Crossed

Chapter 8:

(Authors note: there's a death in this chapter.)

"My Queen?," we all look behind us to see another Saprophyte, I'm assuming he's the Guard Queen Meadow said was inspecting the grounds of The Residence. "Oh Fir!," the Queen looked happy to see him," Come sit with us," she gestures to the spot next to her and with a small bow the Guard sits down beside her. "Thank you Queen Meadow," he says. "I made some food," I say, offering him a plate as well," if you do not enjoy it then that is fine of course," he nods at me with a smile. "Thank you... Archimage?," he says and accepts it. I nod to him before finishing my plate.

"Did you find anything?," Queen Mirialla asks him. "Nothing apart from what I had been warned about," he says," my apologies." "No, don't apologize Fir, you did your best," Queen Meadow says. "I did find this," he says," although I doubt it has any value. It appears to be nothing more than a part of the ruins here?" "Could I take a closer look?," Morris asks. "Of course," Fir places it on the table and Morris takes it. Almost immediately he has to let go of it, his face looks pained but he hides it well. "Guard Morris?," Queen Mirialla looks at him with worry.

"It is colder than the ice the winter brings," Morris says. "It didn't feel cold to me," Guard Fir says. "Strange phenomenon," Queen Mirialla says, she gets up and inspects the rock-like object. "Move," Ardian suddenly says and before we know the rock grows and attacks Morris. He was closest to it. "No!," I jump and try to get it off of Morris. Rage filled my mind and made me numb. I just kept hitting and pulling, trying to push it off of him but then he stops moving and I get thrown away.

The first thing I heard before coming back was the sound of stabbing. When I blink I see Ardian and Queen Mirialla beside me. Ardian with sweat dripping down his face. "You're back," he says. "I am..?," I sit up, dizziness filling up my vision with little stars," what happened?" "While you tried to safe Guard Morris the Slain nearly killed you," Queen Mirialla says, the sadness in her voice was slipping through the cracks of her attempt to hide it. "Morris... is he okay?," I try to look past them but they won't let me. "He did not survive," Ardian says, the Queen wanted to stop him but was too late.

"Why didn't you do anything!?!!," I felt tears covering my face, I felt sick and anger boiled over every other possible emotion," He should not have died!" "Wren!," Ardian took my attention away from the Queen. "You...," I walk up to him," I don't care that you feel like you're better than anyone else here, you of all people should have done something!" "I did! I am no wonder man! I cannot safe everyone! I lost my best friends, I lost my wife to these creatures!," he yells back at me, suddenly everything is silent. He looks shocked and without saying anything else he walks off.

"Here you are...," Ardian looks up, his eyes wild but he composes himself quickly. "What do you want?," his voice was cold. "I came to apologize," I say," I know that... that I have no idea what your life has been like. I had no right to scream at you like that, I'm sorry..." "It's okay," he says," I understand, I...," he sighs," maybe we should talk? Get to know each other?," he says," I am aware that I am not the easiest person to get along with but... I will promise to try to be more open." I nod and he gets up.

We had walked in silence for a little while. The only sound came from the birds in the forest. "Why did you have to go in there?," I ask. "The Middlegrounds you mean?," he asks, I just nod," the war? Do you know how that went?" "The big lines," I say," I know many creatures and magical beings had to fight off one enemy to protect the earth from collapsing in on itself." Ardian nods," that is the big lines, indeed," he says," do you know which enemy we fought?," I look at him and nod slowly. "It's them, aren't they?," I say and he nods.

"The Slain had somehow appeared from nowhere. To be honest, I don't even think they came from the Middlegrounds... near the end of the war I went out to find someone to make the keys," he eyes mine before looking forward again," I got the materials from my wife, seconds before she left me behind on earth. She told me to run, she knew the Slain's would return to completely...," he swallowed," I did what she asked me to. I was the one who could contact people in Death, she was the one who created things. Such beautiful things... She gave me some of her hair. That's what is in the handiwork, it's what makes the keys work," he explains," my wife gave her last magical energy to make these keys work, so I could create a portal to Death and get these monsters out of here," he swallows," it didn't work as well as I hoped. I didn't end up in Death, I was familiar with Death's energy and where I ended up was absolutely not it. However I got the Slain's attracted to the energy and lured them in with me."

"You created the Middlegrounds as a trap?," I ask. "Accidently, yes," he says," I just wished it didn't keep me in there as well. I had tried to get out since I got stuck there." "What was it like?," I ask. "Cold," he says," all these things on my face?," he looks right at me and for the first time I'm able to see him," it's all from the cold in there. It burned the cold into my face." That didn't make much sense... Did it? "Cold can burn in there," Ardian says and he starts to walk again, I follow," nothing makes sense as long as it's torturous. It knows no limits." "It sounds confusing," I say. "It is."

"What about you, I talked enough," he says," when did the Queen hand you the key?" "Four years ago," I say," I had lived inside the territory for about ten years, my parents left to go back to our previous territory and I made the choice to stay. I was eighteen. My girlfriend made the necklace so I wouldn't lose it." "She's a maker too?," Ardian asks. "No, she's an Archimage specialized in Anthropomorphism, or was...," I say. "She's dead too?," I nod slowly. "The Slain's got to her when attacking The Residence almost two years ago, I wasn't there when it happened," I swallow, trying to get the nausea to go away," she told me to get the kids to one of the hideouts of the Territory and ran back to The Residence before I could stop her. I only found her a few hours before daybreak." "You're angry about it," he says. "I'm not-" "You are," he cuts me off," you have every right to be, I am mad too."

"I'm not angry," I say," I'm sad and I feel alone, all the time, she was my everything." "So was my wife, she was my world," he says," I hear your anger, I sounded a lot like that for a long time. Just accept you are, you'll feel better after."

"Sure," I mumble," anything else you want to know about me?" "Hm... Where do you live?," he asks," I would tell you where I lived but I'm assuming it's been destroyed over the last six centuries." I nod slowly," we're actually near my home, I could show you it?" "Sounds good to me," he says and I lead him through the last bit of the woods and soon we enter the beginning of the town again. "I have not cleaned in a while so you will find books in every inch of the place..," I admit before walking into the last street. "That's okay, I'm used to having a mess around," he says. "Okay then... it's that house over there," I say and we walk up to my door.