Wizards

CHAPTER 29: No Cost Is Too High

Vaguely remembering what happened, Eliot Reeve opened his eyes in an unfamiliar room. He slowly brought his body to sit and saw a woman, cleaning a table not far from the bed he's lying on.

     "Where am I?"

     The woman jumped, startled probably, and placed her hand on her chest.

     With her raspy voice, she said, "Goodness! I almost died, did you know that?!"

     "Where am I?"

     "Calm down, calm down . . . geez! My name is Lenna, you're in Woodsville," said the woman, leaving the table she's been cleaning.

     "That's twenty miles away from the city, how did I get here?"

     "Morrigan brought you here — you ask too many questions!" the woman snapped, "I understand the situation you kids are in. But you need to rest and —"

     "You sound like Morrigan,"

     "Don't interrupt me!"

     "Y'got her temper too."

     "Wrong! Mine's shorter," she said, "So lay down or I will break a hundred of your bones and heal you while you sleep later."

     Eliot got up and walked straight out of the doorway. The woman protested but Eliot walked out nonetheless. He reached the outdoors of the hut and immediately, the smell of roasted fish and wet grass reached his nose.

     The villagers did not mind his presence in their little village. It didn't matter to them that he's topless or bandaged. They continued with their daily lives; some women were sewing, men were carrying buckets of sea creatures, repairing roofs, or tending with their plants.

     Eliot looked up the hill and saw a cliff. . . .

     It wasn't hard to climb even though his body aches with every step. The hurting eventually stopped as soon as he reached his destination. He then sat on the edge of the rock, staring at the sun that was just rising from the east.

     "If you fall again, I won't catch you this time."

     Eliot looked at the source of the voice that was Morrigan.

     "What are you doing here?" she asked. "I did not save you so you can jump off from a cliff and die a nasty death without anyone's help."

     "It was Nif. . ." said Eliot as though he was still struggling to believe it was him all along. "He betrayed the Guild."

     "The director and I had a hunch," Morrigan replied, "He has been acting strange since the Brotherhood increased their activity. That's why the director chose you to be the candidate for SPEAR and not him."

     "You had a hunch and you didn't tell me. . . ."

     "We have no evidence to support it — and we lost the chance when Councilor Umbaña elevated him to SPEAR. Director Lim tried to stop it . . . he tried convincing him that he is needed more in the DS. But Niflheim insisted that he take the offer. I think he realized that we're on to him, so he went under."

     "I can't stop him. He was right; I don't have it in me. I am weak."

     "So you're just going to let Rei suffer, huh? Okay. That's your choice," said Morrigan before turning around and started walking away.

     "Don't you get it?! I CAN'T SAVE REI!"

     Morrigan stopped walking and turned around to Eliot.