CHAPTER 3 - "Fire of the Goddess"

Brilliant, almost blinding light flared up from beneath us, racing outward and upward from the symbols cut into the ground and the pattern of kindling around our feet.

"Now!" I shouted, even though it was hardly necessary. Trent and I were already acting in unison, letting the wild magic with which we'd both completely filled ourselves rush outwards to form a kind of raw barrier of protection around us. It wasn't exactly a circle, it was more like two great waves colliding, crashing against one another and churning as they battled for dominance. Raw power hit raw power as the spells collided and sent a giant shockwave through the forest. The trees around us sprang into flame. Real, or spectral, I couldn't tell, but it looked pretty real as sap bubbled and popped, pine cones exploding and flying to the ground like heated grenades.

My head felt like it was going to explode. Was this working? I couldn't tell, I felt like I was on fire. I couldn't breathe, I could barely think. Oh God, I was burning ... was I burning? Somehow I didn't know. Trent's hands were clenched around mine, his grip tight enough to hurt, his body shuddering like mine probably was.

Chaos reigned. The elves scattered, shrieking, alarmed and uncertain. At least a third of them had been taken out by the shockwave and lay unmoving on the ground, unconscious or dead, I couldn't tell. Others were on fire, rolling and slapping themselves and screaming. I closed my eyes, feeling sick. I hadn't wanted this. I wanted to survive, but even though these people had been trying to kill me, I honestly didn't want to kill them back. I just wanted to survive, damn it! I would stop what was happening to them if I could, if I had any kind of control over it the situation, or if I even had the power or strength to draw breath in my lungs. I didn't. I wasn't so sure I wasn't dying too. As a crushing power pushed in against my chest and my starving lungs continued to be unable to draw air, I began to think I probably was.

The world swam and my knees gave out. I lost my connection and my grip on Trent, my knees slamming into the hard wood beneath me. It was hot. It was burning. I was being consumed and I was going to die here. Alone. And my soul was going to be trapped forever in some elven purgatory of no return. Oh God. Oh God. It hadn't been enough. We'd tried our hardest, but it hadn't been enough. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'd thought we could do this, but now Trent and I were both damned. It hurt so bad. I almost wished it would just be over already. Being nothing had to be better than this, at least it probably wouldn't hurt so much.

A single sensation that wasn't pain cut through the screaming agony that was folding me to its breast. A cool touch on my hand. Fingers grabbing on to me like one drowning man catching hold of another in the eye of a maelstrom. Trent. I felt him at my back again. Whether he'd also fallen or intentionally knelt down to join me I didn't know, but he was there and at least I wasn't alone. That was something, right? If you were going to be damned forever, maybe it was better to not be alone?

I cracked my eyes open, but could see nothing beyond a blinding, swirling curtain of light and heat. The whole world was on fire and Trent and I were the only two souls left. Maybe literally.

Trent's fingers twined with mine. He was shaking. The pole between us was gone. Burned up, evaporated, I had no idea, but I was leaning back to back with Trent in the middle of a roiling, whirling storm of light and sound and pain. My fingers knotted around his and I held onto him tightly, the only real thing in this unreal sea.

"I'm sorry," I groaned, not sure what I was apologizing for, but knowing there was something and if we were about to die it was probably better to get it off my chest.

"Me too," Trent's melodic voice was rough with pain and yet still strangely soothing in its steadiness. "Don't give in," he whispered. "You never give in. We gave them hell, didn't we?" He was struggling to breathe, I could hear it, but his tones were gentle, like he was talking to Lucy. I wasn't a baby and I didn't need that, damn it! It seemed all I could do to hold onto his voice in the storm, but the anger gave me a little kick of adrenaline that helped.

"You can say that again," I agreed, trying not to slur.

"Then ... we did good," Trent was starting to fade. "We did good, didn't we, Rachel?" I could feel him beginning to slip from me, not physically, but mentally and the unexpected pain of the loss pulled from me a few more molecules of gritted determination and sheer stubbornness.

"Yeah, we did good." I reached out to him, trying to wrap my soul around his and keep him with me. It was like we were trapped in the lines, only ... it wasn't, not really. Yet I found it hard to believe we were still in the forest anymore either. I couldn't tell if I had a body or if I was just thought now. I felt like both. Exile. Exile ... the dreadful word rang through me like a funeral knell. Was that what was happening? Were Trent and I being stripped down to naked souls, destined to be cast adrift in this great burning nothing forever? To hell with that!

"Don't you go anywhere you damn cookie maker," I demanded raggedly, clinging on for all I was worth. Trent's thread of consciousness was growing disturbingly thinner and I clutched tighter, desperate not to lose him. I knew I would never get him back if I did. "We stick together, got it?! No way you're getting me into this and then skipping out. If we're gonna be stuck in some lame-ass elf purgatory for all eternity, I'm not doing it alone. You are stuck with me, buddy."

