Illumin0sity

Journey to the East

Elann said him sparing her the pain in his body felt good, and so he felt as if it was a good thing to do that it was and exception to the rule he encouraged. There was a disappointment in him when she said he had to stay there another night. He knew it was probably for the reasons she listed before she said them, but it didn’t mean he wanted to be there any longer. At the same time, he didn’t want to go through the ordeal of getting out of the wagon. That would be a pain and he knew it. “Okay,” he dragged with nothing else to say.

Noah watched her sit down, facing him with the bowl in her lap. He listened to her words quietly, opening his bond again to give her his pain and feelings. At that point all there were was the pain in him that was become more annoying that debilitating because he was resting. When he moved it would probably ache all the more and would draw a reaction from him. As it were now though, he didn’t seem exactly bothered. The pain was just what it was at that point. The saddest part about it was that he was barred from shifting until he was healed. It was nearly depressing.

Noah scooted on the bench, facing stuck in a wince as he moved, until he settled on a point he could lie down again. He decided to lie on his stomach, not wanting to scrape his back against the wooden bench. He pulled the blanket up a bit to the mid of his back, his ankles exposed at the bottom, but his thighs, behind, and lower back were covered. His head was turned towards Elann, his unafflicted arm dangling off the edge, fingers playing sparingly along the floor.

“Thank you for bringing me food,” he said after a quiet moment on his part.

The Kelvic was bored and disappointed that he couldn’t do much of anything outside of lying around. He didn’t do well with immobility. Even if it was done to himself, it was almost always under the motivation of intense focus on a task. Here, he had nothing to do; it was easy to go through doubts in his mind in this state. There wasn’t anything to do but think and dwell.

Journey to the East

Noah nodded to Elann as she left, fingers of his left hand playing on his lips where she had kissed him. He watched her as she left from the wagon, stepping down and moving slowly from there on out. In her absence he tested his mobility. He could stand, he knew that because his legs weren’t aching or afflicted like his upper body. It was just that standing and walking would jostle everything on top. Bending was difficult and he was almost forced to sit up straight at the cost of a constant ache in his back. Using his upper arms was nearly impossible without pain in the middle of his shoulder blades. His right arm had been slashed on the outward facing side and so any muscle movement there was annoying to deal with as it effected his ribcage on the right. He found that using his arms below the elbow was fine and could be done with minor annoyance.

Elann came back with food and Noah could smell it before she arrived. He could see her discomfort in movements clearer now. He didn’t consider that he was transferring all his pain to her, the thought slipping from his mind in his own consideration for himself. Not liking the whimper, she made, he dulled the transmission to spare her, thinking this instance was an exception to their established rule. Afterwards, he hummed in agreement to Elann’s words on Aimee.

“I saw her,” he admitted since Elann had seen the wolf as well. “She’ll be back in a little bit.” Noah spoke confidently, believing he understood his sister’s behavior and could predict it.

When it came to his feeding, Noah let Elann bring the first few pieces of steak to his mouth. Though he got easily annoyed with himself for not being able to do it. He didn’t like feeling useless and voiced it, asking if she could just put the pieces into his left hand so he feed himself. There was some strain in his first movements as he tested his maneuverability with it. Even if she directly hesitated in letting him feed himself, he would insist with a silent look that said as much. Regardless of how much love and gentleness she put into her willful feeding of him, it would annoy him because of the handicap he had. He had been in the care of people all day, strangers to him at that, and so he wanted to feed himself to some degree. Aside from the bear steak that took effort to chew, Noah didn’t much want the soup being spooned into his mouth either.

“I don’t want anymore,” he finally said when he felt his stomach approaching fullness. “Am I supposed to stay here tonight?” he asked afterwards, wiping the bottom of his chin with his left hand.

Journey to the East

Noah listened for Alena’s footfalls until he couldn’t hear them any longer, too muffled to hear over the rest of the activity outside. Noah enjoyed the little girl’s company, and deeply appreciated her fearlessness and fascination with him. They shared the same interest in one another, Noah seeing her as a child writhe with innocence, and Alena seeing him as a Kelvic harboring an insane ability to shift between animal and man. He was almost glad that he had been grounded because he would get to see her more. He did hope he wasn’t as in such bad shape too. He wouldn’t be able to play with her like Aimee did because of his injuries.

