“So finding Jezz won’t have any consequences?”
“Oh don’t you worry about that. A spell like that is considered minor work, and no sacrifices, or curses in this matter, would become a byproduct of it.”
“Hell, you guys must be really cooking in Mavriel right now then, huh?”
“In what regard?”
“The curses from that book on top of the plague of world-spread Armageddon.”
He smiled. “I’d said it before and I’ll say it again, these are trying times.”
“Which is why we should really be focusing on finding that shield…”
“And we will.” He nodded. “The journey will not be easy, but together, we will overcome,” he said, stopping so abruptly that I thought he sensed a cyber monster approaching. My feet broke pace with him, and then I asked, “What? Did you hear something?”
His pointed ear twitched, Rufian glaring intensely at the horizon behind him. The barren land was quiet, the whistling wind and creaking metal of the street signs about the only thing I could hear. He stood silent for a daunting ten seconds before he tossed his hand over his forehead and sighed with a shaky grin on his face. “It is frightening, these pathways…” he said. “If you listen carefully, you can still hear the cries of the dead, their blood being spilled, and the sheer savagery of their demise. Women, children, men young and old. Sometimes it’s hard to believe, and I ask myself, is there really a god out there? And if so, how could she let this happen?”
“She’s alive. I saw her myself. And she is broken. We need to fix her.”
“Have you ever asked yourself how it got this far? The annihilation of an entire race?”
“No, I haven’t…”
“Ah yes, well, how could you? You’ve only been here for a few days…”
“I’ve seen a lot in my time here, and what I’ve witnessed so far was overwhelming. Sometimes it’s hard for me to relate to their loss, even though I go out there and see the aftermath with my own two eyes. There’s a difference between experiencing it firsthand and seeing the result of something as devastating as war. Where I was from, I was so small. And I’ll be honest, sometimes this feels like it’s too big for me. But I fight because I made her a promise. I made Senterra a promise. No matter how daunting the path looks, I will press on and do the right thing. The little humans that are left are everything to me.”
“I see you’ve been enlightened. Your stats and your level, they don’t coincide together.”
“I met an orc shaman and he gave me a gift.”
“I hope he shared with you insight as well.”
“Insight? What do you mean?”
He pivoted his head away from me with a confident smile. “You will see.”
I scoffed. “You do know that you’re only a fake priest, right? Don’t start with all of that metaphorical and cryptic talk.”
Rufian laughed, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement. “Ah, but you see, my dear friend, it is precisely because I am a fake priest that I can see the world for what it truly is. It is a game, a world of magic and power, where the strongest and the most cunning survive. And in this game, there are no gods or goddesses, only players who strive for dominance.” He paused. “We should embrace our power and use it to achieve our goals. And if that means sacrificing a few pawns along the way, so be it.”
I hesitated, unsure of what to make of Rufian's statement. That innocent grin on his face turned devious. It was subtle, and I didn’t know what the hell he was thinking about, but I could already tell I didn’t like it.
“The ball is in your court, priest,” I said flatly, turning my head over my shoulder.
He sharpened his eyes on me. “We will deploy. I can tell you are beginning to feel paranoid.”
“There is no such thing here.”
He chuckled. “Ah, I see you are learning the way of Thalian after all.”
“I already had a run in with a spy bird. I learned since then to never stand in one place for too long in Senterra.”
“Well then, to ease your mind, let us make haste and find a safe deployment zone.”
As we continued to travel on foot, the ease on Rufian’s face began to show. It seemed like whomever might have had eyes on us was gone, and he felt safe enough to whip up a spell that could teleport us to the forest.
“I sure do hope you don’t get motion sickness,” he taunted.
I snorted. “I’ve been tossed around a few times with Jezz’s magic, and her precision isn’t the best.”
He laughed. “Well, my sister isn’t the type for proper etiquette, I’ll tell you that. Hold onto your seatbelts.”
CHAPTER NINE
The trip wasn’t any different than when Jezz used to teleport me from place to place. Her brother made it seem like I’d get a first class flight with all the amenities, but it was just like any other teleportation experience—bumpy, rough, and something prickly lodged in my nether regions. Rufian on the other hand levitated gracefully out of the rip, landing softly on his feet. I grumbled as I tried to shake off the thorns between my legs, glancing sourly at Rufian who had a bemused look on his face.
“Something wrong, hero?” he asked as I waddled like a penguin down the dewy terrain.
I scowled at him, “Just the usual teleportation side-effects,” I grumbled as I yanked more vines off of me.
“From here on out, let’s make it a habit of staying at a visual distance from each other. I don’t want us to separate.”
Looking around, I noticed that we were in a dense forest that was shrouded in a thick fog. The air was cool and damp, and I could feel my hair sticking to the back of my neck.
Rufian scrutinized the area, taking in his surroundings with a slight frown. “This isn't where we were supposed to land,” he muttered. “Something must have gone wrong with the rip.”
I gasped, “We are a few seconds into our quest, and we already made a wrong turn in Albuquerque?”
