Chapter 33: Realm Of Madness [29] A Foregone Conclusion
The newfound group of 4 slowly made their way from the carcass of Chicken Eye and found themselves a dry patch of land. They were surrounded by a thick canopy of trees, blocking the Immolating rays of the pinwheel sun.
Acting as a shade wasn’t the only feature of the dead grove. Their branches were dry, perfect for firewood. They were also suprely flexible, easy to use as supports for a structure.
Rani’s brother had woken up and was sitting beside the fire, warming up. His eyes were stained with dried tears, red trimming the iris. The child had cried the mont he had woken up, screaming at the top of his lungs.
It had taken every ounce of Leonidas’s willpower not to knock the little critter out. Thankfully, Rani was a lot more competent than the little midget and had managed to calm him down with a few words.
Wuss.
That was the only word Leonidas could use to describe Barbossa. Speaking of Barbossa, he was about to give them so valuable information.
"We entered the Labyrinth a few days ago, and after we completed our first trial on the first floor of heaven, we were teleported to this region of the Labyrinth, the Realm of Madness."
Leonidas nodded, urging Barbossa to continue. Instead, Rani spoke up, recounting the rest of their journey.
"As you already know, the Realm of Madness has a set of rules it follows. One of these is the ’grace period’ that cos every other day. When we landed here, it was during a grace period. With little to no knowledge, we didn’t know what to do. Fortunately, Barbossa here has a peculiar Edict that gave us a general direction."
Leonidas did, in fact, already know about the cycles of the sun and how it affected the surrounding environnts. What piqued his curiosity was the Edict Barbossa possessed.
Is the kid so sort of seer?
It was a likely possibility. Depending on the strength of his Edict, he could have very well already seen this entire conversation play out. That would also explain why the siblings were so relaxed despite being eaten alive.
Willow voiced his thoughts, "If you don’t mind, what’s little Barbossa’s Edict?"
Barbossa hesitated for a second, then looked at his sister for confirmation. Rani looked conflicted, torn between the kindness of the strangers and the fact that they were exactly that...strangers.
In the end, she relented and just nodded. "Go ahead."
Despite his sister’s agreent, Barbossa didn’t seem comfortable with sharing his abilities.
This idiot.
Sighing, Leonidas intervened, "Now, Barbossa, we don’t have all day; we might get attacked at any mont. And it’s not like we can do much by just knowing your Edict."
Leonidas’s voice was soft, but the threat underneath wasn’t hidden. If anything, he wanted the kid to know that he was being threatened. Compliance wouldn’t get them anything other than a painful death.
As for why he referred to Barbossa as a child despite being the sa age?
That idiot is nowhere near the sa level of maturity as .
Maybe Leonidas was too mature for his age, or Barbossa was just too much of a coward.
"My Edict...it allows
to see fragnts of the...future."
Bullseye.
But that wasn’t the end.
"And unlike other oracles, I can control what I see, and when I see it."
Now that was unexpected. Seeing the future was already an amazing ability, one that had the potential to be stronger depending on how the wielder used it. And exactly because of that, the Labyrinth had placed restrictions upon it.
"You...you can see the future whenever you want to? How is that..." Willow’s tone was soft, and a look of astonishnt spread across her delicate features.
"It is as he said. He had forseen a future where we would be saved by you two, and it actually ca to pass."
Leonidas frowned.
"Do you not know that the future is a fickle thing? The vision you would have seen might have very well been just one of many possibilities. You could have died!"
Leonidas was indignant. How could soone place such blind trust in strangers they hadn’t even seen? It was baffling, yet the twins had done it anyway.
Barbossa smiled at him, suddenly seeming far older than his age suggested. It was as if he had seen everything there was to see and knew everything there was to know.
As if...he was carrying an imnse burden upon his shoulders.
"As you say, Art, the future is fickle, but my powers...these accursed abilities I possess make it far more certain."
Leonidas glanced at Rani, who had a concerned look on her face. It seed even she didn’t know what he was about to say.
"Each Edict has two abilities that co with it, in my case...the first one allows
to see the future and the second..."
A dark look crossed Leonidas’s face.
Don’t tell ...
Unfortunately, he did.
"My second ability lets
make the future I foresaw certain, as long as so conditions are t. Maybe that is why the Labyrinth nad , A Foregone Conclusion. It makes sense in its nonsense."
"After all, I had already seen this very conversation, and everything that destiny beheld for us."
He smiled bitterly at Leonidas, "Good luck, my dear friend."
What...?
Leonidas didn’t have ti to complete that thought because all of a sudden, the sound of a gushing tempest exploded across the clearing.
Leonidas and Willow both imdiately jumped and looked behind them, weapons at the ready, and what he saw made Leonidas die inside.
A massive torrent of water, darker than the night sky and deeper than the abyss itself, was rushing towards them, destroying everything in its path. The pilgrims, the trees, even the very ground, were being uprooted and crushed into rubble.
"Good mother of madness," Rani spoke sothing, but it was beyond Leonidas to understand what.
His ears were ringing and his eyes burning. The sight was just too depressing and too daunting. His mind felt like it was tearing itself apart just to find a way out...but there was none.
How could he see fight nature itself when he had almost died against a bird?
He looked at Willow, his first companion, and the woman he so desperately wanted to win against, just once before he died.
Haha, it seems I can’t even do that.
Why was his life so cursed? Leonidas chuckled bitterly, looking forward with the gaze of a man who had already accepted death.
"Hey, Willow...do
a favor. If you survive...tell my tale. Tell the tale of Art of Frost, the one-handed knight."
Willow didn’t say anything, but the fact that she had pressed her shoulder against his—a fighting stance they had taken one too many tis—was confirmation enough.
He closed his eyes, letting the crushing waves swallow him whole...
A/N: Guys, we’ve finally reached this point. This is the last free Chapter; all that follow will be locked. To those of you who enjoyed the novel till this point and won’t read further, thanks for reading.
And for those who are gonna follow Leonidas’s journey ahead, I wish you a happy reading.
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