Reborn: High Strung | ONC2024

Chapter 3

Meira was sitting on a stump in the forest next to her oversized satchel, thumbing through a big book as she scribbled around the pages. Her gaze kept occasionally glancing up at Zev as he sat on his knees in the grass, meditating in silence. She couldn't believe he was Simon's brother; she had stuck around with him to listen to his story, but he was so underwhelming. Everything she had heard about Simon was amazing; Zev was, well, he was ambitious, that was for sure. Zev opens one eye, looking at her in his meditation position. "Can I help you?"

"Maybe," she says, blankly lost in her own thoughts, staring over at him. Zev takes a deep breath, closing his eye and gathering his thoughts before shooting back.

"Well, I've told you the story too many times already; you know it as well as I do by now. It's been days, if you-" Meira cuts him off and bluntly says,

"Are you planning on going down to find him? Or are you going to sit up here and wait for Simon to come back?" Zev freezes at her words, completely caught off guard. A whole array of thoughts floods through his mind. Sure, he had thought about traveling down to find Simon, but how could he, as an ember? He would need to be at least a flame before he could go to layer two. Meira snaps her fingers in front of his face and says, "Zev? Are you listening?" He shakes his head quickly and stands up to meet her gaze.

"Yes, sorry, I guess I just don't know how I'd do that. I'm just not strong enough as an ember." His big emerald eyes looked to be begging for an answer that he didn't believe existed.

Meira's smile grows wide. "Then why don't we figure out how to get you to flame? I've done tons of meditation studies! Way more than you have." She opens her arms out as if mimicking the tree branches around them. Zev is a bit stunned at her enthusiasm, which kind of reminds him of the endless well of positivity that Simon has always had. His heart quickens its beating pace as he scratches the side of his head. "Why do you want to help me?"

Meira puts her arms down, and her wide smile softens. "Because I want to go down the layers, and I don't want to go alone."

"There's so many other, better soulkindlers you could go with. Why-" Meira cuts him off again, putting a hand up. "My dad always said, find the people with a goal in their hearts. I'm no expert on people, but you seem like the kind of person my dad would like. Even with everything happening around you, you haven't stopped once; even though you didn't realize you were working toward finding Simon, you have been."

Zev felt his chest clench up and his breath shake. "Is that really why you've been hanging around me these last few days? You were watching me to see if I'd be a good partner to travel down with?"

"Well, that and the fact that the story is really interesting—truly, knowledge is what I'm after. My parents own a library, kind of like the one in your town. I've always felt like the books and information we have about the lower layers is," she pauses and shakes her head before continuing, "lacking to say the least."

Zev can't help but smile; no one but Simon has ever shown so much faith in him, not even his own mother. She was kind and loved him, of course, but her thoughts on him were always so realistic and detached from what he wanted to be. He looks at Meira with cautious excitement. "You really think I can reach flame fast enough to not hold you back?"

Meira sits back on the old log with a thud, pulling her oversized book of notes into her lap and laughing. "Hold me back? I mean, what's a few months of training? I'm going to have a fierce teammate after all this."

A few months? It had taken Zev so many years just to reach ember; how would he ever. Thoughts of Simon wash over him; he would believe in him; even Meira looked at Zev like this was no sweat at all. He had to prove them right, but more than anything, he needed to finally prove to himself that he wasn't the one to hold anyone back anymore. Zev clenches both fists, looking down at them. Shock grips him as the grass beneath his feet seems to get erased by a wide, spreading darkness. His eyes shoot up to see Meira's cocky smile as she forms a pitch-black sethra bubble around them, the only visible things in the field being her, the stump she sat on, and Zev. She shuts her oversized book, setting it beside her on the large stump, before locking eyes with him. "Training and meditation are my specialty; this is a product of my knowledge sethra. I hope you like it."