21 Years Old
Novem

"I can't fucking believe this shit" my jaw practically hit the floor as a chocked gasp struggled through my lips.

The normally sultry voice of Manal screeched through the comms device. Her amber eyes were pools of Lava and her normally sleek hair was a dishevelled mess.

"The gods have forsaken me!" She cried hysterically, no tears in her eyes but I could hear the despair in her voice. My throat went unbearably dry as my heart pounded a steady beat.

"What's-"

"What's wrong? Well that damn male is trailing me about like a lost dog!"

Her eyes were twitching now which shocked me even more because in the few years I had known Manal I had rarely seen her angry. Only once at my 19th birthday and that had been because of her ma- my eyes bulged wide but a sneaky grin spread across my face. I tried to cover it with my hand so she couldn't see it but Manal was an all seeing owl. Nothing got past her.

"And what has you smiling?" Her eyes narrowing as she stared at me distrustfully.

"Oh nothing, I was just thinking that the gods do not give us more than we can bear" I smile sweetly at her even when her face turned thunderous and a ferocious scowl settled over her face.

"You think you're smart now, huh. Nobel has been giving you some lessons and now you think you know all" she grunted in annoyance causing a wheezing laugh to trickle from me. She looked so annoyed and frustrated with the situation, it was the most emotion I had seen from her in a while.

"Nobel is very helpful"

"Of course he is, he's a 60 something year old male. He has a fountain of wisdom."

Nobel was perhaps one of the best healers of all time, he had taught Manal all that she knew. He was very selective with the time he gave which was why every second I spent in his presence I felt extremely privileged.

He had come to the compound looking for Manal and instead had found me, when I had introduced myself as her pupil he had tutted under his breath. I understood why, at the time I had been going through a transition of sorts. Khan had just revealed he knew about Carson and I, and I had finally acknowledged myself destructive ways. I had been trying to come to terms with it but once the brutal reality of what I had been doing was revealed, I had only felt disappointment.

I was lost and it had only been made worse by that near slip of my insanity, that moment when I had held that blade in my hand and actually thought about freedom. I had been in a dark place and Nobel had seen it.

He helped me, though his methods were a little questionable. Where Manal was a quiet teacher, Nobel often hit my hands or gave long wittering tirades about all the ways I was failing. It worked though because on the opposite spectrum he patted my head when I did well and gave long fluttering sentences in praise.

Nobel was an unconventional teacher but then what he taught me was not the ordinary and so I couldn't expect normal. He was an on the spot type of teacher, in the two months I had been under his tutelage I had helped him countless times.

Before Nobel I had never been in the vicinity of a healer when they were working their magic. I had never witnessed the way they gripped people's minds and forced their bodies to repair, to heal, to live. Though I witnessed his smaller feats, the easier ilnesses that only needed a few herbs a crystal and some healing chants, it was still awe insipiring.

Nobel had often put me on the spot, asking me as he healed his patients what herbs, what crystals, what chants. His thick brows furrowing as he leaned over his patients. His body appeared weak but he was strong and his mind was sharp, he held intelligence that was beyond the basic concepts of life.

I often got my answers wrong but in the last week or so I had received more pats then sharp swats. I was getting there it was just a shame that he had left long before his time, hence the reason why Manal had contacted me. She had been gone for over a year now and was making no effort to return. At first she had been wondering the land and healing the people but now she was settled in a compound somewhere waiting for her tutor to arrive.

She wouldn't tell me anything of this case, she had just that the patient was a soft soul that needed a strong touch of the gods.

"Are you listening Vanya?" She screeched and I knew the shit had really hit the fan. Manal was acting like an over dramatic female and she wasn't one for dramatics. Ryan was clearly grinding on her gears.

"Sorry, what did you say" her eyes narrowed scarily before she breathed deeply. Her facial features completely changed and then she was the Manal I had always known.

"I need an accomplice" she murmured, her voice extremely calm even as her eyes flickered.

"For what?" I was baffled, so confused by the switch in conversation.

"I'm going to kill Ryan" she sung in such a calm and relaxed voice that I couldnt even fathom that she was being truthful.

"I'm going to cut him up piece by piece and feed him to the fishes." A chilling grin slid over her face as she stared back at me with such glee.

I was flabbergasted, absolutely shocked. I didn't know what to say to the vivid image she had painted in my mind. My mouth opened and closed like those poor fishes who would be fed the nasty remnants of Manal's deceased mate.

"I'm joking, but he is extremely close to meeting my blade!" And with that she huffed and locked off the call leaving me more confused than I ever had been.

