Page 9 of When Death Called Life Home (When Deities Awaken #1)

Chapter 9

When A Nymph Screams

ALORA

T hey stopped at a cave when the night's darkness swarmed them. Sleep didn’t greet Alora straight away, her mind too full of thoughts and daydreams. Elysia triggered something that had previously laid dormant within her for the few years she could remember. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw all the creatures and brilliantly coloured flora they’d walked passed while heading for the camp. The kind that had filled her daydreams during the tea parties on Earth. The kind that had the other ladies looking at her as though she were delusional and crazy when she’d tell them about it to the extent she simply kept her mouth shut.

Now, Alora saw those ladies just didn’t have the capacity to be able to imagine what she could. Either that, or the ones that did were too afraid to admit it. How ridiculous they were, to believe life so simple, or that they were alone within their little world just because they hadn’t discovered otherwise. Alora relished in those thoughts and the unique noises of the feathered, scaled, and furred creatures alike. Allowed it to lull her into a dreamless sleep, until Kallias woke her early.

Too early.

No hint of the sun’s brilliant embers even peeked above the horizon when his hand shook her body to life. She released a small laugh into the lively, morning air and let it join the rest of nature’s sounds as she opened her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a pile of clothing better suited to their current task of trudging through a forest. A shirt and pants, from closer inspection, made from the softest type of material, weighing nothing more than a feather as she lifted them onto her lap. Alora identified the tiniest of stitches running along where seams were normally found on her own earthly clothing. However, the size meant it could only have been done by someone with either tiny, or incredibly nimble fingers. Surely not someone the same size as herself.

She glanced up as Kallias disappeared out of the cave mouth and into the shadows of the early morning. Her mood soured a little, gaze flickering back to the clothing in her lap. He must have sourced the clothing through the night, which didn’t settle her nerves considering they’d planned on her getting the clothes at the camp. Kallias didn’t come across as the kind of guy to change plans so easily. She reinforced her guards, feeding the wasps in her stomach to settle them for the time being.

Alora peeled her petticoat and stockings off, gaze constantly locked on the exit for any sign of movement. When nothing changed, she pulled her focus to the new clothing and dressed herself in them. They hugged her snuggly, moving effortlessly with each twist and bend of her body. Tan pants that almost looked like autumn leaves, with layer stitched to layer right up the length of her leg. The waistband sat just above her belly button, tucking beneath the bottom of the beige corset she couldn’t convince herself to remove. It was then that Alora discovered the pants had pockets stitched on the sides of them. Most small, but some big enough to fit her whole hand inside. A change from nearly every dress she could remember owning.

The second item of clothing could be compared to that of a capelet, only the front stopped at her pelvis while the back stopped just below her butt. It was a deep green colour, and upon closer inspection, Alora found the buttons attached were made of real wood.

She ran her fingers over the clothing once she’d put them both on, lips forming a small smile. How they’d found out her sizing, she didn’t know, but considering Nymphs were indeed real and not some myth, Alora didn’t question it. She raised an eyebrow when Kallias re-entered the cave with a pair of protective but flexible shoes that he handed her.

“I thought I was getting a change of clothing once we reached the camp?” Alora asked when he offered no form of explanation.

“The plans changed,” he responded, every bit as annoyed as she assumed he’d be. “Get the shoes on, we need to leave.”

“Someone is not a morning person,” Alora muttered as she crouched down and pulled the shoes onto her feet. It took a little work, the material like a second skin once they were on.

Kallias sent her a shiver inducing glare. “Not when I’m informed of new information that isn’t advantageous, but rather the exact opposite.”

“More threats to my life?” Alora asked sarcastically — probably a lie to make her think she needed to stay with him . “I thought we had come to an agreement that I’m very much capable of defending myself.”

“To all of our lives, Xylia and I’s included,” he snapped back. A muscle in his jaw ticked, veins in his throat copying the action as he stared her down.

“By these so-called ‘Reapers’ that we have yet to come across?” The question brought a new kind of annoyance to Kallias’ expression. A kind that Alora, herself, had experienced on many occasions back on Earth. The most recent event being when she’d been hit with the piercing screams, and confided in Rosalie. So, before Kallias formed a response, Alora added through clenched teeth, “Nevermind.”

It didn’t have the desired effect, not when the man narrowed his eyes at her and then rolled them. “Make sure you keep up.”

He stepped out of the cave mouth and Alora followed close behind. The noises that had lulled her to sleep earlier were still present now, like a chorus of nature’s song. They grew louder as she moved through the trees, drawing her attention away from the man in front of her. The forest around them constantly changed but remained exactly the same all in one breath. Almost like seeing the heat shimmer above the roads from far away, then disappear the closer she got to it. Eyes shone back at her through the cover of bushes, sharp horns peeked out from behind large boulders or fallen tree trunks. Alora found herself fixated on playing a mystical game of ‘I-spy’. So much so, she collided with a solid wall in front of her.

“Wha-.”

Kallias’ hand covered her mouth before she could finish the word. She forced it away as she turned her attention forward, further down the path they were meant to be following. The forest, however, shielded them in thick foliage. Ten metres away, Alora saw why.

A group of eight humans, or beings that appeared human, created a half circle around a nymph with green, layered leaves for hair, and slightly paler green skin.

Xylia .

Kallias’ entire body felt like a plank of wood. Alora’s brows pulled together and she nudged his side and pointed aggressively towards Xylia and the group adorned in black clothing. She only received a head shake in return, and could do nothing but fix her eyes on the scene once more. Even if she didn’t know the nymph, Alora wouldn’t want anyone to experience what she sensed about to happen.