I felt Trent chuckle softly. "Oh God, and here I thought this wasn't supposed to be hell," he groaned, but I felt his grip tighten a little. He was trying to hold onto me, but it was so hard and the rushing around us was getting stronger and stronger. Trent's grip clung on doggedly and I could feel him struggling to keep himself whole, to keep his thoughts from getting ripped apart and scattered. "Yes," he said slowly and I could picture his teeth grit and his eyes alight with determination. "Together. We will stay together."

I wanted to cry if I still had eyes somewhere. Trent had the determination, but not the strength. The waves were battering us, trying to wrench us apart and pull us to pieces and I could feel him starting to lose the battle. No! I screamed at the void. No! I don't accept this. I don't accept it. It isn't meant to be this way!

I wrapped my soul tighter around Trent even though it felt like we were both tattering at the edges. I wouldn't let go. It could shred us both, but I wouldn't fucking let go. With a soft sob of effort, I pulled Trent's soul completely within my own. I could do that, after all. I could hold two souls if I needed to. I'd done it before and I'd do it again. I didn't want to be alone and I wouldn't abandon Trent to that fate either. I felt a small, distinct thrill of satisfaction when the tearing pull between us eased abruptly, the figurative current no longer able to tug us apart. It couldn't separate us when we were nested like this.

Trent's awareness brightened almost immediately and I could tell that for him the pain and the slow shredding sensation had stopped. He was completely sheltered within my protection and the burning current couldn't reach him. I could feel his shock and a startled, quiet thread of awe. "Rachel...?"

Unfortunately, just because Trent was safe and cozy that didn't mean that I was getting knocked around any less. If anything it was worse than before, as if shielding two souls meant I was exposing a bigger surface area to pummel or something. My soul felt like it was stretched thin, made more vulnerable by bearing the weight of protecting the both of us.

It was okay though, I could do this. I could. Because I wouldn't accept the alternative. Shit, but hopefully it would stop hurting so much sometime this century. Please, please, please make it stop hurting so much.

"Rachel!" Trent was apparently able to sense my feelings in the same way I was sensing his and seemed to have realized what was happening. He struggled in my grip like Lucy wanting to be put down. "Rachel, no!"

"Stop it!" I mentally slapped him. "Be still, won't you? This hurts a damn nough without you throwing a tantrum."

Trent stilled with great reluctance and I could feel his mental glower. "Rachel, stop. You'll destroy yourself if you try to protect us both. Alone, maybe you have a chance. Let me go, I'll be fine." We both knew otherwise, but I could tell he didn't care. He didn't want to hurt me and he'd start fighting again if I refused for long. Which, ironically, would hurt a lot, but yeah, that was Trent for you. Stupid, noble, pain in the ass.

"We said together," I grit out. "You agreed. So sit down, shut up, and help me figure out how to get out of here!"

"Out?" Trent echoed blankly. "There is no out Rachel. We failed. We're dead."

"Yeah?" I shot back, pain making me more than a little tetchy. "You so sure of that? Well you know what? I'm not. I think this hurts too damn much for death and there sure is a lot more talking going on than seems appropriate, don't you think?" I said crossly.

"Oh? Then pray tell where do you think we are?" Trent retorted sarcastically.

"I don't ... I don't think we're anywhere really," I replied honestly. "It feels like being inside a line, only we're not dying quite as fast."

Trent seemed thoughtful at that. He'd been inside the lines before too and I got the impression that he understood what I meant. "Like we're ... in between places?"

I nodded, or something that passed for such. "I don't think we failed, not completely. I think there was just too much power crashing around back there and we've gotten thrown ... somewhere. Not necessarily where they intended to send us, but not really where we want to be either."

"Ah. I see. And that helps us because ...?"

I frowned at Trent's tone. "Because we're not dead, cookie fart! Were you not paying attention?! Listen when people are talking to you!"

Trent gave the impression of an exasperated sigh. "So how do we get out?"

I frowned. "I don't know." My inner gaze narrowed at the look he was somehow managing to give me. "YET. That's what I was saying we needed to figure out, remember?! Geez, Trent!"

I had this feeling. This strange feeling like when the magic had filled me earlier - the feeling that we were waiting for something. Or something was waiting for us. Like we needed to find the right question before we could find the answer.

"Well," Trent said slowly, and I was gratified to sense that he was taking me seriously now and applying his whole attention to the issue. "The problem is that right now we don't know where we are and are more or less incorporeal, right? It makes it rather hard to go anywhere?"

I would have smacked him again, except that I could tell Trent was being serious. "Yeah. The no body thing is cramping our style." I felt a small zing shoot through me. "Bodies!" I exclaimed, feeling like something was just on the tip of my tongue. "We need to get back to our bodies." It didn't feel quite right though. So close, but just a little off.

Trent picked up on my feeling and I could sense it the moment he too got the sudden impression that we were not completely unobserved right now. Something was waiting. Listening. That purple lidded eye had yet to blink shut, but we weren't asking the right questions. I hated wild magic! What was with the 20 questions crap?!

I felt Trent, a calming and steadying presence against me. "Don't. Don't fight it. Don't try to make sense of it. It doesn't work. We can only ask, Rachel."

