Zain ran towards where he left Ryou, to the cliff, but he was gone. Zain looked around panting as the smoke got out of his mouth from the cold, and did not find him anywhere.
Before he moves to search for him, he heard something. Someone is mattering " I... killed Joey ...I...I killed my brother?.."
Zain traced the voice and finally found it, he found Ryou setting down a tree.
Ryou's face was blank he was only mattering with these words again and again:
"Aunty...Naya..... I...I did not mean...I couldn't have..." Ryou started Mattering while sobbing.
Zain felt guilty. he started to get closer to him:
" Hey! Let's go" Zain sat next to him while patting him on the shoulder " Joey is still alive let's go !"
Ryou did not believe it and looked up to Zain's eyes with wide eyes full of tears:
" What...you...you said I killed him... Were you teasing me or what the hell is going on! " he said pulling his arm away in anger.
Zain took a deep breath and then patted him again " Do you remember the water witch" Ryou nodded " She saved him and said we must stick together and save him"
Ryou did not believe it and felt extremely relieved, he nodded and began to stand up as Zain help him to get up.
" What about Alicia and Aran!" Ryou asked Zain.
"Alicia was just like you, possessed, so she ran away but Aran went behind her, they will follow us soon, let's just get Joey saved first," Zain said as he looked very nervous and anxious.
They both ran to where Zain left Napi.
They found her under a tree with a pale face and closed eyes.
" Hey...hey, are you okay?" Zain said shaking her.
She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at both of them, " Save the Children. Joey said this,...He asked me to tell you this"
"What!" Zain was surprised " is he in a condition that allows him to worry about others now !?" He continued.
- " What does he mean by save the children...what children ?" Ryou asked as he did not understand anything.
- " Sana and his little sister..." Zain replied with a low voice.
-" Zain.." Ryou called. Zain looked at him.
-" You go and save Joey, I will get Sana and his sister, then let's meet here again"
" Are you crazy? We want to stick together as possible so no one would be left alone or get the rest in danger !" Zain said coldly
-" I know... but trust me this time.."
" You will get yourself in danger!"
-"I know Joey, if we did not get the children out of here, he will come back to save them himself, it would only be a waste of time if we all go and came back again, but if we split up, it will save us some time"
Zain looked at him, then sighed" Fine! I will go get him and will meet you here after you get the children as soon as possible, be here before these at any cost! "
Ryou nodded and ran back in the tent's direction.
Zain turned back to Napi" come on, take me to him!"
Napi looked at him then took his hand and opened a gate, a black hollow circle appeared and she pulled Zain inside it, Zain was shocked and afraid that he closed his eyes. suddenly he felt a cold chill, it seems as if the air is different, he opened his eyes slowly to find himself in a cave in a mountain and found Joey with his eyes closed leaning against the wall of the cave.
Zain ran towards him and shook him " Joey! Joey! Can you hear me?!" he eyed him from head to toe, and found him covered in wounds and bruises.
Joey tried to open his eyes slowly and painfully and looked up at Zain's face, and he smiled slightly " You are finally...here" he huffed.
" Yes! How did you survive this? The stab! I saw you !" Zain said as he tried to move Joey and help him stand up, but suddenly the latter felt a sharp pain in his stomach and side. He fall to the ground again but luckily Zain was holding him so he caught him in time and sat him again on the ground
" Can't stand up? "
" He did not survive it....he was stabbed.." Napi said weakly as she was resting and leaning against the wall too.
Zain looked back at her and then looked again at Joey. He was pressing his hand on the wound in pain. Zain held his hand and removed it and as he expected, there was blood.
He made Joey lie down, and opened his shirt buttons to check the injury's seriousness.
He was shocked when found a piece of sharp ice on his side and a lot of black veins spreading from it .his body was as cold as ice, Zain looked at him with wide eyes, he did not know what to do. He immediately took off his jacket without thinking and covered Joey with it.
He turned back at Napi " What's wrong with him?"
