The loud sound of the waterfall was all ZaiWin could hear. And the moment he took a breath cool, clean air filled his lungs. Everything in that huge cavern felt lighter and fresher. Still, ZaiWin didn't waste time admiring that magical place.
Quickly looking around, ZaiWin easily found what looked like a person lying on the ground, not far from where he stood. And he was standing beside him in the next second.
Lying on his side, surrounded by green, fresh grass, Snow looked as if he were peacefully asleep. If not for the fact that ZaiWin had actually seen him do this a couple of times, he might have even believed that a little nudge would be enough to wake him up.
Kneeling beside him, he gently brushed a hand through Snow's soft, silver hair. Snow kept his hands open, palms against the grass, his right ear glued to the ground.
"Freaking brat! I told you to give them some advice. Not to … do whatever you're doing!"
Well, he should have know better. Snow's common sense was a bit different from the norm.
"Time to wake-up, brat!" he said, caressing his face, but Snow didn't even stir.
The sound of running footsteps reached ZaiWin's ears, and it didn't take long until three panting persons finally reached him.
"I swear I didn't do anything to him!" Storm was anxiously saying, and ZenTar grabbed her arm, holding her back. "He just laid down on the ground like that! I tried to wake him up. But no matter how much I shook him, he didn't even move! I swear I had nothing to do with this!"
"I know," ZaiWin calmly replied and VinWei approached him carefully, as if she were ready to put some distance between them again at any second.
"You've seen him like this before?"
ZaiWin nodded, holding one of Snow's hands. As to be expected, it felt even colder than normal.
"I found him like this, just before he told me about this cavern."
Leaning forward, ZaiWin lightly patted Snow's face.
"Hey! Time to wake up."
Since Snow didn't even stir, ZaiWin grabbed his arm and turned him over, onto his back. Gently holding his head, he carefully straightened it, so his ear wouldn't be glued to the ground anymore. Softly brushing a few locks of silver hair away from Snow's face, ZaiWin sighed.
"Open your eyes, Snow."
Once more the boy didn't even move. Leaning closer to him, ZaiWin framed his face with his hands and stared intently into his closed eyes.
"Open your eyes, Snow!" he commanded, and this time Snow's eyelids actually trembled. "Damned brat! Making me repeat myself! Open your eyes!" he demanded again, starting to feel anxious at the obvious delay, and Snow frowned, looking annoyed, as if he wanted to tell him to go away and leave him be.
ZaiWin frowned as well.
"Open your eyes, Snow! Or I swear I'll throw you into the water!"
"ZaiWin!" VinWei reprimanded him in a small whisper but Snow's eyelids finally stirred and fluttered open, revealing a pair of pale, blue eyes that stared emptily at nothing.
Still, seeing him finally obey his command was enough to allow ZaiWin to relax. Smiling down at him, he gently caressed his face.
"Hey, welcome back," he said, even though it was clear that that was far from being true.
While he waited for his words to come true, ZaiWin patiently massaged the back of Snow's neck with the tips of his fingers, until Snow finally blinked and his gaze fixed on his. He had expected Snow to feel embarrassed, like the other times he'd woken up to find him standing there, so close to him. But instead, Snow reached up and grabbed his tunic as if he were afraid ZaiWin might disappear.
"They're coming …"
At the sound of that small whisper, ZaiWin's smile immediately faded away, a cold sensation settling at the bottom of his stomach.
"Who's coming?"
Snow shook his head but his eyes never left ZaiWin's.
"Darkness … Darkness is moving across the land."
Releasing him, Snow quickly sat up and urgently looked around almost as if he felt lost, then as if he were searching for something.
Seeing him looking so distressed, ZaiWin instinctively reached for his hand. He could immediately feel it, the disturbance in Snow's energy.
"Snow. Calm down."
The boy's pale gaze immediately turned to him, but he looked even more anxious.
"Map. I need a map!"
ZaiWin frowned, unable to understand, but a folded piece of paper was immediately offered to him.
Looking up, he was faced with ZenTar's dark expression. And so he silently accepted his offer and unfolded the piece of paper on the ground, in front of Snow.
Snow's attention was immediately on it, his eyes skimming the brownish paper back and forth, until his pale finger landed on a specific point.
"Here! Here is … wrong. Very, very wrong. And it's moving here, and here," he did his best to explain, his eyes still wildly wide as if he were trying to recall something and, at the same time, translate it so that the others could understanding him.
"They're heading this way. They're looking for me," he added in an even smaller voice, and all the urgency that had commanded his body up till that point was suddenly gone, his shoulders slumping with a shudder.
ZaiWin immediately wrapped an arm around him, pulling him closer against his chest, placing a protective hand over his head.
"You're safe here, Snow. No one is going to find you."
"Shouldn't we be asking who is looking for him?" ZenTar corrected and VinWei straightened her back, as if she'd just awakened from a strange dream.
"Let's get out of here first. Other's might come at any moment," she pointed out and ZaiWin wrapped both arms around Snow and was gone.
"Shit! I never hated that ability of his as much as I hate it now!" ZenTar grunted and VinWei sighed.
"You have to stop doing that, ZenTar," she declared, turning to face him, and he frowned at her condescending tone.
"Stop what?"
"You're fighting a lost battle. And the only thing you'll accomplish is to push him away. I know you worry about him and that you want to protect him. And you see Snow's existence as a permanent threat to his wellbeing. And I'm not saying that you're wrong," she quickly added when his frown transformed into an angry scowl. "But you know, as well as I know, that he is not going to change his mind about this. I don't know if he can't or if he's choosing not to. But that doesn't really matter, right? Just accept things as they are. And if you really want to remain by his side, protecting him as you've done so far, then you have to start looking at that boy and seeing ZaiWin in him as well. Because that's how ZaiWin sees him. And every time you turn against the boy he feels as if you're turning against him. He doesn't lash out at you out of love and respect. But he will push you away if you keep doing this."
ZenTar grit his teeth, the muscles of his jaw visible tense, but he didn't utter a single word.
VinWei sighed and gently placed a comforting hand on his stiff shoulder.
"Shall we go find them?" she asked and didn't wait for a reply, making her way to the cavern's entrance.
She didn't have to look back to know that he would follow her.
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Peace is coming to an end 😔 At least Nox was kind enough to warn Snow that things are changing. And isn't our VinWei very, very perceptive? 😊