The Last Goddess

Chapter Eighteen: Gone

Samara

It wasn't hard to admit that Aryan's stamina was incredible. But I had to remind him that mine was less so. My breathing was ragged after running for twenty straight minutes through the Thieves' Forest. My body was screaming at me to for the last five minutes to stop, and I was resistant... but now...

I leaned my body against a nearby tree, no longer able to hack it. I watched Aryan breathlessly as he continued on ahead. Even though I thought it was a futile effort, I managed to cough out a word. "Aryan..." Each word felt like an assault to my lungs. "...wait..."

I was truly shocked that he slowed to a stop about a hundred feet away. Perhaps, I shouldn't have been so surprised, considering Aryan is a Jauni—not that I one hundred percent understood what that meant yet.

I wiped the sweat cascading down my face as I watched him approach. "What's wrong? Why did you stop?" he appeared irritated as he looked down the path we had traveled. No one seemed to be coming, but that didn't mean they wouldn't.

I shook my head, desperately wishing a could make scrunchies appear out of thin air. "I can't..." my words were choppy as I regained the ability to breath. "I—"

Aryan looked me up and down as he said, "Yeah, got it." Before I could even raise an eyebrow in questions, Aryan put his backpack on his chest, got down on one knee and gave me his back. "Let's go, we don't have all day."

He wants me to... I stared, wordlessly at the back of Aryan's shirt. Oh... My heart missed a beat. I've never ridden someone's back before, and for this man to be the first one I did it with left me anxious.

"Ugh. Hurry up!" I could hear the eye roll.

"Ok," I whispered, managing to awkwardly climb on top of him. He secured me quickly with his arms and hurried away.

I had my arms gingerly wrapped around his neck, but as we moved farther away, I wrapped them tighter and placed my head next to his. For a moment, it felt like he had slowed down, but just as quickly, he sped up—neither speaking a word nor giving me a glance. 

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After about ten minutes of Aryan carrying me, I finally felt well enough to at least walk on my own.

"Aryan—" I froze as I saw my surroundings melting away.

"Samara?" I just barely heard before I found myself elsewhere.

Before I was completely taken, I managed to whisper, "Don't let go..."

And then, the Thieves' Forest was gone. Suddenly, I was in Ash Valley, following Ethan's paranoid steps. He had just entered his and Ailia's secret ravine, where his Fairy counterpart was waiting on their starch white boulder.

When Ailia met Ethan's eyes, she practically flew over to him. They embraced each other for a long time before Ethan placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I missed you." He whispered with a longing that was enviable.

"I've missed you more." She smiled, holding him tighter. "But..." she loosened her grip to look up at him. "We don't have much time."

Ethan was somber as he said, "I know."

Ailia turned, his hand in hers as she guided them to their spot.

Before they could reach the boulder, Ethan caught the uneven ends of Ailia's sunset red hair. "Ailia..." he slowed, forcing her to as well. She couldn't look at him as her hands trembled with anxiety. "Your hair. What happened to it?"