Galena sat quietly regarding the campfire dancing merrily before her. Visions from the cave still racing through her mind, causing her to cringe with each one. She turned to look at Elenio’s sleeping face, envying him for the peace he seemed to have. She’d tried lying down, but the nightmares began and she found herself sitting up, drenched in sweat, her own screams still ringing in her ears. A lifetime would not be long enough to forget what her mind made real.
Mira warned her before she’d reached the cave what she could expect once she crossed the mouth, but even then, Galena hadn’t been fully prepared. She didn’t understand what she truly feared. The cave almost broke her. It pushed her to the very brink of madness and was about to give a final shove, causing her to enter into a void she would not have been able to return from, when Elenio saved her. Through the mental link they shared as commitment partners, he pushed her forward. Even when she begged for death to take her, he’d been there, encouraging her, pushing her harder than even the magic of the cave could have. It was only with his mind linked to hers, unable to see the horrors she beheld, was she able to find the Sword of Lumina and return to the reality of the world to which she’d been born into.
She rather hoped that once she left the confines of the cavern walls, her memories of the place would dissolve just as the bodies within did, but it wasn’t so. Unlike the stories she heard from elves who’d crossed the path of the cave and the guardian, she remembered everything in detail. Elenio hadn’t forgotten either and they both attributed this to the successful retrieval of the famed sword.
Galena shivered more from memories than the cold. She slipped from their bed and sat by the fire, savoring its warmth and light. She pulled the sword from its shabby scabbard and regarded it carefully. It looked battered and worn, much like the swords hidden beneath her childhood home used for thousands of years. However, as far as Galena knew, this couldn’t be true. She’d never heard of the Sword of Lumina being used in any great battle or any battle at all. Returning the blade to the scabbard and placing both by her pack, she wrapped her arms around her legs and continued to stare at the fire, the images of dead loved ones floating in the smoke that curled and drifted in the air above the bright flames.
Galena sighed deeply, shaking her head to clear her mind of its morbid thoughts. She knew, with no uncertainty, Mira was right on several accounts. However, one thing struck her more powerfully than the rest. The whole experience taught her what her greatest fear was and made her stronger for it. She knew she would never again watch a loved one die, not while she still had breath in her body and magic flowing through her veins. They would have to kill her first if they ever wanted to touch her family, of that she was sure.
Standing, she looked at Elenio, sleeping peacefully and surrounded by a mound of blankets from their packs. She smiled as she looked at him, her heart clinching painfully as she watched. When she’d first emerged from the hated cave Mira created, he looked shocked at her appearance. It appeared she’d been through a terrible battle, even though in her mind, she’d experienced something far worse than any battle she’d ever fought. Then relief flooded through the features on his face and she could feel them radiate through his mind as well. All she could think was that here he stood, alive and well for the most part, a fact she would never allow to change. He raced across the clearing and embraced her for the longest time until Twoit bit him rather harder than necessary on the leg, causing him to let go.
She had stood back and watched him practice a few choice words while scratching Twoit’s head until she too calmed down. Healing Elenio’s bite quickly and the other cuts and bruises he suffered as a result of wrestling with vines intent on keeping him from the cave, they decided to head out immediately. Neither of them wanted to stay anywhere near the guardian or the cursed cave. As far as Galena was concerned, if she ever came to the Western woods again, it would be too soon.
Once they stopped, Galena changed into her spare outfit and true to her word burned the clothing still covered with the blood from the bodies of her loved ones. She caused a heavy rain shower to fall on them, washing away the remains of her imagination from her face, hands, and hair. She hadn’t wanted to stop for a bath and that had been the quickest way for her to feel clean again, although the smell of death still lingered.
Sitting back down by the fireside, Galena closed her eyes, resting her head on her raised knees. She was tired. They’d been traveling for almost a week and during that time she’d only managed to sneak in a couple of hours of sleep. Those precious hours were riddled with nightmares. Haunting images of her family dying one after the other in the cave with Galena standing helplessly by as she watched their demise.
Taking a deep breath, Galena focused her thoughts on Elenio. He’d been extremely supportive ever since she had emerged from the cave. He never once asked her what she had seen, for which she was deeply grateful. She would never be able to put to words the horror her own mind had had in store for her. She realized he’d seen some of what she had, but it had not affected him the same way. He hadn’t held the body, felt the warm blood soaking into his clothes, and heard the death rattle of a last breath. He only experienced briefly, what she had been unable to escape on her own.
He wore a knowing look every time he glanced at her, making Galena more certain that to an extent, he had been there through part of the ordeal, otherwise she never would have made it through. It had been Elenio pushing her on mentally that kept her going when she wanted to lie down and die. However, she also knew in order for him to have survived what she went through, he had to have shielded himself from the full emotional scale of what she suffered. Galena realized she’d lost part of herself in that horrible cave, a part she was unsure she would ever get back. Why couldn’t it have taken the memories with it, she thought glumly to herself.
“Because it made you stronger and it will continue to make you stronger.” Galena jerked her head up and fell back all in one motion. She found herself looking up into the face of Mira, smiling sadly down at her. Anger and sorrow welled up in her as she looked at the beloved goddess. She could have been more honest with her. She could have told her exactly what she was going up against in the cave, but instead she had been vague, telling her the bare minimum.
“Now you choose to show yourself,” Galena said bitterly.
“Do not be angry with me, child. I could not tell you what I did not know. Only you know your own mind.”
