Parted Ways

Chapter 14 :Untold Secret

CHAPTER 14

I bent backwards dodging his attack, my foot slipped as I fell, I quickly held myself up as I put my hand to the ground and flipped away. I frowned and ran towards River and jumped up to kick River but I didn't have enough power in my legs, he deflected the kick with his arm and returned another kick. I fell to the ground as River punched down, I rolled to the side and did a kip-up to get up.

River's attack were full of power and I felt like it could hit away a thousand elephants with one hit. I swiped my hand across my forehead, sweat dripped from my hand. I panted as I couldn't keep up with his moves any longer. He swung a side kick at me as I tried to block it from hitting my head. But the kick was too strong, I backed away and tried to smooth out my breathing. 

River relaxed and came running up to me.

" You okay?" River asked as he sat down with me on a bench on the side.

"Yeah, that was nothing, I'm fine," I smiled. Despite saying that, on the inside, I was tired and energy-less.  Suddenly the door swung open and Alice rushed in with everyone-else.

"Guys, terrible news! We need to go to the neighboring town NOW, people are dying because of a disease and we need to stop it!" Alice explained briefly. 

"Oh, sorry, I'm coming," I glanced behind me at River as we looked away.

"I'm not going," River said and stood up to look at Alice.

"No, River you must go, you are a herbalist! You need to help them," Alice frowned,"If we don't go, the sickness might spread to our town!" Alice seemed really panicked about this mission.

"They probably wouldn't want my help anyways," River muttered to himself as he them finally agreed  to come with us. "Fine." Alice sighed in relief. River's voice seemed not as emotionless as he use to.

"Okay, everyone get prepared."  Alice speedily hurried out the door and left it open behind her, everyone else set off behind her to also get prepared. I peered over at River, he sat on the bench with his head in his hands, he seemed more stressed than ever.

"Um...River... Why didn't you want to come?" I asked uncomfortably.

"Because of an incident," River replied.  I felt unsure of what he meant but I didn't ask anymore.

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"Lets Go everyone!" Alice shouted as we headed out towards the neighboring town, River's hometown. As we neared the town, an eerie and dull feeling overcame me, I didn't like this at all.

The town was purely silent, dust swept up and mixed into the dull air drifting around the town. Not a single figure roamed the town, windows were sealed tight and the doors were also locked up, Alice walked slowly up to the door of the town hall, she knocked gently. An old man that looked weary and pale walked out with a skinny walking stick as if unable to walk at all.

He explained the full story as to what the mission was, the reason was unknown for how the disease spread. The man turned to Alice and pleaded for us to save their town. Alice sighed and then nodded. She comforted the man with an uneasy pat on the shoulder as if saying, Leave it to us.

We walked to the center of the town where benches covered in dust sat in the lonely town, the town remained a dead silence and lifelessness during our whole time that we visited. Alice had set up a plan so that we could get things done quicker. Despite River insisting on not staying in the town, Alice ignored him and made him stay at the town with Lucia and me.

I couldn't help but feel sympathetic toward River, but still I didn't quite know why he didn't want to come... there was really nothing I could do to help. Lucia had hurried off and started to tend to the people in the town. 

Suddenly a huge explosion woke me up from my day dreaming. I jumped up from the bench and looked at the explosion. A puff of smoke rose up from the burning red explosion. The fire was spreading towards us at an extremely fast speed that was slightly weird and... unnatural. Suddenly, a thought hit me, the villagers and Lucia! I wanted to go save them as I started to run towards the fire. But then I stopped. I finally understood the true meaning behind the disease, the disease was set only to lead us to this dumb trap.

The disease was real but the main purpose was... to kill us. Who would be behind this?