Crossed

Chapter 13:

"No we as humans cannot live off of recently deceased and unworked meat, it doesn't sit well with our stomachs, some even poison us," I say," however I do understand how recently deceased meat would be better for you to consume." Queen Meadow smiles," I hadn't heard of cooking it before I got here, it is very tasty as well," she says. Suddenly there's a hand on my shoulder, I turn around and see Ardian standing close behind me. "What in spirits name-" "I'm sorry, I did not mean to scare you," he interrupts me," I know I have no grounds to expect you to say yes but... could we talk for a moment?" I look at Queen Meadow and she nods. "Fine," I say and place the knife I was working with back down," where do you want to go?"

"The forest is your favourite place to be or something?," I ask Ardian. "I guess so," he says," after years of being in that freezing place it is a welcome change of scenery." "Hm," I mumble and we're quiet until we get to an open spot in the middle of some trees," so, what is it?" "I found this picture between a book in the library," he says and holds up a picture of a woman," have you seen her?" I step a little closer and observe the woman, there's another person standing beside her but they're half ripped off.

I shake my head," no, never seen her," I say," why? You know her? Or 'the Undergroves'?" He's silent for a bit, likely a little far in his thoughts, away from the world," this is my wife," he says, putting the picture back where he had kept it. "Oh, well... she was very pretty," I say, he scoffs but I could see a little smile behind all the hair hanging in his face. "She was...," he then says," I was just hoping you would have known her or maybe seen her when talking to the afterlife." "No I'm sorry," I say," the only link I had was my girlfriend." "That hair ribbon hers?," he asks. I hadn't noticed my hand going to it again," it is," I say and let go," she gave it to me right before she crossed over."

"It's very pretty," he says," she wore it in that picture too, right?" I nod," she always wore it one way or another," I say, then it fell quiet again. "Listen I...," he cuts himself off for a bit," I'm sorry," he then says," about Guard Morris... I had never seen any Slain hide itself like that before. They seem to have gotten more knowledgeable... I should have acted more quickly, maybe he would have still been under us if I did." I look at him for a bit," I'm sorry too," I say," I really should learn to keep my emotions in check, I know you most likely could not have done anything at that moment to save him... I wasn't thinking clearly but that doesn't excuse my screaming it only explains it... I'll do better on that, I promise because it's not fair to you or anyone else." "It's okay," he says.

"Do you want to go get something to eat?," I ask him," I'm sure they all have had dinner already by this time..." "Sure thing," he says," where do you propose?" "I know a good place in the town, near the Town's Square? If you want to we could go there?," I say. He nods," sounds good," I nod and we start walking out of the forest back to the town.

"Oh hello Wren! Good to see you," the owner of the little cafeteria welcomes us in," and who is joining you today?" "Hey mister Hollows," I say," this is my fellow Archimage, Ardian, we are both working with the Queen up at The Residence but we missed dinner, could we possibly still eat here?" "Of course, take a seat," he says with a smile and gestures to the spot me and Iliana used to sit when she wanted to go out. I nod to him with a smile and we take place before looking through the menu and ordering our food.

"So... what have you been doing today with Queen Meadow and Guard Fir?," Ardian asks when Mister Hollows left again. "The Queen had contacted her Territory yesterday evening," I say," asking to get one of their Elv associates tracked down, remember?," I say, he nods," we found her already, turns out my girlfriend knew her for a few years before the... thing happened. I had met her once a few years ago, I didn't know she was the Elv Queen Meadow was looking for but she was." "Oh, so... is she going to help out?," he asks. "Hmhm, she came back to The Residence with us as well. Guard Fir would make her a sleeping place near their campsite," I say. "Here's the food," Mister Hollows interrupts us and places our plates on the table. "Thank you," I say and smile at him. "No problem, have a nice dinner," he says and walks away again.

"Do they have more?," Ardian asks. "More what?," I look at him," You mean on the menu?" "No I meant the Elv associates," he says," what you said seemed to imply they do." "I don't know for sure but I assume so," I say," apparantly Elv's are made from lost souls, who knows how many souls got lost on their way to the afterlife," I shrug and start eating," we will see, maybe you could ask Queen Meadow, she understands this much better." He nods and starts his dinner as well.

"Thank you so much for the food Mister Hollows, it was absolutely delicious," I say. "Oh thank you Wren," he says with a smile," glad to be of service." I smile and pay," here, you can keep the change as well," I say. "Oh, well thank you," he says and puts it away," how have you been doing?," he then asks. "As alright as possible," I say and smile at him," how have you been dealing? Since your wife and son didn't make it either?," I say, as careful as possible. He nods sadly," they didn't," he says," I miss them... and her... every day but I know they would want me to keep the cafeteria open, it was my wife's dream you know?," I nod and place a hand on his shoulder. "You are doing great, Mister Hollows," I say," the cafeteria is as beautiful as always." He nods to me with a teary-eyed smile before Ardian and I turn to leave.

"It's very dark out already," Ardian says," I think it would be better if we stay at your house tonight." I nod and we make our way over to my place. "You can take the bed, the blankets and pillows are in the closet," I say while closing the door," I will take the couch." "Why?," he asks. "Because this is my home and I don't have more than one bedroom. Beside that the couch has gone bad in the past two years, Iliana and I were supposed to get a new one last year but I didn't care much to keep up with our plans after she crossed over... so I will take the couch," I say. "If you're sure...," he says.

I had made the couch as comfortable as possible before getting a drink from the kitchen, I didn't know how thirsty I had been. "Hey, Archimage Wren?," I turn around and see Ardian with some books. "Hm?," I place my glass down on the counter. "The Slain's are in this book," he says, holding up the biggest one of them. "What? Where?," I walk over and he places the others down before showing me the page," you are right... I cannot believe I missed it..."

"We need to write this all down," I say and grab my notebook and pencil before sitting back down at the table. "I will read, you write," Ardian says, I nod and get ready," I will keep calling them Slain's because there is no other naming in here," he says," okay, the Slain's are fast moving creatures who will take the form of your biggest fear before attacking. The Slain who has its eye on you will lure you in with its power of mimicking, recreating memories and changing your brain function so you will become unfamiliar," he stops for a moment," I'm not sure what that means... However I do think I understand what that means, in some way, you?" I look up from my notes and nod," I think that is what I experienced in the town on day one," I say," I would write that down but I have no idea how to describe that feeling either. Is there more?" He nods and looks back down," the Slain's can hide itself by changing its form into anything non-living. That is most likely what happened before Guard Morris got attacked," he says," that is all they said, there are some illustrations in here however they differ quite some from each." "I will cut them out and put them in with these notes," I say and take the book from him.