I ran blind, struggling to ignore the sting against my legs.
‘Kalia – why?’
Her voice rang through my ears as a foreboding death bell and her words, oh how they stuck in my heart like a knife. The further I tried to understand, the deeper the knife went until I found all the bends in the truth choking my throat. There was no doubt she had meant every word.
‘I should’ve drowned at the river.’ Why did I live?
‘WHY!’
I huffed at the silence.
‘Thought so – skirrat got your tongue.’
I allowed the cold darkness to nip away my warmth until I was nothing more than a useless lump in the middle of nowhere.
‘Not today daughter of Marsilien.’ The words chimed through my ears and soothed away the pain I felt against my skin. A silk touch kept my blood flowing through my body and my heart pumping desperately with a hope to live.
Light danced around head and filled the dark spaces of my vision and mind until everything was revealed before me as it would in the midday sun. I saw myself standing in a cave overwhelmed with yellow flowers and vibrant blue lichen. A fissure opening was before me.
‘This is the way back to the masters who will use you to bring the end of this realm.’
The voice bounced around the cave like a ball. Suddenly, I realized how stupid I was to do a God damn stupid thing as running away.
‘Your instincts compelled you. You were right to listen to them.’
The voice… Pins and needles jabbed my temples. It was so hard to breath. I was choking to death.
Neven you must listen. Neven!
I couldn’t breath. Something squeezed my heart, stabbed at my back. Anwar – the pain!
Let go Neven. The pain will ease.
Let go?
Trust me Neven. Think of a white flower and hold it in your mind. Imagine it a bud blossoming.
Without invitation, a rose bud surfaced to my mind. As I imaged it blossoming, I felt the pain subside until I was able to breath freely again. I was soon my self – just.
A woman eased into view, before the fissure. She wore a dress adorned with white lilies, hand-size ginger leaves, baby breath and red roses; running all the way along the length of her arms and legs and covering up to the top edge of her neck. Her eyes glistened like moonlight and her flowing hair relaxed around her shoulders as fine spun silk of gold. She was very pleasing to the eye that I found it hard to look away.
‘Thank you for listening. I was worried my defense systems would destroy you.’ Her voice chimed through my ears.
‘Who – what are you?’
The woman smiled and offered me a curtsy. I frowned and shook my head not understanding why.
‘I am Ele of the Elm. I am an earth elemental.’
‘Your voice. Were you the one I heard at the river?’
Ele nodded her head. ‘I saw you at Lila’s edge and felt I had to watch over you’
‘Why?’
‘I saw you were different; not one for Lila’s bitter waters.’
‘But why did you do it? If I was different, wouldn’t it be best to let me die?’
Ele’s countenance wavered before it was clear and solid again.
‘Something I can’t explain, only that you seem more than human and magic.’
I peered into Ele’s doe like eyes and watched them churn light in irregular patterns. A sense of doubt entered my mind. She was hiding something.
‘What’s that meant to mean?’ I clenched my teeth at the frustration I felt rising at the back of my head.
Ele sighed. ‘I don’t know but I fear that you have brought into our world a terrible monster. One that has plagued our realm before and almost destroyed it.