The Broken Crystal

Chapter Thirteen

Crystal's soul was hurting.

Her head stung, her eyes broke, her heart suffocated, her lungs beat, beat, beat, faster than ever.

She gasped. Air. Her eyelids opened. Blackness, spots, glass shards in her brain. Closed, opened... closed. Lips parted. More air. And the pain, oh the pain, coming from all the sides, blow after blow after blow.

Nate was towering over Crystal, arms crossed, a black mask on his face. Hopefully, she wouldn't recognize him. And, hopefully, the fools he had taken with him wouldn't accidentally kill her, before she even got the chance to see them. He smiled, brushing the worries away. Crystal wouldn't recognize them. As he neared Mars, Ivaron and Gimira, all in black clothes and masks, he withdrew his leg and then-

Then he kicked her. He kicked her and he heard her scream and it shattered his smile into pieces and so he thought about Luke and his brother and the pieces glued together, not identically, not flawlessly, just simply together, but that was enough for him to continue.

There wasn't much space to use, as they were standing on a large stone sticking out of the mountain, with abyss all around. So, after every kick and blow, they sent groups of small rocks down the cliff. Luckily, not a single soul was outside its tent at a late hour like this. But then, why did the woman with the potion tell him to be ready to leave at anytime?

Nate shrugged, his friends too busy to notice. Their laugh echoed through the mountains, poisoning every bit of fresh air.

"Freak," they spat, shouted, whispered, snorted, yelled, hollered to the sky and back. "Freak!"

Crystal's eyes snapped open every time she heard the word, only to let an excess of tears escape, before closing once again. Though soon, her eyelids became heavy as stone, no longer able to even do that. And when that moment came, she was nothing more than a rag doll, limp and useless, with fire incinerating her rag insides, hands tearing apart her rag exterior.

"Freak."

The white hot flames burned one last time and she screamed, screamed louder than her heart was beating, longer than possible with a sore throat and a sore everything, but she didn't stop, no, a smile; wide, wonderful, sickening, found its way to her lips, because she didn't stop, and her roar, so lovely, still raged on, tearing the world apart, until all that remained left was oblivion.

♢♢♢

Evanna loved the night.

Once everything turned into shadows, the air got filled with the sour smell of yesterday's memories. Its friend, the wind, ancient and mystic, blew in her face, making every sense in her body aware of today's wonder, while the shining moon sung a hymn for tomorrow's adventures. Closing her eyes, she stopped for a moment, taking it all in as she balanced on one of the stones that led to her cave.

Then she heard a scream and the serenity was gone. She lost her balance and fell to the ground, cursing. All air abandoned her lungs in an instant, leaving her gasping with her back to the cold, muddy ground. It was a miracle she hadn't crashed into one of the pines, though the image of her own head against a tree trunk, blood all over her broken neck, stayed with the girl until she opened her tightly shut eyes. Wide shadows and a million shining dots were the only things she could see, before a stinging ache forced her eyelids shut again. Micro stones and sand fell on her face, filling her nostrils and mouth and clothes, crushing her world into dust. What the hell? She coughed and rolled around, swearing once the pain of her fall finally hit her.

"Oh, fuck it." She gritted her teeth, her muscles forcibly accepting their owners' demands and allowing her to pick herself up. Once she was on her feet, her notebook found and resting in her hand, Evanna began investigating.