Death Before Defeat

Chapter 12

I'm going to try to get back to weekly updates, but honestly, no promises :/

TW: Description of wounds about halfway through I think

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As it turned out, Argenti wasn't that far away. Which was great, because they had no idea how long they had to find the staff and stop the evil Sky God.

"If we're lucky, we can get there in four days I think." Aza said, tracing the route they currently marked. "This is the fastest way, through that forest over there."

"Sounds good to me." Elias shrugged.

"Is there a chance we could go around it?" Xavier asked, staring at the map intently.

"Around?" Aza asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "That would take us at least two days extra, maybe more. We have no idea when Nebe is planning to make his move. For all we know he could destroy the planet tomorrow." She said grimly. "I think we should stick to going through it."

"Why do you want to go around it?" Elias asked, confused. "What's so bad about this specific forest?"

"Oh, it's nothing really." The shapeshifter said, turning away from them to admire the forest through the entrance of the cave. "Just a thought."

Elias and Aza exchanged worried glances, but said nothing. "Alright, off we go then!" Elias grinned, jumping to his feet.

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"Are you sure it's nothing?" Elias asked after watching Xavier sulk for a couple of hours. The route had taken them mostly through fields and pastures, which had grown boring by now. Xavier's question had been bugging him for a while, so he decided to ask him directly instead of being a creep and watching him.

"Yeah, yeah. It's fine." Xavier dismissed him, stubbornly refusing to look at him.

"Hm. You know you can tell us when it's not, right?" Elias tried to catch his eyes. "If it's dangerous, I'd personally like to know."

The shapeshifter pursed his lips and said nothing, still staring ahead. Within seconds a small light grey lynx trotted in front of them.

Elias sighed and fell back into step with Aza. "I've got a very bad feeling about this."

"So do I." She frowned. "We're nearly there. Let's just keep an eye on him for now."

The trees were huge. They were a deep green color, making the forest look very dark. As they stood on the border between the grassland and the looming trees, Elias noticed that the thick leaves didn't let a lot of light through. It looked like it was night.

He didn't like that at all.

Xavier turned back into his human form and froze, his face remaining impassive.

"Xavier, if there's something wrong, we can just go around it." Aza offered, starting to look a little nervous. "I don't mind going the long way round if it's safer."

"It's fine." He visibly steeled himself and then he stepped into the forest.

Aza pursed her lips and glanced at Elias, who shrugged. "Guess we're going through."

As soon as he took his first step onto the forest ground, a shiver ran up his spine. There was something very weird here. He felt like someone, or something was watching them.

Elias slowly turned around in a circle, trying to find a pair of eyes or a face in the trees. There was nothing. He narrowed his eyes and caught up with Xavier, whose shoulders had gone rigid with tension.