Magi: Jaeyria Lightwood

Task #3

While Eiridan slept, Jaeyria stayed at the mouth of the cave, thinking over everything. She chalked Eiridan's behavior up to exhaustion. He wasn't used to being so drained. He probably had a horrible experience with his dragon despite his assertion that it'd only injured him physically.

His violet eyes had been distant and haunted when she'd found him, and she doubted that he'd told her the truth about the fight. Eiridan didn't usually lie; in fact, Jaeyria couldn't remember any specific time that he had. But she knew deep down that he was lying to her about this. The dragon had done something more when it wounded him.

Sighing, she wrapped her arms around herself and stared out at the sky around them as the sun began setting. She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them as the dying rays of sunshine spilled over the horizon, painting the sky a vivid scarlet.

A breeze whistled through the rocks, and with it came a soft call from a voice Jaeyria recognized. "Jae?"

She grabbed the hilt of her dagger cautiously and looked about her, trying to determine if the person was a threat.

"Jae, it's Eris. Can you put the weapon down, please? I just want to talk."

She looked up. Eriswen hovered several feet in the air, looking weary and stricken. The girl was quaking with the effort required to hold up her shield. Her face was lined with pain and exhaustion from her encounters with the Guardian and other tributes.

Not a threat... She lowered her knife and nodded to Eriswen. "Eriswen... You can come down. I'm not going to hurt you."

Eriswen stepped down onto another invisible shield and continued the process rapidly until she was standing on the ground, her legs wobbling slightly as she struggled to hold herself up. "Thank you. Can I stay here until the morning?"

Jaeyria bit her lip and crossed her arms, stealing a glance at Eiridan. He looked untroubled and content in his sleep as he always did. I can't abandon his friend. Sighing, she said, "Fine... I'm keeping watch, so you can sleep if you want."

"Thank you," Eriswen said again, turning toward the cave. Her gaze fell to Eiridan's prone form, and she turned back to Jaeyria with wide eyes. "What happened to him? He looks sick."

"I don't know. He said his dragon broke a few ribs and punctured a lung. I don't know why he's not completely healed," she mumbled. "He shouldn't be like this..."

Eriswen ducked her head, her blond hair curtaining her face from Jaeyria's view as she stared at the ground. The elfin girl scuffed her booted toe along the rocky ground. "Did he say why he's not healing?"

Jaeyria shook her head with a sigh. "No, but thanks for asking."

"Sure." Trudging into the cave, Eriswen settled down, using her cloak as a pillow, and closed her eyes.

After a while, Jaeyria curled up beside Eiridan to keep watch. A strange fluttering tugged at the edges of Jaeyria's mind as she let herself relax.

Then her vision went dark. She thought she might've screamed, but she couldn't be sure. Things came rushing back in a blast of color, but she was no longer in the cave.

She stood at the top of the mountain range surrounding the arena and stared down at the Magi standing near the force-field. Their hands were linked, and they blasted it with magic. The force-field was absorbing it, but inexplicably, it began faltering before their onslaught. Joining them by sky, land, and sea were creatures of every type and breed.

Centaurs, unicorns, Pegasi, trolls, fae, elves, werewolves, vampires, griffins, Mer, and phoenixes joined in the attack on the barrier that held them captive. In the middle of the fray, Mordzar was rallying those who were hesitant or waning in the attack. Nearly every Magi who was left was there.