• This is the second book of The Collected series •
"Those who bring pain are here to save, and those who bring hope will bring death. A great evil rests on the horizon, eating away at each setting sun. Nothing is as it seems while you beg for salva...
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I had chased the Collector away from the group. A smart move, or so I'd thought. However the Collector had something up his sleeve that I wasn't expecting. Some drug.
It made it impossible for me to move, or speak. Even thinking became difficult. He dragged me farther and farther away from the rest, I'd lost track of how far we went. Or how long it had been. Eventually when I was able to move again, I didn't waste any time in ending him.
Now I sat here. Sitting numbly beside a burnt corpse.
My skin still prickled with a strange sensation and I didn't trust my legs to walk. I felt cold, now that I'd cooled off. I was too weak to summon any fire and to be honest, I missed the cold. I was always so hot these days. The chill reminded me of the ocean breeze.
I felt sick at the realization that when I pictured the ocean, I pictured the one on Zillah's planet. Not Earth, not from my fathers fishing boat.
I longed for a father's hug. Lately I'd been surrounded by so many people I hadn't felt this empty feeling. I almost thought it was gone.
But no. My father was gone. And so was Char. The only two that had that power to make me feel truly safe.
I didn't feel safe here.
I had no idea how I was supposed to get back to the fight, let alone the ship. My only hope was that someone would come looking for me soon. That they were even still alive to be able to.
I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut. Of course they were alive. They had to be.
An angry scream clawed it's way from my chest and tore through my mouth. Birds didn't scatter from the red treetops at the sudden noise; there were no birds here. My fists pounded into the cracking ground, dust clouds billowing up in my face.
I had to move, had to get out of here. I could no longer sit beside this decaying body. It was a painful reminder of what I had become. Been forced to become.
Maybe if I could find the town again, the one Torryn and I had visited. If only I could find those eyeless ones and make them tell me what I needed to do.
"Wished for us you did." I leapt to my feet, startled by the sudden voice in the silent trees.
"And here is where we appear." I spun on my heals to face three hooded faces. I didn't even try to understand how they'd known I'd been thinking about them only moments ago.
"Why are you here?" I snarled. My fingers alighting with a familiar heat.
"That is simply no way to treat a friend." The one in middle stepped forward, pulling away its hood and revealing the gruesome holes where eyes should be. I didn't move back as it came only inches from my face, "You should be informed..."
"What we give, we can also take." The other two finished his sentence and the roaring flames in my palms flickered out. It was like all the air had been snatched from my lungs and my heart had been ripped from my chest. A part of me was missing. So suddenly I hadn't had time to brace for the overwhelming loss.
