Yes, he’s talking to her, she thought. He’s awake and can talk, so it cannot be that bad, right? He sounds a bit… shaky. Maybe he’s just nervous? Bewcause he likes her so much, haha… no. Stop.
She asked it anyway.
‘No, I mean… How… are you?’
Silence.
‘Please, say that you are okay...’ she said quietly.
‘I’m… fine...’
‘Great, then you can stand up and jump here and we can go, right?’
‘...’
‘RIGHT??’
‘I’m not sure...’
‘Dan, please, tell me you can...’
‘Okay, don’t worry, it’s not that bad...’ he started.
‘Great, then you can...’
‘...but no, I can’t stand up. I’m... sorry.’
‘WHAT?!’
‘Listen, I’m still not sure how… bad it exactly is, but I won’t be able to stand up right now. Just... give me a minute, okay?’
She waited patiently.
‘So...’ Dan started. Vanda looked up to his direction anxiously.
‘I don’t know how deep we fell… But it couldn’t have been that bad, because I fell on a rock yet I’m alive. Probably just a few metres. But I still.. was hit pretty badly...’
‘How bad?’
‘I’m not sure. One leg is definitely broken… So I can’t walk… nor climb, nor jump.’
‘B-but… What am I supposed to do now?!’
‘MAYBE JUST STOP WHINING FOR A SECOND?!’
Vanda’s breath stopped for a second. She covered her mouth with her hands and turned away. How could he scream at her like that?
Then she realised.
‘I-I’m sorry Vanda, I didn’t...’
‘No, you are right.’
She just realised how patient Dan is. She just realised, despite being poor in her whole life, how spoiled she was when it came to the way people treated her. She had been whining all the time, maybe thinking it’s cute that she can play the damsel in distress for him. As if she wasn’t the main character... But now Dan is the one who’s injured and in pain and he definitely has the right to whine, complain and scream as much as he wants, and he definitely doesn’t need to apologise. ‘You are the one who’s in trouble right now… It’s just… I really don’t know what will I do without you now?’
‘Don’t be so dramatic, you’re okay.’
‘Yes, yes, you are right, you are always right.’ She smiled, both inside and outside, and felt relieved.
‘But yes, it seems you will have to go on without me… for a while at least...’
The previous passing feeling of relief disappeared instantly. Without him? For a while? She almost opened her mouth to complain again.
‘NO...’
But went another direction.
‘I’M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT YOU.’
‘Huh…?’ The same sentence from her could’ve sounded whiny, too, but the determined tone of voice really surprised Dan.
‘It’s my time to do something after all the help you gave me. I’m going back for you.’
‘But how? You’re already on the other side.’
‘I’ll try to cross the same way you wanted to. I will climb until I find a spot where the other side is in jumping-range.’
‘Are you… sure you want to climb after all this?’
‘YES.’
‘You might fall deeper. You’re already on the other side, just go on.’
‘I know you’re creeped out by how I behave nowadays. But don’t even wish I’m leaving you behind. You can’t get rid of me.’ she winked and blew a kiss.
Dan chuckled but in ended in a painful hiss. Vanda was scared hearing this but it also made her more sure she made the right decision. Also, no way he’s not dating her after all this.
She grabbed the nearest protruding rock on the “wall”. Then another. The she took a step. Another higher. A few second later she was already higher than her own height. She almost looked down into the dephts but tiny feathers pushed her chin upwards.
‘Chick’! You’re alive?? Oh wait, of course, you can fly...’
She continued climbing, with the little bird’s guidance. She finally reached a larger rock that seemed like a good place for a jump. She was still below Dan, and couldn’t see him from this angle at all, but she knew she was close. It seemed like a dangerous jump, she would have to grab some small rocks on the other side really hard, and start climbing immediately, but it didn’t seem impossible. She looked down, and took a deep breath…
"Ele sentiu a respiração ligeiramente afetada dela e aquele velho sentimento de prazer invadiu o coração dele revelando olhos semi-dilatados, contornado de veias roxas e grossas. Presas afiadas surgiram no canto de sua boca, bem diante dos olhos de Alina, que paralisou, perplexa; seu corpo não correspondia o aviso de perigo que seu cérebro lhe enviava. Para ele seria fácil demais, no entanto preferia quando suas vítimas inutilmente tentavam fugir, pois era revigorante o deleite da caçada."
Que tal conhecer a história da Herdeira Sanguínea? Ela está no Wattpad esperando por você! E então, o que me diz?
> Leia aqui <
The hot wind was blowing their hair as the phoenix was flying. From that high, they could see old ruins in the desert, half of them buried in the sand, similarly to Vanda’s face in the bird’s feathers, as she tried her best to make herself forget the fact that they are miles above the ground. She was terrified of heights.
'Oh come on, I get that you’re afraid, but this is really helpful, you should be happy about it. Look at the view, it’s amazing.’
