Page 87 of Forgotten Fate

I kicked again with everything I had, screaming as my broken bones protested in pain while I tried to guide us towards the boulder. We were coming up on it quickly. More quickly than I realized, then—

The crash of the log hitting the boulder was violent, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to lose my grip on Elias. He slipped from my fingers, the river swiftly pulling him away from me as I still clung to the log against the boulder.

“No!” I screamed, but the sound was muffled by the rushing of the nearby waterfall.No, no, no!I would not let the river take him from me. And so I let go of the log and rapidly drifted towards the waterfall. Towards Elias.

I swam after him, just barely fast enough to catch up. His head was thankfully still above the surface. I finally reached him, grabbing his arm and clinging to him as tightly as I could. I said another prayer to the gods that the bottom of the waterfall wasn’t full of rocks and that we could be spared.

According to Volund, the gods were the ones that destined Elias and I to be together in the first place. They wouldn’t let us die this way…would they? The roaring grew louder and louder in my ears as I continued to beg the gods for mercy until suddenly, we were in free-fall.

The waterfall was even higher than the cliff we had just jumped from, as it felt like we were falling forever. But after a long moment, we finally plunged into the water below, my body stinging and possibly more bones breaking as it hit the water’s surface. My graspon Elias’s arm slipped until I completely let go, and I felt myself go down, down, down, under the water as the gravity from the fall forced me deep below the surface.

Then, it felt like I was floating in midair – like time was standing still. But when I opened my eyes, I knew I was deep underwater, trapped in the darkness.

I hadn’t taken a deep breath before going under, and I felt my lungs begin to burn as I was quickly running out of air. I tried to look around, but saw nothing in the pitch darkness. I couldn’t even tell which way was up.

How deep was I? Thirty feet? Fifty? Did I have enough air to swim to the surface, if I could even figure out which direction the surface was? Could I make it to the top, take a breath, and head right back down for Elias?

Elias…that jackass. He broke my fucking heart. He lied to me. He used me. He concealed everything about himself and hid his ulterior motives, making me think he was helping me when really he was sent to kill me. I wanted to hate him. His actions should have been unforgivable. And yet, I found myself – moments before death, yet again – wanting nothing more than for us to survive this so I could kiss him one more time.

I sank and sank, my body growing colder, my lungs weaker. This is what it felt like before death. No warm energy. No life flashing before my eyes. It was cold, and dark, and quiet.

And lonely. So lonely. Until…

I felt something brush against the back of my hand, and immediately recognized the familiar buzz of energy as my skin made contact with Elias. But something new happened. In the darkness of the deep, I saw a small flicker of light emanate from my hand where Elias had brushed against it. It was like a small flame, somehow flickering underwater. Had it always done that when we touched? Had it alwaysglowed?

I used the faint light to get one last look at Elias as we sank to our deaths. I saw small bubbles escape from his perfect lips, and watched them float away. I closed my eyes, saying a silent goodbye to my father, to Rose, to Balor, and to Elias, telling them I loved them and that I was sorry. Sadness filled my every bone at the thought of never seeing them again.

Just then, the energy from Elias’s touch pulsed just a little bit stronger, as if Elias himself was reacting to my emotions – trying to calm me with his touch.

He’s still alive, I thought. And he was using that energy – the energy I had felt from his touch since the day we met – to comfort me.

My eyes shot open as I realized something. That energy we felt was the mating bond.We were destined by the gods to be together. I looked at Elias again, and determination coursed through me. I would not let him die.My mate.

More tiny bubbles escaped from his nose and mouth, and floated off. Floated towards the surface. And because of those bubbles, I knew exactly where to go. I began swimming as hard as I could, propelling myself upwards towards Elias. I grabbed onto him and kicked – kicked like my life and his life depended on it, because they did. I ignored the agonizing pain in my ribs, ignored the burning in my lungs, ignored the utter exhaustion of my body. Once I had a good hold on Elias, I used my free arm to accelerate even more until suddenly…my head broke the surface.

I gasped for air, never feeling such relief in my life. I hauled Elias up until he too was above the surface, and prayed that he was still breathing. The pool of water that the waterfall poured into was so large and deep that the current was gentle, even though the river continued on. I was able to swim to shore, pulling Elias with me.

When I finally found where I could touch the bottom, I startedwalking onto the shore. I kept walking until I dragged Elias all the way out of the water before collapsing to the ground next to him. I had forgotten how fucking heavy he was when the water wasn’t helping to lighten his weight.

The first thing I did as I crumbled to the ground was crawl overtop of Elias, pressing my hands against his chest then leaning down to hover my ear above his mouth. I felt his hot, sweet breath gently hiss into my ear. Thank the gods. Against all odds, he was still breathing. I could have sobbed right then and there, if I had the energy to do so.

I rolled myself off of him, collapsing onto my back. I took deep, heavy breaths, filling my lungs with the air they so desperately craved.

We made it. We were alive. Now what?

I turned my head to look at Elias. He was still very much close to death – the poison from the wolfsbane still coursing through him. I looked at the multiple stab wounds from our fight with the Sprathians, each one dripping with fresh blood. He still wasn’t healing.

I lied there, catching my breath and contemplating my next move, when I heard the snap of a twig come from the woods behind us. I shot up, dizzy from exhaustion, and glanced in the direction of the sound. I reached down and felt that my knife was still miraculously sheathed at my side, having survived the river as well. I squinted my eyes towards the noise, noticing two small figures duck behind a bush.

Forcing myself to stand, I unsheathed my knife and slowly stepped towards the figures. Was it just some woodland creatures, or did fate have more shit to throw at us today?

I heard a faint whisper, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. “Who’s there?” I demanded, tightening my grasp on my knife – not that I was anywhere near capable of winning in combat at the moment. I inched closer to the bush, taking one small step at a time until I nearly reached it. Then, I quickly dashed forward, yanking thebush down to see behind it. I gasped at the sight of two small boys, maybe six or seven years old, staring at me wide-eyed.

Both boys glanced between me and the knife in my hand, eyes wide in pure terror. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said to them. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” I placed my knife back into its sheath slowly so they could see. “See? I won’t hurt you.”

Without a second thought, both boys shot up and sprinted away from me, heading deep into the woods.

“Wait!” I called out to them. “Please! We need help!” I watched as one of them briefly looked over his shoulder at me, but continued running. I almost started chasing after them, but stopped when I remembered Elias on the ground not far behind me. I couldn’t leave him here to die while I chased two small children through the woods. They would outrun me in my current state, anyway.