The Meeting of Two Worlds

Chapter 20: Hardships

I look at her leg as blood flows from the bitten flesh. I rip a inch off the bottom of my pant leg and wrap it around the wound to stop the bleeding. Tiana's hand gently places on my knee as I squat next to her trying to help. "You passed the test. You can leave now. Only one of us is supposed to leave. I failed to survive. Go..." She says losing her strength. My eyes tear up as I look at her in disbelief. "No...NO! I'm not leaving you here. I'm not leaving you here to die!" I wall fixing up her leg and pulling her to my chest, trying to pick her up but failing miserably. I carefully set her back down as tears stream down my face. A burning feeling yearns in my chest as I look at her slowly dying. She looks at me and smiles. "I'll be ok Verda. Don't forget me." She says and I shake my head and look around and bolt out of the building and find the head of the dead Gorgon and carry it covering its eyes. I run back to her and wipe the tears from my face and hold up the head. "I'll come back for you. I promise." I say as she looks at me and I reveal the eyes of the gorgon and she slowly turns to stone, halting her death. I throw the head to the side and fall to my knees wailing. I hold her extended stone hand in mine as tears drop onto the surface of her solid skin. I cry till I feel a hand press onto my shoulder and wipe around looking at who was behind me. But it was non other than the man that sent us, Palamedes. His name coming to memory and I stand up sniffling. "You saved her Mavis. Once we're back, you'll be able to return to her in the future when your ready. Let's head back home." He says patting my back and walks out of the building. I look at Tiana one last time and wipe the stray tears from my face and walk out of the building with Palamedes. I feel a piece of my heart chip away from the loss of my friend that I'm starting to faintly remember. With every mention of that name, Verda, a piece of my memory returns of my past. Now my source of recovery of those forgotten memories, is trapped in a solid state, here in this desolate land. I will come back for her, no matter how long it takes.

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Palamedes transports is both back to the castle. My cheeks still red from the flowing motions in my heart, I walk up to Eragon and look away passing him. I wanted to get back to Scatty's house as fast as possible. He looks at me worried and goes to reach out for me but Palamedes grunts to tell him he should give me space. Eragon looks at Palamedes and nods sadly walking behind me at a fair distance. I reach where the horses were kept and mount my own. I turn to the road and ride back home. Eragon didn't bother to follow, he knew I need time to recover from the loss. The thought of him knowing that one of us wasn't going to come back, stung straight through me, taking a loss of faith and trust with it. Then the memory of Tiana's smile haunts my thoughts, that she lept into the challenge whole heartedly. Remembering what she said, she knew that one of us was going to be left behind to be swallowed up by Danu Talis. Tears threaten to come out but I hold them back. I was done crying, I had finished mourning back in that dreadful place. It's time to fight and train to get back. It's time to do my best to save her, before anything else happens.

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I make it back to the house and put the horse in the stable. I walk up the stairs and see Scatty waiting at the top. I make eye contact with her for a second and look away as I pass by her to my room. I open the door and close it, locking it in the process. Turning to the balcony, seeing the fields beyond, I hear scatty knock at the door. "Mavis...are you alright?" She asks through the door. "I'm fine." I reply immediately not wanting any company. She hesitates and soon I hear her footsteps fade down the hallway. I make my way to the bed and lay down. I look up at the ceiling and close my eyes trying to rid the memories from my thoughts. The hurt and sadness tugs at my heart and I grip the pillow beside me and hold it close to my chest. A clatter sounds at the balcony door and I jolt up. I look in the direction of the sound and get up slowly. I see a hooded figure bend over on the balcony and look at it frightened and cautious. "W-who are you?!" I ask shakily and grab the dagger that I keep in my treasure box on the dresser. I ready it and it stands up straight and looks at me. It tilts its head and takes off its hood and it's the man that saved me from before. "W-what...what are you doing here?" I ask hesitantly still holding tightly onto the dagger.