Resurrection {NaNoWriMo}

Chapter 9

The weeks had passed dismally, and through their dreadful passing, one girl had become the forefront of Alias' days and nights, and in turn his thoughts. She was everywhere he went, constantly pleasant and sane, with the exception of that one hectic, ugly night. But she had bounced back from it fiercer than ever, insisting that she wear her hair loose, its ringlets cascading down her back. Elder Edmund had been originally scandalized that she would argue against rules, but no one could match her resolve, and eventually he let her slide, and from that point on she had worn her hair however she pleased, it always bouncing free and silky around her face.

Alias shook his head as he pulled his overgrown hair back. At this point he would've used one of his blades to cast off the long ends, but they had all been confiscated from him. All of his belongings were locked away somewhere in one of the elders' vaults, and he scarcely allowed himself to consider the possibility that he would ever get his items back. Most of them had been rendered too hazardous to be in his possession when he was tied to a foreign creature, although she was slowly growing on Elder Edmund; he had been astonished when he had witnessed it himself just the other day.

She had been working on the magnitude of her light, burning the flame brighter and brighter, but it never shaped the quivering tentacles that his people's fires became. Her flames were subdued, often round and glowing instead of piercing. Elder Edmund had watched silently as Alias had lounged in the corner, playing with small flames of his own.

Elder Edmund had trailed in a circle around her as she focused and crafted the flame, gently urging it to rise and grow brighter and brighter, illuminating the room by itself as it grew to dizzying heights. He had stepped back to her side, and said, "What do you sense within the flame? How does the magyk feel?"

She had tilted her head back, a gentle smile coating her lips, and looked up at the flame she was sustaining. "It feels warm, like sunshine in my palms." Then she had tensed, and the flame had sputtered for a moment before she quickly reground herself. I had felt the flare of alarm through the bond, had known that her words had sparked something troubling in her mind, but Elder Edmund looked past her faulting. He stepped towards the flame, and reached his hand through it.

He flinched and withdrew his hand immediately, revealing red and white blistering flesh. His face was a picture of control and composure as Alias imagined the pain coursing through him he sought to quell.

The flame had dispersed away at the sound of Acacia's gasp. She had lurched forward and cupped his hands, in her palms, closing her eyes and murmuring something under her breath. Alias felt the tingling hum in her energies, the same song he had heard rumbled throughout her when she had healed his back. He watched just as entranced as she healed Elder Edmund's hand effortlessly and stepped back once it was done as if it was nothing.

Elder Edmund, who was usually so poised, gaped at Acacia. His eyes widened as he looked up to meet her eyes. "Have you always had this ability?"

She bit her lip. "I believe so, but I did not discover it until recently."

His eyebrows had risen. "Our kind...our magyk does not work as yours does. We only have the ability to cripple, to maim, to injure. We can conjure up light and objects, but we cannot heal or create. You are a breed entirely separate from our own, and what exactly you are is a mystery to me."

Her expression fell and her eyes grew sad. "I wish I could tell you more than my name, but I have no other memories. I know there is more, that I had a history before these caves, but it is not accessible to me. For some reason I cannot name, I cannot remember my past."