The Shadow Wanderers

Chapter 13

Calista looked up at the Mighty Waterfalls in awe.

Three different streams of water, all different sizes, flowed down gracefully from the rocks and fell in the lakes beneath, water showering at the base. The one in the middle flowed in the widest arc.

She stepped closer to the lake where the water fell. She could see the vapors in the air, and the atmosphere was rather misty and cold. The air smelled strongly of frost, and as she walked towards the spraying water and the lake, water started to sprinkle on her, dampening her cloak.

She crouched down on the bank of the lake and watched her reflection in the crystal-clear water. The water waved up and down, distorting her reflection, as though excited to see the foreign visitor. Calista smiled, dropping the hood of the cape to her neck, and dug her hands into the water. Bringing them up, she took a gulp and sighed; it tasted pleasantly sweet and refreshing icy.

A surge of peace rose in her heart, as she looked around at her surroundings, spotting a couple of small rainbows hovering in the misty air. They weren't what they looked like in Erini at all; rather, they glided down in a graceful arc filled with gradient shades of blue and gold.

Craning her neck all the way up, she looked at the graceful fall of the noisy waterfall. The rocks at the top blurred into the thick stale mist that covered the very edge of the cliffs. Once more, there was a barrier in her way, limiting her imagination, limiting the area she could explore; another world out of her reach. One more barrier and she could feel the walls closing in on her. Her whole existence was a limitation in itself. There was a mere spot in the universe's scheme where her life would be marked dead and it will not matter to anything.

Shaking her head, Calista stood, trying hard to focus on her surroundings and take in all its beauty that she probably would never get a chance to see again. Even as she lived in this moment and looked at the falling stream of water, she felt envious of herself; envious of the fact that she was living in this moment and seeing it in real time, but a day from now, or a week or months or years later, she'll look back at this moment and see it only through her memory and not in real-time. The reminder was enough to make her sad and happy at the same time, and to get her to make use of this momentary freedom as much as she could.

So, she stood, walking along the bank of the stream, glancing at her reflection once in a while. She noticed that there wasn't much to see there other than the colorful cliffs and the waterfall. What she wanted to see was above the cliffs, but since she couldn't get there, she felt that it was easier to restrain. She thought how if only she'd had more time, she would've sat at the bank and stared at the flowing water and the stream for hours. But for now, she had little of that, and so it took more courage to retrace her steps.

There was still an hour to dusk and the Vakenian sun was now hanging low in the sky. Calista shielded her eyes and walked back toward the population. She knew she had plenty of time to wander about before she had to get back, but her gut told her to just observe things from afar and get back as soon as possible.

However, what she had not expected to see just as she walked away from the stream was a familiar figure in a white robe.

"Tristan!" exclaimed Calista, startled. "You're still here? I thought you went the other way."

He smiled, stepping closer. "I did, but apparently, I couldn't stand being far from you for too long."

Something in his tone stood out from the way he previously behaved with her. Calista wanted to laugh at his joke, but something told her it wasn't a joke nor was he trying to flirt with her.

"Not many people can," she tried to joke back, to get some sort of reaction from him. A laugh would tell her he also was joking with her. He didn't laugh. His expression turned rigid, his hands casually in his pockets as he kept getting closer. Instincts told her to run, to not trust a random man, to snatch her blade from her bag.