Underneath the Silhouette-Chapter 89: A Rocky Farewell

Shade reappeared from the shadows, his small face pale but his eyes burning with renewed intensity, immediately grabbed Eirin’s hand. He pulled her with surprising force, his small legs already churning as he started running away, back towards the cave entrance.

But Eirin couldn’t stop herself from looking back. Over her shoulder, she saw the monster, Girak, still smiling gently, a look of unwavering devotion on its craggy face. It did not move, nor did it attempt to defend itself against the relentless barrage.

Girak only remained standing there, a colossal, unmoving barrier between Eirin and the advancing bounty hunters. He knew, with an ancient wisdom, that once he moved, once he engaged in combat, his sheer size and power could inadvertently endanger the two students. His only purpose was to protect, to create a path for her escape.

Eirin’s heart ached, a sharp, physical pain in her chest, seeing such selfless sacrifice. Without a second thought, driven by a powerful surge of protectiveness, she pulled her hand back from Shade’s grasp. As she did so, she thrust the precious weeping bindweed into his small, surprised hand.

"Hold this!" she commanded. Then, with a fierce, desperate resolve, she turned and rushed back towards Girak’s side, ignoring Shade’s baffled words behind her.

"Stop it!" Eirin screamed, her voice echoing with righteous fury through the cavern. As she did, she swung her arm in a desperate, wide arc, releasing a powerful wind blade. This one was larger, more turbulent than her previous attempt, fueled by the emotion surging through her.

It tore through the air with a violent whirl, once again injuring those bounty hunters, sending them sprawling. Her amber eyes glowed with an intensity she hadn’t known she possessed, a vibrant inner light that pulsed with her gusting Flair.

Eirin huffed and puffed, her lungs burning, not from exertion, but from the sheer force of her emotions, as she instinctively, positioned herself beside the monstrous golem, protecting the creature that had only moments ago filled her with abject terror.

The tremors began once again, deeper and more frequent this time, shaking the cavern with renewed ferocity. Eirin looked up at Girak, her gaze meeting his, and saw the monster looking at her with that same soft, knowing gaze.

"You and your companion must leave," he rumbled, his voice filled with urgency, "before the cave closes again."

Despite having seen the monster for the very first time, Eirin felt oddly, inexplicably connected to it, as if an ancient bond stretched between them. She reached out, her small hand patting the coarse, rocky arm of the golem, a gesture of comfort and defiance. Girak smiled, a wistful, heartbreaking expression, as it raised its massive arms.

With a groan of shifting stone and grinding earth, it began to pave a new passage, a narrow, twisting tunnel that opened in the cavern wall, offering the students an escape route.

Simultaneously, it used its immense earth powers to seal the main entrance of the cave from above, sending a cascade of boulders crashing down, blocking the bounty hunters’ path and buying Eirin precious time.

Eirin held Shade’s small, unresisting hand on one side, clutching the precious weeping bindweed in the other, as they hurried through the newly formed passage towards the exit. The air grew progressively lighter, cleaner, as they neared the surface, until finally, they emerged into the twilight.

As soon as they stepped out of the cave, Eirin screamed in surprise, a sharp, startled sound, after seeing Hebe standing there, calmly waiting for them, a serene smile gracing her face.

"You have met the slumbering one," the young girl said, her voice tinkling like wind chimes, her smile widening. It was baffling; she looked completely uninjured, as if she hadn’t just been pushed off a steep cliff and plunged into the unknown depths below. Not a hair was out of place, not a speck of dust marred her ethereal beauty.

Eirin’s initial shock gave way to the pressing urgency of their mission. "Please," she implored, her voice laced with desperation, "we need you to undo the curse on my companion." She gestured to Shade, his expression a mixture of irritation and exhaustion.

The young girl’s smile grew wider, a knowing, almost teasing glint in her eyes, as she sauntered with unhurried grace towards the teenage girl. "You already heard the answer, didn’t you?" she giggled, a sound that seemed to carry on the soft breeze. "But I shall tell you again. To reverse the curse, it must be through a true love’s kiss."

