My Brother Is The Hero Of Earth

We were underground. I instantly recognized the smoothed dark ceiling lit with the blue glow of light crystal and the rich, earthy smell, but there was also another strange smell that I felt like I knew, I just couldn"t place it. Lesedi had pulled out this trick a few times when things got really dangerous and bored us a cave deep underground, escaping most of the possible troubles. My head shifted slightly and a second later a hand stroked my face as Terri leaned over me.

"It"s good to see those green eyes again, Becca," Terri said softly.

I smiled up at her for a moment before the tears started. She made some soothing sounds as she continued to stroke my cheek. Lesedi and Sophia, who was slightly pale, were the next to enter my field of view and smile down at me. I tried to sit up, but six hands quickly shoved me back down as pain exploded through my body. I let out a groan and stopped struggling. The pain was nothing compared to before, but I knew they were probably right.

"How... how long?" I asked, my voice much gruffer than normal.

"Seven hours, it will be dawn soon," Sophia answered.

"Everyone?"

"You were in the worst condition and the last to wake up other than Katye."

"I remember... Did she... stop me?" I asked.

The three nodded.

"What happened at the end? When I fell asleep?"

At my question, Lesedi and Terri both pulled out of my view. Sophia sighed in annoyance as she glared at the other two then said, "Well about that... we aren"t really sure what happened, actually. When she brought you back to the ship, she told us to keep the two of you together then collapsed in the next instant."

Now, I pushed against their hands long enough to lift my head up and see Katye laying across my chest. I dropped back down into Terri"s lap to the surprise of the three. I managed to crack a grin and chuckled, "Almost dying can change even the stubbornest of minds."

Their expression softened as Ella and Kiara entered my sights. They both had relieved expressions on their faces which made me feel slightly better since it was clear they weren"t blaming me for what happened.

"How are you feeling?" Kiara asked.

"Like someone put me into a jar and shook it up with boulders in it... but it"s a lot better than before," I answered.

"Well, Melissa did say most of your bones were shattered once she finally got a look at you. We were worried that you wouldn"t wake up before we had to leave."

I wrapped my arms around the sleeping Katye and slowly sat up. Terri helped me up and acted as a back rest once I was upright. In the soft lighting, I could see Gustavo, Yue, and Melissa all leaning against the far wall resting. All three of them were deathly pale, but their breathing was steady, so I could only hope that they just needed rest.

"They are just sleeping," Sophia said as she followed my gaze.

"How much long do we have in here?" I asked.

"If I keep pushing my mana, I can last another hour, but I"ll end up like them," Lesedi said.

"Can they move?"

"Yes, but you shouldn"t be," Melissa said in a tired voice.

"It"s not like we have a lot of choices, at the moment. We can"t be down another person, especially when that person is the one keeping the roof overhead from collapsing," I said.

"Becca"s right," Yue said as she yawned and stretched.

"Yue, I"m so..."

"Save it, Becca. We all know it wasn"t you and, if you hadn"t killed off the Piasa Bird, Gustavo would be dead, and likely the rest of us," she said, giving me a stern look.

I sighed and smiled as I leaned my head back on Terri"s shoulder. Yue shook Gustavo awake, who shot me a grin when he saw I was awake. Everyone, who was still sitting, started to stand while Lesedi picked up the still sleeping Katye and Sophia and Terri helped me to my feet.

With Katye pulled away from me, my body began to ache even worse than before. I reached out to touch her and saw a spark of violet jump between my hand and her. There was a gentle energy that spread into my hand and momentarily eased some of my pain. It didn"t take long for me to realize something about that energy that always sparked between us was speeding up my natural regeneration.

"Let me carry her," I said to Lesedi.

"Becca, you really shouldn"t be stressing your body any more than you already have," Melissa said.

"It helps... I don"t understand it, and it"s not really the time to figure it out, but the energy she gives off is helping me," I said as I put my arms under her and shifted Katye"s weight to me.

Still asleep, she wrapped her arms around my neck, silencing all protest. Lesedi chuckled as she pulled out her pickaxe and stepped over to the wall. Before she actually started anything, she pulled out a dark blue mana potion and down it with a single gulp. When she raised her pickaxe and struck against the earthen wall, a tunnel, five feet wide all around, was blasted into the wall, stretching nearly ten feet in front of her. She walked in and continued creating us a tunnel back to the surface while we slowly fell in line behind her.

All of us were forced to hunch over as we climbed the gentle slope, but no one complained since we all knew she was just as tired as the rest of us, if not more. Fifteen minutes of walking up the slowly spiraling tunnel, we finally reached the surface. I could see the ocean off in the distance while we stood in a gra.s.sy area, midway up the mountain.

