The Swords of Memory: Second Chances

Chapter 12

Zara appeared in the sick bay again. It was starting to become her most comfortable place to disappear and appear in. She always knew what to expect there. Daniel was laying in the bed next to hers, still unconscious. Eli wasn't around and neither was Aaron. Zara had expected them to be waiting for her, especially considering she had gone to bed the same time she had appeared the last time. She stood up and went over to Daniel. She was wondering if she should try to heal him again. She could feel that her power was stronger after healing all of the villagers. Maybe this time she would be able to heal him completely. She reached out and touched him, ready to start taking his ailment into herself. She felt the darkness spread into her and steeled herself against it. It was definitely easier to control this time. Instead of having all of the darkness flow into her as a torrent she was able to bring it in gradually. Unfortunately, it didn't matter. A small bit of the darkness was just as debilitating as the huge amount she had encountered before. Within seconds she was craving for the numbness to come. She was pulling the darkness into her full speed in an attempt to reach the salvation of the numbness.

Aaron and Eli walked into the room and saw Zara struggling. Aaron was stunned by the sight but Eli had encountered it before. He grabbed Zara by the waist and pulled her away from Daniel. She struggled against him and started to scream. "No! No! Let me go!" Eli's grip loosened temporarily but then he tightened it. Zara was trying to hurt herself and since Eli was trying to stop her she tried to hurt him. She clawed and bit him but he held tight, stopping herself from inflicting the same wounds on herself.

"What is going on? What happened to her?" Aaron asked.

"Don't you recognize this? She tried to heal Daniel again. There is something in him that does a lot more immediate harm to her than it does to him." Zara finally stopped struggling and Let Eli hold her. After a few minutes she had fully recovered.

"Zara, that's good. This time it didn't last as long. Maybe you are getting stronger."

"No, I didn't take as much this time. All I wanted to do was end the pain. I would do anything just to make it stop." She looked at Eli's arms and saw the blood starting to drip down them. She gently touched is arms and pulled the cuts and bruises into herself and cured them. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

"You shouldn't try to heal him Zara. It too dangerous. There is nothing that makes his life more important than yours." Aaron said.

"He's a king..."

"And that means nothing when it comes to life. Yours is just as important, if not more. We can't lose you Zara. Promise me you won't try to heal him again." Zara didn't say anything. She couldn't make that promise. She recognized what was in Daniel. She was far too familiar with it. She couldn't help but feel like it was her fault that this had befallen him.

"Aaron, didn't you say we were going to learn how to fight with the attendant trainees before Garrett got back?"

"Oh yeah. I doubt Zara is up for it but you and I can go to the training room right now."

"I'm up for it. My power lets me recover quickly. I'm fine." She followed Eli and Aaron to the training room. Inside she saw three people waiting for them. There were two boys and one girl. She recognized them from her meeting with all the villagers. The eldest boy, seventeen, was Hayden, while the other boy was Bryan, sixteen, and the girl was Willow, fourteen. They took a minute to say hi and then Aaron started training. They went over the basics of all the weapons available, swords, axes, bows, spears, and throwing stars. The trainees were all fully adept at all of the weapons while Zara and Eli had to struggle along in an attempt to keep up. Eli was satisfactory at the sword but at everything else he was on the same level as Zara. They just didn't have any experience in something like this. Zara's YouTube videos on using axes didn't end up helping her at all.