Reborn: High Strung | ONC2024

Chapter 15

The small town on layer three was having a normal quiet day as any other, that is, until a slightly damaged traversal ring etched itself into the ground on the left end of the front gate and exploded in a flash of white light. Zev flies out of the light, back slamming into the bars of the gate before he slumps to the dirt, shivering and grunting. Meira is knocked in the opposite direction, rolling across the ground, tucking a bit as she slows to a stop. Zev leans up on his elbows, coughing heavily. Blood splatters the dirt, trickling from his ears and mouth. His whole body was shaking; he couldn't stand up, and he could already feel the fresh sethra burns all over his body, going all the way up to his chin in random lines of pain. Meira stands up quickly and rushes over to his side, terrified of what she might find. Her eyes light up as her sethra scans his body for internal injuries or anything fatal. Zev dropped on one of his shoulders and rolled to his side, looking at her. "We made it." He rasped out.

"You're insane!" she shouted at him once she realized he wasn't going to immediately die.

He winces at her shouting. "We need to..." His vision quickly fades, and his head thuds on the dirt.

Meira mumbles to herself, upset with how reckless this had been; if she hadn't joined in, he'd be dead for sure. As she starts trying to pick him up, a black-scaled figure leaps out of the jungle around them, skidding to a stop only ten or so feet from them, a giant, menacing sword draped over his back. Meira remembers Lavan saying it was too dangerous, and she tenses. What could she do in a fight while guarding Zev's body? Simon's eyes look from the gate straight to her, then slowly down to Zev. He grows pale with confused shock. He rushes to her side, yelling out Zev's name in concern. Meira sees his emerald eyes and realizes it had to be Simon; now that she wasn't staring at his new features, his face was so familiar. Meira started to panic with a mixture of excitement and desperation, trying to explain everything she and Zev had been trying to do to get here, her words jumbling for what might be the first time in her life as her heart races. Simon shakes his head, trying to listen to her wild shouts and stuttering processing. Simon grabbed her shoulder and squeezed it softly. "Stop, please, breathe."

Meira nods quickly and tries to gather all her thoughts, her mind slowly coming back together as she says. "He's going to be okay; I have knowledge sethra, I scanned his vitals."

A man rushes out of his home and stops by the small group. He had dark brown hair down to his shoulders and vibrant brown eyes. The expression on his face was one of concern. "Is that boy alive? Come, quickly. My wife can treat him."

Simon cautiously looks at the man, but quickly nods and helps Meira carry Zev. The brown-haired man eyes Simon back. "Are you reborn? My goodness, you all must have a very interesting tale. My name is Tzel."

"I am; my name is Simon." He responds quickly as they speed their way into the town and straight inside Tzel's home. His wife, a short plump woman with dirty blonde hair, brown eyes, and a face full of freckles similar to Meira, gasps seeing Zev lay on the table.

"Orli, my dear. We need your skills with the plants; this poor young man is hurt badly." Tzel said as he arranged Zev properly on the dining table, clearing space.

Orli rushes across the room to a large set of chests, opening drawers and gathering many different seeds rushing them to Zev's side along with a mortar and pestle. "Oh dear, what caused this?"

"A bad traversal from Nocturne, he's only a flame. He shouldn't have tried it." panic rose back in her voice.

"He must be quite strong to have not died from something like that as a flame." Orli sounded shocked but confident as she used her natural sethra to instantly grow different seeds, tossing the plants into her mortar and crunching them up into a dusty substance.