Sky Forever

Chapter 12: Passing the Time

The next day went by pretty slowly. There wasn't much to do on the ship. There was a small library in between Amber and Ryder's living quarters, although it was really just a cupboard full of books, that I regularly visited. There were books on history, wildlife, people, there were even some novels in there. Mostly by Rachel Red, perhaps the most famous writer in Azterak. My favourite book series of her's was The Ryn Chronicles, about a small boy who likes to explore and find hidden lands on his adventures. I'd hoped to meet her one day, but according to the books, she lived in the Juggernaut Complex, Azterak's capital city. And that was in the South.

I also filled a lot of time talking to Lonely Soul. He had a lot of stories from his 400 years here. He also told me why he was on the run. It turned out he had betrayed a group of ghosts by revealing them to some ghost hunters. Ghost hunters, as the name suggests, hunt ghosts. Not to harm them, obviously, but to see them and maybe capture them. I had heard some ghost stories from various people on my travels, but never actually seen one before we met Lonely Soul.

As the afternoon of the third day turned into evening, the four of us were stood in the kitchen having our dinner that Ryder had made. Beans and stale bread. The problem with traveling North is that we had nowhere to stop for supplies. Especially now that we'd reached the Ash Plains, where the only city is the City of Ashes and Gold. So, we were stuck with barely any food left.

"We need to be careful over the plains tonight." Ryder said, shovelling beans into his mouth, "Homunculus has probably got scouts looking for us."

"Yeah. Plus, we've got the Dunelands to look forward to." I replied.

"Actually, I heard the Dunelands aren't too bad this time of year." Amber said.

"Just windy." Ryder added.

I scooped up some more beans onto my spoon, "Has anyone ever been to Sandstone City before?"

Amber and Ryder shook their heads.

"I went there once, just because I could." Lonely Soul said. He didn't have any food because he couldn't eat anything anyway.

"What's it like?" I asked through a mouthful.

"Well, I went there in 578 if my memory serves me correctly." He said, "It had only been a city for 50 years back then, so it was a bit basic. I imagine it has grown and developed since then though."

"I heard there's a lot of tribes out there in the desert." Ryder said.

He put his empty plate on the side by the sink.

"I'm off to the toilet" He announced, as he left the room.

"I think I shall go to sleep" Lonely Soul said.

"Do you even need to sleep?" Amber said.

"Not really...but I choose to anyway. It's a pleasant experience." He replied, and with that he floated through the wall and disappeared.

It was just the two of us now. Amber and I.

I had a feeling Lonely Soul had left deliberately to leave us alone.

I was all out of conversation starters so I looked down at my dinner.

"You looking forward to this?" Amber asked, breaking the silence.

"To what?" I asked, looking up.

"Bringing down Homunculus." She said.

"Oh right," I answered, "Yeah. It's going to be hard though."

She nodded.

"Why did he sentence you to death?" She asked.

I shook my head, "Not a clue. As far as I can remember, I'd never met him before that."

"Maybe he imprisoned you just to scare people." She suggested.

"No," I said, "If that was the case, he would have just taken someone in the city prisoner. I was camping in the Madwoods when his men caught me."

"You were camping in the Madwoods?!" She exclaimed, "Aren't they really dangerous at night?"

"I was right at the edge so it wasn't that bad." I said.

There was a few moments of silence.

I looked up at her. She was looking down at her food, scraping up the last of the beans. Everything about her was so elegant and smooth.

Suddenly, she glanced up and caught me staring at her.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah...fine." I fumbled.

I put my plate on the side and left to go back to my room.

"Jared!" Amber called after me.

I spun round to see her standing in the kitchen doorway.

"Yeah?" I said.

"If you want to talk about anything, like what Homunculus did to you...I'm here." She said.

I smiled, "Thanks..."

Our gazes lingered for a bit. Then she turned around and returned to the kitchen. I just stood dumbly in the corridor for a while, staring at the doorway. All I wanted to do right now was go in there and tell her how beautiful she was. I didn't care about Homunculus, or the revolution, or Sandstone City or anything at that moment. She was the only thing in my mind. My saviour.

But, instead, I returned to my room. All I could do was stare out the window at the world passing by. I looked at the clock and saw that I'd been standing by the window for an hour.

Well, they do say time flies when you're forlornly gazing out a small, square piece of glass on board a ship in the sky. Or something like that.