Chapter 6


    I get out of the car, noting the time; 10:04 p.m., then draw my swords from my bag. Evaline does the same, and we head into the trees. We walk along the river in silence for a few minutes, listening to the night sounds. Eventually, we come across a fairly flat area. Evaline stands directly across from me, about five paces away. At her direction, we begin. I quickly spread my wings, which take up a good portion of the clearing, and jump in her direction. She dodges skillfully, swinging as she does so and causing me to retreat. I go on the defensive as Evaline unleashes a flurry of perfectly timed strikes that have me stepping back, without an opening to attack. I know I’m nearing the edge of the clearing, so I act fast, jumping upwards and using my wings to get out of her reach. I fly to the other side of the clearing, then land, facing her. We clash again, blows coming faster and faster each exchange, occasionally breaking apart for a moment before attacking again. I am hyper aware of everything in the clearing, especially my opponent.


    I keep swinging, unconsciously using my wings in that flowing fighting style that seems so natural ever since my Shift. Suddenly, I switch to the fighting style I was trained in, the brutally efficient, controlled strikes catching Evaline off guard. She stumbles back, but recovers quickly. We exchange for a while longer before I notice. I stop, and she has her sword at my throat in an instant, a puzzled, exhausted expression on her face. I’m panting too, but manage to tell her what I noticed.


    “We were fighting fast, and not normal, human fast. How long do you think we’ve been fighting?”


    She deliberates momentarily, “Fifteen minutes?”


    “Three, I always keep track because Tam wanted to know how good my endurance in a fight was.”


    Her eyes widen, “But that’s impossible!”


    I had noticed something else during the fight. I activate the link. The connection is deeper. I can feel her shock like it’s my own. I can feel the difference, now that it’s active. I show her the whole fight from my perspective, including the count I had been keeping. Her reply is more focused on my fighting than the count. Why are all your senses so acute during the fight? Is that just how you experience things? I’m confused by the question, and Evaline notices immediately, but I reply before she can say anything. Ever since my Shift, whenever I’m in a fight, everything is tuned up, including my reactions. I don’t know why it happens. She’s puzzled, but doesn’t say anything, so I ask the burning question. Do you know what’s going on with the link? It’s still getting stronger. I can feel her deliberation. She’s still stunned by the fact that we accidentally condensed a fifteen-minute long fight into three minutes, and I notice something while she’s thinking. Power is flowing through the link, mostly from me to her, but I can feel some coming back.


    Suddenly, the link goes dark. We’re both startled out of our reverie. I open my eyes slowly, my wings still spread wide and glowing from the magic. My eyes are glowing that same icy blue, and I briefly make eye contact with Evaline before I see it. There, in the shadows of the trees on the other side of the clearing, is a Twisted, one of the big, gorilla-like ones. It sees me, knows I see it. I summon my magic again, the link flaring back to life.


    I send Evaline a view of the creature from my perspective, then start to count down. She nods subtly. I finish the count: three, two, one, NOW! We charge at the creature, almost perfectly in sync. I attack high, using my wings to jump at its head, and Evaline swings low. I notice one of its arms has a fairly recent wound on it. I don’t waste time wondering if it’s the same Twisted, because it’s swinging a huge, clawed hand at me. I flap my wings once, gaining just enough height to dodge the blow, and Evaline slashes at the creature’s belly, just barely scoring a hit. I dive, distracting the creature, and it tries to move away. Blasts of wind batter the creature, but don’t do much. Evaline communicates through the link Keep it distracted!


    I fly up again, ready my swords, and attack. I slash with my left while dodging under an arm. I manage to scratch said arm, barely. It stays focused on me, but I can feel Evaline struggling to summon the fire portion of her magic. Suddenly, she cries out, swinging an arm wide and creating a swath of fire encircling the Twisted. I start to try and force the creature into the flames, somewhat unsuccessfully. Evaline stumbles, but catches herself. I keep fighting the creature, noticing that it’s flagging, each attack coming a little slower every time it touches the flames. Evaline has her eyes closed now, sweat beading along her forehead as she struggles to keep the ring of fire going.


