Sometimes, I wish Princess Kissa is close, especially when Theo seems to make invading-my-personal-space his life purpose. Unfortunately, she can't be here. Aside from she's not a warrior, she is needed outside to start working on the seal. The plan is for her to move around the island to place symbols on the ground. She is with other warriors including Ami, Nadif, and Elroy.
Theo tries to hold my hand, but I evade him. Rather, I walk closer to Klevon. It's a wrong move because he becomes more insistent on taking my side.
When he tries to hold my hand again, I snap at him. "Theo, stop!"
He looks pained at my outburst. To hide my guilt, I turn away from him. Thankfully, General Lorant is approaching us. He's been leading us toward the foot of a mountain since early in the morning. It's mid-afternoon now, and soon, we'll need to camp again.
"King Theo, will you be able to burst an entrance open to that wall of earth?" he asks, pointing at the place he needs entrance to. "Right now, magic has been unstable. You are also the only one who can still use magic."
"Where did you sleep last night?" General Lorant asks while Theo is walking to the front.
I scowl, but still, I answer, "At the tent."
Theo presses his hand on the ground. I wonder, since we are far from the ocean, how powerful is his magic right now?
"With King Theo or General Klevon?" General Lorant pursues.
"Why would I sleep with the King?"
Besides, Theo is in the tent alone, being a King and all. Don't tell me he slept with other women warriors? The ones who are crowding him last night? I grunt. I try to still my heart. Being jealous won't take me anywhere, except toward pain.
"So, you slept with General Klevon?"
"Of course, I will sleep with him. Who else?!"
Suddenly, something bursts open. General Lorant creates a barrier for each of the people around him. It's protecting us from the stone and rocks that spew out from the wall of earth that Theo destroyed.
"My King, control your magic!"
What the heck is wrong with him?! With his back on us, he turns to face me. His shoulders are slumped as he moves closer. He is dragging himself towards us with a defeated form. I scowl at him.
"What's wrong with him?" I ask General Lorant.
"You just said you slept with another man. So, that's the result. I instigated it, but the resulting magic is too much."
"I slept with Klevon in the same tent, but we have done nothing! Besides, I sleep with two other warriors!"
"Well, you better explain that to him."
The barrier in front of us disappears, and a meter from us, Theo meets my eyes. I flinch at the way he looks pitifully. And so I step back. I am about to ask for help from General Lorant when he steps away and samples the opened entrance. The dust is minimal, but it still decreased the visibility.
Then, Theo presses his forehead on my shoulders. I squeal and am about to move away when he hugs me again. Instead of saying something, he rubs his face on my shoulders and neck. It's uncomfortable, especially when half of the warriors are looking at us.
This insufferable man! And so, I slap and push at his face. "Focus, Theo!"
"How can I, when you… are you falling for another man?"
"Of course not!"
He looks hopefully at me, and I regret why I said that. I slap his face again and in my peripheral vision; I see warriors flinch at the slap. I groan. Right, I can't show my distaste for my King. And so, I relax my arm. He takes the opportunity and snugly wraps me in his arms. I am engulfed with lavender again. I can hear his beating heart as he slowly rubs my hair.
"I don't care if you don't return to my bed for the coming years, Kaiya. Just…" He takes a sniff of me again and adds, "Stay with me always, until I grow old. Until I spent a lifetime with you. And when that's done, I want to be reborn and fall in love with you again."
"My King, please stop your flirting and look at this."
It's General Lorant. I am grateful for the interruption, though. Because my arms are already raised and are about to answer Theo's hugs. Theo looks at him and I push at his chest to let me go.
Thankfully, he did and walked towards General Lorant, who is facing us. I sigh with relief and focus my attention on the crevice of the mountain. The other warriors walk into it and I mimic them.
It is a long tunnel, with the entrance being solidified by barrier magic so it won't collapse on us. A couple of meters more, light streams in. And then, we are welcomed by rows of small thatched houses.
"A village?!" one warrior exclaims.
