❝The universe is full of stars. If it weren't for them, the galaxies wouldn't be bright and the night sky would be a lifeless veil of blue because one can rely on the moon only for so long. The universe wouldn't be itself if all those stars -althoug...
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PRYING THEIR EYES open was a habit that almost came to them as effortlessly as breathing.
Yet this time was different.
The first thing Lyla sought was air. Her lips were parted in an oval shape. Her lungs craved for oxygen as her chest heaved and relaxed amidst her gasps. The events came rushing back to her in an overwhelming wave and she faced the challenge of processing them with unbound concern.
The fields of the Meadowland, the white lilies, the diamonds, the explosion...
They were a handful to deal with.
She sensed movement next to her side. Lyla turned her head slowly towards him to limit the pain, but she experienced none as she did so.
"Kai..." she whispered, her voice weak from the collision with the ground, the softness of the grass tickling the backside of her wrist in a feather-like touch.
Kai hurried to lift himself upright. Streching his spine, he came to her aid, scanning her figure for any signs of damage. He pushed a strand of hair falling to the right of her forehead with immense care to assure both his growing worry and Lyla herself there was nothing serious, that she was fine and their adventure had only just begun.
Lyla stilled under the contact of his skin with the burning sensation to the spots his hand left, trails scorching enough to set her soul on fire. For someone others hastened to label his seriousness in the form of a cold mask as emotionless and unfazed, Kai's action towards her and the team tended to prove the opposite.
His restlessness was there, bear for her to see in the depths of the forest in his green eyes.
He cared, maybe more than anyone else in this team.
"You're okay..." he said, his words quiet as he absorbed everything in. His warning bell was becoming redundant with the constant ringing that nothing about the twist of their mission as it should've been. There were things out of place and Kai didn't miss a beat to notice that the lack of the moon was one of them.
But, this was something they would deal with in the next minutes. He constrained his characteristic bluntness. Getting Lyla back on her feet was his priority.
Lyla supported the weight of her body on her elbow as she sat upright. Ridding herself off of the dirt on her white leather jacket wirth repetitice motions, she said, "If you exclude the damning dizziness, I'm fine."
Relief surged through him. Kai stood straight, with Lyla following shortly afterwards.
Lyla placed a palm on her face. The remnants of losing consciousness were lingering in the shape of a cloud of fog in her head.
She chanced a glance at him. She couldn't afford to distract their focus any longer. She was far from being alright, with her gut clenching with an inexplicable uneasiness, but they had a task to bring to completion.
