Tainted

It couldn’t be happening, this; she was slowly dying. She could feel it. The corruption in the air, in the ground, she had tried to find a stream, pond, anything really where she could purify herself in the full moonlight, but there had been nothing that hadn’t already been tainted.
Now that the strength in her body was failing, she was staggering through the woods to get somewhere where she could actually get the pollution out of her body, much like she had done so many other full moon nights. It scared her more than she might want to admit; what would she do? She never brought her phone with her because she wanted to step away from the constant feeling of being connected to everyone; what a foolish thought this was because now she couldn’t even call for help.
Breathing heavily, she leaned against a beam, hoping it might give her some support, but she could feel how the tree was crying out because of the pain it was in, much like herself at this point. Her eyes closed, and instead of keeping moving, she just overcame to her fate and glided down and sat on the ground that had been underneath her bare feet. Maybe she had also lived far too long; things would turn out all right; it had to. But right now, it was hard to see how she would get out of this predicament.

Xia was an explorer, and these full moons were only dragging her to the best of places. Or at least it had been what she had thought. Everything looked terrible. She didn’t even trust touching anything, and for her own sake, she made sure that she was getting fresh air from above the trees. This looked horrible. Occasionally she could see how animals had died. Most people would probably have told her to leave the place as quickly as possible, but there was something within her that told her, that she could do something. She could help.
As she moved through the forest, she could feel something drawing her. Though she was certain she had felt it before it seemed much weaker, and it was only because everything around her was so rotten, that she noticed it. She ran towards it and eventually, she found a blond woman sitting against a tree. The sight made her stop for a mere second before she ran the last bit to the musai. “Hey!” she called as she ran, “Hey!” she called again before she was close enough. Her air from the above reached down to the both of them, giving the musai better and purer air. “We have to get you out of here,” she said, studying the musai for a moment. “Come, come,” she said trying her best to wrap her arms around the woman to help her get back up on her feet.

She heard the voice calling to her like a lifeline thrown into the water she was drowning. But she wasn’t sure if it was herself making it up or if someone had actually found her at this point.
Then the voice came closer, accompanied by steps from running feet.
Willow wanted to greet her, to call back, but no words left her; she could hardly breathe at this point. But just as those thoughts had flickered in her mind, she could feel how the air around her changed and her lungs felt lighter.
“O-okay”, the broken whisper came from her, staggering to her feet before she followed along to the best of her abilities “what are you even doing out here?” she tried to ask, even though the words didn’t sound like they were making much sense as they were interrupted by coughs while she looked around, everything was dying at a far greater rate than she had realised. “Grounds of Lily”, she added, wanting to let the woman know where they needed to go; even if she couldn’t bathe here, she might be able to find somewhere else, but she needed help to get there. Ace could help, right? Was he even at home? She had no idea at this point.

Luckily, Xia had more energy at this moment than the musai, which was the only reason why she let the breathable air help to get the musai to her legs. Even though it was her first time in the forest, she could feel how far away they were from the nearest pure air and therefore set course towards the shortest distance. “Rumors about it being a… lovely place,” she replied with a little scoff of disappointment. She was way more focused on the woman’s well-being than answering with the emotions she usually beamed of. She needed to stay focused for the woman’s sake. It was difficult because how did one keep her focus when everything around them screamed for help and she wished to do something for all of them. Though she couldn’t hear nature, she could see how it wailed. Rotting and in general felt awful.
“G-grounds of Lily?” she stammered looking around confused. “T-that is a long way to go,” tried to find a way for them to get away quicker. She ground her teeth for a moment before she stopped. “Okay,” she found both of the musai’s hands letting their hands grab onto each other’s arms “Don’t let go,” she spoke softly. “Big breath in!”
As soon as the musai did as Xia told her to, she would transform into her short, fairy form and with the use of both her wings and her aeromancy, she managed to get both of them above the treetops, even though they got some leaves onto them. A soft squeal left her from carrying the extra weight. “No offense, but you’re quite heavy,” she spoke with a lighter voice, trying her best to get them as far away as possible from the forest. Going from the north forest to Grounds of Lily was going to be a hell of a flight and she wasn’t even sure she would have the energy to go all the way.

