Daeva: Black Diamond Chrysalis - Danielle Bolger (essential reading txt) 📗

Then came the hard part - how on Earth do I restore someone from the brink of death? But that answer came surprisingly easily. Of course, her aura was missing so all that was needed was new aura to be replaced.

I smiled greater when I worked out the puzzle but this proved to Eric's shock. I hadn't realised it but he was staring at me during the whole process, watching my every expression.

"What are you doing?" The boy repeated.

My smiled weakened. "I know this looks strange and makes completely no sense, it doesn't really make any sense to me either... but please, just try to trust me here. I have this feeling that I can fix it, fix her. It probably won't work," I gulped, "but I have to try. She's you're girlfriend just as she's my best friend so... so... I need to save her. Please..."

I didn't know what I was asking for, permission to handle his deceased beloved or to sit back and do nothing, I really hadn't a clue, but instead Eric reached across and patted my shoulder gently. "I'm sorry, Bethanie, for pushing you back like that before. I honestly have no idea why I did that, but you're right, she's your best friend so whatever you need to do, do it. Because, when it comes to me, I have no idea what I want... to do."

My eyes were still glassy as I nodded then retuned myself back into the girl's mind.

A flicker, a small pink flicker of aura was still within her, but there was also a line from that, a slender whisper that seemed to lead down into her crushed chest approximately at the location of her still heart. It didn't matter what that meant, I decided, what mattered was the pink glow in her brain that still clung to life. Focusing, I reached a portion of my own aura out to it where it seemed to connect but failed to flow it towards her.

My aura was no good, I realised, I needed something more tangible, so I reached out to the world and grasped at the trees, the grass, the bitumen and the horrible shrapnel that had caused this terrible damage. I drew it but instead of forming a weapon I pushed it forward into Abigail and there I was pleased to see it sink into her.

I was concentrating hard but I felt the smile etch itself onto my features but did not stop at there, still I drew and there I pushed deep into Abigail's mind, forcing it to meld with the missing portions of her aura. It worked, incredibly well, the world was only too ready to bend itself to my will, but on the other end the aura condensed rapidly and though both would have been seen as if vapours, in reality the world's aura was like gas where Abigail required solid. The energy flowed in, lots of it, only too happy to, but it barely touched the sides of what was missing.

The most potent of aura is that from humans...

I funnelled more energy, and into the endless pit it sunk. Though I felt the flora wane around me, soft purrs from even the fauna and still it wasn't enough, I wasn't calling enough light to save my friend's soul!

So I reached further, harder and mirthlessly pulled at all and everything that was within my call. I snatched the grass and felt it rot at my release, the battered trees that remained after the storm and even the insects, spiders and snakes that laid in the vicinity, I called it all. A human's life was more important, I knew, so I did not relent, I just kept drawing it all. Still, even with everything I had acquired it wasn't enough to finish that large void in this girls soul so then I focused harder and relentlessly clutched at everything without regard. I was taking a lot, I knew, but it was necessary, for a person, it had to be done.

I drew so much it made my mind numb that I could not even understand what I was calling for until suddenly, I received one last ball of dense energy and ploughed it into the girl's consciousness. Finally it was filled, her aura was restored and with exhaustion I fell back behind her skull.

I was so tired I almost fell asleep and this made me realise that I must have given some of my aura after all but the fact that I was still functioning meant that I couldn't give up, not yet. I had to see results of my effort first.

I rose back up with exaggerated slowness and, turning down to Abigail smiled as I appraised her form and there I watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest.

She was alive!

I started laughing. "Abigail! Abigail, look! You're okay now!"

She had yet to stir but instead of forcing her awake so soon I panned my surroundings where I found only brown amidst the black. And that was hard, since I was using only my human eyes. My daeva-ones still worked and with them the world's aura still overlapped over the top of the natural scene, but for as far as I could see, there was no aura. It was worse than in the plaza too, for there most of the people and objects still possessed a flicker, but here, it was next to darkness, especially with the cloudy, rainy night. And we were so high up that streetlamps ceased to glow at this level and so, without daeva vision, it really was pitch black.

I shivered but warmed when I viewed Abigail glowing just as bright as she had done earlier that day. Then the greatest thing happened - Abigail groaned.

"Abigail!" I threw myself onto the girl gently, giggling and almost crying at once. I couldn't believe that it had worked. I saved her - I saved my best friend when she was almost dead!

"Hmm..." Abigail murmured beneath me. "Bethanie? Is that you?"

"Yes, Abigail. It's me. I came, I came to save you and now you're all better! Everything's fine, everything, Abigail! I was so scared!"

