The blue lights were following, flickering around them. Every time Orin looked, they'd disappear, hovering just at the edge of his vision, then he saw it. A small creature with small wings, far above Brynn.
"Brynn!" Orin shouted, stammering out the rest. "Something isn't right. We need to go back."
"I think Orin's right," Garrick added, walking close beside Orin.
She never slowed, never turned. She was getting annoyed at them. Then a voice spoke directly into her head. The voice was so sickly sweet that it gave her goosebumps, sending a jolt of energy spiraling down her body. It was the feeling of euphoria. It made her stop in her tracks.
"They have never trusted you." The voice was right. They never trusted her.
"They are holding you back." It was right. They had always tried to stop her.
Orin pulled back against her wrist, and her hand fell without resistance.
"We've got to go!" ..."Brynn, snap out of it!" ..."What are you doing!?"
She could barely hear them yelling at her. Calling to her. All around them over 20 blue orbs were flying all around them. She was just standing there, trembling, looking up to the sky with the largest grin Orin and Garrick had ever seen. And they watched as she took a step forward, and another, disappearing into the forest.
"Wh… What do we do?" Orin stammered.
"We… can't just leave her." Garrick turned to face Orin. "We have to follow her."
They both nodded. They couldn't just leave her in the forest alone, and even though neither of them wanted to, they followed.
The voices were still pulling her forward. She didn't know when Orin and Garrick stopped yelling at her. Or even if they still followed, but she no longer cared.
"You don't need them. They want to take it from you," the voice came again. And it was right. She didn't need them. She never needed them. They wanted all the glory for themselves. They wanted to find it.
Then a vision played in her head. She saw herself, but it wasn't what she was now but as she was always meant to be. There in front of her was a warrior. She stood at the center of a battlefield with a sword in her hand. She wasn't afraid or trembling. She was a leader with hundreds following her, and she conquered city after city. She was leading them, winning, and she knew this is what she was made for.
"DO SOMETHING!" Orin shouted to Garrick, "What do we do?" Garrick was hesitating. The orbs were circling now, engulfing Brynn. The voices sounded distant, but she paid them no mind. She wanted to follow the figure she was meant to be.
The snow around Brynn's feet moved. It lifted from the ground and swirled in circles under her. The orbs started to hum, the trees stilled as she passed, and the creatures in the forest grew silent. The voice came once again. Not to her, but to the others.
"You cannot save her"... "She doesn't need you." Orin covered his ears. "Stop it… Go away." The voice twisted in his head and distorted until it became the soft, gentle voice of his mother. "Orin, you want to protect them, right?" And all of a sudden, he was back in his home, his mother sitting at the table. "Those older kids hurt you again, didn't they?" Orin blinked a few times as his vision cleared, the sound of the fire, the soft blue light above. Was he just dreaming? He swore this was weeks ago. "What happened, Orin?" He knew this moment. A group of older boys started pushing him around. Until today, one of them gave him a black eye. Brynn and Garrick wanted to get revenge. They found them on the western side, by the frozen lake, and they went for the attack, but instead, they were beaten up, and Brynn's group was blamed for it again.
"They were just trying to protect me," Orin mumbled. His mother looked concerned. "Shouldn't you be protecting them?" He looked down, ashamed. His mother persisted. "Why are you so weak, Orin?" her voice came again faster. "You can't protect anyone." Water was starting to well in his eyes. His mother was right, he can't protect anyone, he is always so afraid, so weak. He wanted to change. "One day you are going to hurt them." He gritted his teeth. "No, I won't." His mother smiled. "They will need you, and you will run away, like always, Orin." No, it wasn't true. He felt like he was forgetting something important. Something in his head felt foggy. Why was his heart pounding so hard? Why was his mother looking at him like that? He had forgotten something. "It's okay now," she whispered, "you won't need to run anymore." Her eyes, her smile. Orin knew this wasn't his mother. "GO AWAY!" he shouted, standing so quickly the chair behind him crashed to the floor. He started looking around the room frantically. He was going somewhere. To Someone, Garrick, Brynn, they were here, right? He could recall he was just with him. He turned to the door and started to run. The thing that looked like his mother ran after him, reaching its arms out. "You are not my mother!" Orin yelled. He twisted around and ducked under its arms, it pressed against Orin, but he spun to shrug it off. As it turned, its figure was distorting. Orin threw a punch with more power than what it was expecting, and it crashed to the ground. He ran through the front door, and everything vanished. He was back outside in the snow, exactly where he had been. He saw Garrick not too far away. And could see the faint shadow of Brynn in the distance ahead. He remembered everything. He was going to protect THEM this time.
He ran to Garrick, his eyes glazed over, and shook him hard. "Wake up!" Orin yelled.
Garrick didn't react. He was somewhere else. He was trapped inside his home. He was having another fight with his father, Hendrick. "You caused me trouble again." Hendrick stood up. His voice was sharp and accusing. "We were just playing," Garrick pleaded. Hendrick punched Garrick in the stomach, hard enough that he buckled over and started coughing. It was something he was used to. Every time he caused a problem, this would be the outcome. He could never escape it. "Get up. No son of mine is this pathetic." He struggled back to his feet, only to be hit again, this time in the ribs, sending him crashing back down to the ground. He had always been afraid of his father. Ever since Mother died, he had been like this. Garrick wanted to run, to escape, but he couldn't.
Then he heard Orin's voice yelling at him. Was Orin here? He stood up. "You always disappoint me." His father pressed him, and he flinched. He hated that, more than anything, he wanted to make his father happy, he wanted a family that loved him, he always tried so hard, but every shortcoming of his would remind him that he was always a failure. His father swung again. Garrick tried to block, but it was too much, and it sent him flying into the wall. His hands were covered in blood. He was bleeding somewhere, and his vision was blurred. It came again. "Wake up," Orin's voice again, constantly yelling at him. His father loomed above him, ready to hit him again. Then nothing. His home vanished, his father disappeared, and he was standing in the middle of the forest, trembling in fear. He could feel a strong stinging sensation across his face. Orin was in front of him, breathing hard, his hand still raised. He looked around, confused, then Orin shook him again. "We have to go!" He looked back toward Orin and froze. There was something different about him. His eyes were steady, and his face was serious. He looked different. Was this really Orin?
Brynn could feel it. She was getting closer to something. As she followed the figure in front of her, the clearing in the trees opened, the darkness faded. The air changed. It was barely noticeable at first. But the cold disappeared. The trees around her were no longer covered in snow. Instead, their leaves were green. Not the damp green of a forest under snow, but bright and vibrant. In front of her was a world unlike anything she had ever seen. The ice and snow were nonexistent, the rocky mountains in front of her stood tall, and the ground beneath her was warm. It was grass. She could barely breathe. This wasn't possible. She had never seen shades of green, yellow, and orange like these before. She took slow steps forward. The ground was soft and gave way to her boots. She had been right. There was something past Frosthelm, and it was beautiful. She could see Garrick and Orin catching up to her, their mouths open in surprise. Now they will see it too. They can't deny it now. The cold is gone, the snow is gone. The lush green field reached further than her eyes could see, and in front of her, the warrior, the figure, turned around and extended a hand out toward her. Brynn smiled. This was it, what she was always meant for. And she... extended hers back.