CHAPTER 87: DISTRUST

"What?" Arthur in shock. "A gate?"

"Wait. A gate? Aldriana, are you sure?" Liam asks, not in doubt, but in dread. This is the worst thing that can happen to them. A gate means a dungeon. And if Julian is in there, it means the gate is locked. No one can enter. They cannot save Julian.

"No. You’re lying." Arthur denies it.

"Liam, Arthur. I get it. I understand why neither of you want to believe it. But this is not the time to doubt. Julian needs us. We need to get to that gate. We don’t have time for this shit!" Aldriana starts to lose her patience.

"I don’t care if you don’t believe me. But I’m going there. You can stay here and wait for sunrise. I’m not."

She opens the car door and starts walking towards the forest.

"Wait!" Arthur gets out of the car too, with Liam in tow.

Aldriana stops and turns around, facing them.

Arthur sighs. A beat. Then –

"Get in the car. I know a spot for the car."

Aldriana doesn’t say anything, she just gets in the car again. "Try to bring the car as close as possible to the forest. We might need it later." She says.

Arthurs starts the car and drives away.

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"ARGH!"

Maeve screams on top of her lungs.

The thing that’s been chasing her is now shaking badly, like having a seizure on the ground. Its green glowing eyes are now all white, without pupils. Its whole horse-like body are laying sideways on the ground.

There’s a hole in between its eyes, and it’s oozing light green liquid, and it disappears instantly when in hits the ground.

Maeve suddenly flops to the ground as well, but she scrambles to crawl backwards, away from the horse-like creature.

"Are you okay?" A man’s voice is heard from above her.

She instantly looks up, trying to find the voice. But she cannot really see, it’s a dark dungeon.

"I’m here." The voice says, and a light suddenly lights up. And she sees a young man, with light brown hair, kind misty blue eyes, holding a flashlight in one hand, and what looks like a gun, in the other hand.

But he has some cuts on his body, and dried blood on his face.

"My name is Julian. And you need to get up here before horsey’s friends are here."

"Horsey’s friends?" Maeve looks at Julian dumbfounded.

"Yeah, that creature dying on the ground. It has friends. A lot of them. And they are hunting us." Julian explains, but his eyes are constantly watching the area around him.

"Us?" Maeve asks again.

Julian nods without looking at Maeve. "Yeah, us. Humans."

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"Ugh." Arthur grunts in frustration. He’s in a very bad mood.

"You okay, Arthur?" Liam asks from beside him.

"Yeah, I’m okay. It’s just the ground is softer than I imagined. It’s like we’re walking in a pool of sticky mud." Arthur grunts again and pulls his leg free with difficulty.

"Yeah. This mud is unbelievably sticky. I’m afraid I’ll lose both my shoes here." Liam says it half as a joke, but he’s frustrated too.

Arthur glares at the smaller figure in front of him, the culprit of it all: Aldriana.

She’s leading them to the area she believes to be Julian’s last known location and the point where all the missing people are converging. And she’s taking a straight line from the car. She doesn’t try to find an easier path, just a straight line.

Which is why they are in this situation, barely able to walk because of the mud.

But the sticky mud is only one of Arthur’s problems. The bigger problem is that he has no idea what’s happening right now. He’s completely lost. This is the first time in his life he genuinely doesn’t know what to do.

Ever since he sneaked out to work sixteen years ago, he has always known what to do in any situation. He has always been the one to lead. People always looked to him for guidance. But now he feels like a complete idiot for not understanding any of this, and it throws him completely off his game.

He trails behind Aldriana with Liam, struggling to walk through this damn mud. The three of them have been moving at a speed he never thought possible at night, especially when there isn’t a single light around.

But Aldriana changes that. She moves like a cat, fast and precise. She never hesitates. Her pace is steady, not too fast but definitely not slow. She moves with purpose.

In front of each of them floats what he calls a light orb. He has no better way to describe it. It’s round like a ball and glows like a tiny sun. No bigger than his thumb, but bright enough for him to see where he is going.

