Time seemed to slow. The wind brushing across the face of Elijah felt like a massage, compared to the stinging sensation all across his back. Once again, he was in a situation that he could not comprehend. Why was he betrayed? He only wanted to help the people around him. Is this even real?
The eyes and mouths of the kappa's below him had a devious grin across their faces. Tall and long spears of water materialized in their hands, which they were going to use as their weapons, not as a projectile.
However, a hoarse scream resonated through the cavern, alongside the clanking of his knife against the stone ground snapped Elijah back to reality. The moment Alexia saw what happened, she sent a wind blade vertically at the face of the attacker. Cora! “WHY!”
Cora’s arm was meant to block the sudden attack of the girl who seemed to act instinctively. The flesh and bone was cut straight through, without any resistance, until Cora’s arm had mana coursing through it that just barely stopped her arm from falling off. However, Her screams of anguish and movements of pain flailed her loose arm around, which tore the arm right off her limb, while taking a chunk of her skin from her elbow and bicep. Bark being ripped off of a tree.
Elijah instantly slowed his fall while throwing up at the exact same time as he felt his organs be pushed against his abdomen and chest. The kappa’s were struck with disgust and fear as they saw something unexplainable happen before their simplistic minds. While bathing his body in the lukewarm water he conjured around himself, he flew underneath the angled stone pillar and appeared directly behind the screaming Cora, who had the awestruck eyes of Alexia, Niko, and Trey, staring into her empty soul.
No words were minced. Only the sound of a skull being struck by the side of Elijah’s fist. His plan was to knock her out, and question her after returning from the exam.
“Elijah! You’re okay!” Alexia had tears running down her slightly bloodshot eyes. While no one realized it, the sulfur had produced a small effect, and did most of the damage while above the lukewarm water of the pond.
A formless bubble of water was surrounding the levitating Elijah, and due to this, all sounds were muffled while he stared into the faces of his party. Both Niko and Trey were shocked at the sight, and stopped attacking after more cover was erected by Trey.
The pain in his back was growing due to the ice melting. Only after what seemed like a lifetime of revealing a huge secret, did the pain start to subside, which was when Elijah grasped an understanding of why water heals. The human body is made up of about sixty percent water, which was the reason why water magic was able to have a healing effect with the right intention. Dozens of small icicles were stabbed into Elijah’s back, but disappeared after being enveloped in water. The water coursed through the wounds, replacing the structure of water that used to exist in the wounded areas, which allowed new flesh to grow almost rapidly. The downside being that Elijah felt an extremely large portion of his mana disappearing. The key principle within this was his intent!
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Elijah returned to crouching on the angled stone pillar, and was indifferent to the states of Alexia, Niko, and Trey. “If she dies, throw her to the beasts. There is a reason why she did this, and by now, it is too late to go back.”
A large dry gulp was taken by Alexia. “Y-your eyes are very red!”
“Yes, all of you are the same. We need to leave as soon as possible.”
Niko cut into the conversation while taking looks at Trey. “How did you do that?!”
Elijah knew what was coming, and instead of being passive aggressive, he tried to sympathize with Niko, as it was his only option at keeping his secret. “I am not your enemy Niko. There are some secrets I don’t want to share. So please, for the sake of the kingdom, keep whatever happened here a secret. Our enemy is whoever Cora works for, whoever told her to do this, or simply, just herself and her wicked mind. That goes for you as well Trey.”
“I understand that I have been acting like a privileged noble, but something I greatly respect is strength. So much pressure is on my back that it is hard to handle. The easiest way I deal with it is by, well, you know. I promise I won’t say anything.” Words that Elijah would never expect to be released from Niko’s mouth, were released. It seemed like the privileged noble had layers.
Trey chimed in with a shivering body. It seemed the sulfur had got to him the most, as the words that came out of his mouth had a scratchy sound to them. “I promise to not tell a soul. There are thirteen kappa’s left. We have to kill them to leave!”
Bang!
A spear made of water pierced the horizontal barricades that gave the now group of four more cover. The spear dematerialized into water, and dripped down on the uneven stone floor. More spears followed, and Elijah signaled to Alexia, however, she was not feeling well, and also almost out of mana.
“Niko”
A wall of flames was conjured from the boy with layers besides privilege. Elijah slowly did a backflip off the ledge behind him while slowing his fall. Something he always wanted to do was act as an acrobat. Someone who had exceptional control over their body, and used it to their advantage. While upside down, Elijah focused a very small portion of his mana into the space around the area of kappa’s. A pearlescent circle that was only visible from above, was created out of this air, and slightly shifted like the tectonic plates of the world. The upper and lower halves of eight kappa’s within its range spewed blood the moment the pearlescent energy disappeared.
“That doesn’t seem like a useless affinity?” Niko stared at Alexia as he suspected they were close, and knew each other's secrets. Alexia could only give a small smile as she feared the possibilities of this getting out to the world.
“Let’s run! I'll carry Cora!” The words of Elijah struck the team off their feet. They slowly made their way down the angular stone pillar and ran to the slippery steps that they slid down on their behinds. Alexia was the only one having trouble keeping up, so he shoved Cora into Trey’s arms, and picked up Alexia like a spouse carrying his bride.
The harsh sounds of the dry breaths came to a stop after reaching the tunnel that connects to the large cavern. A rest break was needed even by Elijah, which was not surprising even with his well built body.
Something was bugging Elijah ever since he heard the words of Trey explaining his promise. It could either be placebo since he had never met this guy in his life, but he did not seem trustworthy. It was either he acted now, or risked this man exposing his secrets. Maybe he was on the side of Cora, and was playing with their head. It was very possible since the examiner disappeared, which may even make her part of this operation. However, these were just long stretching possibilities. Without a definitive reason, Elijah had no intention to think about this deeper. There are bigger events at stake.