By the time Raine woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. Truth be told, he intended to sleep in further, but the midday heat turned the tent into an oven.
After a series of groans and reluctant sighs, Raine eventually writhed his way out of his sleeping bag. Sleeping until noon was pretty late, even for him, but the events from last night kept him awake much later than he would’ve liked.
Stepping outside, he was wholly unsurprised when he saw Nikolay already awake and standing by Rascal’s side, facing away from the tent. Apart from Raine’s belongings, Nikolay had already packed everything else inside their bags.
Hearing the sound of Raine’s footsteps, Nikolay held out something in his hand.
“Irideis left a note,” Nikolay said to the air in front of him.
Raine looked down at the small square of paper, and then cautiously took it from Nikolay’s hand.
I’ve already left the area. You can keep the tent for yourselves. Signed, Irideis.
Great. Irideis didn’t plan on interacting with them at all. And to think this white-haired sorcerer claimed to be their guide earlier.
Putting aside Irideis for the time being, there was the pressing issue of how they would continue their journey.
Usually, they would ride atop Rascal to save some time — however, in the light of their new situation, both of them couldn’t possibly fit on Rascal’s saddle. And to top it off, there was definitely no way that either of them would be willing to sit anywhere close to each other.
Judging from the concentrated look on Nikolay’s face, he was thinking the same thing.
The only solution was to walk the entire way on foot. Rascal better be grateful, because Raine wasn’t looking forward to the incoming leg cramps.
And so, an arduous day of travelling began. Nikolay made his way to the front of the trio, more than likely in his attempt to avoid eye contact with Raine. That left Rascal planted in between them as a buffer.
The atmosphere persisted for too long until finally, Rascal had enough. A mischievous snort was the only pre-warning for the trouble that was to come.
With the speed and deftness of a trickster, she grabbed the collars of both Raine and Nikolay in her mouth and pulled them towards each other.
Raine stumbled and pulled his clothes out of Rascal’s teeth. “Rascal! Now’s not the time to be fooling around.”
“Let him be, Rascal,” Nikolay quietly said.
They separated to their respective sides of Rascal, reforming the large physical chasm in between them.
Annoyed at the reception of her genius plan, Rascal let out a loud, offended snort. Still, she wasn’t one to give up at the first sign of failure.
Rascal pushed the shoulders of both men with her nose, then stepped back. Automatically thinking that someone had tapped their shoulder, Raine and Nikolay spun towards Rascal. Or at least, where Rascal should’ve been, if she hadn’t slowed down and lagged behind.
Instead, they turned to face each other.
Their eyes met for a split second, and time seemed to slow down. Was that shock on Nikolay’s face? Or maybe Raine was completely mistaken. It was probably something much worse, like disgust or hatred.
Raine quickly tore his gaze away from Nikolay, choosing to fixate on the ground below him.
It was still tense between them — or more accurately, neither of them was too sure of where they stood with each other. Was all the time that they spent together suddenly dashed away in one night? Raine wanted to think otherwise, but as things were right now, it seemed like nothing more than a dream.
Rascal decided to intervene yet again, and this time nudged Nikolay meaningfully that was only decipherable to the two of them. Her action evoked a sigh from Nikolay, who then stepped closer to her.
All Raine could hear was Nikolay rummaging through their bags.
After a while, Nikolay finally spoke. “Here.”
Raine looked up. A familiar bag of crisps was in Nikolay's hand.
“From the store in Veritas? If I recall correctly,” Raine said with an emerging smug grin, “you said that it was unhealthy.”
“If you’ve changed your mind, I’ll put it ba-”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Raine quickly put a hand on the bag to stop Nikolay. “Ah! No, that wasn’t what I meant. I- uhh, meant that I could take such a dangerous item off your hands. For the sake of your health.”
“If you insist,” Nikolay said, handing over the bag.
Slightly bemused, Raine accepted the offering. It was true that Raine wanted to eat the crisps, but it still felt awkward to be eating the entire packet by himself.
“…Do you want some?”
Predictably, Nikolay shook his head. “I’m alright.”
“Oh, well in that case,” Raine slowly said, “I’ll have the whole thing to myself.”
He slyly slid the bag away from Nikolay, rustling it tantalisingly as he went.
At last, Nikolay sighed and gave in. “Fine, I’ll take one.”
They lapsed back into silence, though this time there was the occasional quiet crunch. Their partial reconciliation seemed to momentarily appease Rascal, but nobody could tell when her mood would change again.
The bag of crisps had long been emptied and disposed of by the time somebody spoke again.
Nikolay cleared his throat and asked hesitantly, “Are you… still mad?”
Thinking back on last night, maybe Raine had been too harsh.
Raine sighed. “Look, I don’t enjoy making enemies out of people that I cherish. The only thing I want is for us to be ourselves around each other. Even if that means acknowledging our weaknesses.”
Weaknesses. Something that Nikolay seemed to loathe showing.
