'Within the next 3 days, we should reach Azure, according to the map.' Illian informs the rest of us, as he held the map in one hand and the horse's reins on another. We were currently making our way to the Azure city by horse. I'm having to hitch a ride with Illian, since I had no clue on how to ride a horse. 'Dang, your hair is a pretty blue.' Illian adds in a random comment...for the fourth time. I had to put my hair into a plait, so it didn't get in the way of Illian's vision of the road, since I sat in front of him with my back to him, but he constantly kept complimenting it to the point it flustered me.
'You've said that for the fourth time.' Edwin groans at Illian's repetitive remarks at my hair. Rendel was riding far ahead of us with her horse, which concerned myself and Edwin. 'Do you think our mistress will alright?'
'Of course, you idiot. She's an apostle. She's stronger than us combined and, what's worse, she's an immortal.' Illian sighs, as he answers. 'Though, you're right. It's concerning, since we now know Mia's kind does indeed exist, who are noted down in ancient books and ruins as one of the only races who can kill apostles and gods.'
'The half-demons numbers are probably very scarce, which is why we've only met 1 in our life, so it shouldn't be that much of a concern, but that's besides the point. I am more so concerned with her mental state.' Edwin replies quietly, trying to not draw any attention from Rendel who was riding at front. We were still surrounded by an endless forest of trees, despite travelling for nearly a day. The horse's movement, as they galloped through the lands, was making me motion sick. The blurring outlines of trees going by as we galloped past didn't make me feel any better.
'What do you mean?' I ask Edwin, as I breath in to stop myself from hurling. Once I've finally succeeded, Edwin begins to speak.
'Apostles, servants of gods, who later become gods themselves after 1000 years, are given tremendous amounts of powers, accompanied by several consequences, in order to maintain the balance in Astra in our world.' Edwin explains to me the principles and workings of an apostle. 'As the apostle of Shura, Lady Rendel is gifted with the power of darkness and death, which in turn eats away at her sanity and sense of individuality in exchange for the power to manipulate darkness and the ability to kill.'
'In other words, there are times when she is forced to do things out of her own will.' Illian adds on.
'That's...cruel...' I comment, as the events from the other day played in my mind, something she did willingly. That I was very sure of.
'There's a lot more things you, and even us, don't even know about her, but it's safe to say that her life isn't as pleasant as most would interpret it.' Edwin speaks with a subtle voice.
Oh, you'd be surprised, Edwin.
'Astrael gives and takes.' Illian adds on once again. Astrael is the creator and guardian of Astra, as well as part of and the ruler of the supreme five deities who've created everything we see today, according to the books Zephyr urged me to read during my stay at the Elf Village. 'He will not reason with anything or anyone. Only his twin sister can rival him in terms of ability.'
'The ability to take away every given gift by the supreme deities. Indeed, it is a tremendous ability and I'm glad they both don't exist anymore.' Edwin sighs in relief.
'Lord Shura exists, idiot.' Illian comments, causing me to cringe after what recently happened, whilst Edwin ruffles his muddy-green hair and laughs. I grab hold of the pendant, which lay underneath my brown knee-length cloak that I was wearing to keep warm, as it hung from my neck. It emitted heat to my touch, as well as a pulse, causing me to shiver, as it reminded me that I was housing one of the five supreme deities. I honestly didn't want to recall what happened the other day, ever since I had formed a contract with Shura. Too much has happened to me in such a short amount of time, more than a normal person can handle. I'd like to consider myself normal, but my features said otherwise. I, at first, thought Rendel was generous, but I'm starting to think otherwise.
'Stop scaring me, man. I know he does, but Lord Astrael and Lady Themiel don't.' Edwin snaps at Illian, drawing my attention away from the pendant. These two sure are close.
'Watch how they suddenly appear in the sky and obliterate your sorrowful ass. Who the hell do you think is managing the Astra balance?!' Illian yells a little too loud, causing Rendel to turn her head around to face us.
'Silence!' Rendel shouts at us from afar for getting too loud, causing us to snicker, as she turns her head away and continues to survey the endless parade of trees before her. I felt as though I saw a smile creep up on her face as she turned around, or it could have just been me and my delusional mind.
