Existence

Chapter 6

Edited October 13, 2019

Casey, who looked like he was sleeping with his eyes closed and his head leaned against the willow's trunk, suddenly spoke up. "Can I have a drink now, Lex? I'm starting to feel like my head is spinning."

"Right," Alex said with a start. "Sorry Casey."

Sarah meanwhile, had taken to staring at the bright, burning, orange flames dancing in front of her as she tried to process everything the boys had told her. They'd given her a lot of information already, but she still felt like it wasn't enough to understand the whole situation.

"These Shifters," she said after a few seconds, "what do they want?"

"As I said before, Shifters have the ability to turn into animals," Alex said. He had walked over to a small hidden hollow in the middle of the tree and pulled out a couple of leather flasks. He proceeded to toss one each to the boys, who caught them easily. "This gave them reason to believe that they are superior to all other beings."

"Like those Egyptian gods you have," Casey put in as he uncapped his flask, "those animal-headed depictions that supposedly made them a bridge between humans and nature."

"So they traveled to the nearby villages and proclaimed themselves the new leaders," Alex continued, handing Sarah a flask. "The villages that refused to accept them were either taken by force or destroyed."

Now that everyone had a flask, Alex paused and raised his. He said something that sounded oddly like 'Toni-feya'. The others followed his example, muttering the same line before they all took a huge gulp of whatever liquid was inside. Sarah didn't touch hers, impatient for Alex to continue explaining. Once they'd finished drinking however, it was Byron who spoke next.

"The ones who did accept the Shifters practically became mindless slaves who followed their every whim without question," he said bitterly, gray eyes fixed on his flask. "They were safe yes, but they were anything but free."

The way Byron said it, Sarah guessed he had personal experience on the matter. His friends? Family?

Before she could ask, a light breeze swept around them and stirred up the dry leaves on the ground. Byron visibly stiffened, his eyes becoming unfocused as he seemed to listen to the musical whistle of the wind. Sarah frowned and glanced at the others, not hearing anything intelligible. Alex and Casey were both watching Byron with bated breath. Clearly, the archer was the only one able to understand the wind.

As the breeze died down, Byron turned to Alex with a sense of urgency. "Azazel's intercepted a squadron of Shifters in the east. He needs back up. Now." The message translated, he rushed over to the tree's roots, where he had stashed his bow and arrows.

Alex cursed under his breath and began patting his pockets, his red bandana gripped in one hand. "Azazel hasn't asked for backup on patrol in months. Don't tell me he's gotten careless after today's—today's..." He faltered, examining the random objects he had just pulled out of his pocket: a yellow marble, a blue bracelet, a white handkerchief and some green thread.

"I need something black!" Alex groaned in frustration, scanning the campsite.

"What for?" Sarah asked in confusion, glancing from one boy to another. "And how did Byron—?"

"Here," Byron called, tossing what looked like a small stone to Alex before running outside the tree's protective curtain.

Disliking being ignored, Sarah made to speak up louder when she noticed another movement out of the corner of her eye.

Casey was slowly getting to his feet, using the tree trunk as support. Did that mean she was going to be left alone here? Or were they expecting her to go with them? Heart pounding, Sarah stood up as well and uneasily glanced back and forth between Alex and Casey.