Storm
Jay huddled on a small rock about a hundred feet above the water, doing his best to keep warm. An impossible feat, since the rain was pelting hard enough to strip a tortoise of its shell.
This was one of the things he'd forgotten about his native home. The horrid rain. It had been nearly twelve hours, and it showed no signs of ceasing. Or even slowing down a bit.
It had been at least a day since he'd last seen the moon, either. He feared that if he wasn't careful, he'd run out of power before he reached the island.
Death by drowning. Unsavory, to say the least.
But hey, maybe that kraken would find and eat him. That would make dying slightly less unsavory because krakens were so cool.
He rose to his feet and stretched his sore limbs. He only had a five days left. That left no time to wait around for the moon. He'd have to take a chance and keep going.
For a brief moment, he considered breaking into his food reserves, but he restrained himself. He wasn't that hungry. After all, he'd had a full breakfast of preserved fish and bread before the storm began.
"I'm trusting you, Stormstrider," he said. "Please don't run out of power."
As usual, he got no reply. The Blade was as unresponsive as a stone.
With a light sigh, he leapt into the air and took flight.
Kai knocked on Cole's door with his foot. Without waiting for an answer, he opened it and walked in.
"Hey," he said.
Cole sat in a chair beside the bed, hands overlapped on his lap. He did not look up or acknowledge Kai in any way.
Kai set a tray of food on the floor at Cole's feet. "How's Vara doing?"
No answer.
It was always like this. Cole had refused to treat him as a living person ever since Varasach had first contracted the illness, which Borg had named the "erythrocyte convergence syndrome". Or ECS, for short.
Kai looked at Varasach, who was asleep in the bed, and felt his stomach twist. Even slumber would not erase her pained grimace.
He removed the two empty bowls from last night. "If you need anything, I'll be taking care of the sick in the main bunker. Okay?"
The bitterness in the air was palpable. Cole had not budged an inch.
Kai backed out of the room, pausing in the hallway to compose himself before heading back down toward the kitchen to deposit the dishes.
They had trusted each other. Kai had thought their bond was stronger than this.
Apparently not.
Another stormy day.
Jay was exhausted. He hadn't been able to find a place to land- he needed to, though. Desperately. His mind was tired of sending the flight command for hours on end, and he needed to rest. If he allowed his mind to wander- even for an instant- gravity would pull him down. He'd done so a few times in the past hour alone. The last time, his face had come close to actually hitting the water. Not fun.
The wind shoved him every which way, and he had a hard time keeping on course. Was he even going in the right direction? He had no way to tell, since the clouds were so thick. He should have prepared better, gotten himself a compass.
Yet another thing he couldn't do right.
But he was determined to get to the Dark Island. He didn't care if he flew in circles a few times before getting there.
A huge rock made an appearance through the curtain of rain. He gasped- inhaling maybe a gallon of rainwater in the process- and tried to veer out of the way.
His entire right side was crushed by the boulder. He flailed, grasping blindly for a handhold as he tried to get into the sky again.
But he couldn't fly. At first he thought that he'd run out of power- at the most inconvenient time, per the norm- but then he looked down at his waist. A sick feeling danced in his stomach for a moment.
His Blade was gone.
Of freaking course this would happen to him.
"No!" His chest heaved as he choked on the violent rain. He tried to search below his dangling feet for Stormstrider, but his eyes weren't focusing. Had he hit his head? He couldn't tell; everything hurt the same.
The next thing he knew, his fingers slipped.
Hold on, a voice said in his mind. Deep breath, Klutz. It'll all be over soon...
He fell into the water and was swallowed by the waves.