Galena snorted in unbelief as she turned her head like a sulking child.
“Galena, I gave you all the tools that I could to help you survive. I told you the journey through would be more difficult than anything else you encountered. Did I lie?”
Mira’s voice was harsher than Galena could ever remember it being and unwillingly, she felt the tears spring into her eyes, feelings of shame at her words filling her. “You did. I just didn’t realize how hard it would be and still continues to be,” Galena said as she wiped the traitorous tears from her eyes. She was determined she would never cry again after her experience. She felt warm, soft fingers lifting her chin up so she was looking Mira in the eye.
“Because you have faced your own fear, there is nothing that will stand in your way now. You have defeated my greatest challenge and have the means to defeat Rau, not only with a weapon of light, but with a stronger heart and mind. I told you that you could not face the fears of Tomiro until you faced the fears that would consume your own mind and you have. You are now ready for the last battle, our last chance at freedom.”
Mira held Galena’s eyes, making her feel as if she were staring into her very soul. Her bright, green eyes held centuries within them and a peace Galena so longed for. She felt the tightness in her chest loosen and the parts of her mind and heart begin to heal. The memories were still there, but the bite that normally went with them was beginning to fade. Her breathing eased and the same peace she saw in Mira’s eyes spilled over her in wonderful waves. She experienced a weariness that only comes with a hard ordeal and sleepless nights wash over her. As they did, she felt herself falling back and drifting into a dreamless sleep.
Galena awoke to sunlight streaming in through the bare branches of the trees surrounding her. She sat up quickly and realized she was in the bed she made the night before. Elenio glanced at her from the side of the campfire and seeing she was awake resumed eating the loaf of bread he’d started. Galena blinked and tried to recall exactly how she ended up in the bed when she distinctly remembered sitting by the fire talking with Mira when she had drifted off. Try as she might, she was unable to think how she managed such a feat.
“I saw you sleeping on the ground sometime last night and brought you back to bed. You didn’t even stir,” Elenio answered her unspoken question through a mouthful of bread.
“How long have I been sleeping?” Galena asked as she stifled a yawn.
“Through most of the day. I couldn’t bear to wake you when I know you’ve had so little sleep the last several nights.” He stuffed the last piece of bread in his mouth and dusted off his hands before he stood. “Do you want me to get something for you to eat or will you grace us with your presence today?” he asked grinningly wickedly as he bowed low, his gaze never leaving her face.
She needed something to throw, but found nothing that would do damage within reach. Getting up with as much dignity as possible, she walked over to her pack and retrieved some of the food at the very bottom. She found a few crumbs of what looked like sweet bread and some minute pieces of cheese. Taking a brief moment to make more of the food so she wouldn’t completely deplete their supplies, she sat down next to the fire. She hadn’t put up the protective barriers for the last couple of nights because she knew Rau had called all things dark to Blackwell in preparation for the coming war, but now with the chill of evening settling around her, she regretted it. Taking a moment, she quickly set up the air hut and ring of fire, instantly feeling a difference in the temperature around her. Nice and cozy, she thought dryly.
“Sure, when you’re cold, you create an instant change in temperature. Don’t mind that I’ve been cold for a while.”
“Well, I am more important. Besides, you could have stirred the fire,” she said saucily to him, taking a bite of cheese as she did so. It was the first time in days she felt properly hungry. Elenio chucked a piece of wood at her for which she waved a hand carelessly, blowing it off course with the wind that she directed.
“Well, that wasn’t fair,” Elenio said, brows furrowed in disappointment.
Galena just grinned in response. She made quick work of her meal, taking care to leave enough to make more with later and shoved those pieces in her pack before she stood, brushing her backside off as she did.
“Feel like going a couple of rounds with me. I need to burn some energy if I’m going to sleep more tonight.”
“Had a good rest then?” Elenio asked, curiosity and happiness written all over his face and in his thoughts.
“A dreamless one,” Galena said, shrugging nonchalantly as she bent down to retrieve her sword. She hadn’t fought with it before and was worried that it would handle differently than her old blade. When she picked it up though, it felt natural in her hand, like an extension of her arm, which is what she had always learned a proper sword should feel like.
Twirling the blade around her and getting into her starting stance, she waited for Elenio to retrieve his own blade, smiling as he bumbled along. He grabbed his sword and striding over to her, he prepared in his own way. Not giving him a chance to land the first blow, Galena came at him immediately. Within two strokes, she found her blade at his throat while he eyed her strangely. Stepping back, she prepared to go again, only this time, waiting for him to begin their session. He came at her, moving quicker than she ever saw him move, but once again, she had him on the ground within a couple of moves, her sword pointing at his chest.
“Okay, you’re normally very difficult to beat, but you have a whole new level of quickness you didn’t have before and I’m guessing it has to do with your new blade,” he said, sitting up as Galena backed away once more. “I’m not going to be able to get the better of you no matter how many times we go around unless I have several elves helping me.”
Galena looked at the sword with new respect in her eyes. She knew the sword gave her a greater awareness of everything around her, a clearer way of thinking, but more energy as well. She noticed this as soon as she touched it in the cave. Elenio even told her she seemed to glow with a subtle light ever since she left the entrance of the cave. Apparently, there was more to this sword than she had originally gave it credit. She looked at the sword in her hand, wondering what other surprises she had in store as the owner of this infamous blade.