"Let's get back before Ren decides to leave us behind." Sephirah turned back, walking hastily through the forest. The crunching leaves and buzzing insects filled the silence. She could feel Aydin's probing eyes on the side of her face.
"Where's the 'get away from me, you womanizing prick'?" Aydin mimicked her voice, shifting his to an annoyingly high octave. Sephirah shot him a glare but remained silent. Her heart seemed to falter for a moment as guilt rushed through her like a waterfall. She still hadn't told him about the letter her mother had sent her before the battle began.
The harsh, venomous words she had forced herself to read and swallow down haunted her mind. As much as she had wanted to tell Aydin, she couldn't. Sephirah resolved to burn the letter the next time she was alone. It would destroy the road to recovery Aydin was on, and she refused to allow it to happen. He was finally doing better. She couldn't take that away from him too.
However, the words of a Witan never lied. And what they had revealed to her mother changed the fate of everything.
Sephirah's face drained of color as an icy sensation traveled down her spine. Her tongue burned with the desire to spill out the contents of the letter, but her mother had ordered her not to, and an order from the Empress was something she could not defy. Friend or not.
"What's wrong?" Aydin pressed, laying his hand on her shoulder. The warmth of it burned through her jumpsuit, soaking into her skin and heating the bone-chilling feeling in her body.
"Nothing." Sephirah forced a smile and jerked her chin to where Ren and Alethia stood. A heated argument appeared to be occurring from the tell-tale sound of Ren's deep disapproving voice. "I'm just wondering what's going on up there."
Aydin removed his hand, a scowl warping his features. Sephirah brushed away the tension and guilt inside of her and pushed against his arm playfully. "Be careful, Aydin. You're starting to look like him now too."
She chuckled at her joke, and Aydin threw her an offended look. Ren noticed their approach from afar and turned away, shutting down the conversation with Alethia, who was glaring at him. As Sephirah got closer, she winced at the girl's intense eyes.
If looks could kill, Ren would be a dead man right now.
"Took you long enough," Ren scolded, trudging down the hill in the direction of the desert. Stars shone down on them as the group started after him. The moon was reaching high into the navy blue sky as the temperature began to drop.
Sephirah looked upward, catching Nova as she drifted between the thick clouds, her figure disappearing for a couple of seconds.
"So, what were you guys talking about?" Sephirah inquired. She hated traveling in silence. When she left the Nix Kingdom with Blaise and Kyra, they filled their time with their hilarious training stories and embarrassing moments. Laughter and playful banter had made the journey seem shorter and more eventful. That was the way she preferred things.
However, as it was now, they were traveling in a sandbox full of tension, anger, and grief.
Alethia shook her head, and Ren glanced at her sharply. Silence fell over them again like a wet blanket. Sephirah huffed out a breath as they reached the desert, leaving behind the sparse trees of the forest. Her boots dug into the sand, the grains pushing against her and sliding her backward. The weight of her bag dragged her down. As her legs burned with the effort of lifting themselves, Sephirah was grateful for the cold wind tangling her unruly hair.
"Have you heard the names Callistro or Icarus before?" Alethia broke the silence, earning a loud sigh from Ren.
Aydin's shoulder brushed against Sephirah's side as he stepped through the sand. "No, who are they?"
"People from a bloody dream," Ren interjected before Alethia could speak. "For skies sake woman, do you have to drag all of us into your delusions?"
"Did you ask her what her dream was about?" Sephirah moved faster, ignoring the soreness of her muscles. She reached Alethia's side and heard Aydin shuffle closer as well. Sephirah peered at the girl who remained facing forward, eyes focused on the horizon as if seeing something other than endless piles of sand.
Alethia's lips pressed together, and her pale face tightened. When she kept quiet, Sephirah huffed out a breath.
"You do not trust us, do you?" she asked softly, a tinge of sadness in her voice. For a fleeting moment, something unreadable flickered in Alethia's eyes.
"No, I do not." Alethia's voice was flat and matter of fact. It was an evident conversation ender, but Sephirah wasn't willing to accept that as an answer. They had already been through so much together, and she saw a potential friend in Alethia. She refused to give up on that.
Sephirah cleared her throat, considering her next words carefully. She felt as if she had to treat Alethia like a wild, stray animal. The littlest things could set the girl off.
"It would be easier for us to help you if you told us what you know. We are supposed to work together."
Aydin opened his mouth to interject, and Sephirah stopped him with a stern shake of her head. Ren stared at Sephirah with narrowed, criticizing eyes. Alethia's face hardened further.
"I do not require your—"
"Yes, yes," Sephirah waved away the words, drawing Alethia's attention to her. "You do not require our help. You are a strong, capable woman, Alethia. No one denies that, trust me. We are willingly helping because it's not just you affected by this war. Everyone here has a goal, a purpose in all of this. And we have the same enemy. So, lighten up, would you?"
Ren scoffed, eyes focusing on Alethia. "The day this woman lightens up is the day the sun stops rising."
