Betrayal of the Heart
By: FunahoMisaki
(A/N: I own nothing.)
Shortly after she lost consciousness, her last thought being of her family and bonded…Will woke up.
"Wha-?!" Will let out a yelp as she awoke, not only did she not expect to wake up ever again…but she certainly hadn't expected to wake up in what looked like an old fashioned Chinese temple. She certainly didn't expect to see four large dragons standing over her.
"Be at peace young Heart. You shall not be harmed here." A womans voice said and Will blinked as she looked at the sole other human that seemed to be there. She looked vaguely like Yan-lin and Hay-lin…but…also…different as well. She had definite Asian features, but that wasn't what caught Will's attention the most. Most of the similarities seemed to come from the way her hair was styled, the bun it was in. Not just that but her dark pink and greyish kimono was rather beautiful, it resembled a green one that Will had seen Yan-lin wear before and a blue one Hay-lin had worn once.
"You know who I am I suppose?" The woman asked and Will noticed how she had some sparks that ran through her hair, familiar sparks.
"Quintessence…and four dragons? You're the Nymph Xin Jing." Will said blinking as her mind ticked through what she could see. It was something that Halinor had told her before. Don't listen to what you hear or what other people tell you. Base your decisions off of what you can see.
"Correct. I knew you were a clever one as soon as you were given my crystal." Xin Jing said smiling proudly at the red head.
"Where am I? And how am I still alive? I thought the other girls killed me?" Will asked looking confused and feeling a stab of pain at recalling how they had tried to kill her.
"When the blond one with my power loosened the rocks of the cliff…she unsealed a cave that we had sealed ourselves in all those centuries ago." The large green and brown dragon said and his voice was like boulders clashing against one another.
Will looked up and got a better look at each of the dragons. They were all large of course, much bigger than her, but the brown and blue ones were much bigger than the light purple one or red one. Now that she got a good look at them with a clearer mind, not one fogged by sleep or her perceived death, she could see them better and see differences other than the color and sizes of the four large creatures.
The brown and green one was by far the biggest and while it had a green underbelly that was obviously scales, the apparent mane of the dragon was more like leaves than anything and it seemed almost as if there was bark at some parts over the scars. The eyes were a warm light green color.
The blue one was actually several shades of blue and light green all seeming to mix together with very light blue for the mane…in fact the mane almost looked like foam. The belly scales were a mix of dark blue and green and it almost seemed as if the colors of the scales were flowing across the dragons body. This dragon had a light blue color for its eyes.
The next one that Will looked at was a light purple and whitish color that seemed to flicker in and out of view at some parts. This dragon was more of an eastern one instead of the western styled dragons the other two had. Which means it has whiskers and some trim but no mane. Most of the body was a light purple color with the trim being the white color and it seemed as if the whiskers and some of the trim were rustling in a breeze that Will couldn't feel. The eyes…the eyes were completely white, no pupil or anything.
The final dragon…it made Will's eyes widen and her heart to clench. It reminded her of Halinor for some reason. Most the eastern style dragon's body was red-orange but had hints of green that seemed to flicker in and out. The whiskers and trim were a golden yellow color and the eyes were a warm amber color.
"It's nice to finally meet you young one." The fire dragon, and there was no way she could be anything other than the dragon of fire, said and her voice was warm and gentle with an undercurrent of firmness to it.
"Nice to meet you all too?" Will questioned more than anything as she looked around at them confused.
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you face to face young keeper, although I wish that it had happened differently." Xin Jing said and Will blinked slowly.
"Yeah…can someone fill me in on what happened please? I thought I died." Will said looking confused and wary.
"You were close to it, very close. However your heritage and connection to the Heart saved you, it brought you here, into the subrealm of the Heart, in order to save you." Xin Jin said and Will blinked once and then a second time.
"Okay. What's this about my heritage?" Will asked making the dragons chuckle slightly.
