Eyes Opened
Adira tells Hana what had happened in the cave where the blue light led her to the necklace she now wears around her neck. She explained the energy that she came in contact with and that there was blue light energy and then there was red light energy that created the living corpses trying to kill her over the necklace.
Adira: "They're two different kinds. The blue energy felt warm, peaceful and powerful. But the red energy felt dark and scary, like their spirit had become corrupted somehow."
Hana felt uneasy hearing about all of this, and she started to wonder if Adira had just put them all in danger.
Hana: "So now we have them to worry about, the corrupted spirits?"
Adira: "I defeated the ones that came to attack me and left. I didn't see any more of them and no one chased me.
But Hana..."
Adira stands up, facing towards her.
Adira: "Something more is going on here, and I have to know what it is. I don't know why it connected to me like this, or how. I want to help our village, and I will. But I also have to figure this out."
Hana: "I'm an expert on the ancient relics of this land, if anyone can help you understand what's happening, I think it's me. I'll help you, if you wish."
Adira leans out on the log, completely fatigued, and worn out. She then lets out a tired sigh.
Adira: "Thanks."
Hana sees how much the journey took a toll on her, and thinks of what she could do to help.
Hana: "Did you eat? You must be starving."
Adira chuckles sarcastically.
Adira: "Leave it to an agriculturalist to think of food in a crisis," Adria says weakly.
Hana: "I'm going to take that as a no, and I'm just looking out for you. Let's get some food for you when we get back to the village."
Adira: "You're right. Sounds great."
Hana: "Let me take a look at that."
Adira takes her hand before Hana reaches towards her bandage on the side of her stomach. Hana locks eyes with her when she does.
Adira: "Look but don't touch. I spent all night on that patch."
Hana: "Fine. I guess you did a good job, I still recommend following up with a healer."
Adira: "I'll make note of that."
Hana: "You really should be more careful though Adira. It was honestly reckless going out there on your own. It's not your soul responsibility to take care of our tribe."
Adira: "Yeah responsibilities and all that, you all need me."
Hana: "You're one of our own, we are a community that looks after each other, don't you see?"
Adira: "Yes, and I want it to be my job to save our people."
Hana: "At what cost? That's why you need to be more careful, less risky, and smart."
Adira: "I'm plenty smart thank you."
Hana gives her a look suggesting she thought otherwise.
Adira: "So are you just going to keep insulting me or are you serious about the free meal you promised? Because explaining myself is making me hungry and it's only going to get worse."
Hana: "You're right, eat first. Then we'll talk with Chief Sida."
A tremor sound started in the distance. Hana and Adira stared at each other in confusion, and looked around to see what that sound was. They then realized it was a group of horses approaching, and then noticed that the horses were carrying some of Chief Sida's warriors.
Adira: "Oh come on... Now what?"
Adira gets herself up and Hana supports her as the warriors approach.
Adira: "Guys I swear I didn't do anything wrong this time."
One warrior approaches and starts to speak.
Kyra (Warrior): "Chief Sida is inviting you to a banquet in the Chief's Dome."
Adira: "Awesome I get a free meal after all."
Hana: "Thank you, would you be able to escort us there? Adira is badly injured and-"
Adira: "It's just a scratch.. but I wouldn't mind letting someone else do the steering."
Hana: "...And very worn out from her journey," she continues.
Kyra: "That was what we were ordered to do anyway."
Hana: "Right. Thank you."
Hana helps hand Adira with another warrior, Bowen, to get her up on a horse. Hana lifts Adira's arm over hers as Bowen takes her legs lifting her on the horse. Adira winces.
Hana: "Easy..."
Adira's eyes look down to Hana's as she carefully places her on the horse. Hana's hand brushes down her arm and leg, then rests it on Adira's thigh, staring into her eyes before turning to Bowen.
Hana: "Try to keep her as steady as you can. I'll be right behind," she refers to the warrior.
Bowen nods, and both Adira and Hana ride with the warriors back to the Chief's Dome. It's not too far of a journey; and fortunately for them, they didn't run into any complications that would delay Adira from getting the help she needed.
As they arrived, the florists organized new bouquets around the dome, which symbolizes that we are considered as her guests of honor.
They pull up through the gate and Adira is even weaker than before. Unfortunately for Adira, riding on horseback reopened her wound and she was bleeding out. Adira passes out. Thankfully Kyra was already off her horse in time to notice and catches her. Hana quickly darts in her direction.
Hana: "What happened?!" She says in a panic.
Kyra: "It's her wound, we have to get her to a healer immediately."
Sida approaches, and promptly notices the blue glowing necklace around Adira's neck.
Sida: "Come this way, mine is at the ready."
They hastily follow the Chief to her healer, Iris. Adira received medical attention just in time. Her wound was cleaned and stitched up very well. Iris inquires about the wound to Chief Sida and Hana.
Iris: "What did this to her? It's not a normal wound. Her veins around it are black and have risen."
Hana: "She was attacked by corrupted spirits. She said that they were formed by dark energy."
Iris: "And that blue necklace that she came with... Why is it glowing like that?"
Hana: "Adira said that the light is peaceful and calm energy."
