The Keeper Exams

Chapter Twenty - Fire and Defiance

Realm One: Treetop Base Capture

Team Red

User: infinitywordlover

Name: Crysalis

We walk clumsily and sluggishly, both wheezing with pain,with Sabrina a little ways ahead of me. Tears of pain never leave my eyes, but I refuse to let them spill. The sky will cry enough for both of us tonight.

The rain flickers red from the glow of the lava, and and it dances around me shifting, swirling. I tip my head back greedily accepting the moisture to soften my parched lips, and the drops roll down my back. They cool the fire of the angry red welts I had received from the girl's beating.

A flash of light shocks the sky, and for a brief moment, I can see Sabrina clearly, which makes me nearly cry out in fear. She's covered in blood, her clothes are torn so much that she's more skin than cloth. In the next flash, I glance down and see that I am no better. My skin is raw and angry. I'm covered in so many cuts that I can even tell where one begins and another ends.

A feeling of despair flickers through me. What was the point? I should just lie down and die. It would be easier, quick and painless, but I push the thought out of my head with a guilty glance towards Sabrina's back as if she could read my thoughts. She needs me. My team needs me.

Just as I restore my resolve, a huge bang shatters the air as if sealing my promise.The ground beneath me shudders for a moment, shaking my bones and scattering my thoughts.

My blood sings with the storm, and I revel in the its power, in its utterly free, uncontrollable glory. The wind howls stronger around us buffeting us, pushing and pulling. My hair slaps into my face, but I don't care. For a moment it's just me and the rain, the storm, the wind. It calls to me, urging me to fly with the wind, and to never look back.

I stretch my fingers out to it, taunting the wind. Carry me away, I say. I dare you. But I know it won't, and the wind knows that it can't.

My gaze returns to the ground and I notice that the foliage is growing thicker and thicker. So much so, that I can barely see two feet out from the cliff edge.

Branches whip past us, torn from their lifesource by the temptation of the storm. I am one of those branches. We are all branches, and when we let go of life, we fly away, far far away.

There's a low hiss from Sabrina as she limps to a stop. Two thick braided ropes stretch into the dark trees and beyond. I immediately think that it's a trap before I realize the whole exam technically could be considered a trap. Slung casually over the top is a tangle of cloth and rope....the harnesses.