Starry Resonance Ch. 11

Another trip to the doctor, he thought with an audible sigh. They needed to go look for the goddess of village's son as soon as possible, especially now that injuries seemed to be finding them at every corner.

Nelimir stood on shaky legs and dusted off his pants. He straightened and found a completely razed forest.

Everywhere around him only tree stumps were left. Branches, trunks, leaves, any sort of greenery had vanished to reveal endless dirt. In the horizon, the boundless blue sky.

Insie that azure though, there was a gaping black hole. It was eerie. Like looking into an abandoned well as a child and wondering what evils could be in it. Couldn't be anything good, at least.

It was, unfortunately, right over where the Star elf made her final stand, and he'd be damned if he was going to abandon her.

Taking one trembling step after the other, Nelimir began to walk. Then jog. And finally, as the drowsiness and pain subsided, he sprinted toward his destination at full speed.

Now that everything had been cleared and leveled it was easier to move. Yet it still took him over an hour to fully cover the distance she had pushed him through in mere seconds.

When he arrived, a bizarre scene met him. The being that had followed them was standing over a supine Star elf. Its body was untouched except for a small...blurriness that would appear erratically over his body every other second.

Nelimir didn't have a better way to describe the unhinging of the being's frame. But what made him come to a walking halt was the abyss besides the two combatants.

The land behind them had completely vanished. Only a deep gap of black was left that was a thousand, no, a million times larger in size than the one in the sky.

How was he even still alive? Impossibility after impossibility and here he was with a mild headache.

It was obvious why--the Star elf wasn't moving at all, but her chest softly rose and fell. She was still alive.

Why wasn't the being moving then? It just stared down at her with its unnerving eyes.

Nelimir inched forward, prepared for any sudden movements, but nothing happened even as he arrived next to them.

"You...came...back," she said with labored breath. "Of...course...you...would."

Nelimir bent down, keeping his eyes glued to the being before moving them to the Star elf.

"Stars, you're making me have trouble breathing," he said with a nervous laugh.

"Do not...be... a smar--"

Nelimir held a finger to her mouth.

"Don't force yourself," he said.

The Star elf hadn't opened her eyes once, even as she talked.

He couldn't see any external wounds, but her skin had turned several shades whiter. And that was saying something with how dark her skin had been before.

Putting an arm around her back, and another around her legs, Nelimir lifted her off the ground.

"It doesn't seem to be moving anymore, maybe we can actually get away from it," he said before beginning to walk away.

The Star elf didn't say anything. Instead, tears accumulated in her closed eyes before spilling by the corners. A curious occurrence, as her ears showed she was happy. Tears of joy, maybe?

As they moved away, Nelimir would eye the being, expecting it to be following them again.

It never moved, even after it disappeared from view.

"I think I just lost several decades off my life," he said, giving a heavy sigh.

The Star elf didn't answer. She had fallen asleep against his chest, the streaks her tears made still visible.

The role reversal sat well with Nelimir. He wasn't happy of their situation; wished it had been different. But being useful to this strange, powerful woman, no matter how small a way, set him at ease.

That usefulness could only extend so far though. Without her guidance, he had no idea where to go except the opposite direction from where they came. Nothing in his line of sight, it was easy to keep a general path, but the vastness of the land made it impossible to know if any progress was being made.

The situation didn't change even after hours had passed. The Star elf slept, and he walked--afraid to go too fast and waking or hurting her more than she already was

To make matters worse, so much time had passed since they began to run from that thing that the hunger and thirst were becoming unbearable. They had had their fill of the forest as they made their way, but that was done for.

More hours passed.

Nelimir's mouth was dry. He wasn't dying yet, but things weren't taking a positive direction. How nice it would be to move as fast as this woman? To cover unfathomable distances in the blink of any eye. He was at least grateful that he trained enough to carry her all this way without too much of a problem. Was there a level of training that could rid him of the need for food and water?

"Where," the Star elf startled before a bout of coughing assaulted her.

Nelimir set her down quickly and rubbed her back while waiting for the fit to pass. He noticed blood splashing against her hand but made no mention of it.

"Still in the forest, unfortunately. It seems we'll be late for wherever you need to take me."

"That does not matter at the moment," she said in a raspy voice. "Where is it?"

It took Nelimir a second to understand what she was asking.

"Long gone," he said.

The Star elf laughed despite herself.

"I wish it was so, but we are still inside the range of influence."

"How long until we leave it then?" Nelimir asked, not bothering with superfluous questions.

The Star elf looked at him with the corner of her eye, "It covers the entirety of this realm."

Great.

"What's the plan?"

"The plan was for you to leave and go back to your friends," she said and smacked his forehead with her clammy palm.

Nelimir took the hit in stride and rubbed the stinging skin, "How was I supposed to do that? Even now I have no idea where we are."

"The vines," she said as if he was just making excuses.

"Broke down when that huge explosion occurred. Which by the way, what in the stars was that? It almost cracked my head open."

"That is not your concern," she said.

"Isn't it though?"

The Star elf crossed her arms and looked away, making a show of looking for where to go next.

"Fine then," Nelimir said and picked her up again.

The Star elf yelped.

"Unhand me!" she said. But with the strength of a child her hands couldn't do much other than caress his chest.

"Where to?" he asked.

For a few seconds she looked up at him with furrowed brow.

If stares could set things on fire, this was it, he thought, making himself chuckle.

"Find something amusing, Nelimir Allsworth?"

"How weak you are," he said.

He expected her to smack his arm again or admonish his sarcasm. Instead, the Star elf nodded seriously.

"You are unlucky to face these events at such an early stage in life," she said before her shoulders dropped along with her head. "I am sorry for being so weak. If only one of the others had found you..." the Star elf rubbed her eyes, cleaning out newly grown tears. "No matter, this is our lot, and we must make the best of it. Let us go this way."

She pointed to his upper left.

Nelimir stood in place dumbfounded.

"It was a joke," he said. "I wouldn't have made it this far if it hadn't been for you."

"And yet you still spoke the truth," she said. "No more of this, let us go."

He debated saying something more in way of apology, but nothing came. He couldn't promise that everything would be alright or that he'd help her either. He didn't even know where they needed to go, instead needing her to show the way.

Suddenly he didn't feel so good about being able to carry her anymore.

Two fingers crushed his nose and pulled.

"What?" he asked irritably with a muffled voice.

"I will die before I have a weakling such as you worrying over me. Now move."

Sarcasm?

Nelimir was bewildered for a moment because he was a weakling, unlike her. And then the Star elf's ears gave her away.

She was happy.

Nelimir gave a rueful laugh, still muffled by her nose holding, and began to walk.