A Worthy Opponent (HunterxHunter)

Chapter 40: Unleashed Emotions

The Warden's words...

How can that be? What does it mean? How does Riv not know?

His husk voice echoed in my head.

"Your necklace is not the missing piece to the Blood Moon's power."

Then what is?

*Bzzz*

We came to a halt. We had been on the move slowly but steadily for half an hour. There were eyes on us for sure so I couldn't look for my group until I located the animal. Feral directed us in an alternative route to make it seem like we were lost.

I took out the cone from my backpack. My notes from my father, my pen, and Ahmad's yellow flower sat inside. My blades sat weightless on my hips.

I held the hard rock in front of me. "Hmmm." The vibration hummed thick on one side. I turned around. "Oh it's..." I grazed my thumb on the crevices. "...the vibration is consistent from one direction."

Feral inspected it as I pointed the cone east, feeling the vibration at the tip of the cone. He came closer. "Mmm, from the blossom biome. Yeah, those do come in handy. Its vibration can stretch up to twenty miles I think. Your friends are here like you said." He paused looking out to the trees. "It's coming from the market area between the two towers judging by how strong the signal is."

They're really here...

"Well it doesn't change anything," I said. "We need to keep going but at least I know which direction they're in for now. Riv is on our tail. We can't lead him to them and...I have a feeling he's coming."

"WHAT? Why are you telling me that now! You really want him to come?" Feral ran his hands in his hair.

"Calm down Feral," I poked his forehead. "You heard the Warden. We have an advantage now, something Riv doesn't know. He already knows I escaped, he knows I'm a threat, and he knows I'm separated. This is the perfect chance for me to get close to him and observe. With you by my side, we could make some damage. If my necklace isn't the missing piece, I want to find out what is and take this information to my friends. And I still don't understand why I had a piece of it anyways. It has to be important because I was told to protect it at all cost."

"Raine you're like a ticking bomb. I'm on edge with you never knowing when you're going to do something crazy."

"But so far, everything has turned out right hasn't it? Just take a deep breath. Don't stress too much."

Feral rolled his eyes. The dark green grass swayed by our feet. He finally breathed in and out. "Right, control," he grumbled.

I studied the sky then darted my eyes between the trees. "I think this is a good place to stop. Whatever is watching us...it's closer."

I turned to him. "Open your hands." He held them out and I faced his palms up. "So you're telling me, you got caught because you let some sort of poison gas get out of control?"

"Yeah..." Just like before, his eyebrows drew together intently, staring at his body as if a demon was about to emerge from his aura. I tilted my head realizing this was something he was very insecure of.

No wonder why he didn't use it on me in the cell room. Even he didn't know how to use it.

His aura gloomed thin, his arms trembling, trying to push it out and hold it back at the same time. "Hey, hey," I said, holding my arms up in a gesture to ease him. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize there was more to it."

He relaxed slightly meeting my eyes with a hint of surprise. "You know?"

"Please, the aura around your heart is so mixed. It's dusty and turbulent. And I've seen that look before on someone else..."