Unified

Chapter Seventeen: Follow The Path

Letting the wind flow around him, guiding him, Patton makes his move. He swoops down and grabs Janus around his torso, holding him close as he lifts them into the air once again. Janus gasps and almost flails at first, but he's able to keep his composure. To all of their surprise, Patton is able to get Janus across without a problem, dropping him just on the other side of the river. Patton lets the wind carry him in flips and twists as he makes his way back to the other side to get the next person across. He lands gently on his feet and smiles, "Who's next?"

Logan looks at Virgil, who looks even less like he wants to go before sighing and meeting Patton's gaze again, "I suppose I am."

"Okay," Patton nods, "Just stay still once we're in the air, okay?"

Logan nods in return and with a gust of wind, Patton jumps back into the sky. Logan waits, standing stiffly as he prepares himself. Patton flies around and then dives down, tucking his arms under Logan's to hold him securely to his chest. They whip back up into the sky and it takes all of Logan's concentration to keep himself calm and still. Like with Janus, Patton gets Logan to the other side rather easily before landing next to Roman. He puts his hands to his knees to catch his breath.

"Are you okay?" Roman asks, placing a comforting hand on Patton's shoulder.

"Yeah," Patton nods and he stands fully, "It's just a little tiring, that's all."

"You can get Virgil, right?" Remus tilts his head, raising an eyebrow.

Patton nods again, "Yeah, yeah of course I can."

Without another word, he jumps back into the wind and glides back over to Virgil's side. He lands a little harshly and stumbles a bit. Virgil looks nervous, "You, uh, you're not going to drop me, right?"

"I'm not going to drop you." Patton promises and holds out his hands.

Virgil hesitantly reaches out his arms and then Patton closes the distance, wrapping his arms around him before lunging back into the winds. The winds have died down a lot which makes Patton nervous, but he tries not to let his worry show. This doesn't make Virgil feel any more confident. He hates every part of this, and being off the ground doesn't help him feel any better. The winds fall away and Patton is struggling to keep himself and Virgil aloft. If he doesn't do something, they were both going to fall into the river at this point. Virgil yells as he realizes they're falling and he starts to freak and flail, "Do something!"

Patton grits his teeth and lets go of Virgil, using his ability to ride the winds in an attempt to throw Virgil the rest of the way, as he himself falls. Janus gasps and rushes forward, holding out his arms to catch Virgil without jumping into the river. Logan's eyes widen as Patton falls and he reaches out, his palms frosting over before a burst of ice shoots from his hands, creating a sort of slide as he attempts to catch Patton with his magic. Patton hits the ice and it cracks beneath him and Logan quickly creates another beneath him. It catches him, but the bottom of the ice melts away as it touches the river. Logan continues to try and keep Patton in the ice as he tries to guide him to their side without dropping him into the water just below. The curve of the ice flattens out near the edge of the river bank and Patton finally opens his eyes.

"You could do that the whole time?!" Virgil scoffs as he scrambles out of Janus' arms, "You could have just made a bridge for us!"

Logan ignores him as he helps Patton off the ice and back onto the ground safely. Patton hugs Logan, "Thanks for catching me."

"Hey!" Virgil grabs Logan's arm, pulling him out of Patton's embrace, "I'm talking to you!"

Roman pulls Virgil off Logan and they glare at each other for a moment. Logan finally faces Virgil after taking a deep breath, "I could not have made a bridge thick enough to hold everyone's weight at once, and you saw how it melted when the water touched it? You saw how hard it was just to get Patton safely across after he fell? My magic is not strong enough to make structures reliable enough for that."

Roman looks surprised by Logan's honest answer, but he doesn't say anything. Virgil just glares as he thinks the words over, everyone else just exchanging glances. Virgil finally looks away, crossing his arms, "Well, still.. You could have done something to help before he dropped me."

"I didn't.." Patton starts, but stops himself and simply looks down in resignation.

"We're all fine," Roman speaks up in a commanding voice, "So let's just continue on. We have a lot of ground to cover before nightfall."

They fall into silence as they follow the young prince. With the river far behind, they descend into a thick forest with an air of mystery and magic. As the sun starts to set, the leaves of the trees seem to almost glow with an ethereal presence. Patton gasps softly as he stares up at the trees, "Do you guys see that..?"

"Where are we?" Virgil mutters to himself, taking in the glowing leaves as well.

"Logan, you read, have you ever read about a place like this?" Roman asks. As the sky darkens, the trees seem to have glowing veins inside them. It's unlike anything any of them have ever seen.

Logan shakes his head slowly, "I.. Do not believe so."

"Can you check the path again? Make sure we're going the right way?" Roman turns to him fully, stopping their march forward. Logan nods and reaches into his satchel to retrieve the special sand he uses for tracking spells. He kneels and drops some of the sand before softly chanting. The sand lights up with a purple fire, emitting gasps from everyone but him. He watches as the magic fire shoots forward and disappears into the trees.

The glow fades and he scatters the sand before standing once more, "We're going the right way."

Into the forest, they continue. With the sun setting, the only light they have to guide them is the glowing of the leaves and trees, and the magic of the Dragonwitches by their side. They don't know what they're willingly walking into, but none of them have good feelings about it. Though the signature path can't lie, if Roman wants to find his brother, they must keep going, no matter what.