Collision by Alyx D. Vacca (e ink ebook reader TXT) 📖

continued to fly higher and higher. The following is what people told me after the incident had passed.
"Jayd!" Tobi screamed again. "Save it Tobi," Henry said, his face grave. "She is gone. There is no way we can get her back now." Tobi spun around and punched him. "Don't you ever say that!" Tobi held up his staff and started chanting, the air billowing and contracting around him. It grew darker and the staff gave off a weird illumination, but void of all light. Clouds gathered quickly as I continued to scream my head off. Lightning struck a nearby tree, setting it a flame immediately. As Tobi said the last word to his spell it was like the end of the world. Everything shook briefly and and the fire from the tree flew up and hurled it's self at the Dragon, sending a bright flash through the air. More followed, now it came not only from the tree, but from the sky as well. Lightning bolts continued to strike at the Dragon even after it had dropped me in it's pain. I fell quickly and fast.
When I awoke, I was laying in Tobi's arms. He was so tired he was gray, the sweat dripped off of him in big drops. "Jayd," he sobbed in grateful relief when he noticed that I was awake and alive. I realized that some of the drops were tears. "Hey Tobi," I said. It hurt to talk. "What happened?" He looked at me in surprise. "You mean you did not see?" He asked. "How could I have? I was unconscious." "You mean you... you did not see the air or the lightning or anything?" "How could I have seen the air? It's invisible. And what lightning? It's been clear all day." He stared at me for a few seconds as I tried to get to my feet and failing, than he swiftly bent down and kissed me fully on the mouth. Then he grabbed my hand and swung me to my feet, steadying me with his arm. Still dizzy from what ever the reason for my fainting, and now somewhat dazed from being kissed unexpectedly by Tobi of all people, I leaned heavily on him and tried not to fall down. "Hey Jayd!" Cole said happily and warily. I wondered at that last. Why was he so nervous? "How are you? Are you OK?" I nodded. I did not have the energy to speak. "So...What happened Jayd?" Henry asked me. "You were supposed to be watching the Dragon, but you did not give us any warning or anything." "Yeah Jayd, what happened?" Cole said questioningly. Tobi looked at me expectantly. "Um... I do not really know." I blushed and looked down. "I stopped watching it." I admitted. They all stared at me in rage and disbelief. "Jayd," Tobi said haltingly. His voice unstable. "We trusted you with all of our safety and you just gave it up because you were bored!" His words turned into a hiss. I looked down, ashamed. Henry glared at me and Cole... He could not look at me. "I am sorry." I said, trying to keep the sob out of my voice, and looking down so that they could not see my tears of regret. Tobi sighed and said, "We still have to get to the end of the Course. Let's go." Everyone got up slowly and started walking to the end. I promised myself that I would make it up to everybody somehow. Like next time there was danger, I would be a hero and save them! Big dreams I know, but that is what they did for me and I betrayed their trust. No matter what I had to do something.
Near the end of the Obstacle Course I had almost given up hope that anything would happen. I was not sure that I really wanted something to happen, but I did want to make it up to everyone. And then something did happen, and I realized that I did not want something to happen.
The giant tentacle burst out of the ground, again. We were all fools for thinking that it would go away after wounding one of it's hundreds of arms, legs, what ever they are... Who was to say how many the thing had?
Three more giant, suckered, slimy tentacles followed the first. All of them shot towards us. I brought my bow out of my quiver along with an arrow. I was determined to end this quickly. My arrow flew straight and true all the way into the sucker of one of the tentacles. I was correct in thinking that that was one of the tender spots. "Aim for the suckers!" I yell. I am not really sure why, we were all rather close to each other. I did not bother to look to see if anyone heard. I brought out another arrow and fired.