Although the sun had started to rise, the sky was overcast with clouds as a ma.s.sive storm was quickly rolling in. It was already starting to rain with a heavy sprinkle. I tried to cover Katye"s body with my own, but the rain still hit her, slowly waking her up.

"Mmm... Where am I? What happened?" Katye asked as she stirred.

"We are still in the "Rift". There was an attack and I..." I started to explain.

"I remember the swarm of Flying Heads... but there was something else."

"A Piasa Bird. You don"t remember controlling the swarm?" Terri said, over my shoulder.

Katye"s face scrunched up as she thought hard, forcing me to resist the urge to tease her for being cute, but she simply shook her head.

"That"s probably for the best. The fight... didn"t end well, but everyone is alive... Largely in part to you," Terri said.

"What do you mean?"

"You had a "personality shift" that took over when we were in danger. It happens sometimes..." I said quietly.

"Oh," she replied, resting her head back against my chest.

Katye seemed to suddenly realize that I was carrying her as she started to squirm in my arms. I chuckled and lowered her feet to the ground. She wobbled as she tired to put her full weight on her feet and I simply scooped her back up when it was clear that she wouldn"t be able to hold herself up.

"Just relax, Katye. I owe you a lot more than this," I said.

Thankfully, she didn"t press the subject and settled back in my arms. Now that we were outside, I expected that strange smell from before to dissipate, but in fact, it got stronger. I inhaled deeply, trying to take in as much of the metallic scent as I could, but I still couldn"t place it.

"Becca?" Terri asked.

It was only when she spoke did I realize I kept taking deep breaths through my nose and both she and Katye were giving me strange looks. "You don"t smell it?"

"Smell what?" Terri asked

Before I could open my mouth, Gustavo answered for me, "It"s blood... I thought it was just the cave, but I can still smell it." He took a step closer to me, sniffing, then said, "It"s coming from you, Becca."

"s.h.i.t!" Yue cursed, pulling out a notebook. She flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for then threw the journal in frustration. "Piasa Birds leave a blood curse on any killer so that it can be avenged! I don"t know why Gustavo can, maybe because he is your brother, but you can smell it thanks to your bloodline and, now that we are above ground, so can the other Piasa Birds!"

"Should we hide again?" Ella asked.

"I can"t last until we are ejected," Lesedi said.

"We"re in the mountains, surely there are natural caves," Ella continued.

"It will force its way into the cave one way or another," Yue said.

"The Thunderbirds? That"s what Alice said to do if we ran into trouble, right?" Gustavo suggested.

Yue"s expression brightened then darkened as she waved a hand, her notebook floating back to her. I resisted the urge to chuckle since it wasn"t the right time, but I really wished to tease Yue about her temper.

She opened it back up and flipped through the pages again then said, "We need to fine the biggest storm we can which shouldn"t be hard with the state of things. Ella, the zeppelin is up to you." Yue stored away her notebook, exchanging it for a toy-sized zeppelin then hand it to Ella.

"Oh lord, this will be draining," Ella complained as her hands lit up with a yellow-green energy.

She channeled her mana into for five full minutes before the zeppelin shook free of her grasp and zoomed up into the air as it grew in size. It hovered in the air and, once it hit fifty feet overhead, the rope ladder fell down. Gustavo and I both looked at the ladder with dread and there was no way Katye would make it up there in her state.

"Get on your hover boards, Becca and Gustavo, and I"ll give you a lift," Ella said, pulling out a mana potion.

"I"ll handle it, Ella. Save your energy for the ship," Kiara offered.

I focused on my storage ring and pulled out my hover board, which always seemed harder when my hand were full for some reason. Gustavo did the same and we both stepped on the boards. Slowly, we rose into the air until we were just a little above the main deck. Kiara released her telekinesis which allowed our boards to drift forward, onto the deck. I hopped off my board and walked over to the couches, setting Katye down.

"Thanks for carrying me," she said softly as she looked away with a slight blush on her face.

"It wasn"t a problem... in fact, I should thank you. Your mana seems to speed my regeneration, so you"re healing me the whole time," I said with a gentle smile.

"Oh, I guess that makes me feel a little better," she replied with a weak chuckle.

I clenched my jaw at her behavior because I could feel her pushing me away, but it"s not like I could blame her. "Katye, I know I"ve been a bit of an a.s.s to you and I"m sorry. If we manage to make it out of this, I would like the chance to make it up to you," I said.

"Really?" she asked, giving me a small smile.

My heart melted and silently cursed myself for my previous stupidity. "Yes, I really would," I said simply.

She gave me a small giggle, but it died away as the others climbed onto the deck. I could only sigh as I knew this wasn"t really the time for flirting, especially when I was the cause of all the problems. Ella walked over and stood on the platform while everyone else sat on the couches. The floating panels appeared around Ella and suddenly the mist of the rain could no longer reach the deck. The whole ship rocked as we turned and headed into the storm.