And What I Found There - Book Two

24. The Way You Move is Like a Full-On Rainstorm

What the hell happened? I sit bolt upright. My head is spinning and for the life of me, I can't remember where I'm at or what's going on.

I anxiously look around. I'm lying on a mat with a thick blanket secured around me, I seem to be tucked away under this enormous mangrove cave beneath an impossibly huge tree. The roots surrounding me look like a wooden spider web. Rain cascades down around me on every side, it sounds like a cymbal being softly played.

Okay...definitely do not remember how I got here. I clutch my blanket as I stumble up to my feet, hugging it like a cloak as I cautiously venture forward.

The rain stops abruptly as if a switch has just been flipped and now everything is eerily silent. A fog wafts off the ground like smoke.

Despite the unsettling calm though, I can feel danger on the air, it's like I can sense dastardly intent in my very bones emitting from the dark forest around me. I strain my ears as I faintly hear nails scratching against wood in the distance, as if something -a lot of somethings actually- are scrambling over the roots on the ground.

I swallow hard. I highly doubt I'm safe under a tree, maybe I should try climbing it? I just step out from beneath cover when someone suddenly grabs my arm. I scream and a hand is clamped over my mouth as I'm spun around.

I do a double take.

"Vyndren!" I sigh with relief and pull myself free. Now I glare at him. "You freakin' jerk! Sneaking up on me and scaring the hell out of me! What the hell is wrong with -?!" My furious demand is interrupted by the bone-chilling cackle of the Myx in the distance.

Only they don't sound so distant anymore...

"Thanks for letting them know where you are," the Dark Rider huffs and drawls the two whips he keeps on his sides. "Whatever, I'll handle this," he growls. "Stay in here and stay out of the way."

"Stay out of the way?!" I repeat furiously, my face burns with aggravation. "OMG, I'm not hiding! I can fight!" I state indignantly and toss my blanket aside.

"Yeah," he rolls his eyes. "Keep practicing." He swiftly cracks both whips through the air right as the Myx fling themselves over the roots surrounding us. The whips crash into their faces and hurl them backwards before he flicks them again and the tongues of the whips wrap around the throats of two more advancing Myx. Vyndren quickly flips the whips again and snaps the necks of the Myx, their bodies fly wildly through the air.

"Hey, this is practice!" I retort and quickly summon my control of element air. I harness a powerful gust and send it barreling into the front line of charging Myx. There is like, a literal army closing in on us but I manage to knock most of them off their feet.

"Whoa, I didn't know you could control the elements yet!" Vyndren exclaims in surprise as he wields the whips in a flourish again.

"You didn't ask!" I huff and summon another gale. I send more Myx flying off their feet. "Wow," I pant as I stagger off balance briefly. Whew, this really zaps my energy! How much longer can I keep this up?

Though I don't think it really matters. Vyndren has since traded his whips for his two black swords and is effortlessly gliding his blades through the irate zombies hurling themselves at us. Vyndren is a blur of motion, he's as fast as lightning as he moves back and forth, expertly wielding his blades better than anyone I've ever seen.

He hurls his arched sword into the masses and now catches the back of a Myx's head as it lunges for me. He crushes its skull in his hand, and I yelp as black blood flies into the air. He hurls the body into the others that charge forward. Vyndren uses his command over the shadows to retrieve his fallen sword while slicing through the Dark creatures with his other.

"I-I can help more!" I anxiously call, my eyes darting back and forth as I watch Vyndren absolutely destroy the army of Dark creatures.

"Don't need it!" He beheads three Myx with just one swing.

"Urgh." But I want to do something! I feel like I gotta prove how much I have changed, how much I've really learned since the last time it was just me and him taking on the world together. I am so much stronger now! I really want to prove that to him, and maybe I really wanna impress him too.

I quickly summon another element.

Fire suddenly crackles to life in mid-air above my hands. The Myx screech in alarm as I hurl fistfuls of blazing flames at them. Two bands of roaring flames thrash through the air uncontrollably, wrapping around the Myx and anything else that gets it their way.

Vyndren curses as he springs off the ground and lands in a tree to avoid the wildly swinging bands of fire.

"Sorry!" I call as I try to wrangle my rogue fire. But my power is quickly draining and already my flames keep getting smaller and smaller, dimmer and dimmer. The Myx are all either burned to a crisp, cut up or fleeing so I finally convince myself to stop and now the fires abruptly die in my hands.

I stagger and drop down, my legs dangling over the edge of the root I'm on. I quickly pat out the smoldering embers on my hands and blink though blurry eyes. Smoke hangs in the chilly like a thick blanket.

"Adara...?" Vyndren sounds cautious. "Are uh...you okay?"

"I'm fine," I pant. I breathlessly laugh. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Silence.

"I didn't know you could do all that yet." He finally replies. The smoke is lifted by a wave of shadows and now I see Vyndren cautiously climb down from the tree. "You're not gonna...burst into flames suddenly or anything like that, are you?"

"All good," I wobblily give him a thumbs-up.

"Okay," he still sounds wary but slinks closer. "Good job, you... you are pretty impressive," he smiles briefly.

"You mean I'm a badass just like you," I grin, swinging my legs back and forth.

"Okay, okay," he rolls his eyes and smiles more. "It another eighteen years, you'll maybe be on my level."

"You take pleasure in being an arrogant jerk, right?" I jump down and land in his waiting arms.

"Sometimes," he smirks faintly. "Now let's put some tracks between us and this place, huh?"

"Lead on, Chief," I pat his chest and now rest my head on his shoulder, too exhausted to jump out of his arms. He has no protests about carrying me around though. I close my eyes happily as I wrap my arms around his neck.