Fan Fiction ❯ Irony of the Hero ❯ N/A ( Chapter 5 )

 

~:Embers of a Dying Flame:~

Gala awoke in a gasping fit, clenching his chest as if trying to pull away ghost hands choking him of breath. Such a nightmare! He sat up from his floor palette, and wearily stood to his feet. Although the fireplace at full flame, the wooden floor somehow cool to his bare feet. He quietly tried to creep into the other room. However, shuffling noises concluded that the Elder stirred within the night as well.

Elder: “Gala. Company me a while, won't you?”

Gala grinned halfheartedly as he made his way to the dull-lit room, taking presence near the Elder, who sat at Vahn's bedside.

Elder: “…I've created a mixture of blooms, berries and leaves… it seems to work for a moment, then he becomes worse.”

Tears stung his tired eyes and turning his head, he eyed across the bed to the table that staged the candle that neared the end of it's wick. The flame struggled in the faint wind of Vahn's weakening breaths.

Gala: “…Poisoned. Would there be any antidotes in the village, or at the Hunter's Spring even?”

Yet the Elder shook his head and meddled with some items before him. An uneasy fidgeting that Gala detected rather quickly.

Gala: “Tell me,…if you can. What was Vahn doing away from the monastery. Hadn't he gone with Tetsu to take care of Zopu?”

The Elder held his head low, still fooling with a few instruments before him.

Elder: “He had.”

Yet Gala clenched his teeth, trying not to explode with emotion. The Elders words bore heavy undertone.

Gala: “…Had?”

The Elder lifted his head, making firm eye contact with him, his face furrowed with a sign of troubling news. His lips trembled, as he tried to find the will to even speak. He truly knew not how Gala would react. And such dramatics were not needed. Gala situated himself uneasily in his chair, dizzy with anxiety.

With a collected, but shuddering, sigh, the Elder could carry the emotional burden no more.

“Tetsu and Vahn had a scuffle within the worship hall. No one recalls what occurred, but he had wanted to return to RimElm… and…Kin decided to give him leave so he could return home for a while and clear his mind.”

Gala shook his head rashly, trying to clear his own. Vahn provoked his mentor into a `physical' dispute?