Mythic (NaNoWriMo14)

Chapter 25 - Hotspot

The sunlight felt amazing against Rena's skin, warming her from ears to tail as she, Cayden and one carried, unconscious phoenix ate away at the distance one step at a time.

"How'd you get that scar, anyway?"

Cayden grunted as he shifted Nazine on his shoulder. "What, the one over my nose?"

"Yea," said Rena, glancing at the silvery line that started at Cayden's jaw, used his nose as a bridge to the other side of his face before curving up around his eye. "Just seems like a weird place for a scar, that's all. They're usually straight."

"Not when they're intentionally inflicted," said Cayden. "You know I come from a farming background, right? Well, everything isn't all that safe out at the farmlands. Chaotics and feral Mythics come to investigate, and they can do some damage."

Rena kept her face neutral. "What kind of damage?" 

"The feral ones were more like pests, if I'm honest," said Cayden. "Usually came, poked their noses around and most of the time left straight after. But the Chaotics... well, you've seen the spectre, and that isn't as bad as some of those that I've seen."

Pests. "What's the worst?" 

"Well, the one that gave me this scar was a Lethifold. A dae Mythic that looks like a black, shadowy blanket and converts fear into ley. It usually does it through dreams, since it's safer, but I woke up to it giving my brother nightmares and stopped it. It, uh, didn't like that much, and it covered my face.The only thing I could think to do was cut it off, and in my panic, I cut too deep."

Rena looked down, once more focusing on her feet. "That must have been an experience."

"Something like that," said Cayden. "I didn't even notice the blood until the Order showed up. They brought a few angel Mythics with them and banished the chaotic. It was around that time I decided the farmhand life wasn't exciting enough for me, that I wanted to learn to protect the Mythics. One of the angels was impressed by my resilience to the Lethifold's effects and recommended me, and that was pretty much that."

"And then you got stuck with pigeon boy here," said Rena. 

"And then I got stuck with pigeon boy," agreed Cayden. 

He sighed, a signal Rena had come to recognise as 'pigeon boy is getting heavy'. Sure enough, Cayden placed Nazine on the ground a few seconds later and moved to examine the phoenix's key.

"He's getting low," said Cayden. "Missing out on a feeding last night didn't help anything. If we don't feed him by tomorrow, I don't know if he'll still be with us." 

Rena clenched her fists. "I can't, Cayden."

"Then we need another solution, and we need one fast," said Cayden. Rena knew what the other option was: they risked it. "Either way, we'll eat now. It's a good of a spot as any. Think you can fill up our flasks at the river?" 

"Sure," said Rena, struggling to keep her tails from dragging in the dirt as she collected their flasks and walked to the river. 

She curled her tails around her leg as she examined the unassuming flasks, anything to give her a distraction from the looming deadline of 'feed Nazine or watch him reach burnout'. The metal, while cool, tingled in her hands from the ley imbued into its structure. The flasks were some of the few things Kat had managed to retrieve for their journey and Rena was glad to have them. The ley cleansed the water or anything else they put into it, making it instantly safe to drink. 

A happier feeling spread through her body, unfurling her tails by the time she reached the river. She had problems, true, but with this sunlight, she shouldn't be spending every moment under a stormcloud. Why not take the few moments where she felt warm and strong, these few moments when she felt like she could do anything?