My body feels very weak. This is only the first day; I don't think I will survive. I don't want Apatura to make Apatura sad. Every time I look at her, she appears like the older sister I never had. Huh… I haven't asked how old she is. I think she is twenty, but she is extremely beautiful, not as beautiful as my mother, obviously. I feel like I am floating in an empty abyss.
Iris begins to see a light purple butterfly getting closer to her. She follows it with her eyes, seeing how its wings are flapping, an indigo dust-like substance being dropped as the wings flap. Its antennas are pointing towards Iris.
The butterfly came face to face with Iris, its insect eyes looking at Iris's soul, flapping its wings towards Iris, leaving her with little particles of dust throughout her face.
The butterfly turned around and flew to where it came from. Leaving Iris stunned, the beauty of the butterfly captured her eyes; the dust remained on her face. Iris tried to raise her hand, but she couldn't move a single muscle.
***s
Is that a human voice?
**is
*ris
Iris!
On top of the abyss an opening appeared; the face of Apatura illuminated Iris. The abyss fragmented the more Apatura screamed Iris' name. Until Iris was capable of leaving the abyss and opening her eyes to the physical world.
"Iris, don't do that ever again! If you feel sick, please tell me! My heart can't take it anymore!" Apatura, on the verge of tears, embraces Iris.
"My body just collapsed; I had no warning."
"You have been sleeping for two days now; I thought you were in a coma. We need to find him and kill him before we die!"
Iris tried moving her legs to stretch them due to how stiff they felt; however, no matter how much she tried to move them, they would not react. Her connection to her legs had disappeared. Her heart began racing, and her breathing increased.
"Apatura!! I can't move my legs!!"
"What, no, that fast!"
"What do you mean that fast? I can't walk; how would we survive?" Iris began taking deep breaths to control herself, but the sudden disability caused her much more stress than expected.
"Iris, just rest! I will find food and find a way to make you walk. I promise. Do you trust me? You have to trust me!" Apatura stands up and runs away.
Iris falls to the ground, her bottom part having no sensation. She tries to move her legs to a more comfortable position for her upper half, but they are stuck like nails to the floor. She sits up using her core strength. With her weak arms, she tries to move her legs, yet they are immovable, leaving her with more internal panic; tears roll down.
She falls down and covers her eyes from the sun. With nothing to do, she feels more lonely as the hours pass, and Apatura is nowhere to be seen.
Iris feels bad for Apatura. A memory appears inside her.
It was her with the butterfly-like wings. Does she think it's her fault? I am feeling very scared, but now I can't do anything. It is always me against the world. Why? Why? Why?
A sound in the bushes beside Iris caught her attention. She has no idea who it is. She is hoping for Apatura, but she can smell the scent of blood. With the increasing wind speeds, Iris has a feeling that it might be another one of those creatures.
She tries to turn around, but with her legs doing nothing, she begins to hyperventilate. She remembers her shield; it doesn't need legs. She closes her eyes and tries to imagine a larger shield; however, due to her low mana pool, she is unable to produce a shield with enough sturdiness to survive an attack from a dangerous animal.
Even the unicorn would be able to break the shield with a few stomps. Iris creates the shield knowing its limitations in the goal to try and survive long enough for Apatura to arrive.
Apatura Please come back. The shaking of the bushes increased. Apatura, please come back; I can't do anything.
Iris closes her eyes, extending her hands to her right where the bushes are located.
"Iris, what are you doing?" Apatura appears carrying a dead unicorn by her shoulders. Her hair with hints of blood.
"Apatura, I am so happy it's you." Iris sighed, raising her shield and containing her remaining energy.
"Sorry for leaving you all alone. I was just scared of seeing you suffer, so I ran to alleviate myself. I am sorry."
"Luckily nothing happened; however, how did you get the unicorn? My mom always used to tell me that they are very hard to get due to them being extremely sensitive to mana and evil intent.
"I truly don't know, but I do know that it has something to do with being scared, so they didn't feel that intent either. Also, compared to the others, I am extremely weak."
"But you are very strong. You fought with the mysterious creature and survived, so I believe you are strong enough," Iris said, giving a small smile.
"I don't deserve that praise. I am pathetic; my used-to-be friends would beat them with little problems. They know the movement of the butterfly, but I could never advance from the first stage."
"Isn't that the strongest? Everyone respected my father for his mastery of the butterfly movement."
"If you talk about pure power, it is the second strongest; the first one is the moth movement. In speed it is beaten by the dragonfly movement; however, the beauty of the butterfly is the user. The purer and more beautiful they are, then their butterflies will nurture the user's potential."
"But how did my dad learn the butterfly movement? Is he a butterfly?"
"That was something the elders questioned, but since your dad was an angel, we thought that he might be the exception; however, we already had a butterfly inside him before he started training."
Iris's mind raced; did she also have the power of the butterfly? Was her father also a butterfly? Pride began filling her; she loved being the child of such strong people. That emotion lasted a little; she calmed herself and realized that they were killed by the worst of creatures.
"I had my first dream of a butterfly when I was fifteen. It was a beautiful dark purple butterfly; it left a red dust." Apatura said.
"A butterfly dream?!" Iris's heart began racing in excitement.