The largest male, both in bulk and height, replaced the second largest in front of Xylia when he stepped away. The latter headed towards the edge of the small clearing, if it could be called that, but Alora saw the moment his movements slowed. His head swivelled on his shoulders and a dark gaze found her own. She couldn’t draw in a breath. Couldn’t pull precious air into her lungs.

Familiar.

Safe.

Only, the rational part of Alora’s brain told her he was anything but. The same man from the day before, the one who’d scared the serpent into the depths of the forest, whether for her benefit or his own. She didn’t know him, not how her body liked to assure her she did.

His steps slowed, enough that she swallowed thickly. A subtle shake of his head as something passed across his blank expression. A split second of loosened control before he yanked it back under control and Alora found his gaze tearing from her with a new tightness to his gait.

For whatever reason her mysterious stranger didn’t appear to want others to know about her, which she despised normally, but in this situation she would happily play along. She forced herself to return her attention to the first male. She couldn’t see his face, but the way Xylia’s gaze remained steady on only one side of it told her enough. A fiery defiance grew within Xylia’s pupils, darkening her teal irises. She clenched her jaw and braced herself as the large male reached and took hold of her leafy hair, crouching to look her directly in the eye as he plucked a leaf from the vine strands. Then another one, and another, and another. Each one dragging a flinch to the nymph’s face and tears to her eyes.

The side of the man’s face that Alora could see pulled upwards into an amused grin. His head even tilted to the side, calculating, and then he continued. His massive scarred hands grew quicker with each leaf that fell to the ground in front of him. He didn’t stop when he ran out of leaves to pluck. No, he held a hand behind him and one of the others placed a knife in it. It flipped through his fingers before he moved it to the vines, and that caused Xylia’s eyes to widen. Something she hadn’t anticipated.

“No, please,” she begged. Not once did she remove her gaze from the blade of the knife.

The man’s grin widened to show teeth. “How I love when pretty little nymphs beg.”

Xylia swallowed, tearing her gaze from the knife to meet his eyes. “Please. I’ll do anything.”

He paused, considering the offer. His eyes dropped lower, scanning over her before returning to her face. “I prefer my partners to be … less green.”

“Figured you’d be a meat eater,” Xylia muttered. Then, her face contorted in pain as she screamed.

Alora watched with a numb sensation as a vine fell to the ground, seeping sap. Her stomach clenched with the effort to not throw up, helped by the fact she hadn’t yet eaten. She couldn’t keep watching, yet she couldn’t tear her gaze away. A scream followed each soft thud of a vine hitting the ground. Her own throat mimicked the rawness Xylia had to have in hers, and with each new scream Alora’s heart cracked more and more. Each time it grew closer to shattering.

How could they not do something? Anything to help.

Alora didn’t know exactly when it happened, but Kallias pressed her into his chest, and wrapped his arms around her tightly. Her eyes squeezed closed, shielded by his body. She didn’t know how long they stood there, camouflaged and waiting, but the screams continued long after the soft thuds turned into grunts. Even Kallias stopped watching after a certain point. When everything finally grew quiet and Alora found the strength to pull away, his eyes were shut.

She forced herself to look back through the cover of the bushes and found none of the people wearing black. They’d left Xylia curled in a ball on the forest floor, her vines cut to a mere inch from her head. She bore what Alora assumed to be bruises, like the yellowing of leaves, over her body. They were concentrated around her abdomen and thighs, as well as one in the shape of a hand at her throat.

Alora’s heart cracked more into that of spiderwebbed glass, ready to explode at any second should something tap it just slightly. She shoved her way out of Kallias’ arms and through the leaves towards the nymph. Each step grew heavier until she allowed herself to drop down beside the female.

Hands shaking, Alora reached down and checked for a pulse. Did Nymphs have pulses? The question rose and disappeared in her mind when a soft tap met her fingertips from beneath the bruised skin.

“He knows you’re here.”

Alora jumped, lifting her gaze to Xylia’s face and finding her staring through glazed eyes. “What?”

“Ascian. He knows you’re here,” Xylia repeated.

“Who? How?” Too many questions bombarded the front of Alora’s mind. “Why does it even matter?”

A touch to her shoulder brought Alora’s attention up and behind her to where Kallias approached. His eyes fixed on Xylia. A sense of defeat filled every aspect of his expression, like he finally accepted a hard truth he’d been denying since she followed him through the portal.

Could what happened to Xylia have been avoided if she hadn’t followed him through? She didn’t like the answer her instincts provided.

“Kallias, what does she mean?” Alora pushed.

“This isn’t the first time you’ve been in Elysia,” he answered. “You were born here.”

The ground shifted beneath her knees and Alora splayed her hands against it to still the sensation. “Excuse me?”

Kallias moved around her and scooped his arms beneath Xylia’s body, lifting her and letting her rest against his chest. “You disappeared after an argument between the Elders put your life at risk, but must have hit your head when you went through the portal the first time.”

“You think I lost all my memories from bumping my head?” It sounded like a ridiculous accusation, and the entirely wrong thing to be focusing on. People hit their heads all the time and don’t lose the first, however many, years of their life living in a magical forest. She also didn’t believe herself to be the kind to run from an argument . Boring tea parties and courting men? Yes, but not old people arguments.

Kallias turned away from her. “That depends entirely on how you hit it, and the fact that you hit it in a portal between two different worlds. Are you coming?”

Alora pushed against the ground, slowly lifting herself and adjusting to the nausea at multiple levels before she could catch up to Kallias. All her daydreams, all the times others said she appeared spaced out when they spoke to her, had that been memories trying to return?

Her head snapped up. “It’s not just them.”

“What?”

“You were looking for me.”

Kallias didn’t comment, simply pushing on through the forest.

“Kallias, why?”

“It’s complicated enough to require my full attention to explain it,” he grunted, then added before Alora could argue, “I’ll explain when we reach the camp.”