Shadow Beings

46. A Memory in Time

Evelyn hesitantly left Elek's hand as he began to fade into the ground. All of us moved away, giving him the space he needed.

He's leaving.

My heart felt heavy, as if something terrible tugged on it.

His smile never fades.

Evelyn curled her hands into a fist and her energy vibrated, morphing into an angry sheet of vigour. She started shaking, fighting the water in her eyes. Conrad firmly gripped her hand, steadying her, and she slowly took in deep breaths.

A gaping emptiness filled me as I saw the barren ground.

He was gone.

But he's forever within us.

But he's gone.

He left with a smile.

I exhaled harshly, closing my eyes as my head dropped towards the Earth. I fell to the ground, landing on my hand. My head stood between my arms, facing the ground.

All of a sudden, everything hit me.

Elek was gone.

Holly was gone.

It hit me now. I didn't properly realise what was going on until now. Everything was like a daze, but it felt real all of a sudden. I didn't realise that two shadows-trappers were gone.

Not two. Six. Probably more. And who knows how many demons are gone.

A little voice seemed to faintly whisper a date and a place. It seemed as if it came from the other side of the world, but I didn't know to whom did it speak, and what did it say.

Suddenly, a gruff, hoarse, and deep voice interrupted my mind. I thundered in, dragging the flurry of negativity into a space I thought was always safe for me.

Fear and Hatred.

Sinnder Ärger.

"Get out!" I shouted, facing the right, but my head was still lowered towards the ground. Evelyn and Jack flinched, worry in their eyes. Aurelia shifted, perhaps wanting to comfort me, but she decided against it. Everyone's attention now turned towards me and my cheeks felt hot.

I just wanted to curl into a hole and hide.

Suddenly, a knife hit me in my side. Jack immediately threw one of his knives in the direction the attack came from, but I cared no more.

I got up on my feet while taking staggered deep breaths. My head rose up slowly, a tear falling down my cheek. I looked around at all of them, my eyes finally stopping at Galen. His eyes were small, exhausted, and filled with care, but a very small and tired smile sat on his face.

I held in the tears. They always gave me that heaviness in my throat. Emotions.

I didn't like it. But it is what it is.

And I should control these things.

"I-I'm sorry," I said in a low voice, the sound shattered by the wave of emotions. "I'm really sorry."

They flowed. They flowed and I finally let them fall to the Earth. They drenched Galen's shirt as my head tiredly fell onto his chest, but a pair of arms lightly patted me on my back. A soft hand pressed the wound on my side, warmth slowly filling in.

The warmth increased to a fierce heat very rapidly, surrounding me, and the light seemed to grow stronger as it blinded my blurred eyes. I felt the knife being drawn out of me slowly and very slightly painfully. But nothing affected me anymore.