She knew it was a long way to go; if it had only been a few miles, she could have made it. But she hadn’t thought it would be this bad, even in her wildest fantasies. Hearing the doubt in the fairy’s voices only made her believe that they were both doomed, but before she could tell the her that she should just go without her, that it would be fine. The thought only saddened her that she wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to Ace, Malcolm and Ayah. Of course, Max as well. As the names started popping up in her head, she felt fortunate that she could at least mention some names. She had seen the older adults lying in the hospital dying without having a single soul visiting them. Those had always been the patient she had shown extra care for, to show them there were still some people out there wishing they would get better and be there for them, even if they didn’t.
But as if the woman had known what she had been thinking, she grabbed her arms in such a manner that her own naturally folded around the fairy.
When she was told to take a deep breath in, she questioned if the woman was right in her head, hadn’t she just seen how the air around them had affected her. Still, she did as she was told and then the woman was suddenly transformed and started flying. A choked laugh left Willow as she was told that she was heavy. She was, however, far too tired to say anything against it and just focused on keeping a hold on the fairy. Hopefully, they would get safely home.

She heard how the musai managed to choke a laugh from the comment about how Xia believed she was heavy, even though it was only when she carried her like this. Flying. It took so much energy, but luckily with the ability to get help from the air, they got away from the giant forest much quicker than she had imagined. It wasn’t really that often she used her magic to help her fly when she could fly quite well herself. “I can see the mountains!” she yelped in a light voice. “We-we can make it!” she almost cried happily, even though she wasn’t sure if they could get all the way over the mountains. They were after all enormously tall.
Xia mumbled some words that could sound like a prayer. She had her eyes closed tightly as she prayed for the Anemoi to help her to at least get past the mountains. “Hold on,” she squealed, grabbing around the musai’s arms tightly. With that, they were raised higher into the sky and gained more speed. As they got to the other side of the mountain, she spotted a lush pond. With a grunt, she changed the direction toward it. They needed a break, and the musai needed to gain some of her powers back before they continued. As soon as Xia started to head down toward the pond, she felt like she lost control of her speed, and even though she used the wind to lower her speed, they ended up landing in the pond. When they landed, she let go of the musai, mostly because things went so fast and she by instinct wished to get to the surface. She quickly turned back to her normal size which helped a lot. When she surfaced, she looked around in the pond trying to find the musai. “Mu-musai!” she yelled turning confused around, trying to find her.

She shouldn’t be ungrateful at this moment. She had lived such a long life, and she had accomplished almost everything that she had set her mind to. The only thing she regretted was that she hadn’t told Ace how she felt about him until a few weeks ago. She heard the shouting from the tiny fairy, but something was missing for her to understand what the words meant; she was slipping, and she knew that they wouldn’t be able to make it, this was the night she died, and all she wanted was more time. And yet, she had lived far longer time than most people in this entire world. But was it greedy to beg to be around those you loved just for a little while longer? When all you saw were their faces and the memories that they had brought to you. Tears glided down her cheeks as she wished that she could say goodbye to Ace, that she could at least hold him one last time and tell him that things would be okay, kiss him and feel his presence. Feel the home and safety that he gave her. Maybe it was because they hadn’t been able to see each other after he had left that morning to work. They had kissed but never managed to talk about it afterwards. He had invited her out, but each time they had set a date, and a time, something came up, and she was waiting for him, only to get a message or him passing by the waiting room telling her that he had to cancel. Not that she blamed him, but there were so many unsolved emotions that now never would be resolved.

The water engulfed her body, and she sank after the fairy let go of her hands. Descending to the bottom as the life in her left and everything turned dark—not even the water could save her now.

Xia looked around trying to find the Musai at the surface, believing that she would regain power. She could feel how the grand power was slipping away. She chose to dive and saw toward her to be certain that the musai wasn’t going to drown. She could see how the musai was sinking, and she was trying to dive as much as she could. She grabbed the Musai’s hand and swam to the surface, trying to wake her up. “Musai, musai!” she said, clapping her cheek, hoping for some kind of reaction. She cursed. “Come on. Come on!” she yelled, hitting her cheek a couple of times more before she started to look for the shortest way to shore, swimming to her best ability to the shore, making sure that the musai laid on a flat surface. “We can do this,” she pep talked herself. She pulled the kimono away from her chest and immediately started cardiopulmonary resuscitation. She wasn’t going to let this gal die. She had to live. As if it was a mantra, she told the musai to ‘come on’. She wished for the female to live and for the cardiopulmonary resuscitation to work. It had to. She used her aeromancy to make sure that fresh air got down into her lungs. Xia herself started coughing, getting the wildest headache. Sweat was pouring down her forehead. She screamed in frustration because nothing seemed to be happening. She didn’t even know if the gal had family or who Xia could contact about what had happened. She didn’t know who in the world would be grieving her death, except for herself. It was impressive how little you had to know someone and how much it would affect someone. Or maybe it was just because Xia stood with the life of a person in her hands that it affected her so much.