A/N: HELLO! Its a surprise, isn't it? I haven't posted sweet fuck all in the last 6 months, and thus was feeling guilty. Fear not, for this drought should end soon! I should soon have reliable internets, and thus will be posting more! Until thne, enjoy!
Chapter 15: What is With That Thing?
You know, I'm really getting sick of running from things trying to kill me. Even worse, I hate running from the same thing repeatedly.
Yes, Robbie had, somehow, managed to piss off that Behemoth again. I wasn't sure how, but I was woken up by Mathew flinging a Water spell at my face and yelling at me to run like hell.
Thus, I was now running for my life for the second time in two days, from the same creature. And it pissed me off.
"ROBBIE! If that thing doesn't kill you, I fucking will!" I shouted, resisting the urge to toast his skin with a Flare spell. For the moment, anyway.
"It wasn't me, I swear!" He shouted his reply, his speed increasing in response to my threat.
"Well, think of it this way, Josh; We're making record time!" Lizi said, running beside me.
"Yeah, well, I like not running for my life. Tayla! Put that thing in the ground!" I shouted at our resident Geomancer.
"Aye aye!" she replied, waving a hand at the charging Behemoth. The ground in front of it rippled, then opened up into a giant hole, which the Behemoth promptly ran into.
"Nice one," I said, slowing down to a walk and panting.
"Thank you," Tayla said happily. Lizi high fived her, then returned to my side as Robbie walked up to me. I glared at him.
"Hey, it wasn't me, I swear. Although, I was hunting for deer this morning and I may of accidently found it sleeping..." He said. I twitched. He ran for his life.
He didn't run fast enough.
Once Shayna had finished repairing the damage that I inflicted on Robbie, we continued on our merry way. Well, merry was a overstatement.
"This sucks. Ass," Reece said. I was tempted to agreed.
"Agreed. I'm already sick of running for my life every day," said Lathen.
"Well, think of it this way; Its a learning experience," said Morgan, shooting a arrow at a wolf that was looking at us hungrily.
"Learning experience my ass. This whole adventure has been near death experience after near death experience," said Sam, walking alongside Morgan. Again, tempted to agree.
"Oh stop complaining. We are here now, and I guess we're here to stay, so get used to it," said Hannah, her voice cold. I laughed at their expressions, then slowly stopped walking. Something had just occurred to me. How were we going to get home, if at all?
"Josh? You okay?" Lizi asked, looking concerned. Behind her, everyone else was looking at me, waiting. I shook my head.
"Its nothing. Lets keep moving," I said, smiling and starting off again. Listening to the different conversations happening behind me, and the now comforting presense of Lizi beside me, I thought that, even if we didn't get home, I was still with my friends.
Later that day, it rained. Hard. We looked for cover, and found a rock ledge that provided a fairly large amount of shelter. After lighting a fire and making sure that we hadn't lost anyone, I seperated off from the group and started keeping watch. Outwardly, I was calm, but inside I was screaming. I wanted to go home. To see my family again, no matter how much I disliked them. To live a normal life. All this internal conflict made me completely miss Lizi walking up and sitting down beside me, and so I nearly hit my head on the rock ledge when she spoke.
"You ok, Josh?" she said, looking at me. I nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, hoping that she would buy it. She didn't.
"Uhuh, and I'm the High Priestess of Cosmos. The truth, Josh," she said, looking at me sternly.
"Okay. I'm scared that I won't be able to go home," I said, truthfully. Lizi gave me the weirdest look.
"Josh. You'll get home, if you try hard. Anything's possible, if you try," she said, smiling. I returned the smile halfheartedly. She saw through it.
"I know you don't believe it, I know. But trust me, if you try hard enough, anything can happen," she said, her eyes gleaming. For some reason, that made me feel better.
"Josh. Catch." I shot my hand out and caught a kebarb. Looking up, I saw Robbie looking over at me. "You good man?"
I thought for a moment, looked at Lizi, then nodded.
"Yeah. I'm good."