Elann’s touch on his cheek brought his attention away from the open wagon’s back and to her. He turned, looking over at her with question in his eyes. She didn’t speak at first but hs attention didn’t retract. It stayed, able to enjoy her hand as it coursed through his hair. Her sigh was curious and sounded weighted in his opinion. Then her question came asking if he wanted her to stay with him or get food for him. Truthfully, the Kelvic was hungry. He hadn’t eaten and had been through a lot that day. Elann had been through the same ordeal, but her would be attacker was slain by a divine energy before she was touched, and her god managed to ward off the attack of another goddess.

Noah shrugged at first, unsure of what he wanted. “I’m really hungry,” he admitted guiltily in the next breath. He sat on the bench with the blanket over his lap and his hands over it. He played with the fabric, bunching it up in his hands to release and do again, waiting for Elann’s reaction to his admittance. “Could you come back and eat with me?” he asked in brief, curiously.

Journey to the East

Noah couldn’t drift back to sleep with the constantly jostling wagon. He tried to use Elann’s presence and scent to act as his aid for sleep, but it didn’t come. Despite the drugs in his system and numbing the outward facing bits of his wound, there was an internal pain that wasn’t shaken. Elann’s breaths were deeper than Noah’s, his still shallow for fear of harming himself with deeply taken breaths. They probably weren’t going to hurt as much now that he had been healed, but the few he took while he was conscious on the riverbank were enough to scar him from trying in that moment.

He took a breath as the caravan struck a deeper rut in the road. That breath was expelled through clenched teeth as he winced and whined lowly in his pain. Elann’s touch in his hair and her quiet humming took place of the little girl whose name he had yet to learn. It was easy to be grateful and thankful for the little girl who had come to him despite his growling and protest of being healed. It seemed she saw through it to him, and saw the whimpering and frightful beast that was lying there. Elann probably saw through it the same way, but their fight was still very fresh in his mind and the shutting off of his moods was a heavily weighted thing in his subconscious.

Eventually, he drifted back off until the caravan trip came to an end for the night. Emery came to administer more medicine to the groggy Kelvic who took them without protest. He was wakeful after Emery treated him again and his stirring brought the little girl to life. She was, like him, tired and groggy, yet cute all the same. Her big eyes and tiny toothed smile brought the smallest one to his face. He had sat up in preparation to move from the wagon to the tent grounds. Elann sat on his right, if she still sat upon their stopping, and the girl sat on his left.

“Hi,” she said shyly in her tiny, sleep choked voice.

“Hello,” he chimed back. He was willing to forsake the pain in his side to seem cheerful for the girl, and it wasn’t all in façade either. Her permanent cheerfulness was contagious, and though she smiled shyly because of Noah’s unrelenting gaze, he smiled slightly in quiet happiness.

“My name is Alena,” she said quietly.

“Alena,” he repeated in a whisper.

“What’s yours?” she asked curiously.

“Noah.”

“Nice to meet you, mister Noah,” Alena happily said. “Do you feel better?”

“A little,” he answered, nodding some.

She nodded too, humming goodly. Her smile still showed, and Noah’s hand slowly came up to the girl’s face, pushing her dark hair behind her ear. Her hair wasn’t tamed yet, having just woken up, but it was an obvious gesture of care done from Noah’s end. They said their goodbyes with the Alena’s mother called for her to leave Noah alone to rest and to help set up their tent for the evening. “See you later, mister Noah,” she said before leaving. He waved goodbye to her as she jumped down playfully from the wagon’s back, landing with a soft thud that turned into more thudding as she ran off towards the clearing they were setting up tents in for the night.

Journey to the East

Noah’s eyes searched groggily while his fingers lifted weakly. The bearings that usually came to him soon after waking were not there and he thought something else was direly wrong, thus the fear came to him instinctually. As he stirred, Elann’s voice came and brought his eyes up a little more to find her lips, the first thing that came into focus. Next came the rest of her face and then the muddlement of her words dissipated. He didn’t hear her warning of him to not get up, nor did he hear her saying he needed to rest more. It was the tone of her voice that drew him to seek her out and the feelings that came to his bond that dispelled the panging loneliness and fear. He wouldn’t try to get up regardless, not wanting to put himself through the torture of moving. If that wasn’t enough, he was too discombobulated to even process getting up.