" The demon stabbed him with a cursed Snow crystal ، If it spreads throughout his whole body, he is not gonna make it, you must get him out of this mountain as soon as possible, this is the only solution for now," she said, closed her eyes and took a deep breath then continued:
"I cannot protect you down there. This place was the closest point to Elia's cave. Otherwise, I would have died and all of you would get lost in nowhere and become other lost souls waiting to be eaten. As for him, you have to keep him warm so you reduce the spread of the curse in his body"
Zain couldn't reply to this, he kept thinking of the many things she said just now . and lastly he thought, Did she say that because she heard them talking about her earlier?
As he was thinking, Joey hummed and shivered beside him.
Zain opened his black bag and got a small blanket out of it and covered Joey with it too. He looked around him And noticed some rocks and wood so he gathered them together and cut a piece of cloth and rake a small fire with his lighter.
Zain felt very cold without his jacket and started to rub his hands together as he sat close to the fire beside Joey.
Napi noticed that and With a movement of her hand the flames increased and grew
Zain looked at her and felt warmer in a minute.
" No need to thank me..." She said in low voice.
" Wasn't going to" Zain said coldly to her as he looked toward Joey.
After a couple of minutes Napi stood up, Zain looked up at her surprisingly" where are you going?"
" We can not stay here for a long time, I will check on the rest and try to collect them and get out of here"
" Can't you just get us out of here through the gate? " Zain asked
" I can't, water witches can control water or open water gates and anything related to water, but opening land gates takes three times the energy, So if I used my power to transfer to another land out of the mountain boundaries it would take 95% of my energy and I will have to wait for two to five days to regain energy and for another two days to be able to open gates which are only in the same space or boundaries. And to open another earth gate I will have to wait ten days do so..... right now I can only open gates to near places on the mountain but can not go farther cause I have spent it all on the gate I opened back at Elia's cave .., understand now?"
Zain opened his eyes widely " so...we have to get down the mountain ourselves right? "
" I will do so too, so here" she pointed to a bag, " This water and food, use it till I get the others so we start to move," she said and was about to walk away when Zain suddenly asked her:
" Baran Demons, they serve something....what is it?"
-" The shadow told you ha?"
" Baran Demons are too weak just like the shadows, they only feed on negative feelings such as fear, sadness, and anger, but they never use the bodies, but they must be serving something that is coming to collect these bodies and feed on it, but the only trouble here is that only some rare high ranks are feeding on it, so we must get out of here before it arrives," She said then opened a gate and disappeared.
Zain had mixed feelings but they were all about one question which is" Are we going to get out of here alive?"
Zain was thinking and leaned his head over the wall as he suddenly heard someone mattering "mom...Naya ....Cold... it's too cold"
Zain opened his eyes and found Joey shivering and his body is like ice، he didn't know what to do, so he moved them closer to the fire " Just. Hang in there" he said to him.
Joey slowly opened his eyes as he saw Zain he smiled:
-" You ..are here....what about the others?"Joey said with a tired and very low voice closer to a whisper.
" Yeah...they will be okay..your witch friend went to get them"
-" The children?!" Joey asked him with a slightly louder tone.
" Rest assured, Ryou went to get them," Zain said as he helps Joey to cover more with the blanket as he felt colder.
- " Ryou....he is not..."
" He's okay now...."
- " He didn't mean to...."
" I know..."
After moments of silence, Joey huffed
" Didn't know ...that heartache is painful like this, Did not know that my ... Sister had to go.... through this kind of pain ..." Joey said slowly, barely speaking.
Zain did not want to interrupt him he only got closer to him when he felt the man beside him is getting colder and calmer.
- " I wanted to be like my father, a man who takes care of everyone and leads a happy life with a successful job, but he couldn't....he died because of an accident when I was in high school,..." Joey coughed hard Zain got worried and got him some water and helped him to drink it.
He was panting and closed his eyes:
-" I... discovered since then, That I must. ....do whatever it takes....to protect my ... family and make him... proud up there" Joey said with closed eyes in pain as a tear escaped his eyelids and fell down his pale cheek.
Zain felt bad, he didn't know what to say he just put his hands around Joey's shoulder and tried to hold him so he could feel warmer.
" We will get out of here. ...you will see them soon. I promise..."
" You did good in your life Joey I believe...So everyone around you is paying your warmth back.. "
End of Chapter 24
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