Until Forever (1st draft)

Part the Eighteenth

Geneva woke up with a start and sat upright immediately. "Steekbunk!" she burst out. Nellaf looked over at her calmly, as if expecting this scene. "We need to find him!"

"We are headed to where he was last seen," the young man reassured her. "I knew that would be your first concern."

"Do you think he's alive?" she asked with grave concern.

"I am certain of it. He is difficult to kill," Nellaf answered.

A sense of welcome relief came over the girl. She stretched her stiff, aching body, then reflexively jumped and whimpered at a sharp pain somewhere.

"How badly are you inured?" Nellaf asked, gently stroking her back.

"I don't even know. I have more bumps, bruises, cuts, sprains, scrapes, and blisters than I can keep track of. My entire body is one big injury." Frowning with self-pity, she looked down at the huge, strange mount she was seated upon. Although she had overcome her revulsion enough to stay seated in the strange saddle, the monstrous insect still terrified her.

"Annnnd...I'm still sitting...on a giant...beetle." Nellaf smirked without looking over. "Seriously, is this part of my destiny? To ride across the Treeless Expanse on a gigantic, disgusting bug?"

"Perhaps," was her handsome hero's only reply.

"Seriously though," she continued, placing a hand on his shoulder. It was firm, strong, and muscle torqued beneath her touch as he raised his arm to swat an annoying insect that buzzed between them. "What do you know about all of that?"

"About your destiny? I only know that you hold the answers to some very difficult questions about the future of Daysheen."

"It just doesn't make sense," she said mainly to herself. "I don't know anything about this world. I have nothing to offer anybody. I'm just a..." Her voice drifted off.

"A survivor?" he asked, turning to gaze at her with his silvery eyes.

"W-what?"

"To me you are a survivor. Strong and determined. You are burdened with great sorrow, and you have been under attack quite frequently in a shockingly different world. You have lost your purpose. Am I correct?"

Geneva's eyes began to fill with tears so she quickly turned away.

"And yet you continue on. You are steadfast. You are strong and determined. You are a survivor. Perhaps that is what Daysheen needs."

She had no words. She was emotionally overwhelmed, simultaneously feeling proud yet weak. This heroic young man who continued to show up just in time to pluck her out of imminent danger was calling her strong? She still remembered vividly the time he had called her beautiful.

Perhaps she should propose to him right now.

"What do you know about your destiny?" Nellaf now asked her. She cleared her throat and dabbed at an excessively wet eye.

"Not really anything. Steekbunk keeps giving me these ridiculously vague clues that are more like riddles. One time he told me that he would die because of me. That really upset me."

"He can be dramatic," Nellaf commented.

"He also said that I can't find home until I fulfill my destiny."

Nellaf showed no emotion as he continued listening to the girl.

"As a matter of fact, Wee Therry pretty much said the same thing. She also told me about a Starheart and Black Keys."

"She mentioned the Black Keys?" Nellaf asked, suddenly alert with interest. "Does she know where they are?"

"I don't think so. She didn't explain any details about them. You've heard of them?"

"I have," he answered. "I was told that the Black Keys can unlock the Starheart. And I was also told that the Starheart is of utmost importance to you fulfilling your destiny."

"Hmm. Well I have no idea where to find the Black Keys or this amazing Starheart. Steekbunk said that I need to talk to someone named Cloya. Supposedly she'll have more answers."

"Cloya the Spinner?"

"Yeah! That was the name! Steekbunk said that she could even tell me more about my mysterious hero."

Nellaf gave her a questioning look, clearly perplexed.

"You!" she said, chuckling and leaning into his glistening bicep.

"Oh did he?" Nellaf asked with a smirk.

The sudden roar of an unknown beast interrupted their conversation. Geneva's eyes widened at the thought of yet another attack from yet another imaginary creature. Would it never end? Their giant beetle mount came to a stop and she followed Nellaf's lead, rising to her feet to peer over one side. Rumbling towards them was none other than Steekbunk Lowbone. He reached the side of the big bug and roared up at them again.

"Steekbunk! You're alive!" Geneva exclaimed.

"Geneva Maxwell must come down!" he shouted to them.

Nellaf clicked the lever on the saddle twice and the big bug crouched down, allowing the two riders to climb down and greet Steekbunk. Geneva even gave the hairy egg-man a big hug, which he awkwardly accepted. Looking closely at him, she saw that his body was covered in welts and thick scars, but there were no visible open wounds. It seemed impossible but all of the wide gashes that had resulted from the Swithe's brutal whipping had already healed.

"The Swithe brought me back to their city," Geneva rambled excitedly without a breath, "and I met Wee Therry but I have to admit that it was a little intimidating because they're all so huge and they were going to keep me there so that I would protect them from the coming destruction of Daysheen but then Sir Nellaf showed up and saved me again and I was like—"

"You must come with me," Steekbunk interrupted.

"No," Nellaf countered without hesitation.

"Okay, guys, chill," Geneva told them. "Steekbunk, can't you just come with us?"

"That is not possible," he answered.

"Is it because of this disgusting monstrous cockroach?" she asked him. "Because I felt the same way at first, but now I've got to say once you get used to it, it sure beats walking."

"Geneva Maxwell, you must come with me to fulfill your destiny," Steekbunk insisted.

"Oh, Steekbunk, why do you have to be so weird and stubborn? Come with us, it will be okay."

"Do not wander from the path," the hairy egg-man advised, "or you will find a destination you did not expect."

"She is in no danger," Nellaf said strongly. "I will protect her." He started back up the beetle's bent leg, pausing to reach back a hand to Geneva.

"Geneva Maxwell, you must come with me." Steekbunk was relentless.

"Steekbunk, I..." She appreciated all he had done for her, she was ecstatic that he was alive and well, and she had actually grown to enjoy his company. But if he was going to make her choose between him and Nellaf, he was going to be sorely disappointed. She reached up and grabbed Nellaf's hand, climbing back onto the back of the giant beetle.

"Why won't you come with us?" she asked him one final time.

No response.

At Nellaf's urging, she settled into the saddle at his side. He pulled the lever to activate the five loud clicks.

"I'm sorry, Steekbunk," she said to him. Then the beetle began to scurry away, carrying the couple across the Treeless Expanse as the sun began to sink toward the horizon. She looked back at her old traveling companion, who stood completely still, his wide eyes staring blankly in disbelief at her. Her own eyes flooded with tears. Deep down she felt that what she was doing was right; but deep down she also felt that what she was doing was wrong. Across the distance she could hear him utter his three-note succession of musical tones. In her mind she chimed the tones back.