Thank you SO MUCH : BooksBeforeLife (guest), Night Changer, TattleTales, SailorVenus11345 (guest), lilypotter72 (guest) and MrsMagnusB. Considering the great comment received during last demon fight (chp 7), here is the next! Looking forward your thoughts and theories on what's next!
BooksBeforeLife (guest): I'll try the best I can! Thanks for your review.
SailorVenus11345 (guest): Incredibly glad to know you are still liking this and reading it! Thanks for your review and your compliment on my writing. I am always afraid that my 'writing accent' shows too much haha!
lilypotter72 (guest): Thanks for your reviews! I am glad you liked the Kaelie part and Jace and Alec's parts :)
'' I am sorry for that, My Queen. It is nothing against you.''
'' Of course not.'' answered a female voice to the young man who had just spoken. '' So he is your new interest, huh? Interesting. Does he know about you?''
A moment of silence.
'' I will have to take my leave.''
The woman laughed.
'' Should I assume that it is a no? If I remember correctly, when I told your last pretty interest the truth, she left.'' she said, but already her voice had grown distant.
The sensation of falling, it was that scary moment like one's heart was still up there, but not them. The sensation of dreaming, it dulled the passing time and voices from another world could be heard.
And that was how Alec felt for two seconds, right before he harshly landed on the ground, coming back to reality. After a moment of assessing that he was whole, he raised and glanced around. He was in a forest again, the plants so dense they made a cover of obscurity, blocking the sun and keeping the humidity in. The heat was chocking in this tropical place.
'At least it isn't raining.' he thought with some kind of relief.
It was a short-lived relief as the blue-eyed young man noticed that he was alone.
'Where is Jace?'
Frowning, he searched for his ally, straining his ears to listen to any hints he could find on his whereabouts. But his eyes were only met with the green of the trees, and his ears with the silence of a dead forest. There was no sound, as if there weren't any living creatures – no animals – here. Eerily enough, it reminded him of the plains in Preatorin where they had fought the first demon.
'Life is impossible in the presence of those foul things.' concluded Alec, which only added to his constant worry of his sister.
Taking a deep breath, he tool a random directions, hoping that Jace wasn't far. And that he was okay. What if when he landed he had hurt his head and lost conscious? What if he had arrived close to the Graptolithina Demon already and forced to fight alone? What if -
A cracking sound from underneath him forced Alec to interrupt his catastrophic scenarios brainstorm.
Under his foot, there was many little twigs, all black and twisted, as if they were the burnt to crisp remains of... something. Crouching down, he took one and was surprised to feel it was soft, like a polished surface. Not the feel burnt wood should have.
'Careful.' the Alicanti told himself, deciding to continue his search while avoiding to step on anything that could make noises. The ground was covered of those black twigs and fallen branches, which slowed him incredibly so. Alec had been wandering for a while now, and was starting to get both frustrated and anxious. The silence was like a treacherous ally, telling that there was nothing, but not giving in any noise that could help him. He was on edge that he would stumbled on the demon before he could find Jace, but the only things he had found were trees, more trees and other trees.
That was, until some kind of light threads found him and circled his wrist.
'Jace!'
He followed the magical link, knowing that it came from their contract. It was dark, and he was hurried to find his ally, but even then Alec took extra care to watch where he stepped. And soon enough, they were reunited.
'' Alec.'' Jace sigh with relief. His golden eyes looked for injuries, nut didn't found any. '' Okay let's go.'' he said in a no-nonsense tone, before taking a direction that neither came from.
They were covering some territory, but even if they were two now, they only found the forest and the silence. And opposite to earlier, they had no means, no way to find the demon. With the contract, at least there had been hope for one of them to find the other.
Only one of them though...
'' That system is kind of flawed, isn't it?'' Alec thought out loud, which earned him a side glance from his ally. '' The tracking magic. I mean, you are the one with the contract, so it can't really go both ways. If you don't find me, I can't find you.''
