The Chosen

Chapter 14 - Time is King

Inhale.
Exhale.
Remain calm, Kaori.

Those were the words I repeated in my head as I concentrated on the object infront of me. A boulder, that is. Why am I concentrating on a boring ole rock? Well this is my form of practice. Molding, shifting, moving- anything to do with the forming of the earth element is my gift. Recently, my skills have been quite off. I'm usually able to fling a rock with the flick of my wrist, but right now I can't seem to do any of that. With my feet starting to ache and the huge headache I have at the moment is not helping.

I kicked my shoes off in frustration and tossed them to the side. It gives me a more raw and close connection with the earth. Wearing shoes is like placing a plastic bag over my head. My powers can't fully function with them on. But now that I have them off, I can breathe.

I stood barefoot in the middle of the barren field still focusing on the rock. I looked down at the ground closing my eyes placing my feet shoulders width apart. I bend my knees to keep a firm and sturdy stance as inhaled deeply holding it in. I slowly raised my hands up closing them to form fist keeping them at my sides. I could tell that my markings were glowing by the tingling sensation I felt in my arms and legs. I looked back up and found that the boulder was sinking into the ground like quick sand. My face twisted up in confusion as to why the rock was sinking. I was planning on trying to throw it across the field, but instead it wants to sink.

I took one step forward and suddenly a sharp pain shot through my feet and traveled up my body. I dropped down to my knees in pain screaming for help.

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"Pass it to me, 'Meer!" Ziya yelled as she waved her hands in the air while keeping Laurent from stealing the ball.

We were in the middle of a tied game of basketball on the court outside since the weather was quite suitable. It was Ziya and I against Larry and Laurent. Taji was sitting on the sidelines in the shade with Azalea since he was still going through some changes.

I hurried up and passed the ball to Zi, and she dribbled the ball down the court ready to score. We caught up to her and before she knew it, her feet started to sink into the ground like quick sand.

"Kaori! Where are you? I know it's you doing this." She laughed but in all seriousness I had no idea what was happening. Kaori was no where to be found. As a matter of fact she said that she was practicing today.

"Ziya...Kaori's at practice...on the other side of the camp." I stated.

"Then who else is doing this?" She asked trying to get out of the slush as we all shrugged our shoulders. It was up to her knees by that point. She tried to break free but failed. Everytime she tried to move, she sunk more and more. We all rushed over to her careful not to fall into it ourselves. We grabbed her by her arms and waist trying to pull her out.

Once we finally got her out I heard a faint scream flow through the wind by my ear. It was barely a whisper. I looked up at the twins who had been helping Zi clean off the mud. I assumed that everyone had heard it too from the abrupt pause we all took.

"It's her turn..." Laurent said which sounded very creepy.

"Whose turn?" I said confused and worried

"Kaori's..." Taji spoke.

All eyes went wide. The second Ziya heard him say "Kaori" she sprinted off in a flash as we all followed her.
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Once we caught up with Ziya on the other side of the camp, we saw Kaori curled up into a fetal position crying on the ground with her head in Ziya's lap. Her markings were glowing a bright green and it pulsated everytime she took a breath. I noticed that her hands and feet were like stone

"It hurts...it hurts so bad." She whispered

"What hurts, sweetie?" Ziya asked.

"My whole body... it hurts. I can't move, Zi." She whined.

"You're gonna have to be strong for me. We're gonna have to carry you back, alright?" She explained as Kaori nodded.

"I'll carry her on my back." Larry said.

Ziya nodded and as soon as she made the slightest movement Kaori screamed to the heavens. Her scream made the ground around us rumble. She has never been in that much pain before, and to see her like this made me hurt also.

"Can one of you guys help me get her up and on Larry's back." Zi instructed.

Larry followed suit and carefully picked her up, carrying her bridal style as she let out a blood curdling scream right in his ear. I took notice that her finger tips and toes were turning a dark tan color and looked as if they were cracking, like the a rock.

It seemed like the walk back took hours, since Larry had to be careful not to walk too fast. Once we finally made it up to her apartment, everybody crashed down on the couch as Larry took her to her bedroom. We all stared at each other not making one sound waiting on Larry to return.

"Uhh...Guys..." He said with worry laced in his voice. We all scurried to he room to see what happened "Her feet and hands are turning into stone." Larry said looking at us with fear in his eyes. Kaori was curled up in the bed unconscious. She was still alive because her marking were still glowing. Azalea crawled up on the bed and studied her hands and feet.

"Her body...it's hard and stiff." She said puzzled "What do we do?" She looked at us with worry written all over her face.

"The only thing we can do is wait." Laurent and Ziya said at the same time. Creepy much?

They were right. Time was the only thing that could fix our situation. We couldn't go to Wells or Dr. Philips, all they would do is lock her up in a room with a straight jacket and stick her with needles a million and one times. This whole situation with Taji and now Kaori is making me worried as to what kind of pain I have to go through when it's my turn. And time is the only thing that had control over that.

Time was King at the moment and all we could do was wait...