Flower Amongst Thorns [Boy x Boy]

Chapter 22

"Ivy! Ivy! Dumbass! I'm sorry, it was my fault! I didn't mean all that crap, please come out!" Artios yelled out for the umpteenth as they wandered around the upper-base of Tate looking for the small teen.

It's where Ivy should've reached by now, he checked everywhere else below and the younger hadn't been there.

While the swordsman had gotten all pumped up earlier, he had forgotten to take into account how large the mountain actually was.

He had also forgotten to take into account the fact that he didn't know which direction Ivy had headed off in.

"Ivy! Please! Are you mad that I called you a dumbass?! I won't do it anymore! You're not dumb, you're super smart!" Artios shouted wearily into the desolate forest.

His voice echoed through the bushes and trees, parroting his words back almost as though they were mocking him.

As expected, still no response.

"Please Ivy..."

Time was running out. It was almost sundown and he hadn't even found a trace leading to the small teen yet.

There was so many places Ivy could've gone that he didn't have an idea where to start.

Suddenly a sharp pang of fear struck the swordsman in his chest. It had still been pretty dark when the younger left.

What if he had fallen somewhere and hurt himself? What if he was calling for help in a hole or ditch where nobody could find him?

What if he was...No!

Artios shook his head to get the scary thoughts out. He couldn't think like that. He had to keep looking. He couldn't lose hope after coming this far.

"Ivy... I'm sorry..." The thief called out again, exhausted after yelling all afternoon. Giving up was not an option though, he had to keep powering on no matter how impossible it felt.

Just as Artios was about to go further up the mountain, he felt something warm brush against his thigh.

"Wha..." The swordsman stuck his hand inside his pocket when he realized that's where the heat was coming from.

He ran his hand over the small items scattered inside, pulling the responsible object out as soon as he felt the warmth spread across his palm.

It was soothing amidst the cold evening air. He wanted to sit and roll it around on his hands all day.

He knew he didn't have time for that right now though, so he pushed the distracting thought away, going back to what he was doing earlier.

Artios peeked into his cupped hands to see the Regiis Fortitudo, and it was... glowing?

The soft light from the gem warped forward into a long triangular shape extending from it, kind of like a compass arrow, except the light emitted was blue.

He followed the shape formed by the luminescent stone to see a glowing flower illuminated in between two trees, the same one from his dreams.

The Luna.

The swordsman rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, after all, it had been a pretty long day and he hadn't gotten much sleep.

However when he looked up again, it was still there, shining brighter than ever.

So his dream was real...

The royal gem and the Luna had to be connected in someway. It was the only explanation.

All these weird things only started happening to him after the thing was in his possession. Had Ivy been getting weird dreams too? Is that why he was so sure that the flower existed?

All those questions could be answered later. For now his priority was finding the younger in time, the swordsman reminded himself again.

"Follow the light!" Artios instructed.

He didn't know why, but he had a strong gut feeling that the light would lead him back to Ivy, and as of now he didn't have much of anything else to follow.

The mare snorted before kicking her back legs into the air, almost jerking the swordsman off the saddle instead of doing as told.

"Hey! What gives?!" Artios yelled in startlement.

The man instantly composed himself despite his urge to strangle the damn horse. He kept reminding himself of what his priority right now was, but it was getting harder and harder
to contain his irritation.

The thief took a few moments to think of what he might've done wrong. After a lot of pondering, he let out a frustrated sigh when he realized the problem, "Right."

He took a deep calming breath (which he very much needed right now). He didn't know how much longer he would be able to deal with this stubborn, stuck-up horse.

"Please follow the light Elizabeth." The swordsman repeated himself.

She still didn't move, letting out a loud grunt as though she wanted him to continue.

This was for Ivy. This was for Ivy. He had to do this for Ivy. Stay calm. Just a bit longer...

He spoke again in a low, shaky voice to suppress the anger, "I am extremely sorry for being impolite earlier. Please follow the light Elizabeth."

At that she gave a satisfied smirk before roughly speeding ahead towards the glowing flower.

Once they reached the first one, it dissolved into the air and another identical one formed slightly further ahead of it.

Artios and Elizabeth followed.

A similar pattern continued for what felt like hours, and just before the swordsman could decide that they were getting nowhere, the last flower dissolved and the duo spotted a small figure curled up against the tree in front of them.

Ivy!

Artios would recognize that crazy platinum hair anywhere. It really did stick out a lot. The thief couldn't believe they had actually found the small teen!

Though it wasn't the time to be counting his lucky stars yet because there was still one problem.

The boy wasn't alone.