Page 18 of Darkening Truth
Since nothing has burst out of the treeline to attack me, nor has anyone come along in the time that I have been standing here and studying the surroundings, I decide that I may as well explore, and the obvious choice would be to carry on up the cobbled road.
I’ve never really been one to do what is expected though, and something, I’m not sure what, is pulling me into the woods instead.
I’ll admit that there is a brief moment of hesitation, where I wonder if I really should follow the pull or whether it’s some kind of creature wanting to eat me.
It’s possible, but this is also a dream, and I am incredibly curious about why there’s a need for me to go in this direction and not the more obvious one.
I step off the road and into the trees, and as I walk past the soaring trees with the swirling pattern on their trunks, I can’t help but brush my fingers over them.
When I do, the swirling patterns begin to glow softly, and I pull my hand back, just in case it’s trying to drain my life force or something. I have read about trees in certain realms being able to do that, and it does not sound pleasant.
I would be concerned about how suspicious I am of everything, but I think I’ve earned the right to be after everything that I’ve gone through in my life. Besides, I would rather be overly suspicious than dead. With that thoughtheavy in my mind, I open a pocket in the Void and pull out one of the swords that I store there.
Just in case.
“Hey!”
I spin around, my sword lifted in preparation, and then sigh with a smile.
“Zev! You scared the shit out of me. What are you doing here? It’s a dream,” I reply with a slight frown, because I was one hundred percent sure that this was a dream, but seeing Zev here makes me wonder if I’m wrong. I add sounding a lot more unsure, “Isn’t it?”
Zev smiles and moves closer as I drop my sword, “I’m not sure. I was dreaming about cookies, and then my magic stirred, and I got pulled in here.” He looks around and then adds seriously, “I’d rather be here. The cookies were looking at me like they wanted to eat me, and I do not want to experience that.”
I blink at him for a moment before I burst out laughing at his horrified expression.
“Whoa,” he mutters as he looks around us, “the trees started glowing then.”
“They glow if you touch them as well,” I tell him with an excited smile. Exploring this place would have been fun on my own, but with him, it’s going to be even better.
He reaches out his hand and gently touches the tree closest to him, and nothing happens.
“Maybe this one is broken?” He says, with a small frown.
I reach out my hand, and as soon as it touches the bark of the trunk, the lines in the tree begin glowing.
Zev watches me closely, “Maybe it only works for you? This is your dream after all.”
I pull my hand back, “Yeah, maybe. Come on, I’m being pulled in this direction.”
“Well that doesn’t sound dodgy at all,” Zev replies with a sarcastic smile.
I grin, “It’ll be fine. I’ve got no bad feelings, and my instincts aren’t buzzing at me in warning.”
He shrugs, “That’s good enough for me. Lead the way.”
As we walk, I turn to look at him, “I didn’t know you could dream walk, that’s not a typical Seer thing.”
Zev shrugs, “No, apparently not. I honestly thought it was. The guys chewed me out for not telling them sooner. I tried to send Khaos back to you in the Underworld, not that we knew that it was you that he was dreaming about. A Goddess told us no and blocked me from sending him back to you. I’m wondering now if it was Verena, since she seems to be involved in a lot of what is going on.”
“Probably, it wouldn’t surprise me. However, I don’t know why he wasn’t allowed to come back. He tried to come back?” I ask, my heart melting.
Chapter Seven
Farren
Zev nods, “Yeah, he thought you had died.”
I wince, “I nearly did. If he hadn’t gotten through to me when he did, then I wouldn’t have woken up from that sleep.”
