Indigo (NaNoWriMo13)

Chapter 5 - From The Dead

Dedicated to Solanova (you guessed it, another NaNo person!) Sammiching on Prisim's profile.

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Chapter 5 - From The Dead

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Athira opened her eyes.

I did it.

She had no idea about how long it’d taken her to do it, but she’d locked away the thing inside her for the first time in years without Talon’s help. She hadn’t even realised she was still capable of doing so with how it’d grown, feeding off the residual energy every time she used her colour. Still, she didn’t want to find out how many times she could do it solo before it consumed her.

Athira stretched her legs out in front of her, still hovering off the ground. Dried sweat coated her limbs, aching from the lack of movement and angry red skin ringed the outlines of each rune on her arm. She touched it gingerly, noting the sting. Her runes had only ever burned her once before, just before she got her amulet, and it was something she’d hoped she never had to deal with again.

But the pain was gone. The tingle was still there, buzzing through her being as it always did, but for now, that was it.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted. Everyone, you get to live another day.

The first steps she took were unsteady, more so than usual after her meditations. How long was I in the mindscape for? It took her a moment, but they returned to working as usual, taking her over to a small pile of clothes left inside an indent in one of the walls.

Athira picked them up, examining them. They were similar in size and colour as those she already wore. She smiled as she saw the shirt. Obviously Raph had remembered how she used to wear nothing but long sleeves to hide her runes. It was probably the best course of action now, since she’d lost her cloak.

She made her way over to the door on the left hand side of the room, curious as to what room adjoined to this one. She glanced around the wall next to it. Unable to find the thing to open it, Athira shrugged and opened the door with her colour. Inside was a small bathroom, equipped with all the necessary plumbing and towels.

Why bother to keep it stocked if it’s the spare room? How often does this lot get visitors?

 Still, she wasn’t going to complain. After quickly checking the room and locking the door, she stripped down and stepped into the shower. The cool water was welcome, soothing the burned skin across her arms.

How am I going to explain to Raph? she wondered as she stuck her head inside the stream of water. I owe him the truth but... how? People skills are not my thing.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a tremor ran through her being, the part of her controlled by her colour. She gave an involuntary shudder. Another disturbance. Reader was still out there doing god knows what.

I can’t go after him without my amulet. It’d be the very definition of counterproductive.

Athira mulled over it for a few more minutes before turning off the water. The events of the previous day ran through her head as if clicking for the first time. Shift. The tower. Raph. Losing Talon and her amulet to Reader. That idiot Elite who’d taken them from her a second time.

She grabbed a towel and pulled the water from her hair with a quick flick of her wrist. As always, the colour left her shoulder-length hair fluffed out past her ears.

I hope I run into that Elite again. I’ll show him exactly how much I can do with my building-shaking powers.

After drying herself and pulling on the borrowed clothes, Athira pooled together enough courage to step outside into the hall. It was surprising how vulnerable she felt without her cloak, though the long sleeves gave her some level of security and for that, she was grateful.