The Night's Curse #3 (Waverly Stump and The 7 Realms)

Chapter 21

"Where's everybody gone?" Asked Ceylon as they arrived the trench and found it empty.

"We were supposed to march out some two to three hours ago remember? I think maybe they already left." Regent offered. "We might catch up if we. . ."

"Look!" Waverly breathed quietly and extended a shaky finger. Since they climbed down, she had been carefully inspecting the inside of the trench which was unnaturally silent; heavy with a calamitous ambiance and a stench any soldier would recognize.

Regent and Ceylon squinted their eyes to better descry what she was pointing at; thick dark liquid was smeared everywhere; against the walls, on the benches and spots, weapons, and some parts of the ground where belongings had evidently been destroyed after what looked to have been a very violent scuffle.

But there were no dead bodies.

"Blood!" Waverly whispered, her heartbeat skyrocketing. She released Calaire. Its blue light bathed every inch of the room as she advanced with caution. The trench was soaked with thick red blood.

"There was a fight." Ceylon gasped and stared frighteningly at Regent. His injured shoulder was bandaged with long pieces of dark cloth but his arm seemed to have been paralyzed from the wound.

"A fight that our enemies are not responsible for." Waverly concluded and ran to the ladder. "We have to find the others. Now!"

She scrambled up the ladder without waiting to see if her friends followed and darted past the giant boulder, running as fast as her legs would permit whilst keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of the soldiers in her unit or the other unit but there was nobody for meters.

She finally came to a halt near a long river, panting and turning in vain circles.

"Phylliiiiis!" She yelled out. Her voice carried far and chased away a group of birds in the distance but there was no reply.

"Merula! Junette! Grayson!" She yelled out every name she could recall but none called back or replied. She panted and kept searching, waiting for anyone at all to show up.

"I don't think any of them had come this way." Regent offered from behind. His chest heaved in and out from the run but he looked less spent than Ceylon.

"How. . . on earth. . . can you run. . . that fast?" Ceylon asked in between heavy breaths.

"If Fira has been let loose, the dark army will do no more than sit back and watch us murder ourselves." Waverly stated, her tone laced with deep worry.

"I don't get it. How did you know another Elemental has been set loose?" Regent asked.

Waverly's gaze dropped to the clear water even though the boys stood behind her and could not see the shame on her face. A deep sense of regret and irresponsibility filled her to the brim - she chould have warned them earlier. Judson told her but she had entirely forgotten about it.

"That night i met Oculmus, he told me. He told me he would release her." She explained.

"And you didn't tell us?" Regent asked in disbelief.

"Even if she did tell us, Regent, i think that it would not have made much of a difference anyway." Ceylon expressed despairingly. "We were consumed because we long harbored vile thoughts toward each other. There was no way warning us beforehand could have prevented that fight. And there is no way it can stop anyone else from getting angry."

Regent gave a deep sigh and walked to Waverly. "What do we do now?"

Just then the trees to the right of them shook violently and the ground rumbled with it as if a mountain had got up and began to walk. Ceylon raced over and the trio brandished their weapons just before the incredible heads of an Ettin came into view. Its four pair of eyes looked toward the east and west constantly causing it to stagger sideways as it walked. It was a frightful yet confusing sight to behold.