Syrilth; A Dei Realm Tale

Chapter Seven

The beat of hooves reverberated the ground beneath me, barely heard over the wild heartbeat that thundered in my ears. I couldn't tear my gaze away from the darkness that crawled over what had once been trees. Subconsciously, I knew I was waiting. Hoping. That thing... The power that had stared back at me moments ago... Surely it wouldn't so callously sacrifice the vessel it had just come into? Surely...surely, it wouldn't...just a child...

"Syrilth!"

I ignored the voice calling out to me. If I looked away, would it all disappear? Would I be accepting her likely fate? I refused.

"Syrilth!" Closer now, the drums of horses hoofbeats deafening.

Why? I asked the gods. Countless times I had asked, never receiving an answer.

Hands shook me, a cry instinctively leaving me as my body registered a pain I didn't feel. Don't look away, my mind told my body as it began to turn. You can't look away.

The hands that had jostled me now cradled my face, terrified green replacing the pulsing swarm of shadows. Lips moved as if he was speaking, yet I heard only silence.

"It sacrificed her," I realized, the words sounding far away from myself. "It killed her...to get rid of him...to cripple our enemy..." A broken laugh escaped me with the next breath, the pain from my shattered bones incomparable to witnessing the world as I knew it crumble.

"Syrilth..." the familiar voice faltered. Panic crowded the terrified green.

Injros, I recognized belatedly.

"It didn't even care that she was a child..." I couldn't stop the words tumbling out of me. I only saw her face, the thing that had stared back at me in those final seconds. "What are we even fighting to protect? If they'll so easily martyr the innocent... What are we fighting for?" Hysteria crept into my voice. That otherworldly power loomed in my memory, snuffing out the tiny spark of hope.

"She's in shock," someone said out of sight. Familiar as well, but who it was slipped through my grasp. "Careful, she's injured."

The green turned watery. Hands carefully, gently traced over me. Injros, I reminded myself as a flinch told him where I was broken.

"Arm and ribs," said the lips in front of me, the skin around them tightening as if the words had caused pain. My gaze drifted back to the swarming mass as the lips continued to move, the voices of those around me fading.

It's still there, came the relieved thought, finally understanding what I saw after a moment. Does that mean...

"We have to go save her," I interrupted whatever conversation had been occurring. "We have to go save her," I repeated, an edge in my voice as I remembered the grim acceptance in that dark gaze.

The hesitation I met made me clutch Injros' arm, the cloth of his tunic nearly tearing beneath my grip. "We can't just let her die," I pleaded, the sight of her crouched over her sister's body haunting me. The silence was suffocating. "No," I begged as their response became clear, "no." A hitch in my breath as I fought back the sobs that wracked my frame. "No!" I wept, hitting the arm I had grabbed as our victory and failure wrapped around me in an unforgiving embrace.

No one spoke until much later, the nightmare miles away now. "Nothing could have escaped the magic that had invaded the forest," Injros murmured, voice rumbling the chest I leaned against. I stared out into the plains of snow we traveled across, unable to bring forth a response. Numb to the bone from the cold and horrors of the night. Injros patted my uninjured arm, hearing all I couldn't say.

"Are we no better than them?" my whisper shouted across the quiet plains.

Injros'hand paused, a sigh leaving him as it slipped away. "Some days, I don't know."