Iris: "I have an idea. We might be in luck if I can figure out how to use it, maybe it has healing properties."
Iris tries to remove her necklace, but then the glowing stopped.
Iris: "Wait what?"
Sida: "I think the energy flows through her now Iris, but I think it's activated through the stone. This is going to require her to train to use it. You've done all that you can for her, for now. I'm going to get her some food."
Sida exits and goes to the kitchen quarters. Iris looks at Adira laying there, wishing she could do more. Hana puts a hand on Iris's shoulder.
Hana: "Thank you for everything, she'll be okay. I know it."
Iris: "I hope you're right. I need a break."
Hana: "Okay, I'll stay with her."
Hana pulls up a chair next to Adira's bedside, worried. She prays to the stars, hoping Adira will make it through this, hoping she will get her strength back. Hana's eyes study Adira, laying peacefully there. She looks at her face, her nose and lips, her chin, and her jaw to her ears, her lashes as they gently lay on her lid with her eyes closed. She watches intently, hoping for any sign, anything that tells Hana she's okay. Hana stares at Adira's long dark brown hair and sees her little braid from the side of her hair that Iris kept, but the rest of Adira's hair was undone.
Adira opens her eyes after resting, and sees Hana sitting beside her. Adira notices that she's not in her bed, but in the healer's, which means she was dosed with strong remedies to remove her pain, make her slow, fuzzy and not able to complete her mission anymore.
Adira: "You...."
Hana: "I wanted... I'm checking to see if... Are you okay?"
Adira rolls her head on the other side and groans.
Adira: "Ugghhh..."
Hana: "It's just going to be for a little while."
Adira: "Mmm."
Hana: "I'll let you rest then."
Adira reaches out and touches Hana's hand before she moves away.
Adira: "Thank you."
Hana: "Sure thing," she says with a smile on her face, almost blushing.
Sida: "Am I interrupting?"
Hana: "I was just leaving."
It was as if Hana had been caught red handed, but it's not like she did anything wrong. Sida smiles at her and Adira. Sida comes in the room holding a small pot of food wrapped in a towel.
Sida: "My chef created a healing stew with medicinal properties, and I hear it's delicious. Thanks for checking on her Hana, I'll take it from here. If you wouldn't mind doing me a favor though, could you gather the texts you found on that light? I'd like us to compare it to what Adira found."
Hana: "Yes my Chief."
Hana leaves and goes back to her hut where the ancient texts are.
Sida: "How are you feeling?"
Adira: "Nothing. I feel nothing. I can't move anything except for my lips," she says impatiently.
Sida: "Yeah, Iris makes a very strong brew. I know it can be a little... unsettling. It does help though."
Sida proceeds to feed Adira. The food actually helps unbind her body and gives her more strength, and Sida was right, it was so good. Adira then grabs the bowl and scarfs down the rest.
Sida smiles at her trying not to laugh, but it was really humorous.
Sida: "I need to show you something."
Adira sharply stares at Chief Sida as she reaches for her blanket.
Sida: "Bear with me Adira, take a look."
Chief Sida folds back her blanket to reveal her stomach. Adira backs away into her pillow and almost chokes as she freaks out from her black veins near the stitches around her wound.
Sida: "We're going to fix it. There's something else I need to show you."
Adira looks shocked in disbelief and panicked at the chief even more as she says that. Sida looks straight into Adira's eyes and clearly walks her through what she's about to say, and do.
Sida: "Iris tried to see if she could use the necklace to heal you, because the stone in there carries light energy, the opposite of dark energy. Light does defeat the darkness Adira, I imagine you figured that out when you had to battle the corrupted spirits. But it didn't work with Iris. Iris hasn't combined her living light inside her to the stone's energy, like you have."
Adira just looks at her without saying a word, barely even taking a breath. Adira was looking for more of an explanation. Everyone knows the chief is extremely smart, carried through her ancestry with the wisdom they shared through generations. This was more unexpected to Adira though. Adira almost became angry at what Sida knew that she didn't, and that it's happening to her without even asking for it.
Sida: "There is a mantra I need you to learn, for you to be able to harness the energy. You're going to have to learn how to meditate in order to do it."
This makes Adira angrier, well more annoyed really. Adira doesn't meditate, she doesn't even believe in meditation. You get things done by working hard on it with your own two hands and brain.
Sida: "I'm going to ask you to trust me, and believe in me."
Adira's face softens, because, she does. She always has. She never had a reason not to.
Adira: "I do."
Adira knew nothing good was going to come from being resentful or belligerent to what she needs to do in order to help her heal. So she released her tension, and started to focus.
Sida speaks the mantra for Adira to learn. Adira practices to herself, closes her eyes, and takes the crystal she has on the necklace around her neck in her hands and repeats the Mantra:
Adira: "Ada sama karena anda jiwa qi api"
This translates to: To be one with you, spirit of life, energy of light.
The crystal in her hand now glows even more as she keeps saying it, and Adira's veins start to glow light blue. The light running through Adira's body now travels towards the black veins around her stomach's wound. The light energy begins transferring the dark energy into light energy, until the darkness around Adira's wound is completely transferred.
Adira opens her eyes.