"He's right," Alethia remarked drily. "I cannot light up. I do not have that magical ability."
"By the goddess's lovely bones, you really have a screw loose, don't you?" Aydin leaned forward around Sephirah to direct his question at Alethia.
"I prefer my loose screw, as you call it," Alethia paused to peer over at Aydin with scrutinizing eyes and an expression of disgust as she continued, "over your pathetic drinking habits."
Sephirah sucked in a deep breath. Her heart thundered as she watched Aydin's face darken. Ren grunted in agreement.
"Okay, look," Sephirah held up her hands as Aydin mumbled a string of vulgarities under his breath. "Aydin isn't drinking anymore. Both of you need to try to get along with everyone. You guys act as if the entire world is against you."
"It damn well is," Ren gestured at the desert, cloak whipping as the wind picked up and sand attacked their face. "For skies sake, we're being hunted down by an evil queen and walking straight to our deaths."
She brushed sand particles off her face, eyes watering and nostrils burning from them. Sephirah coughed when more landed in her mouth as she tried to respond. Then, she remembered the mouth cloths Ren had thought to buy, and she dug her hand inside of her bag, searching for it desperately.
The relentless wind swirled the sand around them, clouding their visions until they could see nothing but beige. The group stopped walking as they fastened on their cloths and tugged hard on the hoods of their cloaks. Gripping the hem to keep it on as the wind picked up further speed, tears streamed down her cheeks and wet her mouth cloth.
Sephirah struggled to breathe as the fine dust of brown grains circled them like tidal waves in the Wasted Sea. Her heart thundered in her ears as she used a hand to shield her burning eyes.
"Stay close!"
A deep voice yelled on her right as a rough hand grasped her wrist. She allowed Aydin to pull her closer, dragging her through the continuous onslaught of sand hurtling across the desert surface. It was as if the wind had started an alluring game, and the sand was playing along. Scurrying grains and sharp pebbles scattered about, slamming into her relentlessly.
Her body chilled as the cold air sucked the warmth from her body. She squeezed her eyes shut. Her lungs burned as she tried to breathe through the cloth that protected her nose and mouth. Each breath was a struggle. Sephirah's legs ached, and the weight of the bag across her front made her stumble into the shifting sand beneath her.
She lost her balance, nearly falling to the ground if it weren't for the tight grasp Aydin had on her arm. He yanked her back up, her arm almost popping out of place from the force of it.
Aydin yelled something indecipherable. Sephirah shivered, flaring her magic. It rushed forward eagerly, lighting through her body and sending waves of heat through her.
Suddenly, a cracking sound erupted, and Sephirah uncovered her eyes. Ice shot up in a massive circular motion, reaching high before arching to close into a dome of protection. Aydin gasped in front of her. His eyebrows pressed together in concentration as his chest heaved from the effort.
Eyes stinging, Sephirah shifted to see Ren and Alethia shaking the sand off their bodies. Both of their eyes were bright red. Alethia coughed roughly, yanking down her cloth. Adrenaline surged like a rabid dog inside of Sephirah, and she followed suit with her mouth cloth.
Her lungs soared with relief as she inhaled unobstructed air. Aydin plopped down on the sand, shaking his head and sending particles scattering.
"Can I get a round of gratitude?" Aydin gestured at the ice dome, throwing out an expectant gaze. Ren scowled while Alethia turned her face.
"Thank you," Sephirah said, unloading the bag and her boomerang. Her reprieved muscles practically sighed from the weight release. She sat down next to Aydin, who shivered. Sephirah held out a hand and sent the energy roaring inside of her to her fingers.
A small ball of fire appeared, and she let it float towards Aydin. She did it twice more, sending those to Ren and Alethia.
"Don't melt the damned ice, woman," Ren remarked from his sitting position across from her. He pulled out a piece of dried meat strips, biting into it quickly. Sephirah's stomach rumbled loudly, and when their eyes darted to her, she blushed.
She reached into her bag and pulled out some bread and cheese, consuming the food as quietly as possible.
Stay high, Nova. Sephirah sent the message to her bird, pressing a comforting mental hand against Nova's agitated mind.
Don't eat my berries.
Sephirah grinned at her companion's response. As they ate, the sound of the howling wind and screaming chaos outside of the dome filled the silence. She had never been in a sandstorm before, but for that slight moment, she hadn't known what to do. Her instinctive reaction had been to burn the entire thing to a crisp, but she doubted that would have worked in her favor.
The desert had an ugly side she hadn't considered. It wasn't as beautiful as she initially thought.
"We'll wait out the storm and then continue," Ren stated, taking off his cloak and spreading it out. He laid down, turning his body away from them.
Sephirah huffed, pulling out her saddle blanket from the bag and setting up her makeshift bed. She stretched out her sore muscles, kneading them with her knuckles as she closed her eyes.
Sleep wasn't so forthcoming as the torturous sounds of the hurtling blasts of sand continued their full-blown assault against the dome.
‡
A/N: Continue forth for the last part <3