Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 215: Come Out On Top

Chapter 215: Come Out On Top

It seemed so stupid, the idea that a single contact would have any sort of impact on my level of power.

Then again, if you had asked me even three years ago if I thought it was possible for humans to develop powers or to be able to heal through touch, I would have had you committed.

Might as well take the chance.

What was really the worst that could happen?

I struggled to control my body while still inside the tree.

"I can’t," I muttered after a minute. I had no way of taking my hand or forehead off of the tree. It was like I was stuck.

"Turn your head," murmured Rip, still sounding far away.

I did what he asked and rotated my head enough to the right so he could take out the contact. Ignoring the pain as he had to physically open my eye, I shook off his apology. The pain was nothing more than a momentary flash, but what happened next would be something I would never forget.

It felt like I had been hit by a tsunami, and I struggled to breathe as I was overwhelmed with power.

"Just let it flow," advised the tree. "Don’t try to bring it into yourself; you don’t need it. Focus the energy where you want it to go."

Well, that part was easy; I wanted it to go into the tree and heal it.

With that thought, the ’water’ rushed past me as if I wasn’t even there to flow into the three.

Where once there was nothing but darkness around me, a bright light flashed so suddenly it blinded me for a moment.

There was a startled squeak and I felt something cold going up my arm under my shirt before coming to a stop overtop of my heart.

"You are both darkness and light. To deny one is to deny all," said the tree, its voice so much stronger than it was before.

It took a few minutes for my vision to clear, and when it did, the sight in front of me took my breath away.

The darkness inside of the tree had almost completely disappeared. In its place was a highway of green lights emanating from the center of the tree up through its branches and down through its roots into the ground.

The lights looked like little fireflies as they went about their business, full of life and energy.

"You’re healed," I breathed. Taking stock of my own energy levels, I was amazed to see that I was just as topped up as if I had just consumed a Reaver.

But how?

"By accepting both sides of you, you are no longer having to pull the power from your own body. Now, you can access both the light and the dark to help you in your mission," said the tree, and I could hear the joy in its voice.

The sound of leaves rustled around me as the chirps of birds brought me out of my trance.

"Oh no, I’ve read this in enough novels. I am not taking on a mission to save the world or whatever," I said quickly, taking my hand and forehead off of the tree and stumbling back a few steps.

Rip quickly caught me in his arms and held me steady, not saying a word.

I could hear the sound of rustling leaves even louder like that was the tree’s version of laughter. "This is not the type of mission that you can accept or reject. You will go on and live your life. What is supposed to happen will happen. But, thanks to you, every creature on Earth will now have a fighting chance at survival."

Well, if she meant that to be anything other than completely terrifying, then she failed utterly.

That seemed like a lot of pressure to put on someone’s shoulders... especially when I still didn’t know what I was doing...

Or even what I was.

"Go," said the tree suddenly while I was still reeling. "Your men are looking for you and are quite upset."

With those words, my head shot up, and I started to look around as if the guys were here in the clearing with Rip and me.

"Go with my thanks and my blessings," continued the tree, and I could feel the ground under my feet gently shake as if trying to encourage me to get moving.

I wanted to say something else, anything else, but I couldn’t think of anything.

"Go!" This time, the ground shook even harder, but still not so much that it knocked me off of my feet. However, Rip was not going to take the chance. He quickly scooped me up into his arms and turned around, walking out of the clearing without a backward glance.

"That was the tree of life, wasn’t it?" he asked after some time. His words were soft as if he was scared to say them out loud and risk upsetting the tree.

"I think so," I agreed with a nod of my head.

"You just healed the fuc—tree of life," he continued, quickly cutting off the swear word he was about to say so that he didn’t offend the tree.

"Apparently."

"The tree of life was dying and you healed it," he said, practically repeating the same thing for a third time. He sounded like he was in shock and awe, but since my face was buried between his shoulder and neck, I couldn’t see the look on his face.

But his pace picked up until he was almost running through the woods.

Not knowing what to say, I only nodded my head.

"This stays between us until we know what it means," he grunted, not once panting from the exertion of running with me in his arms. "I am going to have a conversation with Bin An Sha about what he can do with his healing. Maybe he can do the same thing."

We both knew that he couldn’t. Whatever I was, I wasn’t like him.

I wasn’t just someone who could heal humans.

Once again, I nodded my head. I had no idea what it meant to be able to do what I do, but I had faith that with my men in my corner, I could overcome whatever the world threw at me.

And come out on top.