{HIATUS} Éternel: Between Two Worlds (#3)

vi. When The Sun Rose Again

Warning: This chapter contains blood, depictions of graphic violence, substance abuse, and major character death.

Please listen to the soundtrack while reading for the best experience. Be warned that tracks 15 and 16 have sound effects to enhance reading!

✶⊶⊷⊶⊷❍⊶⊷⊶⊷✶

¹⁴ "Are we all ready?" I called out to my friends behind me, turning away from the cliff's edge to look at them, fully armed, wearing their armor, and mounted on their dragons.

"Ready!" Fawn smiled, her voice confident and assured.

"You've got the restraints, Levi?"

Levi reached into his saddlebag and pulled out the cuffs, both for wrists and ankles, dangling them on his finger. He raised an eyebrow at me, and I already knew I didn't need to ask further. As he put them away, my eyes landed on Hyunae, who sat atop her Wardhammer, a scowl on her face.

"Hyunae? Are you okay?" I asked, but the only response I got was silence. With a sigh, I turned around and slid my hand down to pet Aeneas' neck.

Ever since I returned the boys to Earthrealm, Hyunae hasn't spoken to me. Every time I came into the same room, she would get up and leave. If I tried to talk to her, she would shut me out and pretend I was a ghost. It was impossible to connect with her as she was so filled with rage, but only toward me.

The one single time she spoke to me was when I tried to tell her I was sorry for taking the boys back, and I begged her to forgive me. She didn't even hesitate when she said "I'll never forgive you."

It's been weeks since I last heard her voice. And the last thing she said to me was just replaying in my mind, swimming along my own guilt and adding to it. Of course, the others doubting me as well didn't help much and only made my mindset darker by the day.

Without another word, I tapped Aeneas and he took off into the air, the others following closely behind me. We began our flight North, back to where I had lost Toothless. I was only an hour out, so the ship couldn't have gotten far. The flight was filled with tension, none of us knew exactly what to expect other than the Dragon Root arrows which could knock a dragon out for hours in ten seconds.

We had a basic strategy set up: surround the ship, stay out of range of the arrows, and attack while I go in to get Toothless. He would most likely be in one of the cages under the deck, so I'd have to get him out before the others sank the ship. Afterward, Levi would capture one of the hunters and we would interrogate him or her back home.

We were able to spot the ship after two and a half hours of flying North. Unfortunately, two more had joined and were sailing along the main ship. With a sigh, I raised my hand and the group rose up into the clouds, staying hidden from the ships.

"What now?" Axel questioned.

"Give me a window to get in and check the ships. I don't know which one Toothless is on, and I don't want to risk it. You can attack, just not the bottom where he might be." I commanded, and my friends nodded before following me as I dove with Aeneas toward the ships.

¹⁵ Aeneas roared fiercely and fired a bright blue shot at the ship on the left, destroying the mast in one blast. The hunters onboard began yelling to the middle ship, where the hunters atop that one rushed to the bottom of the boat.