14 Drowning

—I know you, I saw you.—she commented.

—How?—She asked curiously.

—I see the future, but not everyone knows, so don't comment.—The woman smiled.

The girl had no words to express how she felt, so she just kept looking at her.

—Do you know how to read minds too, lady?—She asked curiously.

—Call me Ellen, and not really, but my grandson can do it, they're right in front, driving.—Ellen said, pointing at him.

—It must be difficult, listening to everything others think.—Alyra commented.

—That's why he was trained for, all of the powers here, came with a blessing and a curse.

Both were silent for a while, Alyra just reflected on what the lady had said, while looking at the stars, which were in the sky, the night came without her noticing.

Alyra slept when she least expected it, without nightmares, without worries, just a heavy sleep, which showed how tired she had been all these months.

But it didn't continue that long, in a leap, Alyra woke up, thinking that once again, she had been teleported somewhere, however, she saw the man, which questioned Ellen, about the possibility of her being someone of evil, he had thrown at her, very cold water, from a bucket that she didn't even know where came from.

—JOSH!—Shouted—If I knew I was going to wake the girl up like that, I would have come myself—Ellen said, approaching, and slapping him hard on the back of the head.

—Grandma!—The man exclaimed, running his hand over the wounded place.

Meanwhile, Alyra was still trying to recover from the scare, but she had gone into shock, all she could remember was the day she arrived in Plutanix, when she almost fell from the waterfall.

The feeling was suffocating, little by little, the girl's hands started to shake, Ellen, who minutes earlier had been fighting with her grandson, now looked worriedly at the girl.

—Are you all right, dear?

But it went unanswered, Alyra's breathing was heavy, and she felt trapped.

While in the outside world, Ellen tried in every way to find out what was happening to the girl, but minutes had already passed, and nothing new was happening.

Her face looked cold and expressionless, but inside, she was screaming …

—HELP ME!—her arms flailed over her—PLEASE!

The current was strong, and Alyra tried with all her forces, to swim to the edges, she had already been there, why not do the same again?

The cold water hit her face, causing little chills down her spine, she never seemed to adapt to the temperature.

Even though she was working hard, the land seemed more and more distant, and what appeared to be a river, had become a great sea, with no surface whatsoever to support it.

—SOMEONE TAKES ME OUT OF HERE!—She shouted, still struggling, but nothing was happening, there was no one around.

After a while, she felt her foot being pulled into the water, which made her even more desperate.

When she looked at who it was, a version of the girl, with completely white eyes, held her tightly.

It was strange, and very scary, she tried to break free, but that being seemed much stronger than she.

After a few minutes, the creature moved the mouth, seemed to be saying something, but it did not reach Alyra's ears, it was as if she were going to die, the air started to run out of her lungs, and her eyes started to turn black.

The being then took her cheeks, and continued to whisper those words, until the girl gave herself up to complete darkness.

—ALYRA!—A distant voice shouted, it was Ellen.

Suddenly, Alyra blinked quickly, leaned over, and started coughing, a lot of water coming out of her mouth, and her eyes were burning.

Ellen held the girl's arms, who struggled, until she realized who she was.

—It's okay, it's me, Ellen! —When the girl looked at her well, she couldn't help it, and on an impulse, she hugged the woman, and started to cry.

Everyone was silent, all that could be heard, was the girl's loud crying, and Ellen's sweet whispers, saying that everything would be fine.

The tall man, with honey-coloured eyes and light brown hair, who had splashed water on her, felt guilty, seeing her so fragile, and desolate.

At first, he had really distrusted her, but he had motives, unlike the others, he had noticed splashes of something red on her clothes, something that looked very much like blood, and even though he felt guilty, he couldn't let it go.

When Alyra finally calmed down, she could feel that she was already drier, and now she had a blanket covering her.

In her mind, she can’t stop thinking, sometimes it was funny to see, it seemed that for every 10 people in the world, 1 would be kind to her, and she used to wonder why, maybe it was her fault?

—It's not your fault …—Ellen started.—Everyone here is very suspicious, since the beginning of the war …

—Don't you really read minds?—She asked humorously, making the lady laugh nasally. —What war?

Although she studied many things, and even knew that there was a conflict between the two sides of the kingdom, Alyra didn't really know what was going on, nor which side she should be on.

—A war that has been going on for a long time, about 300 or 350 years … Illumin and Ironiux hate each other ever since …

—And why do they hate each other?—She asked, frowning.

—Different worldviews, here in Illumin, it is believed that everyone should completely wipe out evil, and if we unite with each other, living happily and together.—she said smiling.

—And Ironiux?—Alyra asked, pressing the cover more tightly against her body.—What is their worldview?

—We don't know for sure, we just know what the gossip says.—she sighed.

—And what does gossip say?—The girl wanted to know more.

—Some say it is out of vengeance, others say it is on a whim, but the vast majority say it is out of pure malice from their representative.

After some time in silence, a noise was heard, the two looked out of the tent, which they had entered so that the girl could spend some time away from everyone, composing herself, after the event, everyone chose to spend the day harvesting materials, and replenishing the stock of natural foods, so that the next day, they could continue the long journey.

—I'll see what it is, I'll be back soon.—Ellen stood up, walking out of the tent.

From a distance, someone was watching them, just waiting for the moment when Alyra would be alone, so they could finally clear up a few things.