Chapter Three
Farren
Storm studies me closely, as does Laikynn, and then Storm nods, “Very well. Aldrastos, could you please show us the way to Ignatius’ house so that we can get what we need from there?
Hopefully, it is still in good enough condition that we can rest there and decide whether we’re going to head to the compound or not. ”
Aldrastos nods, “I can do that. It’s not a place that many visit.
I didn’t know that it existed until I stumbled across it accidentally.
It was in pretty bad shape, but it didn’t look like anyone had been there for a long time, so I don’t think that we will be interrupted.
We should be able to rest there for a short while, without being disturbed.
Of course, it has been a while since I have been there, and I didn’t go inside, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t the case anymore. ”
“Why didn’t you go inside?” Zev asks.
Aldrastos frowns, “I didn’t have enough time. I had to get back before anyone realised that I had gone.”
“That would have been an issue?” Kill asks, with an eyebrow raised.
Aldrastos sighs. “Yes, but I can explain more once we get to the house. Follow me.”
None of us bothers saying anything, as we simply share a look and then follow him as he turns in a seemingly random direction and starts walking. At least it seems completely random to me.
“We will keep you surrounded and look for any threats as you journey there,” Laikynn says as he moves off to the side and out of my eyeline.
“Thank you,” Aldrastos replies with surprise.
“I have a question,” Loki starts after a few minutes of walking.
“Of course you do,” Reaper mutters, making me smile.
Loki rolls his eyes but decides to ignore him as he continues, “We’re walking in pitch-black darkness right now. I can barely see you guys, and we’re walking pretty fucking close together. How do you know that you’re going in the right direction?”
Good question, and not one that I had thought of.
Poca is clearly fed up with the talking since he nudges my leg and then disappears into the darkness, Meri still on his back. I have no idea where Oryn is, but I’m hoping that he’s here somewhere and that Poca knows where that somewhere is. I would be more concerned, but this is where I found him.
Hold on a fucking second.
That means that he’s not a creature of the Void like I thought, but he’s from Siorraidh.
Maybe that’s why the others couldn’t see him.
“He shouldn’t wander off like that,” Aldrastos mutters quietly, pulling me out of my thoughts as he looks in the direction that Oryn just wandered off in.
I nod, “Probably not, but he’s been leaving me in the Void for as long as I have been coming here, and since the Void is actually Siorraidh, I’m going to assume that he knows what he’s doing and most likely knows more than we do.”
Rival grins, “It’s Poca, of course he knows more than we do. I’m sure that if it were something that he felt that we should know, or something to do with Farren’s safety, that he would find a way to tell us.”
“Without a doubt,” Khaos agrees.
He has actually known Poca longer than any of us, even me. Although he’s known Cerberus, and while I know they are the same creature, judging from the way Khaos reacted when he first saw him, Khaos only knew work Poca, and Poca kept a good deal to himself.
Aldrastos looks sceptical but chooses not to comment.
I nod, “Oh, absolutely. Plus, he wouldn’t just wander off if I were in danger.”
Clearly deciding to drop it, Aldrastos explains, “To answer your previous question, I have very good eyesight, and I am used to navigating in this pure darkness. If it makes you uneasy, then I can put up a dim light, but I would rather not attract anything to us.”
To be honest, I had forgotten that Loki had asked him that.
“I’m good,” I shrug.
I’m not sure that now is the best time to tell them that I can actually see a fair amount.
Everything is still shrouded in darkness, but the ground under my feet is still humming softly, in a weirdly comforting way, and I can see the outlines of several things around us.
At least well enough to know that we are walking down a pathway of some kind with trees on either side of us.
“I don’t mind the dark,” Reaper says. He shrugs, and his eyes glow briefly as his smile becomes dangerous, “Besides, if you are leading us into a trap, I will simply eat you.”
Aldrastos’ eyebrows rise with surprise, but he doesn’t try to hide his smile as he replies, “You’d have to catch me first.”
Reaper chuckles but doesn’t say anything.
We all fall silent as we carry on walking, and my interest returns to the buzzing ground beneath my feet. I wonder if the others can feel it, or if it’s just me. It doesn’t feel threatening or like something that I should be concerned about, but I could be wrong.
I’ve been thrown off by the new revelations about this realm, so who knows?
Before I can think on the subject for any longer, I feel a knock on my mind.
“Alright, Farren, care to explain why you suddenly decided that taking cover was a good idea?” Khaos asks me through the bond.
“How the fuck did you catch that?” I ask. “Wait, was it that obvious?”
“No, it wasn’t. Don’t worry,” Khaos replies.
“Well?” Hades asks after a moment of silence.
I shoot him a look that makes him smirk and not look contrite like I had hoped that it would.
“Give me a second, I’m trying to figure out how to explain it without sounding like a crazy person,” I reply.
Storm smirks, and I give him a warning look, which makes him wisely decide to keep his mouth shut.
Smart man.
Mayhem obviously decides that he should intervene before Storm can say something that makes me smack him.
“Farren, you may have to risk sounding a bit crazy. To be honest, this whole situation is pretty fucking crazy, and if you’re worried that something else is also crazy, then it probably is. But that doesn’t mean that we think you’re crazy, just that the situation is,” Mayhem explains.
Rival nods and then smiles slightly, “What he said.”
I smirk, “Fine, the ground warned me.”
“Say what now?” Loki asks, his eyebrows rising high on his forehead.
“I told you it sounded crazy,” I reply, debating whether I should tell them that I can still feel the buzzing.
