The Key to the Warriors (completed)

17Zyirah

Despite the events of the day before, I woke feeling well rested. Although, the right side of my face hurt, and a headache pulsed through my temple from the swollen welt that was my eye, I otherwise felt good. I prodded the bruise with gentle fingers, wincing as I did so. I couldn't even open my eye through the swelling. Frowning, I pushed myself to sit and swing my legs over the side of the bed, where I froze at the sight of the dark lump across from me.

Charlie sat with his back against the wall, head lolled his against his shoulder, fast asleep. His legs were stretched out in front of him, arms wrapped around his midsection, brows furrowed as he slept, though whether from pain or troubling dreams, I wasn't sure. I remembered the way he'd favored his ribs the night before... they'd been hurt.

He was still wearing the clothes I'd last seen him in, black pants and a long-sleeved black shirt, both of which were wrinkled, with patches of sand still clinging to his knees and the hem of his pants, as though he'd walked on them across the beach. With quiet movements, I slid off the bed and went to him, lowering to sit on the floor at his side. I gnawed my lip as I studied his face, frowning at the bruises.

There was a cut on his left brow, and the flesh beneath his right eye was beginning to purple, as well as the line over his nose and across his forehead. I could almost make out the shape of Jackal's boot in the wounds, and I let out a soft breath as I raised a hand to slide through his hair. The brown locks were tangled and stiff and smelled of saltwater, as though he'd had to swim to the island to reach me.

The fact that Charlie had come for me at all was astounding to me. I wasn't sure if it meant he'd heard me call to him, or if he'd happened to just come back anyway and find me missing. Either way, he'd dropped everything to find and save me, and had taken a hell of a beating doing so. It was something I'd never be able to thank him enough for.

My lips lifted into a small smile as I studied him, a new fondness for him brewing inside me. Ever since he'd come, I'd fought to avoid getting close to him, but it seemed the more time I spent with him, the harder it became, and since he'd saved my life... I couldn't possibly fathom the stoicism I'd tried to portray around him. It went against everything I was meant to be. I'd been created to be a companion for him and had been bred most of my childhood to be so. When the Creator came, I thought I'd be ready to step into my role. But I hadn't been.

Charlie was just so different than anything the old stories implied the Creator would be. I'd heard everything from him being a raging tyrant who would step into this place ready to rule it, to a proud king who would Lord over us with malevolence and power, even to a sadist who would fuel his ego and sick pleasure by plunging us into slavery and torture. I'd been terrified for him to come, knowing I was meant to serve him.

But Charlie was none of those things. He was just a kid. Seventeen years old, he'd said. My age... I couldn't imagine bearing the weight of the world on my shoulders being so young. Then here came Charlie, entering from a troubled life to not only shoulder the weight of our world, but his too in an attempt to save both from Jackal. And he did it with kindness and self-sacrifice. He barely even accepted the title of Creator, he just wanted to be our friend, and I had developed so much admiration for him that I nearly wept with it. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was falling in love with him.

I remembered the way he'd fought with Jackal, wielding those fireballs like it was second nature, despite the fact that he'd been hurt, and the power would literally suck the life out of him. I'd heard the stories about the power of the Immi. I knew what it could and would do to Charlie's body, and yet he'd accepted it anyway, and used it to face off against Jackal, for no other reason than to save me. Not too many people would give so much for someone who couldn't even make up their mind on whether or not they were going to be kind to him.