Numbered

Chapter 5: Oedipus Sondez

His feet were sore. The group had been walking for hours so that they wouldn't be caught and Oedipus felt ready to collapse of exhaustion. It wasn't like he was pampered and walking even a half an hour hurt his feet but they had been trekking through the forest for close to eight hours now and Oedipus was so done with it.

In hindsight, he probably should have been watching in front of him instead of internally complaining about the walk because he rammed straight into Emel.

The albino turned to look at Oedipus before simply sighing and calling for everyone to stop. The group gathered around the makeshift fireplace and Emel pulled out some jerky from a deer he'd hunted (when he managed to slip out Oedipus didn't know) and started to cook it over the fire.

Emel, the group (more rather Oedipus and Leanne) had found out, had not only been the most reliable and responsible of the group and was surprisingly good at survival knowing how to hunt and start a fire and other such stuff however when Leanne and Oedipus tried to ask the others how they knew they didn't give an answer.

Neither did Emel when they had tried to ask him. To be fair though Emel didn't really like to talk about much of his past, being a man shrouded in mystery so when he did it was quite a surprise.

"This jerky tastes good Uncle" Oedipus heard Jay say. Well that was certainly one way to get his attention.

"What!?!?" He heard Leanne question in disbelief and he had to agree with his childhood friend.

"Well my dad and Emel are childhood friends so I just called him Uncle." Jay responded nonchalantly.

Emel stayed silent as if he were pondering what to say before seeming to find the words that he had wanted to say. "Yes we were- still are, very good friends... in fact he was the one who gave me this little gift."

He pointed to his nose which was slightly crooked before saying that it may have naturally been long but it wasn't naturally crooked. But the crookedness was slight and most people, even those who knew him tended to overlook it.

"But if you're friends with him then why did he do that to your nose?" Oedipus asked.

Emel had a far off look on his face. "It's... complicated... sometimes you have to fight someone to truly understand them."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ruby said beating Oedipus, Jay and Leanne to it.

"It's hard to describe... someday you'll understand... maybe when you're a little bit older..." Emel said starting to drift off a little before putting his hands on his knees and standing up telling the group that he had something he needed to do before he left.

While it had kind of strange it wasn't like it hadn't happened before in fact it was a rather uncommon occurrence, just enough to be expected somewhat but not enough to be outwardly concerning. The rest of the group got to cleaning.

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Oedipus walked into the clearing where he saw Emel waiting for him. Emel had called him here to discuss something, something that only meant that he was serious and that it was important, Emel would have never asked him to meet him in private. If there was one thing he knew about Emel that he could be sure about is that he would much rather tell you something straight to your face when others are watching then pull you aside.

Though Oedipus had to admit that the place Emel had picked to meet was a clearing where trees surrounded it and vines snaked up those trees. In the clearing itself there was an assortment of daisies and fireweeds tangled in the grass. In between the surrounding trees were small bushes, one of which he had to step over in order to get to the clearing.  Lastly he saw that the sun shone down through the encircling trees onto the clearing causing the flowers to blaze to life in a dazzling light that could cause even the most distant people to lose their breath in disbelief, wonder and awe.

"It's beautiful isn't it." Emel's voice said from behind him and Oedipus turned to meet him.

Oedipus could only nod, he couldn't yet find his voice because he was still in awe. And even if he had found his voice he still wouldn't be able to speak due to not knowing how to describe this beauty.

"It's even more beautiful at night when the moon is out and the fireflies light up." Emel noted. It probably was.

"How did you find this place?" Oedipus asked not surprised when Emel didn't answer him but he was disappointed.

"This place helps me unwind. Do you see those flowers?" He squatted down and held a fireweed in between his fingers. "The fireweed was always and still is my favorite flower. Especially the white ones, they're quite rare however, most fireweeds are different shades of bright pink and purples." He moved his hand away from the fireweed which wobbled back and forth after he let go in favor for the fireweed next to it which was white.

"I don't think I understand what you're trying to say." Oedipus questioned.

Emel took a deep breath void of frustration before he continued. "These flowers don't stay this way forever no matter how much we want them to. One day they shall wither and die and-"

Oedipus cut him off. "If you're hinting at what I think you are I would like to inform you that we can't die, not unless we were to starve or something like that but even that is a slim chance." He said denial heavy in his voice.

"Oedipus," Emel started. "Eventually the Sun will swallow the Earth and I believe that all life forms, even humans, will be long dead before that happens. That said, even if I don't die and live for quite a long time to come I feel like I will, against my wishes, have to leave the group like how a flower leaves the earth for winter. And as a new flower comes in the old flower's place, you, as second in command, will one day take my place as leader of the group. But for now as second in command you need to back me up on certain choices and call me out if I make any unreasonable or stupid decisions."

"Back you up?" He asked.

"Tomorrow we'll be heading in to the City and before you try to tell me how dangerous it is we need to resupply ourselves and I've been thinking about how we would go about doing it causing the least suspicion as possible but I need you to back me up tomorrow morning when I tell the group." Emel said.

They sat there in silence for a few heartbeats, a silent conversation going between the two as the sun started to set. "Well, I suppose you know your way back." Emel sighed standing up before his body flickered once and then he was gone.

It still surprised Oedipus whenever the 6s of the group would teleport. Oedipus sighed before starting on the trek back to the camp.

So change of plans, I'm posting this before the other chapter because it is already over 700 words and isn't even half of the way finished. Happy early birthday to Josie (Feb. 20).

1250 words.