DEMENTED | Romance | Fantasy | Slight Thriller

Chapter Ten: Not Anymore

Chapter Ten: Not Anymore

The Prince and Ebony traveled for weeks and weeks, searching for the places the gang l'étoile could have stayed in hiding. They searched over an abandoned train station near a port city's "harbor", a palace the gang's leader Astrophel had apparently won while gambling, a gear shop whose owner had ties to the gang, and more.

And each time they stopped somewhere new, Ebony noticed the Prince getting angrier and angrier.

Finally, after nearly a month of searching, the carriage they'd grown accustomed to stopped at a run-down motel on the outskirts of Auria's lone forest. The Prince stepped out of the carriage first, boots crunching on gravel and old discarded gears as he gained his footing and offered a hand to Ebony. She gently took it and stepped carefully on the unsteady ground as well.

She cursed as the Prince began walking swiftly to the motel's modest and sunken entrance. Remind me why I decided to wear heels this morning? Ebony had always hated heels merely by the look of them; wearing them was even worse.

As they stepped into the doorway of the motel, they heard a cough from a man in front of them. It emitted from a man who seemed to be in his late fifties, obese with jacket buttons popping off and a large pipe in his hand. An old hat sat sideways on his head, adorned with rusted goggles, and although he sat at his desk in the dim light Ebony could tell it was incredibly detailed.

"How can I help ye, sir?" The man asked, addressing the Prince as he puffed from his pipe. "Ye in need of a room?" He winked at Ebony, and she did her best to ignore him. "We've got the finest-lookin' rooms ye'll ever see in Auria."

I beg to differ, Ebony almost retorted while looking around at the motel's shabby entryway, but the Prince spoke before she had the chance. "We're actually looking for someone by the name of Astrophel. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

The man broke out in a big toothy smile, and Ebony grimaced. "Haven't the slightest idea. I haven't seen him since..." his smile collapsed. "Since..."

And that was when the Prince could take it no longer. He stormed out of the motel, leaving Ebony and the now stuttering old man in his wake.

"Thank you," Ebony tried to call to the man as she chased after the Prince, but he didn't hear her, mind too lost in the darkest of his memories.

She found the Prince in Auria's lone forest, in a clearing where everything seemed gray with despair. He stood impossibly still, and for a moment her eyes mistakenly traveled over him.

Ebony came up to his side, trying to put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alrigh-"

"Again." The Prince's voice was quiet, yet the anger encased in the word was of immense bounds. "He's not there. Again."

"And there's still lots of places we haven't tried yet--" Ebony started, but the Prince cut her off.

"It doesn't matter," the Prince replied, voice now a level above his normal volume. "We've been at this for a month now. I was a fool to trust Augustus."

"Wait, don't put the blame on him just yet," Ebony protested. "We still haven't gone everywhere he's suggeste-"

"I know that!" The Prince's voice was louder now. "I know we haven't traveled everywhere yet!"

"Really?" Ebony asked. "Because it seems like you don't-"

"Will you just shut the hell up?" The Prince roared, and Ebony was shocked at how much his anger had changed him. His jaw had hardened even more, and his eyes bled black throughout until they were more holes than eyes.