she turned the crystal made her change that thought. Rather than 'how' it was important, she had to figure out what it was about those images that made it important. If she could figure that out, Elin was confident that she'd understand how the crystal was important.
Yet, while she felt that she could trust Ember more than Douglas, she still felt very hesitant to reveal it to the bird. She couldn't explain why, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything about it. Even Jonas she didn't feel like she could tell him about it.
She wasn't sure what it was about, just that she felt a strange sensation of terror go through her at the re thought of showing it to even Jonas. Almost like she was terrified of what would occur then. Even though she knew that she could at least trust Jonas, even though she couldn't say how she knew that.
"It shouldn't have been possible for anyone to have found it! I made sure of that!" Douglas continued to rage from behind her.
Elin felt sohow comforted with him doing that. Like she felt safer with knowing he was still staying right where she had essentially left him.
However, at about that mont, he quieted down. She wasn't sure what it was about, but Elin felt like this was more of a cause to be scared of than him screaming his lungs out.
Elin suspected it was because she couldn't' say why he'd cald down or if there was so other reason for him to have gotten so quiet. She didn't know what it was, but she still felt rather uneasy about it.
Like if she didn't, that he might sohow appear directly behind her without warning.
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