Jace stopped at that, frowning. He closed his eyes as if cursing himself, which confused the Alicanti. What had he said to cause that kind of reaction? But then Jace raised those golden orbs back to Alec, nodding.
'' You are right, fair enough.'' he said getting the parchment out.
To Alec's surprise and shock, Jace tore in two the contract.
'' W-what are you doing?'' exclaimed the blue-eyed young man, thoroughly confused.
He didn't understand. Why was Jace doing this? What had he said wrong? It almost felt like rejection.
Right then, Jace gave him one half of the teared contract. '' Giving you one half, so like this you also have your part. You can now also track me.'' he explained.
Relief flooded through Alec, relaxing his tensed muscles. '' Will it work even if broken?''
'' It's a powerful magical object, Alec. Of course it will still work, it takes more than a physical alteration to break it. If we place the two parts together, they will even reattach themselves.'' his ally assured, easing the last of the archer's worries.
But Jace seemed still tensed and he was looking around warily.
'' Thank you.'' told him Alec, trying to show the other that he appreciated that piece of trust he had been given.
But Jace only shook his head, a hand flying to his sword. Now that gesture got Alec on alert too, and he grabbed his bow and arrow, readying himself. Blue eyes glanced around, surveying the shadows lingering between the trees, but he saw nothing.
'' Don't thank me just yet.'' muttered the blond, his jaw tight. '' I made an error.''
Alec looked at Jace, waiting for him to elaborate.
'' The branch I am currently standing on.'' said the latter, looking at his right foot. '' It's organic, not wood.''
Looking down, the Alicanti saw the branch. Following it with his eyes, the branch seemed long – too long – and looked as if it was crawling from the darkness of the jungle, like a snake. He remembered what he knew from the Graptolithina Demon...
'' It doesn't have eyes. It doesn't have ears. It doesn't smell neither... Those demons, they sense.''
And to sense their presence, it had limbs camouflaged like branches lying around, understood Alec a shiver creeping up his spine. His ally had also said that Graptolithina was not one but many demons all related to one another to two main cores. Could any leaves, lianas or branches be a demon?
Whatever the answer to that, the world dulled again and Alec heard new voices.
'' You know we blew our cover because of what happened, right? We'll never be able to use that trick against her again...'' grumbled a man, from the one earlier.
'' I know, but I wanted to help him.'' said the man from before.
'' Are you sure about what you are doing?'' asked the grumpy one.
'' It is not that complicated to get someone out of a portal.''
'' I am not talking about that. Are you sure about him? The Queen was right you know, last time you got hurt. I wouldn't-''
'' I am not. I am not sure. But still...''
The other sigh, unhappy about the answer. '' Okay.'' he said.
Ignoring that confusing moment – that only lasted one second like the previous one- Alec concentrated on what was the more urgent: the creature knew where they were now.
'' Prepare to run.'' warned Jace, before he removed his foot from the branch.
It was like the tropical forest was only waiting for that to awake. The branch trembled a bit, before rising and throwing itself at Jace. It tried to catch him – entangle him in its woody grip - but the Preatorin was faster and he had already taken a couple of steps back.
Yet the branch wasn't alone, and the plants surrounding them stretched and flailed their vegetable limbs toward Jace and Alec.
Both boys ran in the direction that the flora seemed thinner, though in such place, it was hardly by much. Maybe it was paranoia, maybe it was because they were dashing madly and couldn't take time to observe carefully, but to Alec it seemed like everything had started to move. And running like that didn't make it easy to not touch any of the plants. Every falling leaves, every roots out of the ground, every vines hanging in their way was like a treacherous sensor that told the forest their position. If the plants had been kind of sluggish propelling themselves at Alec and Jace before, they were now fast and they managed more than once to scratch their skin.
At one point, the branches and vines lacerating at them were so numerous that Alec had to raise his arms in front of him to protect his face. They reached a small clearing now. He slowed down to turn toward his ally, who was in the same defensive position as him.
'' We are not getting anywhere like this.'' exclaimed Alec, hoping Jace had an idea on what to do. At this rate they would quickly get overwhelmed before they could find the demon's cores.
