First Metting

                It was as if time had stopped. He had appeared suddenly from the cliffside, he seemed just as surprised to see me. Our eyes met and I was hit with a wave of emotions all at once. Nostalgia, sadness, joy, and fear hit me like a tidal wave. Were these all my own emotions or the whims of spirits from times long gone.

                “ah” a small voice finally managed to snap me back to reality, he was no longer looking at me but instead at the ground that was no longer under his feet.

                “Watch out!” I yelled and reached out my hand, hoping to somehow soften the fall. Gravity was not so kind and while the fall was only a few feet it was enough for him to hit his head and be knocked unconscious. I ran to his side and thankfully he seemed unharmed. A few scrapes but not much in the way of open wounds.

                I stared at my hand, when the time came, I had been powerless to do much of anything. Things were supposed to be different now, I was 10 years old and yet.

                Suddenly voices made their way to me, they were far and difficult to understand but I could hear ‘ran this way’ and ‘reward’. They were clearly looking for this boy. This time I would help, this time I would be useful. I gently touched the crystal around my neck and began to gather the light around us. To anyone on the other side it would simply look like a field of flowers. An illusion only those who can bend light to their will can accomplish.

                It didn’t take long for a group of people to come by, they were cursing that they seemed to have lost their prize. “Keep combing the forest, he can’t have gotten too far” the man in charge ordered and the group dispersed. After waiting a moment longer, I released the illusion and fell to my knees. However, there was no time to waste. It wouldn’t be long before they came across this spot again and I may not have enough light to try that trick again.

                “I’ll just carry him” I proudly proclaimed and stuck out my hand willing him to lift. However, nothing happened. I stared at my hand, perhaps I had overdone it with the barrier and that was why my other powers weren’t working. It should have been my first clue.

                “Well if that won’t work…” I grab his wrists and begin to pull. He groans a little but doesn’t even move a centimeter. I try just grabbing one arm, but my luck stays the same. “Ok how about this!” I try to lift him up a little so I can hoist his arm over one shoulder. He mumbles something but it’s in another language. “I know it hurts but we have to go!” He tried to struggle a little but all that accomplished was me losing my footing and both of us ending up back on the ground barely a foot from where we started. He was also much heavier than I anticipated, unless he moved I was pinned. 

                “I just have to hope they don’t have a telepath with them” I mutter to myself as I close my eyes and try to reach out to my mother who should be where I call home at the base of the cliff. “Hm?” Silence, I couldn’t hear anything, I couldn’t get in touch with the one person who could help. Fear began to grip my heart. Why wasn’t anything working? I was supposed to be useful. As tears began willing up in my eyes I heard it.

                “Raichana?” the man was tall, almost too tall for a human. His handy blond hair matched his slightly golden eyes. “What are you doing all the way up here? And with some boy…”

                Before he could finish his sentence, I was already calling out to him. “Dad! Please! He’s hurt… he fell off the cliff and I couldn’t stop it! He was being chased but they may come back” if he said anything else I couldn’t hear it through my frightened sobs. My father could rarely visit, and I didn’t want him to see me like this, but I was so scared.

                After a little sigh he moved over and picked up the boy with ease. “You able to stand or should I carry you as well?” His smile was so gentle.

                “I can walk” I managed to get out through sniffles though I did take his hand. It was always so much bigger than mine and so incredibly warm.

                I should have looked up; I might have noticed the worried expression he wore. However, in the end I was just happy to be heading back home, the safest place in the world.