Convulsion

♡ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ ᴏɴᴇ ♡

Richard

I drag my feet through the water, grunting as I do so. The water is ferocious. Raging around me. Splashing me. Throwing me off balance. But I press on. I jump, lunging for the body that almost floats right past me. I grab their arm, pulling them towards me as I trip and go under the water. The liquid fills my eyes, burning them, taking away my vision. I tread back to the surface, a hand still around the body hindering me.

When I make it to the surface I gasp and cough, taking back the air that left me underwater. I swim to the side of the river, where the water and the current aren't as strong. As I get closer to the banks of the river I find my footing. I stand up. My clothes are soaking wet, stuck to my body like a second skin of weights. It's hard to move, but somehow I manage, dragging the motionless body floating behind me.

I collapse on the sand when I reach a tiny stretch of solid ground, coughing up the remaining water inside of my throat. Now I know how Lily felt every time she almost drowned yesterday. I turn to look at Eric, who I set on the ground beside me. He seems half dead, but I checked and he's still breathing. Ghostclaw gave him a nasty shove, and falling that far and then hitting the river I just swam out of, I actually don't know if he'll live. But he has to. Eric can't die just yet. The Realm of Ni'ilxus will need him sooner or later, with me gone.

I look up to the sky, at the cliff edges high above me that should've given way to a glass bridge. I move Eric further away from the river, as close as I can get him to the dirt wall so that the water can't touch him. I hold my breath as I shake my hands, ridding them of the water so that I can warm them up. When I've gathered the warmth in my hands I lift them up above me, releasing a long beam of flames that stretch up and up and into the sky.

I smile, satisfied with my work. The Representatives of the Council should be with the remaining Guardians now, so they should've been able to see my flames. They'll find Eric. I kneel down next to him, grabbing his arm and then pressing my fingers against his wrist. Faint pulse. He's still alive. Pale and unconscious, but alive. I stand up, stumbling along the dirt before walking into the river again.

When the water is about up to my knees and I've trudged more than a few feet, I turn around. I'm getting a strange feeling that there's someone watching me. And there is. Lily is standing up at the edge of the cliff high above my head. She's far enough away that I can't see her face that well, but I can still make out enough to tell that it's her. Her green dress is in tatters, and in some spots it's splotched with blood, but it seems to sparkle anyway. Her brown hair is waving in the wind too, her eyes seemingly glued on me.

She gives me a small wave before dropping her hand, as if she's wondering if I can see her or not. I ignore it and point at Eric, and I can tell she tries to look at where I'm pointing. I'm sure that when she sees the body she's surprised, because her head snaps to the side and she's staring at me again. I bring two fingers to my forehead, and then I move them away sharply. Saluting her. A part of me doesn't want to but I turn back around and start walking again. I walk as fast as I can through the water until I dive underneath it, letting the current take me away for as long as I can hold my breath. When I surface I've reached a bend in the river, and I know that I'm now out of sight. They won't be coming after me anytime soon. They need to get themselves healed up first. Honestly, I need to be healed too.

What Gwen did scarred me. I can't stand the thought of being a Guardian when Gwen was one of us too, but now, she's a traitor to us. She is loyal to the Gloaming, and that won't change. Which is why I'm leaving. The stupid Representatives of the Council shouldn't be sending teenagers to do their work for them when they're perfectly capable of doing it themselves. It's their fault that innocent people have fallen today. It's their fault Gwen betrayed us. It has to be, right? Because if this system, this place, can't be to blame... then I think part of the blame falls on me too.

I'm going to make this right. I'm going to fix the wreckage Gwen has created within the Guardians and within this Realm. Not just Gwen, but the Gloaming as a whole. 

The more I think about it, this is my fault too. I could have helped to stop this. I could have done better. I should have seen this coming. I thought I was the one who knew her best... I thought I knew her. I thought I loved her. I thought, maybe, just maybe she loved me back. That she cared about me. And not just me, but the others too. Now I know that I was wrong, but it may be too late.

I shove my hand into my pockets as I walk closer to the upcoming shore, and eventually the water is only up to my ankles. I don't want to leave any tracks. I pull out the remnants of the now soaking wet scroll from my pocket, carefully unfolding it in my hands. It's still intact, and it's still legible. Now I just have to follow it. I have to follow it, find the Inferno Gem, and I have to make things right.