Page 81 of Beast and Remedy
Fearful if I break my stare it will vanish, I reach for the clothing and get ready, not once losing sight of the esprit.
My mind runs through varying possibilities to ease my questions since the esprit seems to dictate the conversation.
After dressing, the esprit rises to my eye level. “My time is sparse.” It pulls away, lifting toward the sky. “Dawn and dusk.” It races toward me, stealing my breath.
It runs in circles, drifting from my head to my toes as it chants, “Help, we can.” It spins as its voice hums in my ear. “Plants you need from each region, only grown in its land and plentiful.”
I startle. “Wait, what kind of plant?”
“From each kingdom and plentiful,” the esprit repeats. “In order to help them all.” It brushes up against my skin, and heat emanates, almost searing off the hair on my arm. “But you must venture far.”
“Wait? I must go somewhere?”
It buzzes near my ear again, and I shake my head, stifling the reaction of swatting it away like a bee drifting too close.
“Go where?” I ask, not wanting to leave Belmur when we just got back.
But if it means saving my sister, I will make it work.
The esprit faces me fully. It does a full flip, and I instinctively reach toward it, wanting it—needing it—to come back.
Miraculously, it does, but it motions up toward the light coming up from the East. It seems like the glow surrounding it dims with each passing moment.
Worry plucks at my heart, and I fear my time has run out.
The esprit’s quiet voice whispers, “To the shadows of the Northeast Kingdom.”
Confusion stirs in my mind, uncertain. “You mean Northtry?”
It ripples, drifting back a pace, and I follow it.
“Is that a yes?”
It ripples again, the esprit dimming from a floating ember to a faint shimmer as it withdraws further.
“Don’t go! I still need help! I still need answers!” I chase after it as it pulls away from the rising sun. “Tell me more! I have so many questions! I need more answers! Please!” I reach for it, not caring if I catch it and burn myself.
This esprit gives me hope of redemption. And somehow, my mind cannot comprehend whether what I am seeing is a hallucination.
The glimmer surrounding the esprit dwindles more as it bounces.
I step in a thick pile of mud and sink a fraction, getting stuck. I look down, fighting to break free. Exhaustion tugs at my limbs as I peel one foot and then the other, looking to where I last saw the esprit. No longer visible.
Echoes in the breeze blow past me.
“Shift again.”
“Journey forth.”
“And answers will come.”
The words leave me alone once more, stranded in the woods, with my feet caked in mud. “Well, shit.”
How in the Oblivion am I going to explain this?
I run a hand down my face. Weariness and hunger tug at me as I gather my thoughts, needing to have my head on straight before venturing back to recollect everything a possible hallucination told me.
Was I hallucinating?
