Underneath the Silhouette

Eirin’s forehead creased. "Burden? I told you not to think like that. You’re not."

"Shade must still be out there. He’s the only chance we could all escape from this place," Coleen fiddled with her fingers. "But for that to happen, you must meet him. And if I go with you, we’ll just get in trouble together."

Eirin bit her lower lip. Coleen’s logic was valid; a bitter pill she was forced to swallow. Yet, the thought of Coleen believing herself a burden twisted something in Eirin’s gut. She reached out, her fingers hovering near Coleen’s clasped hands.

"I’m going to follow what you said not because you’re a burden," Eirin approached her with a smile. "It’s because if they caught us again, I don’t have the strength to protect you."

In the end, Coleen watched Eirin slip out of the underground prison alone. As Eirin passed Link’s cell, she saw the young man lying unconscious on the floor. A cold dread settled in Coleen’s chest; their survival now rested solely on Eirin.

’Where did he go?’ Eirin thought, tiptoeing her way out. Finding Shade Cromwell would be incredibly difficult with all the people desperate to get their hands on her.

Head still fuzzy, Eirin couldn’t stop wincing due to the aching at the back of her neck. Although painful, the thought of meeting Shade was the only thing that kept her moving forward.

"What about the Phoenix?"

Eirin immediately hid behind a pillar after rising from the underground prison and into the village chief’s house. She covered her ragged breathing as she leaned on the wall.

"Do not pay her attention. The chief has accumulated enough miasma to finally fend her off."

Eirin’s forehead creased. Those words reminded her of what she heard from Coleen before. Miasma are not only dangerous to humans but ligmas as well. How come these beings are exposing themselves to it at their will?