CHAPTER 31 - THE JOURNEY MUST CONTINUE

Apparently, I slept for three days.

We’d arrived back at the same campsite we stayed in when Jay told me about the history of the haven guild. That seemed like such a long time ago. Everyone was busy setting up for the night, preparing dinner and taming the horses. Ah, yes. For some reason, the horses were untouched. After seeing firsthand the bloodlust of the rats, I would’ve been surprised to even see their skeletons left.

Since I didn’t have a human body, I woke up feeling as fresh as a potato straight out of the ground. Immediately, I activated ‘Potato Body’, relishing the fact that I was in human skin once more. But strangely, it felt itchy, almost foreign to me. There was no visible effect, though.

“Ahem. We need to talk.” Someone coughed very unsubtly behind me.

I turned to see Kearan, wearing a purple tunic and gray pants.

“Where did you get those from?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He waved a hand. “Dug them out from the wreckage of the highwaymen’s camp.”

“Those people weren’t exactly known for their fashion.” It wasn’t like I could be talking. All I wore now were Edith’s old clothes, which draped off me more like a dress than a tunic. “Why not just wear your old ones?”

“Well, they were all bloodstained, torn, or completely soaked with perspiration. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.” He looked down at the ground, before his golden eyes met mine once more. “Do you mind if we talk in private?”

If I’d raised my eyebrow any higher, it would’ve flown off my face. “Since when do you ask me that?”

“Since today.” He affirmed, and put his hands on my shoulders. Which was weird, because in this state, I was a lot taller than him.

“I heard about what happened with Cherry.” Kearan began, letting his arms drop to his sides.

I froze. He’d just pried open a fresh wound I was not yet ready to come to terms with.

“I’m sorry. It was my fault. I was too weak to lead the group. If I had been stronger, I wouldn’t have had to open a gate to get us out and… Whatever that weakened me wouldn’t have happened. Even though I’ve been treating you inhumanely all this time, you still saved us from the highwaymen. Even at the cost of your own daughter. My selfish pride didn’t accept that you could be trusted, even after you proved it time and time again.”

My hands curled into fists as I stood there, unmoving, staring into eyes that didn’t meet mine. Every word he spoke stirred up anger within me and waves of fresh guilt.

“You’re right.” I said softly. “You’re a real piece of work, treating me like shit just because I was a potato.”

But… but he wasn’t the only one in the wrong. I should have been a better father. A better baron. A better person.

“I don’t know what I can do to repay you, but-”

“Don’t.” I placed a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t need to. We’re all not perfect. I know what you went through, and why you distrusted me so much.”

And it was my fault.

Kearan bit his lip and sighed, before apologizing one last time. “I’m sorry.”

With that, he turned away from me, leaving me to stare into the orange sunset.

“Dinner’s in ten!” He called out behind him. “If you even eat.”

I chuckled a little at that, and stared at my own pale hands. This was the first time I’d ever gotten to just sit down and stare at my new body. It was a surreal feeling. This, technically, was me, but it didn’t feel like it. It just felt foreign. And strangely itchy. Like I was in another person’s skin.

Letting out one last, loud sigh, I collapsed onto a makeshift seat out of dirt- courtesy of Raul. I’d fought my first real battle, after more than forty years of living.

I’d also lost someone precious to me. Cherry.

When Kearan had spoken to me just now, I’d had every opportunity to shut him down with my words and- if I were still a baron- beat him for it. But no. I’d let him go. Even apologized to him. Sympathized with him.

Now I just felt hollow, empty.

Scratching my left forearm, I made my way to where the rest of the group were sitting, around a campfire.

“How are you feeling, June?” Winter asked affectionately.

I cracked my neck and yawned. “Tired.” I couldn’t be bothered to say anything else. My brain was still processing Cherry’s death.

Mox, who was next to me, rubbed my shoulder. “We’re family now. Just speak your mind.”

A part of me felt warmed by his actions. A part of me also felt like they were only doing this now because I saved them, and because I had a human body.

“We should probably get to business.” Kearan interrupted, putting down his… whatever part of the monster that they had killed.

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Everyone stopped eating. Except Edith, who would not, unless in a life or death situation, be separated from his meat.

“I’ve contacted Aldian, and he says he’ll open a gate in about twelve hours at a clearing two hours ride south of here.”

“Who’s Aldian?” I blurted out, intrigued.

“Someone from my past. Long time ago, he used to whip us.” Raul chuckled. “He was the one that fucked my hands up.”

I coughed. “Excuse me?”

Raul cracked a grin. “He’s changed. Besides, turns out that he only did it ‘cause he was forced to.”

“Ok…” I nodded slowly while reaffirming that these people had something wrong with their heads.

Kearan sighed, exasperated. “Anyways, there’ll be around a two hour delay from when we enter the gate. Adding on to this is the fact that Aldian can’t create the gate in Agridia. The closest he can get is the brink of the bridge. That’ll add a couple days- provided everything goes as planned. Everyone ok with that?”

Everyone nodded and murmured their agreement. Except me.

