Verita - The Guardian of Darkness

62

How in the abyss has he found me this quickly?, she wondered taken aback. The Deep's areal was as large and vast as the Eternal Barrier itself. Her hand flew to the glowing pendant around her neck before her mind had even followed. Was ist possible that this tiny gem held more magic than Aetrian had let on? In that case, it was her fault entirely for not disposing of something useless before she'd left.

The urgency in his call had caught Elanthin by surprise, since her feet hadn't even touched the path winding down two or three hundred meters into the abyss. So she waited.

Aetrian was catching up quickly, despite his ragged breath. When he came to a halt in front of her, he had to prop himself up on his legs.

"By ... Gratia's Graces ... what do you think you are doing, Elle?", he said in a strained voice after his breathing had become a little steadier.

The oh-so-noble Gratian looked ragged and torn, as if he hadn't stopped chasing her once for the past two days. His hair was tousled and the elegant riding outfit was covered in dust, dulling the deep blue underneath.

"What do I think that I'm doing?", she replied toneless.

His sudden appearance shook Elanthin more than she'd care to admit. When she'd left Aetrian's room two days ago, she'd made her peace with never seeing those amber eyes again. Suddenly faced with the panic flickering in them, she felt sick to her stomach.

I took Elanthin a moment to regain her composure and remember why she was here. Finally, she said: "I'm doing the right thing."

"And what if I disagree?"

Aetrian's chest was still heaving and Elanthin couldn't help but wonder how much he'd ran to find her.

A useless effort, she concluded. To her, it would've been preferable to make a clear cut that night than to fight about her decision amongst dirt and darkness. But now that it had come to this, she had no choice but to explain.

"Don't you think it strange that there are no monsters around?", she asked, stretching her arms out. They were completely alone on the edge; something she'd never experienced before. Elanthin would have at least expected an abyss crawler or two to drag their heavy bodies through the dust.

"The Deep must be able to feel that I'm here to return myself", she went on with conviction.

"How could I turn around, when this is the first time I've seen this place looking so peaceful? It's impossible for me to turn my back on what has been happening because of me."

Aetrian clenched his jaw, while he watched her gaze wander back to the abyss to her right side. He was moving, slowly inching closer to where she was standing.

"You're right, we have to do something – but sacrificing yourself isn't the right way."

"And I take it you have a better option?"

To her surprise, he put a hand on the leather bag hanging off his shoulder. "Our solution is in here. There's a chance we'll be able to return safe and sound without ever needing to worry about the Deep again."

There's a chance, she repeated inside her head. Had he gone mad?

"Aydeze said it's not safe to u–"

"Let that old man talk. I have a hunch that the mechanism won't destroy more than a few dozen kilometers in each direction if it backfires." Aetrian's gaze didn't waver once as he looked at her and Elanthin's head started to spin. There was nothing about his light-hearted behavior that she could understand, not if she had a thousand years to try. "And as I see it, there's nothing here to protect."