Momentum (Completed)

Chapter Thirty Nine: Lost

(Lyra)

As the days went by, a new alien feeling not only formed in my mind, but it grew steadily worse. I had never felt anything like it before; it was like something was tempting me, but at the same time, I didn't know what it was. It was an urge to leave, only I didn't know where it wanted me to go. I wasn't content to stay in my camp, my home, and it was almost impossible to ignore, as much as I wanted to.

I was sure that my time spent with Kida had somehow caused this; it was way too coincidental. It was only after I'd spoken to the strange old woman that I'd started to feel truly better. I was still depressed, but not every waking thought, as well as every dream I had, centered around the moment that I'd lost my Animus. In a way, it was better, though it also came with this near-constant illness. Sana had given me some herbs used to settle stomachaches, but it hadn't helped me in the least. However, if there was one thing good that had came with it, it was the fact that I was now able to interact with the world around me. 

I no longer stared at Kassandra and Nephele blankly when they spoke to me - I answered them. I felt a faint stirring in my heart when Felix looked at me, and I felt happy when Lexio's entire demeanor toward me changed. I knew this whole thing had been hard for him, but he had returned to some kind of normal. All this also meant a change for Felix. He no longer worried about me as much; he was comfortable with letting me walk around outside without keeping an eye on me.

The camp, for the most part, had seemed to accept the shift in roles between Nephele and I. As far as I knew, none of them knew why I was rarely seen up until this point, and apart from the incident with Torus, nobody questioned me about it. At the moment, I was with Kassandra and Lexio, as they were introducing me to a few new Insurgo that add arrived in camp.

"This is Eli and Skip," Kassandra said, gesturing toward two fairly young men. I smiled at them, and they hesitently looked me in the eyes before grinning back. "This is Lyra," she told them.

"The Lyra," Lexio added with a smirk, knowing that I never liked being addressed as anything more than a regular person. I felt them look at me more intensly, more likely than not shocked. I'd been trying to get the image of my unnatually thin face Kida showed me out of my mind, but it was hard. I was positive that they had expected me to be someone far from the state I was in, seeing as there were fantastical tales tied to my name.

This, however, was the reality. I wasn't the person I used to be. I'd lost part of my very being, part of the thing that made me who I was. I was pulled back from the brink of death only through the support of my closest friends. I'd come a long way, but I had a long way to go. I was broken, and I doubted that I'd ever be the person I once was. Eli seemed to compose himself and offered me his hand.

"Its an honor to meet you," he smiled, oddly confident for a newly freed Uxor slave. I went to return his greeting, but it was interrupted by a feeling in my stomach that was all too familiar. Suddenly not caring about how rude I seemed, I dropped his hand without another word and rushed into some bushes, where I began to vomit. Lexio was fast behind me, but he hung back until I got it out of my system.

"Are you eating too much?" he asked. "Sana says that you have to gradually increase how much you eat as you gain more weight."

I shook my head. "Its not that. I'm not overeating; Felix is making sure of that... I almost think that Elanor's mum had something to do with it."

He looked at me carefully. "How so?"

I sighed. "This didn't start until after I go home..."

Kassandra joined us, clearly having heard the conversation. "I told Eli that you're not feeling well," she said gently.