It was only because he had a good perception of his surroundings that the Alicanti avoided a thorny ivy plunging at him from his right side. He had avoided those dreadful attacks more than once; still, he was covered with shallow but bleeding cuts all over him. They were starting to burn with a distracting pain.
Jace got his sword out and tried to cut some branches, and he managed to slash some pieces. The separated parts turned black and twisted when they landed on the ground. Yet what seemed like a successful hit at the creature had its double edge. The cut branches trembled before spawning at its ending a new ramification.
'It's growing.'
A new shiver of fright went up the blue-eyed young man's spine as his stomach knotted. He understood now, what were those burned-black twigs he had seen earlier. They had been parts of the demon sheared by previous people who had came but failed to kill Graptolithina. And when one limb was cut, two more grew from the opening made...
'What can we do?' couldn't help but think Alec, clenching at his bow as if to chase away his feeling of defencelessness. But he shook his head, and looked around for anything that could help.
'' We need to find the cores!'' exclaimed Jace and an idea came to Alec.
'' Cover me.'' he told him, before running a little farther away.
Noticing a pile of huge blocks of rocks forming some kind of natural promontory, Alec darted toward it. If he could climb it up, he would have a better view on the area – maybe spotting the core, some kind of central point or anything that could help - while getting away from the forest's reach. Though the latter was impossible, making it harder for the vines to get him would be sufficient for the archer.
Yet, before the Alicanti could get to the rock promontory, he felt a tight clutch at his ankle. Looking down, Alec saw that a plethora of slim roots had anchored his left foot, immobilizing. He tried to struggle against them, but they were holding on strongly.
Then they suddenly loosen. Looking behind, Alec saw that Jace had stepped on them, squeezing the nerves under his foot.
'' Try to look for where the forest is at its thickest, I think that is where the cores might be.'' told Jace with a smirk, before returning his attention on their attackers. He had understood Alec's plan, and seemed to agree with it.
Nodding to himself, the blue-eyed one continued his ascension. When he reached the top of the blocks, he was about at the same height as the trees, but he still had a pretty good overall view of the place. Glancing around, his eyes first caught the sight of something white stuck in the tree near him. Narrowing his eyes, he tried to distinguish what it was...
'By the Angel!' he thought as his heart skipped a beat from the fright the sight gave him.
The white things, they were bones. It was a skeleton, a human one. It must have been there since a while if there was only bones left. The corpse had an arm stretched in one direction at the left, it seemed dislocated, but still the silhouette of what used to be someone was recognizable.
Disturbingly recognizable.
Continuing his survey, Alec then saw that most branches and vines seemed to connect in some ways, from trees to trees. From where he was, he realized that it didn't just seemed that way, they were all connected!
The forest was a giant network, branches and roots like nerves all linked together and covering the territory. The Graptolithina Demon wasn't just hiding in the tropical forest, it was the tropical forest. They were fighting against the entire flora.
Alec was starting to feel more and more helpless.
Shaking that revelation and the feelings it induced out of his mind for now, the blue eyed young man concentrated on spotting the place where the forest was at its thickest; the nerve point where the roots would all be connecting. Jace thought that was where the cores would be and he tended to agree with that. Where there was more demonic trees guarding was probably whee their hearts would be, right?
'There at the right.' decided Alec.
He turned around to tell Jace, but saw that his ally was going to be ambushed. Behind him, two vegetable limbs snaking and sneaking. Getting his bow out again, he took two arrows at the time. The thorny vines were close to his friend, but since their training yesterday, Alec had grown in confidence. Nocking the arrows, he drew the string and aimed. With his finger in between the two feathered end, he wanted them to go in two different directions, and they would if he angled himself right.
'Now!' he told himself, as the vines were plunging toward Jace. The released arrows flew and pierced the vines, planting them on the ground.
The Preatorin turned around at the sight of them and gave a quick nod to Alec. The gesture was clear, it meant: Thank you.
