Luke Pane and his Anomaly Sister [ Fantasy ] (COMPLETED)

Chapter 5

Once Luke and Alarich left the mountains, the land was a wide expanse of trees and patches of flowers all over the place. It was really beautiful. Blues, reds, pinks and purples everywhere. According to the map, the bridge was still a little while away. Luke took in the scenery like savoring a fine desert and he felt like his family was with him, but when he had to come back to reality, it felt like darkness had come in and hit him over the head. He tried not to let these agonizing thoughts take over. It was difficult. His head hung low for a very long time.

After a while, he noticed the trees were thinning out a little and dying too. They were coming up on sandy ground, which meant the lake wasn't far. But why was the ground like this? Shouldn't there be tons of life and more trees where there's water...? He could see fog in the distance. This prompted him to look at the map again. They were so close now. With that thought and imagining what is to come, anxiety grabbed at his heart and stiffened his muscles again. He shook slightly as he put the map away.

Alarich moved a bit slower as they went into the fog. It was so ominous out there. They listened to the faint winds, the creaking trees, the sounds of Alarich's hooves kicking the sand and stepping on twigs. And they began to hear distant wailing noises, low booms and bangs, and the sound of the waves in the lake moving ever so calmly. It was unsettling Alarich, and Luke's chest was tightening worse than before. What was making all that noise? Could it have been the phantoms? It sounded like a war was going on out there. He didn't want to be in the middle of that! He hoped to the gods they were only noises and nothing else.

A few more minutes went by and then he saw the bridge, and gulped hard. This was it. They had arrived at Bleeding Tower Isle. He steered his companion toward the bridge and a few big black birds over their heads cawed and flew away.

Stopping at the beginning of the bridge, Luke looked at the calm-moving water and the thickest part of the fog far out in the middle of the lake. He squinted as he tried to focus on the faint outline of the Tower on the Isle. This was a beyond intimidating thing to see. There was a lantern on both sides of him on the bridge but the wicks inside their cases weren't lit. Of course, they weren't. He had an idea. "Excuse me for this Alarich. Bear with me." He gingerly stood up on his back, annoying the horse, and checked the candles. "Oil! Oil lamps...! There's plenty in these." He grabbed the lantern and struggled to take it off the pole. Finally, he managed to get it. "Now... the other one." He said.

"Phbbbt..." Alarich didn't care for the sound of that. Luke jumped down, took Alarich over to the other lantern and did the same with that one. It was surprisingly looser than the first lantern.

Now finished, he got off Alarich and carefully stowed one of the lanterns in a saddlebag.

His gaze met the gloomy Isle again. "The Isle of Phantoms..." There had to be many dangerous entities lurking there. He could just feel something evil out there. He then wondered... what would happen if he spread the thinebell weed's essence on him? Since it was a ghost repellent, the possibility of it not being strong enough was quite high, but it was an idea absolutely worth trying. Why didn't he consider this earlier?

He reached into the bag and took the vial out. "...Time is wasting. I have to be brave." Opening it and rubbing his finger over the weed, the dust-like essence came off and moved together like a ribbon in the breeze. He was amazed at how it attached itself to him and made his skin tingle. It was warm and comforting. Truly, it felt like a shield. He shook off the odd feeling, put the leaf and vial away and flicked his cape back, "Wow... Wow, that was amazing...! They didn't say it does this." He mounted Alarich and shook the reins to continue onto the bridge. "Here we go..."

The planks squeaked and whined at their weight as they charily traveled over them. After a while, he could see something swimming toward the bridge; he needed to squint to understand what it was. That particular part of the water was glowing and he could've sworn he was seeing flying fish leaping in and out of it.