The most movement he did was to drink from the water, sipping thirsty to quell the dryness of his throat. It was a minor discomfort to him in comparison to the ache in his side and back, but it was a discomfort he wanted no part of. After he was done drinking his head settled back on her lap, turning to look off the edge of the bench to where he could hear the little girl’s heavy breathing. He couldn’t see her but could see the edge of her pallet on the floor. His hand slipped off the edge of the bench and swayed downward, landing gently on the girl’s arm. It was more in reassurance that she was real and not an apparition imagined during his state of distress.

Now confirmed, his hand crept back up to his side and slid underneath the blanket. He turned on his left side afterwards, a slight groan of discomfort coming from him as he turned to face Elann with his body. Next, his hands crept up to grasp at the loose cloth of her dress. There was a vague dizziness about his head that he didn’t like, used to having it clear and fogless. Because of it, he was turning towards a physical manifestation of his comfort, Elann, quiet the entire time. He was awake, eyes closed, but didn’t have words.

Journey to the East

Though his sleep was shallow, he was unwaking. He thrust his subconscious trust into the girl and her warm touches. There was a shift in the air flow as Noah was disconnected from the outside at the closing of the flap. He could hear the murmuring voices of the people outside that only grew duller once the flap was closed entirely. It was then that his bondmate drifted from him, herded out by another moving presence that Noah assumed was the doctor’s wife. Warmth stayed around him despite the loss of blood and he found himself entirely within the care of the doctor and his daughter, though she wasn’t doing much. The girl’s quiet shushing could be heard just barely whenever Noah’s face contorted in an unconscious wince.

Noah did not know how long he was being operated on, but at some point he felt the doctor’s hovering presence slip away. The little girl’s didn’t waver though, the soft stroking of his face continued as they held hands, Noah on the bench and her kneeling on the wagon floor. It seemed she did not wish to budge either, only moving to help her mother drape the naked man in blankets after his surgery was done. Soon the wagons starting to move woke him slightly, but his slitted eyes met the girl’s deep innocent ones. She gave him a look of assuring, that he had survived the ordeal and now her father was done treating him. All he had to do was rest now was what the look said, and so Noah rested, falling back to sleep to the slow rhythm of the wagon rocking.

He was unsure if Elann was in the wagon with him, but his steady waking and sleeping happened every few minutes. She would be able to tell when he was conscious because their bond would buzz with his quiet activity, though he wouldn’t open his eyes. If anything it was a brief assessment of the world around him before he slipped away again.

Three hours after his already three-hour long operation, Noah finally stirred in full, opening his mouth to groan dryly. The pain in his body was apparently seen on his face, the creasing brow and cracking eyes whose irises searched for someone familiar. He didn’t spot the girl immediately, the ordeal apparently taking a toll on her as well because her mother had put her down for a nap. He swallowed dryly and whimpered through a closed mouth the next time. His hand moved, fingers searching blindly for something to grasp in his sudden sense of fear and loneliness.

Journey to the East

Noah attempted to be ginger with his talons when they came down on Elann’s bracers. He wasn’t sure on the material but it looked thick enough to withstand the deadly points. The thing was, his grip wasn’t as sure when she hoisted him up and brought the wrapped eagle into her warmth. His own wasn’t fleeting, but there was a sure weakness in him. Usually it didn’t take any energy to shift between the forms, but when he was laden with an affliction, it was difficult to put himself through the bodily changes. It was the same as a Kelvic woman being pregnant, in a way. Towards the end of her pregnancy she wouldn’t be able to shift without risking miscarriage; an affliction or injury nearly handicapped them.

Towards the camp they went and Noah noticed Elann had forsaken her bow for his sake. It was a sad thing to see, yet there was no time to delay. Zulrav was above watching Elann with his Stormwarden carefully, or watching Noah’s condition as his Benshiran partner trekked hurriedly through the wood and onto the road. In this moment he was but a silent observer, near powerless to help his warden because life was not within his domain of control. He held the winds, the storms, and the sounds of thunder, not life.

