Flames of Ashes

Chapter Nineteen. Tamsin.

"If I let everyone into my land, how much would they become grateful for the gods' plans?"~Lunara

***
What was fear? Many thought it was the pounding of one's heart, the chilling in one's bones, the feeling of dread filling your lungs, but that was not fear. Fear was as fast as a snake's attack on you, but the process, however, was painfully slow and it was only after it had become King in your heart that you actually realized that it was fear you felt.

I was not the bravest person, and most people called me foolish because I did a lot of 'unnecessary' things out of curiosity, so fear rarely came to me, and the few times it did, it was usually not for me but the people around me. Like every time Arthur and Drake decided to disturb the peace by making trouble or engaging in dumb pranks, I would step in and take the blame every time just to make sure they were safe.

Today, however, my whole world stopped. One minute, we were all freezing in the snow at Combat training, wishing the cold froze off Jared's brain as we watched Tamsin fight with another recruit, Baylor, the next Baylor had landed a devastating blow to Tamsin's gut, and instead of Tamsin to strike back there was an eerie stillness as if time itself held its breath.

His eyes, wide and unblinking, stared vacantly ahead, pupils dilating as his body tensed, every muscle coiled like a tightly wound spring. The first tremor was subtle, a faint shiver that ran through his fingers, but it quickly escalated into violent, uncontrollable jerks. His arms flailed, fists clenching and unclenching, while his legs kicked out as if battling some invisible force.

His breathing became erratic, shallow gasps interspersed with guttural noises, and his face contorted into a grimace of pain and fear. I knew what it meant. He was seizing. And without thinking I dropped my crutches and 'ran' as fast as I could to his side, before he could fall and hit his head, and caught him.

Droplets of sweat beaded on his forehead, sliding down his temples as his skin paled, taking on a ghostly hue. Tasmin's head snapped back, his neck arching in a way that seemed unnatural, and for a moment, it was as if his entire being was caught in the grip of an overwhelming, unseen power.

"Tamsin!" Celia shouted and before long we were surrounded by everyone.
"What's happening to him!?" Someone exclaimed. My hands were shaking, but if I did not act fast, he would die because foam had already started coming out of his mouth and his pupils had gone up completely. I could not lose him and I would die if anything happened to him, so I took a deep breath and remembered that I trained to be a healer too.

"Give him space to breathe!" I instructed. "Ben, Cel, help me turn him to his side!" Gosh, it was freezing. I had to make sure the saliva coming out of his mouth, did not accumulate.
I kept his head on my lap because he had to placed on somewhere soft.

"Stay with me, Tamsin!" I demanded as Ben and Celia held him. Celia had begun to cry while Ben's face was paler than The Child's and it was paler than anything that I had seen.

Then, after what felt like hours but just 10 minutes, the seizure started to subside. The violent spasms slowed, his limbs gradually going limp as if all the energy had been drained from his body. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, and his eyelids fluttered, the vacant stare fading as consciousness slowly returned. But the aftermath was stark—

Tasmin lay motionless, his body trembling with residual twitches, his face etched with the remnants of fear and exhaustion as if he had just fought a battle and barely emerged alive.

"Carry him to the Aid Bay!" I told my other recruits and they did as they were told. I followed behind them, my brain still foggy not sure of what had happened. But he was fine, he had survived, and he made it like the fighter he was. Nothing was going to happen. I comforted myself as I wrapped my arm around Celia, who did not stop sobbing.