The Darwin Chronicles, Book One: The Mountain Ranges

They settled down for the night in a series of caves. Emmett went to visit Amelia where the Medics were. She was sitting alone far into the cave, hidden by some big rocks.

"Hey," He said.

"Hello, Emmett." He had to smile. She always greeted him with that same short statement.

"Are you okay?"

"No."

Chills went down his spine. "What do you mean, 'no'?"

"Well, do you remember in that first battle we fought together, I turned into a phoenix and got bitten by the shadow serpent?"

"Yes."

"There's a curse that comes with that. If you're a Legend, and you turn into phoenix, you won't be killed if the fang touch you. Instead, you get a curse called the Shadow Serpent Curse. Once you encounter another shadow serpent, it activates. The first wave of pain is bad. Then it goes back down, and slowly gets worse. The thing is, you die from it. The pain continuously gets worse until the Legend either kills themselves, or dies from the pain."

"But there's a cure. Right?"

"No. I don't think so. That's one of the things in my pack. A book about it. I haven't finished it yet, but it hasn't said anything about it."

"Amy..."

"Don't feel sorry for me, Emmett. Please." She tensed again. Pain coursed through her veins, but it wasn't as powerful as before. after a minute, she exhaled again and relaxed once again. It reminded Emmett of her words. The pain continuously gets worse until the Legend either kills themselves, or dies from the pain.

She's dying, He realized. And it's inevitable.