Wings of Fire: The Prequels

3.6

An event may only immediately affect one but in the end, it affects many. The extent of the effects varies depending on several factors, be it closeness, physically or emotionally, to the original, to the actual event, etc. How soon it affected someone could depend on those same factors.

And despite how it would affect her later, Obelisk was out the door the moment she read Stonemover's message.

I need you. Please, I need you. I'm sorry. I'm not— I'm sorry...

After the last 'I'm sorry', the message trailed off into a mess of scribbles. Even without the scribbles, Obelisk still would've thrown herself out of the fortress with reckless abandon. She slipped past the guards at the tunnel without a word, barely pausing to scowl at the one who tried to talk to or stop her.

The pricks and shivers from the spell settled into her scales but she was too in her head to mind it.

I hope your enchantment works, brother.

"Find Stonemover," Obelisk mumbled, tapping the small compass as she left the unsettling tunnel. The piece of quartz spun for a moment before the stone directed her northwest. Setting an unforgivable pace, she followed it.

Please be alive. I couldn't handle it. Please be alive. I need you. Please be alive.

Over time, the trees cleared and she could fly without much trouble. So she did, giving her aching talons a rest and instead torturing her wings. All the while, her mind tore itself apart and pieced itself back together again in the storm that didn't quite stop from the last time.

When she got into the mountains, the wind lashed at her. It tried to throw her off course but it had no luck. It summoned rain to sink its cold unforgiving claws into her and drive her away, it didn't do any better. No matter the weather, no matter the hardship, Obelisk wasn't going to give up.

Sentences that passed between them passed between the phantoms in her head. They were trying to make her doubt herself and become bitter to Stonemover. Yet, a constant in her life was immovable as time was clear: Obelisk loved Stonemover to the moons and back and further.

"Am I a monster?"

"No no, you're perfect."

"I'm broken. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's okay to be broken. It's okay."

"Do you ever stop to think about what you do to those who care about you? Do you ever stop to think about your family, those who depend on you, and what we would do if you drive yourself away from u—?"

"I can't stop! I can't ever stop!"

The bracelet suddenly gave a light tug downwards, Obelisk following it without a thought. A dozen light nudges later and she was in front of a small cave. She landed and shook herself off from the rain.

Her eyes adjusted to leave her to gasp at the sight in front of her. Stonemover was sprawled out on his side, looking miserable in the small cave the two found themselves in. What made it worse was that his scales didn't look like his, they looked like weathered and beaten stone, they were weathered and beaten stone.

He raised his head to meet her eyes, giving her a broken and beaten expression that too easily mirrored hers from their time on the ledge. (Their last time on the ledge, Obelisk realized with a lurch.) "Oh, Stone," she whispered, rushing forward to brush her wing against his side. "Stone..."

It all came out in a flood, a choked sob signaling the broken dam. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"I know, it's okay. I know, you're okay," she murmured, pressing her forehead to his as tears traced scales. "I know."