Elite: Ragnald

Falling Apart and Falling Together

For a moment, my whole world stopped- everything froze as though it was suspended in time. My heart slowed down, sounds reached me like I was underwater, and my bones felt horridly brittle. I couldn't breathe and my lungs were burning, but I refused to inhale the air that suddenly seemed toxic. I was afraid.

And then, it all came crashing down all too fast, realization spreading like fire, and I was burning.

I was caught in a tornado of negativity, and in that infinite moment when the only parent I'd known for so long stared at me like he'd never seen before, I thought there was no escape from the feeling of utter hopelessness that was going to swallow me whole and lose me forever in its depths. I was drowning and Easton was watching me with a rope in his hand and a sneer on his face, turning his back as I lost precious oxygen.

"Cameron?" Evelyn called uncertainly, her voice sounding like shattering glass, but it was enough of an anchor to lodge itself in the pit of my stomach and yank me back to reality from the abyss of darkness that was my own mind.

Air filled my lungs once again, blood pumping through my veins so loudly, I thought I might go deaf. I was still alive, and Easton looked like he'd rather I was dead. 

Easton had always been the perfect spy, and his motives were almost impossible to read. I had never thought of how that could harm me until now, when I had pretty much been lured into death trap, and to make matters worse, I wasn't alone.

"How could you?" Jordan whispered, sounding very much like a threatened snake and I could imagine him wanting to squeeze the life out of my godfather like one, too. 

Easton turned his head by the smallest fraction in acknowledgment of Jordan's angry demand, and as the barest trace of light finally fell upon his eyes, I caught sight of the war that was waging itself within the once familiar orbs. They were glittering like two darkened jewels, and in that moment, he had never been easier to read. He was angry, and bitter, and so, so scared. It baffled me when his face was void of all feeling, but his eyes were positively screaming with caged emotions that were begging to be let out.

If Easton had led us here, then why on earth was the internal conflict taking place? Could it be his conscience pleading with guilt? No, if that would've been so, none of us would be in the predicament we had found ourselves in. 

Whatever the case, my resentment had finally caught up to me. Bitterness surged through me like black waves, lapping powerfully and destroying all thought of remotely seeing reason to empathize with the man before me- the stranger who had worn a mask of love and honesty only to reveal the knife he'd wanted to stab my family with. Forgiveness and affection were out of the question. I did not know the stranger who looked back at me with those angry eyes.

I saw a betrayer and a cheat- someone who was standing in my way and creating obstacles between me and what was forcefully taken from me.

My godfather was gone, or maybe he never existed, but the powers that rightfully belonged to me and my family weren't out of reach, and I'd be damned if I fell weak now and let them go. Cataclysm was wasting my time.

The self-pity was gone and fire was replacing it, flowing in my blood vessels and consuming my mind in a quiet rage akin to the starting of a storm. The air seemed to cackle with electricity and the want for retribution. My fingers curled into fists and as I exhaled, tension seized my muscles and bones. Every single one of my senses seemed to have sharpened to make up for letting my guard down earlier, and what little of my magic remained in my core swirled against the limitations constraining it like waves hitting a rocky cliff.

I looked up at Easton with absolute venom in my expression, so much so, I missed the split second of shock that flitted across his face before it returned to a blank canvas that I thought I knew. "I suppose this is where we fight each other, then?" he drawled, devoid of any further emotion.