Resurrection {NaNoWriMo}

Chapter 7

He prowled through the halls, his mind coursing and body tense from what it had endured in the training room. Far worse had happened to Alias, he was accustomed to pain, and so that was not what bothered him. It was that damn girl and her concern. He had heard her desperately pleading for his release above the pain, had been distantly aware of her frantic need to save him. He had felt an eerily similar urge to save her when she had first tied them, as the pain had become too much for her to bear.

Shaking his head, he stormed through the dark and narrow corridors. No light lit the path he followed. His eyes wouldn't adjust to the dark. He assumed that was one of the elder's bidding. Their bodies had evolved to survive life in dark, dangerous places. Their bodies had strengthened and sharpened when they had been in the pits, their only edge in the constant arena. But for some it still hadn't been enough for them to survive.

He stopped himself before he slammed into a wall, sensing it before his face crashed into it. Sliding his hands across the ruff surface, he angled his body around the turn, fumbling through the blinding darkness. If he was banned from seeing what lied in these halls, then he probably wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, but he marched on, too fuming to care.

Voices carried in the distance. Tuning his sensitive ears, he easily listened in.

"How do you not see the threat she presents? She has power, power which rivals ours. You are saying that is not a concern?" Elder Amit demanded.

"I never said that she wasn't dangerous," Elder Edmund replied. "I simply noted that I think it would be more beneficial if we studied her further before jumping to any conclusions. What is your verdict, Raygen?"

There was a momentous silence, and then, "I think we should appraise her with the highest caution. We have concealed her into the house, so she poses no threat to Community, but we cannot keep her trapped inside the walls forever, nor can we eradicate her. She is too tied to the boy that destroying her would destroy him too. Their bond is highly empathic, but not psychic. Perhaps over time we can learn to at least numb it, but to undo it proves impossible."

"Why not throw her into the cellar? Surely she would not be an issue there." Elder Amit suggested.

"That would terrify the girl, and in return it would torment the boy. We cannot hurt one of our own. For now we have to treat them with equal treatment, show her the same accommodations we would for him." Elder Edmund chided.

"What do you make of the boy, Alias?" Elder Raygen wondered aloud. "Is he truly innocuous in the situation?"

Elder Edmund sighed. "I believe so. The person who found her was destined to fall into the same fate, no matter who that might've been. Besides, you know of his story. He is as loyal and fierce as we could hope one to be. I do not doubt him."

Alias' heart began to thump heavily. He began to see glimpses of a terrified little blonde, her hands outstretched as she tried to reach him, and he could hear the screams, hers and his own as they never stood a chance at saving the other.

"I am not familiar with Alias." Elder Amit said; trouble clear in his tone.

Elder Edmund elaborated. "He was one of the last to enter the mouth of hell with us, but he was one of the first to remerge. He entered with a younger sister, called Alana. They were thick as thieves, and he would've killed himself in a heartbeat if it meant her safety, but in the pits, fate took a nasty turn. When one of the Greats attacked his sect..."

Alias gasped, clutching his chest as pain flashed through him. Flashes of Alana danced across his vision. He could see her twisting and turning, the blood bubbling out of her mouth, and he felt the blade in his own chest as it went through hers. Knowing it was a hallucination, one of the fits he slipped into, he fought.