I share his surprise. There is no report that there is a village here. They only mentioned that someone is living here, but the houses are distributed around the island. There's no report that there is a concentration of houses in the middle, much less hidden within a circular mountain ranges.
And so, we walk along the pathways which are made of rocks placed against each other. They built the thatched houses on the side of it. The houses look to be inhabited, but there are no humans. No corpses too.
Theo takes my side again as he scrutinizes the surroundings. I look for Klevon, curious about what he makes of this. However, unlike the rest who are curious, he is furious. He boils of it. It shows in the way his fist closes, the way his muscles tense, his rigid form, and even the way his eyes are trained in front of us. And he seems to get more angry, the closer we approach the center of the village.
I walk towards him. Theo catches my hands, but I dodge him. I walk beside Klevon and look up at his face. Yes, he is seething with anger, but what for? He didn't even notice my approach.
Without thinking, I reach for his hands and hold them. His hands are massive but I envelop them with both of my hands. He jerks at the sudden touch and looks down at me.
"Kaiya…" he whispers, his voice trembling.
"Are you okay? You seem weird."
His lips turn upward, and he squeezes my hand. "This…" he seethes. "… is the aftermath of a bloody ritual."
His attention goes to General Lorant, who is now massaging his chin as he looks at the ground.
"Hey, Lorant. Tell everyone what happened here!"
"A ritual to call on the gods. Any god who will listen to them," General Lorant explains.
That still doesn't explain Klevon's anger.
Then, General Lorant continues, "The problem is, this type of ritual, is a sacrifice ritual. Anyone who will be in the radius of the entire village is a sacrifice to call on a powerful god. But the sacrifices should be willing."
He pauses for a while before adding, "Which means that someone fooled these villagers."
"Fooled?" one warrior asks.
"Probably, an epidemic. If you didn't notice, the houses have bottles out. Old medical bottles. The hospital too," he points to our right and I see what he is talking about.
Through the open windows, I can see used beds and blankets. Bottles and utensils are all around the table. And it looks like it has seen chaos based on thrown items on the floor.
"They might have been foolish enough to believe that if they call on the gods, they will be healed. I've seen it in botched rituals before. My village, in particular, has these symbols drawn on the plaza square. I wonder what's the difference for these people to succeed this time?"
Before General Lorant can even add more, my eyes go to the ground. I see dried blood or flesh. I think they are right. A ritual happened here with a lot of blood involved.
Still, I stoop down to inspect. I touch the gap between the stones. And yet, the instant I did, images of carnage flashed across my mind. There is an image of another ritual–of blood and flesh. The transformation of humans into werewolves. The beings are in a lot of pain as if having their first time shift. The moon is as red as the blood that's gushing out of the written symbol on the ground. There is a mist going around and howls are accompanying it.
And all around the symbol and the shifting wolves, a magical crevice is slowly forming. Stones and rocks stack up on top of each other. It continues until it shelters the wolf and hides the moon from them.
When I take a deep breath, I realize that I lost it for a moment. Both Theo and Klevon are studying me. And I realize I am kneeling on the ground with both my hands on it. I look as if I am communing with the remnants of whatever happened here.
I meet their eyes. "You are right, Klevon. It is a ritual. To connect with the gods and transform the humans here," I say. My voice is merely a whisper.
And then, behind Klevon, something is moving in the air. I narrow my eyes. Something with bat wings. Something with fangs, but a human body. A different creature. Harbin is right, too. That is a new creature!
Seeing my frozen reaction, both Klevon and Theo look behind them. They prepared themselves for an attack and I did too. I stand up and reach for my weapon when suddenly, I feel pain on the side of my neck.
I cough and blood sputters out of my mouth. And I realize that another creature is behind me. Its massive black arms are wrapped around my body. Its tail is around my legs. And its sharp fangs are buried deep in my neck.
"Theo…" I call.
Theo turns his attention to me. I watch his expression turn from preparedness, to surprise, to worry and then fear. And then, I feel dizzy as I feel more and more of my blood gets drained by the creature.