Page 66 of Forging Bonds: Part Two

“Well, that’s one way to take care of it,” River says happily, although there is still some tension in his body.

“Let’s head to the cliff. I’m done with this realm,” Raiden says shortly, and starts walking.

The rest of us follow. I stay as close to Reed as he needs me to be, and to be honest, I love any sort of cuddles from the big burly demon. It’s clear that it’s not something that I should ask about, but trying to stop my mouth from asking is taking all of my concentration. After around ten minutes of walking over thankfully fairly flat rock, Reed releases me, moving his arm from around my shoulders to take my hand instead, threading his fingers through mine, he lifts my hand to his mouth and gently kisses the back of it before allowing our joined hands to fall between us.

I melt, there’s no other word for it. That was so fucking cute.

“I think we should pick up the pace,” Raiden says suddenly, a sense of urgency to his tone.

“I agree, but why the sudden need?” Ransom asks curiously.

Raiden frowns, “I thought I recognized those supernaturals, and I’ve been racking my brains trying to think of where I know them from, which realm?”

Griff interrupts him, “Let me guess, it’s somewhere super dangerous, well, more dangerous than we already know it is.”

Raiden nods, “Yeah, pretty much. Let’s just say that if I’m right about the realm that we’re in, then those fire supes that we just met will seem like cuddly kittens.”

“Well shit,” Doc curses.

We all start moving quicker, and I’m pleased that I can keep up with the guys easily.

Wait a minute.

“Are you guys going slower for me?” I ask, as we jump over a thankfully small crack in the rock, and I refuse to look down just in case I see something that I don’t want to.

The guys share a look, even though we’re running.

“Well, yeah, Nene,” Van says.

“I’m fine, we can speed up a bit more, and if I really start to slow you down, just go ahead and I’ll catch up,” I reply.

“I’ll carry you,” Reed says. His voice is so firm that I don’t even bother to try to argue with him.

Plus, I don’t mind being carried, especially not by Reed.

The guys pick up their pace, and they all check on me regularly to make sure that I’m okay and not struggling. They gradually increase the speed, and we’re all shocked when I actually manage to keep pace with them. It’s not easy. My lungs are beginning to burn with the effort, and I know my legs aren’t going to be happy with me later on, but I’m fucking doing it, and that makes any pain that I may feel later on well worth it.

As the light fades even more, instead of getting cooler, which is what I’m used to happening when the evening starts, it starts to get hotter. Oh, I am not a fan of that.

Finally, we reach the bottom of the cliff, and I look up, and up.

“Fucking hell, it’s massive,” I mutter in awe.

“It’s so big it looks like it's leaning over us,” Doc agrees. “I mean it looked massive when we were standing at the edge of the woods, but I can’t even see the top.”

“It’s impressive,” Ransom agrees.

“Alright, now that we’re here, we need to find the cave,” Van says with a slight frown, as he looks at all the holes in the cliff wall that are obviously caves.

“Why can’t anything be simple?” Reed asks.

“Because this is a trial that’s supposed to test us,” Raiden points out with a slight smile.

“Oh yeah,” Reed retorts with a smile.

“Any ideas on a way to streamline this process?” River asks. “Because looking at the sheer size of it, we could be out here for weeks trying to find the highest cave.”

I shake my head, “I have no idea. What’s the betting that some of those caves have things living in them, though?”

---