    The ring of fire flickers, then resurges. I feel Evaline failing through the link as I deflect another attack. I send support the only way I know how, pulsing some of my own fire Radiance through the link. It helps, taking a little of the strain off of her. I finally land a serious blow on the creature, slicing open its left arm at the shoulder. The arm hangs useless, allowing me to attack the left side with plenty of time to avoid retaliation. The Twisted knows this, so it swings its right arm left as soon as I feint in that direction. I step inside its range, slashing with my left sword and stabbing with my right.


    I feel my left sword cut through its gut, and my right sinks into the Twisted’s side. It lets out a tortured groan, and drops its right arm, smacking into my wing, breaking the bone. I collapse, the Twisted dropping inches away from my face, my wing full of flaming agony. I lose control of my magic, pulses of my pain and Radiance flooding across the link. Evaline screams, falling over as well, then falls silent. Her scream is the last thing I hear as I sink into unconsciousness. I’m fairly certain that I’m only out for a few minutes at most, because the area around the body of the Twisted is still smoldering. I try to move, only for a fresh spike of pain from my wing to stop me.


    I bring my earth Radiance to bear, sending some along my wing. I feel the bone try to heal, but fail because my wing is still bent at an awkward angle. I struggle to my hands and knees, quivering with pain. I spread the wing as best I can, and try again. It pops back into place with a crackle, almost making me black out again from the pain. I’m able to move again, although my wing still hurts immensely.


    I stumble towards Evaline, trying to wake her through the link as I do so. It doesn’t work, so I kneel at her side, spreading my wings to focus my magic. I summon as much power as I can muster, then try to stir her, or at least elicit a reaction of some kind. It doesn’t work. I stay like that for a few minutes, trying again a couple more times, but to no avail. Eventually, I decide to carry her back to the car. I fold my wings away, then pick her up in a fireman’s carry. I look over at where the Twisted’s body should be, and do a double take. It isn’t there, but the outline of it is imprinted on the ground with a dark goop. I shrug, concluding that it would have attacked already if it could. I turn back toward the car, struggling to hold on to both Evaline and our swords.


    I trudge for what feels like hours, but it was probably only fifteen minutes. I finally see the car, and speed up. I carefully maneuver Evaline into the passenger seat, trying fruitlessly once again to wake her up. I get into the drivers side, then realize I have no idea how to drive. I look at the overwhelming amount of controls, and make the decision to figure it out in the morning. I less fall asleep, more pass out, and wake up to sunlight warming me. I look around confusedly for a few seconds before I realize where I am. I turn my scrutiny, and mental prodding to Evaline. Nothing seems to have changed. I look back at the steering wheel, all the controls still overwhelming, but less so now that I’ve rested.


    I grab the keys, insert them in the slot I noticed Evaline putting them in, and wait. I try turning them, only for the mechanism to stop me, so I turn them the other way, finally starting the car. That done, I start pressing buttons. I slowly but surely decipher the blinkers, horn, wipers, the GPS that the previous owner had installed in place of the radio, and, most importantly, how to put it in gear. I enter Houston, Texas into the GPS, put the car in gear, and creep out of the parking lot. I turn onto the interstate at the GPS robot’s direction, then hit the button I think is the cruise control. I tentatively take my foot off the gas, and the car doesn’t slow down, so I assume it worked.


    I stay on the Interstate for most of the day, stopping briefly at a rest stop around noon. I call it a day when I’m within three hours of Houston. I want to have time to figure out how to get food and water into Evaline without hurting her. I park the car in the lot at a gas station. I stay near the dark back of the lot so I can get Evaline out of the car without well-meaning citizens calling 911 on me. I get out of the car and walk around to the passenger side. I have a canteen full of water, a can of chicken broth, and no idea what to do with either. I try waking her first, but, unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work.


    I pick Evaline up and set her gently in the grass behind our parking spot. I try to use my healing magic on her, but it doesn’t work, and won’t even transfer from my skin. In fact, it seems like Evaline’s Radiance is being transferred to me. I look at the canteen and soup first, contemplating. I’m prevented from trying to give her anything by an idea. Whenever I’ve tried to wake Evaline, I’ve essentially been doing the mental equivalent of banging on the door, trying to wake her without intruding. The situation is desperate, and I make the decision to try to get into her mind to wake her. It feels wrong, but I don’t know what else to do.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    I’m definitely going to have to move Evaline back to the car, because I’ll have to close my eyes to do this, and I don’t want anyone to interrupt my efforts. I pick her up, feeling the Radiance conducting to me through her skin more now that I’m aware of it. I move her back to the passenger seat, then get in the driver’s side. I leave my door open, then spread my wings, hoping that if anyone passing by the nearly empty lot assumes they’re a tarp. I’m facing Evaline now, and bring my Radiance to bear. My eyes and wings are soon glowing with Radiance, and the link is incredibly active, but only in one direction. I slowly bring my mind across the link, to Evaline’s side, and I am dimly aware of my physical body mirroring my actions.


