His first intent was to call out her name. Grab his sword. Drive it through Abhijar. Tell Eve what's going on.
But something seems wrong. Eve doesn't look like she's been forced to stay there. She's discussing something with Abhijar in a casual manner like they were old friends who met in a park.
Ralph crouched low behind a rock close enough to hear what they were saying but not so that he revealed himself. With his hand over his yet still bleeding nose, he carefully traced their voice.
"...Chenire must've done it," Abhijar shook his head. "He's better killed Ling this time. The last time he returns not only empty-handed but spent a bottle of our high-classed medicine on that kid, Madame Lucy had him hanging upside down for three days straight. Nearly died that time."
Yet he not only spared me- But saved me again. Ralph thought with a gush of guilt. He wouldn't do that for someone he considers meaningless.
"Should we go now?" Eve urged, her eyes fixed on the site of the explosion.
Abhijar's eyes flashed under his bushy, grey eyebrows. "Are you still worried about Ling?"
Eve did not reply to his question. Instead, she changes the subject to Kanitha.
"Will she... Be taken back into the lab?" Eve asked quietly.
"Of course," Abhijar narrows his eyes. "How else do you think we would've disposed of her?"
"I mean-"
"You betrayed her," Abhijar emphasized, looming over her. "You were the one who's delivered her to me. Don't pretend like you're feeling sorry for her."
What does he mean?
"I-" Eve started, but caught her breath. A strong sense of betrayal grew in the dense, silent air. Ralph clutched a rock tight out of nervousness, digging his fingers into its hard surface.
Say it! He screams inside his mind. Tell him it's not true! Find a reason for yourself!
But Eve said nothing. She didn't even try to explain herself.
Ralph felt his heart fall. His mind went blank for a second. What's going on? What is Eve doing?
"We're going," speaking, Abhijar conjures a portal before them. He was one step into it before Ralph jumps out from behind the boulder. With one, swift uppercut with Rain, he cleanly slices off Abhijar's left leg.
The portal ceased away in a shower of sparks along with Abhijar's shrill scream. Ralph glimpsed up at Eve. Staring at him with her calm expression, her left eye electrical blue.
She's predicted this happening. Ralph realized. Yet she did not warn Abhijar.
"You little-"Abhijar curses between screams. Suddenly, Kanitha rises off his shoulder as if being pulled off by a string, disappearing deeper towards the inner areas of the island.
"It's Madame Lucy," Abhijar manages to squeeze out a smile. "Their battle must've officially begun."
As he speaks a giant ice spike of Paulie's shoots off the distant ground. It was soon shattered into a million glimmering pieces by an explosion, which then Ralph watches the broken pieces forming a shimmering river in the sky, dive-bombing back onto the ground.
"Your girlfriend would be dead!" Laughed Abhijar as he staggered up on one foot.
"No, she won't," Ralph breathed firmly. "She'd never leave. She's given me her promise. I'll just do my part."
His eyes blazed in the plague flame, angling his sword, he lunged for Abhijar who pulls out his hammer, clashing it into his blade.
They were blown apart by the force of their attack. Ralph digs his sword into the rocks, forcing himself to a stop beside Eve. The wound from the fight with Forrest still sends shivers of pain through his body.
YOU ARE READING
Alasla: The New Age
Fantasy"What killed him isn't me. It's the world." Ralph had never asked for much. Not even his own identity. But when his best and only friend got murdered by the man he calls father, he was forced to set off on an expedition to unravel the truth of this...