The eagle heard Elann speaking to the slowing caravan and knew that aid would come to him relatively soon. He remained passive in the moment, partly afraid to do anything, but also knowing that he could not help himself. In the next moments Elann called to a man named Emery and mentioned Noah. The Kelvic listened to their exchange of information as Elann gave the briefest and most direct summary of what had happened. The mighty eagle had been felled and was now under the care of a doctor he didn’t know. He supposed it wasn’t entirely different from Devi, and that calmed him slightly. Attempting to compare this situation to the last time he was gravely injured didn’t entirely quell the anxiety within him however.

Elann set him down and Noah assumed he was supposed to shift again. Instead of shifting right away Noah looked at the doctor with a wary gaze. His eyes flicked between Elann, the doctor, and his daughter. Devi had treated him to the best of her ability in this form and so he had assumed this one could as well. After his own consideration, Noah willed himself to transform another time, unsure of what the suddenly taxing action would entail for him.

The transformation happened at the same slow pace as Noah forced himself through it. When the white dispelled and his human form sat on the bench, Emery looked over his wounds under Noah’s careful eyes. Emery called upon his wife to fetch his medicines, tools, and poultices as he maneuvered the Kelvic into a semi-comfortable position on the bench. First, he was placed on his left side so that Emery could address the most serious wound on the Kelvic’s right side along his ribcage. The flesh was mangled and torn once the blood was cleaned away. Noah didn’t have a problem with the cleaning, it was when the wound was being touched did he react in a low but aggressive growl produced in the barrel of his chest.

Emery had slowed at first, making sure that it was okay to proceed before doing so. Noah calmed when his eyes set upon the doctor’s child, a young girl that he had seen Aimee playing with before. Though the mother was seemingly afraid of Noah and his reactions, the girl was fascinated and the eagle could plainly see that. As her father worked, she approached Noah against the wishes of her mother and father.

“It’s okay,” she assured Noah quietly, reaching her hand up to place her small one into Noah’s. “My daddy’s a good doctor.” She smiled despite the situation and nodded to affirm the answer though Noah didn’t outwardly question it.

There was something in the girl that Noah saw and aligned with. Perhaps it was that they were the same age, though appearances could hardly denote that, or perhaps it was her fascination for him that was innocent. She held his hand by the thumb and he held hers weakly, a look of pained concentration on his face that softened the longer the girl was there tending to him. He let out a small stifled grunt that the girl shushed caringly. Her other hand came up to place warm fingers on Noah’s cheek, where they stroked delicately.

Sometime during the procedure and cleaning he slipped away into a lightly breathing state of unconsciousness, the girl’s warmth and smell acting as an anesthesia of sorts. While she had come up to him, he didn’t have any strong emotions radiating towards the girl. All he could focus on beforehand was the pain in his side and back and the doctor probing around to fix him. The girl brought a calm to him and that was seemingly it. For the duration of the procedure she stayed near Noah, holding his hand loosely with one of hers and stroking his face with the other.

Journey to the East

Thankfully Elann wasn’t overwhelming him with any heightened emotions. In this state he wasn’t sure if he could take her intensity, not without it working at his own intended calm for the situation. There was, however, a surging of emotion as Elann studied his wounds. She wasn’t the only one remembering the last time he had been hurt. He wasn’t going to dwell on it though. That was in the past, this was now, and now, as she said, he was bleeding badly. Her pointing it out made him look down at his side again and he nodded once to her to agree. He looked back up to see her shedding her furs and then stripping her shirt.

Noah took a staggering breath at her asking if he could shift again. The pain in shifting would be tremendous now that he was calm and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to will himself through that. It was easier to be injured and heal in one form than switching between the two. Shifting to his smaller form would be easier than coming back into this, but this was what healers were used to, but it would be easier to transport him as an eagle.

“Okay,” he said hesitantly, knowing the risks in his shifting.

He exhaled then forced himself through the process again, calling upon the magic in his soul. At this close range Elann could clearly see the full process of the shifting. There were no bones moving involved but his pale skin grew whiter and more vibrant until he began to shrink, all the while what couldn’t be changed into the structure of a bird was shed away and turned into the whimsical dust that surrounded him. The process was much slower than before as he bore through the pain of it. Noah came out on the other side three feet shorter and several pounds lighter, donned with feathers. The side effect of it was his dizziness.

He was passive to Elann’s touches afterwards, not doing as much as cooing in his discomfort. He barely squirmed even, just there to be manipulated with relative ease.

