Silver & Gold (Scomiche)

The Shade Lands

Avi furrowed his brow as the dense trees came to an abrupt end. Ahead of them was a vast stretch of grossly yellow/green sky and jet black sand as far as his human eyes could see. He noticed the skeletons of a handful of trees scattered along the horizon, but they would be no more helpful than the frame of an umbrella in a downpour. To say he was afraid would be a huge understatement. There was no turning back now.

"Stay close to one another. If all goes well then we will reach the veil before the light fades and the shades and tyrunga awake. We cannot rest or linger." Mitchell instructed, his eyes never leaving the landscape ahead.

Oryn's fingers slid into Avriel's to give a reassuring squeeze before she let go. He turned to answer it with a sweet smile.

"I'll keep up or I'll get left behind. Understood."

Both Mitchell and Oryn shot him a look that clearly stated they would never leave him behind but Orion didn't even spare him a glance.

"Then time is not a luxury we can waste."

The white haired boy directed a glance at his prince, his eyes an almost blackish orange that sent up a brief flag of worry in the nobleman's mind however there were too many other more important things already in the front of the line to add another. Mitchell shook it off and with one last deep breath of acrid air that almost burnt as it went down, they set off across the flat lands towards their destination, knowing they would either be in another world or dead by the time a new blanket of stars lit the sky.

____

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. They'd been walking for what felt like hours but it all just looked the same. He had no idea how the fae knew they weren't just walking in a giant circle, but he had no choice but to trust and follow them.

It was unbearably quiet as they trudged through the desertlike sand. Everyone was overly tense and they'd been sighted on more than one occasion by a lone sand weevil or two, but Sora had alerted them in ample time to prepare and dispatch the troll bug looking things with barely a pause. He didn't think they looked all that dangerous, completely disgusting but they couldn't be that big of a threat. He'd whispered his thoughts to Oryn who simply whispered back, "Weevils can bite through armor and their venom can consume a giant in moments. Their bite is always fatal."

After he was sufficiently creeped out he resolved to never underestimate the dangers of anything in this world. Ever.

On and on they went and still the view never changed. The silent monotony was maddening. The fae tread so lightly that a cough from the human had caused all three of them to start and Orion even lifted his weapon before they realized it was just Avriel.

Oryn couldn't hold back the quiet giggle as she reached out to run her fingers over his throat and then lightly over his chest. Whispered words and pale blue magic soothed the itch and tickle that had been plaguing him since they'd set foot in the middle of enemy territory. No words were exchanged between the two but the nods and glances were completely understood. He gave her a small smile, but his nerves made it appear a little manic. He wanted to take a second to pull her into his arms and just have a moment to feel secure, but the time for that would have to come later. They couldn't tarry any longer. He'd already cost them so much time already.

He wasn't sure what had all the magical beings so on edge, but he had a pretty good idea that he didn't want to find out. I mean the weevils seemed bad but they were small and easily overtaken and seemed to be loners. Something else had to be out there. While part of him was as curious as ever, the rational side never ever wanted to know what had the other three so anxious. He'd already seen horrors that would probably plague his nightmares forever, evils that were of all shapes and forms (or lack thereof), but he'd never seen the three magical beings as cautious and wary as they currently seemed to be. They were afraid and he did not want to meet the baddie that could scare such powerful fae. If they could just survive this one day then they would be alright.