‘Why does the phoenix even help us though??’ she cried. Dan frowned at her.
'Don’t worry, I understand your confusion’ said the bird suddenly. ‘I’m pretty sure no one has offered their help until now, nor did anyone or anything you have met know about your quest.’
‘Uhm, you are right. But now you made me curious.’ said Dan.
‘Well, we have a lot of time before we arrive, so I can tell you a little about it if you are interested.’
The two listened carefully.
‘I think you already noticed that phoenixes aren’t just simple animals. I mentioned before that we are of magical origin.’
‘Maagic?? Like wizards, right?!’ exclaimed Vanda.
‘Well, yes. Wizards are magical, too, although they belong into a special category… But I want tell you about my own species now.
All creatures originate from the Creators. Some are more magical, some are less. You can sort them into categories of different levels based on the amount of magic they contain.
You humans, for example, are almost at the very bottom, or “low class”. You are born without magical abilities, similarly to most animals, however, you have intelligence, which makes you capable of acquiring it by learning.’
‘Oh, now that I think about it, Vanda, I remember the Ice Angel called you a "primitive creature”?... I guess she meant that you lack magic?’
‘I don’t really remember, I thought it was just a regular insult about how stupid I am… I’m really used to hearing those.’
‘If you met a lower class magical creature, it’s very likely it would say something like that about non-magical creatures who are the only ones under them in the hierarchy.’ explained the bird. ‘They tend to look down upon non-magical beings. Higher class magical creatures however, like us phoenixes, don’t really care about class differences, as there isn’t really anyone above them that they could be envious of, and they have more knowledge and a better understanding of the system.’
‘Wait, how… high-class exactly are you?’
‘The highest, actually. Right after the Creators themselves. We were created to be their personal bodyguards.’
The two gasped. Chick’s heart skipped a beat.
‘Wow. Then how come you just… sit here in a desert, instead of being with those... Creatives? And why do you even care about “low-class” things like us?’ asked Vanda in confusion.
‘I’m helping you because I can, and your quest is important. The necklace has been out of the Creators’ hands for thousands of years at this point, and finally delivering it back to them could restore the peace of the Universe.
As for your first question, it’s a very long story...’
‘Go on’ said Dan. He was extremely curious at this point. ‘We have a lot of time, don’t we?’
The bird sighed. It looked like the question upset it.
‘To understand it, you have to understand the whole Universe, and I don’t think I can explain it to you in such a short time…
It’s not actually one Universe, but several, slightly different ones, and all of those are full of different civilisations. “Worlds”, if you prefer that. Worlds are what keeps the energy flowing. To keep a World working properly, there has to be a balance between material and magic.
This balance usually evolves by itself - some lower class magical creatures, a religion, and it’s done. The Wanderer Wizards has helped a lot, too.
However, this particular World that we are currently on has been dangerously out of balance for a long time.
The people of this world absolutely didn’t care about magic. The Creators tried to help it by sending small magical creatures, but they just hunted them down. They rejected every spiritual belief, they only lived in the material world. They were no better than simple animals. So, to create the balance, the Creators sent us, phoenixes, the strongest beings here. Oh, hold on, for a second...’
The phoenix suddenly started descending in a spiral, right next to a deep, rocky chasm. It spread one wing to create a slope so the traveles can slide down from its back.
‘Unfortunately, I cannot bring you any further.’
Dan and Vanda looked at the chasm in confusion.
‘Can’t you just… fly over it?’
‘No. This is the border. I’m not allowed to go any further. I will finish the story and you will understand.
So we arrived here, and contacted the people. It… didn’t go very well. They didn’t understand magic, and were scared of us.
We thought our arrival will bring peace for this World, but it only made it worse. Their ignorance created an even higher imbalance. They completely rejected us, and instead of their previous indifference, they started harbouring hatred for everything magical. This hatred triggered evolution, but into the wrong direction… they sank deeper and deeper into the purely material world.
We had to leave to prevent things from getting even worse. So what you see now...’ it pointed at the chasm with its beak ‘...is the border. It separates us from those humans. It cuts this whole planet in half. We agreed not to violate it. Of course you don’t belong to this World, so you’re allowed to pass through, but I cannot fly you to the other side.’
‘So… there are people living on the other side? … Bad people, you say?’ Vanda shivered.
‘I don’t know what they are like. We haven’t seen them in a long time. No one knows, what effect does the complete lack of magic have on a civilisation, but last time we were there, things weren’t… great. They considered material goods so important, they have been fighting over them all the time...’
‘Thank you for your help, and for telling us about these things.’ said Dan.
‘I’m glad I could be useful for you. I wish you good luck on the rest of your journey. Goodbye.’
The bird spread its wings and flew away gracefully.
‘So, Dan, uhm...’
‘Yes?’
‘Did I understand it well? We are left here and we’ll have to go to the other side by ourselves, where the... bad people are?’
