Power of M

chapter 21

21. We found a grave in a graveyard. Hilarious.

Ash shrugged. "I don't know. Do you trust her?"

I shook my head. "Not really. You?" She shrugged again. "I honestly don't know what to make of her. She helped us come this far and then suddenly just changes her entire mindset. What would anyone do when some weird think like that happens?" I grinned slightly.

"Weird is our middle name, we shouldn't be surprised."

She laughed. "Good point." She pointed at Mavis's prone body and repeated my first question. "What are we going to do with her?"

As it turns out Mavis solved that problem for us by returning back to consciousness. She slowly sat up and touched the bump on the back of her head wincing in pain.

"Alex, Ash what happened? Were we ambushed?"

"You could say that." I said in a low measured tone.

"Who?" She asked blankly and it was pretty clear that she genuinely had no idea.

"You." Ash said. Mavis's face clouded. "What do you mean?"

I took a deep breath. "What she means is you suddenly turned against us and kicked Ash and told me to get a haircut." She looked puzzled. "But why would I say that? Your hair is perfectly messy." "That is exactly what I told him." Ash said and they high fived. Am I just lucky to know Ash and Mavis or do all girls act like this?

"Guys, last I checked we had a quest about a ring. Not my hair." I said pointedly even though I was slightly pleased about the attention my perfectly messy hair was getting. But I never said that.

Both of them smiled sheepishly. I suddenly thought of a way for us to get an idea about what we were looking for.

"Mavis, you know at least half the Twilight history right?"

She shrugged. "Actually I know at least three quarters about it but yeah....."

"Can you tell us everything about the kingdom. Everything that's important. Maybe we could figure out the whole grave, ring, and dead king thing."

"I don't think we need a history lesson." Ash said softly and pointed at a gravestone a meter away from her left foot. She shuddered and took a small step backwards. I took an equally small step forward and knelt down beside the grave.

The gravestone read 'Ru Twilight.'

"Twilight." I said and turned to look at Ash and Mavis.

"A name of a person. a name of a place." Ash confirmed. "This is a king that the dark ones embrace." She added shuddering.

I turned to Mavis. She had no idea what we were talking about. She knew it was the prophecy she had recited but she didn't know it like we did. "Do you know about him?" She slowly nodded.

"He was the creator of Twilight."

"So he's an architect?" I asked seriously thinking that he was some construction worker.

Mavis scowled. "No. This place, it was like an entire idea formed in his mind. This was like an empty void and he created this entire place. He made the rules. He was practically the creator of the people here as well. The souls of the rulers passing from one to another was his idea. Also the individuals on the outer borders of Twilight, being outcasts was his idea as well."

I didn't like the sound of him but Mavis spoke of him with a tinge of pride which made me feel slightly uneasy. She sounded like she was pleased about the man's actions and would've supported him if he was actually alive.

"How did he die?" I asked out of curiosity.

Mavis sighed microscopically and shrugged. "Experiment. Went badly wrong. Something to do with bringing back the dead"

"Even I can't do that." I said. She glared at me and rolled her eyes. "The world doesn't revolve around you Alex. There are powerful people who don't need tattoos to do magic and make miracles happen." By her tone of voice I felt like she was depressed about not having a tattoo and a power like the rest of us. But I didn't see a reason to comfort her because she was a freaking shape shifter. Figura subcinctus. What more could she want? Ash was oblivious about all the goings on and was living in her own little world.

"Ru Twilight." She said slowly. "Doesn't really sound the most coolest of names."

Mavis shuddered. "It may not seem like much but people used to shake and go crazy if anyone so much as mentioned that name. Apparently he was evil and also very powerful."

"Naturally." I said feeling queasy. Evil and powerful. Entirely cliché but definitely made a world changing combination.

"Let's just find the ring and figure things out afterwards." Ash said and her voice shook slightly. I patted her on the back.

"Hey, we are going to get through this. We got this. I am positive that we can do this."

I was lying through my teeth.