THRIVE: Book One

Chapter 104- Cause and Effect

"Oh my lord," Josephine says in disbelief as we finish explaining what had happened while she was gone "I had always known that Gael was troubled, but this is absurd to even fathom."

"I wish that it wasn't true." Eloy sighs "He's gone now, so we don't need to worry. There's no way that he could have caused this storm, and honestly, I don't even know where to start when it comes to finding out what did." he explains, looking to Serene who had been anxiously pacing around the room. Suddenly she looks back at him in frustration.

"Look, I'm good at elemental spells, but I could never create something of this magnitude. Not to mention, my focus is on bending fire," she explains nervously.

"Wait, you can bend fire? Is that how-" Josephine asks, sounding excited before Isobel cuts in.

"It's impressive, but we can talk more about that later," Isobel states as she looks down the hall. Suddenly Cassandra comes in escorted by one of the guards, as she looks around at all of us, she locks eyes with Josephine. Nervously, Josephine stands up and looks at her, studying her face.

"Mother?" she asks as she hesitantly steps forward. Cassandra's eyes suddenly begins to well up with tears as she rushes to her.

"Eliana, I have missed you so much, honey." Cassandra cries as she holds her. We all can't help but smile looking at them together. Being reunited after all these years is a wonderful feeling, and I can hardly imagine how Cassandra must be feeling. Although, it also makes me feel solemn. I never got to know my daughter, so I never got to see the kind of person she would grow up to be. But I couldn't think about that right now, we had bigger problems to face.

"Okay, we need to talk about this storm for what it is; a storm." I state "The worst of it seems to be coming now, but we could all be hulled up in here for a few days. Our people are going to be scared, we need to think about them first." I explain.

"Umbree is right," Zade begins. "We all need to do our part and keep them company. Maybe offer some words of encouragement, the last thing we want them thinking about is how destroyed everything outside may be once the storm clears."

"Good idea." Rain says as she stands up "Eloy, Blaze, how about you two come with me? We'll start making rounds." She waves them forward and they begin to follow.

"Josephine, you should probably stay away from everyone for now." Blaze sighs.

"She can come with us, Serene and I should probably see if we can find the origin of this thing." Isobel states as she stands up "It's probably best if we avoid the dungeons, so we can use my quarters instead." she says as they begin to go.

"Ava, Calem, can you make sure that the prisoners are alright?" I ask calmly. He nods and they both head out quickly.

"Mother," Zade says as he looks at both of us "Our people will want to see you too, can you help us?" he asks kindly. She smiles and squeezes his arm before heading toward the dining hall.

"Of course, dear. But you two need to come too." she smiles. We both grin at each other as we follow her. The dining hall is packed with people, everyone looking terrified as we hear the storm outside growing louder. They all start to stare as we come in, all seeming hopeful that we would be able to help in some way. For the next few hours, Zade and I sit with families, comforting people and asking them questions about their lives to get their minds off of the situation. I had young children wanting to braid my hair and play little games while the older citizens asked me questions about how things had been going since Ruthus' passing. The entire experience was both endearing and exhausting, and it felt as though there was no end to it. Eventually, Zade told me that it would be best if I took a break, offering to take over for a while while I got some rest. Sleep seemed like an impossibility, so I decided to make my way down to Isobel's room to see how things were going on their end.

As I made my way down the halls, I can see the darkness outside looming above us. The water keeps rising, washing away the streets and pushing everything people had worked so hard for further and further away. I stop for a moment and feel the wind blowing the rain towards me, the cold droplets running down my skin as I watch trees bend over to the point of breaking. I can't help but think that if I hadn't been found earlier this year, I may have been trapped outside during this tragedy. Suddenly, I hear screaming down the hall and quickly rush to Isobel's room. When I come in, I see Josephine crumble in a ball on the floor rocking back and forth.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she keeps screaming. I watch as Isobel tries to snap her out of it, but it was like she was in a trance. Serene and the hooded sages are hunched over a table, looking over old writings.

"What the hell is happening here?" I ask loudly. Serene looks at me worriedly as she shakes her head.

"Well, we figured out where the storm came from. Unfortunately, that isn't exactly good news." she sighs. I look back at Josephine; she is in a complete meltdown and doesn't seem to be aware of her surroundings.

"Are you saying that she caused this? How?" I ask skeptically.

"I put it together after she explained how she used to run around the caves under the vault with Elias. Without realizing it she had been rereading some of the rituals they described every time she passed them and when she awoke earlier, it triggered her memory of one of the ones she had seen." Serene sighs as she glances over to her "It wasn't her fault, she didn't have any control over it or even know that she could do it." she explains.

"How do we stop it?" I ask nervously. One of the sages slides a text over to me and points at the diagram displayed, depicting a storm and the sun.

"First, we need to calm her down. Then, we can get her to reverse it." she explains "The longer she panics like this, the harder the storm is going to become."

"Guys, she can't even hear me." Isobel sighs as she holds Josephine, stopping her from hurting herself. Serene sighs irritatedly before beginning to storm out of the room.

"Where are you going?" I ask, concerned.

"If she won't listen to us, then there's only one person who is going to break through," Serene explains frustratedly.

"Blaze." I state as I start to follow her "I'm coming with you." We rush out and head down the hall, becoming more frustrated as we watch the storm become more powerful. A heavy gust of wind suddenly blows in through the window and slams us both against the wall. We fall to the ground, splashing in the shallow water that had begun to flood the hall.

"Son of a bitch!" Serene shouts as she pushes off the ground. "Are you okay?" she asks as she helps me up.

"Yeah, I think so." I sigh as I look at the ground. "We just can't catch a break, can we?" I state exhaustedly.

"Once we get control over this, everything should be fine," she states as we carefully make our way down the hall.

"No, that's not what I mean." I stop as we turn the corner. Serene suddenly turns around and looks at me with a confused look on her face.

"What's wrong?" She asks as she comes back to me.

"It's just..." I begin but stop myself when I hear the thunder "We can talk about this later, let's go. Blaze was in the guard post last time I saw him."

"Okay," she says softly as she starts to go back down the hall, then suddenly stops and turns back to me. "Umbree, you know you're a sister to me, right? You can tell me anything."