Royal Rebel 5 ~ Worlds Apart

Chapter 13: Suffering the Same

"Urbosa, I don't want to leave _____ to chase after Sooga by herself!" I tried to pull my hand away from Urbosa as she pulled me with her through the hall, not slowing her sprint down at all. "He's dangerous!"

"She's going to be fine! We have to find Astor!" I eventually stopped my protests about splitting. She was right. We didn't have time to chase after Sooga as a group. Astor was our top priority. "Rhoam! Zelda!" She called as we turned a corner, and my husband and daughter were at the other end of the hall.

"Mother! Urbosa!" Zelda smiled as she and Rhoam rushed over to us, and I pulled her into a hug once I was close enough. "Have you found Astor?"

"No. But we found Sooga and Kohga, and _____ went after Sooga." I told her. "Do we have any idea where we could find the prophet?" Zelda shook her head, and Rhoam and Urbosa only exchanged looks with each other. "I think we should split up again and look for him. I'll take Rhoam, and Urbosa can go with Zelda."

"Right." Urbosa nodded, and Rhoam and Zelda agreed with my plan. "How will we know if you've found him?"

"I can connect myself with Zelda and talk to her. I'll check in with you every once in a while to see if you've made any progress as well."

"Alright. Good luck." Zelda gave me a weak smile, and I returned it as I joined her father's side. She and Urbosa headed down one end of the hall, and Rhoam and I headed down the other.

There was a period of silence between us as we began our search, though I didn't pay it much attention as I considered every place we hadn't looked yet.

"You said _____ was after Sooga?" Rhoam asked, finally breaking the silence, and I nodded. "What about Kohga?"

"Kohga shifted himself into Astor and took _____ into his chamber. But we haven't seen him since then." I explained as we continued walking. "Sooga tried to take Terrako. The little guardian disappeared while we fought him, so _____ wanted to find him."

"Amirah, I wanted to ask you something." He began, and I only glanced over my shoulder as I waited for him to go on. "You said that your cousin had been taken here when he was young, yes?"

"Jack." I breathed as I looked away from him, staring down as the floor as we passed over it.

"I saw him earlier." I froze in my tracks. I looked back at him, wanting to say something, but no words came out. He knew the questions I wanted to ask already. "Zelda and I passed by the assembly room, and Jack was introduced by the speaker. I wanted to go back and look for him after but we were worried about you."

"He's still here." I brought my hand to cover my mouth, and he rested his hand on my shoulder. "I can't believe it."

"Urbosa and I discussed sending some troops in to search for him after we defeat Astor." He told me, and I nodded and reached up to place my hand on his.

"Thank you." I managed to say, relieved that he was alive but upset that we never knew or tried to get him out. I looked down the hall ahead of us, and I saw a little pink orb floating at the end of it. I started walking towards it, and Rhoam noticed it too and followed me.

"Could that be...?"

"It's Astor's magic." I stopped a few feet away from it, and as I reached out for it, it started heading down the left hall. I held my hand out and took a deep breath, trying to reach my daughter to tell her about our discovery.

"Mother?" I heard her say, and she quietly urged Urbosa to come closer to her.

"We found a trace of Astor's magic," I told her, watching as it stopped at the end of the next hallway. "We're going to following it and see where it takes us."