Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

Chapter 75 - Branka - What Day Is It?

It's day thirty-four, which adds up to...eleven bells on the night of Solis in the fourth cycle in the month of Brumous. Or so I'm assuming if my math is right, which it usually is sketchy but close enough to the correct answer. Let's just say I narrowly passed my math lessons when I was younger.

Over a month I've been in this wasteland of a forest, and it's only been two days in the real world outside of the Blight. I'm fairly sure I've gone crazy like the rest of the roamers here. Heathens, I might even be prone to turning into one of The Fiend if I keep seeing the same damn trees over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over...

That's all that's here. Trees, brush...more trees and brush. I have run into a river which I followed for a little while. Fish were hard to catch, and they were too small for a good full meal. My own food that I packed from the ship ran out however long ago. My head hurts too much to try and remember how long I've been chewing edible plants and roots. Gods how I yearn for a good doe or rabbit. Nothing lives here. It's as if all this perfectly habitable land repels all life save for those of smaller insects. It's annoying.

I've noticed my small loss of weight, and my energy is plummeting with every passing day. I have to stop more times during my everlasting hike to Gods know where. I train when I get antsy or need to work off some anger, but my body gives up on me before I can. Then I end up punching a tree or kicking a rock or smacking a rock with a tree branch. And no, it never makes me feel better.

Then there are all my roamer friends who seem to trail me everywhere I go. They're victims of my anger most of the time, as they seem to always sense when I'm angry and drift toward me then. Only when I'm bored or content or in need of someone to talk to will they dash away. I've named the more frequent flyers, though they'll never answer to the names nor remember that I called them such after a few moments.

There are the ones I met on the first day. Darling, who is always asking for her "darling." Sammy is the one who always asks if I'm alright. I always end up somehow chucking something at his head which only goes straight through him while I yell at him that if I was alright, I wouldn't be yelling. Howler is the woman who is always calling for help, even though nothing but the air and the grass beneath her feet is touching her. Sometimes I wonder if people threw her in here because she was just plain mad.

New ones I couldn't help but make fun names for. There's Chatty Cathy who never shuts up. She'll go on and on about nonsense. At first, I thought she'd spew something out about how to get out of the labyrinth or where there'd be a mountain or some kind of shelter so I didn't have to keep sleeping in trees like a monkey. Turns out she only talks about all things useless. Like the science behind the leaves changing colors, or the formation and process of a dying star. Useless. I'm ninety percent sure she got thrown in here because someone finally got tired of her mouth.

Bitchy Beth is the worst. She always has some bitchy comment to make about my ruggish clothing or the hawk's nest that's being made on my head. I always point out that it's her dress that is torn and thoroughly layered in the dirt, but she always says that she's elegant compared to my horrendous state. Bitchy Beth would have a full face of bruises if she weren't a damn ghost.

Demented Dan is just...creepy. He mumbles things, has wide eyes that look as if they'll pop out of their sockets any moment, and his hands are always shaking. I'd say he's on something, but I don't think ghosts can get drunk or high. Then again, I don't know much about ghosts. Heathens, I didn't really believe in them until now.He never stops spouting warnings about The Fiend, which I have yet to see. Thirty-four days and not a single sign of the supposed flesh eaters. I've heard their Gods awful screeches that sound like dying hyenas and burning witches, but that's just about it on my knowledge of them. Not even Kairos who has become my one and only companion - because I wouldn't go anywhere near the word friend when it comes to him - says a word about them. He never shows fear at the sound of their name, but you can see in his eyes that he knows more than he lets on.