What Lies Between ✔

Two Snakes, Two Slaves

10

Thorne

We were the true embodiment of spirit as we sped through the town of Charlton, a little place in Greenwich. We followed the river that ran through the area. Still no sign of Nameless or her capturer.

We were searching for her as fast and as efficiently as we could in our spirit form. When we stopped running, our bodies could solidify at our will, but we preferred spirit form in the Living Realm so humans wouldn't see us in our strange black uniforms, holding our medevial-looking weapons. Humans would question why we were carrying weapons in the first place, this century or not. There was no way we could just tell them that we were protecting them from the forces of evil. That would be nonsense to them, plus it was forbidden by the Higher Gods to make mortals aware of our existence, hence our Ghosthunts. Humans could cause so much chaos on their own; we didn't want them to have access to the alluring power of Demons and other evils.

"How are the other groups doing? Anything yet?" I called to Pyralis, who ran phantom-like beside me.

"The Lord has not brought forth news of her sighting, no," he yelled back.

My stomach felt uneasy. This really wasn't good. A shadowy figure, Lidia had said. No, that really didn't sound good at all. What the hell did it want with her?

What else, Thorne? War obviously, I thought to myself.

What was it that Nameless' powers could do? Why couldn't Father trust me with that knowledge? I was his only son after all.

Because you broke his rule not to speak to her. He knew the whole time, The smart aleck in my head remarked.

So what? That was the only rule I ever broke. Except sneaking out of The Arx, of course – but come on! Who could stay in that place for so long without wanting to smash their head against a wall in boredom?

A future Lord, The voice spoke again.

"You can shut up now," I growled out loud.

"Thorne?" Pyralis called, sending me a quizzical stare.

"Oh, yeah, it's nothing!" I assured him. Man, I was losing it.

"Thorne!" Came my Father's voice inside my head. I thought it was the smart guy again for a second. Jeesh, I really needed a break.

"Yes, Father?" I channeled the thought to him.

"Come back to Purgatory, I wish to speak with you. Bring Pyralis along." Then he was gone.

"Yeah, sure," I grumbled, then called to Pyralis, "Assign Ciro to lead for a while. Father wants to speak with us!"

Pyralis and I slowed to a stop, our forms coming back together so we looked fully human again.

By the expressions that crossed Pyralis' face, I knew he was mentally talking to Ciro. Ciro, of course, hated being in charge. He hated responsibility period. He actually chose to stay a Between for awhile until he got bored enough to finally accept becoming a Seeker. However, Ciro was extremely skillful in battle when he wanted to be, so he could not escape being made to be responsible all the time.

"Thorne, wait here and rest for a bit. Ciro thinks he might have found something. I'll check it out quickly, then we will head back to Purgatory," Pyralis said before blurring away rapidly.

"Alright," I said to the gust he left behind. I walked over to a tree, solidifying, then pressed my back against it and slid down. I was absolutely exhausted, and Pyralis could probably tell, which kind of bothered me. Whatever though, seeking without a break was difficult and consumed a lot of energy. Right then, I wished I had Nameless' power of draining so I could absorb just a little more energy to get me through this patrol.