"What bullshit!" Shade scoffed, the words bursting from him, his small face contorted in disgust and disbelief.

Even though Eirin and Shade were clearly confused, Hebe just giggled again, a melodic, unconcerned sound, before she seemed to simply vanish into thin air, her form dissolving like mist in the evening light.

As Hebe disappeared, the newly formed entrance to the cave, the escape route Girak had created, shimmered and then vanished as well, the mountain face returning to its seamless, impassable state.

Eirin glanced at Shade, but the young man was in no condition to laugh or even feel anything but pure, unfiltered annoyance. His face was a mask of furious indignation.

"We should go," Eirin said, her own voice weary, as she offered Shade her hand once more. But the young man merely grunted, a small, stubborn sound, and started stomping down the trail ahead, his small legs moving with surprising determination.

Eirin sighed, a long, drawn-out exhalation of resignation. "We should probably help the townspeople with the clean-up," she mused aloud, carefully protecting the weeping bindweed from the dire, cool evening wind that had begun to pick up.

"Why should I?" Shade retorted, his voice still surprisingly deep for his small frame, "I didn’t create the mess they’re in right now."

Eirin rolled her eyes, another long-suffering grunt escaping her. ’Yep, he’s definitely back to his annoying personality,’ she thought, a faint, exasperated smile playing on her lips as she trudged along behind him.

"We need something like a vase for the flower," she stated, strategically. That was how she was able to persuade Shade Cromwell to go back to the town of Grimsby, a necessary detour disguised as a practical need.

"Hello again," Eirin greeted the young man who was still standing beside the town chief, his face still pale from the earlier tremors. Her tone was polite, a genuine smile on her face. "Is there something we could help with, perhaps?"

The town chief, despite the devastation, offered a tired but kind smile. "I appreciate your generous offer lad," he said, shaking his head. "But we are used to such conditions here, the mountain sometimes has its moods. We hand handle all of these on our own; it’s simply the rhythm of our lives.

"Oh..." Eirin trailed off, a little disappointed but understanding. "But before we go, might we borrow a vase for this precious flower?" she asked, holding up the glowing bindweed.

The town chief didn’t hesitate; his eyes widened slightly at the sight of the luminous plant they only heard from legends, and he quickly fetched a simple, sturdy earthenware vase for the weeping bindweed.

"Let’s go." Shade’s impatient command cut through the polite exchange.

Eirin bid the townsmen goodbye with a final, grateful nod as she followed Shade on their way out of the Town of Grimsby. The sky was beginning to deepen into shades of orange and purple, the sun dipping below the horizon.

"Are you sure we’ll leave now? It’ll soon be dark," Eirin said, looking at the rapidly darkening sky, a hint of concern in her voice.

The teenage girl looked at the young man, who let out an exasperated sigh and continued to stomp down the trail with his small, determined steps. She pressed her lips together firmly, suppressing a burst of laughter that threatened to bubble out.

Shade looked so incredibly adorable, marching along with his grumpy expression, a sight that made a huge, irrepressible grin spread across Eirin’s face. Shade, sensing her amusement, cringed, a hint of annoyance in his eyes.

"You know what—just don’t talk to me," Shade muttered, completely flustered by her obvious mirth, and started strutting away even faster.

"Wait for me!"

The two walked away from the town until they reached a small cluster of cart sheds where there was also a stable, the scent of hay and horse wafting on the evening air. Eirin began searching for her wallet, rummaging through her satchel for some money so that they could rent a carriage to take them back to Senerra Academy.

Meanwhile, the Laxford Dukedom had sent their knights to help the people from the Town of Grimsby. They scouted the mountains to help clean up and find people who were trapped from the landslide.

One of the youngest knights, tired from his endless night shift, wanted to take a short break deeper into the woods. He yawned as he sauntered towards a big tree. However, his eyes widened, and a scream escaped his mouth.

"There’s a body here!" he shouted. The young knight rushed to the body and saw that it was a young girl. He immediately checked the young girl’s pulse, but there was none.

When he looked around, he saw above them was the highest cliff. He wondered, ’Could it be that the young girl fell off?’

"We need a healer! This kid has no pulse!"

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l