Branches of Life

A quick glance over my shoulder showed a long split in the earth close to twenty feet behind us. Despite my aching and tired muscles, I pulled Harmony’s arm up higher on my shoulder before Ari and I took off. Harmony’s legs struggled to keep up with our pace, stumbling several times.

Another rumble shook the ground, lasting longer than before. With the ear-splitting cracking, I didn’t need to look over my shoulder to know it was getting closer. We changed our direction, running to the left in the hopes of getting away from the splitting earth. Glancing over my shoulder, I gasped in horror when I saw the crack following us and was only a few feet away, and picking up speed. As the ground split beneath Harmony’s dragging feet, I tightened my grip around her waist, and dove to the side, taking the brunt of the fall as we awkwardly rolled and flopped away. Harmony coughed and groaned, half sprawled on top of me, the shaking ground violently vibrating our bodies.

Rowan head-butted my shoulder, basically telling me now was not the time to rest.

Standing up was a serious challenge, with the earthquake throwing off my equilibrium, and supporting Harmony’s limp body. A gasp slipped free when I saw the fifteen-foot-wide chasm between Ari and us. A chasm that stretched into the distance on both sides, making it impossible to walk around.

“Jade!” Koa’s panicked voice dragged my attention to him, Ander, Wyatt, and Starling running toward the chasm. Somewhere in all the chaos, we had gotten separated from them. Another booming crack assaulted our ears, as a new fissure appeared in the ground between the others and Ari. Wyatt and Starling skidded to a stop, while Ander and Koa picked up speed and jumped over the crumbling ground. Once both of them landed safely on the other side and ran from the growing chasm, I finally released the breath I’d been holding.

When it rains, it pours. A saying that described this situation perfectly, because not even a few seconds later, the dirt in front of us began crumbling and falling into the bottomless pit. I all but dragged Harmony as I limped away from the growing gap. Several times I nearly lost my footing, harsh breaths sawed in and out of my chest as I pushed my body to the limit. Harmony’s dead weight was working against me the whole time.

I had thought the other obstacles we faced were tough, but they sucked way less than this. Because at least during those situations, I had my wolf there with me. Her energy was at my fingertips, ready to use if shit hit the fan. This time I didn’t have that. There was no break in case of emergency this time around

I only stopped when the sounds of crumbling rocks and dirt ceased. To my dismay, the chasm had tripled in size. Peering into its depths, but making sure not to get too close to the edge, I only saw an endless darkness. Not only had this chasm grown, but the other one had as well. My stomach sank as I stared at the thirty-foot-wide strip of land between the two—where Ander, Ari, and Koa were currently standing.

I met Koa’s gaze and was surprised when I saw pure panic.

“We need to keep moving!” Wyatt’s voice was barely audible over the distance and quaking earth.

Harmony’s eyes were half open at this point. Her hands loosely fisted my shirt as she mumbled incoherent words. Ignoring my own exhaustion, I threw Harmony over my shoulder—nearly falling over several times in the process—and began running away from the splitting earth, increasing the distance between us and the chasm.

Another rumbling quake had me stumbling to the side, barely managing to avoid falling over. The shoulder bearing Harmony’s weight felt numb, my lungs burned, and my legs felt like they were made of lead. No matter how much I ran—more like a limping walk—the crumbling ground remained right on my heels. There was no other direction I could run to avoid it. Not unless I suddenly gained the ability to fly.

The dirt under my feet began crumbling, and in a split-second decision, I threw Harmony—with strength I didn’t know I had—to safety.

I fell at least fifteen feet into the hole before I was able to find a handhold on the rocky wall. Now that I was down here, the earth no longer shook and the chasm no longer grew. Good news for both Harmony and me, but now I had to find a way out of this damn thing.

Taking deep breaths, I cleared my mind of all racing thoughts. Panic and fear kept trying to gain a hold of me, and paralyze my body, but I couldn’t let that happen. None of the others would be able to save me this time. Rowan was weak and couldn’t climb as far as I knew. Harmony was in no position to help me, she needed my help. With that extra burst of motivation, I began climbing up the steep wall.

Apparently, today was the day Ander's crazy training scenarios were coming true.

Even though the chasm was no longer growing, for now, chunks of rock and dirt still rained down on me. Smacking my head, hands, and shoulders as I pressed closer to the wall. Within no time my hands were cramping and bleeding. My arms shook every time I pulled myself up another couple of inches. Sweat soaked my body, dripping down into my eyes and blurring my vision.

A combination of sheer stubbornness at not dying this way, and worry over the safety of my friend, were the only things keeping me moving. My progress was by no means fast or dignified, but that didn’t matter now that I was only a couple of feet from the top.

Of course that meant shit now had to hit the fan. The rumbling returned, followed by the sounds of smashing rocks. To my shock and horror, the rocks didn’t rain down on me like before. No, they smacked the bottoms of my feet and legs as they flew up from the endless pit, fitting themselves to the wall. It took a few seconds to piece together what was happening; the chasm was closing.

Rocks kept pelting me, bruising my already aching body as I managed to climb the remaining feet and threw myself onto the repairing ground. I watched as chunks of rock fitted into place, making it look like there was never a gaping hole to begin with. My body refused to move a single inch, like it had decided to go on strike.

Finally, I forced my body into action, moving over to where Harmony lay. Her breathing was shallow, and her eyes were closed. Knowing I couldn’t allow her to stay asleep, I gently shook her and then moved onto tapping her face, until she inhaled sharply and her eyes snapped open. She appeared to have a bit more energy and focus than she had in the past hour. Probably due to her little nap, but it wouldn’t last long, not here.

