From Light to Darkness

5 - Bedlam

Staring at Elric's corpse gave me a strange sensation in my stomach. I felt myself going dizzy, just as I had when I'd collapsed during the fight. My breathing quickened and I found myself gasping for air. I should have helped Elric sooner but, instead, I had stood and watched. Why did I do that? Sensing my grief, Edyth gently placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Briana, please," she pled. "It wasn't your fault. We couldn't have done anything to help."

"But I could have! The wolf should have killed me but it didn't. It just stopped and ran away. I don't know why it did that but...but it did and..."

I took in a deep, shaky breath. My hands were trembling and my head felt like it was going to explode.

"Maybe, if I'd acted sooner, the monster would have left straight away without harming Elric. But I didn't - I was too late."

Edyth gave me a long, sympathetic look which didn't help me in any way.

"How was you to know? I have no idea why that...'thing' didn't kill you but, whatever the reason, you couldn't have control it. You weren't expecting it to happen. You were willing to sacrifice yourself for Elric even though you knew that he was already dying and had very little chance of survival. Not to mention, you'd never spoken to him before today. Briana, that wasn't an act of a villain - it was the act of a hero. Don't you dare think otherwise."

"But...he's dead."

"A hero isn't a person who always succeeds. A hero doesn't live a happy life with no loss or grief. A hero is a person who is selfless and tries everything, despite the outcome and lack of hope. Yes, Elric is dead - but he died knowing that somebody tried to help him. Isn't that worth something?"

A tear escaped from my eye and ran down my cheek. Edyth grasped me into a hug and held me.

"Just breathe, Briana."

After a long silence, my heart rate slowly sunk back down to normal and my hands had eventually stopped shaking uncontrollably.

"We should get out of here," I muttered. "We need to get the cure back to Eda."

"You're right."

She ran to the tree where the purple plant grew and picked it from the ground. As she pulled it up, the plant lost its glow and turned into an indistinct shade of purple. The small clearing where we stood suddenly became a lot darker. I definitely wasn't anxious to get away from the forest and all that it held within it.

Edyth turned to face me and I saw conflict in her hazel eyes.

"What are we going to do about...the body?" I glanced back at Elric, his body limp and smeared with blood. Regretful, I looked away.

I sighed.

"We don't have enough time nor energy to take him with us. The only thing we could do is to get help when we return to the village. You can take the plant to your mother whilst I get my father and brothers. Then they will be able to bring him home...so we can give him a burial."

Edyth silently nodded in agreement and we started to flee through the woods the way we had come, hoping that we wouldn't run into any more trouble.

****

After a long walk, Edyth and I had reached the edge of the woods. In the distance, we saw the dim lights of the village where we had always lived. The small huts were arranged randomly, with the market place and the main shops in the centre.

I looked towards Edyth, who was still clutching on to the plant.

"You must get that cure to your mother as quickly as possible. If we're too late, that would mean Elric died for nothing."