The sands surrounding us shook violently, each serpent slithered a few metres below the surface. Alia fought with the reins to calm down the outbursting horses. He appeared calm and collected despite their agitated state, the wind latching onto the shed horse hair flying loosely.
Lucet seemed calmed despite serpents circling us, ready to devour us whole. She was still scribbling in her journal, a little feather bopped up and down with each one of her strokes. What she is doing must've been worth post poning eliminating the imminent threat.
(''Alia what do we do?!'') Panic escaped my throat, catching even Alia off guard. He shrugged his shoulders and pointed at Lucet.
(''She won't do anything! I don't know what Lucet is writing but it doesn't feel like she will fight for us.'') My despiratation grew like a fiery spike in my chest.
It stopped. The shaking stopped…and yet why do I still shudder, surely it can't mean that-
(''Wha-!?'') Like a storm, sand poured down from high above. Six giant Sand Serpents encircled our cart, blocking all possible escape points. I felt the orb sloshing alround in my pocket. Shit. I should have absorbed more of the frin earlier.
I felt my head swaying along with the rocking of their serpentine bodies, almost in a hypnotising way. Their rattling tongues shook uncontrollably, sending chills colder than ice down my spine.
No matter how many signals I sent to my body to move, even an inch was enough to start a reaction. It remained still. This reminded me of something…the fight against Void.
Its giant serpentine bodies slithered, kicking up a baracade of sand impossible to see through. The rattling sound picked up intensity, forming a wall of sound to top it off. No vision and no sound, eliminating the two most crucial components of battle.
(''Alright, permission received. Time to skewer these snakes!'') Six pillars of light descended from the sky, its light matched only by the cascading sun. In an instant six elongated bodies were stuck up by rods impalling them.
(''Incredible Lucet! You just eliminated them with a single spell, is this the power gods harbour?'')
(''Alia go gather the six monster cores. And yes Abby, we gods are incredibly powerful, more so than people can comprehend. We have absolute control over frin.'') She both barked her command and answered me in a normal fashion for once. When she fights her mature side seems to surface.
(''Remember that mountain we passed in the Lloesy forest? I am the only god capable of leveling it with a beginner spell.'') What?! She may be a goddess but to level a mountain with a beginner spell is too much.
Witnessing her power is something anyone would pay hundreds of gold coins to see. I am lucky though, as she has sought me out herself and showed me what she was capable of. A fire burned within me, this time not one of passion for growth. But one of corruption, invading my mind and plaguing it with thoughts of never reaching a high enough mark to protect what is important….Zeraf.
The last remaining particles of sand sprinkled down forming new dunes. A sea of unmoving gold and orange waves stretched onwards for miles on end. Two small dents formed under my feet as I jumped onto the warm sand. I cupped both my hands and picked up enough to watch it waterfall and be carried by the wind.
Alia trampled on the crunching sand below him, retrieving the numerous monster cores left by Lucet. Watching him wobble around the uneven ground quite amusing, though I would look just as silly. He stashed away the orbs into small crevice through space. On his finger he spun a golden ring which zipped the portal shut. An item like that is called a spatial ring, one with immense storage at that, but with a relatively high price attached to it. A backwater town like Shiwick couldn't afford one even if all of the money was pooled together.
In a split second Alia disappeared from where we was standing at the bottom of a dune. (''Hop on Master Abaddon.'') I snapped my head back towards the horses where surely enough he was sitting. His back straight with his head facing forward, clearly skilled at anything he handles.
Latching my hand on the side of the cart, I pulled myself inside. My foot clanked against the wooden base, shaking the cart slightly. The hard surface pressed against my butt as I sat down across from Lucet. Something has been digging through my heart since I've started conversing with her.
I opened my mouth but struggled to say anything, it felt like the words were lumped in my throat. (''Lu-Lucet.'') My throat burned like a red hot metal ingot. Her head lifted up and tilted to the side, half of her face bathe in light from the setting sun. (''What is it Abby?'')
It feels uncomfortable to bring it up after just meeting, but a goddess might have the answers I've been seeking. Maybe she knows what happened to my- (''Lucet, do you know what happened to my parents?'') She hesitated before flashing a frown my way. (''I'm sorry, I unfortunately have no knowledge about your birth parents.'')
Maybe expectations were too high, just because she is a goddess doesn't mean she has a grasp of everything going on in the world. Becoming King must really be the only way of finding out, its not even guaranteed but what option do I even have.
I've got to clear my mind off these thoughts, it doesn't help having a swirling hurricane of concerns ripping everything apart. Peering over the side of the cart hundreds of dark blotches spread farther than the eye could see. The sun was reaching its end for today, meaning night was soon to come.
Without a second spared I outstretched my hand pointing towards a large shadow hiding behind a dune. I channelled frin into my arm forming a small sphere, somehow it felt simpler than before. It flew through the air towards the shadow, in a split second a pillar reaching for the sky exploded releasing a shuddering shockwave.
In all my time proding shadow magic, such a reaction never sparked creating a pillar of pure frin. It radiated a similar energy to what I felt near Void, though it made sense as I had consumed part of her frin. This is certainly a huge step forward from before, something of this calibre could even slay a Sand Serpent.
What would happen if I fused with it- (''Don't even think about it Abby. I know that look on your face, and believe me when I say you will regret it. I've lived millenia longer than anyone and I've seen great heroes ruined by that same temptation. I suggest you train yourself using the core, consume all of the shadow frin and expand your vein's capacity.'') I rubbed my hand across the grooves on my face, where I felt the folds of a smile. A greedy one at that.
I understand very well what she is saying regarding that, and despite the core being of a high calibre, better ones exist. Temptation must not swallow me in order to achieve the strength needed to accomplish my goals. Though the most tempting thing right now is to embrace Lucet, which feels both wrong and correct.
It's weird. I don't understand what is going on inside my heart, a place where Zeraf had a monopoly of consuming my feelings. Now it feels like emotions are conflicting for the two, which is wrong, I have only known Lucet for no more than a day. Zeraf and I have been together for far longer than anyone else I've ever met.
(''Master Abaddon, please move your foot. I need to take out the blankets.'') Ever since I've been locked in my head it seems that we've come to a halt. The sun has fully set and the shy stars have come out to shine. Horses grazed on hay left out to them by Alia who seemed to handle just about every chore on this trip.
(''I'm sorry.'') I scooched over toward Lucet who was still scribbling away in her small notebook. The cover had strange carvings that reminded me of vines grown in the Greenwyrm Jungle. She peaked over at me thinking I didn't catch her in the act. The leather cover masked her lower half of the face, her pink cheeks peeking over the top. She may be a goddess but at times she seems no different than an earthly girl.
A few blankets were passed around and we each took a corner of the cart. It creaked and wobbled as someone turned over…. that someone might have been me. Zeraf and Ghost were in a corner together sharing a blanket.
Something poked at my foot, eventually turning into a rubbing sensation. I looked down to see Lucet who was smiling across from me. Her lips were moving but no sound travelled to me, all I knew is that it was going to be stupid consider her large grin.
(''Sleep well my dear.'') Her faint voice tingled my ear like the sweetness of a strawberry. I guess even she has a cute side, despite all of her flirting and provocative comments.
(''Goodnight to you too.'')