CHAPTER 28: STRANGER

Under the watchful gaze of the four strangers, Emerius and Charon took a seat in one of the pews around the fire, doing their best to come across as peaceful.

’Last thing we need is to give Liam a reason to go psycho.’

His eyes flicked to the giant, who was staring at him, licking his lips slowly.

’Does he even need one? He looks ready to pounce!’

Darius dragged another pew over before sitting down, Liam falling into the seat beside him, and Annie moving to sit on his other side.

A second passed in tense silence before Darius coughed into his hand and spoke.

"I am Darius, this is Liam, and this is Annie. The one sitting over there is Red. What are your names?"

Charon waited for Emerius to talk, but no sound came, prompting him to do the introductions for them.

"I am Charon, and this is Emerius."

Darius gave him a somewhat forced smile.

"It is good to meet you, Charon and Emerius. Do you two know what gods you worship?"

Not seeing the harm in sharing that information, Charon decided to give it.

"Both of us belong to the God of Death."

The man’s eyebrows raised.

"We do not see many followers of Death here. Worshippers of Life and Blood are common, but not Death."

"What about you guys? Who do you worship?"

Darius gestured to Annie and himself.

"We both fall under the faith of the God of Life, a shared religion."

He then jerked a thumb towards Liam.

"This one is a worshipper of Blood, and very devout too."

Liam snorted.

"Blood makes it easy. Kill some things, and make it gory, and he happily gives some blessings."

Darius then pointed at Red.

"And finally, Red belongs to the Church of Mind. There are fewer of those than Death Worshippers here, but their abilities make them useful."

Charon could see why.

’She can read minds! And talk in them too! She sounds like the most terrifying thing to fight against, especially if she has guards.’

The scarlet-haired girl turned to look at him, a playful smile on her lips, before turning back to the stained glass.

Charon shivered.

’I can’t have any personal thoughts anymore, can I...’

To Charon’s surprise, Emerius chose that moment to speak, his voice having a slight edge.

"What are you all doing out here?"

Darius scowled at the question, but Annie placed a calming hand on his shoulder, happily explaining in his place.

Although there was barely any contact, the touch made Charon’s blood boil.

’Are they dating? They have to be, right? I mean, look at them, they look like a prince and a princess! That’s always how the stories go, the handsome knight gets the pretty girl.’

"We were sent by the High Elders to scout along the shore. We track the movements of various beasts, search for new relics, and try to find locations depicted on old maps."

Charon tilted his head.

"Locations depicted on old maps?"

She stood up and walked to the side of the fire, grabbing a leather pack and pulling out a stack of yellowed pages. Riffling through them, she picked one and pulled it from the pile, offering it to Charon.

"We believe there was an ancient settlement of humans here that was very advanced, keeping detailed records of everything that happened here. The issue is that their language is lost, so we try our best to decipher locations based on the images."

Taking the page, Charon studied it.

A series of words covered the top and sides, framing what looked like a pillar of stone. In the center of the pillar was a highlight compartment with a small stack of gems or rocks.

"This is one of the ones we were looking for during this expedition. One of our librarians has decoded enough to figure out that this pillar was near the shore, but not where. We had been hoping to find it."

Charon shrugged, handing it back to her.

"Yeah, I have no clue either. Could be anywhere."

Despite his response, his brain was thinking something very different.

’Gods above, I can read it! It looks just like the common tongue! The page says the pillar is just North of this tree, and is holding a bunch of mana gems!’

He had no clue how the others couldn’t read it, especially as they all spoke the same language.

Annie took the page dejectedly.

"Damn, I was hoping you had seen it while running around. The book this belongs to has been in our library for at least four hundred years. The reward for finding it could be incredible, like a relic!"

Now that caught Charon’s attention.

"A relic? Your colony gives relics as rewards?"

Even Emerius suddenly seemed interested, leaning forward to hear better, although he tried to play it off as just getting comfortable.

Darius cut Annie off, explaining in her place.

"They do. The High Elders have decreed that actions of sufficient merit will be rewarded with access to their reliquary. They have a great many items there, some even of the higher ranks."

Emerius leveled his gaze at Darius, remarking:

"And what ranks are you?"

The room hushed, the two warriors returning to their previous staring competition as everyone else watched.

"Novice Five, and you?"

Emerius smirked evilly.

"Novice Six."

Fire raged in Darius’ eyes, daring Emerius to say that again.

"You are lying. You only just arrived."

To their surprise, Red joined the conversation, offering only a single thought.

"Lies do not exist here, for their purpose is elsewhere."

Everyone’s eyes snapped to the strange woman, but she didn’t add any more, instead choosing to wander to another part of the hall and stare up at even more shadowy art.

The smile on Emerius’ face widened even more.

"See? Just as I told you, Novice Six."

Darius gritted his teeth, his breath coming out in a hiss.

"So it would seem. You must have fought very hard since arriving here to advance that much."

Emerius just waved the comment away.

"I always fight hard, it is just how I am."

Charon just cocked an eyebrow.

’Are these two going to be like this all the time? It’s like looking at a clone! When will they stop fighting?’

To his pleasure, he noticed a wry grin on Annie’s face as she looked between Emerius and Darius, seemingly thinking the same thoughts.

Liam yawned, interrupting everyone.

"Alright, this has been fun, but I need to get some shut-eye. We got lots of fighting to do tomorrow, the more we delay it the more I want to kill something."

Annie seemed happy to join him, standing without another look at the two of them.

Now it was Darius’ turn to grin widely.

"You two can join them. I’ll be with Red for the watch tonight."

Emerius shook his head, baring his teeth in what was supposed to be a placating smile.

"I would never have you do such a thing; it would be rude. I would be more than happy to take watch tonight."

Darius just tried to smile wider, the action impossible given the extent his mouth was already stretched.

"Nonsense, you are my guest. You should get some sleep, I will watch over you."

The two went back and forth for minutes, Charon having decided it wasn’t worth his time and moving to the floor to get some rest.

He stretched his back out, happy to have something to lie down on after all the running and sneaking around.

’Why did I leave my comfortable bed for all this again?’

Vague memories of a sudden desire to use the ritual filled his mind, reminding him of the draw to the book.

’Yeah, beats me. Not a single clue why I would get out of bed.’

With a yawn, he bunched up his hood to be a pillow and turned on his side, facing the far wall.

He closed his eyes and began to let himself drift off, only awakening when he heard the soft tapping of feet on stone in the distance.

Charon blearily opened his eyes, just barely able to make out movement a few feet in front of him.

A cascade of red hair framed a pale face, looking down at him. Tears streamed down her cheeks, dripping onto the floor.

She sat there like that a minute before speaking, her words slow and melodious.

"Rare flower, rare flower, bloom bloom bloom. May your petals glow, may your petals shine. Reveal in them a pollen facing the sky, sky, sky. Let all the bees come seeking you, may they fly, fly, fly. Only once they reach you shall they die, die, die."

Every syllable made Charon’s eyelids grow heavier, his body choosing sleep over answers, until he drifted off again.