"Bethanie...?" Abigail waved her hands up to palm me off. Once I moved away she pulled herself into a sitting position and turned to squint at me. "What... what happened? I thought I was... dead."

Tears etched at the edges of my vision but like always I held these back, even though they would have been worthwhile ones. "No... I mean, yes, but no! You see, you were dead, but not completely, there was still the tiniest flicker of life in you. A small part of your brain remained and so I used that to bring you back! I used the surrounding aura to come to you and it healed you! You're saved Abigail, I saved you!"

Abigail's mouth and eyes both widened and then closed almost at once. Then she gazed her eyes about the surroundings with alarm. "Bethanie... everything is... everything is dead!"

I nodded slowly. "I know, but I had to. I mean, they're just plants and trees, a few insects and that, but you... you're alive! And you're a person so that means so much more than all of this! You're the most important thing so it's okay! It's all okay so long as you're fine!"

Abigail however kept her eyes wide as she observed the forest beyond me. Suddenly she put her hands up to her mouth with a gasp and shut her eyes tightly as she turned away. "Animals..." She murmured. "There's so many animals here that are dead."

I turned back to that direction and recognised that she was right, there wasn't just insects and spiders that were dead, but possums, birds and lizards too. I could sense them, the empty bodies and that filled with me with dread but, even knowing the dozens of animals that fell prey to my call I still could not feel guilty knowing that Abigail was safe.

"Whoa..." I murmured. "I didn't know that would happen. Actually, I had no idea what would happen, but the fact that you're alive means it's all okay. I mean, you were... dead, Abigail. You would have been gone so, all this..." I gestured around me to the dead scenery. "That's okay so long as you are alive."

Abigail's bright eyes kept scanning. No doubt she saw as little as me, using only human sight since aura was long since diminished from the surroundings, but it seemed she was very much in tune with detecting its remnants even without the hosts still alive for she seemed to view the death toll even more acutely than me. And fear was filled in her eyes after witnessing it, even though they were not human, even though they combined to save a life so precious as hers.

Abigail gasped again, her eyes becoming so wide the brown irises seemed diminished by the sheer girth of the whites. Then she swung her gaze straight across to the boy next to her who was unconscious and very hard to see with the low lighting.

"No..." Her voice trembled. "No... His aura, why can't I see his aura, Bethanie!?"

Just then my eyes mirrored her own enormous look. "He's... he's okay. You're just not seeing him properly..."

"He has no aura..." Abigail murmured as she rushed to find his wrist and once placing her fingers to a point screamed out, "He doesn't have a pulse! Bethanie, what did you do!?"

"I, I..." I stammered as I glanced between the unilluminated boy and Abigail's fearful and desperate glare. "I saved you." I defended. "I gave you back the aura you needed. I..."

"No..." Abigail sobbed. "No, you, you couldn't have. You couldn't have! You didn't! Please tell me you didn't!" She sniffed, the constant saline trail mixing in with salt-less water falling from the sky. "You didn't kill him!"

I tried to rise myself to my feet to assess the situation but managed no further than halfway before I stumbled backwards. Further still I cowered as I watched the cold boy being continuously wet by raindrops, and the girl whose fearful expression was fast turning into one of enmity.

"No..." I murmured again. "I... I saved you. That's all I did... I saved you..."

"You..." Abigail whispered over the rainfall. "You didn't save me, you killed him." She turned to me with hatred in her eyes. "You did the last thing that I wanted. You slaughtered the person I love in my name! I... I can't believe this. How could you, Bethanie? How could you!?"

"I..." Again I had no idea how to respond, all I could do was continue to stammer. "I... I saved..."

"I hate you, Bethanie!" Abigail roared. "I hate you! I hate you with every ounce of my being! I wish you had never been born! I hate you!"

Shakily I made my way to my feet and started to walk towards the girl. "Abigail, I..."

"I hate you!" She cut across venomously. "I wish you didn't exist!"

It was then that everything changed. Eric, lifeless in the girl's arms, suddenly was shone on with a great light again. But it wasn't his, it was Abigail's.

"No..." I murmured. "You can't, Abigail, you can't draw it, it'll destroy you!"

"Destruction?" She repeated bitterly as her entire body seemed to glow white. "Well that's too late now, isn't it? I was dead when that tree hit me but, when you stole the soul from the boy I love then... then! Then that's when I was destroyed!"

She roared as an unseen force lifted her to her feet and with her two hands reached out ahead a long solid shaft materialised within them. A glistening fuchsia staff was placed into her possession but at its full height was a large glowing orb, a citrine one that brimmed with the brightness not too muted from the sun's. She raised this staff high without hesitation and upon colliding the end onto the ground with a forceful quake the entire world seemed to ripple.

And the land continued