I rebelled inwardly against that, and yet something told me Trent was right. He knew the whims and caprice of wild magic much more intimately than I did.

"Bodies ..." Trent said slowly, following up on my previous train of thought.

"That's what I said," I agreed shortly.

Trent nodded, frowning. I could almost feel him turning the pieces around in his mind. "But where are our bodies? Here? Back in the woods? Burned up? Floating around the devil knows where?"

"I don't know." I frowned too. "Does it matter? Do we need to know?" If the right question wasn't how do we get back to our bodies, and yet we needed bodies to get out of here, then ... ?

Trent suddenly brightened. "No. I don't think it does. It's a phrasing issue. I think," he added a trifle uncertainly. "If our bodies aren't in the woods anymore, then we can't go back to them, but as long as they are capable of existing somewhere we should be able to get out of here. What we must seek is simply to be rejoined with them, away from this place."

I felt the chime ping through me that told me we'd found the magic words. Really? This was about semantics? Really?!

"It's more about putting yourself at its mercy than the actual words," Trent soothed me quietly. "I know, drove me crazy at first too. But going back implies that we have to return to where we left, and apparently that's not possible for some reason. If we just ask to be rejoined with our bodies, then we're surrendering control and it can happen in whatever way it needs to happen."

"Whatever," I agreed with a roll of my eyes. It was annoyingly like wrangling a demon contract, but in reverse. Instead of getting insanely specific, you had to bumble around until your definitions were flexible enough to allow the magic to act. It was a balancing act of giving what was desired while trying to get what you wanted in return. No wonder Trent was good at it.

"Can we both please be rejoined with our bodies now?" I called out to the empty space around us. The rushing torrent had subsided a little, which was a bit of a relief at least.

Trent chuckled. "You can't do it like that. You're not actually talking to someone ... well, maybe you are in a way, I don't know. But it's still magic, you still have to do the spells right."

Grudgingly, I let him lead me again, showing me the right way to put our desire into a spell that the wild magic could acknowledge.

I knew it worked from the familiar chiming laughter in my head. I wondered if Trent could hear it too or not. He acted like he wasn't 100% sure he was really talking to someone, but I was pretty sure we were. Well, something at least. There almost certainly was some kind of sentience out there behind the magic on some plane.

A sudden lurch tugged at my stomach. I had felt the chime, but now I also felt a discordant thrum, like a gong or a warning. Something was different this time. More than one graceful, unblinking eye was turned in our direction. There was conflict. Within one being? Between multiple beings? I had no idea.

They cannot be rejoined. They have been sundered. The spell was heard and acknowledged.

But so too the counter spell, so too the counter spell. They are here are they not? Still seeking? They have not been fully sundered.

Exile has been petitioned. Exile has been granted. It has been done.

Exile, yes! Of course exile! But with their bodies. They have not been fully sundered - both may be exiled together.

Yes, with their bodies. Yes. No reason not. No reason not!

The laughter again, pure and sweet and full of mischief as some kind of devious and delightful consensus was achieved. If they were separate voices, they certainly shared similar dispositions and if it was something musing things over with itself, then it was getting a jolly good kick out of it. I was more than a little creeped-out. Was Trent hearing any of this? Or was I just going batty?

I felt a sudden, dizzy rushing sensation. Not the tearing whirl from before, but more like the sensation of hurtling forward or free-falling through space. I flailed, trying to hold onto Trent as everything became slippery and strange. A heavy lassitude settled over me, a peaceful weariness that made me slack and slow. I couldn't keep my grip on Trent and he slid from me. I panicked for a moment and started to thrash, but then I realized I wasn't losing his presence. He was still there, it was only that our souls had separated again. Somehow, I knew that was all right now. The falling sensation increased and suddenly there were sounds and shapes and colors exploding around me where there had been only grayness and thought before.

The ground rushed up to meet me with jarring abruptness. The last thing I heard before I landed on it with a dull and not terribly comfortable thud, was one last peal of the chiming laughter.

Only souls can be exiled forever. Where there is body and soul, a way across the divides may be found. Perhaps. Perhaps. A way. Perhaps.

Then I was on the ground, landing half on top of Trent in an undignified tangle of limbs as a white, soundless curtain of snow fell about us.

TBC...

A/N: Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews and encouragement! You have been very inspirational! I've hit upon a rather odd but intriguing idea that means this story is going to end up longer than the four or five chapters I initially planned. :D

Glad you all were okay with my take on Wild Magic, since I kinda just took even more liberties with it. :S I blame it, though, I really do. ;) I was going to just let Trent and Rachel get out of the in-between limbo after a little trying and working together, but then the wild magic wanted to get all devious and playful and suddenly events took an unexpected left turn and started going down a whole different path of their own, lol. :D

I'm a little nervous about the next chapter I'm working on, but hopefully it will turn out okay and people won't hate the twist that I'm going to throw in. 0:)

Thanks for reading, and please review if you have time and are so inclined!