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“No?”
“It’s comforting, to be honest. It kind of reminds me of home,” I mused.
“Earth?” she asked.
“Yes. It’s very different from here,” I answered.
“Do you miss it?”
“I don’t. I already have people here I care far more about,” I smiled, winking in her direction. Her face softened, and she grinned in return. I told her more about back home while we snacked on dried meat and thin bread. When I was finally done, I stared down at the apple.
“I think I’m going to save this for later. I want to explore the keep a bit before it gets too late,” I said.
Mais’ face tightened for a moment before she nodded with some sort of disappointed curtness. Curious, I cocked my head in her direction, and she shook her head. Quickly, she covered up whatever she was feeling with a smile as she prodded the fire with a long stick. The flames billowed up, and smoke spiraled up towards the ceiling.
“It’s been a long day, hasn’t it?”
“It has,” I replied. Wanting to get her opinion before she fell asleep, I reached into my pack and drew out the book of prophecy. I turned to the right page and held it out to her.
“You said you were familiar with prophecy, right? This holds the key to breaking Roken’s curse, but there’s some things I don’t understand. It mentions the Heartbloom flower. Do you know what that is?”
Mais took a moment to read through the passage before she shook her head. “According to the text, it blooms under the moonlight, but I’ve never heard of it before,” she answered. With a mournful shrug, she shook her head. “I wish I could be more helpful,” she added.
“I’m going to search the keep for anything useful. I’ll save this for when I get back,” I smiled, placing the apple down on the blanket she had laid out.
“Goodnight, Sophia,” Mais said with a soft smile as she passed the book back to me.
I picked up my pack and stuffed the book back inside. I slipped back down the hall and past the magical barrier, searching through one room and then the next for answers. Hours passed and I found no mention of the precious flower that I needed to find. With a frustrated growl, I peered at the endless shelves of books. Even if the answer was here somewhere, the chances of finding it were slim.
I needed a bit of luck to find the answer. Maybe… a bit of magical help would do the trick.
I wrapped my fingers around the emerald, igniting the tingling magic in my core. In an instant, I ached with longing for Roken. I tried to push it away, but it only grew more intense as the seconds passed. A bout of tiredness hit me, and my jaws opened so wide with a yawn that my eyes started watering.
I needed sleep. I’d renew the search and find the answers tomorrow.
With another yawn, I headed back up into the keep. The campfire had died down, and Mais was already resting beside it. She looked so peaceful as she slept, curled up and using her pack as a pillow. I sat down on my own blanket and picked up the apple. I held it delicately in my hands, its surface smooth and inviting as I laid down on my back.
Bringing the fruit to my lips, I took a big bite.
A burst of crisp juiciness exploded in my mouth, awakening my taste buds with an unparalleled sensation. The sweetness danced upon my tongue as I chewed the tasty morsel, perfectly balanced with a hint of tartness that made my lips tingle with delight. Each succulent bite was a symphony of flavors, as if the apple had captured the essence of sunshine and pure natural perfection. Its flesh, tender and refreshing, yielded effortlessly to my teeth, releasing a fragrance that enveloped my senses in a divine embrace. In that moment, time stood still.
Then a strange weight started to settle down on my shoulders. It began deep in my belly and spread outwards, traveling through each of my limbs with a numb, tingling sensation. If I had been back on Earth, I would have thought it was just regular drowsiness, that it had simply been the result of a tiring day and I needed rest. This was not what that was, though.
I recognized it. It was magic.
I could feel myself drifting into something of an otherworldly state, a realm between full consciousness and deep slumber. As I sank further into the abyss, a strange sensation gripped me. I found myself trapped within my own body, unable to move or speak, as if held captive by invisible chains. Panic surged through my veins, but my limbs remained immobile. Desperately, I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t respond. Terror rushed through me at a frantic pace.
“I was beginning to think you were never going to eat that,” Mais stated boldly, and I started. What was happening? Had she had something to do with this?
Completely paralyzed, I couldn’t respond as she moved beside me. Out of the side of my eye, I saw her grab my pack and pull the book of prophecy out. With a malevolent chuckle, she held the book in my field of view before she dropped it in the fire. I would have cried out and tried to pull it free before it was destroyed, but the aged paper burst into flame in an instant. As if she wanted to make my fear worse, she reached out and roughly turned my chin towards the fire as the flames licked the leather-bound tome.
“You’re not going to need that anymore. The Dark King has other plans for you,” she grinned.
My breath caught in the back of my throat. She grabbed her own bag and pulled out a silver chalice embedded with shimmering purple gemstones. Then she yanked her knife free from her belt and crept towards me. My panic jolted me anew, and I would have screamed had I been able to. Reaching down, she took my hand and swiftly sliced the blade through the meat of my palm. Blood welled instantly. Quickly, she turned my hand and allowed the blood to drip into the goblet, drop by drop. The wound stung with a fiery burn. When she was through, she smirked down at me.
“A tribute for you, my Dark King,” she whispered reverently.
She held the goblet up and a deafening boom sounded over our heads. The ceiling exploded in a fit of stone and rubble, raining down all around us. The dust made my eyes water, and several pieces of rock bounced off my body bruisingly hard. Dread raced through me as a volley of supernatural purple lightning arced through the room straight down from the sky overhead. A single lightning strike hit the chalice dead center. All the energy in the air gathered into a single black hole, and somewhere to the east, a terrifying boom reverberated through the ground beneath me.