'I guess we have nothing to worry about her.' Edwin makes a joke at what we were previously discussing, causing us to laugh some more. We talked loads about the legends of the world we live, before we went quiet. Only the sound of horses galloping across the field of trees could be heard echoing in my ears.
'To think the world is filled with so many mysteries...it makes me crave for more knowledge.' I delightfully tell them, breaking the silence that greeted us.
'That's the same for me and Illian. Books played an important part in our lives, back when we were...well, less fortunate.'
'What do you mean by that?'
'We'll tell you when we get to Azure.' Illian whispers into my ears. I could feel his warm breath down my ear and shoulder, as well as his muscular figure leaning against my back, as he whispered. This is not comfortable. Let me off!
'And you call me a perv.' Edwin glares at the silver-white haired half-elf, who shrugs mischievously, further irritating Edwin. I'm never going to get used to this.
We arrive at a circular barren clearing, which allowed us to look up into the sky, which was once again greeted by the night sky, much like the time we left the elf village at. Since I didn't have any emotional attachment to the elf village, aside from Zephyr, I didn't feel any sentiment or fear after leaving the village's comfort zone, though it did feel somewhat weird to not have a warm air about you from the golden lights that lit the elf village from darkness.
We decided to set camp in the circular clearing and sleep under the stars, since it was clear and had no signs of rain coming our way. However, I did not feel any fatigue whatsoever.
Rendel lays out a large black cloth on the barren ground for everyone to share and sleep on, whilst laying out individual blankets for us to use to cuddle ourselves with. Edwin surveys the forest for usable resources and threats, whilst Illian scavenged for twigs and rock to make a fire for us to cook our food and keep warm. As for me, I was in charge of prepping the food, which I managed to do in no time, since I only needed to cut vegetables and put them to the side. With nothing else to do, I sat besides the trunk of a tree a few feet away from the campsite and observed everyone at work with their own individual tasks.
So far, so good... Nothing out of the ordinary was happening, but there was too much going on in my head that kept bothering me to no end.
'You seem to be paranoid about something.' A masculine voice echoes around me. I turn to each side to see who it was, before checking behind the trunk, to find no one was there. Was that my imagination? 'Foolish half-demon. Have you actually forgotten?'
Now I was aware of who was talking to me. I took off my brown cloak to look down at the pendant, that hung from my neck, which was now glowing a light purple colour. Shura was now awake, after staying quiet for a good while. I sigh at my discovery, since I was not in the mood to talk.
'Silent, are we?' The pendant mocks me with its eerie and distant voice.
'Well what is it that you want me to say?' I hissed quietly at the pendant, trying not to draw the attention of the others. The wind in the forest slowly started to pick up. 'It's not exactly normal to be talking to a pendant, for your information.'
'Yet you're doing just that.' The pendant twists my words against me, before laughing. I ignored it and kept quiet. Noticing that I wouldn't give in, it asks me another question, 'What exactly are you?'
'What do you mean?' I sigh heavily, in distress that a God of all beings is asking me that. Well you should know!
'I mean, there's something strange about you that makes you different from the other half-demons. I can't tell exactly what.' It explains briefly, not that it made me feel better.
'Is that so?' I say with a lack of interest in the topic itself, before it's words played again in my mind as I took in what it said.. 'Wait, you know about the other half-demons?'
'Quite a few, yes.' It answers, before warning me. 'However, I don't think you should meet them.'
'And why is that?' I press on sharply.
'I will tell you when the time is right, child. For now, help me accomplish my goals and I will help you with your own after that.' With that it goes quiet, the light from the pendant dies out, as Illian made his way towards me, leaving me with a bunch of unanswered questions that began to torment me.
'Are you okay? You don't look well.' He asks, as his pearly-white eyes searched my own. He crouched down before me and further gazes at me, waiting for me to respond.
'Yes, I'm alright. Sorry for making you worry. Hang on, I'll come over and cook.' I get up quickly and made my way back to the campsite, where Illian has already set a fire for us to keep warms and cook the food we've brought with us with. Illian quickly gets up and follows my trail, whilst continuously asking if I was alright.