"You're my direct descendant. You're the direct descendant of myself and that makes you the True Keeper of the Heart and in fact the one who shall become the Heart of Kandrakar." Xin Jing said completely honest and blunt about it. After all it was better to rip off the band-aid as it were.
"O…kay?" Will looked lost now as she stared at Xin Jing silently and then at the dragons who were watching her calmly. Everything was quiet as Will waited for one of them to say that they were joking…everything…was…quiet.
Will's eyes widened as she realized something, a stabbing feeling hitting her heart. She couldn't hear her. She couldn't hear Halinors soft murmurs in her mind. Halinor's soft calming thoughts weren't in the back of Will's mind like they should be! There were no funny thoughts on her friends doing or saying something stupid, no calming thoughts when Will's temper began to fray, no reassuring thoughts when Will was having a bad day or had a fight with her mom.
"Halinor…my bonded. What happened?! What happened to her?!" Will demanded gasping as she felt like part of her heart was gone, her mind casting out and searching for Halinors worried thoughts.
"You merged with the Heart and were pulled into the subrealm in order to save and heal you. Doing this cut off your mental connection to your bonded. For both of you it will feel as if your mental connection is gone." Xin Jing said her voice calming and trying to be soothing.
"What?!" That seemed to have the opposite effect on Will however.
"She won't feel my thoughts. She'll think I'm really dead! Quick you've gotta send me back! I've gotta go back and show her I'm still alive!" Will said looking frantic, she couldn't let Halinor think she was dead. They weren't fully bonded but were still soul bonded. If Halinor thought she was dead then-
"If you leave here right now it is likely that you will die. You are badly hurt outside of here. While your mental bond may not be there at the moment you should still be able to feel you in her heart and you should be able to feel her in yours." Xin Jing tried to calm Will down with that but Will was frantic as she casted her mind to try and connect with Halinors.
"Bring her here! She won't be able to concentrate on our heart connection if she can't feel our mental one! If I can't leave bring her here!" Will said and her eyes were wild. She wasn't able to focus on their heart connection either right now, not with their mental one being completely numb.
"Child in the ten minutes you've been here and awake…it's been almost an hour outside of here-" The large earth dragon was cut off by Will looking at him with a piercing but wild look.
"I don't care! I don't care about that! Bring her here! You either bring her here or I will! I can't just leave her out there to think I'm dead!" Will said and the nymph merely smiled at her calmly.
"If that is what you wish to do, young Heart, then do so. Bring your bonded here. We were going to suggest calling her here soon anyways." Xin Jing said making Will give her a relieved look.
"How?! How do I bring her here?" Will asked making Xin Jing smile softly at her.
"Just feel for her. Feel her presence within your heart. Concentrate on her soul, her connection to your heart." Xin Jing instructed and Will closed her eyes as she reached for the connection she shared with Halinor. She could feel it after only a few seconds of searching, Halinor was using up a lot of life force but her connection to Will ended up feeding the older woman some of her excessive energy to keep the woman from using up most of her life force.
"Once you've found her…just grab your connection and pull her here." Xin Jing said and Will made sure she grabbed onto the bond with both of her hands and all of her strength. She felt as warm hands grabbed onto her as well, Halinor was trying to grab her as well or at least felt Wills hands and wanted to go along.
Then she pulled with all of her might.
There was a large flash of fire and some lava and then Will had a sudden weight in her arms.
"Halinor." Will said relieved and she could feel how their mental connection snapped back into place now that they were both together again.
"Will." Halinor didn't care how it was possible, she buried her face in Will's shoulder and cried. Although this time they were tears of happiness and relief that the other female was still alive.
"It's alright Halinor. I'm here now." Will said softly as she held Halinor tight and close.
Neither of them even noticed that Halinor was still crying tears of lava. Nor that Will wasn't even damaged by the lava, the only thing that it did was burn at her clothes.
They didn't notice at all until after their hug when Halinor remember her very lethal tears.