Elin opened her eyes, surprised to see the sun starting to rise above the mountains. She'd slipped into the hot spring to take a bath and apparently had fallen asleep.
Not that she couldn't understand why. Even now it was nice and comfortable. Though, she wasn't sure if it was good to have fallen asleep there.
Yet, it wasn't like she could change what had happened. So, she rely got out of the water, feeling refreshed with the icy touch of the open air. Even though it wasn't that cold of a morning, going from the temperature of the hot springs certainly felt like it was freezing. Only for Elin, she found it invigorating and set about drying her body off before getting dressed again.
The only problem was the fact that she only had the dress she'd been wearing for a few days and it wasn't washed, which ant it felt even more unpleasant with putting it on her freshly bathed body.
Although, as she started to reach behind her to fasten the buttons to secure the back, she considered if she should think of this as a problem as well. It was easy to take it off by herself, as the buttons seed to pop out on their own when she wanted them to, but fastening them was another matter. She had to hold the button hole steady while she popped the button through it.
With reaching behind her, it felt like it was almost back breaking work. Although, when she finally managed to get most of them, leaving maybe a few in the middle where it was the most painful to reach, she considered it good enough and gathered what little she'd brought with her, and the soap that Elysia had offered, before starting to head back to where she'd left Jonas.
She was confident that she'd been gone too long, even if it had maybe been a couple hours. As she knew that he wasn't truly confident about how safe they were in this location and she had to agree. Such as even without considering Douglas, she worried the roc would co back and go after them. She wasn't sure if it held a grudge against them, but she didn't want to find out the hard way if the roc decided to attack again.
While she had walked a ways to get to the hot spring, she was surprised at how quickly she'd returned to the campsite. She would have thought that it would have taken her longer, even with most of the trip going downhill.
Yet, when she arrived, she noticed that Jonas wasn't anywhere to be seen. She couldn't think of why he'd have left, but she wasn't too worried. She was confident that whatever the reason, it was a good one and that there wasn't any need to worry about him.
Besides, it was entirely possible that he'd gone in search of her when she didn't return fast enough. She didn't think that was the case, but she knew it was certainly possible.
"Finally!" a familiar voice called out, sounding rather annoyed. "Soone shows up!"
Elin turned to see Ember fly in to land on the branch of a nearby tree. "What do you an, 'soone shows up?'" Elin asked, feeling a little confused.
"Well, when you- I an, when I got here, Jonas was gone, no sign of him, and that was an hour ago. So, I flew around a bit and didn't see you or him, but then I found you as I ca around back here."
"Well, I just got back from a walk," Elin said, feeling concerned as to what might have happened to Jonas. "I found a hot spring where I took a bath... and kinda fell asleep." Elin's last words were said in an almost whisper, as if she'd rather not have them be heard.
Yet, Ember had excellent hearing, so it wasn't a problem for her. "Yeah, hot springs can do that to you if you're not careful," Ember said, almost wistfully.
Elin felt a little unsure of Ember's response. It sounded like she knew first hand what it was like, but she also was pretty sure that if a bird was in water, that it'd have a difficult ti getting out if sothing that could hurt it appeared.
"Anyway, what happened to Jonas?" Ember continued without giving Elin a chance to voice her thoughts. "I an, he did leave before you went on your walk, right?"
Elin rely shook her head. "Actually, he was here when I left. Since he was gone when I got back, I thought maybe he'd left if he thought that sothing had happened to . Though, I can't say that he did do that, just what I think might have happened."
Ember didn't respond, but rather started looking around. Though, Elin wasn't sure what the bird thought it might find.
"Uh, you still have the 12-colored crystal, right?" Ember asked, sounding a little uneasy.
"Huh?" Elin hadn't even thought about that crystal. She'd only thought about where Jonas had been. Part of her felt a little guilty about it, but at the sa ti, she'd rely assud that Jonas was fine and it wasn't like he wouldn't have taken care of the crystal anyway. "Uh, no, I left it with Jonas."
"Then we need to find Jonas. If he has it, then we can't pull the serpent out before he gets back with it."
Elin felt like she'd been hit hard in the stomach. She knew she should have realized that, but at the sa ti, she wasn't sure how to react to it. Yes, she felt weak in her legs, yes she felt like throwing up, and yes, she felt like the world was spinning around her.
However, she also was confident that if there wasn't a sign of a struggle here, then that Jonas hadn't been attacked.
Although, the fact that all their things were there also bothered her. She doubted that Jonas would have left everything, even if he'd gone in search of Elin. Or at least not left them out in the open like they currently were. Although, she couldn't be sure that he had planned on not being gone long and then gotten trapped sowhere, kind of like how she had with the wagon.
She looked around, and was surprised when out of the corner of her eye, she saw sothing that she hadn't expected to see: the crystal pendant.
It wasn't stowed away safely or anything, but rather dropped o the ground like it have been forgotten. Like it was just dropped without a second thought.
"I think I found it," Elin called out to Ember. "Though, I'm not sure why it was dropped on the ground like that."
"Wait, it was on the ground?" Ember asked, as if that explained sothing to her.
"Yeah, it was. Why? Does that an anything?"
"Maybe," Ember answered, sounding rather hesitant. Like maybe she'd said sothing she shouldn't have.
"Well, why not say it?" Elin asked, feeling a little annoyed at Ember's reluctance. "What could it hurt?"
"Uh, it's just a theory, but what if Jonas was looking into it and accidentally entered one of the facets on the crystal?"
Elin blinked. She hadn't thought of that, but at the sa ti...
"How could you enter it accidentally?" she asked, unsure if that's what Ember had actually either said or ant.
"Well, if you hold it up and light is cast onto you, then its possible that it would trigger the requirent to enter it. Which could have the crystal dropped like it was tossed to the side."
Elin thought about it as she looked at the crystal. It made sense. It wasn't sothing that Jonas would be on guard about nor was it sothing that he'd expect to occur. Which ant that it was very possible that that was what actually happened. Especially since they couldn't say where else he might have gone.
"What should I do to check?" Elin asked, feeling lost as to what she should do. After all, if Jonas entered the crystal where the orc or the serpent was, then how long would he have to survive before the other tried killing him? As it wasn't like they knew the temperant of the creatures and the orc just felt like it'd be hostile.
"Check it like you normally do," Ember said. "Check it one color at a ti. If he's in there, I'm sure you'll at least find so evidence of it. Especially if the crystal is still at the color it was when he entered it. I'm not sure how it resets, but I do rember it does on occasion. So, take a look and see what you can find out."
Elin took a deep breath and nodded. She could do that. Especially if it was one of the facets that didn't have a creature that she was worried about facing herself down the road.
She held up the crystal to where she could see it in the light and was at first disappointed that it had reset. So, she started turning it, not sure what to expect as she did so. Each seed like it was the sa, regardless of anything else.
Until she ca to the orange color. There she saw Jonas with the smaller bird. However, what she saw wasn't what she would have expected to see at all.
Reviews
All reviews (0)