Cerena's Song 2: The Amulet's Curse - Part Eight

     We take a moment to breathe, diving behind a crumbled wall of one of my former neighbors. The squid swiftly glides by us, flinging even more sand into our faces and forcing me into a coughing fit. Cayn glances over at me and for the first time in my life I see terror in his light green eyes.

     “We shouldn’t have come,” I whisper, exhausted. “It was stupid. I never should have asked you to do this.”

     Cayn shakes his head and takes a moment to catch his breath. “We will get out of this. It’s only a squid.”

     “A squid the size of a house,” I add.

     “Minor details,” he says, smiling. “Are you ready to go again? I believe the pathway is just a few yards away, and I don’t see the squid anywhere nearby.”

     I sigh and shrug. “Might as well get it over with.” He stands up, takes my hand to help me up, and then we cautiously step back over the barrier.

     “One... Two... Three!” he shouts, and we once again run in the direction we believe the pathway is. Cayn holds the flask out in front of us, the light just barely illuminating a few feet in front, and everything is clear the first few yards. Suddenly, the light reveals the giant, angry eye of the titanic squid and I let out a scream as we both skid to a halt.

     The squid lunges, and Cayn shoves me out of the way, taking the full force of the animal. I gasp in horror as Cayn hits the ground, knocked completely unconscious. I run to his side, trying desperately to shake him awake, and look up just in time to see one giant tentacle reaching toward us. Quickly, I grab the Flask of Liquid Sunlight and tear the cap off, releasing a giant bolt of light straight into the eye of the squid. It lets out a roar of pain as it flees off into the depths of the ocean.

     I collapse onto the ground, putting the lid quickly back on to save whatever is left inside the flask. A small amount still glows, barely enough to see a foot in front of me, but it is better than nothing. I lay the flask on the ground and turn my attention back to my friend.

     “Cayn, come on, Cayn, please wake up.” I continue to shake him, checking to make sure he’s still breathing. “Wake up! We didn’t come all this way for you to die from a squid!”

     His eyelid quivers slightly, and he slowly opens them up, blinking a few times and smiling. A wave of relief runs through me. “Ouch,” he says, laughing, “who knew squids were so strong? I thought they were kind of squishy.”

     I laugh, pulling him into an embrace. “Oh, shut up.”

     He reaches out for the flask and shakes it a bit, the remaining sunlight flowing around inside. “What happened to all the light?”

     “I... um... shot it into the squid’s eye.”

     He snickers again, sitting up straight. “Well, thank you. I might just have to ask Kelpbeard to make you a soldier.”

     This time I help him up, and after he regains his balance, he picks the flask up and we make our way to the pathway. After we finally reach it we start our long ascent back to the top. However, this time we move a lot slower, as our light source has been dramatically reduced and we don’t want to make any false moves and injure ourselves. We are far too weak to swim, and swimming is normally tiring as it is.

     It seems like we have been walking for hours, slowly trekking up the endless pathway, and my legs feel like they are about to give in when the water begins to lighten a bit, indicating that we are finally approaching sunlight. I smile through my exhaustion and can’t wait to be back in warmer water.

     By the time we reach the very top, there is a significant amount of sunlight shining through the water upon us and we both collapse onto the sand, closing our eyes and trying our hardest not to fall asleep then and there. “What time do you think it is?” I ask Cayn, dropping my head to the side to look at him.

     It takes him a moment to respond, clearly enjoying the rest. “I’m not sure, but it looks as though the sun is about to go down. We were down there for quite a while.”

     “Perfect,” I sigh, “more darkness is exactly what I need right now.” I attempt to sit back up and groan, the pain in my legs really hitting me hard.

     “We should probably get back to Maraqua before it gets too late,” Cayn says, joining me in a sitting position and wincing from the pain as well. “I could use a nice long rest.”

     We rise from the sand and Cayn picks up the flask once more, for it’s sure to get dark by the time we reach Maraqua again. Much like the ascent up the cliff, we don’t say much the whole way back, mostly from sheer exhaustion. I glance over at him as we walk; amazed at how in such a short period of time I have gone from hating being in the same area as Cayn to genuinely wanting to be his friend. I guess I never really took the time to get to know him and judged him strictly from the arrogant front he put up. I realize now that he was just trying to make himself look authoritative, but beneath all the armor there is an actual caring soul. Why else would he have taken me on such a dangerous mission, when he didn’t even know why he was coming in the first place?

