Page 44 of When the Moon Met the Sun

In a series of powerful beats, my feet left the roof I had been standing on, my wings carrying me up and away.

For a handful of moments, it was just me and the cloud speckled sky. I weaved in and out of the clouds, my muscles relaxing by just a fraction. I let out a sigh of relief and lowered myself below the clouds, searching for the Valwain.

I spotted them a heartbeat later, almost directly below me in one of their usual training spots. In a meadow full of wildflowers, surrounded by the forest.

Everybody is up and at it earlier than usual today, I thought casually.

That’s when it hit.

The pain was so excruciating I couldn’t even open my mouth to scream. It wracked my entire body in violent waves, one right after the other. I could feel my muscles beginning to lock up, my wings barely able to beat as I started to fall.

My barely flapping wings helped to slow my fall by a fraction, but soon I was spinning out of control, unable to keep myself up right.

And I was heading straight for the Valwain.

The panic in my chest was palpable. Then, time seemed to slow mid-air, and I found myself closing my eyes, giving in.

I couldn’t help but wonder if this was what it felt like to be a shooting star.

I didn’t expect it to be so terrifying.

I was flung back into the present moment by the sound of Robyn’s voice. At first I couldn’t register what he was saying, as he was too far away. But the further I fell, the clearer his voice rang out in my ears.

“Aviva!” he yelled out my name, over and over, though I knew there was nothing he could do until I landed.

The other’s voices were becoming louder now too, filled with panic, and I forced my eyes open just in time to see how close I’d gotten to the ground.

In an effort to not hurt anybody else, I used all the energy I could muster up to strain against my locked muscles and forced myself upright, my wings acting as a parachute to soften my descent as I landed with both feet on the ground.

The moment my feet touched the ground below, the earthrippled.

As if I were a stone tossed into a pond, the earth created a circular crater under my feet and stretched outward, shooting up in jagged shards all around me. The moment that happened, I could feel the energy I’d been holding back finally release, bit by bit.

The pain from the fall was nothing compared to the waves of painful power I felt coursing through every inch of my body. The impact from the fall, along with the earth rumbling under me, caused me to drop to my knees on the now uneven ground.

Once my knees hit the ground, the earth rumbled again. In the blink of an eye, various crystals began jutting out of the ground, taking their place right alongside the rows of jagged earth.

I heard thunder erupting overhead, and I barely registered that it had begun to rain. My heart was beating so fast I thought it might explode from my ribcage.

I could no longer tell the difference between the rain on my face and my own tears.

I realized with a start that there was a newfound weight on my legs and thighs, pinning me to the spot.

Straining against my own muscles, I looked down and saw thick, vibrantly green vines wrapping themselves around my body, slowly circling me as though it planned on encasing me and keeping me forever.

I pulled against the plants, trying to stand, but they grew even more rapidly, tightening their hold on my body like a snake wrapping around its prey. The pain increased with every move I made, and suddenly I was outright panicking. My breath was coming in fast and hard, unable to be stabilized.

Soon, my vision went spotty, and my hands started to tingle. The pain was nearly unbearable, and I could still feel the tears making their way down my face. Distantly, I could hear Robyn yelling foreverybody to take cover, but they all sounded so far away in the midst of my panic.

My hands tingled until they start to itch, then they started to burn. It wasn’t until bright, blue flames erupted from my fingertips and palms that I realized the tingling was the least of my worries.

I gasped, holding my hands out in front of me and staring at them as the winds began to pick up, moving faster and faster. My hair was whipping in my face, the rain soaking every inch of my skin. Then I heard it, the rain as it landed. Only it wasn’t just rain now, but tiny spheres of ice, too.

It had begun to hail.

Lightning struck a tree in the distance, and I suddenly couldn’t hold it in anymore.

I screamed.

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