Page 30 of The Void

“I’m sure. There’s a reason you couldn’t find the exit today.” She smiled up at him, then lifted on her toes and kissed him.

With a whooshing sound, they were back in her rooms in the city.

“We’ve been gone for hours,” she said with a yawn. “I’m sure it’s supper time.”

“After all that junk food, you’re still hungry?” he joked.

She nudged him. “I did work up an appetite. Besides, they only eat two meals around here.”

“They do?” he frowned, feeling his own stomach growl. What he wanted was a greasy cheeseburger and a large plate of fries. But he knew whatever he’d get would be a far cry from it. The last meal had consisted mainly of vegetables. He doubted they even ate meat. Did they even have cows?

“Yes,” she finally answered. She took his hand and started out of the room. While they made their way back downstairs to the dining hall, she filled him in on what the book had said about how he had gotten his powers back.

That them coming together was the key.

“I guess sex is the cure to everything,” he joked as they stopped just outside the dining room.

He had been too preoccupied before now to try flying, but since they had returned to the city, he could tell his strength and other abilities were back already.

“It wasn’t just sex.” She rolled her eyes and playfully slapped his shoulder. “It was us coming together. There, in the cave. That returned your powers,” Mia whispered as they walked.

“Why?”

She shrugged. “It didn’t say. It just said…” She frowned and avoided his eyes. “With us coming together it would return what was hidden.”

He figured there was more to it, since it had taken her a while to read that part, but they were walking into the crowded dining hall and he realized she probably didn’t want to talk any further about it.

They ate their dinner of more vegetables, fruits, and berries while discussing as little about what had just happened as possible. Beth hovered around them and, for the first time since their arrival, the general sat at the same table as them.

He was curious why Mia didn’t let anyone else in on the fact that he now had all his abilities back. Until they had more time to talk about it, he figured he’d play along and keep that information to himself as well.

After the meal, the general asked them to follow him for a private meeting.

It shocked him a little to see the space on the top of the building, the massive open courtyard that held what Mia described as her throne.

Why the general brought them up there was a mystery, until they stood at the edge of the building and looked out.

“See those fires?” The General pointed over the city and towards the mountains. “They just showed up tonight.”

They both looked to where he motioned. Since the evening meal was served after dark each night, it was easy to spot several hundred small fires along the hillsides surrounding the lake that circled the city.

“Who are they?” Mia asked.

The general motioned to a small telescope sitting by the wall.

When they looked through it, all they could see was darkness and the fires.

“There are creatures who live outside these walls. Who inhabit the lands. They have never bothered us nor do we bother them,” the general said. “These new beings who have come are abominations. Foul beasts that have no right to the land they consume. They kill everything in their path. They destroy all.”

Lucas felt his gut twist. Was the general talking about creatures like Proteus and Jain being slaughtered? Sure, Proteus had chained and dragged him through the desert, but he’d been unharmed. The last thing Lucas wanted was for either of them to be hurt.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Mia turned on the general.

“They have been brought here by darkness,” the general continued, as if not seeing Mia’s concern.

“The creatures that inhabit the land beyond the walls are being slaughtered even as we speak.” The general turned to them. “And the fires grow closer to the walls each night.”

“Are the walls of the city secure?” Mia asked.