Loved and Lost

Untied meetings

"It was a trap." That's what they do, the Huldra. They reel you in with their beauty, strip you of your innocence and then do one of two things with you, neither of which I'm going to say. I promise you, they're no joke. The Huldra are still chasing us and I fear that they may catch up to us. The others have been running ahead of us but I know that we're all slowing Magnus down.

He's let go of me by now and I've sheathed Achak, but I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. I'm exhausted, I know everyone else is too. Why did this have to be added to our troubles?

Getting further and further into the forest, Magnus takes the lead, leading us to either our doom or he's going to save our lives. I do my best to take in my surroundings and I see that it's being covered in vines. The trees, the bushes, thorny vines that if you get too close, will stick you; all the way down to the bone.

Slowly, the forest is becoming a glade, letting light gently seep through for all the. . . Roses. The light is for the roses, I just realized. We've begun to run in a glade that was fenced in by vines and roses, making it unclear where the exit is and damn near impossible to leave.

The girls come to a halt and Magnus isn't too far behind them. I, on the other hand, trip over another branch, landing on my knees. Looking up, the field around us is empty except for the grass. Not a single flower is planted and that scares me. "Guys," Magnus says, not making any effort to hide his shaky voice.

"Don't say it," Kida tells him, letting out a deep sigh. I don't need to see it to know that her eyes are shut. She's annoyed because she knows where we landed. We all know where we landed and frankly, I don't believe it. It's right there in front of me, practically stabbing me in the eyes with its thorns, and I don't believe it.

I don't know how to explain it, but I feel as if my energy is slowly draining. I can tell just by how my friends are twisting and turning. They're uncomfortable. "We're in Deep Rose Glade." I announce. Kida sighs but then is swooped up in a pile of leaves, throwing her into the air.

Astrid isn't too far behind her as some of her wrist had gotten snagged in the swipe. As they fly through the air, Magnus draws his sword and I stay right where I am. For as much as I want to swing my sword at it, I don't know what it is without seeing it.

Their screams can barely be heard over the gusts of wind that keep flying by us. "What do we do, Ajita?" Magnus asks, frustration in his voice.

"Why are you asking me? You're the 'warrior'," I remind him.

"Can't you use your Magixa instead of just laying down,"

"And what was your sword going to do to the wind, tough guy?"

"Just throw the Fireca!" He yells at me like a five year old throwing a tantrum to get what they want, but I can't help but snicker for some reason.

Getting on my own two feet, I go to ignite the Firexa through my palms. Still I'm having trouble igniting, having to flick my fingers against my palms. Finally, I get the fire started and I wonder just where to throw it. If I throw it at the leaves, I could hurt the girls. If I throw it at the leaves and the leaves are smart, they'll move and I'll still hit them.

As I try to think of a third reason, I hear something snap. From the corner of my eye, I see it was a vine coming right for the two of us. "Magnus!" I warn him and within seconds, he's pushing me out of the way, but I don't land on the ground. I reach out to grab his wrist. With my free hand, I blast my Fireca at the vine just as his blade slices through the vine, cutting off its arm.

"Careful, anything can pop out." He warns me like I don't already know. I remember that I'm holding onto his wrist, to which I think he liked because he hadn't told me to get off, but I do anyway because who needs that extra weight? His ego. Bjorn would know what to do, and Senne. Malek, I'm not sure.

Snap. Another vine whips at us from behind. As I twist to blast my Fireca at the vine, it's cut short. The sputtering flames quickly come to a halt as my wrist is grabbed. At least a dozen thorns are currently penetrating my skin and I can feel the blood slowly oozing to the surface. Another vine comes flying at me, its target: my throat. Magnus's sword comes down on a vine but out of nowhere, another vine grabs the blade, wrapping itself around its sharp edges like it feels nothing.

The vines wrap around my neck, crushing my esophagus. The two of us are getting overpowered by these vines while the other two are being whipped through the air. I can't see it, but I hear Magnus' sword fall to the ground. That's how I know we're doomed.

My other arm is taken hold and I'm forced to kneel down on the hard surface. That's going to leave a mark. I can feel my biceps bulging out as I'm trying to break free. Blood slowly dripping down my olive skin and I'm afraid that I'll either be torn in half or bleed to death at this point.

My mouth is dry but my chest is burning. As the seconds draw by, the burning increases making it almost unbearable. The thorns must contain a venom in them that slowly kills their prey.

Magnus has begun screaming from the pain and as much as I want to, I can't find it in me to and it's not just because my throat's forced shut. It's that I can't let pain get the best of my anger right now. Because I'm so angry, angry that I got this far and it amounted to nothing in just seconds. I will not go down like this. I won't. I wasn't raised like this. Kida and the guys didn't train me into defeat like this. Valhalla will not accept me if I go down like this.

The fire in my chest explodes just as I open my mouth, erupting like the North Star's volcano.

The vine's have let me go, drawing back in pain. Screams erupt from who knows where and I know that I've damaged the beast. Now's my chance. Getting up, I unsheathe Achak. I turn to see Magnus being torn to shreds by the thorns and that's when I ignite my left hand.

Twisting my flames around my right hip, making sure I don't singe myself, I bring the flames back around my head. Leaning back, I twist my hand around to my left hip only to throw my arm out, blasing a few of them.

I can see that I've burned only part of the right side of his face, but he doesn't say anything about it. Instead, he quickly sweeps up his sword and slices off the vines attached to his left wrist.

The vines quickly draw back and I'm almost blinded by the sun as I watch. As they swoop past us, we're hit with a gust of wind. Kida and Astrid are nowhere to be seen making my heart feel like it's fallen out of my chest. The ground starts to shake and it's like the tree's are going to break. They do break though, in two.

The trees are splitting themselves in half in front of magnus and I, exposing nothing but a field of grass and fluorescent flowers. There, at the end which doesn't seem far away from us, is a man floating in midair, holding his hands out in front of him. His elbows are bent and his palms are facing up.

The sun glazes his body in a yellow aura as he slowly presents himself to us, the only ones to see him in who knows how long. His face is almost a blur to me but I can see it. I can see the bone chilling stare he gives off when he snaps his head to us. His eyeballs enchanted with the same yellow gaura that engulfs his body and I know, this is it.

The fight will continue.