"It looks a lot like those mysterious stones I keep finding," Ellen said. "Does the book say anything about it?"
"The writing is too smeared for me to read," Tear said, "but this isn't the first drawing we've found. I'm sure the stone is somewhere in this dimension!"
She sounded so happy. "Why do you want to find it?" Ellen asked. "It's not going to make you immortal," she added, remembering back to when Tear told her she'd visited Amadeo's castle in search of a magic stone that supposedly granted immortality. "It probably won't help us at all."
"Why wouldn't I want to find it?" Tear asked, surprised. "Aren't you curious to see what kind of power it has?"
"I know I am," Sycamore said. "That last one we found brought the dead back to life. There was a... minor downside, but they can't all be bad."
They both sounded happy, but Ellen couldn't share in their joy. Maybe the stone did have some kind of amazing power it would bestow upon them if they found it, but it was far more likely they'd spend large amounts of time searching and suffering and have very little to show for it. "We're here to find someone," she reminded them, "and once we find him, we're leaving."
Her remark shut Tear and Sycamore up. They put their heads down and returned to their books.
Fears about the others soon crept back into her mind, then vanished when Brendon came stumbling out of the forest. His clothing was stained red all over. L.L. followed right behind him. Her swords were both drawn and dripping with blood.
Alice showed up last. She looked as if she'd gone swimming in blood. Hopefully not her own.
Ellen rushed over to meet them. Despite their miserable appearances, they didn't seem hurt. Sycamore and Tear fell in beside her.
"What happened to you three?" Sycamore asked. "I'm guessing this quiet region isn't so quiet after all?"
Brendon chuckled. "That's an understatement."
"The real evil is lurking right below the surface," L.L. said.
Brendon gave Alice a hard pat on the back. "This one did most of the work. It turns out a knife that makes you invisible to monsters is actually pretty useful. I might have to take it for a test run some time." He chuckled again, then marched off. "I need a bath," he muttered.
Alice's eyes opened wide with fright.
"He doesn't mean it," Ellen said, hoping to calm her.
"I know," Alice said, "but I still wish he wouldn't say things like that."
"I'm heading back to that river," Brendon called out. "Unless you enjoy stinking like rotten meat, you might want to come with me."
Alice made a motion to follow him, but first paused and looked to Ellen. "My shield," she said hesitantly. "It's... it's starting to fade."
Chapter 6
What exactly fading entailed Ellen couldn't imagine, and Alice took off after Brendon before she could get a word in.
If Alice was losing her shield, would hers go next? The thought terrified her. Monsters were not going to go easy on her just because she lost her power.
She summoned her shield. The translucent blue barrier came forth without delay and encased her entire body. It looked the same as it always did.
She held it up for several second before letting it drop, then told the others: "It doesn't feel any different."
"I'm sure it's just this weird dimension," Tear said, not sounding the least bit worried. "Or maybe it's this area."
Sycamore turned to L.L. "So what happened exactly? I'm guessing you were attacked. Where'd they all come from?"
"We found an entrance to an underground tunnel," L.L. said. "There was something shuffling around inside, so we called out to it. Our call was answered, but not by anything human. I'm surprised you didn't hear the commotion."
"We had some ordeals of our own to deal with," Sycamore said. "I think we got off easy compared to you guys," he added, to which Tear responded by shooting him an evil look.
"We're getting out of here tonight," L.L. said. "There's another entrance to that tunnel right in the middle of this crater. If we stay here any longer-"
Sycamore spun around and took off running. "Let me get the rest of our books before we go anywhere."
"What books are those?" L.L. asked.
"I found a backpack full of books up in one of the trees," Tear explained. "Most of the text is so messy I can't read it, but some of the pictures survived. I think there's another one of those mysterious stone somewhere in this dimension."
"There better not be," L.L. said sharply. "Those things are more dangerous than any monster."
Tear looked disappointed. "They can't all be bad, can they? And I'm not saying we should stop our search to look for it, but if we find some clues, and it's nearby-"
"Forget it. You can search for it if you'd like, but I've wasted enough time chasing stupid kids as they run off on even more stupid adventures."
The comment stung, but Ellen couldn't not argue. Leaping into the Brazen Dimension had not been one of her brightest decisions.
Sycamore soon returned, his backpack in hand, then L.L. led everyone back to the pristine road.
"We're heading to the watchtower," L.L. shouted to Brendon and Alice, who were a short ways down the road. Brendon responded with a nod.
"I'm positive I heard something shuffling around below me back there," Sycamore said, panting. "It looks like we're leaving just in time."
Back at the watchtower, Ellen accepted one of Sycamore's books then sat down with her back against the side of the tower and flipped through the pages. There was little to find, only text so distorted she doubted anyone could read it, plus a few crude drawings, none of which resembled a mysterious stone.
Tear was seated nearby with a book of her own. She hadn't said a word since they reached the watchtower. She was probably discouraged due to having her ideas shutdown so thoroughly. It was for the best, though. They had someone to find and the mysterious stone, if it did exist, was not going to help them.
"We don't know if there really is one of those stones here," Ellen said. "That drawing could've just been a strange looking rock."
