The canyon was weeping.
Which meant that it was going to turn into a raging river at any moment.
Rain couldn't really see well in the darkness, but she thought that she noticed a panicked look in the Legacy girl's eyes.
Then, they were enveloped in the roar of rushing water.
A moment later, the flood slammed into them like a concrete wall. Rain did not even have time to scream.
Tamar's hand was violently wrenched out of the crack, and they were carried away, deeper into the canyon.
The last thing Rain remembered was the sight of a solid surface of stone, approaching her at terrible speed.
***
She was cold.
And tired.
Everything hurt, so Rain did not want to wake up.
'I'll just sleep a five more minutes...'
She could be late for class... but she could, a little bit. If she pretended to be pitiful, maybe mom would let her sleep a bit more. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Only... wasn't her mom far away?
And there were no classes anymore. Instead, she was... she was...
Opening her eyes, Rain stared at the gray sky.
Drops of rain were falling from above, cooling her face.
She studied the sky for a bit, then flinched and sat up.
She was laying on the solid ground, surrounded by the vast expanse of the Moonriver Plain.
There was a small fire crackling near, with her teacher warming his pale hands over it.
The battered figure of Tamar of Sorrow was laying on the other side of the fire. She seemed to be in a rough shape, and still unconscious.
Rain blinked slowly.
'We're alive.'
That was good news.
The bad news was that she had no idea how they had escaped the canyon, and where they were. She vaguely remembered being surrounded by soft darkness and carried by the raging current, but then... at some point, she must have passed out.
It was hard to differentiate one part of the plain from the other, but Rain did not think that she recognized the surroundings. The members of the survey team were nowhere in sight, as well.
Letting out a deep sigh, she turned to her teacher and asked hoarsely:
"What happened?"
He looked at her and smiled.
"Well... you two fell into the river, and I fished you out."
Rain nodded slowly.
"How far were we carried by the current?"
He shrugged.
"Pretty far."
'...It's okay.'
Since both of them were alive, the situation could still be salvaged. They could find the survey team... maybe... and return to the main camp of the road crew. Or proceed to one of the advanced camps on their own.
Or...
Rain looked at her teacher and forced out a smile.
"Teacher... you are so kind and powerful! Can't you... you know... take us back?"
He responded with a smile of his own.
"Oh... sure, I can!"
However, his voice was a little sinister.
"Look at that poor girl, Tamar... she's barely alive. It would be really kind of me to take you both back, wouldn't it? One might even say that only a heartless monster wouldn't. So I really should... ah, but I won't."
Rain's smile grew a little forced.
"What? Really? Come on... it won't even be that hard for you..."
Her teacher nodded.
"Really! If you want to get out of here alive... well, what can I say? All you need to do is Awaken. Do that, and you'll be fine."
With that, he gave her a pleasant smile and disappeared into her shadow. A moment later, his voice resounded from the darkness:
"Alternatively... that Lord of Shadows, he seems to know what's what. You can ask him for help!"
Rain stared at her shadow incredulously, then took a deep breath.
'I take back everything I took back! That... that petty bastard!’