I stared blankly as my mind processed the young man's words. "Are you crazy?" I finally shouted as I raised my hand. Flas danced on my fingers.
"You're crazy!" Joshua replied, his eyes wide open as he grinned. "Look, there is only a single one!" He laughed.
In the anwhile, the snake attacked Vincent, who barely rolled out of the way of its massive twin tails. I gritted my teeth. I was sure there were more of them.
"Hey!" Erik shouted. "Shut up Joshua. We're moving towards the river." He nodded at as I stood there, stunned. "And soone please kill this god damned thing!" He shouted.
He grabbed Alina's arm and began to drag her towards the grassland at the river's shore. It took a mont to act – I was so surprised to see him actually agree with that I montarily forgot the snake, still harassing us. Magic gathered in my raised palm and a dark bolt leapt towards the creature, killing it in one blow. As its body plumted to the ground, I followed Erik.
Soon, Vincent and Joshua also joined us at the shore.
"Ok, why are we under the god damn sun?" Joshua asked. "It's just one creature!" He insisted.
While I didn't agree with his reasons, I also disliked the sun – sothing that had started happening only recently. The bright light burned my eyes. I squinted and covered my eyes with my hand. "Because there are more of them," I replied with a sigh. How I wished for so clouds to block the sunlight right now.
"But there aren't!" He shouted. Birds flew from their nests as his loud voice startled them.
"Shut up." Erik grabbed Joshua's shoulders. "Joshua. Shut. Up." His gaze turned towards , who was standing there stunned once again. "Kai, where are they?" He asked, his voice filled with anger. But this ti, I knew his anger wasn't directed towards .
"In the woods, I'm sure of it." His sudden defence of was unexpected to say the least. Honestly, I was expecting to be ignored and avoided. I never expected him to listen to and believe my words.
"We need to pass through those woods." He let go of an angry Joshua and glanced at Alina. "What can we do?"
Silence covered the forest, with only our breaths and the sound of flowing water breaking it.
"I'll take care of it." I said after a few seconds, unable to bear any more of this heavy silence. "Make sure nothing gets to Alina."
"Wait, what are you planning?" Vincent asked, taking a step towards . My lips ford an almost wicked smile as wings appeared on my back.
"I'll kill them." I leapt up into the air before they could say anything. As my wings carried to the treetops, I let the flas within break free, just a little. Crimson flas danced on my fingertips as I flew above the treeline.
Where were they? I knew the creatures were there – I could sense their presence; I just couldn't pinpoint their location.
Soon, it turned out that I didn't need to, as the first pair of shining yellow eyes appeared among the leaves. Monts after, more of them appeared, clearly craving for food – . I waited for them to leave the trees, to fly out into the open.
"Kai!" I heard Erik's shout as more of them slowly showed themselves. I counted twelve of them. While alone, they stood no chance against us, if all twelve had attacked at once while our guard was down, we could have suffered serious injuries, or worse.
As soon as the creatures were out of the woods, I extended my hand, my palm facing them. The flas dancing on my fingers suddenly roared as I poured so power into them. Streams of fire leapt from my fingertips, easily finding the creatures.
The sll of burnt flesh tickled my nose. I called upon the winds to carry the sll away and waited until nothing but ashes remained from the creatures.
I returned to the group not long after, only to be t with wide eyes and pale faces.
"What the hell, Kai?" Vincent mumbled as my wings disappeared in a cloud of black mist. "Since when are you a sorcerer, or a wizard?"
I couldn't help but laugh. "I'm not." Though I could understand why he'd ask that. I could manipulate flas and wind freely, of course I looked more like a wizard or sorcerer than anything else.
"That was quite a show of power." Joshua's calm, yet ice cold voice startled . "How did you gain it?"
My smile faded as my expression darkened. I had expected this kind of treatnt from Erik, not Joshua. "By not wasting my ti in the city."
"Right." The young man said with a twisted grin. "Looks like you're all ready to finally go into demon territory." He spread his arms and laughed. "We don't need to worry about a thing!"
I hesitated. What the hell was he talking about? "I wouldn't say that," I replied after a mont of awkward silence. "Don't underestimate the demons and certainly don't overestimate ."
"Anyways," Erik Joshua off just before he had a chance to speak. "Let's set off. We're nowhere near demon territory yet – there's no need to argue over what will happen once we arrive."
Alina nodded, though I could see she wasn't really listening. She was like a shell of her forr self, her beautiful smile that reminded of the dawning sun was nowhere to be seen. She was still grieving her dear friend.
I took a deep breath but remained silent as we set off. Only more things were being added to the pile of things I had to worry about. Once again, Joshua was walking with Alina, while Erik and Vincent shared a conversation.