The Alicanti was already half way down the promontory. When he reached Jace's side, he informed him of what he saw: '' At the right, that is where the forest is at its thickest.''
The boys ran toward that direction, trying to make their way through the flailing plants. Sometimes, Jace was forced to slash some plants grabbing them, even if it resulted into more of them. They continued to run and avoid at best as they can the attacks, but fatigue was starting to get at them. The heat combined with his heart running fast made Alec feel dizzy and from his slowing pace, Jace was no better. They had scratches all over them, bleeding from a thousand cuts and it was like his skin was on fire.
They had been running and disentangling themselves for a long while now. Where were the cores?
'' We are not getting any-'' began Alec, but was interrupted when he stumbled onto something.
Looking down, his blue eyes were met with yet another corpse, but this one still had flesh covering its bones. Though 'flesh' was quickly said for what those piece of pale rotten rags were. Eyes gouged out and old brown dried blood covering him, the dead man was as dislocated as the skeleton he had previously seen, and he too had a stretched arm pointing in one direction behind the boys.
Refraining a wave of nausea, Alec tried to look away, to look around for something, anything. But maybe he was overlooking something? Two dead people, previous fighters, pointing in the same directions...
'' Look out!'' warned Jace, grabbing his arm and pulling him over. But he was too late.
A sharp ugly pain jolted through Alec has a vine had plunged and cut open his whole arm length. Already, adrenaline was numbing the pain, but looking down at his left arm, he saw the wound - a deep, spilling blood gash – from his shoulder to wrist. It was bad.
He tried to concentrate on his surroundings, but again the world dulled and the voices came back.
'' It has been a day now, I need to get him out.'' said a male, the one that had been present in the two previous 'dreams' for lack of better word.
A woman with a cold poised voice answered him. '' I know you are concerned and that it is stressing you, but remember that time flows differently here than there. Give him some times.''
'' But what if he was injured? What if they died already, or what if they were barely-''
She interrupted him. '' Give him time. What if they were on the verge of killing the demon and you summoned them here before they could? You wouldn't be doing anyone a favour.''
A pause.
'' Yes, you are right... Thank you.''
Another pause.
The young man than whispered. '' You can do this, Alexander.''
'' Alec, move your fingers.'' told him Jace, and from his tone, he also had been distracted by the voices.
The blue-eyed one obeyed, and he felt an odd tingling starting from his elbow and coursing through his arm, but he could still move them.
'' Good, the nerves are not broken.'' hissed the blond as a vine whip him across the back. He quickly torn a piece of the coat he was wearing and with a cord he had in his bag, the Preatorin made some kind of bandage for Alec's arm, hoping to slow the bleeding. '' We have to keep going.'' he said once finished.
Jace was about to pull him forward, but Alec's intuition wouldn't let what he had seen go. The fallen fighters, pointing toward the same direction: behind them, left to the promontory of rocks. In a last breath, could they have shared the same final will, which would be to indicate their common foe's weakness?
'' Wait.'' said Alec. '' I don't think that is the right way.''
'' Didn't you say that was where the forest was at its thickest?'' asked Jace, not stopping.
'' And it is.'' muttered the blue-eyed young man through his teeth as a branch scratch his injured arm again. '' But I don't think it is the right way.''
The blond stopped. '' Then where?''
Alec and Jace ran back the way they had came until they reached the promontory. From there, blue eyes gazed up in the tree, looking for the morbid indication. And he found it again, the skeleton pointing left.
Understanding dawned on Jace when he spot it too. '' You think we can trust that?'' he asked, doubt laced in his voice.
'' We don't have that much more to go on.'' answered Alec, unsure, but they had to continue. What else could they do?
Frantically running where the fallen fighter pointed, a new enemy made its apparition, and it was called fatigue. The heat was still terrible, and because they had been running ever since the forest's attack, dehydration caused dizziness. The whole flora was against them, possessed by Graptolithina. Alec's makeshift bandage wasn't all that efficient in preventing blood lost, and he suspected that Jace was trying to hide some of his own bruises.