“And now we believe you,” Zev replies, and I restrain myself from hitting him, since then I’d look crazy to Aldrastos and Laikynn because they can’t hear our conversation and will just assume that I hit him for no reason.
I’m reasonably certain that Aldrastos already thinks that I’m nuts, and despite my best efforts, I do care about what he thinks, so I would prefer not to give him any extra reason to think that I am less than sane.
I would like him to get to know me before he realises that.
“You guys are going to love this then,” I start, and Khaos groans out loud, earning a confused glance from Aldrastos.
“Are we?” Kill asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Probably not,” I admit. “I can still feel it.”
Loki’s eyes widen slightly, and he glances down at the ground suspiciously. “Erm, should we be worried?”
“You guys can't feel it?” I ask just to make sure, even though their reaction is pretty obvious.
“Definitely not,” Zev replies for all of them.
Huh.
“Aldrastos?” I say out loud.
He glances back at me and raises his eyebrow slightly, “Yes?”
“Can you feel the ground buzzing under your feet?”
He frowns, “No, can you?”
I shake my head, “Nope.” I reply simply, popping the -p’ and making him look even more confused than he was moments ago.
The guys all try not to laugh.
“That was mean,” Loki comments with a huge grin.
“Poor fucker,” Hades agrees, although he looks just as amused as Loki does.
In fact, they all look really amused.
“Well, I'm not sure if we should trust him completely, and I don't know whether this new development of mine is something that should be kept between just us,” I explain.
“Good point,” Storm agrees. “Does it feel like a threat?”
“No,” I reply. “I can't explain it, but it isn’t anything we need to worry about. It’s just something that I can feel.”
“And it warned you?” Hades asks curiously.
I nod, “It told me that people were listening. Actually, that's not entirely accurate, it didn't really tell me in words.”
“Confusing, but okay. Is it telling you anything else?” Rival asks curiously.
I start to shake my head and then pause.
Surprise floods me as I realise that, actually, it's telling me a lot.
I swallow my surprise and reply, “I know that Laikynn is to my left and about ten feet back. Poca has found Oryn, and they are about fifteen feet to my right. We have a pack of about twelve creatures, like Laikynn, surrounding us on all sides, and beyond that, we are being stalked by something that feels completely unfamiliar to me.”
They all stare at me in shock.
Zev is so focused on me that he’s not watching where he is going, and I reach out my hand, stopping him from bashing into a tree. As I pull my hand away, the back of my hand brushes against the tree, and the tree briefly glows.
Fortunately, Adrastos is in front of us and didn’t see the glowing tree. I think he’s probably had enough surprises for at least an hour.
“I thought that was limited to our dream,” Zev says with a furrowed brow, his confusion evident.
“You did say that the dream didn’t behave like a normal dream,” I reply.
“Now that we know that the dream took place in the Void, or rather, this realm, it would make sense if some of your magic really transferred over into it,” Rival replies thoughtfully.
“Wait,” Khaos starts. “What if it wasn’t a dream? What if somehow Farren’s magic pulled you both in?”
Zev frowns, “I would agree and say that’s the most likely scenario, but it had dream-like qualities. For starters, we could see clearly, it wasn’t dark like it is now. Plus, I woke up when Farren kicked me out.”
“Maybe not then,” Khaos admits.
“I have no way to explain how Farren touching a tree made it fucking glow, but I do know that it most likely attracted shit that it shouldn’t, so we should get moving, quickly,” Aldrastos interrupts.
I wince, “Shit, sorry. If I had known, I wouldn’t have touched it, obviously.”
I have no idea how he saw the tree glow. He was in front of us, but who knows what kind of supernatural he is? Maybe he can see behind him, or his magic picked up on it, or something.
Aldrastos looks momentarily surprised that I apologised but simply nods in response and then takes off at a jog.
I guess he really is worried that we’re going to be attacked. Which, to be fair, his fear isn’t unfounded, considering that we are being stalked by something that I have never encountered before, and that is only being kept at bay thanks to Laikynn and his pack.
If it tries to attack any of them, then I will be getting involved.
I don’t care how fucking deadly the creatures of this realm are supposed to be. Laikynn is my friend, and I will do what I need to do in order to protect him and his family. After all, that is what he’s doing for my family right now, the least I can do is return the favour.
Aldrastos picks up the pace even more, and we all do the same. I don’t know whether he’s picked up on what I have or whether he’s just fed up with the rest of us getting distracted and figures that if we move faster, then it won’t happen again.
He’s underestimated us.
However, this is a serious situation, and we shouldn’t be allowing ourselves to get as easily distracted as we are. We are being chased by something, and it’s not Aldrastos’ fault that we are now so used to being in life-threatening situations that it isn’t really a big deal to us anymore.
That being said, we haven’t let our guard down. I am still acutely aware of what is going on around us, and I know that the guys are as well. We are simply not freaking out as much as we probably should in this situation.
The ground beneath my feet buzzes in warning.
A guttural growl shakes the ground, and a yelp sounds off to the right.
I don’t think I simply act.
Veering to the right, I plunge into the darkness, as I trust my instincts and the buzzing of the ground to guide me.
Using my air magic, I blast the shadowed beast off of one of Laikynn’s pack members, making it fly backward with a yelp.
My swords appear in my hands as I stand in front of the fallen beast on the floor, angling myself so that I can keep an eye on the thing shaking itself.
I quickly assess Laikynn’s pack member. He’s hurt, but he’s not dead. I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Hang in there, I’ll kill this fucker, and then we’ll get you healed,” I tell it quickly.