Rhyndac drops her hand after a minute since the explosion of the cultist prisoners. She moves around the table, viewing the walls, corners, and floor. Haleema stands next to the table with one hand on it, looking at her. I pull Ulrika by her waist closer to me just in case something strange happens. Rhyndac and Haleema aren’t saying anything but occasionally looking at one another.
“What are you two doing?” I say.
“Taking in notes,” Rhyndac says, walking my way. “Demonic magic is hardcore and brutal when it comes to trying to understanding it.”
“Very true. I can’t fucking stand it, but we need to learn what it is,” Haleema adds. “Rhyndac, send a report to Emdal and meet us in Nebulas.” I hear Ulrika whisper the word Nebulas out of earshot from them.
“Alright, Bye, bye, everyone, and Kaioson.”
With her left hand, Rhyndac swings it in and out. An oval opening shaped in a circling reddish-white cloud appears. She steps into it, and it closes in at the speed of a blink.
“I’m not going to let that go, Kaio,” Ulrika says.
“Don’t worry about her, Ulrika. Rhyndac has always acted flirty since I met her,” Haleema says.
“I don’t care if it’s her personality. If she talks to him like that or touches him, we’ll have a problem.”
“Relax, Ulrika. I don’t think she’ll try anything too rash.”
“She better not.” I’m speechless yet amazed at Ulrika’s protectiveness. “And you keep,” she pauses, pointing at Haleema. “You keep your hands off him too.” Haleema bends her forearms back, nervously laughing as she looks at us.
“I won’t touch your husband.”
“My hus...band?” Ulrika and I view each other at the same time. “W..w..w.. we’re not-”
“Married,” I interrupt.
“Yeah...”
“The way you two act, it sounds like you should be,” Haleema says. Ulrika looks at me again. Her cheeks are a deep red. I’ve never seen them get so red before in the time I’ve known her. “Hey, Kaioson.”
“Mhmm?” I say.
“After everything you saw, will you help us? Will you become a Paladin?”
“If I accept, Ulrika has to be by my side.”
“That’s acceptable. You two have so much potential that can be perfected. Now I think about it, Ulrika, you can become one as well.” Ulrika nods her head, then rests her head on my shoulder.
“We’ll help.”
“Thank you two so much. We’ll leave tomorrow for Nebulas in the morning.”
Haleema leaves the room waving her hand at someone to her left. I hear sounds of chains jiggle and slam dawn on the stone floor outside. The elven guards shout at the cultists to walk out of the building to their long-awaited execution.
“I wonder why they didn’t blow up,” I say, heading towards the door.
“Kaio,” Ulrika says in a soft voice. I stop in the doorway, looking over my shoulder at her. “Do you know where we’re going?”
“Yeah, she said Nebulas.” She’s giving me a sulky face, so I return back to the room. “What’s up? Why are you looking sad?”
“Nebulas is a few hours away from my hometown, Ambagra. I haven’t been back home since... since... Decimus and Numerius were killed.” Her breathing increase and her exhales are shaky.
“Your brothers, right?” She shakes her head, yes, while covering her mouth. Her eyes sparkle from the tears forming in her eyes. Without a single hesitation, I bring her into my arms.
“Oh...Kaio... Can this day get any worse?” I don’t want to say anything that’ll sour her mood further, so I continue holding her. “Okay. I’m good.” We let go at the same time. Some of her eyelashes are glued together from the tears. “Leg’s go home.” I kiss her cheek, hoping it would make her smile. A soft grin appears, then it bares some of her front teeth. “Thanks. You always find a way to make me smile when I’m sad.”
“If you’re sad, then I’m sad.”
She holds me tight again, digging her face in my chest, saying, “You’re awesome.”
----------------------------------------
In a mental realm of my own creation, I sit crisscrossed, eyes closed, on a grassy plain. It’s fall here. The best season our earth makes. Just hearing the leaves rustle against each other as the wind blows them away is so peaceful to listen to. Speaking of the wind, I sometimes have a playful thought that Ulrika is giving me a wonderful breeze. I can’t physically see her, but I pretend she’s the air, keeping me company as I clear my mind from all the stress.
A surge of wind blows some leaves into my hands. While my eyelids are closed, I aim my eyes down to where my hands are. I open up my eyes, viewing the colorful leaves in my lap. Instead of picturing my world, I can now visually see it.
“Beautiful,” I say.”
“Hmm?” Ulrika’s voice echoes from the white puffy clouds above me. I see her figure as a ghostly fog morphed in and out through the clouds. “Kaio, can you hear me?” She whispers, blowing gentle air on my body.
The clouds shrink and come down from the sky. It forms into Ulrika as she crawls on all fours over to me. She gets inches from my nose, then backs away, waving her hand in my face.
Can she see me?
I say out her name, and she freezes momentarily. She puts down her hand but continues looking at me.
“Kaio?” She whispers, waving her hand again.
“I can see you waving your hand.”
“What? Really? How many fingers am I holding up?” All of her left fingers go out and three fingers from her right hand.
“Eight.”
“How?” I shrug my shoulders as I laugh at her confusion. She holds up two index fingers, and I tell her the number. “How the fuck, Kaio?” I’m laughing so hard that I take myself out of my meditation.