Later that night, I was keeping watch, with Lizi's head resting on my shoulder. Sure, the girl made it hard to see anything on my left hand side, but having her there was comforting, never the less. At least, she was keeping me warm. At most, the way she was cuddling my arm was almost affectionate, and that warmed my heart a little. Then I stopped as I caught myself staring at her, then banged my head against the rock and looked around, doing my hourly count of our little group.
And blinked in surprise. Someone was missing. I recounted, made sure that I counted myself. Yeap, someone was missing. I checked who was there. Lathen and Hannah were curled up together, as were Amylee and Harley. Kyle and Shayna had fallen asleep holding hands, as had Sam and Morgan. Nick had fallen asleep with spear in hand, and Robbie was hugging his claymore in his sleep. Kathryn was alone, leaning aginst the wall- Wait, where was Mathew? I looked again, checking. Mathew had disappeared. Sighing, I tried to move Lizi so that she was resting against the rock behind us without waking her. I failed.
"Huh?.. Josh?.." she asked sleepily, opening a eye and looking at me.
"Mathew's vanished. I'm gonna go look for him," I relied, smiling ever so slightly. Lizi nodded, then sat up and drew one of her duel swords.
"I'll keep watch... Don't take too long," she said, inbetween yawns. I nodded, then started walking away from the rock ledge.
The thing about magic, is that it leaves traces. Not many people can see them, but I, for whatever reason (and most likely the same reason I can use a sword like I trained every day of my life), can. Some people think it would be fancy, like a sixth sense, but it isn't. Magical traces look all the world like glowing snail trails. Anyway, Mathew must of used a spell to generate a light for him, as I did with a Flare orb, because the trail was solid and unbroken, leading up the outcrop of rocks that we camped at. Following the trail, I quickly worked out that he was heading for the top, and climbed as fast as I could.
After scaling a rather dangerous set of rocks, I found myself standing in a flat area, surrounded by rocks jutting towards the sky. Then I jumped as a lightning flash lit up the sky, then sighed. The storm was back.
"Josh." I looked in the direction of the voice and found myself staring at Mathew, his figure lit up by a small Fire orb. Maybe it was just me, or the lighting, but his eyes seemed more... evil then they normally did. My brand chose this moment to burn slightly, causing me to hiss in pain and grip where it was. Mathew did not let this go unnoticed.
"You have a brand too?" he asked. I could only nod, then paused. Too? I looked up at him, puzzled.
"Yeah. I got one as well," Mathew said, holding up his left hand, which I saw was ungloved. The light wasn't the greatest, but then another lightning flash occurred, and I got a good look at his hand. On the back of it was a pattern of black and gold, forming a shape not unlike a shield. Protectionsaid a voice at the back of my mind. My brand burned again, more intensely this time.
"I showed mine, now show yours," Mathew said, looking at me. I nodded, then yanked back my jacket sleeve and showed him my own chaotic brand. He flinched as he looked at it, as if in pain.
"What?" I managed to say, inbetween bursts of pain from my brand. My mind started playing tricks on me, with flashes of red blurring my vision.
"My brand just hurt," he said, looking at his brand, before returning his gaze to me. "And I would say that yours is hurting as well." I could only nod. I then gasped as a flash of red engulfed my vision, followed by a blurry vision of a beast, a demon with black angel's wings, ripping Mathew in half. Shaking my head, I blinked, then looked up.
And saw the point of Mathew's red raiper.
"Mathew... What the fuck?.." I managed to get out.
"You. You changed. Only for a moment, but you changed," he replied, his vocie shakey.
"I'm still me," I said, looking up at him. Then my brand burned again, driving me to my knees in pain.
"Prove it," was Mathew's cold reply. I looked at him, blood boiling with a overpowering rage, then laughed and replied.
"Fine then. Do what you think you should do. Kill me."
Nothing, then I saw his raiper shake. I continued.
"I won't fight back. I won't even move. Kill me!" my voice shifted in the last sentence, turning darker, more demonic. His raiper shook more, then slowly rose into the air. I grinned, then closed my eyes. I heard the sound of its edge cutting through the air...