Water

Wave Forty Five

Leira flung herself at the rocks blocking the cave entrance and desperately tried to shift one. It remained completely still. She could taste the water in the cave getting stale, tainted by Tal’s blood. She tried to calculate how long it would take for Hali and Nerida to reach the others, get help, and then return. She tried not to think about how much oxygen they had left in the water and looked over to Tal. His face was drained of colour and his tail fins were beginning to droop. He didn’t have long left.
         
Leira yanked the orb from Tal’s wristpiece, then did the same with her own, an idea forming in her mind. She moved quickly to the cave mouth. Without pausing, she began to draw on the energy from the orbs, feeling it course through her. The orbs began to flicker. Closing her eyes, Leira scrunched up her face in concentration and focused all the energy on the rock in front of her. She pictured the rock in her mind’s eye and imagined a beam of energy boring into it. She envisioned a gap in the rock, big enough for her to pass through, and felt herself commit to the task. There was no going back now.
         
Opening her eye, she saw a jet of light shoot from one of the orbs she held and burrow into the rock. Droplets of energy soared off it like sparks. A line of dark smoke began to emanate from the rock, dissolving quickly in the surrounding water. A small hole appeared. The first orb flickered and failed. The light in the cave dulled. Leira continued to draw on the remaining orb’s energy, channelling it into the hole she was creating.  It widened. It was almost big enough to fit her hand through. The second orb began to sputter.
         
Knowing that she was running out of energy, Leira tried to release her hold on the orb and stop the process. She couldn’t. Energy continued to flow from the orb into the rock, and Leira began to tremble. She knew once the second orb went out, the energy would have to come from somewhere else. From her.
         
(-oming!) Leira distantly heard the garbled projection and numbly looked about the cave. Energy still seeped from the orb into the rock.
(Leira, I’m coming!) The voice sounded again, and the thought echoed around the cave.
(Eli?) Tears began to form in Leira’s eyes as her father’s thoughts filled her mind.
(Try to slow the flow of energy, Leira, until I get there.)
(How did you-)
(I told you we’d always be connected Leira.) His emotions caused his thought to falter and Leira’s tears began to fall.
(I don’t think I can do this,) she faltered, thinking aloud what she’d been scared to admit to herself. The second orb was barely lit now and she could see it was about to die.
         
Darkness filled the cave and energy slowly began to drain from her being. The hole in front of her was bigger now; she could just pass her wrist through it. And then it hit her. She could use Anahita’s Source! Gathering her strength, Leira reached out her mind forcefully and threw it down, down through the waters. She willed it to travel to the Nest and connect to the Source in Anahita’s home. She felt a flurry of energy leave her, and knew her efforts had cost her. She was rewarded with a brush of contact. She reached for it. She felt the Source within her mind, and clutched at it, forcing it to flow up and into her. It moved through her and into the rock, continuing her task. Leira projected her silent thanks to Anahita, relieved her own energy was no longer being drained. The hole continued to grow.
         
Leira started to reach out to Eli, wanting to reassure him. The Source began to falter. It must be nearing its end! The energy flowing through her slowed to a trickle. Distraught, Leira felt the vitality begin to drain from her own body again.
         
Slumping against the cave wall, Leira looked out through the hole she’d made. She saw Eli’s shadowy form racing toward her, but knew he was still too far away to help. Voices, faint whispers filled her head, and she realised numbly they were coming from the Source. Weakened now, a memory flashed into Leira’s mind and she projected it through the hole in the cave. Images filled the water. It was the day of her Testing; she’d been encased in light. The same light that now flowed through her – Source energy. The true memory of her Testing flowed into Leira and she remembered everything: her mother’s voice, her father’s rescue. Everything. She watched as it played out in the water before her. She knew Eli could see it too and her heart ached for him as she realised he was going to lose her, just as he’d lost Sirene.