In Stone

38: "Is she...still alive?"

38: "Is she...still alive?"

The forests were calm. Far too calm. There were no birds, no animal life at all. Even the wind seemed reluctant to blow around anymore. It was like the entire earth had taken a breath and was now holding it in.

Caia turned her head left and right curiously. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Even just in breaking through the world barriers, she shouldn't have scared off everything.

"Caia?"

She turned around completely to see Vaeri standing up from where she had been sitting beneath a nearby tree. Her eyes were wide as she tried to work out what had just happened. She lost track once she saw the enormous flash of light. Then suddenly her friend was there.

"Caia? Is that...Who are you?" Vaeri frowned as Caia's eyes landed on hers. She couldn't say why, the eyes were exactly the same, but that wasn't Caia looking out at her at them.

"I'm Caia, of course," she answered calmly. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh...Caspian had me-Caspian! Kiri! Go get Caspian! Caia's back!" Vaeri yelled suddenly into the trees. A single word response echoed back to them.

"What are you doing out here?" Caia repeated.

Vaeri looked back at her, frowning. She didn't really sound like Caia either. She sounded far too calm and unaffected to be the happy, bubbly Caia.

"We had to abandon Galmora," Vaeri answered after a moment, speaking uncertainly. "Rowan came back. She's been in town with the holy statue for days now. We keep hearing her break things. Caspian and Garrik won't let us go-Hey!"

Caia had turned away from her and begun walking. Vaeri looked between her retreating form and back to the trees where Kiriion would be, unsure what to do. After a moment, she bent down and drew an arrow in the dirt indicating where they had gone, and chased after her friend.

"Caia! Hold on! Where are you going?"

"To retrieve what is mine," Caia answered calmly, walking without issue over the uneven ground. The hike that had once been hard for her now looked entirely too easy.

It started really scaring Vaeri, because this was not Caia. And if it wasn't Caia, then...

Then...

"My lady?" she whispered softly.

Caia turned and looked at her. Her eyes, exactly as they had always been, flashed in the light. Caia didn't say anything to her. She just turned back and continued walking.

Vaeri felt a shiver going up her spine.

That wasn't the goddess giving orders to Caia. That was the goddess. Their goddess had come down and taken up residence in Caia's body.

Immediately, Vaeri was filled with terror. It only took a touch of the goddess's hand to drive a person to insanity. What would it do to someone after completely immersing itself within her? Vaeri was suddenly scared that she was going to lose her closest friend.

That fear, mixed with the shock and awe of just having spoke to her goddess, froze Vaeri in place as Caia continued walking past her and through the trees.

That was where Kiriion and Caspian found her a few minutes later. The two men, having sprinted towards her, stopped when they saw her there.

"Vaeri?" Kiriion grabbed her shoulder, shaking her a bit. "What happened?"

"Where's Caia?" Caspian looked around quickly.

"It's the goddess!" Vaeri grabbed onto Kiriion desperately. "The goddess is here!"