Chapter 33 CHAPTER 33
The harness was meant to keep in place, and it was working a bit too much.
I tried pushing off from the path of the incoming stone, frantically thinking of how to avoid the incoming murder weapon but only a scream erupted from my throat.
“What is – oh shit!” I heard from distinctly as I prepared myself for the rock to knock me off.
I squeezed my eyes shut and…
Instead of the full mast hitting my head, shards of rock rained on my face, hair, and neck.
“Are you good, Alira?” Master Corvus asked after a while.
I was stuck in place, partly by the ropes and partly by shock but I was immobile until he spoke up.
Realizing that I wasn't dead or falling to my death I looked up to where he and a couple others were, looking down at me.
“Yes Sir,” I sniffled.
“Good. Don't give up, alright? You can do this.”
His encouraging words felt like water on a rock, leaving no impact.
I knew I could climb this thing if I didn't die halfway from exhaustion but will Kovar let me?
“Come on baby, keep climbing!”
“Leave her alone, Kovar!” Erin snapped from my far left.
I'd not spoken much to her today and I assumed the whole Asher situation was causing a rift between us but the anger in her voice showed me she'd seen what had happened.
And she was angry enough to speak up against Kovar on my behalf.
“I'm just trying to –”
“I know exactly what you're trying to do and you need to stop it. Please.”
“Hmpf. Since you asked so nicely,” the devil grunted, turned around, lifting off the boulder, and began climbing.
He was fast, careless, and kept throwing random small rocks my way but they weren't big enough to kill me and although he was making the journey harder for me, I channeled my inner defiance towards the activity.
I was halfway up, by my mental calculation as I refused to look down, when my fingers began burning.
From the pain, from overusage, from exertion.
I had to stop, I held onto the mountainside with one hand and waited for the other to rest, and began alternating it.
“Come on Alira!” I heard Master Corvus yell, and it sounded so far away that I had to look up.
They were like ants in the distance and I was so close to tears from holding back said tears.
I was weak, that much was obvious but I was also slow, unable to adjust, and tired
So damn tired.
I began blinking again but only my lashes got wet.
I was still hanging onto a mountainside like a wild animal while I struggled to use my own fingers.
I decided to start climbing again, maybe I can get there quickly and rest once and for all.
I had forced myself not to think about the journey down but it was proving to be difficult the more the day passed.
I clutched on the next curved spot, meaning to hoist myself up but instead of climbing, my hand dragged back out, the gloves I was using to grip the stone tearing into shreds.
It has been wearing thin since the beginning, the pressure I put on it was more than most people did since I was inexperienced and putting the entire force of my body on my hands.
Others were used to this, climbing like lizards with speed and agility while I was…
“Fuck,” I cursed as pain ripped through my arm to my shoulders and then back to my fingers.
It was the path Master Florian had pointed out last night, talking about the flow of my Chi.
But I was in too much pain to figure out if there was any connection to that.
“Hmm,” I moaned, gripping tighter to the other spot I was holding onto with my left hand that I nearly left a few seconds ago but even that one was beginning to hurt so much.
I facepalm the mountain and regretted it immediately.
I had to look at the hand because the pain was getting ridiculous.
“What the fuck?”
My hand…
It was…
I was getting scales on my hands.
The back of my palm, my entire arm up to where my top’s hand stopped, was tiny, red scales shining in the sunlight.
I looked to my left and it was the same thing.
A scream ripped out of my throat as something began clawing at my fingers, sharp and gut-wrenchingly painful.
“What is happening down there?”
“Sir can I go get her?” It was Erin's voice that replied to him, and my screaming kept drowning out the conversation that followed.
The pain was unbearable.
It was on for a while, until I felt a shadow above me.
“Oh,” Erin breathed, “that makes sense now.” Then she turned around and yelled, “She's Manifesting!”
Claps, Cheers and hoots replied her, and I was stunned for a second.
“What…” I tried to ask, “Ahhhhh!”
“Don't worry, it gets better. I'm here with you, okay?”
She climbed to where I was, rubbing my back as I went through pain that refused to stop, didn't reduce, and just kept wracking my mind.
The rest of the class bent over from the top of the mountain, singing a song in Drakkonian, while I hung onto the mountainside, suffering.
It felt like I was getting sent off into the afterlife.
“It should be reducing now,” Erin said, but I shook my head, if anything, it was worsening.
I tried to stop the screaming but each time I got used to the pain, it increased again, shaking me to my core.
It must have been ages since they'd sung the song several times, before the pain gradually reduced.
It was like finally drinking water after a long time of thirst.
“You're finally one of us in every way.”
“Really?” I croaked, I didn't feel one inch stronger.
“Well, you still have to build up stamina and everything but this removes every doubt anyone has ever had about you being a dragon kin.”
“Oh,” I deflated.
“You should be more careful now though.”
“Again?”
“Kovar knows you've got a thing against him. He bet against you being weaker than him forever but your Manifesting time has just shown everyone how powerful you can become with the right training and he knows the only way to escape unscathed is if he kills you now.”
“Why will I want to kill him? That makes no sense!”
“To you maybe. But just stick close to me all the time, alright?”
I nodded and focused back on the mountain again, blinking away the tears.
I'll survive this first before I think about anything again.
Surprisingly, with Erin's help and my newfound claws, climbing was much much easier easier and faster.
When I got to the top, Kovar reached out his hand for me to grab so he could pull me up.