“You appeared right in front of me.” I lean my head to the right, viewing her underwear and legs. “Except you had pants on. Ready for bed?”
“Mhmm.”
“Did you pack everything you want to take with you?”
“I did.” She crawls into my lap, facing me with her fingers combing through my hair.
“I thought you’re ready for bed.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“I am, so take me there with you.”
Her flirtatious side is gratifying to me. Her legs lock around my back as I stand up, then let go when I lay on my back. I don’t shy away from gripping her ass cheeks while we kiss, but in our libidinous moment, I remember what Haleema thought we were. Marriage sounds early at this point in our relationship, yet our love seems to suggest otherwise. Just look at us. Our lips caked in saliva. I’m gripping, pulling, clawing her ass as she rubs my groin with her soft underwear. My heart is racing. The lust inside me surges to the point I feel compelled to lay with her for the first time.
“Kaio, hold on for a sec,” she moans, moving off my lips. I let go of her ass, then she suddenly jumps off me and jogs into the kitchen.
“Whoa! Is everything alright?”
“I’m fine. No need to worry!” She comes back in without her underwear but has her shirt still on.
“Is everything alright?”
“Mhmm!” I squint at her, unsure if I should pressure for a better response or take her word. “I’m fine, Kaioson. I just had a small little mishap.”
“A mishap? What do you mean by that?” She yanks off her shirt by lifting it from the hem as she gets back on the bed. I turn my head slightly in her direction but can’t see her. “Are you okay?” When I turn around, she’s under the blankets.
“I’m okay, my love. I just had a subtle orgasm.” Her head moves halfway under the covers.
“Oh...”
“I don’t know why I’m acting shy about it.”
“Is it because of me?” While she’s silent, I strip out of my clothing and join her under the covers. “Am I making you nervous?”
“Kinda, but it’s mainly what Haleema said. Do we act like married couples?”
“I have no clue how they act.”
“Oh...okay.” There’s a moment of awkward silence between us that makes me hesitant to look at her. “I think I’m afraid to have sex with you.” A knot in my throat forms in the lower part of my Adam’s apple.
“W...why?”
“Do you remember when I told you that I’ve laid with five other men before I fell in love with you?”
“I recall telling you that your past doesn’t matter to me.”
“I know, but I still feel like I’m filthy from the unholy relationships I had when I was depressed.”
“Ulrika, you’re clean in my eyes.” She sighs and smiles at me while turning her head left and right. “You’re not that woman anymore.”
“Your words of reassurance warm my heart, but it’ll only numb my disgust in me momentarily. Maybe I’ll get over it somewhere down the line. Believe in your words wholly without a single doubt.” A quick high speed of hair blasts out from under the covers, blowing out all the candles in the room.
“Ulrika,” I whisper, clutching her close to me. “What must I do for you to believe me?”
“Keep doing what you’re doing. Like I said, I’ll eventually accept what you see in me. Goodnight, Kaioson.”
“Sweet dreams.”
“Most definitely.” She sneaks a kiss on my lips, then digs her face into my chest.
----------------------------------------
I wait for Ulrika outside the cabin on my horse as she looks around inside for last-minute inspections. She comes out holding a rolled-up red sack under her right armpit.
“I can’t believe I almost forgot this,” she says, strapping it to her horse.
“What’s that?” I say.
“It was my big surprise I had waiting for you. Until everything went to shit.” For the wrap to be tightly rolled in such a manner, suggest it has to be some sort of clothing. I don’t want to ask her what it is, so she can reveal it to me when she’s ready to. “Okay, I’m ready, Kaio. Let’s go.” She looks back out of the cabin as she hops on the horse, gives it an air kiss, then looks at me with a precious smile.
“We’ll come back.” Her smile widens. “I promise.”
“Okay, Kaio...Okay.” I swing my horse around and stop it over to her left side, facing it in the opposite direction.
“Hey, I’ll keep all that I’ve vowed for you.”
“I have faith you will.” With that answer, I feel more optimistic and less stressed about the hellish adventure we’re about to take on.
“Ready?”
“Let’s save the world and come back home in one piece.”
We ride back into town, pushing our horses at a casual galloping speed. At the end of the bridge, I see Haleema sitting on the ground, Hayden, and the man wearing a dark green cloak.
“This is it,” I say out loud to myself.
“Kaioson, Ulrika, good morning!” Haleema says, waving.
“Morning.”
“Hi,” Ulrika says with a lack of glee.
“How are you guys feeling?” Haleema says. I’m feeling optimistic, but I look at Ulrika to judge where she’s at. She gives me a smile and a head nod.
“Kaioson and I are ready to assist your cause.”
“Thank you. Zadock, open a portal.”
Ah, so that’s the man in the green’s name.
In a flash of red light, a portal opens behind them. Through it, I can see what looks like a city street. Haleema steps in first and turns around, waving her hand to tell us to come. Hayden and Zadock enter. This is my first time walking through one, so I’m a bit afraid. My horse takes me through it without my command, giving me a miniature heart attack. Ulrika strolls through without making a sign of distress but does have her mind on something. She eyeballs everyone that walks past her with a glum expression on her face.
