Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (best adventure books to read .TXT) 📗

in her lap. “What did you mean by ‘every day is a day closer to getting sent away again?’”

“That’s…” I paused, struggling to find the right words. “There’s something I should’ve told you a while ago.” My blood felt cold under my skin, and my mind buzzed with a dull ache that made it difficult to think. “I told you once that I didn’t know how I got sent from one world to another. That isn’t a lie, but it isn’t the full truth, either.”

My eyes tracked around the room as I watched multiple memories play out at once. “I don’t know how it works, or why it’s happening to me, but I’ve figured out two things that cause it so far. The first one is pretty straightforward: When I die, I get sent to another world.”

Lia gasped. “You...you died?” Her eyes watered, threatening to send tears down her face at every move of her head.

I nodded. “In Hedaat. But instead of staying dead, I fell into that darkness again. And when it was all over, I was here.” The memory of my transition between worlds made me feel hollow and alone, even though I was barely an arm’s length away from Lia. “I haven’t had time to process that yet. Or the desire to, really. It might be best if those memories stay buried.”

As if she were approaching a wounded animal, Lia cautiously rose from the bed and padded to the side of my chair, never taking her eyes off of me. I continued to talk, my thoughts too clouded to notice. “I don’t remember what happened when I was sent away from my original world. It was so long ago, I only have memories of memories from that life. But Alderea…”

I was vaguely aware of the warm, soft brush of Lia’s hands holding mine. She had knelt down beside me and taken my hand, and she looked up into my eyes with tears streaming down her face. My own eyes stared vacantly through her, looking backwards to a different time. “I saved Alderea. I went on the King’s mission. I stopped the war, killed the enemy, and saved everybody.” My gaze swung over to my upturned hands, and I saw fresh blood running down between my fingers. “Almost everybody.”

There was a strange disconnect between my mind and body; it was as though I could hear myself telling the story from outside of my own head. “I hadn’t even set down Kel’s body when the darkness came. It couldn’t even give me that one moment.” I looked from my hands to the bureau in the corner where I could see my last companion standing. “Jarut couldn’t see it, but it was everywhere. Creeping up through the stones, winding around my arms and legs. I tried to warn him, but it filled my lungs and eyes to stop me.

“I saved Alderea, and the darkness took me anyway. As soon as my duty was done, it swept me away, pulled me apart, and threw me down into another world with a new problem to solve.” My voice sounded so distant and sad that it made me want to curl into a ball and cry. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.” The visions of Alderea faded away, replaced a moment later by whipping snow and rolling hills.

Something tugged at me, and I sluggishly blinked away snow to find the source. I realized I was sitting in Lia’s bedroom again, and my eyes were full of tears. “Oh. I, uh, I’m sorry. I don’t, uhm, I’m not…” I shook my head in an attempt to reorient myself, but it felt as if I was moving through some sort of viscous fluid, and it only disoriented me further.

Lia tugged at my hand again. “Come with me.”

It finally dawned on me that she was trying to lead me somewhere. “Sure,” I said, confused. I knew we were in her bedroom, but I could feel the biting winter winds on my back, and the sticky warmth of blood dripping down my hands. Unable to resist, I followed her across the room to the bed.

She pressed down gently on my shoulders. “Lie down,” she commanded, her voice barely more than a whisper. I nodded absentmindedly and complied, obeying without a thought. The mattress felt as soft as the grassy hill behind Ashedown’s forge, and the raging blizzard shifted to a sunny afternoon.

My head was shifted up momentarily, then set to rest on a comfortably soft cushion. I held out a hand to block the warm afternoon sun as I looked up, and found Amaya smiling down at me. “Hey there, beautiful. I’ve missed you,” I said lazily, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from her face.

“Lux,” she called out softly. “Lux, please.”

“Right, right,” I nodded in reply, running my hand through the grass. Nestling my head further into her lap, I yawned. “Just a minute.”

“No, I…” Her voice sounded concerned. “Elden, I need you to come back to me.”

I felt a spark at the base of my skull, and the room snapped back into focus. I was lying in bed with my head in Lia’s lap, staring up into her eyes. My heart was racing, and I could feel my arms and legs tremble uncontrollably. “Lia. I’m—” My words cut off abruptly as a sob choked me. “I, I, I’m—”

Lia brushed a hand through my hair. "It's okay. Let it out." Her free hand slid down and intertwined with mine. "I'm here with you."

I cried wordlessly into her nightgown as I processed all of the emotions built up from my momentary episode. Kel's death, my banishment to Hedaat, and my own death; each struck me in turn and brought on a new round of sobs. Through everything, Lia scratched my head in a soothing rhythm and whispered calming words into my ear.

“I’m sorry,” I croaked when I finally regained a modicum of composure. “I shouldn’t—”

“No,” she interrupted. “You should. You’re carrying so much pain,