Chapter 128

They, Raph and Ditri, arrived at what felt like the edge of the realm. The air was as frigid as it was on the outside and the snow was falling steadily. They were on a steady slope heading down into the trees below, behind them was the rock face with small nooks and crannies all of it covered with moss.

Rob was sniffing and scratching at the rock wall, the two of them shifted back but Rob remained the same.

"Forgot his chain." Ditri said, realizing Raph's confusion.

"Ah."

They walked forward and began examining the craggy wall, there was a pattern to the moss they soon realized and they began to trace it to see where it led. They moved along the wall and found a small cave, they shifted and entered.

Inside they found what looked like a home.

There was a pile of furs in one corner, an old fire in the centre. Along the walls were drawings of runes and pictures. On the floor there was a pile of stones, all with carven runes on them. He picked one up and carried it out.

He dropped it in the snow and shifted back, his bones were beginning to feel sore from all the quick shifting. After rolling his neck to try and relieve the slight ache he picked the stone up.

-What is it?- Rob asked.

-I'm not sure.- He said as he held the stone.

Rob then disappeared behind the rock face into the cave.

"Have you found anything?" Solar asked, appearing from the snow covered bushes.

Raph looked up, "Yes. We found a cave that led to a dwelling of some sort."

Solar nodded, "And what is that in your hand?"

Raph looked at the stone, something about Solar was rubbing him the wrong way, "Oh, there's tons of them in there." He said.

"Hm, may I see it?" Solar took a step forward.

Raph's narrowed his eyes, Solar had no weapons but he did have magic, "You know, I'd rather Charm did."

Solar observed him skeptically, "Very well."

Raphael nodded and looked back at the small cave, "Ditri and Rob are still in there." Solar nodded, "Do you have any idea who's it might be?" Raph asked.

"It could belong to either one of the two, I will see if I can find out." The Fae replied.

Raph nodded, "I'll stay out here, see if I can find any tracks."

They separated and Raph began to watch the ground carefully for any signs of previous activity. A few metres from the cave entrance there was a pile of rocks covered with snow, he felt the stone in his hand begin to hum with life. He held it up and saw that it was glowing, a pale green.

"Strange." He muttered as he began to move down the slope, grabbing one of the rocks for balance. His foot abruptly hit a patch of slick snow and he clutched to the rock for life.

With the adrenaline rush from the sudden action he sat atop the rock to regain his composure. The stone was still humming with life and emitting the bizarre, almost ghostly colour. He brought it close to his eyes and through his peripheral he caught another faint glowing on the rock next to him. Through the snow there was a faint shape appearing. He quickly brushed the snow away and found a rune identical to the one on the stone.

'Why would there be another one?' He began to theorize over what the reason could possibly be when he saw another glowing symbol not from from him.

Carefully sliding along the wall he found another, and then another.

'A path! But why?' He thought as he followed the markings.

The stone was still humming with life in his hands. He saw a significant drop off and decided to avoid it when the stone began to pulsate stronger than before as he neared it.

He gave an amused huff and muttered, "Weirder and weirder." As he carefully edged to where the stone was leading.

Nothing. Just a snow covered forest beneath. He stood and was about to mind link Ditri when his footing gave way, with a shout he dropped off the ledge.

Struggling and grappling to try and find anything to grab hold of as he fell and slid down the steep incline, doing his best not to panic. The afternoon light was covered heavily by clouds, making the whole atmosphere feel darker.

With an abrupt thud and crack he hit a tree and came to a stop.

"Ow." Was all he could say. His entire body stung from all the sharp rocks and sticks he'd hit on his way down, he'd probably broken a few bones, he knew for sure that he'd messed up his ankle pretty bad and his ribs were worse for wear. He didn't think that he'd hit his head, there wasn't a whole lot of pain ebbing from that area.

After a few minutes of catching his breath he rolled onto his stomach and tried to raise himself to his knees.

He gasped when he nearly blacked out from the pain as he collapsed back to the ground, panting and groaning in pain.

His body was shutting down, it wanted to heal, he needed to heal. He attempted to get on his knees one last time and succeeded.

On his knees gasping for breath, he slowly began to raise himself to his feet, relying on the tree next to him for support.

'Oh, yeah. I can do this.' He thought with clenched fists as he rested his sore arm on the tree. With a grunt he put weight on his right foot.

After doing that he laughed, "See, it's not too hard." He said breathlessly as he saw black spots dancing in his eyes, he clutched the tree, "Not too hard."

He could feel his body slowly regenerating as he took an uneasy step forward, he tripped on something beneath the snow.

"Ow, ah, aahh, ah. Come on!" He yelled through gritted teeth. With quickening breaths and a dizzying world he rolled onto his back, feeling the cold seeping into his bones as his consciousness faded.

'No. I can't go out, can't. For Brooke.' He told himself but felt too weak to fight it.

Just as his vision blackened he saw a dark figure looming over him. The figure was surrounded by a dark, sulphurous cloud. Then he closed his eyes and the darkness took him.