    ‘Knocking’ still isn’t working, so I bring my mind closer to the entrance of hers, feeling my forehead make contact with Evaline’s in the physical world. That little connection strengthens my mental Radiance tenfold. I gently try to open her defenses, trying not to damage them. Suddenly, I feel her subconscious probing my mind, and I let it in. It is a painful, somewhat intrusive experience, but eventually, I gain entrance to her mind. She’s dreaming, or at least I assume what I’m immediately sucked into is a dream. It’s a strange dream; she seems to be in a medieval ballroom, but everyone is wearing modern clothing, about half the people there are…different in some way.


    Some of them look like they’ve been through wars, some are translucent in places, others have animal body parts, one guy even has eyes on the back of his head. Even stranger, all of them are not-so-subtly staring at Evaline. Occasionally, someone will walk up to Evaline and address her as ‘My Lady’. The thing is, that’s the only thing they say before they disappear in a puff of smoke. I try to walk up to Evaline, an island in the middle of the sea of dancers. I don’t move, so I try to move my mind instead. I do move, only to be caught in the sea of dancers. Resisting doesn’t work, and I panic for a moment when one of the translucent people grabs me. They start waltzing with me in tow, and the almost unnoticeable music in the background changes to match the dance. I manage to work my way through the crowd, to the eye of the storm. I turn to Evaline, concerned that I won’t be able to wake her up.


    I begin to talk, but I only get one thing out before the dream turns me into a cloud of smoke, “Evaline-”


    She starts, and I hope it was enough to at least make her realize this is a dream. I then realize that I don’t have to stay as smoke, this is a dream after all. I picture my physical body, wings and all, and it works. I’m standing in front of Evaline, who looks extremely startled.


    “Evaline, this is a dream, you’ve been out for over a day, and I can’t wake you,” I plead.


    “I know, I can’t get out by myself,” Evaline says, hope building in her eyes, “I can, however, get out with help.”


    “What do I have to do?” I notice some of the dream-people looking over to us.


    “You should be able to free my mind by holding on to my mind as you return to your physical body, but be careful,” She’s ecstatic now that she knows I’m not another facet of the dream.


    I stand in front of dream Evaline, then touch her forehead with mine, holding on to her arms as I do so. She grasps my forearms, then speaks,


    “Ready.”


    I focus on both Evaline and my physical body at once, not something easy to do, but I manage. I bring my mind backwards across the link, just far enough that it nestles solidly in my body, then slowly let go of Evaline’s mind. I open my eyes. Evaline’s eyes are open too, reflecting the fading light from my wings and eyes. We look at each other for a while, stunned by what just happened. Eventually, Evaline gets out of the car. I get out too, stretching. I’m pretty stiff, so I assume we were both in that dream for longer than it seemed.


    I look over to Evaline, who is also stretching, and my jaw drops. Evaline is facing away from me, but turns when she feels my surprise through the link.


    “What is it?” she asks, concerned about my starstruck expression.


    I can’t do much more than show her my point of view through the link. Her expression soon matches mine as she sees the giant wings spreading out from her back. The feathers are patterned like those of the golden eagles that nested on the cliff on the edge of Tam and I’s land. I notice that her feathers are a little lighter than the eagle’s were, making them a near-perfect match to her hair. Her Radiance is surging, so I can see the glow coming from her feathers and eyes. Her feathers are shimmering silver, and her eyes glow a deep viridian. Her Radiance is trickling across the link, inscensing my power and causing my wings and eyes to glow as well.


