A Lumen Ripple | An Elemental Story

Chapter 35 - Let It Flow

The reunion of a thousand lost stars paled in comparison. There, on the Coral Isle sands, stood Wade and Ember, reunited for the first time since the ill-fated night of yesterday.

In awe-filled disbelief as to how he'd managed to find her, Ember stood mere feet away from Wade. The strain of yesterday was visible on both their faces.

Wade gently rose up from his kneeled position. As he stood straight, Ember broke at the seams, racing up and wrapping him in a tight hug.

A huge, bellowing invisible inferno erupted between the two. Hearts were afire like never before. Rivers flowed faster, and the fire burned higher. The two were together, at long last. Wade embraced every single second of the moment with both arms, embracing her along with it. Ember nestled her head into his chest, and a chilling silence followed...

But she was not one to forget.

The sombre moment came to a grinding halt as thoughts of yesterday barged in. Ember's eyes sharply opened in horror. She instantly shoved Wade away hard, causing him to lose his breath in shock.

He stared at her with hurt in his eyes, yet nothing compared to the hurt in hers. She hyperventilated exasperatingly, instantly turning and sprinting away along the beach.

"Ember- wait!" Wade exclaimed.

Having caught his breath, Wade pursued his jaded love with all his might.

Tides gently pulled back and forth as the two went on for quite a while, running, running, running.

After some time, the chase came to a sharp halt. Ember tripped over a small mound of sand, falling over face first. Like she wasn't even aware of the collision, she quickly turned, lying on her back as Wade quickly caught up.

He stopped as he arrived by her side, standing with visible shock over his face.

"Get away from me!" Ember exclaimed.

Like a crab, Ember shuffled backwards with her hands and feet. Wade followed her, extending a helping hand as he did.

"Ember-- listen. There's too much I have to say." he pleaded.

Like a horrified child, she curled up into a ball, cowering and covering her ears.

"Stop talking!" she yelled.

Wade came to a grinding halt as he watched her implode, gradually lowering his helping hand and looking to the ground in defeat.

Wary and alert, Ember unfurled her head from her cradling, staring at him as he looked down. Wade looked up as she did, and the two locked gazes.

Already defeated, Wade watched as an inferno of frightened horror raged with her eyes. A tear of empathetic sorrow streaked down his face as he stared, unable to take his eyes off her.

Through her eyes, he stood excruciatingly tall over her. With an inferiority complex unlike ever before, she tore molten lava down her face in petrification.

Before long, a hooded figure slithered out from behind Wade's visage. It glowed a deep purple, its face only visible by the mouth.

She returned.

Ember bruxed her teeth in fear, scuttling backwards more in fear.

Wade watched with an eyebrow raised as she suddenly did so. Still, he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and persisting.

"I'm sorry, okay? I regret everything I did yesterday. You were right..." he pleaded.

His gaze lowered to the floor in regret. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to hold back a flurry of tears but failing.