He breaks through the tree-line and smiles at me. I watch as he brings his right arm out and points a gun at me. A gun? Gadramicks usually only use swords. I don’t have time to think. The sound of a gun firing echoes throughout the forest, as pain shoots across my abdomen. I fly backwards before landing on my back in the middle of the trail. I try to keep my eyes open, but it’s too difficult. Everything in my body starts to slow down: my breathing, my heart rate, and I start losing feeling in my limbs. Time even seems to slow. I feel someone grab onto me and try to drag me back. Someone else runs past me towards the man with the gun and knocks it out of his hands. He kicks the man in the head, knocking him unconscious. Before the man even falls to the ground, he turns around and comes towards me, helping the other person pick me up and carry me away.
I come back into my own body and see Claire, Tom, and another man leaning over the girl on the ground. I am leaning against Colton and David is staring at me, with a worried expression on his face. I try to ask him what happened, but a blinding pain shoots across my stomach. I reach down and place a hand on my stomach where the pain is. My shirt is moist. I draw my hand back and see that it is covered in blood.
My blood.
I can’t breathe. I look up and see David staring at my abdomen in shock. I let out a weakened cry as my legs give out beneath me and I start falling. Colton tries to reach out and stop me, but we both fall to the ground.
“Logan, we need you!” David yells, bending down and sitting beside me. Colton is trying to talk to me and calm me down. I can see his mouth moving, but I can’t hear anything.
“Apply pressure to the wound, I’ll be there in a minute,” Logan replies. Colton lays my body flat on the floor, as David reaches over and puts his hands flat on my stomach, trying to slow the bleeding. I can’t get any air into my lungs. It is like trying to blow up a balloon that has a hole it in. I feel my body start to convulse; the pain is excruciating.
Darkness is slowly creeping into my vision. I can barely see anyone standing over me. Someone is shouting, but the ringing in my ears is louder than them. I can feel someone reach out and brush loose strands of hair from my face. The hands pressing onto my stomach are removed and a numbing feeling spreads through my body. I stop fighting and start drifting away, losing consciousness.
“Are you sure she’s alright?” Colton asks, “She’s been out for a while.”
“She’s fine, Colton. Stop worrying. She has to rest to regain her energy,” Claire explains—her voice further away.
“She’s the prophecy girl that they are always talking about? I thought she would look different,” says an unknown female voice. I hear two angry growls in the room “Hey, hey. Down boys. I didn’t mean that as a bad thing. I just thought she would be…I don’t know, taller or something. She looks so small. So fragile.”
My stomach is throbbing, but the pain isn’t as unbearable anymore. I can hear everything around me, but I can’t get my body to respond. I want to tell everyone that I am fine…or going to be fine.
“Don’t underestimate her,” Tom says.
“How come I woke up so much faster than she is?”
There is a moment of silence, before Claire speaks up, “I think that going into a vision for the first time, depleted a lot of her energy. I’m guessing she experienced the vision through your point of view and that’s why she sustained the same injury. I think it was just too much for her body to handle at once. She just learned that she was a mage a couple days ago, she hasn’t quite learned how to control everything yet.”
I feel my finger twitch. I wait a few more seconds until full functioning is restored. I turn my head and groan inwardly.
“Ryanne, can you hear me?” I haven’t opened my eyes yet. I can feel everyone looking at me. Extra thoughts creep into my mind. She’s the one they are looking for. I can’t believe it.