Chapter Ten
Rast
“Help yourself, man. We’re going to eat and then get going if that’s okay with you?” Storm asks.
I nod, “Yeah, that works. The sooner that we can get going, the better.” I sit down and load my plate before I spot the coffee and pour myself a giant cup, chugging that before doing anything else.
Once the coffee has kicked in and I’m feeling a little more awake and ready to face the day, I ask, “Has anyone spoken to Laikynn yet? I’m assuming that since they didn’t wake any of us, they had a reasonably quiet night? ”
Hades nods, “Yes, he actually just left before you came back. They said that they had a couple of issues with some smaller creatures, but they were more curious than aggressive, so they just chased them off.”
I frown, “That’s odd. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the creatures here being merely curious, but then again, I thought Laikynn’s kind were nothing but aggressive, so what the fuck do I know?”
Loki looks at me sympathetically, “Don’t worry, dude, the longer that you stay with us, the more used to having your perceptions flipped you will be.”
“He’s right,” Hades agrees. “Although I would imagine that’s not exactly reassuring.”
Rival shakes his head, “I mean, at this point, I would be surprised if something was what it was supposed to be.” He grimaces, “Trust me, I get how frustrating it is. I love knowledge. I’m supposed to be the one who knows the answers, or can at least find them, and while that is still true, everything that I thought I knew is turning out to be wrong, or warped, or messed with. ”
I watch as Farren gets up, moves around the table, and plops herself down on Rival’s lap. She takes his face in her hands and kisses him softly.
When she pulls back, she says, “I’m sorry I didn’t realize how much it was bothering you.
Think of it this way: we may be losing knowledge and finding out that the knowledge that we do have is wrong, but that’s still knowledge.
So we are still gaining knowledge. Knowledge that not many other people have, and you are the best person to gather and keep that knowledge safe. ”
As she speaks, the frown lines on his forehead disappear.
It has to be magic.
How else did she know exactly the right thing to say to make it better?
I have no other explanation for it.
“Thank you,” he mutters as he kisses her.
Storm clears his throat, “Alright, has everyone finished? Are we ready to get going?”
I nod, “I’m done.”
Everyone helps to clear up the breakfast items and gathers all of their stuff, getting ready to leave.
“How long do you think the walk to the castle is?” Reaper asks me as we all pause before we head out of the door, and Farren says thank you to the house.
“As I said before, I only have a vague idea, but it should be around eight hours or so. We should be able to get there by evening if we’re moving quickly.” I explain.
“Perfect. That’s not too long,” Storm replies.
I wince, “Yeah, if I’m right.”
“Don’t worry, man, we’ll figure it out,” Kill replies.
“Wouldn’t Laikynn know the exact direction?” Reaper asks curiously.
I shrug, “I mean, it’s possible. He spends a lot more time out in the thick of everything. In theory, he should know, but in practice he may have been too busy surviving to find it, just like everyone else.”
“Well, I suppose the best way to find out is to ask him,” Farren says as she opens the door.
The others all file out, and I stand there in shock for a moment before I head out after them.
“Hey, it’s pretty cool that you can still tell if it’s night or day here,” Rival says. “I know that it’s still pretty dark, but I can see a bit more. It’s not just pitch black. I can make out the vague shapes of things, and I definitely couldn’t do that last night.”
I shake my head, “You can’t usually tell the difference.”
“What?” Kill asks sharply.
“I have never seen the realm look like this before,” I explain as simply as possible. “It has always looked like it did last night. There has never been a variation.”
“Never?” Farren double-checks.
I shake my head, “Never.”
“Well, that’s interesting,” Hades muses thoughtfully. “Is it because the realm is close to the end, or is there something else going on?”
“I have no fucking idea,” I reply bluntly, because what the fuck?
“Well, let’s take advantage of the extra light as limited as it is and head off. I would really like it if we could get this done in a day. Hopefully, we can then find somewhere safe to camp for the night before we head into the castle to rescue the others,” Storm explains his plan.
“Let’s just ask Laikynn about the direction quickly,” Mayhem reminds us. That was the initial plan before I got distracted by the fucking change in the darkness.
“Ask me about what?” Laikynn asks, suddenly appearing in front of us.
Okay, so it’s not that light now. I mean, I didn’t see him approach, but there is a difference that is especially noticeable to someone who has spent their whole lives living under the artificial lights of the compound or venturing into the surrounding pitch-black darkness.
“Do you know where the castle is?” Farren asks Laikynn.
Laikynn nods but doesn’t say anything. A growl bubbles in his chest, and my eyebrows rise. Since meeting him, I haven’t heard him growl at Farren, and I tense, ready to step in if need be.
After a moment of nothing but growls coming from Laikynn, he says angrily, “It would appear that for some reason, I am not allowed to tell you or show you.”
“Of course you aren’t,” Kill mutters, sounding entirely unsurprised at Laikynn’s confession.
“Why not?” Khaos asks, his eyes narrowed.
Laikynn’s words are more growl than anything as he replies, “I do not know. But I will keep you all safe.”
With those parting words, he disappears again.
“That’s probably not a good sign, is it?” Loki sighs.
“Probably not,” Reaper replies gruffly.
Storm looks at me, “It looks like it’s on you, Rast.”
I smile, more because my nickname has caught on and he’s calling me it too, rather than because I’m apparently in charge of leading them to the castle that I only vaguely know the direction of.
