Unholy Fall

Chapter Two | Zariyah

Scenery Art Credit
Jordan Kerbow (DeviantArt)

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I came to with a splitting headache, my ears stuffed with cotton, and a groan of pain slipping from between my lips. My eyes felt as though they were sealed shut, and it took way more effort than it should've to force them open.

With my eyes only halfway open, I glanced around the room. I recognized it as my own bedroom, the silkiness of my soft pillow rubbing against the back of my neck. I raised my hand towards one of my pointed ears, and pulled out the ball of cotton that was stuffed into it. Alarm raced through me as I noticed that it was half soaked with blood.

"It's okay." I recognized my father's voice, and turned my head towards where he was seated by my bed. "You're perfectly fine now." His hand rested on my forehead, and I felt his familiar energy flow through my head, numbing the headache with his own healing magick. 

"What... caused that episode..?" I questioned, opening my eyes once more when he pulled his hand away. My father pursed his lips, a worried look in his eyes.

"Did you happen to ... come across a decaying type of magick in the forest or anything like that?" As soon as he asked that question, my mind flashed back to the dying rose bush I had revived in the forest.

"Well, I did revive a dying rose bush during my stroll that I would say was definitely on the verge of decaying." My father looked reassured, as he always did when he found the answer to a question he's been bugging himself over. Even if that answer wasn't always a necessarily good one.

"That rose bush had been affected by some sort of magick belonging to another being in this realm." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands. "and that magick reacted negatively with yours. Which caused the 'episode'."

I grimaced. That didn't sound pleasant, and it must've been a pain to extract the magick that had latched itself onto me after I had revived the rose bush. Although.. I didn't sense any magick residing within the dying branches of it. And wouldn't it have affected me right away rather than later? Glancing back at my father, I voiced these concerns to him.

Father scratched at his chin as he mulled it over. After a few minutes, he finally spoke. "Usually, a type of magick that comes into contact with it's exact opposite would cause a negative reaction on both users as soon as the two magicks meet. I don't know if my guess is accurate or not, but it would appear that your own energy is slightly compatible with the user's energy."

Curiousity gnawed at my core, but I refrained from asking more questions. I would've rather found out more about it from my own investigation. So I made a mental note to myself to find this being who's energy was so called "compatible" with my own, despite never have met them before. I made myself let out an exaggerated sigh, and I hopped out of bed.

"I'm hungry," I declared as though I were a king's scribe declaring the word of the ruler. "I would very much enjoy something to eat."

Chuckling, my father stood and bowed playfully. "As you wish, my lady."