The Lores of Lyra - Shattered Star [Book II]

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

The rising sun woke them up the next morning. A stream of sunlight fell on Vega’s face. The heat warmed her up, and she realized she was leaning on something. Her head was on top on something warm and defined, and it was moving. Her eyes shot open in an instant, and she looked around. When she noticed that it was merely Joshua she exhaled in relief. That was good.

Not long after all of them was awake.

“It’s amazing,” Eric said with surprise. Vega looked at him.

“What is?” she said with a raised eyebrow.

“This is the first night where my dreams haven’t been plagued by nightmares,” he said.

Vega smiled at him. The changes were evident on his face, and she couldn’t help but to enjoy how content he looked. In fact,  he looked happy to be alive and well.

“We’re going to need food on the journey… Eric, how long does those rapples from yesterday last after being plucked?” Joshua asked.

“Surprisingly long, those we ate yesterday were harboured last week. The only difference is the amount of nutrients in them. The longer we wait, the less energized we’ll feel afterwards.. Though, in my opinion that isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” he told them.

“What do you mean?” Vega asked with confusion. A frown had appeared on Joshua’s face too.

“Well. The first time I tasted the fruit, it had an almost euphoric effect on me. I was hyped and energized, it went on for days…”

Vega thought it over. She hadn’t heard of anything like that before, but then again. She had to admit that there were things out there which she couldn’t even begin to grasp the concept of. This whole destiny thing made everything else seem insignificant.

“So we should save it… Do you know of anything else we can eat out here?” asked Joshua.

Vega kept quiet while they talked. Mostly because she had nothing to say, but also because she had an inkling inside of her telling her that she was overseeing something.

She walked to the bag and took the map out. Surveying it, she tried to find the location of the Palenque. As far as she could see it wasn’t on the map. Easily she found the city of Draco, their location. The problem was everything that surrounded it.

“You finding anything?” Joshua asked.

Vega shook her head no. Nothing had come up, but the feeling that something was right in front of her was hard to shake off.

“I have no clue where to go,” she sighed and rubbed her temples. The dull headache that had bothered her for days had amplified and was now torturing her inside her mind.

“Right now, we could use Garnet,” Joshua muttered.

“Garnet? The Elder who helped you here?” Eric asked with surprised. Joshua nodded. Walking over to Vega he studied the map for a moment.

“I think I might now where to go then, though there’s no guarantee,” he continued.

Vega and Joshua rose to their full height.

“Well, lead the way then,” she said. It wouldn’t help them anything to stand around here.

Eric nodded and gathered his things.

“You don’t want to know?” he asked while packing away the rest of his belongings.

“Of course,  I do, but you can tell us while we walk,” Vega said and looked around. “This place is starting to give me the creeps.”

No one argued with that. And as they slowly, but steadily worked their way through the forest he told them about the nearest town.

“I’m not particular well known around here, but while I was locked down, there were a few people, besides Steven, that helped me in these past months. They all came from one city, the nearest one."

“What was special about them?” Vega asked.

“They all had wisdom beyond others, and they spoke of a secret compartment in on of the buildings in that city,” he said and pointed ahead.

In silence,  they walked, and thoughts roared through Vega’s mind.

--

Joshua was the first to break out from the forest. The walk had been long and tiresome, and now they were all sore in their legs. Every step seemed to bring them pain. Except for Eric who had been running more these past months than ever before in his life.