“Let’s go,” I say. “Remember to stay alert, not only for creatures but also for the Others, the ones who live outside of the compounds and are the ones who escaped the punishment side of the realm. They are extremely dangerous, and they are not afraid to kill first and then not bother to ask questions. They are feral, deadly, and remorseless.”
“Not going to lie, they sound like my kind of people,” Farren mutters.
“They’re not,” I snap and then wince. “I’m sorry, I just want you to take this seriously. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
She smirks, “Aw, I knew you liked me, really.”
I scowl but can’t quite stop the smile from twitching at the corners of my lips.
“Don’t worry, mate, we are listening, and we understand you. We aren’t going to put ourselves or you in any danger by not listening to your warning,” Hades tells me as he gives Farren a raised eyebrow look, and she rolls her eyes playfully.
“Fine, I will behave myself,” she says.
“I don’t believe you, but there are enough of us that we should be able to step in before you get us into some sort of fight,” Khaos says.
Farren opens her mouth with an indignant look on her face and then closes it. “You know what, yeah, that’s probably fair.”
“Well, now that’s been agreed, let’s go,” Storm says.
I nod, and we head off. We’re sticking together as a group. There is strength in numbers, and it would be foolish to split up.
It would be asking for trouble.
Everyone falls silent, and I’m grateful that despite the earlier joviality, everyone is taking the situation seriously.
We’ve been walking for a couple of hours, and I’m reasonably certain that we’re heading in the right direction when the silence is interrupted.
I’m glad.
It’s incredibly difficult to ignore the random spots of cold that keep appearing on my face, and the indistinct muttering that keeps fading in and out.
I miss the academy.
It didn’t happen there, and I thought that I had finally gotten rid of it. Honestly, I thought that my new Ferryman magic had fixed the part of my mind that had been broken by trauma, but clearly that’s not the case.
I know what it means. I’ve lost it. My mind is broken.
I’m not even surprised, after everything, it makes sense.
It’s not so broken that I can’t function, and for the time being, I’m good at hiding it.
At some point, I’m going to have to talk to someone about it, but since I have no one to talk to and we’re in the middle of a really important mission, it can wait, and I will carry on ignoring it to the best of my ability.
“Wait!” Loki suddenly exclaims, pulling me out of my thoughts.
We all stop where we are, instantly alert.
“What?” Kill asks, “Did you see something?”
Loki frowns and then shakes his head, “Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean stop. We can carry on walking.”
Storm shakes his head in exasperation as we all carry on walking again and asks, “What did you mean then?”
“Well, I just had a thought,” he starts.
“Careful,” Hades mutters, making me smirk.
Loki sticks his middle finger up at Hades and carries on talking, “Haha fucker. No, when we first met Laikynn, he was in the Fae Realm.”
“What?” I ask. Shock colouring my tone. That was not what I was expecting him to say.
“Shit, yeah, you’re right. We were told that he was a Void creature who we needed to defeat,” Mayhem says with a crease in his brow.
“Who told you that you needed to defeat the Void creature?” I ask, and then it clicks, “The Warrior Games, that was one of your trials?”
Farren nods, “Yeah, it was our first one. It was made out like Laikynn was extremely dangerous and that we needed to destroy him. That didn’t feel right to me, so I took him home instead. We’ve been friends ever since, and he’s helped me many times.”
“It still fascinates me that this creature who I’ve been taught was one of our biggest enemies, is actually the opposite of that,” I say.
Getting back on track, I add, “So the Fae Realm somehow managed to pull a creature from this realm and told you that it was a creature from the Void and that you needed to end it.”
“Is it definitely the Fae Realm that did it, or is it possible that something or someone else messed with the trial?” Kill asks.
I’m shaking my head before he has even finished talking, “No. I struggle to believe that the Fae Realm is even strong enough to pull a creature from this realm, especially since it’s been locked down for so long, but if anyone is capable of it, the Fae Realm is literally the only thing that has a chance of doing it. ”
“Are we sure that Laikynn was pulled from here and not the Void? I know it would be a pretty big coincidence if that was the case, but it’s a possibility?” Reaper asks.
“No. His family was waiting here for him,” Farren replies. “And if that were the case, then how the hell did he end up in the Void in the first place when nothing can get in or out of this realm?”
“Good point,” Reaper agrees.
“Which means that the Fae Realm absolutely knew what it was doing when it gave you that trial. You were the only one who could help him,” I point out.
Rival frowns, “It might have been testing her too.”
“What do you mean?” Khaos asks with a frown, clearly not liking what Rival is suggesting.
I think I know where Rival is going with this, and I can’t say that I particularly like the thought that a realm is testing Farren either.
“Think about it. The Fae Realm pulled Laikynn from this realm, it knew exactly where he came from, which means it knew that he wasn’t a threat to us unless we were a threat to him.
So what if the realm was testing Farren to see how she would handle the situation and what she would do?
Whether she would do what was asked of her in the trial or follow her instincts,” Rival explains.
“I think you’re probably right,” Hades agrees. “I don’t imagine that a realm makes mistakes, and the Fae Realm has been a strong force as far as realms go for an extremely long time. It is not one of the weaker realms.”
“So what does that mean?” Farren asks.
Rival shrugs, “I don’t know. There’s no way to confirm it, not really. It’s not like you can just ask the realm.”
“It does make sense though,” Kill agrees. “If the Fae Realm is even more aware than we thought that it was, then that would explain why we were in the last trial for so much longer than we should have been and why no one actually knew that we had been gone for that long.”