Chapter 26
In the Middle of Nowhere
Ash
A few hours later I noticed that Sofya had woken up. Her hair was a little ratty but her eyes twinkled in the sunlight, a magnificent lavender glow. She saw me sitting on the rock and came over, a small smile on her face.
"Hey." She said quietly as she climbed up and sat beside me. "Do you want to go scout the area now?" She said gazing out at the ocean as the sun rose.
"Sure," I replied. It'd be nice to walk around someplace that wasn't the bottom of the ocean. As much as I loved the place I couldn't take the constant darkness anymore.
We hopped off the rock and grabbed our supplies. I saw Sofya scribble something on a piece of paper, probably leaving a note. I waited for her to get her stuff. I watched her as she glanced back at the others, who were still sound asleep. As she forced a weak smile onto her face.
Once she started walking towards me. I turned away and entered the shadowy forest. For a few hours, we searched and found absolutely nothing. Which was good, but it also made me worry. There should be some kind of creatures out here. The only living things I had seen were the trees and flowers. Where had the animals gone, and more importantly why were they gone?
I made sure to walk a few paces ahead of Sofya, avoiding conversation. Since I didn't want to do or say something I shouldn't, which I probably would, but I guess she got sick of it and caught up to my long strides.
"I wonder if we will find anything in here, I haven't seen a single animal. I wish we could shift and just fly." She said longingly. I had forgotten that she had probably never shifted before, it was good we couldn't shift here anyway since it would draw too much attention, but also I would terrify her. I most definitely didn't want to see that.
"You know why we can't, especially you, your aura draws way too much attention," I said. I wanted to see her shifted form, her real self, it was probably just as beautiful as her human self. I loved her aura, it was so pure and bright, most definitely my favorite out of all the ones I have seen.
"My what?" She asked, her brows scrunched together. A smile tugged on my lips, I had forgotten how little she actually knew about the world, only what we had learned in the past few months, which wasn't much, there were so many wonderful things she hadn't learned yet.
"Your aura, everyone has one, even humans, some are strong some are weak, each one is different, I can see them and feel them," I explained. "Yours is purple like lavender and it's bright, shimmery, and joyful. It's my favorite aura." I said without thinking, that is what I was afraid of. Saying stupid things like that, not that I didn't mean them, but it made the inevitable future so much more harder.
I looked over at her, she had that look on her eyes whenever I said something about her, it was adorable. It was like no one had ever complimented her before. I wanted her so badly my heart ached. I focused my eyes elsewhere before I did something else stupid.
I noticed something gleaming on the ground as we walked. I stopped abruptly and knelt down, my lungs freezing. I picked the object up, there was an underworld language written on the hilt of the dagger. I immediately recognized the dialect it was Magyadragonian.
It basically said this is the property of Aleksandr's army of elite assassins. I paled, this was bad, very bad, it meant they were probably close by. No wonder the animals had left. "It's from Alek's armies," I said to Sofya without thinking. Her mouth fell open. Then her eyes narrowed.
"How do you know?" She asked, suspicion coating her voice.
"I can read the underworld languages," I said, hoping she wouldn't ask anymore questions or I would have to tell her the truth. I didn't want to keep hiding the truth from her.
"How?" I sighed, here we go.
"I work for Alek." I said solemnly. Sofya's mouth popped open for the second time.
"What?" She said quietly. "What!" She hollered, realizing what I had just said. She turned and bolted. Oh no. I ran after her.
"Sofya! Wait! I can explain!" I shouted. I couldn't imagine what she thought now. I smacked my forehead. I was so stupid. I had basically admitted the worst betrayal ever, why hadn't I thought that through? If she had ever trusted me, she now would never trust me again. Good going fool.
I finally caught up to her. She had stopped at a clearing in the forest, staring out at the field. I looked out after her gaze. I froze. A group of Alek's personal assassins were on the other side of the field, tall grass was scattered throughout and white snowy peaks encircled the valley in the distance.
A man was walking towards us. He had pale ivory skin, slicked-back coal hair, and dark oblivion soulless eyes. Leviathan. He stopped about twenty feet away from us. "We will talk after," I whispered in Sofya's ear.
"Fancy seeing you here Ash," Leviathan said, wickedly grinning.
"Leviathan," I said coldly.
"Why didn't you kill the girl yet, boss won't be happy." He said, glancing at Sofya. I clenched my jaw. Sofya turned to me, her face contorted in rage.
"You were supposed to kill me!" She shouted in my face. I sighed, that had been my original assignment before I knew it was her. I would never even harm Sofya, yet kill her. Leviathan continued and picked a dagger out of his pocket and a vile of red liquid, he spread the bloody substance over the dagger.
"You have ten seconds to kill the girl before I kill you both, and it will not be a quick painless death," he said grinning madly. I growled. He was a monster. "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four!" his psychotic voice rang out. I had enough and unsheath my swords and ran towards him.
I slashed his arm then he laughed wickedly as blood ran down falling to the ground, and pulled out a sword of his own. He easily blocked my attacks and eventually cut my leg. He was too strong, a full demon prince. I shifted, magic ran down my veins as my wings flared out, scales speckled across my arms, and claws sprayed from my fingertips.
Ah, I felt much better, stronger. I ducked his second attack and took a peek at Sofya. She had a scowl on her face as she stabbed her way through the mob, slitting the demon's throats. she was covered in blood. I saw a few gashes on her arm and a wound gushing blood on her left leg, it looked like it had gotten stabbed.
Rage exploded through my head, how dare they hurt her. She peaked a look at me, terror flashed across her face and she froze. An ache appeared in my chest, I don't know why I expected her to not be frightened, everyone was. Psychopaths like Leviathan just fought it better but no one was immune. Everyone, no matter who they were, feared me. An apollyon was approaching casually Sofya, she wasn't moving. My breath caught. Had she forgotten? Apollyon had paralysis magic.
The creature raised a sharp silver dagger, as Sofya stood frozen. It was like everything happened in slow motion. I sprinted over, abandoning my fight with Leviathan. I jumped into the air with all the strength I had left and knocked Sofya to the ground, a jolt of pain shot through my chest. Then we fell to the ground and I went numb.
There was a blinding white light and then my eyes slipped closed. Was I dying? Was Sofya ok? The thoughts clouded in my mind. I forced my eyes back open, Sofya was sobbing over me.
"Ash?" She said hoarsely, trying not to look frightened. "It's all my fault!" She cried. I wanted to reach out and comfort her but I couldn't move. I shifted back to my human form so she would be scared of me. She let out a huge sigh in response. It was not her fault though, how could she think that. If anyone was to blame it would be me. I should have told her the truth from the start, it was all my fault.
"It is not your fault, Sofya. I." I said, barely making the words out. I tried to tell her I was sorry but the sound wouldn't come out. My throat was clogged with blood, the metallic taste covering everything. I think I was stabbed but I couldn't feel anything. There must have been poison on the dagger.
Sofya gasped. Then exhaustion and numbness overwhelmed me and darkness took over. I guess her precognition had come true. But if it meant me dying and her living. I would do it a thousand times over, a million, and more.