Water.
I need to wash my hands.
My feet drag me towards a flowing stream as my sight gets blurry. I kneel down. My hands are shaking with doubt if I should wash them. My hands touch the stream, and I let the cold water brush my hands. I scrub them roughly and take them out as fast as I can.
I lean back, falling over.
I sit down, my gaze following the little creek streaming downwards.
It looks peaceful, but I feel nothing like peace.
I hate killing.
But somewhere in my heart I hope Ethan’s death killed Delilah.
With that in mind, I continue my journey. I let Eliane’s compass take the lead and follow it without another thought.
Chapter 39
Eliane
The mud under my heavy boots makes walking hard. Leaves brush my skin, and the droplets stick on my face. Braxton must have had a fight. The screaming of a man still rings in my ears as the maze sets in place again. I felt him fight, but if he feels like fighting, he should. I blocked him out during his pain. I couldn’t stand those feelings. My gaze is pointed towards the ground. We all know how it ended the first time. The mud goes over to dark wet green moss. It sinks a bit and makes squishy sounds with every step I take. Something catches my eyes, and I look up in a daze.
An animal sprinting in front of me, hurrying over the sort of path I am following. I make up my pace and follow the animal into the woods. Some kind of attraction or invisible strings pull me towards it. It has been a while since I saw a deer.
In the distance, a deer stands.
But something strange is happening with it. Not only does it turn their necks to look at me, no, it also gives light.
Like there is literally light coming off of them.
It is luminous.
Just like my skin gleams sometimes, that deer does too.
Before I can come closer, the deer sprints away.
My feet drag me after the animal, trying to see it again.
But it is nowhere to be found again.
My eyes scan the surroundings, but all I see are lined up trees and an incredible dark forest. The mountain isn’t visible, because of the high reach of the branches and leaves covering the sky above. Luckily some sunlight shines through, and I can figure out where the sun stands. The deer was a source of light, and I can’t wrap my head around it.
No deer I have ever seen before gave light.
And as far as I know, I haven’t read any historical literature about a light giving creature, and there isn’t much written about spirit animals, but could it be I just saw mine?
Maybe it is just my mind doing crazy things.
I did use a lot of magic yesterday, so maybe I am not completely recovered?
I duplicate the compass I made for Braxton and look at the sun above it. The sun is rising and is now in the southeast. I hope I am right at it. I have never nailed it before to create a hologram using my light, but when I did it, I couldn’t tell that I wasn’t completely sure if it would work. This one does work.
As I am drained in my thoughts, the floor starts to shake again. I run fast.
The walls are moving closer.
One time they just moved direction, but this time they are pressing towards each other.
