The Heartstone Journey

Book 2 | Ch. 17 - Guilty Burdens

Hours pass with nothing much to note, honestly it was quite boring to say the least. Drool would occasionally escape my mouth from the pure amount of boredom I was in at the time but not wanting to dirty myself I kept wiping away similar to how a child would. To pass the time as slow as it felt I trained my body with sets of exercises. The skies were still the same as it was during our morning and would continue till nightfall. Sweat fell from my body, it was cold yet I felt steaming from all over no thanks to my abilities. I no longer sensed the anger piling up inside possibly thanks to the amount of time that passed dulling my mind, maybe it could also be because I was distracting myself by training. With the sun and the moon both out it was fairly difficult to tell what really was night and day but my answer was quickly given a solution when Cloudy had awakened in a miserable state.

"Cloudy! You alright? What the fuck happened down there?"

"Mhm-... M-my head and body hurts like hell."

"Shit one sec-."

He went for his bag scavenging for medical supplies to find that there was only a handful of it left.

"Fuck man.. So this is why Hunter was in a rush. I didn't think we used practically all of our medical supplies. I got careless."

Cloudy sat himself up struggling to even do that with his whole body shaking uncontrollably. From the little Nick could do he warmed him up using his flames to at least keep him cozy warm.

"T-thanks."

"Now explain. What happened for you both to be in such a state."

I could tell the moment I pressed for answers he flinched, different from the shaking that was already going on. His eyes opened wider than normal with his fists clenching tighter, disappointed in himself maybe from what I could observe. All I could do was wait, aggressively pushing him would only lead to backlash and him running away from the confrontation.

He looked at me in the eyes with a fierce blue in his iris. Nick in summary is an moron but he's no stranger to reading the room. I could feel my saliva building up with no chance to swallow feeling if I did Nick would somehow puzzle the answers together. Afraid was what I am. I failed to reach Royal in time not because of unfortunate circumstances but because I was scared to reach for him. I watched as he fought for dear life like a beast cornered and desperate. How would Nick react if he found that out? No-.. How could he? He would be outraged by the fact alone I was afraid, a coward. Reality is often cruel but never unfair is what I learned. Punishing those who don't do good or pursue enough by creating soul crushing events while those who are pure and overachieve strive. Like me on one side of the coin while Royal on the other.

I bit my tongue grinding it from side to side debating on telling him the truth but in the end afraid is what I am.

"R-Royal fought with everything he had and by the time I reached him the battle was already over with him lying on the ground."

I seriously felt my stomach churn, vomit was rising and all I could express without showing it was disgusted in myself. The pain vibrating all around my body was nothing compared to the bullshit I was spouting at the last second just to save face. Little did I realize is that those words would eventually come back to haunt me. As I said earlier... Reality is often cruel but never unfair.

"Oh- I see then! You must've protected him and used too much energy. Alright well make sure not to do that crap again. You made Hunter and me skip a heartbeat seeing you guys like that haha~."

"Y-yea I won't~."

Nick let himself leave using his hands to help him up and walked away leaving me alone beside Royal. All I could do was keep my head down disgusted by what I said.