"I don't see why everyone's so afraid of those stones," Tear said quietly. "If it wasn't for them, I would've lost you forever."
There was something odd about the way she spoke. Ellen glanced her way.
She expected to see Tear seated nearby, her face buried in her book, but Tear was right beside her, her face so close to her own they were just about touching.
Ellen startled, dropped her book and jerked sideways so hard it left a pain in her abdomen. "W-what are you doing?" she stammered.
"I finished my book," Tear said plainly. "I was seeing if yours had anything new in it. I'm sorry if I surprised you."
Ellen still felt suspicious, but she didn't care to dwell on the issue. "You can have my book if you want, but I don't think there's anything to find."
She walked around the side of the watchtower and made her way to the pristine road. She was still very eager to ask Alice about her shield. Her and Brendon had to be on their way back by now.
And they were. Both were still a ways off, but she could see them moving up the road. Neither had a single spot of blood anywhere on them.
There was commotion behind her, a soft chatter accompanied by footsteps. She turned around expecting to see L.L. and Sycamore returning from their scavenging mission, and instead found two young men she'd never seen before.
Ellen could not contain her awe. So they weren't alone in this dimension. She was beginning to have her doubts, but seeing these two strangers settled the issue.
Neither gave her so much as a glance. Both were so busy laughing and chatting a monster could spring out at them and they wouldn't see it coming until it was too late.
Ellen had to move off the road to avoid being rammed into. "Wait!" she ordered, frustrated that the two men would ignore her so readily.
Both startled so badly they looked as if a monster had called out to them.
"I thought you said she was an apparition," one of the men sa
id.
"I swear she is," the other argued. "Why would a girl like that be out here by herself? It's too dangerous. It makes no sense!"
"I'm not by myself," Ellen said, but it did no good. The two men who'd been so friendly with each other just a moment ago sank deep into an argument. One seemed to have trouble believing she was not a ghost or an apparition or some sort of dreamlike entity, while the other was frustrated with him for refusing to believe that this part of the forest might have visitors. In the end they agreed to disagree then continued down the road.
"Wait!" Ellen called out again. They were the first people she'd met in this dimension. They had to know something about the strange explosion and Alice's friend and the general oddities of their surroundings.
One of the men glanced back at her. "Leave this dimension, ghost girl. There's a sickness going around. A mental sickness. It makes you see things that aren't true. It's worse than any monster. You might be free from it if you're new here, but stay too long and it'll claim you too."
"There's a village on the road ahead," the other added, his tone much friendlier. "They're rich with supplies. Take what you can carry and head somewhere safe. The two of us are taking off soon as we visit our outpost."
Ellen watched the men march away. She felt more confused now than when she'd first spotted them. What exactly was this sickness they'd warned her about? Had it really affected them to such a degree that she looked like a ghost in their eyes? Was it affecting her right now? Were the two men nothing more than apparitions she'd dreamed up?
She ruled out the idea. A sickness that wanted to manipulate its victims' perceptions probably would not reveal its existence so readily.
Tear joined her side. "Who are those two?" she asked. "Are they leaving? You didn't chase them away with your knife, did you?"
"They're in a hurry," Ellen said, then she explained what the men had told her.
"I've never heard of a sickness like that before," Tear said cautiously, "but at least there's a village nearby. I'm sure they'll know something about Alice's friend."
The two men seemed to believe Brendon and Alice were apparitions as well, because they barreled right into them without pause. Brendon remained upright, his strong stature deflected his assailant, but Alice was knocked off the road. She quickly drew her knife, and Brendon reached for his axe, but the two men took off running before any harm came their way.
Ellen felt uneasy. Supplies or not, a whole village full of people as absent minded as those two men didn't sound all that appealing.
L.L. and Sycamore emerged from the trees behind the watchtower and joined her.
"Did someone pass by here just now?" L.L. asked. "I'm positive I heard a man's voice."
"Two really strange men wandered by," Tear said. "Ellen tried to talk them, but they... weren't feeling well."
That was putting it nicely. "Did you find anything?" Ellen asked.
Sycamore sighed. "We looked, but there's nothing out there. These nice, peaceful looking trees have completely murdered almost all the other plant life. I doubt we'll find anything edible until we leave this forest." He pondered. "Now there are those monsters from earlier-"
"That area is too dangerous," L.L. interrupted. "We'll have to get by with what we have."
"There's a village down the road," Ellen said. That's what she'd been told. That's what she wanted to believe.
"Is there now?" L.L. peered down the road. "It can't be all that close if they don't have any sentries watching this area."
"They sounded confident," Ellen said. But of course, both men had also been confident that she was a ghost. The village they had spoken of could very well be a vision instilled in them by their sickness.
"We're not alone here," Brendon called out as he approached. "But considering the type of people lurking around these parts, we might as well be."
Alice stopped a short ways away from everyone else. "They sounded sick," she said, "and one of them touched me. I hope he didn't spread something to me."
"I don't think it works that way," Ellen said, then she explained again what the two men had told her.