Before she could speak, Ander and Koa rushed toward us, dropping to their knees as they checked us out. Koa’s hands lightly traced over my body, checking for any injuries, his face hard to read. Dried blood caked my arms, seeing as I hadn’t cleaned them after the lava region. Fresh blood covered my hands, from all of the scrapes I’d received climbing that damn wall. It was probably for the best none of us had a mirror, no doubt I looked a hot mess.

The fact that for over eighty percent of this mission, I looked like a wreck, was some serious bullshit. Which was only made worse by the fact I’d only recently met my mate. Why couldn’t we have met on the many other days where I was put together, and had time to care about how I looked?

After assessing Harmony’s well-being, Ander lifted her to her feet, holding her up as she swayed. Gripping Koa’s hands, I pulled them from my shoulder and inclined my head to Ander. He cupped my face for a moment, pressing a chaste kiss on my lips that took me by surprise, before hooking Harmony’s arm over his shoulder.

“I hate this fucking land,” Ari muttered as she pulled me to my feet. My whole body ached and protested the movement. I couldn’t disagree, the thought of doing any more walking had me wanting to curl up in a ball and cry.

Rowan nudged my hand at my side and I ran my fingers through her fur, flinching when my hand stung.

When Wyatt and Starling finally joined us, we continued our search for the edge of this region. We were basically on an island, if we walked in one direction long enough, we should find water.

Ari and I were at the back of the group, walking behind Ander and Koa, with a half-awake Harmony hanging between them, her feet dangling several inches above the ground. As time went by the guys started showing signs of fatigue; their hair dampening with sweat, along with their shirts. And to my utter shock, Ander stumbled a step.

I’ve never seen him stumble. Ever.

I wasn’t fairing much better. I had already been utterly exhausted before we even continued our hike, and it had only gone downhill from there—figuratively because we were now literally walking up an incline that was growing steeper as time went by. My legs felt like they no longer belonged to me, while my head felt light. I was chugging water every few minutes, but my mouth and throat still felt dry.

We took several breaks as the incline increased. Each break, Koa made sure I was drinking enough water and offered food from his bag, telling me I needed to maintain my energy.

We had just stopped again when I dramatically threw myself onto the packed dirt and sighed. “I give up.”

“It’s a shame you’re quitting so close to freedom.” When I sat up and met Wyatt’s amused gaze, he inclined his head up the hill. Nearly thirty feet away was the top of the hill, where the gray-green sky of the wastelands met with the dull blue sky of the river.

That had me shoving to my feet, ready to get out of this damn wasteland. Even if it meant going into the river.

Wind whipped my braid around, smacking me in my face, as it cooled my sweaty skin. At first, I liked how nice it felt, until I realized the entire time we’d been here, there hadn’t been any wind.

My suspicions were confirmed when the wind picked up, drowning out all other sounds. I hadn’t wanted to be right, I would’ve loved if I was wrong and it was just a nice and soothing breeze. But with how I was nearly blown over by a particularly strong gust of wind, I knew that wasn’t happening.

“Please tell me this isn’t a tornado?” I shouted, but my voice was lost to the roaring wind.

Wyatt mouthed cyclone, or rather he shouted it, but his voice was drowned out by the all-encompassing sounds. He pointed down the hill and to the right, and sure enough, about a mile away, was a cyclone rushing toward us. Dammit.

Not needing any prompting, we sprinted up the hill toward the river. Ander had pulled Harmony into his arms, cradling her to his chest as he took off, passing Ari and me easily. Starling kept several steps ahead of us, but Koa kept his pace slower, staying in step with Ari and me. No part of me was thrilled at the idea of being in the back of the group. Again. My preferred place was in the middle, neither leading nor the closest to the approaching cyclone.

Ahead of us, Wyatt reached the top of the hill, waving for Ander to go first. Without stopping, Ander jumped off the ground and dropped from sight into the water below. Just to spite us, the whirlwind got even stronger, making me have to work twice as hard to keep moving forward.

Starling was the next one to jump. Wyatt remained, waving at Rowan. Most likely telling her to jump, but instead, she slowed down at the edge of the cliff and looked back at me. We were almost ten feet away at this point, the tempest working against us, to the point that those ten feet felt like a hundred. I was actively avoiding looking over my shoulder, afraid I would see the cyclone right behind us.

“Jump Rowan!” I doubted she heard me, but it was worth a shot.

Five feet away from the edge, a gust of wind lifted my body from the ground. I would’ve been sucked into the tornado if it hadn’t been for Koa’s hands locking around my arms. His face was pinched in concentration, arms shaking from the strain. If he had access to his dragon, this would’ve been easy for him. We probably wouldn’t have even been in this situation, if all of us had access to our magic.

In my peripheral vision, I noticed Wyatt had left the edge of the cliff and had his arms locked around Ari, preventing her from getting sucked into the cyclone. His heels were digging into the dirt, trying to gain traction.

Rowan had also joined our group, biting the leg of Koa’s pants, yanking backwards to keep him anchored. Koa’s grip slid from the tops of my arms to my forearms and a wave of hopelessness flooded my body. Unless this died down soon, we had no chance of getting away. Our magic was down and our energy was nonexistent at this point. What made all of this worse, was the fact that we were so close to freedom.

I had just about given up, when a burst of pure energy came from behind me, flinging us off the cliff and into the river.