Raine continued, “With that being said, I’d like to hear more about your life.”
“Is there anything you’d like to know in particular?”
“Now that you mention it,” Raine mused. “That librarian seemed pretty hostile towards us for not being sorcerers. I guess the tensions haven’t been resolved since the Revolt. Things weren’t much better outside of Kosira at the time, were they?”
“At least in Kosira, there weren’t any humans to bear the brunt of our weighted judgement. Conversely, humans condemn sorcerers born in their world at birth, branding them with a mark that will impact the rest of their life."
“I’ve always found it strange that the terms ‘humans’ and ‘sorcerers’ are considered mutually exclusive things. As if sorcerers aren’t human too,” Nikolay continued bitterly. “When I was born — in my first life — the word ‘sorcerer’ was an insult. They would spit out that word, then look at us like we were nothing but dirt beneath their shoes. Because we weren’t human, in their eyes. We were something below human. Mutts. Evolution gone wrong. ‘Magic wasn’t meant to be harnessed by those walking on the earth.’ This was the excuse that the humans gave, chanted dutifully while they beat us and humiliated us for daring to look in their direction.
“But then we started using the terms in our own way. We might not have been human, but it didn’t matter, because we were better than them. But even still, the only thing I wanted was to be human. Even if that would never happen, despite losing my memories and living through so many lives.”
A dark shadow cast over Nikolay’s face, clearly reliving some unsavoury memories.
Raine fought the urge to drop everything and comfort Nikolay. The last thing Nikolay needed was some pity from somebody who didn’t know anything about his unresolved past.
All he could do was continue pressing forward in hopes of steering away from sensitive topics.
“And you said before that you didn’t know how you became the leader of the Crown Guild, the King of the Damned… How is that even possible?”
Nikolay mulled over the question for a while, just as mystified as Raine.
Eventually, he came up with an answer. “From the beginning, the Crown Guild heralded my arrival as the ‘coming of a new age’ because of my infamous power. They placed all sorts of badges and titles on me, separating me from the other new members who had also just joined. Slowly, the idea of responsibility estranged me from everybody else, and that grew into a position of leadership not long after.
“I suppose it came down to my childhood environment. Since I was young, everybody praised me for being as mature as I was strong. When in reality, I wasn’t mature — I was just quiet. Unable to speak to anybody about my qualms, because everybody who I could confide in was convinced that I was ‘not like them’. And besides, it seems that people like you more when you don’t bother them with your problems.”
Ouch. That hit a little too close to home.
Now that he’d heard even more about Nikolay, Raine couldn’t help but feel guilty for everything that ran through his mind. He knew better than to judge a book based on its cover, but after witnessing such a gruesome feat last night…
Amidst his troubled thoughts, a strange mark on Nikolay’s hand caught Raine’s attention.
“What’s that scar on your finger? It wasn’t there before we split.”
Nikolay blinked and stared at his hand. “Ah. That must’ve been from the artifact. The Ring of Space. It started burning my skin once you left the vessel, presumably because I wasn’t the intended user.”
“From that long ago?! You should’ve said something earlier!” Raine exclaimed. “Those look serious — like ‘third-degree’ serious.”
“You weren’t exactly in a talking mood afterwards, if you recall. Besides, the information about the artifact is not particularly crucial. I was planning on telling you later at a more convenient time.”
The urge to face-palm himself was stronger than ever. “I’m more worried about you, not the information. Does your finger still hurt?”
“I’ve had worse,” Nikolay said, glancing at his bandaged left arm.
“It can still hurt regardless of whatever injuries you’ve had in the past. So, let me ask again. Does your finger hurt?”
Nikolay hesitated and looked away. “No.”
“You’re a shit liar. Let me look at it.”
Reluctantly, Nikolay raised his left hand. To Raine’s amusement, his hand was facing palm-down like a princess awaiting the kiss of a royal courter. Not that he was thinking of kissing Nikolay’s hand, of course. Nothing strange was going through his mind as he took Nikolay’s hand in his, bringing it closer to his face.
And even if he were thinking anything, it was quickly overridden by a strange sensation. It felt eerily similar to when they were still within the same vessel, where their minds were still connected.
Oh, what the fu-
But surprisingly, he received no mental response from Nikolay. It looked like their minds were still separate.
Just as Raine started to pull away, Nikolay urgently spoke out.
“Wait. Don’t move.”
Despite his confusion, Raine obliged. He didn’t feel anything happen in the silence that followed, unlike when they used to share consciousness.
“Hmmm. Interesting,” Nikolay merely said, before pulling away.
“Interesting?” Raine parroted with a raised eyebrow. “Care to share with the class?”
“I cannot share information that I am not aware of. All I can sense is something foreign inside you. Don’t worry too much about it — it’s most likely the mark of the prophecy.”
“Mark of the prophecy…” Raine frowned. “I guess that makes sense.”
Despite Nikolay’s placating tone, he himself seemed to be troubled by the information.