Chapter 03

ZION

I woke up on my bedroom floor in fetal position. My body was as cold as ice and had no feeling. I realized I couldn't move. I was paralyzed and although I hated to admit it, the fact that I was paralyzed on my bedroom floor scared the living shit out of me.

Warm thoughts, think warm thoughts!

But my mind seemed to be betraying me as it thought of a massive ice cream sundae instead. So I then forced myself to think of fire and the hot sun and... I was hitting a blank.

What else would be warm?

I didn't know if the warm thoughts idea would work but it seemed worth a try. Mind over matter right? So if my mind thought I was burning alive right now everything else wouldn't matter. It was a stupid thought but I was taught that your mind is your greatest weapon especially since I didn't have to physically wield magic. I could just think about healing a person, imagine their broken bone repairing or their pained body fit again and they would miraculously heal. My mother had taught me how to use my mind to do those type of things since it was her specialty.

Slowly my limbs gave away from its paralysis and began to move. I crawled to my feet, wobbling at first like a drunk person. It was if I had forgotten how to walk. I knew one foot was meant to go in front of the other but my legs didn't want to cooperate.

With a lot of struggle and effort, I managed to drag my dead weight to my bedroom door. The moment I unlocked the door it creaked open like one of those old doors in a haunted house. The house was fairly old and needed to be revamped. My father bought it for that exact reason. He was going to make it his little project, turning this house into my mother's dream home.

My eyes caught the sight of my mother's limp body lying on the floor as if she too was paralyzed. My legs couldn't carry my weight anymore and I came crashing to the floor. The moment my skin made contact with hers I flinched away and for once it wasn't because of her warm touch.

"Da...dad she's ice-cold," I stammered, looking at her pale skin which was now turning a very light shade of blue. It didn't take a genius to realize what turning blue meant. My mother never made it out of wherever the hell we were.

My father was about to touch her but pulled away just before the tip of his fingers could graze my mother's paling skin. "Do something!" my father cried, "Help her! I can't lose her. He can't take her away!"

I felt helpless. I only started learning to wield light magic when I turned fourteen. I was now seventeen and I hadn't mastered it. I hadn't tested my magic on any creature and without fully knowing what outcome to expect I wasn't about to use my magic on my own mother.

"Zion please!" he began to beg, "She's your mother and the love of my life. Do something. Do anything!" The beseeching tone of his voice helped me make my decision. It was now or never and if I lost my mother today it would probably be all my fault.

I dragged my hand and placed it palm down onto my mother's chest before I closed my eyes. Images of my mother floated in my mind. The warmth of her touch. How her ocean blue eyes twinkled with innocence. Her sunkissed skin that never lost its natural tan even when we moved to the glummest of places. The way her laugh sounded like an Angel's call. Because she was an angel. I imagined her alive and kicking, probably cursing me out for locking my bedroom door.

I could feel a wave of heat flow down my hand and into my mom's body. Opening my eyes, I watched as her body began to glow a soft yellow and her skin began to grow smoldering hot. Her skin began to turn a tanned bronze that it originally was and then I heard her take in a sharp intake of breath signifying that she was alive.

I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. A breath of relief knowing that I didn't roast my mother alive and that whatever the hell I did actually worked. Although it worked, my mother was still very much unconscious. My father scooped her up in his arms and strode in the direction of their bedroom.

I laid on the floor and let myself regain some energy. I still couldn't stand and I didn't feel like moving out of the position I was in any way. For the first time, I was actually happy. Something I did worked which was actually surprising since wielding magic was a lot harder than I expected it to be.

But I couldn't ignore the fact that my mother was in that condition because of me. I didn't understand what was happening to me. It was as if I was trapped in my subconscious but I wasn't alone. There was something there with me that lurked in the darkness.

What was it?

If my mother didn't enter my subconscious when she did I wonder what would have happened to me. The darkness was full of contentment. It made me feel at peace but darkness deludes you and what you might think is peace now slowly turns into misery.

I couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't over. I would be experiencing this more often and I wouldn't have my sweet mother to protect me all the time. I had to start to use my magic more confidently so I wouldn't freeze under pressure and fall prey to the darkness like I did today.

I needed to always remember that the darkness wasn't my friend. I never had friends but that didn't mean I wanted one. I had to protect not only myself but my mother too because if anything happened to her both my father and I would go insane.

The heavy footsteps of my father forced me to turn my head in the direction he had come from. He knelt down next to me and draped my flimsy arm around his shoulders as he helped me to my feet. Then he walked me over, slow and steady, to my bed where my body felt a bit at ease and settled onto its comfort.

"How is she?" I asked, evading all eye contact with my father. He wasn't an easy man to talk to. Yes, he loved me and would do anything for me. The man wasn't a dead beat dad but he was tough, never let his emotions show, and in a way, I was the same. The only person we allowed ourselves to show emotion to was my mother. She had a special way with us. Something we couldn't exactly explain.

"She's doing much better. Thank you, son," he said looking at me proudly.

"There's no need to thank me. She's my mother," I said offering him an assuring smile, "Dad, how did mum know I was in trouble?"

He chuckled lightly, "You know your mother is always roaming around in that head of yours." As weird and annoying as it was, as long as my mother was close to me she always made a point of letting me know that my thoughts had no privacy.

"Well it's a good thing so can only do that when she's near me," I muttered aloud as the thought lingered in my mind.

My father hummed in agreement, "When your mother wakes up I think it's time we have a serious discussion, Zion."

"More serious that the discussion you had with me three years ago about me not being a mortal?"

My father shot me a dry look and if I could have moved my limbs freely I would have raised my hands up in a mock surrendering motion, "Yes, more serious than that!"