He doesn’t understand how she produces the orbs or how she knows where to go. She said she could lead them, but he didn’t think she meant it literally. He thought she would look around and guess the direction. But no, she really does know.

In less than thirty minutes of hiking, they have already covered half the distance. At least according to Aldriana. Arthur has no clue.

Everything she does tells Arthur she knows what she’s doing. She’s not bluffing. And it drags him right back to his dilemma about his own idiocy.

He sighs and gives up. I’ll just follow her. She’s the only one here who knows what she’s doing.

He glances at Liam.

Liam is moving with trust. Arthur can see it in his face and his body language. He trusts Aldriana completely. Not a sliver of doubt. And there’s something else in his eyes.

Admiration.

Not infatuation. Just admiration.

Arthur appreciates that. Deep down, he already considers Liam his future brother-in-law. Any sign of him liking another woman would upset him.

Out of the three of them, Liam has the best stamina. Aldriana has started to pant. Her stamina has improved a lot, but on terrain like this, it barely matters. Doubt creeps into her.

Can I really lead them there without passing out?

Her legs start to feel sore. They’ve been hiking for almost thirty minutes, and she didn’t take her stamina into account because she was too focused on rescuing Julian.

She regrets choosing a straight line. It’s the shortest route, but the mud is so bad that it might end up taking longer.

After another ten minutes of walking through the mud, they finally get free of it and Aldriana decides to stop for a break.

"Okay, I think it’s a good idea to take a break. I need to breathe." Aldriana pants, trying to catch her breath.

Liam immediately opens his backpack and takes out a bottle of water for her. She takes it, turns around to hide her face, lifts her mask, and downs the water in one go.

Arthur unconsciously smiles a little. Ah, so she’s not that powerful after all. For some reason, his mood actually starts to lift. He takes out his own water bottle and drinks.

Liam does the same.

"How far are we?" Arthur asks. His voice no longer has any irritation.

Aldriana takes a few deep breaths before answering. She’s regulating her breathing.

"If we take a straight line, it’s another fifteen minutes, twenty tops. But if we zigzag and look for an easier path, it’ll probably be ten minutes longer."

"What do you reckon?" Liam asks. He leaves the decision up to her.

"Judging by the terrain we just traveled, I suggest the longer route." Arthur answers before she can. "It’s better for our stamina and we’ll move faster on an easier path." He feels more and more like himself again.

Seeing how bad Aldriana’s stamina is, Liam nods. "I agree."

Aldriana closes her eyes and silently thanks them. She feels embarrassed by her stamina. I really need to strengthen my stamina. This is embarrassing.

"You said we might find a gate. Why is that?" Arthur asks her.

She takes another deep breath. "Based on the ma... the energy surrounding it."

Arthur frowns. "You were about to say something else. Ma what? Why didn’t you finish it? What are you hiding?" He fires the questions rapidly.

"Arthur!" Liam is shocked. He quickly glances at Aldriana.

Aldriana smiles under her mask. Well, finally you’re showing your face. You’ve been holding it back, haven’t you, Art? It’s not healthy.

"I’m not hiding anything. True, there are things I’m not saying outright. I can’t say them because it’s not the right time. And I didn’t finish that word because you people don’t use it. I don’t want to confuse you further."

"Try us." Arthur challenges her.

Aldriana looks straight into his eyes and slowly stands.

Without breaking eye contact, she says, "Ma... na."

Liam’s eyebrows shoot up. "Mana? But... that’s magic energy. You’re saying... what are you saying? Are you... can you... do magic?" He’s clearly struggling to process it.

Arthur laughs, full of sarcasm.

"Mana? Magic? What do you think we are? Five year olds?"

"Like I said, I don’t want to confuse you further. And we don’t have the luxury of time for this right now. We need to get to Julian."

"You seem really concerned about Julian’s safety. Did you have anything to do with his disappearance?" Arthur asks, his tone cold and threatening.