Something is terribly wrong, and the worst part of it all, is that Lir doesn’t know what is wrong exactly. There was nothing in the visions he saw regarding the relentless presence that seems intent on finding him. It was still far yesterday, however, now that Lir steps outside with Tobias and bids his farewells to Gale with a map in hand, Lir is sure he could meet the presence halfway just by walking a few hours in its direction.
The thought makes him shudder. He tugs on Tobias’s sleeve. “Do you think we can get there today?” Lir doesn’t like how the worry, that crawls inside his mind, manages to seep into his tone.
Tobias glances up to the sky. He hums. “If it doesn’t rain again, perhaps. Though…” His mentor narrows his eyes. “I’ve never gone to Aglia by foot, so I can’t be sure. It could take a few hours, as it could take days. Lir…” Tobias pauses to get a better look at his face. “You seem bothered. Are you feeling ill again?”
“I just want to get there soon,” Lir blurts, as he passes his mentor and leaves the sight of the inn by the cliffside behind. “It’s… not fun, this not being able to eat anything without being sick thing.” He hates that lying to Tobias has a habit. He wishes he didn’t have to.
“I’m sorry.” Tobias joins his side. “But stay hopeful, Lir. I’m sure you’ll be able to join in on whichever feasts suit your fancy once Archie has had a good look at you.”
Their footsteps crunch against the ground.
“And he won’t turn me away?”
Tobias shakes his head. His lips turn into the crescent of a smile. “He’s an open-minded man.”
“You seem to know a lot about him.”
“Of course I do, he was my mentor once.”
They arrive at a trail that leads into a forest. Lir frowns. “Really? When?”
His mentor’s laughter is filled by a strange form of hesitation. “A-actually…” Tobias scratches his cheek. “I had just finished my training with him when your parents got hold of me.”
The words stay with Lir. He cringes. “I was your first student?”
Another awkward chuckle. “Y-yes…” Tobias’s shoulders tense. “And for a long time, I was sure I was not doing a very good job. I thought you hated me, and that I had failed you as a mentor.”
Lir looks away. “I never hated you, Tobias,” he says. “You were everything I needed back then and more.” It occurs to him that he never got to truly express his feelings before Tobias left, so, he parts his lips, and adds, “Thank you, really. You’ve shaped me into a better person. I’ll always be grateful.”
Tobias brings him into a side hug and ruffles his hair. “You too,” he tells Lir, as their gazes meet again. “I learned many things when it came to teaching another thanks to your presence.”
They grin at each other in silence, until the crackling of a nearby fire causes them to halt, and turn the other way, towards the sound. Tobias pulls Lir closer to his chest. “Put your cloak over your head and stay close to me.” His voice low, and wary. “There aren’t any records of a village being nearby, this might mean—”
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“Someone’s camping out here?”
His mentor nods. “Yes,” he whispers, “even though they have no reason to considering Gale’s inn is nearby. Either this person is on the run, or there are too many of them for twenty bedrooms. Come, we shouldn’t linger.” He urges Lir to follow him across a narrow path that threatens to crumble under their feet—one does the trick if they wish to avoid the forest.
As they pass the last bit of greenery that had poked its head above the cliffside, Lir’s chest tightens. Between two pine-trees, he swears he spots a familiar face. Wolf. Yet, when he blinks again, Wolf is gone, and Lir convinces himself it couldn’t possibly be true.
He is miles away from home. Wolf has no business here, in the capital. Being sick all the time must be taking a toll on his eyes.
Night veils the sky. Tobias readies himself to set up their tent, but Lir grabs his sleeve to stop him. The presence is like a shadow now, and Lir fears what he may see should he turn around and squint at the darkness that surrounds them.
Yet, when Tobias asks him about his sudden gesture, something chokes Lir, and prevents him from speaking. “I thought I saw a spider climbing up your sleeve,” he tells his mentor. “But… it seems I was wrong. There’s nothing there. Nevermind.”
“Oh.” Tobias takes one glance at the state of his robe and frowns. “Okay.” He does not seem convinced. “Thank you for the heads up.”
They do not light a fire. They are not hungry for food, only for slumber. Tobias says it wiser, too. “It’s harder to spot us from afar this way.” He is the first to fall asleep. The lack of his mentor’s presence leaves Lir laying on his back, awake and alone, as he observes the stars bared by the lack of clouds in the deep, sapphire sky.
Under other circumstances, Lir would have found reprieve and peace at the idea of camping out with his mentor, however, here, at the mercy of unknown threats that linger in the darkness… it is a formula for anxiety that Lir wishes he could pray away.
Though he knows better by now not to count on Her. God does not save you. God listens and hopes for the best.
God is not what they make Her out to be. She is a symbol, not a saviour.
He shuts his eyes. It is as if he is glancing up at another world, except this time, there are no stars.
The presence nears. He hears that voice again. Eat his heart, it whispers like the echo of a broken song. Eat it.
Eat it, and become whole.
Lir holds his breath. He pushes up against his elbows and stares down at his knees. There is sweat dripping down his shoulders. His heart beats in his ears, like a war-drum that forebodes the most horrid of tidings.
Eat it, the voice says once more, until it dissipates, and the sounds of pine-trees bristling in the wind replace it—the ghost that has haunted him since the sun was nigh one moon ago.
Something breaths against the back of his neck. He turns around. There is a figure in the ocean whose round eyes glow a bright yellow.
Lir tumbles backwards. He grabs Tobias’s arm and drags him towards his chest. “We have to go,” he gasps. “Wake up. Tobias, please, wake up!”
Tobias barely has a moment to rub his tired eyes, grab his belongings and glasses, before Lir is urging him to his feet. “Lir, the tent, we can’t just—”
“There’s something chasing us.” Lir drags him away from their campsite again. He hopes Tobias will finally budge, and agree to follow his lead. “Please, I saw it in the ocean. It was watching us. We can’t—” The breath Lir takes is sharp to the point of being suffocating. “If we stay here, it will come for us. Please, Tobias, please don’t—”
“Should I have a look?”
Lir’s skin grows cold. “No.” Even though he feels the presence retreating, he shakes his head. “Just… we should go. Quickly, without taking the tent.”
He almost expects Tobias to ruffle his hair, as he always does when he reassures Lir by telling him he had a bad dream, that is was nothing else. Yet, Tobias steps past Lir, and rearranges the satchel that hangs off his shoulder. “All right,” he tells his student. “It never hurts to have an early start anyway.”