Sea Glass 3

Installment 1
Part 2 continued

The silence in the room was cold and steely and Chris was not there to feel it. He was trapped in a swirling energy slowly moving from his lips to the creature's. Elizabeth burst through the doors. "No," she cried out horror stricken but her voice was sucked into the silence. His energy turned into a tiny turquoise gem before her eyes; the perfect size to add to the creature's earring.

Elizabeth, covered in freshly inked ruins, captured the wind in her finger tips and sent it towards the two monsters who had sentenced Chris to a fate worse than death. The monster with purple nails was knocked down but the cloaked man was not affected. She seized the gem and placed it in her pocket. The man lumbered to his feet and lightning crackled and danced along his purple fingernails. It was sent strait at her in less than a moment, spitting sparks and busting with power the whole way. She tore the lightning out of the air.

Instead of dodging it Elizabeth had taken it and held it in with a great deal of effort. She grimaced and twisted the strike around towards the monster. She held it in her being for a moment, her eyes closed and then she released it. The strike whipped across the room and struck his ear. Flames and electricity engulfed half of his face and he fell to the ground thrashing. He cried like a baby as he tried to put out the flames with his hand but it was no use. The gems on his earring began to melt and as they did a huge force burst through the room. Hundred of souls being released made the room shake and crumble. Elizabeth braced herself and clutched Chris's body.

The force was unrelenting until the cloaked figure reached down with a swift hand and stole the earring from the lick of the flames. As if angered the flames grew and engulfed nearly all of the man but the force released from the earring had gone. He wailed for his master to help him but the master had gone. The cloaked man had decided that he could not fight Elizabeth or that he should not.

Elizabeth kneeled over Chris's cold figure and silent tears ran down her cheeks. She fumbled in her pocket for a moment and pulled out a sharpie and the gem. She drew symbols on her hand and desperately fed the gem to him. Nothing happened and she sobbed into his shirt. Why should she care so much? She had no answer.

As she sobbed and the man whaled the marks on her hand began to glow. First faintly and unnoticed but then brightly. She stopped crying and stared at her own hand as if she had never seen it before. The marks faded and Chris's eyes opened. He stared wild eyed up at her. He was sure he had died but now he was back. Why was she there? Was this his imagination? Something was wrong though. He could sense it and he said "It is not enough. I will still die." His words came as a surprise to even himself. His voice was raspy, slow and thick with effort. How had he known that? Still more questions.

Elizabeth knew it was true. In the short time his life force had been separated from him it had lost some of its energy. He needed more and Elizabeth knew with out hesitating what she had to do. He needed more soul and she had two.

She made him open his mouth and with much struggle she pulled part of her second soul from herself and breathed it into him. Her souls had coexisted for so long that they were not separate but one. It was messy and painful work untangling them. She knew the odds; nothing like this had ever been done. Chance of success was unlikely and failure meant two deaths.

Somehow, though, she managed it. She lay gasping beside him as his own breathing slowed to a regular pace. Why had she done it? Neither of them had the answer so they did not speak. They did not need to because in their own way they could hear each other with out speaking. Chris had been different before; he had had a powerful soul but now everything was sharper, clearer. He could sense the life and the agony of the world around him. As the sun set the fire burned out and left a charred corpse. Chris was fine but Elizabeth continued to struggle for each breath.

"Take me to Leader...Take me to... Widow Evena," Elizabeth whispered between labored puffs of air.