Elements

Episode 19: The Black Castle

Miley looked outside the window while I was preparing tea. Holding the curtain with one hand and finishing her sandwich with the other, still with her work clothes on. "There she is." She said, walking towards the corridor. "How did she look?" "Terrible." I quickly followed. Miley opened the door before Selena could thrust the key in it. Red puffy dark brown eyes met mine. The stripes of leftover tears were still visible on her cheek. She just came back from the hospital. "Oh honey.." I opened my arms to welcome her to a hug, but she coldly surpassed it. "I'm upstairs." She spoke with a broken voice. Miley looked at me for a moment. "We.. we have tea for you okay? I'll bring it to you." I promised, jogging to the living room to quickly finish it. I heard slow footsteps going upstairs. Miley stepped next to me, feeling a bit helpless. "You should comfort her." "I know. I will." I said, putting the tea on a plate. "Can we shift turns for cooking?" "Of course." "Thanks." I placed a hand on her shoulder to thank her and quickly headed to Selena's room. I carefully knocked the door, trying not to spill her tea. "Can I come in?" I heard no response. I carefully opened the door. The broken girl laid on her bed, still with her clothes on, holding a box in her arms, hugging it. I placed the tea on her nightstand and sat down on her bed. She didn't even bother to look at me. "What's that you got in your hands?" I asked. She sniffed. "It's hers." "Did she give it to you?" "Yeah.." I observed the wooden box with a lid of glass. "It's her knife.." She added. I sighed. She had told me about the knife that was passed on from generation to generation before. "Were you on time to say goodbye to her?" I asked. She nodded, still not showing any emotion. "What did she say..?" I almost didn't dare to ask. "That I had to remember how special I am.. and more.." "Well, she's not wrong." I may have sounded a little blunt, I just didn't know what else to say. Selena's eyes shifted to me for a second, and then back to what she stared at. "Are you okay..?" I asked carefully again. "I'm fine." I had never seen her so.. closed before. "Do you need a hug?" "No.." She responded, still not moving an inch. The tears filled her eyes. I carefully observed her. "Yes.." Her voice broke and sounds way higher than before. I quickly laid down on the other side of the double bed, the side that wasn't taken yet, and hugged her tight. She dug her face in my chest, as I could finally hear her muffled sob. I sighed. "Sshhh..." My hand went through her hair. "I'm never leaving my room, ever." "Sweetie, we all depart eventually. It's a natural part of life. Some people die young, others old. To get over it, we simply need time." "For now I'm not leaving my room.." She corrected herself. I smirked of how cute that sounded. "That's okay. For now you can grief. You can grief as long as you want."

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"We need our defenses up. We only attack if they attack us. We simply want to talk this out with Obscuro. Perhaps we can make a deal to talk with Lucem. We could restore this world by solving their fight." Demi speaks, as we all have the big black castle in our sight. "We need to get in via a secret passage, otherwise they will perhaps kill us on the spot." Miley says. "Demi, can you feel the inside of the building? Perhaps you can find a secret passage." I suggest. She crouches down on her knees and places her hand on the ground, concentrating on the earth underneath her feet. "It's strange. I have a hard time feeling the whole surrounding of the castle." "Perhaps it's bewitched." I think out loud. "Or perhaps there's no earth underneath the castle." Miley looks at me. She has a point. My hand quickly reaches to the ground as well. I can immediately feel the presence of water around and underneath the castle. "It's on water." I state a bit surprised. "Then there's no secret passage, there's simply one bridge." Miley points at the bridge. "Perhaps there's more." I quickly run away from our hiding spot, hide behind another rock and get a clear few of the castle, surrounded by water. It stays put on a few strong poles. No wonder Demi barely felt it. I carefully lean further to see what's going on in the water. I can see giant fishes coming in and out of a few entrances underneath the castle. "Kyra." My head turns to the girls, who gesture that I'm becoming too distinctive. I quickly flinch back to safety. I think for a moment. Is there possibly a way to get through that entrance? Only if there's no water. Or.. no water, only where we walk. I could try to make some sort of giant bubble, but I don't know if I'm strong enough to carry so much water. Demi had a hard time to hold up the rocks above us when the cave was collapsing, our powers have limits. I turn my head back to Demi and Miley, gesturing for them to come to me. They hesitate, but eventually make their way behind the rock.