Journey to the East

Noah was glad that his lower body hadn’t been injured in anyway. It meant he could walk, albeit with some pain as his body would jumble and irritate the wounds. He wouldn’t be able to fly without a great deal of pain as it were, and so he would be grounded. That alone was enough to make the situation all the worse. He was thankful that Zulrav had interfered and didn’t blame his deity for taking as long as it did. It wasn’t a clear shot for Zulrav to make, the lightning being as random and volatile as it could be. Smote, Noah’s adversary was no more.

The grounded eagle looked at his right side, the heat of his trickling blood drawing his attention. The wound in his ribcage was worse than his back, probably because he had jerked away from the falcon when the talons were digging in him. It must’ve been how his prey felt, he deduced sourly. His hands were covered with sand and he knew better than to directly touch the wound in this state, but the bleeding wasn’t slowing quickly enough for him and it only hurt. His breaths were taken sparingly as the adrenaline died, any stretch of his lungs against his ribs sent growing waves of pain until he exhaled.

Noah looked to the sky and noted the still rolling thunder as Zulrav sent cool breezes over him. He kind of nodded to the sky to say he was okay because that’s what Zulrav was asking. As if relieved, the storming deity sent another, low rumble of thunder through the skies. Noah then looked to his left, splashing in the water catching his attention. At first he thought it was something else coming after him, to which his heart skipped a beat because he’d be dead for sure. He didn’t know if he had any fight left in him, but it was Elann. He let out a breath of relief, quieting his fear of the unknown because it was actually something, or someone, he thought he knew well.

Noah didn’t want to fill his lungs enough to yell back so he just nodded. His quietly buzzing end of the bond would tell that he was okay emotionally, but the pain burning in his side and back told of his injuries. Already he was sure that the red on his fair skin was an indicator that he was bleeding. He waited until Elann was closer and upon him to answer her question.

“A falcon,” he said in brief, wincing at the pain the taken breaths did to his side. “This is its territory… I am… trespassing.” He swallowed the iron tasting spit in his mouth and let out a more ragged breath. “I’m okay,” he tried to assure.

Noah didn’t want Elann to get frantic or freak out. The thing he wanted right now was her to resemble his calm in the situation. It was a part of his life, this situation, and he had been in it before. It wasn’t as bad as the mangling done to his leg by the jaws of a wolf, so he felt much calmer now than he did then. Another difference in the situations was that he didn’t have Devi to heal him this time, just Elann, and whatever healer was present at the caravan.

Noah grit and bore through the burning in his side, his tolerance for pain being considerable and was probably chalked up to dire blood flowing out of his body. He was primarily concerned about his situation and wanting to get out of it. If there was one thing that mankind new how to do it was take care of the wounded, and it was one of the few things he was appreciative of. The concern for himself overshadowed any concern he had for Elann at the moment because she had been saved by her deity. There was a sense of uselessness in him emotionally, but the physical stinging was at the fore.

Journey to the East

Noah only called out once in his defense and the falcon completely ignored the call though it was understood. There was blood in the falcon’s eyes and if Noah wouldn’t leave its area, its skies, it had the full mind of ending the eagle’s life regardless of it being the bigger bird. The falcon used its speedy advantage greatly and constantly beat at Noah with its wings and scratching talons. Each time Noah was able to deflect a blow, or lessen it, but he knew he couldn’t keep up with the falcon forever. It didn’t help his situation that there was another panic in him that was of Elann’s creation following a roar the rocked the area. The birds roosting in the trees watching the aerial altercation suddenly were thrown into the sky as they cried out in mounting fear, a fear that only made Noah’s stomach sink all the more.

The eagle rolled in the air to deflect another blow from the falcon who disappeared into the openness again. Noah flew over the treetops towards the river in an attempt to escape and also figure out the source of the roaring. That was when an unfathomable and painful wretch came to his chest and entire being. His sights were ripped entirely away from searching and pinpointed themselves on Elann and the bear charging her. Panicked, Noah cried out in useless fear. He immediately shifted his position but exposed himself entirely to the falcon’s next incoming assault. His worry for his bondmate superseded his own safety and it wasn’t until the falcon’s talons were digging into his back, raking at him, did he continue to realize he was in trouble as well.

