Awoken (Ilea, Book I) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 32

I saw a house meters in front of me and tried to take a few more steps but the ground rushed up to meet me before I could even take the first. My whole body was cold with exhaustion and my mind was slow and growing numb, I took a deep breath “Help me.” I called out desperately trying to stay conscious, if I drifted out now, I may never be able to get back. “Help.” I called again, more quietly.

I tried one last time “Please.” I called, knowing I was too weak to call out again. A dark figure rushed to me, the sun gleaming brightly behind her, she crouched down and took my face in her hands looking into my eyes. I let out a small and painful sigh of relief as I saw the compassion in them, “Nathaniel!” the figure called, “Nathaniel! Come quick, she’s hurt and I think she’s nearly gone!”

Another figure rushed towards me, “Now, pick her up gently.” I closed my eyes and felt myself being carried into a shaded place. “Lay her down on here.”

“But Merlada…” The woman shook her head at the boy and I felt myself descending onto a soft bed. A cool hand passed over my brow and I felt something being held to my lips, I closed them instinctively.

“Drink, it’s just water.” I sniffed at the liquid in the bowl and shook my head. It wasn’t just water. I kept my lips closed and opened my eyes, looking into the woman’s with steely determination. “Okay.” She set the bowl on the floor and picked up another letting me smell it first, “But it was just a plant extract to help you sleep.” I finished drinking and started to shiver from exhaustion, she lay a blanket over me. “Now sleep.” She turned and began to walk away. I crooked my head to her and took a shallow breath, “Thank you.” I said and saw her look towards me, but before she said anything my eyelids had dropped and I had fallen into a sleep so deep that nothing could have woken me up.

I could feel myself regaining consciousness, however it felt abnormal; my eyes were still closed, and I did not know what was happening outside of my body, but inside my body I was aware of a small light. I felt like a ghost as I watched the small light move around to different places, healing up wounds and cuts that I had received inside me somewhere. It took me a while before I realised that the small light was a part of me, a small glow knitting back together the edges of thousands of shallow cuts. I watched the light curiously and saw how it brushed along these small wounds that had pulled me apart bit by bit, slowly weakening me and tearing a wound into me that I did not know was being created. I could not understand how long I watched the light fixing me, but I gradually began to feel stronger and after a while the light faded and I glided back into unconsciousness.

I heard a quiet whisper in the background and slowly began to slip into reality again. “But we don’t know who she is.”

“She’s getting better…”

“So you say, but the only real improvement we’ve seen is that her breathing has become regular.”

“She’s not a normal person, I’ve never seen anyone survive from being that exhausted, it’s like…”

“All the more reason for us to be wary of her she’s not normal, she’s strange and unusual, we should get rid of her.”

“Are you suggesting that we throw her out!”

“I’m just trying to be reasonable, we don’t know what we’re dealing with here…”

“I will not throw her out!”

“But she’s been here for fourteen days without waking up!” I was slightly surprised at how long I had been here; the glow must have taken a long time.

“Just leave her to me. Go and get some water from the river.”

“But I’m just trying…”