Right before I can get a single letter saying Ulrika’s name, Haleema says, “Guys, our base of operations.” She points at a monumental stone cathedral that I somehow didn’t see when I entered the portal.
“Your base is a church?” I say, jumping off my horse.
“Mhmm. Our guild purchased this entire building 8 years ago.”
“Wait, you’re people bought Knight Thomass’s church,” Ulrika asks, standing next to Haleema while looking up at the building. “My father brought me when I was ten to try and scare me of wanting to be a Knight?”
“Did he succeed?”
“Not one bit.”
“Well, we’ve kept the architecture the same, and the statues are still there.“.
“Really?” Ulrika gasps with both of her hands over her mouth.
“Mhmm. Come take a look.” She whistles at a boy sitting on the stone steps and points at Ulrika and me with two fingers. “Vaeril!”
“Yes, ma’am?” He says.
“Take their horses into the stables.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I watch Vaeril take our horses down the street beyond the portal to make sure he won’t steal our horses. He leads our horses further down the cathedral and to what looks like a single-story building.
“Lyra!” Haleema yells. Her high, pitched voice takes my attention off where our horses are being kept.
“Haleema!” Lyra responds in the same voice. “Good to see you again!”
“Likewise. How have you been?”
“I’ll have to tell you later, right now we got a lead on Olly’s location.”
Haleema waves at all of us to follow her inside of the building. We jog down the main hallway and into a room third from our left. Rhyndac sits on a table, arms and legs crossed.
“Greetings, everyone. What a splendid day we are about to have!” Rhyndac says with a high amount of exuberance.
“I share your joy, but not that amount,” I say.
“Agreed,” Ulrika says.
“Oh, bosh! You two should be in the spirit of vengeance,” Rhyndac says, with a clenched fist and a wide grin.
“Vengeance?” I say.
“Yes! Olly nearly killed the two of you. Also,” Rhyndac pauses, hopping off the table towards Haleema, then touches the left side of Haleema’s stomach. “Gave you a nasty scar. You know... I can fix that for you.”
“No, thanks,” Haleema says, slowly pushing Rhyndac away from her. “Maybe when I’m annoyed by it. Which will be a very...long...time.”
“It’ll be real quick. I can remove it before we go after Olly.”
“You know I hate the process, so drop it.”
“Fine, fine.”
“So, where is this son of a bitch?”
Rhyndac’s eyes scroll over to Lyra. Lyra rolls out a map on the table and then taps her finger on a location. I lean over the map to see what she’s pointing at. The area marked is the city of Ambagra.
“Where is he, Kaio?” Ulrika says. I feel like Ulrika won’t like what she’ll hear. I’m also hesitant to look her in the eyes and say where he is.
“He’s in Ambagra.”
Lyra jumps back in the conversation, telling everyone that other Paladins are standing by for the attack order once we reach them. She continues to talk about a plan, but I’m more focused on Ulrika’s silence. I turn around to see why she’s reticent. Her hands cover her face with all fingers pressing up on her forehead and temples.
“Hey,” I say, but she doesn’t acknowledge. I tap her back to break her frozen state. Her hands come off her face as she looks at me. I catch her right hand and bring it to my chest. “Are you alright?”
“My family...If Olly is there, then they’re in danger,” she says.
A man in full silver-plated head-to-toe armor comes rushing into the room yelling, “Olly is attacking Ambagra!”
“We need to go now!” Ulrika says.
“Shit! We don’t even have a plan of attack yet,” Haleema says.
“Well fucking make one!”
“Whoa, relax there. Let’s get a plan together.” Hayden says.
“No! My family is in danger. I can’t wait here until a plan is ready. Kai-”
“No need to ask me. I’ll come with you,” I say. We turn to the door, but Haleema tells us to wait a moment. “Haleema, we can’t wait.”
“We are all coming,” Haleema says.
She looks at Rhyndac, then Rhyndac lifts her hands upwards from her sides. I hear several loud muffled pops throughout different building areas, then a portal opens in our room. Rhyndac’s pupils turn white, going nearly invisible.
“All Paladins, enter the nearest portal and engage the enemy,” Rhyndac says. While she’s in that trance, Haleema touches her neck and says, “Try to surround the city. Olly is somewhere in there. Mages, create a barrier around the city!” Haleema jumps into the portal, then everyone but Ulrika and I enter. “Do not let any of them escape the city!”
“I guess that’s her plan,” I say.
“We must hurry and reach my home,” Ulrika says, pulling me into the portal by my hand. I resist her tug, so she walks back into the room with me. “Kaio, let’s go!”
“Relax,” I whisper, holding her face with a gentle hold. “Breathe, Ulrika.”
“Damnit, Kaioson. We are wasting time.”
“Stop. You go out there without a clear head, you’re gonna end up hurt or worse killed.” Her frantic breathing comes to a complete stop. Tears shoot out down her face and into the palms of my hands.
“I don’t want to lose any more of my family.”
“Okay...okay, but calm down. Maintain control of your fear.” I wipe her tears away, wield my sword, and jump through the portal with her. “Lead the way.”