Everglow: The Trials Of Agaron

26 - Symbols

Fischer was taken aback by the volume in her voice. She never shouted. Never got angry like that. Especially around him. She was always so kept to herself. He stood there, almost shell shocked.

She seemed to pick up on his blank faced expression. "I'm. . . s-sorry."

She let herself sink back down into the soft bed and continued her entranced stare up at the featureless ceiling.

Another sigh escaped Fischer's mouth. He knew she was right. It was because of her that Kori was gone. But there was no way she- or any of them for that matter- could've done anything about it. And there was no way he was going to start playing the blame game.

Instead he shuffled a little closer to the bed and gently sat down next to her head.

"Ko, the last thing he would want is for us to sink down in cement and never move on. He's gone. . . there isn't anything we can do about that. Trust me. If I could bring him back I would. We all would. But we can't. So we need to do what he would want us to do and find out what it is that's going on in that head of yours."

The zapher lay in silence as she contemplated his words. She didn't like them. They stung like a whip. But she knew them to be true.

He slowly moved his right hand over to her left and gently placed it on top. She didn't move, but he felt her fingers briefly clasp around his. He gently caressed the top of her wrist with his thumb.

She let out a cute little whimper before a small smile took over her face.

"You wanna go get something to eat? C'mon, you haven't eaten in days."

--\/--

Quin sat in one of the main living room couches, observing as Spatch fiddled around with the lantern. The feeling of tumbling down an endless abyss hadn't removed itself from her gut yet. It had been present ever since she lost Kori. Every time she pictured his face she felt lost. Sick. Alone.

Over on the tale Spatch sat with Trikka who watched with a blank face as he fumbled around trying to find out what exactly the device's purpose was.

The device had sat alone on the table for the past week, none of them wanting to even acknowledge it considering the price they had to pay to get it. But they couldn't ignore it forever.

Spatch inspected the device carefully, trying to recreate the scene that played out in the temple. However despite doing exactly as Ko had, the lantern wouldn't light up again. Instead it was like an empty shell. It almost sounded hollow as he tried to activate it.

"This is honestly unlike anything I've ever seen before. And I've come across a lot of ancient ruins," he exclaimed with curiosity flowing through his eyes. The girls just looked at him blankly with no interest in what he was doing. Or at least, they were hiding behind a facade of boredom.

Suddenly a shuffling from the stairs caught the group's attention. All three of them spun around to see Fischer and Ko walking down the stairs.

"Hey, you feeling any better Ko?" Quin solemnly asked.

"Yea. . . I guess," her voice was flat and coarse.

"Hey Ko, give us a hand for a second?" Spatch asked, waving her towards him.

She shuffled over to him, her eyes completely focused on the lantern as it sat motionless at the table. A chill immediately ran down her spine as vivid memories of the temple came rushing back to her.