Brendon, L.L. and Sycamore had all sorts of theories about the sickness, none of which she cared to listen to right now. Her biggest concern was her and Alice's shields.
She moved away from the others. Alice followed.
"I don't know why it's happening," Alice said. "I summoned it just like I always do, but after a few seconds, it started fading away. Once it disappeared, I had to wait a few minutes before I could summon it again." She paused. "What about your shield? Have you used in this dimension yet?"
Ellen lingered for a moment, fearful of what she might find, then summoned her shield.
The blue barrier appeared exactly as it always did, and just like earlier, there was still no differences she could see.
Alice summoned her shield as well. It looked no different from her own, at least not at first, but it soon started to fade away then vanished entirely.
Alice looked terrified. "I-it's just me then," she stammered. "But why? I thought we were the same. Why am I losing my shield but not you?"
Ellen dropped her shield. She wanted to say something, anything, to cheer her up, but she still hadn't the faintest idea how her shield had come to be in the first place, much less why it would disappear.
"Maybe the world isn't ready for two shields," Tear said from behind her. Alice looked even more scared. Tear added: "I'm sure you'll discover your real power soon."
"I've been trying to create a magic weapon ever since we came to this place," Alice admitted, her voice on edge. "But it doesn't work. Nothing works. If I don't have my shield-"
"Stop that," L.L. ordered.
Alice quieted down, but she didn't look any less frightened.
"We're not going to abandon you just because you lost your shield. That's not why we bring you with us, even though I'm sure some part of you believes it is." L.L. paused. "Of course, you having only your normal weapons to fight with does make you a liability."
"I'll help you practice!" Tear darted over and grabbed Alice by her wrist. "The first time is always the hardest, and it might even hurt a little, but if you just keep pushing eventually everything will fit into place."
Sycamore eyed her. "Are you talking about creating magic weapons, or something else? I still remember that message you wrote in the dirt back there. Your mind has been going to weird places lately."
Tear's face turned bright red. "I was talking about weapons!" she blurted out.
The training started right away. While the others gathered around Alice and took turns explaining their individual methods of creating magic weapons, Ellen stayed near the watchtower and flipped through one of Sycamore's books. There was little else to do. Blowing everyone away with her mysterious white blades would not teach Alice much of anything.
For a while she worried Alice might create one of those blades herself, but despite all the advice given to her, she could not create anything.
Brendon called an end to the training once the sky started turning orange. "We'll have to wait a few days before we try this again," he said. "We need to get moving. We only have enough food for two, maybe three days. If this village isn't close by, our search is going to come to an unfortunate end."
Chapter 7
In the morning, Ellen barely had time to swallow her stale bread before Brendon shoved her out watchtower door and told her to get moving. She'd never seen him act so bossy and demanding before, but she couldn't blame him. They were low on food and the few morsels they had left were barely edible.
She led the group forward down the pristine road. The others stayed on her heels all day long, their attention on the forest beside them, hoping to find something edible. But the forest of pink leaves, despite its warm and welcoming appearance, did not show the least bit of concern for their plight.
"It's a shame we couldn't learn anything about that strange explosion, or what was going on in that crater," Sycam
ore said after a while. "Maybe if we ever finish our search and come back here, I'll check out that area some more."
"That's a big if," L.L. said. "The kids are going to keep us busy for a while, and Brendon and I still have people we need to find. Of course, the two of us will probably end up going it alone-"
"Don't say things like that," Tear warned. "Every group of friends I've ever met always ends up falling apart. I'm not letting that happen again. If you try to go anywhere alone, I'll make you regret it!"
Ellen glanced back them. Tear had a fire burning in her eyes, but L.L. looked more annoyed than anything. Neither budged.
She faced forward and covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. If Tear had seen the power L.L. had unleashed right before they left the Forlorn Dimension, she would not be antagonizing her right now.
It was not long before the heightened pace made her feet ache, but when she dared to mention the issue Brendon only chuckled at her.
"Why don't you carry this backpack around all day and see how your feet feel," he said, gesturing to the swollen pack strapped to his back.
But soon the others started voicing their complaints, and Brendon submitted. He dropped his backpack then sat down hard on the pristine road.
"Take some water if you need it," Brendon said, "but we don't have any food to spare."
Ellen dug a flask of water out from his backpack then moved to the side of the road, where Tear was helping Alice write another message in the dirt for her friend.
"I'm sure the village up ahead has seen him," Tear said, "but I'll leave a note anyway, just in case he's behind us."
"We still don't know if this village really exists," Alice pointed out. "Those men yesterday weren't healthy. They might've dreamed the whole thing up."
Tear had no response to that except to look to Ellen. Alice did the same.
"I'm sure it exists," Ellen said, hoping to sound confident, but it was hard when the source of her information was two ill men.
If the village did exist, it wasn't nearby. No matter how far she walked down the pristine road, there was not a single trace of civilization to be found, nor was there a smidgeon of food anywhere. There were several more watchtowers along the way, but most were in worse shape than the tower that had been hit by the strange explosion. A few had even lost their interiors to nature. It wasn't until nighttime started setting in that she came across one that was habitable.
Scouring Majula Page 5
