"Why are you picking him up?" Kyra said as she looked out at the buildings they passed as they drove through the outskirts of the city.
"It's his Departure. I thought we talked about this already."
Kyra turned and smiled. "We did. I'm sorry, that didn't come out right. What I mean is, doesn't usually the immediate family take the Candidate to the ceremony?"
Wared nodded as he turned down a narrow side street. "Yes but in his case, all of his immediate family is dead."
Kyra looked at Wared, her eyebrows raised. "I don't remember you telling me that."
"I didn't. He doesn't like people to know about it."
Kyra furrowed her brow and put her hand on Wared's arm. "So why are you telling me now then?"
"He's leaving today so it's not like it's going to matter. Don't tell him I told you and we'll be fine."
Kyra shook her head and smiled. " I can keep a secret for a day."
"You better."
Wared stopped on the street in front of Tarun's building.
"I'll be right back. Wait here," he said and exited the car.
"Where else would I go?" Kyra yelled after him with a grin on her face.
As Wared took the elevator up the stairs, he felt butterflies in his stomach. It had been months since he last spoke with Tarun and it had ended on a sour note. He knew that Tarun didn't agree with his pursuit of Kyra and his insistence that Wared break it off had resulted in raised voices and words he had regretted later. He hoped that with the blessing of Henrin's father, Tarun's departure could at least be on better terms. Hopefully his insistence of bringing Kyra wouldn't backfire.
A few moments later, he stood outside Wared's door. He took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell button.
"Welcome Wared," Alice responded within a few seconds. The door clicked as it was unlocked and swung open.
"Thank you, Alice," Wared said and entered the apartment. It was only as the door shut behind him that he noticed how dark it was. The lights were dimmed and the heat was turned up.
"Tarun? I'm here."
No response. Wared continued into the living room. The windows were partially dimmed to block the rising sun. An empty tea cup sat on the table by the window.
"Tarun?" he called again and walked through the apartment to the kitchen and bedrooms. "Are you here?"
It only took a few minutes to establish that Tarun was not in his apartment.
"Alice, where is my uncle?"
"Tarun left about eight hours ago."
Wared raised his eyebrows. "He left? What do you mean?"
"He left in the car last night," Alice said.
"Where did he go?"
"He went to the Outlook Trail."
"The Outlook Trail? Last night? In that weather?"
"I advised him against it, of course, but he is—"
"Stubborn, yes I know. Why isn't he back?"
"I'm afraid the reason for his continued absence is unknown."
"Is the car still there, at the parking?"
"Affirmative. The car is at the designated parking location for the Outlook Trail. It has not moved since its arrival last night."
"What could he possibly be doing there? I'll have to go get him."
"Of course."
"Please notify the Departure Agent in charge that the ceremony will have to be delayed."
"Delayed?" Alice paused for a moment. "For how long?"
"At least for a day. Can you handle that?"
"Of course. The proper arrangements will be made."
Wared took the stairs down two steps at a time as his mind raced to try to understand why Tarun would leave the day before his ceremony. Why would he possibly want to go out to the trail now?
"Where's your uncle?" Kyra asked when he returned to the car.
"I'm not sure?" Wared said as he tried to catch his breath. "He left last night."
"He left? The night before his ceremony?"
Wared nodded and put the car in gear and pulled out. "Yes. His assistant said he went for a hike."
Kyra's eyes widened. "The weather last night was horrible. Why—"
"Exactly. We have to find him," Wared said and accelerated hard. Kyra grabbed hold of the door handle with one hand and his arm.
"Whoa, slow down."
"There's no time to waste, Kyra. He's not an impulsive kind of person."
"Where are we going?"
"The Outlook Hike trail."
Kyra looked at Wared as he continued thruogh the streets. "The Outlook? Isn't that way out there?"
Wared nodded as he accelerated past a couple of cars. "Yes. He has history there."
"Don't we all? I've been out there many times."
"So have I, but it's special to him."
"In what way?"
Wared sighed and hesitated. "There was an accident, many years ago, not long after his daughter was born."
"What happened?"
"They were on a family hike and his wife and daughter slipped and fell."
Kyra gasped. "Did they..." her voice trailed off.
"They didn't make it," Wared said with nodded. "Every since then, he goes up there regularly. There's a memorial up there. He spends hours there."
e city behind. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. Do you think that's why he went out there? One last visit?"
Wared shrugged. "Perhaps. I know he had plans to go there the other day so he wouldn't have to hurry. It would be unusual for him to go twice in the time span of a couple of day."
"Maybe I should call my dad. I'm sure the Protectorate could help."
Wared shook his head. "No. It's going to be embarrassing enough that the ceremony is delayed by a day."
They continued in silence while the rain continued to fall, increasing in intensity as they approached the trail head. They found Tarun's car in the parking lot, just as Alice had said. There was no sign of Tarun.
"Now what? Kyra said.
Wared parked next to Tarun's car. "We have to go find him?"
Kyra sighed and shivered at the thought. "Did you bring any rain gear?"
Wared look at her and shook his head. "I wasn't exactly expecting to go hiking today."
"So what do we do? Where do we look?"
"We follow the trail, at least for a bit."
They left the car behind and headed out just as the rain died down and the clouds began to disperse.
"See, better already!" Wared shouted over his shoulder with a smile and pointed towards the sky as they trudged up the incline. As the angle of the trail increased, they were met with less than ideal conditions. The trail was wet and muddy while the grassy slopes around it were wet and slippery. Each step required intense concentration to avoid slipping in the mud and sliding down the slope. Within minutes they are proceeding at a snail's pace while holding each other's hands for stability.
They had barely made it a hundred feet up the trail when Kyra slipped on a narrow part of the trail. She let out a scream as her feet slid down the hill. Wared managed to grab onto a rock formation just before he was pulled down the hill as well and barely held onto Kyra's hand.
"Wared!" she screamed as she struggled to find something to support her feet. "Help me, pull me up!"
"I got you, I got you," he shouted. With all the strength he could muster, he pulled Kyra back up the slope and onto the muddy trail. They collapsed in a heap in the mud, breathing heavy as they held on to each other.
"I really don't think he went up that way," Kyra said. "He wouldn't have gotten far."
"I agree. I'm not sure what I was even thinking."
"What do we do now?"
"Let's go back down. There's no point in continuing in these conditions."
They had only just started down the trail when Kyra stopped and pointed. "Wared, what's that over there?"
"Where?"
"There's something red over on the right, off the trail."
Wared felt as if his heart skipped a beat. "That's him," he said with conviction. "Come, hurry." Wared wasted little time with the rest of their ascent as he ran and slid down the trail with Kyra close behind. They reached the bottom of the trail without further incident. Wared stopped and looked around as he pointed towards the general area where Kyra had seen the red splotch of color.
"No wonder we didn't see him earlier. You can only see that part of the terrain from higher up the trail."
They continued off the trail, across uneven ground covered with a combination of grass and moss. A few minutes later, Kyra spotted Tarun curled up on the ground.
"Tarun? Hello?" Wared said as he gently shook his uncle, then looked for his pulse. "Tarun?"
Suddenly, Tarun's eyes opened wide and he turned his head slightly to look at them. He blinked a couple of times.
"You're all going to die," he whispered before his eyes rolled back into his head.