Shadows of Ash and Gold

Chapter twelve

When I was fourteen I broke my ankle. West, my childhood best friend, had forced me to go to a skating rink with him even though I had never roller skated in my life. I got the hang of it pretty quick and decided to test my limits so I went faster. When I rounded one corner my skate skidded causing it to get stuck, well going that fast my body didn't know to stop with it so I shattered my ankle. I screamed maybe the hardest I ever had in my life. Or at least I thought it was the hardest until now.

All I knew was pain.

The moment Aradia put her little finger to my forehead I couldn't hear anything. Or see. Or think. It was just pain and darkness. Black dust surrounded me, suffocated me. There was nothing. I was empty and maybe scared I couldn't tell. Through the dust I saw a faint glow of red. I couldn't make it out.

The pain was too grand to focus on it even though I felt like there was nothing more I should be doing.  Something was screaming at me to figure out what the glowing light was but I  ... I couldn't. You can! A shout rang through my head. I forced myself to take a step forward and the image in front of me cleared. I saw ... fire? And the shine of something silver next to it, blinding me with the reflection. I took another step forward.

It was a sword.

***

Bash

Bash couldn't take it anymore. He wanted the screaming to stop. He didn't like hearing her scream and he didn't know why. It drove him crazy that he cared so much. The redhead, Aradia, mumbled things that sounded insane as she scrambled through Avaryn's head. He couldn't believe Enyo would allow this, well he could but he didn't think she would do it right now. For all the years he'd known Enyo he had begun to doubt her more and more, but it was clear what was happening. The more power she got the less she wanted to give away. He knew that a hundred years from now when their bargain was off there might be a war. Bash shook those thoughts from his head. Now's not the time to think of the bargain.

He knew what it was like to have your head searched by Aradia and it was close to one of the worst things he'd ever felt in his hundreds of years of existence.

Ryn's screams were pure agony as if someone had reached into her chest and ripped out her heart.

"Vad," whispered Aradia and he had no idea what it meant. Aradia's eyes were glowing but it wasn't uncommon for these types of things. Aradia wasn't only a mind scrueller she was also a seer, another word for psychic. She could potentially see Ryn's future if she wanted to.

Then the screaming stopped. Something in Bash loosened and he let out a breath. Ryn's eyes remained closed and a fraction of worry went through him before he pushed it away.
Aradia turned to Enyo. "She is Elyndaeda's daughter," whispered Aradia whose voice was that of a twelve year olds. In reality she was over five hundred years old, her appearance was merely because of her blood and her genetics, there was no actual reason she stopped aging at twelve. "And she will one day rule the light realm."

Bash hadn't expected those words. Ryn opened her eyes and he told himself to stay still but his legs had a mind of their own because before he knew it he was in front of her.

"Bash?" She whispered, he felt something in his heart tug and then she collapsed into his arms, passing out.

He clenched his jaw and whirled his head to Aradia. "What the hell did you do to her?"
Aradia's gaze was still on avaryn, the way she was looking was like she was dazed or transfixed. "She is more powerful than she seems," Aradia whispered in that creepy way of hers. Aradia's stare shifted to Enyo. "There's more."

Enyo didn't look happy at this information, actually she looked livid and Bash knew why. He knew that the concept of Avaryn ruling the light realm was unacceptable to her.  Her eyes were cold and heartless, he remembered a time when they were filled with love and ignorance. Enyo was not the same person he once knew and he hated to even think about it but he wondered about the possibility of her doing something to Ryn. He knew Enyo hated the fact that Aradia said Ryn was powerful.

Enyo's cold eyes turned to Aradia. "Tell me."

"While I was in her head I had a vision," Aradia explained. "The Greer are creating an army. They plan to attack in one month."

"One month?" Erupted from Kaida. Bash looked to his group, his family. Each of them showed different types of shock and fear. He didn't know what to feel. Actually he did. He felt terrified but he couldn't show it. He had to be their leader. He had to push his emotions away for them.

"Why?" He asked calmly even though he was the opposite of calm.

Aradia's creepy eyes flicked to his. He wondered if she even blinked. "I do not know. My visions never tell the full story."

In a flash, it was so faint he wasn't even sure it happened, words crawled through his head. Words he hadn't thought, words that weren't his. His eyes widened a fraction at Aradia but he quickly concealed his true emotions.

"Well make them," Everson growled. Bash knew his group would no longer stay quiet, not when their home was being threatened.

"That's not how it works."

"Well make it work you red headed wench-"

"Enough Everson," he ordered and Ever immediately shut his mouth. Everson had always been short tempered, even when they were kids. But he was slowly getting worse and worse. He was slowly becoming more careless, reckless. Bash knew he was in pain but he just didn't know why. He wanted more than anything to understand his brother but trying to do that was like climbing Mount Everest while trying to solve the world's hardest puzzle. It was impossible.

"You're free to leave," said Enyo. Bash knew it was actually a dismal. They were no longer allowed in the light realm. He saw the way Enyo's features had shut down as if the information she had just learned was no big deal. Like she felt nothing towards the reveal. But he knew it actually meant the opposite. She was internally terrified. Which made Bash feel a little more terrified.

Bash nodded his head and picked up Avaryn into his arms. She was light as a feather, he thought of words to say to her once she awoke. Her recovery would take a couple of days.

As soon as they walked out of the doors of the throne room Octavious turned to him, just as he suspected he would, with furrowed eyebrows. "Aradia was lying."

Bash turned to his friend, his brother, and told the truth. Find the Vad, Aradia's voice had whispered throughout his head. "I know."