A while into the fight I heard a scream behind me. It was Cole. Once again the giant Kraken had ahold of him. Swinging him high in the air by his legs. I let an arrow fly and hit the tentacle square. But unexpectedly, instead of dropping him, it whipped around like it was rabid and crazy. How ever it did not hold onto him the entire time. The thing let go of Cole, and he flew from it's grip as though he was one of my arrows and the Kraken my bow. He fell into a tree above the base platform. "NO!" Henry cried. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" He charged the Kraken ferociously. Hacking away at it's tentacles as if he was the woodsman and they were the tree trunks. Frightened by the onslaught of pain, the tentacles started to retreat. "NO!" Henry roared, beyond reason now. "I WILL KILL YOU!" But it was to late. The ground had closed and the Land Kraken was gone. "NO!" "Come on Henry, let's go find him." Tobi said walking over to Henry. He looked at me helplessly. I stood there frozen. This was my fault. I wanted prove myself and wished for this to happen. "Jayd. Come on." I shook myself and ran over to them. We all ran to the tree to find Cole.
Henry practically jumped up the tree when we got there. He came down quickly as well, this time carrying Cole. He was not moving and very bloody. Henry laid him down on the ground then turned to me. "Jayd, help me." Both me and Tobi found this very sexist and demanded to know why not Tobi. "Cole's real name is actually Riah. She is a girl." We stared at him for a second, and then... "Tobi go and find some water or something to clean the cuts." I ordered. "I will take care of Co- I mean Riah. Henry stand guard and make sure you do not do as I did." I turned to Riah the girl formerly know as Cole. First I found one of her knives tucked into her boot. I took it out and cut away what remained of her shirt. Tobi could give her one of his once he got back, he always wore two. "Tell me why she was disguised as a boy, if you can," I said to Henry as I worked. "Well... Remember what I said about how me and Riah met?" I nodded, "You said that you two met when she was running from people." "Yes, well... The reason she was running from people was because she was a thief. More correctly I should state that she is still a thief. Really she can not help it anymore. Riah is a kleptomaniac." "Quit defending her and get on with the story," I told him, he was the worst story teller in the history of story tellers. "OK. But first tell me how Riah is doing." That would explain it. Although I was trying to get him to forget about Riah's currant state by telling the story, it did not seem to be working. "Riah is alive. She is breathing, but not as strongly as I would have hoped. Still, if we get help soon she will be fine." I think, I would not know, I am not a doctor! Thank god I kept those last thought to myself because what I had said out loud was pushing him close to hyperventilation. "You mean if she does not get help soon she will die!" He cried, his eyes wide. "Turn around! Have you no respect for a woman's privacy!" He quickly turned. "No," I lied. The most I know about nursing or healing is that you have to keep a confident appearance and tell many lies so that if the patient wakes up without you knowing it they do not just give up because someone said that they were going to die. "Now get on with the story." "Uh, right! Where was I?" "You never got past the beginning." "Right, right. OK, so she was running from the guards and I stopped them. I had no idea what she had done. As far as I was concerned, she was a girl and they were a bunch of ugly guys looking for some entertainment. So I told them to stop and go back to their posts. They had no choice but to do so, and so did. And Riah, always honest even as a thief, showed me all the stuff she had taken from the guards. Please do not tell her any of this OK? After she showed me all of the stuff, I looked at her and then at the money. All my life no one had ever been honest with me. Even the important stuff they kept from me. And yet here was this girl who did not know me. Did not know why I had told the people to not chase her. And yet she was truthful. I have to say, I fell in love with her immediately." I could hear him glare. "And if you ever tell her that, I will kill you." I laughed silently. Just before he had said that he loved her, the object of the conversation had opened her eyes. Now those eyes were wide. "Do not tell him!" She mouthed, her face rather panicked. I glanced behind me and nodded to show that I would not. I grinned though and she glared at me. "Will you go look for Tobi? I think she can be moved safely now." "Sure," Henry said, brightening up now that his beloved was ready for transportation. "Make sure that your bow is ready just in case, I did not see anything but you can never be to careful." I nodded and got out my bow and fitted an arrow to the string. Now I