"Wait! Lex!" Saiya headed towards the flames.
I could feel the heat biting into my skin as i pushed through the crowd. My left arm was burning, but there were no flames. I was closest to the exit where the flames had not reached yet and Saiya was further in the tunnels where the flames were growing. This must be another condition of the contract.
Watching her walk into the amber embers stung me inside. I leapt from wall to wall until I found her. I grabbed her and tightly held her in my arms and ran.
"NO! Lex! Come back Lex! Please!" she screamed," Let me go!"
I could feel it. The rumbling of Anger and Fear.
Humans and Solsus celestials can barely hear this type of sound, but Amayans have high sensitivity to all senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, sound, and pain. But when it comes to emotions, Amayans can feel it through touch or just by being in the same room as a person, through the mana particles in the air.
People say that the Amayan's high sensitivity to pain is what heightened our survival instincts.
So you could imagine, what seemed like a small burn from merely touching a hot pan was actually a scalding sore, but this pain was not directly inflicted onto me.
The burn in my arm was still burning, but something else was burning my eyes.
I was...
"Why are you... crying?" Saiya mumbled in shock and disgust.
Me? A grown man, crying? Ughhhh... So not only is our physical pain is passed onto eachother, it's also emotional?
"Why would you be crying?! You're the one who killed Mom! Who was gonna kill Lex! And now Lex left me with YOU!" Saiya cried.
With every step, my frustration drove me further towards the exit. Was it frustration? Or was it jealousy..?
I had felt a similar frustration when Renka had been hanging around with the other classmates and scholars, especially around Exeme. I wanted the day to become night, so I can finally be alone with Renka. Except this frustration was stronger, like the time I had found Renka leaving me with that mage.
Why? Why has this cursed fate have to have these stupid strings attached to it?
I could feel another sting on my shoulder. Saiya had bit me and continued to fight out of my arms.
This was getting annoying so I headbutt her. I no longer felt her struggle in my arms.
Wow, that worked. Her head laid onto my chest as I fought the bitterness of the tears.
We had escaped the tunnels and Iren was shouting for survivors to climb the metal walls of the border. Luckily, we had a few mages to stall the enemy in the tunnels and above ground. They were allies from the borderline. Their assistance is a sign of rebellion towards Solsus and an alliance with fellow rebellions. I had tried to negotiate with the leaders hundreds of years ago, but I suppose this year, they gave in, or maybe... they might be planning something.
The tunnels let out echoes of roaring fire and the ground began to tremble. I guess it wasn't just my emotions rumbling.
"RUN, it's a BOMB!" I yelled out to Iren and he and his soldiers passed the information to the running crowd.
You could hear the soft rumbling grow louder and closer as we ran to the walls. Then crackles were followed by black smoke and red lightening flashed through the clouds as the grounds behind us bursted into explosions of fire.
Saiya was knocked out for the whole night. We escaped our seperate ways from the pack of soldiers, but headed to Ezu. Right before we had arrived to the underground village, Iren passed out a quickly scribbled map of Valedyn, the country of amethyst.
Saiya and I were alone. Valedyn was protected by strong magical barriers, but the temperatures were unbearable, especially for an Amayan.
I was shivering. I transformed into my were beast form and carried Saiya through the icy winds and rain. I found a forest of ancient Ruvia. Their thick risen roots sheltered us from the windstorms and provided us nuts, fruits, shrooms, flowers, and other greens that had been buried by Animas, the lower beasts, not to be mistaken as Amayans. They are a nomadic tribal species that plant seeds in the shelters they occupied as a way to "return life" in exchange and thanks for the natural resources beared by the land.
I was freezing even though I had built a fire and was in my beast form. Augh. I wasn't feeling well. My breath was heavy and my body ached. It's so cold. She must be cold too. We barely brought any luggage with us, so the only warmth we have is eachother and this flame.
How ironic. We were escaping with our lives from the bursting hellfires of the tunnel and now we need fire to survive the cold nights.
I placed slabs of Ruvian stones on the ground and added wool from the Shephir beast I had hunted as our bedding to keep in the warmth that emitted from our bodies. The purple stones will act as a conductor of heat during our slumber and the wool will hopefully keep her warm.
I stripped her drenched clothes and dried her off with some of the wool. I dressed her in my clothes since they were dry because of the transformation spell. I covered her body with the leftover wool.
I stayed up to cook the Shephir meat and wrapped them in Ruvia leaves. I ate a bowl of shroom and Ruvia flower soup then stored the rest of the food in a small compartment in the ground that I made with Ruvian stones.
It's so cold.
Saiya's coughs alerted me. Her face was red and beaded with sweat. I placed my colds hands onto her face and she didn't fight back my hand. Her cheek was hot. I was feeling cold from the weather and the heat of a fever just as Saiya was. So I'm feeling hot because of her. This spell, I swear will be the death of me.
I noticed her wrist was glowing. A spell mark dissolved from her wrist into the air. It's an over rider spell. Someone wanted to override the spells of the Regia mark. Was it her mother? Was Saiya being a Regia the reason Esther hated the Amayans and Solsarians?
I could feel the cold far more intensely now. This must be how she's feeling. It's a side affect from being released of the over rider spell. In order for the over rider spell to work, the host must be near a carrier, an element that completes the spell, like a pendant or a bow. Over rider spells were used to manipulate or change the effects of a spell. The side affects of not regulating the over rider spell with the carrier can put a toll on the host's body. It was rumored that a noble once used an over rider to reverse a lady's hatred towards him so that she loved him instead. Though it was a rumor, over riders became highly requested in the black market.
But over riders are not love potions or love contracts, so using them to pursue a lover would do nothing.
It's cold. I can barely feel the heat of the flames. The damp fur on my back barely muffled the cold.
She's shivering too. I hate women...but if I were to leave her to die, then I won't be able to complete my mission.
I wrapped myself around her and held her hands and blew warm air onto them. We need to be warm or we'll freeze to death I didn't think Valedyn would be so cold.
Strange. Nothing worked to keep me warm. Not the fire, the rocks, or the soup. Not even my own fur. Yet, just being near her, I feel warm. So comfortably warm.
I dreamt of old memories of Renka that night.