But they continued, and perseverance was paid a few minutes later. The plants trashed around more frantically, as if distressed, and Jace was the first to see why.
'' There!'' he pointed to Alec.
The latter saw one of it then, what had to be a core. With its 1 meter* radius, a giant flower of silver petals, lying there on the ground. The sole flower they had seen once passed the portal. All roots seemed to connect with it, glowing different shades of greens and pulsating with a dark glow at a regular rhythm. Almost like an heartbeat.
'But weren't they supposed to be two?'
'' Wasn't it two cores?'' voiced out loud Alec, but already he had his bow out. He tried not to grimace or scream at the pain it caused him just to do that. The muscles in his left arm were probably teared.
'' According to rumours.'' said Jace. '' Let's see if it is the one weak to metal or wood.''
On those words, the blond doubled speed and went straight to the flower. The silver petals flailed around trying to intimidated the sensed predator, but Jace wouldn't have it. Trusting at them, he cut just enough to allow him to get dangerously close. He held his sword high, and planted it in the middle of the flower.
For a moment nothing happened.
Then the flower grew pistils that went for Jace's sword. They moved stunningly fast. When they made contact, a buzzing sound could be heard over the forest's flailing. Immediately, Jace started to have spasm, as if he was having a seizure.
'' Jace!'' called out in horror Alec when his ally's body shook uncontrollably.
Jace then fell on the ground, unconscious.
That was it. Anger and protectiveness snapped something in Alec. Ignoring the pain, preferring the option his instinct was whispering to him, the Alicanti knocked two arrows, drew the string to its maximum elasticity for more strength and released it quickly and efficiently. He might have screamed of pain right then, but he didn't notice. The pistils had retreated already, but the flower was wide open and of course, he did not miss.
Alec heard his arrows plant in the flower, but he wasn't really focusing on that neither.
He ran toward his fallen ally. His chest was still rising and falling – evidence he was breathing, 'thank the Angel' – but already some roots and vines were trying to get at Jace, entangling him in their grips. Alec grabbed the others' sword and slashed fiercely at them plants.
Before he could look out for any obvious injury on the Preatorin, an orange glow caught his attention. Turning his blue eyes toward the flower again, he saw that the orange glow belonged to flames. The flower had set his arrows on fire.
'Impossible.' thought in disbelief the archer. If immune to Jace's metallic sword, this core should have - if not perished - been hurt by his arrows. But here was the flower, defending itself against the attack again. A terrifying hypothesis crossed Alec's mind right then.
'What if there was not two but one core? And what if it didn't have any fears and was immune to both metal and wood?'
No time for that thought though, the plants were all recoiling, as if prepare one next fatal attack. They most sense it in their immobility, how much they had been weakened. They were standing on moss right now, realized Alec. The forest knew exactly where they were.
The petals Jace had cut on the flower were already growing back, twice more numerous.
They were hurt, injured, one was even unconscious, and the Graptolithina Demon did not suffer one bit from their intervention.
'' Jace wake up we have to go.'' softly told Alec to Jace, but he was still unconscious.
The Alicanti tried to take Jace so he could carry him away from here, but his left arm wouldn't cooperate anymore. Instead, the blue-eyed young man tried to place himself so he would be a human shield for his ally.
The branches plunged toward Alec and Jace, but seemed to slow down for a moment...
'' Okay, I have waited long enough, I need him out.'' said the voice of the young man.
The demon's woody limbs never had the time to impale them. Everything, the trees, the branches, the flower and even the ground seemed to dissipate. They all transformed into light, then morphed into birds made of light and flew away. The light flock spiralled around Jace and Alec before heading toward a shadow.
The shadow was the silhouette of someone. A familiar someone with green concerned eyes.
Their gaze met. The flood of gratefulness pooling inside Alec was so great, he finally let go of tension. Ozpollen materialized all around them, but one thought still lingered in his mind, not allowing him to find comfort in that.
'We failed.'
* 1 m = 3,28 ft