The Pain in My Heart [Completed]

Chapter Thirty-Three ~Crista

We spent the rest of the afternoon in complete silence. I kept trying to catch his eye but it was no use. His attention was fixated in front of him and nothing was going to break it.

Maybe he's right. Maybe I shouldn't have come at all. I tried to help bring us together, not tear us further apart. Head down, all I can do is look at the new crystal around my neck. It's not the same. Nothing like my old one.

I wrap my hand around the crystal and there is no spark. Pulling down, I rip it off my neck and hold it clutched in my hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Axil's perfect strides falter as he hears it break. He keeps his mouth shut

This, I think, is nothing more than a memory. It can't bring your magic back. It can't spark something inside you that is long dead. Best to leave it behind than feel its weight.

We pass by a giant lake. The surface still melting the thick layer of ice from the harsh winter. It crosses my mind to keep the crystal locked in my hand but I decide against it and the next thing I know I'm hurling it over the sheet of ice.

It glides into the middle, carving a dainty line into the ice. It shimmers in the sunlight, cascading tiny rainbows all across the lake.

"Why did you do that?" Axil asks surprisingly gentlely.

"What's the point of having it? There's nothing I can do to get my magic back. It's gone."

He sighs. "Zaria wanted you to have that. She gave it to you as a memorial of all you've done for her. "

I can't look at him. I know he's waiting for an explanation, but the truth is I really don't have one. I just can't take it anymore.

He sighs and starts walking, but not on the path. Instead, he walks right out onto the ice, his heavy boots thumping with every step.

"Axil..." I call to him, my voice laced with anxiety. "What are you doing?... Axil?... AXIL!"

He walks so confidently on the ice as if it poses no danger to him. He doesn't even slip. "I know you didn't mean it." He says and he's now so far away I can barely hear his voice over the wind.

I did mean it; I think to myself. I mean, what does he know? It would be like him having to wear his crown if he became some commoner.

"You're angry." He calls a little louder this time. "Don't throw this out just because—

And then he's gone. A crack in the ice and a splash of water.

"Axil..." I breathe warily.

"AXIL!" I take a gulp of air and the dampness attacks my throat. "AXIL! AX—I—L!"

The silence is deafening, as if for a moment time froze and I'm swimming in my consciousness.

And I don't even have to think about it before I go tearing after him. It doesn't take long for my balance to fail and end up falling, elbows hitting the ice and breaking a chuck of it. Only being on the ice do I realize just how many cracks the ice has, looking like a spiderweb. Getting on my hands and knees I grip onto the slab as much as I can.

The ice breaks away piece by piece across the whole lake showing the freezing dark water underneath.

"He's under there."

It's not my own voice in my head. Way too deep and sly to be mine. "John?"

"He'll drown if you don't find him."

Panic courses through my veins. I reach my hand down in the water and gasp, biting hard on the inside of my cheek. "Axil," I whimper.

Jump in.

And this time it's my voice.

"Don't do that," John whispers. "Jump in and you'll both be dead by sundown."

"WHAT DO I DO?!" I yell out loud.

I wait for what seems like an eternity, but all I can hear is the thumping of my heart and more ice breaking. Axil still hasn't come up for air. Where is he? Where is he?

"John," I whimper. "Please."

And for what seems like another eternity I look around until a rainbow catches my eye. I follow the light and see the crystal is just out of reach.

"How? How did it get over here?" I wonder, knowing I had thrown it farther than that.

Reaching my hand out as far as it can go, my fingertips touch the crystal and a spark of a glow comes from inside of it, responding to my touch. Sliding out a bit more, I clutch it in my hand and it shimmers like a star.

The crystal glows a bright lilac. Rays of light shine through my fingers and shoot out across the lake.

"Find him," John whispers, his voice swirling in my head.

I hold the crystal tightly in my hands, take a big gulp of air and plunge myself underwater.