     He turns his attention on me and I smile, but quickly drop my gaze down to the ground. Maybe I never realized there was more to Cayn because I just couldn’t stop living in the past. I had been feeling so sorry for myself, for everything I went through, that I never bothered to open my eyes to what was around me. My new home, the Maraquans I now lived with; I never even cared to get to know my neighbors because they weren’t a part of my old life. I am the one shutting everything out. How could I be so cold?

     “Is everything alright?” Cayn asks, bringing me out of my thoughts.

     “I’m fine,” I answer. He looks at me like he doesn’t believe me. “I just, I’m sorry.”

     He stops walking and turns to face me, confused. “You’re sorry? For what?”

     “For being such a jerk,” I answer, looking up at him cautiously. “I feel like I have been living in a nightmare these past few years. It started out as one, but I see now that I have been the one to continue it by not letting anybody back into my life.”

     He stares at me for a moment and then takes a step closer, wrapping his arms around me. “It’s alright,” he says, “you’ve been through a lot. I don’t blame you.”

     “There’s still no excuse-“

     “Stop,” he interrupts, letting go of the embrace. “It’s never too late to fix it. We will go back to Maraqua and you can start over... put everything behind you.”

     I nod, smiling. “I hope so. Thank you, Cayn.” I turn to head back toward Maraqua, the coral studded buildings in the distance, my home. “I’m glad we’re friends.”

     “Me too,” he says, following behind.

     We walk through the gates of Maraqua, and though I finally feel at home in this city for once in my life, I know that that feeling won’t last long. I reach back into my pocket, feel the paper we rescued from the rubble with the spell on it, and I am filled with fear thinking about what I am going to do.

     ***

     I awake the next afternoon from a long, restless night to a knock at my door. I quickly make myself presentable and find Cayn standing there outside my house. “I came to see what crazy thing you were planning on doing now that you have the spell, and I wanted to make sure you didn’t go without me.”

     “Cayn, please,” I tell him, walking back into my home, “you can’t come this time. I really don’t know what is going to happen but it could be dangerous.”

     “Dangerous? You and I just took a journey down into some abysmal trench to a ruined city and fought off a giant squid. I’m sure I can handle whatever else you are about to do.”

     “It’s not like that, Cayn.” I gather my supplies that I had setting out on the table for my mission and turn to face him. “You don’t know what she can do. I’m the only one who is safe, as long as I have this.” I gesture to the necklace and brush past him.

     We step out of my house, Cayn still persisting on following me, and not ten feet into the center of town we hear a high pitched voice off to the side. “Jeanine! Cayn! You’re back!” I groan, recognizing the voice at once.

     “Amelia, it’s good to see you!” Cayn yells excitedly. A few Maraquans slow down on their commute to watch as Amelia runs through the streets toward us.

     “Jeanine! Jeanine! Please tell me you’ve found him!” She reaches me and grabs my shoulders, looking my straight in the eyes. “Did you manage to give him my letter? Oh, please tell me what he said! I need to hear it!”

     “Amelia, I haven’t...” I pause, pulling the paper out of my pocket and handing it back to her. She looks at me, hurt. “I’m so sorry... Cayn, Amelia, please don’t follow me. I can’t risk losing anyone else. I’m sorry. I need to go.” With that, I turn and take off running to the outskirts of Maraqua. To Cerena. To finish it.

     Amelia and Cayn stand together in the center of town, the crowd of spectators finally dispersing. Amelia looks as though she is about to sob and unravels her letter to read it once more. “Wait, what is this?” she asks, fighting back tears. “This isn’t my letter; it’s just some weird mess of words!”

     Cayn takes the paper from her and glances at it. “Uh oh,” he says, beginning to walk in the direction of the gates as well. “Sorry, Jeanine, looks like I’m coming after all.”

     “Wait for me!” Amelia yells, hurrying after.

To be continued...