    How did this happen? I communicate through the link.  You passed out after the fight with that Twisted, and I couldn’t use my magic to heal you. Evaline seems to deliberate for a moment. I think I passed out from a Radiance overload. Remember that day you lost control because of your encounter with that Broken One? I nod, and she continues. You had sent an immense amount of Radiance across the link, and it had filled my well of Radiance to the brim. When you sent those pulses across during the fight you overloaded my well, which, although I managed to stay conscious during the fight, knocked me out as soon as I stopped using my Radiance. I get why she was unconscious now, but something still confuses me. How did you get the wings, though? She thinks for a moment. Rarely, an overload of someone’s well of Radiance will end well, extending the overloaded person’s well and changing their Shift. Usually, the change from a successful overload isn’t nearly as extreme as this.


    She nods to her wings and I notice that, strangely enough, Evaline has a slightly smaller wingspan than I do. It isn’t enough of a difference to have an effect on flight, just enough to be noticeable. Evaline quickly reigns in her Radiance, her eyes refocusing as she stops focusing on the link. I press my magic down as well, the area suddenly becoming very dark as the glow from our wings and eyes diminishes.


    “You should learn how to fly,” I say, grinning a challenge at her.


    I know she can see me, as there is still enough moonlight to see by, but she chooses to ignore the challenge.


    “I should, as soon as possible,” she replies stoically.


    “I think your lessons should start right now, while it’s still too dark for anyone to see us,” I suggest, and she readily agrees.


    I walk out to the middle of the strip of grass edging the lot. It isn’t the most ideal place, but it’s better than hitting concrete if a mistake is made.


    “Flight is a lot gentler than you’d think, especially with wings as large as ours” I tell Evaline, pointing to a spot a little ways away from me, “More often than not, steady, somewhat short flaps are better for flying.”


    I take off, lifting slightly off the ground, hovering. Evaline tries to do the same, but flaps too hard. She rockets off the ground, and I follow, watching as she flaps a little slower. I’m still following, staying close enough to catch her if she falls, but far enough to allow her space to experiment. Soon enough, she’s steadily hovering. I look to Evaline, who looks back with a lot more confidence than I had.


    “Let’s try actually flying somewhere, instead of just sitting above this lot.”


    I stay hovering as Evaline tentatively changes to be parallel to the ground. I still don’t want to admit it, but she’s doing much better than I was the first time. Eventually, we’re flying north at a decent speed. After about an hour of this, I look east and see the sky starting to turn gray. We should turn around. I say, looking at the sky and knowing the world will be waking up soon. Evaline reluctantly agrees, and we start heading back to the car. I land in the lot, and look to Evaline, who’s still circling. I realize my mistake pretty quickly. I haven’t taught her how to land.


    All you have to do is hover, then slow down your wingbeats slightly. She does so, stumbling slightly with the landing. We both fold away our wings, and I concede the driver’s side to Evaline. We’re soon on the road again, and make it to Houston by noon. Evaline seems to know where we’re going, and I watch as the buildings become more and more neglected. Eventually, we come across a small, dilapidated parking lot. Evaline turns in, and we both get out. I grab my backpack, keeping my swords sheathed. A couple of shifty-eyed young men loitering across the street give us predatory looks, but other than that, the area is devoid of people. Evaline leads me into a dive of a bar called “Sally’s Sarsaparilla Saloon” with a cheesy, but somewhat dingy, cartoon cowgirl prominently displayed on the sign. I had genuinely expected the place housing the mystical portal to another world to be a little more…maintained, but it does blend in.


    We walk in, and it still looks like a bar. The bartender is admittedly out of the ordinary, a colossal mountain of muscle that most would be reluctant to call a man. Evaline walks through the nearly-abandoned bar like she owns the place.


    “I can feel your aura, sir, and I sense travel within you,” she murmurs, causing the man to stir with recognition.


    “How much of an adventure?” he rumbles, giving me a death glare.


    “Twice as much as you’re having here,” I reply confidently.


    I blink, wondering just how I knew that was the password for taking someone who the bartender doesn’t know with you to Auron. I look to Evaline, who’s just as startled as I am. However, we don’t have time to think about this development, because the bartender is taking us to the back of the building. We enter a small room, and I see an intricate pattern on all the walls, glowing subtly. Evaline stands in the middle of the room, and the bartender stays in the doorway. She nods to him, and he sends a blast of Radiance into the walls that flows across the room like a wave. The wave rebounds on itself, magnifying each time, until it turns into a blinding flash of light. I feel a sensation of nonexistence, then I’m falling, falling into the sands of a colossal desert.