Chapter Eight

"DESOLIN!" Calling out to Desolin, he turns around, a grin breaking out on his face.

"You decided to come?" Nodding, I show him the knife. "There anything and you'll be stabbed. Okay? Stabby, stabby. Got that?" Desolin looks at me and nods frantically. "Got it."

Walking past him, I realize Desolin didn't tell me where we are going. Turning back to him, he walks past me.

"We're going to the vision forest. Hopefully, we can learn more about the crack." Running up to him, I stand in front of him.

"Didn't you say you had information on this?" He glares at me, walking around me. "Yes, I did. And I do. But it's always good to learn more." Sighing, I move ahead of him. "Do you always have to be in the front?" Nodding, I make sure he doesn't get ahead of me.

Hearing Desolin say something under his breath, I turn to face him. "What?" He shakes his head. "Nothing. Can we just go?" Glaring at him, he walks beside me this time, not giving me a chance to get in front of him.

"You never told me anything about you."

"Oh, so now you want to know more about me?"

"Well yes! If I will be traveling with you, I might as well." He sighs.

"I have a younger sister and a mom. We lived in the East but moved to the West."

"Is that just a front?" Desolin shrugs and smiles.

"Maybe." Groaning, a ghastly noise goes through the woods.

"Um, Desolin? What was that? We can't be at the vision forest already." He draws a sword from his bag and gives me an ax.

"No, we are not… So, who is out there making weird noises?"

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In the village, Zion is only hearing voices screaming for help…

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The voices are still in my head. They are saying something else this time. I don't know what. Everything is too messy in my head.

Each time I get close to Cadence, the voices scream louder than before. They hurt my head. My head hurts. I don't know what to do about it. Everything just hurts..

"Zion?" Looking to the left of me, Axly is standing there, his hand reaching out to me. "Hey? You okay?" Staring into his eyes, I nod. Just nodding makes me dizzy.

"I'm fine." She stares at me, not believing me. "Are you sure?" Nodding again, I force a grin out. "Fi-" Cadence walks over and puts a hand on me. It causes me to cut off my sentence as the voices sound like millions upon millions of high-pitched noises.

"Everything okay?" Axly shrugs and points to me. "He looks a little sick is all." Cadence bends down and looks at me. "How about I take you inside one of the village rest places?" Nodding, Cadence nods at the guard and leads me over to a rest house.

Once we get inside, I am being pushed against a wall.

"When did you take the pendant?" My head is in a daze like state now, the voices loud.

"A feeew weeksss agggo… Whyy?" My voice is slurred like I am drunk.

"Did you look into the pendant?" Nodding, my head goes limp, being held up only by Cadences' hand.

Hearing curse under his breath, I reach out a hand and slightly hit his head.

"Don't be like that. You ugly..bafjhe" The rest of my sentence comes out in a bunch of random sounds. My hearing is almost completely gone and my head feels like it will explode.

"I..Fix..Can't…Cade.." Cadences' sentence comes to me in parts, making whatever brain cells I have left utterly confused.

The next thing I know, someone is picking me up and laying me down on a cot. A transparent figure is next to me, whispering something into my ear.

My vision goes red and a weird feeling flows throughout my body. My eyes flutter close and I only hear the transparent figure whisper one last thing into my ear as the voices fade away.

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In the rest house, Cadence has his body back….

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My body is coming back to me, I can feel my body. Being able to hear MY thoughts and not my uncles is amazing.

Vision comes back to me. Sitting on a cot beside me is Zion, my uncle whispering something into his ear. Jumping up, my uncle stays there, whispering. Trying to pull Zion away from him, his cold, bony fingers wraps around my arm, squeezing.

"Don't. This is the only way." My uncle slowly starts to fade as Zion's eyes close.

"What're you doing to him?! Let him go!" The hand around my wrist grasps tighter, causing me to gasp and pain and flinch away.

"Only way, Cadence…" My uncle fades away, leaving me and Zion alone in the room.

Not caring that my uncle voluntarily left, I grab the pendant that is lying next to Zion and stuff it into my pocket. Shaking Zion, his eyes open half-way. They are blood-shot and ave bags underneath them.

He looks terrible overall.

"Cadence? What-" Zion starts hacking, his hand goes to his chest. "I-Cadence. Can't…" Not knowing what to do, I run outside.

The village is in chaos. Guards are shouting for Lilac and others are questioning the citizens. Not caring about that, I run to Setril, Zion's higher-up.

"Setril! Zion, he is acting weird. He won't stop coughing." Setril's face twists in worry as I lead him to the rest house.

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In the woods, Jaylin smells fire…

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Beside me, Lilac has completely frozen when we smelled fire. She isn't responding; she is just standing there, leaving me to fight whatever there is to fight.

The crunch of leaves can be heard and the noises of wind is blowing through the trees, bringing us the smell of fire.

"Lilac? Hey! Li-" To the left of me, a tree falls, fire surging through it and towards me and Lilac. Grabbing onto Lilac and throwing us out of the way, the fire disappears. Listening, the wind has stopped and the crunch of leaves is gone.

Standing up from the ground, Lilac follows me, her face still stunned. Turning over to her, I glare.

"WHAT IN THE ELVEN GODS' NAME OF WHAT?!" My voice echos around the forest.

"I- I am sorry. Just- fire, and just, yeah?" She looks at me confusingly. Yelling, I stalk away from her.

"You're useless! Whatever that was could be back! Get over your stupid fear of fire right now. We could be dead right now!" She stands up straight and juts her chin out.

"I will do whatever I want." Now, she stalks past me and towards the vision forest.

"If you can't deal with me, leave! I can do this by myself."

"No, you actually can't! Without me, you would be in flames right now!" She waves me off and continues walking.

"Whatever. Just come on." Groaning at her stubbornness, I follow her, my back straight and my jaw clenched.

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Stalking through the woods, Lilac hears nothing but the sound of her footsteps

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Desolin doesn't make a sound when he walks. No matter where we are. It's weird.

I know he isn't who he says he is, but I don't know what to do about it. It's not like he would tell me who he is, anyway. Sighing, I bring my hair around my finger and think.

The crack in the wall. What does it mean and why did it come now? Who is this boy and how does he know more about this than me? Where does he come from? Is he evil? Does he work for the round-ears? Shaking my head, I know he can't. It wouldn't make any sense. The round ears don't even exist.

Tugging on my hair, the road turns onto a dirt road with carriages and carts rolling down it. Stepping back so I don't get run over, I turn to Desolin.

"What's happening?" He shrugs and starts to walk on the side of the road.

"Hurry up. The vision forest is still a while away." Glaring at his back, I walk behind him and close to the side, not wanting to be killed by a wagon.

Thinking back to my questions, I decide I will figure them all out on this trip. No matter what. Desolin won't hide secrets from me.