Passion (Book 1 of "The Fantasy of Life" Series)

Chapter 8

York

Ashanaya explained the entire purpose of the quest so far and why we were doing it. It wasn't a lot to go on and I really wish I'd have gotten to see these 'Ashen' before agreeing to this but I suppose we aren't entirely helpless. There are 5 of us, two of which don't know how to fight. Well, one, Cullen learned, in an hour.

We had walked until the sun wasn't out anymore and we set up camp, we only had 3 tents, Marhara got one to himself, mostly because it was already his tent. We haven't discussed who shares the other two tents. But it turns out Hope is a bit farther than Cullen remembered.

I sat out a small ways away from camp, I stared at the ground in front of me and flicked a long piece of grass back and forth. Valen had told me to meet him here once we set up camp so he could show me a few things about combat. I was waiting, thinking about going back to camp because it was some sort of prank, but then he walked up with a bag full of weapons.

"Oh good, you're still out here." He smiled. "I thought you might have gotten tired of waiting and went back to camp."

I laughed nervously. "No, never."

He smirked. "You thought about it."

"Nah." I stood up and crossed my arms. He did the same but gave me one those looks. "Alright fine! I thought about."

He laughed. "And to think, all the trouble I went through to find you a good weapon and a staff."

I rolled my eyes and walked closer to him. "What do you have then?"

He pulled a basic wooden staff and set it down next to him, and then searched through the weapons for something specific. "I brought a lot of stuff in case you didn't like what I picked out. But I have a feeling you'll like it."

"What makes you think that?" I was being a little sassy.

He just looked up from the bag and wiggled his eyebrows at me.

God he's attractive.

He pulled out a short-sword that looked like it was made from obsidian. It looked very weird but really nice at the same time. He handed it to me, I noticed the handle was smooth and slick metal. It fit quite nicely in my hand.

"I like it, so far." I said not looking at him.

"Knew you would. Now let's see if you can use it, be right back." He quickly ran off, leaving the bag of weapons.

I admired the sword as he was gone, but he was only gone for a minute.

He came back with a dummy, he set it up a few feet away from me. He backed away and looked at me. "Go crazy."

"What?" I looked at the dummy confused.

"Fight it." He said.

"I can't fight something that doesn't move." I complained.

He rolled his eyes and pulled out a sword that was a little bit longer. He looked at me and smiled. "Come at me, I'll go easy on you."

I smirked. I closed my eyes and concentrated hard. I heard a poof and when I opened my eyes he was confused and looking around.

It had worked. he couldn't see me. I walked behind and put the sword over his throat, then reappeared.

He flinched. "Impressive."

I backed up and took the sword from his throat. "Glad you think so."

Suddenly he was swinging his sword toward me, I quickly blocked it with mine. "Now let's see how you do when I can see you."

I pushed him back and spun so that I wasn't right in front of him, I ended up next to him, so I kicked the back of his leg and brought him down on his knees. He raised his sword to protect him as he started trying to stand, but I went back in front of him, I jumped and spun in the air, i swung my sword down and put all my force into it.

Valen's sword snapped. He looked at it in shock.

I dropped mine and stared too. He then looked up at me, a strange look in his eye. He stood, and walked toward me slowly. I backed away slightly faster than he came.

"I- I'm sorry, Valen. Did you like that sword? I'm sure I could fix it. Nymphs are pretty-" He sprinted and quickly slammed into me, and pinned me into a tree. He hurt my back a little and I let out a small high pitched noise that showed the pain. "Fixed." I finished.

He stared into my eyes. There was something dark in his eyes. His breathing was really slow and shallow. He moved his hand up and touched my cheek, he moved his hand so that he was holding me. He leaned a little like he was gonna whisper something intimidating. I started to cringe preparing himself, but then something pink began to shine behind him. It slowly moved around us, I watched it as it moved, and wrapped around us.

He whispered something that left me shocked. "Can I kiss you?"

I just stared at him. He looked down at my lips intently, never looking up. He almost seemed self-conscious. "I-" My voice came out hoarse. I cleared my throat very quietly, only enough so it didn't feel like I had a lump in my throat and so that I wouldn't put him off.

I nodded slowly.

A cocky grin spread across his face and he leaned in slowly. His lips brushed against mine very softly. A chill went through me. I wanted to pull him toward me and make him give me a better kiss but I resisted the urge. It wasn't needed because after waiting for a second he pulled me closer to him and pressed his lips against mine harder. I heard something and I opened my eyes. I pulled back a little when I did, he noticed and did the same.

I saw the pink, shivering violently around us. "Do you see that?"

He looked around us. His eyes widened. "The spring.."

"Wha-" He quickly kissed me again and I saw the pink mist shiver even more violently and burst. He pulled back smiling. I stood quiet for a second but I couldn't help but ask. "What just happened?"

"We kissed?" He grinned.

"Other than that you voshk." I rolled my eyes, his smile seemed to grow wider.

"Did 'Naya tell you about the spring?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Well, I think that was the magic working." He explained.

"Are you saying we're in love? You may be hot but I'm not ready for that. Besides, I thought you liked... Waman." I said trying to back away, but I remembered I was pinned to a tree.

"Well I- Wait, waman? Women?" He asked, laughing a little.

I nodded. "Yes, waman. Now continue."

"Well, I don't think we're in love, but I do think it's working kinda like a matchmaker. Don't you think it's weird I kissed you instead of punching you for breaking your sword?"

"Well, yeah." I nodded.

"Do you like waman?" He asked.

"No. The nymphs don't like it though." I answered.

He took his arms from around me and walked over to the bag of weapons, then patted the ground beside him. I walked to him and sat down next to him.

He put his arm around me. "Tell me what it's like being a nymph."

"You'll have to tell me what it's like being an elf" I nudged him.

He smiled. "Deal."