Chapter 339: Clamant
adj. forcing itself urgently to attention.
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Golden rays illuminated swirling dust motes as Kagome's feet sunk into the soft earth at the bottom of the well. Her searching eyes glimpsed a cloudless blue sky above before they wandered towards the walls of the well. Her eyebrows quizzically drew together as she shifted her attention towards the nonexistent signs of roots that she could have used to help heave herself out of the well.
"Hello?!" bellowed Kagome, fingers blindly exploring the well's walls, seeking for solid handholds. Piddling anxiety pooled in her chest as loose dirt crumbled off the granite embankments. Kagome carefully tested each handhold, calling out "Inuyasha? Mama? Anyone?!" When no reply was forthcoming, she began the laborious process of scaling up the sheer sides of the well.
As Kagome neared the edge of the well, her trifling anxiety erupted into an inferno of trepidation. Heart thrashing against her ribs, she crested the final edge.
Yellow sand dunes besieged the land, wind carelessly swept lax sand into swirling vortexes. The sun's rays beat down from above, a wave of heat assailing Kagome as she exited the well's cooling shadows.
The three siblings were gone, all signs of their presences eaten up by the enigmatic desert.
Panic pulsed like a heartbeat through Kagome's body. Her breath squeaked out in shallow puffs, eyes dilating in the bright sunlight, her heart hammered against her ribs. Her thoughts seemed to leak through her mind in intangible, half-formed ideas.
Her wide eyes turned towards the gaping mouth of the well. Her thoughts lagging as she shakily directed her body to the edge. A shiver running through her body despite the oppressive heat beating down on her.
Kagome threw herself back into the depths of the well, waiting for the familiar catch of magic to whisk her away.
With a cry of pain and anguish, Kagome landed on her knees, the gritty sand abrading her knees. Tears and snot intermingled as they steadily dripped down her face, gasping sobs shuddering through her body.
This was it, she thought, I'm stuck.
Misery cloaked her; the grief she had kept bottled-up these past many months overcame her. She had lost her family and her Feudal friends and now she had lost the family she had made in Suna.
Lost in despair, her tentative grip on her powers destabilized. A tendril of purifying power flaring a warning signal for all threats to stay away.
A prickling sensation nettled across Gaara's skin around noon. Its ominous presence nuzzled itself into a tangled nest at the back of his mind, thoughts looping in circular analyses that left him restless. The familiar feeling unsettled him, as did his inability of pinpointing its trigger.
"Gaara," admonished Baki for the third time in the last hour. Gaara carefully pulled his attention away from his inner musings, forcefully shaking off the feelings of edginess.
"Sorry," murmured Gaara taking in the piles of endless paperwork, a sigh drawing out his nose. The motivation to continue working was waning, but he knew that he needed to focus before he had to face the Council later tonight.
"What is it?" Baki queried, his brow downturned as he locked eyes with the disheartened Kazekage.
"I don't know," replied Gaara, his eyes drawn to the distant canyon cliffs outside his open window. As his gaze settled, a blue beacon radiated into the sky, its evocative power sending pins and needles down Gaara's spine.
"You'll have to go to the meeting without me, Baki," Gaara quipped banally, his eyes never leaving the beam in the sky. The ominous prickling twisted and flared into a foreboding inevitability.
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