Endless

Chapter 16

Emily

Everything started to move in slow motion. I focused all my energy into the water around me, willing it to move, to swirl and form. It moved quickly, but to me it felt slow and smooth as it surrounded my body. The coolness of the water was calming, it's purity was enchanting, and it's power was exhilarating.

I watched in awe as the water moved with my hands, dancing in front of me like waves. It shined in the moonlight, glowing, almost vibrating with strength.

Suddenly, time started to move again.

Ryker was charging towards me, this time with fury in his eyes. I braced myself for impact, holding my arms in front of my head, hoping the water would slow him down.

To my surprise, the blow never came.

Instead, a howling of pain rang in my ears.

At first I thought I was the one who made the animalistic noise, and I feared the pain that would soon follow. When it never came, I opened my eyes.

A shield of solid thick ice floated in front of me, blocking Rykers attacked. My arms relaxed slightly, and the ice began to melt. I watched as it fell when I dropped my hands to my sides, flowing quickly back into the river.

I looked down, surprised again to see Ryker, sitting on his knees in the water. He was holding his arm tightly, I could barely see it but I could tell something was very wrong with it.

I crouched down towards him, trying to see what had happened.

"Are you alright?" I asked quietly, he looked up at me, a mix of pain and fear showed in his dark red eyes.

"My arm, you.... you-"

It was then I saw what I had done.

Ryker moved slightly, and in the moonlight I could see his hand, arm and shoulder was mangled and broken. Not only that, but his hand was frozen solid. It looked blue and hard, as if you could throw it to the ground and it would shatter into a million pieces. From the tips of his fingers to the end of his wrist was completely frozen, and the rest of his arm looked just as bad. His arm wasn't frozen, but it had large and small pieces of melting ice imbedded into his skin, causing blood to gush from the wounds and heal at a slower pace.

I gasped at the sight, had I really done that? I didn't mean to, all I wanted was to block his attack.

I stood up and backed away from Ryker, terrified of myself. How could I have done this? How could I hurt someone like this? What is wrong with me?!

I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold back tears. I felt a warm touch on my shoulder and jerked away.

"Emily, you need to calm down, it's okay, you're okay." Xavier said softly to me, still trying to reach out to me.

I looked down at Ryker again, some of the warriors were trying to help him stand. He made painful nosies with every movement, as if he were in agony.

"Emily, sweetie, I need you to calm down or get out of the river." Xavier said calmly, I looked down at my feet and realized the waters around me were thrashing back and forth. The water rose and fell like violent waves, soaking both me and Xavier from the waist down. I realized my element was responding to my emotions, conveying them with angry whirlpools.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. Xavier put his arm around me, leading me out of the river while whispering about how everything will be okay.

I wanted to believe him, but dread filled me, and one word flooded into my mind.

Monster.

                     **********

Devon

After having an interesting conversation with Cyrus, I returned to the room, hoping to find my Emily waiting for me. When I opened the door however, she nor Xavier were there.

I assumed maybe the two had gone outside, Emily had been talking about how she wanted to get out for awhile.

I made my way to the staircase and jogged down the stairs. When I reached the lobby, I knew something was wrong.

A young warrior was moaning in pain on a couch while many of his brethren surrounded him.

I rushed over to see a horrific sight. From his fingers to his shoulder, he was a bloody and frozen mangled mess.

I kneeled down before him, the others moving out of the way the second they saw me. I lightly grabbed the young warriors hand, in response he cried out in agony. I was shocked, I had never felt something so cold, not even a corpse.

"Who did this to you?" I asked him as I tried to warm his frozen hand. He started to calm down, his breathing slowed slightly at the warmth I generated with my own hands. "Warrior, tell me who did this to you." I said a little louder.

"E-Elec-tus." He shakily whispered. My eyebrows went up, Emily did this? I looked around the room, trying to see where she was. I made eye contact with a female warrior standing close to the injured one.

"Where is she?" I asked, the warrior looked towards the window for a split second.

"Still outside my lord, Xavier is with her." She responded before meeting my eyes again.

I looked back at the injured warrior I was trying to heal. His hand already looked better, and his wounds were starting to heal. He had stopped moaning in pain and now only took shallow breaths.

"You're going to be alright, the ice is pretty much melted. You need to drink soon though so your arm can fully heal." I stood up, the mans arm was still very mangled, but I could tell it was healing normally now that the ice was gone. He nodded a thank you towards me and closed his eyes, obviously exhausted from the whole thing.

I started to make my way to the front doors swiftly. As I stepped outside I saw Emily and Xavier slowly making their way towards the entrance. From where I stood, I could see the worry on Xavier's face and the anguish on Emily's.

I rushed towards them, Xavier met my gaze first, regret and remorse washed over his features. I didn't pay much attention to him though, my focus was on Emily.

She didn't look up at me, her eyes locked onto the ground. I reached out to her, pulling her small frame into my arms. Her usually graceful movements were jerky and robotic, but she buried her face into my chest. I stroked her hair softly, and after a few moments she spoke.

"I didn't mean to hurt him." Em whispered, I felt her tears soak into my shirt.

"What happened? Did he attack you?" I asked, she shook her head against me, but didn't say anything else.

"I'm going to get her upstairs, check on that warrior for me please." I said to Xavier, he nodded slowly, as if surprised I spoke to him, before leaving and disappearing into the coven.

"Let's go inside Em." I spoke softly to her, but she didn't respond.

I lead her into the coven while her eyes stayed glued to the ground.