Chapter 3

Se-le-ni

My back was cramping. Where was I? I opened my eyes and saw a ceiling. The explosion.... I... I slowly turned my head to the side; I could still move. The warrior powers pulsated within me and I pushed them out to my limbs. They responded. I was still whole.

I struggled to sit up. The room was chaos. The bookshelf had fallen to the side, and the chairs lay tipped over on the floor. I turned, and only then did I see her. Me-la-ni lay sprawled on the floor, her head lolled to the side.

"No!"

I rushed over to her and grabbed her shoulders. Instinct wanted me to shake her awake, but instead, I whispered,

"Me-la-ni..."

She blinked and opened her eyes.

"You..."

"You're awake."

I sat back and contorted my face into an angry scowl.

"Seriously, why can't you listen when the Seed tells you something?"

She groaned, and I got up to examine the wall so she wouldn't see the tears that threatened to spill over. I'd almost lost her, after centuries of being apart. I cleared my throat, hoping it would clear out my thoughts. She would never leave me be if she saw me like this.

The wall was blown to pieces, and on the other side, the corridor lay barren. I sent out my powers to push through the ether. The magic had broken, we weren't protected any longer.

"We have to get out."

I turned to her, my eyes safe to view once more, and hurried over. The others were still nowhere to be seen. They'd told me they would meet me here, but I assumed they'd simply been delayed by their mission. Regardless, we couldn't wait for them any longer.

"Come on!"

I put my arm around her to help her stand. She struggled up, swayed on the spot and then said,

"I think I can walk."

I didn't believe her, but she would be too stubborn to convince otherwise, and we had to go. She stumbled out of the room, and I took the little magic I knew and lit up the corridor. Nothing would work as expected now, and the building might collapse at any moment.

"Follow me", I said.

My head swivelled between her and the walls as we staggered along the corridor. Who had made the explosion? And were they here? I pushed my warrior powers out into the ether once more, but they didn't detect any presence. Still, it didn't mean there wasn't any. Me-la-ni stumbled into a wall, and I stopped and looked at her.

"You're sinking us", I remarked.

She only nodded, and with that weak sign, I knew it would be safe to help her. I put an arm around her, and we continued down the corridor. She would be able to heal herself, but we had to get to a safe place. We stumbled forward, and to my surprise, the door to the other corridor was open. Was this a trap? I extended my warrior magic, but nothing caught in it, so I stepped through and Me-la-ni stumbled after me. Now, we only had to get to the stairs and back up.

A loud explosion behind us made me jump, and I spun around, but the corridor was empty. A slight vibration in the air told me the Seed was present, but I was too focused to be able to hear it.

"We... need to hurry", Me-la-ni stammered.

I took hold of her arm as well and forced us to walk faster. The air began to shift, a clear sign that the magic was disintegrating. When it dissolved, we would be trapped underground, and the building would vanish with it.

"Come on!"

I began to jog, forcing Me-la-ni to come with me, and we stumbled out the door to the stairs. The steps were becoming transparent, and I took the last of the warrior powers I had and lifted her. It would cost me dearly, but I had no other choice. With her floating next to me, I ran up the stairs as the air continued to vibrate, but I could feel the fresh air of the city ahead of me. I stumbled up the last steps, crashed out the door and onto the ground and moments later, the door we'd stepped through vanished. I put Me-la-ni to the ground and then fell to my knees.

"Se-le-ni"

She crawled over to me and put her hands on my chest, and I felt the healing power flow through me.

"You... can't", I whispered. "You need it for yourself."

"Shh...", she hushed.

I must have passed out, because I woke up to dawn, Me-la-ni sitting next to me, huddled against the damp air.

"I..."

"You're awake!"

She leaned over to me.

"I... was so worried, I didn't know how much of your power you had used up."

I forced myself to sit, and to my surprise, my limbs moved effortlessly.

"I... feel better", I said.

I glanced at her; she seemed to have used up all her healing powers on me because her face was pale, and she was trembling.

"What happened?", I asked.

"Someone broke the seal."

"Broke the seal!?"

It was worse than I'd thought.

"How...?"

"I don't know yet, but we need to find the others."

She was right, but I had no idea where to find them. Our race hadn't spoken in a very long time, and I had only had one channel of communication with the ones initiating the resistance, and that was gone now.

"Let's... travel", she said.