I followed them a few steps behind, not because I wanted to keep my distance, but because my mind was once again a ss. Joshua's behaviour surprised and worried and on top of that, I couldn't help but feel anxious – we were heading into demon territory. What if we ran into Delthur and Vixia? What if we ran into that man?
I shivered at the re thought of it. Even with my current power, I would be helpless in front of him.
I shook my head to clear my mind of such thoughts. No matter what, we couldn't ignore this quest – pissing off the Divines was just as bad an idea as trying to kill the Demon Lord with my current strength.
We walked until dusk. As the sun began to set and the sky turned crimson and purple, Erik suggested we set up camp. It took us a while to find a suitable place – an alcove at the bottom of a small cliff.
As the Kestler brothers set up tents, Alina absentmindedly lit a fire. Erik helped her out, then glanced at as I carried so water from the river.
"Hey, Kai?" He called my na as I placed the buckets nearby. "I want to check the area, just in case. Would you mind joining ?"
I hesitated. "Uh, sure, let's go." I said after glancing at the surprised Vincent. He seed just as confused as .
I followed Erik into the woods, still sowhat nervous. The heavy silence was only broken by our footsteps. We walked like that for a while, until we reached the shallow, yet wide river we were following.
"You look different." He said as we stepped out of the woods. I flinched and turned towards him. "What do you an?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, sothing about you is different though." He ran his hand through his hair and sat on a rock by the shore. "I can't put my finger on it."
I chuckled. "Maybe it's the wings." Of course, I knew that wasn't what he ant – he was talking about how I carried myself.
"Maybe." He said with a nervous chuckle. I approached the water and knelt at the shore. My reflection, illuminated by the bright moonlight, looked back at from the calm river's surface. "But maybe it's sothing different." He said as I splashed so water at my face.
"Who knows?" I said as I got back up. Was this why he wanted to join him? I could see there was sothing more he wanted to say – it was clear from his expression. "What's wrong, Erik?"
"I'm sorry." He said, looking away, at the far away mountains. "At so point along the way, I think I lost myself for a while." His voice cracked. He coughed and cleared his throat – I was imdiately reminded of Delthur.
I shook my head. "No, listen-"
"Please let finish. This is already difficult enough." I hesitated, then nodded. He took a deep breath and continued. "I felt like I was supposed to be the strongest – the person who would keep everyone safe, no matter what." He raised his hand. The moonlight reflected off his armoured glove. "But that night you didn't return to camp, all the way back in the Torchlight Woods…" he clenched his fist. "I failed." His blue eyes focused on mine. "Your na disappeared from the group on the interface. I thought you to be dead."
I could have said sothings, but I chose to remain silent. He continued with an unsteady voice. "I had to choose between going to search for you and keeping everyone safe. I chose the latter."
I knew that already. They'd chosen to leave behind and escape to Stonepatch Village.
"Then, the monster appeared. We weren't strong enough to kill it. It was easier to promise myself that I'd avenge you and… drink. What began as a toast to you, quickly turned into an escape from this awful reality." I clenched my fists, hidden beneath the cloth of my cloak. Was he laying the bla of their drinking on ?
"I couldn't believe my eyes when you ca back. I swore to myself that I'd protect everyone, you included. This ti, I'd actually do it. But then…" His voice faded. "Then you jumped in front of the phoenix' claws, despite the harsh words I'd shouted at you. We thought you'd die. Again."
"And then you ca back, this ti with wings and flas. Once again, you'd nearly died and gained more power. What couldn't kill you had made you stronger." He sighed. "I was jealous – why couldn't I beco stronger like that? I was angry at myself because I had failed. Again."
He glanced at , almost as if expecting an answer. I remained silent. What could I say to sothing like this?
"I think what happened on that peak snapped out of it." Erik finally said, his voice filled with regret as sorrow. "I don't know what had gotten into – I attacked you for god's sake!" His voice beca louder. "I don't even know why you ca to help us after everything I'd done!"
"I couldn't live with myself if I let you die there." I finally said, my voice heavy and my expression as dark as it could be. "I'm no saint – I couldn't save Samantha after all." I looked at the moon. "I was furious at you. Ever since you began wasting away your days drinking, I was so angry." I directed my gaze at him again. "I ca here, prepared to fight you, Erik."
He visibly flinched.
"And you wouldn't stand a chance if I did so." I added. "But I'm glad you told all that." A faint smile appeared on my lips. "So, how about we try this again? Let's see how this quest goes, try to build upon our teamwork."
The fear in his eyes left its place to relief. "Yeah. Let's do that."
"No drinking though." I said, grinning. He laughed with , for the first ti in a long, long ti.
Reviews
All reviews (0)