“Uh, am I missing something here?” I said awkwardly. “Last time you opened a gate, even with all our help, you almost died. And that was a day’s journey away. Now you want to open a gate that can fit all of us from a month's worth of riding? How do you plan to do that? Also, if it was that easy, why did we have to travel all this way on foot?”

Kearan scratched the back of his head. “Usually, to open a gate between two places, you must meet at least one of two requirements. The first is, you must be able to see the place where you want to open a gate. The alternative is a link between two mages capable of using space magic. The two mages will form a connection and open a gate on either end.”

He raised a hand to stop me as I opened my mouth to ask another question.

“Now I know what you’re going to ask. The reason why I was able to- and struggled so much- when opening the gate last time, is because I wasn’t meeting either of the criteria. Instead, I pulled open a gate through space by force.”

“Ah, I see.” I replied. That sounded handy. I wondered if I could learn space magic too. One day. After I figured out this… void magic.

Raul yawned loudly, breaking my thoughts. “Well, if we’re done here, I’m heading to bed. Who’s taking the first watch?”

Kearan immediately raised his hand. “I will. I’ll keep watch the entire night.”

Winter shook her head. “Again, Kearan? You look tired. Get some rest. I’ll go first.”

He clenched his fist and hesitated, but in the end, wasn’t deterred. “No. It’s fine. Just get up early.” With that, he stood up and trudged off before anyone else could protest.

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All was silent. The sky was coloured a dark gray, and stretched further than I could see. I bobbed up and down gently, floating in a nice bathtub.

“Hungry.”

A deep voice broke through the silence, irritating me. Eyes closed and enjoying the moment, I chose to ignore it.

“Hungry.”

The voice’s growl echoed again and again, growing louder with each passing moment. I turned around in shock, only to stare into the milkyness of a dark black ball.

Stop. I wanted to say, but no words came out of my mouth. I glanced down and stared at brown, soiled skin. I was back in my potato form, swimming in some kind of black liquid. Where did my bathtub go?

‘Papa! Help!’ The shrill scream caught my attention and I looked around frantically.

‘Cherry? Cherry, where are you?’ As I tried moving, I realized my body wasn’t obeying me. Inky black liquid seeped from the ball in front of me, sliding over my skin and encasing my body.

‘Papa? What’s happening?’ Cherry’s voice sounded closer this time.

In the world of gray, I spun around, searching the endless sky. The ground had disappeared, but I didn’t stop once to wonder where I was. I needed to find Cherry. To see her again.

After a painstaking few seconds of nothing, a pink mound burst out of the black sea.

‘Cherry!’ I screamed, and desperately tried to make my way over to her. However, my body still refused to move. ‘No! Please! No!’

‘Papa… I’m sorry…’ She bubbled as the last traces of her pink skin disappeared underneath a wave.

‘Hungry.’ The voice, gravelly and powerful, boomed all around.

Crying, I watched the floating ball ahead of me slowly expand and form a sphere. The surface rippled, and two indents appeared at the sides. A third indent in the shape of an upside down crescent appeared shortly after, so wide it almost met the two smaller circles.

I recognized what it was now.

A face.

A smiling face.

“Hungry.”

Lipless, the wicked grin stretched open, several deadly sharp teeth appearing by the second. It floated towards me, head still growing more enormous by the second, until it was large enough to swallow me whole.

I froze- not like I could move my body before anyways- and watched in terror as the darkness came over me. A putrid smell filled my brain, rendering me unable to even wonder how it was possible that I could smell.

It smelled like rot and tasted like death.

Like a dawning apocalypse, the mouth encircled my body until what little light had disappeared.

‘I must be dreaming.’ I thought to myself, and tried to will myself awake.

But nothing happened.

“Hungry.” The creature bellowed once more.

Still believing this had to be some sort of dream, I shut off my vision and emptied every thought out of my mind, attempting to calm myself. ‘This isn’t real.’

“Oh, this is real-”

Before the voice could finish, a shockwave blasted through it, splitting its head in half and revealing a luminescent white, humanoid figure in front of me. The light reflected- no, originated from him, and was too bright for me to make out any distinct features.

“Hello June. I’ve been wanting to meet you for a while now.”

His voice was clear and distinct. Balanced and even. It was also relatively high pitched for a man, and I questioned his age.

But then again. This was all a dream, right?

“People call me the Maker. I have been watching you for some time.” He began, walking on air towards me. The closer he came, the harder it became to see. Since I did not have eyes, I was unable to squint or look away.

“I cannot remain here much longer.” He looked around, as if looking for someone. “But fear not, we will meet again.”

I was extremely confused, though glad the black substance had disappeared. However, the light that emerged from this… ‘Maker’s’ body was incredibly hot, so hot that it had begun to melt my potato flesh.

“In the meantime, I leave you with a proposition. If you wish to see your daughter again, follow my servant. He will contact you when you arrive back at your hometown. Prepare yourself.”

‘Wait, what?’ I asked, dumbfounded.

But before he could reply, he disappeared, leaving nothing but the darkness once more.