Just what in gods name was Ryan doing to Manal? The woman was joking, with me? That in itself was a rarity, her whole composure throughout that chat was a rarity and I couldn't help but think Ryan was good for her. He shook Manal out of her cool reserve and I think she needed that, it could sometimes be tiring when you were the gods healer.

Still, I would be lying if I said I wasn't slightly worried. I knew what the bond could do to you, how it could change you, break you.

Manal wasn't me but still I feared the bond and sometimes I think I had begun to fear love.

//--//

I was in the infirmary shadowing Emmaline as she checked on a small human babies vitals. The child had been born a few hours ago and was being kept for a little longer as there were slight complications. I had been a witness to both and had in fact helped stitch up the split mother.

Emmaline had taken over with the baby, while I had soothed the mother with natures numbing creams. She wouldn't feel the burning in her privates that had just been torn by the child's large body. The cream would wear off in a few hours, but the tingling of the peppermint would encourage blood circulation which would help with the wound. She would be better in no time and when she was better she could use the SRLM.

When the baby had been cleaned, Emmaline latched him onto his mother and began cleaning up her station. I stood by just watching as mother and child bonded. His little eyes staring up at the shadows that made up his mother, her croaky voice whispering sweet nothings in his ear.

Talking of a father that would never see his child. Her pain was present but at least she had this small part of the man she loved. He was adorable and looked nothing like her which told me he was the image of his father. Green eyes and all.

It would be hard looking into the eyes of your child and seeing you partner but knowing you would never see them again. My heart broke for her. She had a tough journey ahead of her.

Emmaline left the room not long after, she trusted me enough to be able to deal with the mother and baby if anything went wrong, which I doubted actually would.

As soon as the door closed shut the mothers big brown eyes met mine, her face slick with tears and mourning.

"His father was a good man, he didn't deserve what happened to him" she mumbled almost to herself but the eye contact we had made told me she was speaking to me.

"What.." I hesitated I didn't want to question this virtual stranger on her deceased partner but then I felt the need to, like she had held this in for so long and needed to be unburdened.

"What happened?" I questioned, stepping closer to the bed so I could see her better. She had milky skin and greasy black hair that hung limply across her shoulders. Her lips were cracked and deep purple circles curled under her eyes.

"We had a good home. We had just moved in and we had running water, food, a bed," she sniffles lightly, her eyes becoming glossy with the memory of all that had been good.

"But then this man came around. Kenny wouldn't tell me what he wanted but he just told me that he wasn't interested. The man looked angry but he eventually left."

"A week later, I awoke to screaming, the building was on fire. I screamed for Kenny but I couldn't find him. When I stepped outside his body-" she sobbed so hard the sleeping baby in her arms squirmed in discomfort, protesting to the movement but she only clenched him tighter in her arms. As if she was scared she would loose him too.

"He was strung up naked to a tree, he-he was branded" and that was all she could say, I didn't need her to say more because I knew. So many stories, murmurs whispers. For so long I had been so caught up in my own grief I hadn't realised the world was decaying.

This woman was one of many but I couldn't tell her that because her grief was so real, so heartbreaking. I reached deep into my bag and produced a crystal. I always had one of each on hand in case I felt someone needed it. Even if they did not believe, the crystal would recharge them, or in this case start the healing process.

I didn't believe in magic, or any of that hocus pocus but I knew from experience that the crystals had power. They were like little slithers of the gods and when activated, they rejuvenated your life. For a patient, any healer could activate its properties but for a healer, only belief in the gods could help. It was one of the first lessons I had learnt but had only really begun to believe recently.

Gripping it in my hand, I forced the rope of the crystal necklace around our joined hands and clutched her body closer to mine. The chants poured out of me, making little sense to my ears but resonating deeply within my heart. I chanted fervently, praying to the gods to help her. The aquamarine burned on my chest as I prayed the hardest I ever had. I had never performed a healing chant before, never alone. I was always the second voice that helped carry the prayers to the gods but now I was leading.

Not because I had found this new confidence but because this woman, this new mother couldn't clearly see the beautiful gift in her arms because the last days of her pregnancy had been shrouded in blackness. I prayed for healing and hope.

I held the stranger in my arms for hours on end until a woman with straight black hair and identical brown eyes charged into the room. Eyes wet with tears as she took in the sight of who I assumed was her sister. I untangled from the woman and stepped to the side as her sister gripped her in her arms. Crying together as she plastered her in kisses, mindful of the sleeping baby.