Noah buckled in the air, sharp pain shooting through his body from the center of his back. His wings faltered and the wind that was beneath was suddenly gone all in the briefest of moments. The eagle regained his control, not faltering enough to plummet to the ground. His back burned hotly and each beat of his wings only caused more pain that was unable to be ignored despite the numbing adrenaline. His mind was still more intently focused on his bondmate than himself, and as he regained his control he was observing the scene far below him on the shore of the river that flowed.

His eyes, overly alert in this moment, were only further distracted by the blinding flash of pure light. The eagle closed his eyes and rolled away from the foreign conjuration despite his muscles shouting for him to land. There was hot blood rolling down his feathers and down into the river below. His large hollow frame attempted to achieve the aerial acrobatics it was more than able to do, but the searing pain made it a near impossibility. He was almost sluggish as his mind split between his bondmate’s wellbeing after the flash of light, his own pain, and the whereabouts of the falcon who was trying to end his life.

Noah knew he needed to land but it was too much of a pain to decelerate to the point of making a safe landing. He was below the canopy and his mind’s distractions were a heavy disadvantage. Again, he was assailed, the falcon’s talons grasping and wings beating. For another time they ripped at his feathers and Noah’s forceful disengagement caused them to rip out in the same way they tore in. It was then that he buckled entirely under a pain he couldn’t bear any longer and fell from the sky, bleeding the entire way down. Unable to angle for the deepness of the water, he had nearly resolved himself to his fate until his feathers were forced on end, a buzz on his mind. In the next instance a lightning bolt struck down into the river’s small clearing, a deep rumble of thunder coming from what was only a patchy cloud sky.

A surging of wind rushed up from the ground as well, catching in his wings to slow him. He landed with a soft thud and splash on the shore on the bank opposite of Elann. Weak or not, his flash of transforming light was just as bright and magical, but the man that lay on the shore was bloodied. His breathing was heavy and his now large heart pounded away in his ground-facing chest. There was another splash behind him as the now roasted falcon plopped down into the river where it continued to flow with the current downstream. Noah’s lower body was submerged in the water, his torso above, his pale skin was streaked with crimson.

There were several bleeding marks on his back, more down his right ribcage and on the outerside of his right arm. They burned hotly and only did moreso as he calmed. He realized that he hadn’t broken anything, but felt that his exhaustion and confusion did more to his body than anticipated. Noah had very little experience being on the receiving end of an assault; most times he managed to escape without a scratch, but this was the second time he had his blood drawn by another beast. At the moment he didn’t feel like a king of skies anymore, just another who had been toppled. It didn’t help that his bondmate was endangered as well.

He used his unafflicted arm to pull his lower body out of the water. When he was fully settled on the sand of the bank he turned and sat up, careful not to get sand in his burning, hashmarked back. The pain grew more and he was able to pinpoint its origin on and between his shoulder blades, explaining why it had been difficult to fly after the wound was inflicted. With his left hand he dusted wet sand off his chest and looked around the now deafly quiet clearing. The bear was dead and he could see Elann across the water. However, in the distance by the treeline, he could see another figure.

It was a woman dressed in dark greens whose skin was fair and her eyes burning with a seething hatred. She scalded Elann with her gaze and roared out much like the bear did before. The bear cubs had flocked to her and she crouched with them surrounding her. Looming behind her still was a gigantic bear, larger than the one Elann had slain. Its brutish body lumbered forth towards Elann as the woman roared again. Noah had heard stories of a woman in the forest who treated the bears like her children. A lowly god by the name of Oriana had graced the Benshira and Kelvic with her presence, but this was not a benevolent visit. There was anger in the goddess’ soul for Elann.

The same pure light that had blinded Noah early returned but in a soft and ethereal form. He recognized it as Elann’s patron deity, Yahal. The god didn’t manifest himself entirely but hovered around Elann. Oriana’s angry eyes bore still on Elann but she didn’t roar again. Her rage was still burning hot when she rose, turning towards the deepness of the wood taking the bear cubs with her. Her lumbering giant of a companion followed, leaving Elann under the defense of Yahal. Once Oriana’s frame couldn’t be seen again Yahal faded once more.

Noah sat in the sand utterly bewildered, his body burning hotly.