Chapter 1
My steady, strong heart races in my chest as we kick up dirt in our abandonment of the Alien Thing. We race again, yet this time not with the pleasure of the wind and earth but with the growing, looming, fearful belief that our rush to the closest city, Crystalle Range, would be in vain and that our precious cargo would be destroyed.
Adrian buckles under Aria, exhausted with our fast pace and the added weight. I offer to carry her, I am by far the strongest, but Flynn gets there first.
As always I'm at first stung by his willingness to touch her, be near her, but I understand. He has done it, moved on in a way I can't. I still miss him, his laugh and embrace. I'm jealous, he found 'love', though I've developed doubt that it truly exists. My initial jealousy turns to pity though. No matter how difficult it'll be on the girls and I, if Aria dies Adrian and Flynn will be destroyed.
We continue wordlessly into the night. Our trip is long, we must cut through the villages of Credalia and Dromvaden not to mention the Forest of Tall Pines.
Credalia is a minuscule town on the outskirts of the mountain range. The huts are built into cut rock helping to insulate them from the cold air in winter months. In the sweltering summer the rock walls have another purpose, to cool the structures and their 'odd' inhabitants.
The village is quite poor and though many souls pass through, it seems only the peculiar stay. The range of oddities vary from those with interests in collecting rainbow-coloured shards of stone from rockslides and hanging them in nearby fields to ward off spirits to 'explorers' following animal paths to find and examine the dropped feces in hopes of finding precious metals to even those who believe that the ghosts of their ancestors haunt these mountains. Although I don't fancy their ways I have experience and handles in their markets.
We reach a tall stone pillar in the middle of a vast meadow and halt. A bright shimmering line extends from the pillar and continues as far in either direction as I can see. A force field, here? A member of the inner Elders Council must be in town. There is no other logical explanation; the Colony wouldn't waste such power and resources on such a frivolous matter.
I meticulously inspect the pillar; there should be a fault, a break in the curling pattern etched into the stone.
Flynn finds it before me. There, he sends across our telepathic connection, drawing my attention upwards.
Indeed there is a small notch in the stone above my head. I reach up to place my finger on it but I fall short a few inches; a hard feat at 5'10. I levitate a small branch I intend to insert into the groove but Flynn beats me to it. Standing at a staggering 6'4, and still not the tallest in our group, he swiftly leans towards me and reaches up to touch the stone and immediately the force field splits, leaving a metre long gap to allow us passage.
Flynn stiffens, as if realizing the awkward way we're standing, and I inhale the woody scent he retains from our few trips to the forest. The smell brings back old memories and I lose control on the stick I'm suspending in the air. It flies forward and collides with Flynn's outstretched hand.
"Ow!" he yelps, jumping away from me to inspect it. I see a drop of silver blood run down his finger. I want to reach out and touch it, heal it but I don't. My heart clenches as I apologize numerous times; I feel like a fool losing control. I look away embarrassed and watch as Carmen stoops to pick up Aria and enter the village grounds.
My friends understand our situation and act gracious and respectfully when these unavoidable moments arrive. I wait for some murmur from Flynn, anything, but he makes no attempt to ease my mind or reassure me. I understand the reason when I look up and he's gone, already trailing after Aria's retreating form, no doubt wearing a lovesick expression.
