Page 146 of An Archer's Redemption

Worst of all, I could no longer Travel.

That had become my favorite power.

Beyond its practical uses, Traveling would have allowed me to find Ayden, to be with him, even if I had to return quickly to help with one thing or another. If it worked as it once had, I could even take him with me.

Without the ability, we remained a world apart.

Months had passed since we’d last seen each other, since we last kissed.

I longed for his embrace.

Moreover, a part of me wondered if he still waited for my return.

How long would anyone wait without some glimmer of hope?

There was no use dwelling on dark thoughts. Ayden loved me. I knew it in my bones. I had faith he would love me still when we were reunited.

He would.

I prayed.

I released a wistful sigh, remembering how it felt to blink and instantly appear anywhere in the world. There was far more than power in that ability; there wasfreedom. I longed for that freedom again, yet it eluded me.

At least the pitcher of magical wine is still bottomless.I chuckled as I took another sip from my glass.

“You have been out here for hours. Are you not hungry?”

The deep warmth of the familiar voice soothed my angst.

The man’s perpetual hunger made me laugh.

“Atikus, you old goat, will you ever stop eating?”

Bony hands dug into my shoulders, but in a playful, fatherly way—the way that hurt just a little more than intended.

“Never! Besides, after all that Healing you did on me, I could eat for days. Come on now, it is past time for supper.”

I reluctantly peeled myself from nature’s canvas and followed the Mage into the mountain.

When Atikus had vanished beneath the waters of the Well, my world ceased to spin. It was, as he had called it, one of those moments when the world froze. I stabbed my hands into the water but found nothing to grasp. So, I did the only foolish thing I could think of. I dove in.

Power, both Light and Dark, bolstered and battered my body and mind.

One moment, my spirit soared and I could move mountains; the next, I gasped for breath and fought to keep the night at bay. Only when I stilled my mind and opened myself to the Light did I see him, lifeless, floating, drifting with the surge and flow of the endless stream.

I may never know how I reached him and swam back to the opening within the cavern.

Each moment moved faster than the last.

I could barely think, could barely breathe.

Colors swirled in my vision.

Light flashed and flared.

Darkness cloaked.

And somehow, by the grace of the Spirits, we washed ashore.

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