A tall male came in next, his hand gripping the new mothers head and laying kisses to it, whispering in her ear.

I stepped back towards the door, turning away from the scene before me. I felt like an intruder to their moment and so I left them. Grabbing my bag and heading out the door as a soft thank you glided through the air. I hoped the gods heard my prayer and would not forsake that family, the mother would need all the love and support she could get.

My feet slapped across the floor as I made my way down the winding corridors, my mind whirling with her story. All the stories of death and grief I had heard in the past few months,  now that I was not so stuck in my own dark place. When would we learn, us as beings that inhabited this earth needed to learn peace, love. We couldn't keep tearing each other apart and expect to better out fortunes.

We couldn't scorch the earth that happily hoisted us in her vibrant green nature. Had we not learnt that nature would always strive even if our civilisations withered into nothing but ash. We were just little blips in the universe. We needed to learn humility, compassion. We needed to learn.

The door smashed back against the wall and the two males heads popped up as if ready for a fight. Khan's scowl dropped the moment he noticed it was me to only grace his face again when he noticed my mood.

"I have just spent most of my day consoling a widowed mother because her husband was killed at the hands of those infidels" I growled. I could almost feel the earth shaking as I stepped further into the room, earth trembled beneath my feet.

"I want to know what you are doing about it!"

"Vanya" he sighed, eyes flickering to the blonde male with dreadlocks at his side. I had seen this male before, in this very office but this time things were different. This time I wasn't some girl standing up to her Alpha about her rights, this time I was a woman demanding he serve justice to those poor souls who suffered at the hands of the Resentiam.

These women, men and children who were suffering were my people. They were sewage dwellers and though the only people of my kind that I had ever felt an affinity for was Neema and her siblings, I couldn't stand by and let the rest of them suffer.

"I need to know Khan because this cannot go on any longer!"

"I agree."

My head snapped to the side as I eyed the pale blonde man with superstition. He had a commanding voice, a strong one that demanded attention. His eyes were cold black flecks, full of anger and fury. His fists clenched at his side as his shoulders rolled in untamed aggression.

"I understand your anger all too well and so I will tell you that we are discussing our options but this is no place for little girls," he snapped, teeth clicking shut like the barrel of the gun that he took to my dreams.

"And while you are discussing your options in your castles, behind your secure walls, innocent humans are out there being burnt alive before they get the option to discuss anything!" I was livid, absolutely livid. I had only ever felt rage like this once in my life and even then that seemed like a tiny, inconsequential emotion compared to this bubbling, boiling outrage.

"Vanya, is it? What do you suppose we do? Enter into war with a hidden entity" he sneered, his tongue flicking out to lick his lips in glee. I could see he liked that idea a lot but that wasn't my concern.

"You have more than enough space to accommodate humans behind your walls and enough trained wolves to protect those settlements until that can happen."

His head bobbed to the side in thought, his fingers stroking across his scruffy blonde beard.

"What happens if they sneak in with these other humans? Then we would be under threat" My hand clenched along my leg and I began my reply but he cut me off. Hand waving as he dismissed my words.

"See I have been out there, Vanya and sometimes you hardly know who is an enemy and who is innocent. It's a risk"

"A risk that we aren't willing to take" added Khan, shaking his had mournfully.

"Then what will you risk?" I needed to know that Khan was not as heartless as he was appearing to be, that he would do something to help my people.

"We are still discussing the right steps Vanya, we can't let our emotions guide us" at that his eyes met the blonde male beside him, a silent cautionary warning.

"We are providing supplies, security and healers to those who have lost homes, but at this time we can't bring them into our heart without knowing all the facts."

I understood their reasoning, I really did but I felt like more needed to be done. These tiny tentative steps would only ensure that an all out war was inevitable.

"I'm a healer" the blonde mans eyes widened impossibly big, his fingers climbing back up to his beard as he began to see me in a different light.

He looked to Khan, pondering for a minute before he ignored Khan's not so subtle shake of his head.

"You may travel with me for a short while" I hurriedly nodded my head in agreement before Khan could interject.

I knew this wasn't what he wanted but this was what I needed. I wanted to help my people and I was no fighter. No amazingly strong woman. I had begun to learn my weaknesses and one of them was that I was too compassionate, I loved too easily.

However, this was the first time that I felt like my flaws would actually be useful. I could show them love as I helped heal their bodies and minds. I wasn't naive to think it would be easy, it would be mentally draining but I was finally ready for my calling.

I would help.