Wind Wielder

Chapter 13- Memories of a Monster

The collapse of her life had begun on the edge of a temple floor.

The ocean and sky was a roaring gale ahead of Zara. Under the eloquently curved archway at the edge of the temple, Zara had sent her winds across the worlds as she did everyday, looking for her mother. Zara knew not where or who she was, only that when she sent the winds looking for her, Zara could feel her mother on the other end. She often sent the wind back to Zara, warm and loving and kind. Gentle and slow and benevolent. It was comforting. It was Zara's tether to know that she was not alone in this world. That there was someone else out there like her, who one day she would meet in person. Every day Zara looked for her, felt her, since the first time Zara had summoned the winds.

Only this time Zara could not feel her.

Zara sent the winds out farther, spearing and scouring and desperately searching. But there was no one on the other end of the line today. No tether to keep her grounded. Instead, a yawning emptiness lurked on the other end of the line. A pit threatening to pull Zara in.

"Zara! Stop that wind sweetheart." Adira called from behind Zara, a priestess at the temple. She held a hand in front of her face to shield from the billowing assault of the wind. The ocean was a churning void below them, down the rocky cliff face of the mountain the temple had been built on, right at the edge of the sea.

"She's not there." Zara whispered.

"Who's not there? Zara, come away from the edge." Adira cried, backing up slowly as if she could not bear the wind forcing her back. Thunder rolled over ahead, and Zara stood as if in a trance.

"I can't feel her." Zara whispered. "I can't feel her!" And Zara flung her arms out in front of her, reaching half way across the damn world to look for her mother. Lightning cracked overhead, but Zara could not hear.

"Zara please! Enough!" Another voice shouted over the wind, and Zara turned to see Colleen. Sweet Colleen, tree bark covering her entire body and face, hair a deep mossy green. The other priestesses huddled in the main auditorium of the temple Edecerys, barring the doors shut.

"I cannot feel my mother." Zara wailed, turning back around to the sea. "I fear for why I cannot feel her." The winds returned to Zara, bearing no whisperings of her. So she shot them back out again, and the storm grew stronger.

"You can look for her again tomorrow dear." Colleen reassured Zara from behind her, daring to take a few steps further.

"Why isn't she answering? What if she is dead?" Zara sobbed, and lightning flashed dangerously close to the temple at her words. Priestesses were screaming inside.

"She probably is dead, and we are all about to be too if you keep up this maelstrom! Calm down, foolish girl!" Maeven shrieked from inside the temple, the youngest priestess who had always been so cold and cruel to Zara.

"Maeven!" Colleen hissed, but the damage was done.

Zara's mind encircled the words, she probably is dead, and as her winds returned to her from the final direction, the final corner of the world, Zara knew she was right. Zara knew that the words rang true in the very corners of her soul.

Dead.

Her mother was dead.

Zara screamed, and the sound was drowned out by a roaring crack of thunder. Suddenly Zara was enveloped in white. Screams of all kinds echoed from around her, but Zara could not hear them.

Her mother was dead.

Zara did not feel pain, only the thrum of power barelling through her as Zara realized she stood encapsulated by a bolt of lightning. Zara screamed again, fear mixed with her anguish, and the world tinged blue, and Zara did not understand why. Zara only understood that her lifeline on the other end of her tether had been snapped, and Zara had never even gotten the chance to learn her name. Zara had never known what she looked like, never got to feel her mother in her arms, or breath in her scent. Zara never got to ask any of the questions she had for her, like who she was, or why she left Zara behind.