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When Kiva regained consciousness, the first she noticed was a deep aching in the back of her head. Reaching her hand back, she tried to determine exactly what was causing the pain. A large egg-shaped lump had formed there, no surprise considering how hard she was hit by the guard. As Kiva started to pay attention to her senses, she realised that she couldn’t see. The reality of the situation set in, and her beathing becoming more irregular.
She was back in her isolation cell.
Still sitting where she had woken up she started rocking back and forth.
“Not again, not again,” Kiva just kept repeating it. “Not again.”
The more she repeated it the louder she got. Then a groan sounded through the room. She didn’t pay it too much notice as she was sure that it was just her mind playing tricks on her. As this thought passed her mind, she panicked further. If she was already hearing things, she must really be going insane.
The more that Kiva thought about things, the more she found herself slipping back into the state of numbness that she had previously been in. Her hands were getting clammy and her already irregular breathing got shorter. Though her body was still trembling, her mind had gone blank. It was almost as if she was shutting down.
Another groan of pain come from just in front her and then something brushed her arm. Unable to see, Kiva panicked and desperately tried to scramble back, away from what had touched her. She didn’t get very far. After a mere half metre, her back hit a wall. Random sharp stones from the wall started digging into her back as she frantically felt around for a way out, pebbles breaking shallow cuts into the skin on her fingers as she fumbled around.
“Kiva?”
Her search came to an abrupt stop as she heard her name. What surprised her the most was how much it sounded like Jaren. But that shouldn’t be possible. It couldn’t be possible. He was still hanging for dear life after being beaten. He wasn’t stuck in this hell-box with her. No, he wasn’t here.
“It’s not real, it can’t be you, you’re not here,” she whispered in an attempt to calm herself, heart beating though her chest. But then he spoke again.
“Kiva, it’s me. We’re in the tunnels under the prison.”
Still unconvinced, Kiva grabbed the sides of her head to cover her ears. “No we’re not, I’m imagining you. You’re not real. You aren’t here.”
“Kiva we need to get out of here, I know you’re scared and confused but we have to go if we want to survive.”
Another grunt of pain sounded as he moved himself around.
“It’s not real, you’re not real.”
A much longer grunt passed through the prison cell as he moved again. “Kiva, I’m real, I’m here but I’m also injured and I don’t know how much longer I’m going to remain awake. We need to go. Now.”
“It’s not real, you’re not real.”
In an attempt to help her, to calm her down, Jaren reached out. However, the second his fingers made contact with her hand the cavern lit up in a bright golden light.
It took her what she assumed were seconds to realise what the cause of the light was. Her healing magic. Amidst her alarm and through the contact he had made, she had started healing his injuries. She tried to pull back, in attempt to stop what was happening, but it was too late. She looked up, making eye contact with Jaren. A look of pure shock written across his face. Well shit. She was sitting in the tunnels with Jaren, Prince Jaren. Not in her blackout cell up above. That’s when it hit her. This was supposed to be the last trial, earth. Another bout of panic passed over her as she realised the true horror of what was happening. Kiva was using her magic in front of her supposed enemy. As well as being stuck in a trial.
She finally found the strength to detach herself from Jaren, breaking their connection. Kiva bolted up, swaying a little as her legs struggled to hold her up. With the light fading, she caught one last glance at his face before it died out completely.
Silence hung over the two for a while neither daring to move or breath. It was when Kiva gave a quite sniffle that Jaren lit the tunnel back up with a flame of his own. He now looked at her with a neutral, almost unreadable expression. Jaren carefully stood up. Whilst he had just been healed, he still wasn’t quite right, as Kiva disrupted the healing early. Now standing, he spoke in a deep and slow voice.
“So you’re one of them, a rebel.” It wasn’t a question, but Kiva still nodded in response, though only slightly, due in part to her recent panic attack and in part because of the shock of what she had just done. Though as she thought about it, she wondered if she could really classify herself as a rebel, after all she hadn’t truly been involved with them in ten years.
Putting the thought aside, she stole one more second to compose herself.
“We need to get moving, as you said. We aren’t going to survive down here much longer otherwise.”
She picked a random direction and started that way, taking shaky steps in the hopes that it would lead to the surface. She took all but three steps before being stopped by a gentle but firm hand gripping her arm. The hand slowly turned her to face him. She took a deep breath before finally looking at Jaren.
“I want an explanation when we make it out.”
Again, she gave a slight nod, before continuing down the path she hoped would lead home. The hand on her arm stopped her once more.
Jaren cleared his throat and pointed in the other direction.
“It’s this way.”
Kiva scoffed. “And how exactly do you know that?”
He levelled her with a look, as if to say really, you don’t know? Still confused, Kiva looked right back at him, staring blankly.
“I can control more than just water and fire you know, I can feel the earth. I can direct us out Kiva.”
Kiva rolled her eyes and turned, in the right direction this time, and started walking out.
He paused for a second and then mumbled, “if that’s even your real name,” and continued after her.