Legacy: Timeless (Book 2)

Chapter 50: Descending Despair

Chapter 50: Descending Despair

Noise. There was lots of it. Scorch closed her eyes and concentrated hard on the singular circle of peace within the radiating madness. Like a calm pool in the middle of the ocean, waves of emotion and turmoil cascading all around but not stirring even a ripple in her one spot of peace.

"That's it, keep focusing on that peace. Stand strong against the racket of the ages. It's not the least bit interesting anyways," Time's mew sounded behind her and Scorch closed her eyes tighter.

Colors flashed, distracting her. Images too, and the babel of tongues. She drew in one shaky breath after another, carefully remaining in that pool of silence as she was pulled and pushed from one moment in time to the next. Memories flowing in and out of her faster than a whirlwind.

She kept her paws firmly on the ground, even when she couldn't feel it- tumbling up and down, pushed right and left and back again. Scorch remained stiff, carefully ignoring the emotions coursing through her sometimes hotter than fire and other times colder than a mountain breeze.

"Remain focused, you need to keep going," Sonya's soft voice encouraged her. Scorch panted, trembling at the effort of ignoring so much information. It was nearly impossible, even with closed eyes she saw it all in her mind, and it felt like trying to forget a part of her own memory over and over again.

"Now let it drift away from you... like how a thunderstorm leaves on a stiff breeze and leaves the forest washed afresh," Time instructed.

Scorch stiffened at the word thunder, thoughts turning to deafening roars and blinding flashes. And then she was out of the pool of peace and in the sea of storms. She gasped, losing her breath in the memories. A brown cat, a red pelt. A happy face with the eyes closed in bliss and a suspicious face with the muzzle twitching in a snarl. A growl and lashing tail, a purr and the lap of a soft tongue.

Scorch rolled through the memories, her heart beating ever faster at the speed of the mirages. "Scorch, wake up!" The sharp voice cut across it and her eyes popped open as she lost her balance in the storm and fell onto her back.

Sweat dampened her paws and her mind whirled, a pounding in her head that matched the beat of her heart made her wince. "How was that?" she wheezed, glancing to her side where Sonya sat, Time standing besides her.

"Well, you lasted longer than yesterday. But again, you couldn't come out of it consciously," Time mewed, frowning. "You should have managed that by now."

Scorch felt her ears turn hot, "Sorry," she apologized, looking at the sky. It was pale blue like the spotted robin eggs. On the high knoll, not a thing obstructed the view from horizon to horizon and the sun shone down, a little more than three quarters across the sky.

Scorch's gaze trailed to the deeper blue distance as her breathing slowed and the sweat evaporated, leaving her feeling cooler in the new-leaf breeze. Wispy clouds haloed the sky, faint and fine as if dandelion fluff had been swept up into the sky.

"Are you going to get up, or are you going to stare at the sky all day?" Sonya asked, leaning over her so that her eyes stared right into hers.

"In a moment. Look how pretty the sky is," Scorch mewed, nodding up at it.

Sonya looked up, "We've been having nice weather ever since that last storm."

Scorch winced, remembering the long night of the storm when she'd stayed by Painted's grave. With a twinge of guilt she remembered that she needed to go tell Mira, Raven, and Jump where it was so that they could visit it. I just haven't had time to see them yet, I'll see them soon, I'm sure.