Eternity in the darkness - Chapter 96

I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth as I felt the shock waves enter my body. I don’t know how long it went like that but my body couldn’t take it anymore and I finally passed out. When I woke up I saw a ceiling like a rock above me. I got up feeling warm now, there was a knitted like cloth around me. Though it was shabbily done, with its thread hanging loosely around the corner it was enough to protect me from the dreaded cold of this land. Looking around I noticed I wasn’t in the same place where I had been yesterday. This looked more like a room but a cave nonetheless. Walking toward the window like structure I saw the sky peach and purple in color.

“You’re awake,” a raspy voice startled me making me turn back.

It was Evan, holding a coconut shell in his hand. Out of the whole lot, he was the only one I could recognize as he was small compared to the others and his raspy voice not that I had heard all of them speak, “This is the only available food which might be edible here in this land,” he said handing it over to me.

“Thank you for the food and the cloth,” I thanked him.

“Ah-yeah, no problem. There are people who do things similar to humans when they are bored,” he moved like a ghost and sat on the big rock. As I ate the coconut pulp I noticed Evan observing me like mice observed in an experiment. For some odd reason, I felt he had knit the cloth himself.

“Can I ask a few questions if it’s okay?” I asked to which the creature nodded, “How long has it been since you guys have been habituating here?”

“Few years before your mate was born,” he answered, “It’s been a long time,” he said and if he were a person like me without any cloak over his head I was sure he would have that faraway look in his eyes as he said that.

“Don’t you ever get bored?” I asked curiously, “You guys could interact with other supernatural creatures in the land of living if you want to, like live there,” and heard him chuckle lightly. I didn’t get what was funny with what I said.

“The freedom we are being provided in and around the forest is more than we could ask for. It’s every shadow creatures dream to live with other beings than live in the dead land but I doubt they would ever let us,” I gave a quizzical look to which he said, “The land of the living is a treat to the shadow creatures to pick anything as their meal. This alerted me as I stared at him while he did the same, except for no eyes.

“Like Drux said we are grateful to the previous and the king right now that rule the land of living. We wouldn’t, anyone, harm the Wolfric’s family,” Evan said, “Moreover, we have company and entertainment here.” I was looking at the stones when I found some faint writings on it. I didn’t get a word what it was all about, “You’re a curious one, Eve,” he commented.

“You have no idea,” I muttered but he caught on to it.

“I do. I’ve been watching you,” he said making my head snap in his direction, “I thought it was a deer when I first saw you. You were following a pixie that time,” he said in his whisper voice. He was talking about the time I first met Ruka in the forest, the memory brought a smile on my face, and “At first I thought this person must be stupid for following the pixie but the atmosphere around you was so serene and pure. A delicacy as such is very rare to find in the midst of the forest. I saw you occasionally as you traveled subconsciously in the land of the dead but we have no power to interact at those times. You’re a curious creature,” he concluded, getting up and taking the bowl from me.

As I followed him, I heard commotion ahead of us. We went outside to only see a corpse lying on the hard rock like floor motionless as it caught fire by itself.

“The woman has stepped on our land,” Drux informed looking at the corpse, “Sending her servant into our territory only means she seeks war to get the girl. If she wants war, she’ll have one!” he yelled, making everyone yell and scream in the cave.

“YEAH! YEAH!” I found the shadow creatures scary now. Wait, did he just say war?!

“This is the entertainment I was talking about,” Evan said, who stood next to me.

An hour later we were heading towards the barren ground and crossed over the forest region. Apparently, Olivia had sent many of her servants in search for me but she would have known the hideout by now. There were plenty of shadow creatures that followed us behind as we continued walking. Olivia against me, I thought. We stood in a row like fashion as the sun dipped down slowly and bringing up the full moon which was faintly orange in appearance. The wind was merciless as it blew across the land, it wasn’t snowing now but it would afterward.

As Drux spoke to one of the creatures, I saw something move from the other side. It took me a second to realize they were corpses approaching towards us with a steady pace. I didn’t have to count to know if they had outnumbered us or not, because they did. I had my sword in my hand, the one Ruka had given. I didn’t know how the shadowed creatures got their hands on the shiny swords but their support meant a great deal to me.

“She’s here,” I said as I caught sight of the women who were responsible for the bloodshed of Ruka’s family along with many other families.

I hadn’t forgotten her face. She stood tall and arrogant at the center of her minions. We didn’t exchange any words but the second I saw her smirk, I knew this was it. The time I had been waiting all this time. I heard her order,

“GO!” and that’s when the battle began.

We waited for the corpses to come closer and that’s when our swords clashed each other. At the back of my mind, I knew how corpses worked and it was beyond me how we could defeat them. I pushed my thoughts away and giving my all to the fight. One of the corpses came charging towards me and I swung my sword, bending down to chop its leg off. Something I noticed was, all the corpses only tried to injure me but not kill me. Taking that as my advantage I attacked them.

Another one caught me off guard and Drux was the one who chopped its head off but it still moved. Throughout the battle, Olivia stood there unharmed and watching me fight. We were losing but I didn’t want to accept it, I needed air in my lungs and I was getting worn out as seconds passed by. Damn corpses!

One of the corpses sneaked behind me while I fought but it was thrown out of the way. We had killed almost all of them after God knows how long and that’s when some strange force threw me away from the shadowed creatures. As my body hit the snow-covered ground, I winced in pain due to the impact. When the shadowed creatures tried coming towards me, an invisible barrier like object stopped them.

“Do you seriously think I would come unprepared,” I heard Olivia question. I got up to see more corpses behind her. Crap! I thought.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked her, “He was your sister’s soulmate and he’s gone with your sister now.”

“He was my mate from the beginning. I was the one who saw him first, loved him, cared for him more than anyone in the world. But my sister got him. Why? Because she was an angel,” she said venom dripping in her voice.

“I’m sure God made a soulmate for you too,” I said for her to smile sinisterly and horror struck me, “You met your soulmate. What did you do?” I whispered.

“I ripped his heart out,” she said calmly as I gulped. This woman was far gone and I knew there was no turning back for her. She had lost her sanity and reasoning, “All that matters is getting his soul so that I could bind him to me for eternity. Who knew the chances of Heather’s son turning to a Franchixer and to have an angel. This is perfect,” she said laughing as she raised her hand and moved it making me crash into the nearest tree.

If my bones weren’t broken before I was sure it was broken. The shadowed creatures were trapped under Olivia’s magic.

“If you hadn’t begun this he might have still been alive but you neither have his heart nor his soul nor the vision for him,” I said as I got up again on my feet. My words seemed to anger even more and she crashed me on the ground.

“Let me tell you a secret, sweetheart,” she said in a mock tone, “If Ruka steps into the land of the dead he won’t be able to return back to the land of the living. He’ll be trapped here forever. I’ll show you what agony means,” she said.

I knew without the stones no one could crossover but the question was what if they could?