Roman's P.O.V.
First thing the next morning the four of us woke up hours before the sun and went to the Imagination.
"We have to hurry," I whispered. "We have to reach the door before the sun rises."
"But Roman," Logan said. "Is it not extremely dangerous to be outside at night in the Imagination?"
"It is dangerous, but not so much to stop us from saving Virgil and Patton." We ran to my kingdom, somehow without being disturbed, and went straight to the stables. I quickly mounted Arion and sat Milly behind me while Logan and Owen mounted a young brown horse named Lidia. Onwards we rode as fast as Arion and Lidia would go to the door.
"Tell me again why we are traveling to the door in the night?" Logan yelled over the galloping of the horses and the whipping of the wind.
"There's an old poem in the kingdom." I replied. "'The door of darkness opens when the light has fade away, and behind this door is where the creatures of the night will lay. When the sun begins to leave and for the night ends it's rest, the creatures of the night will break free from their nest.' As long as it's night, that door should be open."
In my thoughts I silently doubted the authenticity of the poem. There could be some other meaning to it, and it just coincidentally matched our situation. It could have even been a poem about being afraid of the dark. Still, I forced Arion forward. There was no turning back; the only direction was forward, and the only destination was Virgil and Patton.
Patton's P.O.V.
Slowly, we calmed down. I stopped crying, Virgil stopped shaking, and Camille managed to stand up.
"Camille?" I asked, noticing how weak she appeared to be. "Are you alright?"
"I haven't been myself in weeks," she said with a shaking voice. It was much softer than usual, much more frail and small.
"I haven't eaten, slept, drank, in weeks."
"How are you alive?" Virgil asked.
"The spell, it kept me imprisoned, but it kept me alive." Suddenly, she shuddered and fell, but I swept forward quick enough that her head landed on my hand and not the floor again.
"Virgil, grab the food plate." I told him quietly.
"How do we know if it's safe? What if it's rotten, or poisoned?"
"Kiddo, it's the only food we have. It's risk it or starve." Virgil sighed and brought the plate over to me. I sat Camille up in front of me and handed her a little bit of bread, which she took with a shaking hand and ate. For a couple of minutes, the three of us sat quietly eating the bread and drinking the water. We ate and drank only a little—though Camille did get much more than me or Virgil—to conserve food.
"Feel better?" I asked Camille when she stopped eating. She nodded slowly, beginning to lean on my chest.
"I'm tired." she said quietly. "Do you mind if I fall asleep?"
"N-No, of course not, go right ahead." I glanced over at Virgil, who had a very small smile. Slowly, Camille put her full weight on my chest and seemed to fall asleep instantly. Smiling, I put my right arm around her, sort of in a one arm hug. For a while we sat in silence as Camille slept peacefully.
During that time I was able to get a good look at Camille. She was small and pale, with blue shorts, a pink shirt, and green shoes. Her hair was a bit longer than Milly's and messy.
"Patton?" Virgil said after a while. I turned slowly from Camille to him.
"Did.." He hesitated. "Did you go to the 'afterlife' too?" I nodded.
"Yeah, and I met her there. She said she met up with you too."
"Did she happen to mention stealing memories?"
"N-No, why?" Virgil was silent for a moment as I quickly realized why he was asking.
"Do you know what she stole?" I asked cautiously. He sat up a bit more, glaring at me.
"No, no I don't think I know what she stole, I can't seem to remember." I was silent for a few minutes after that.
"So.." Virgil began. "W-When did she come to g-get you?" He seemed very nervous about asking that question.
"I don't know. I lost track of time after.." I trailed off, trying to bring myself to talk without more tears popping up.
"Logan had to hold me back to keep me calm. Roman sort of collapsed. Owen and Milly just seemed shocked. But we heard someone else in the room, and it all happened so fast. I pushed Owen and Logan out of the way and.. and.." I tried to hold back my tears, but I couldn't stop myself from crying a bit.
"Hey," Virgil said, moving closer to me and grabbing my hand. "You were saving the people you love. Patton, you died a hero." He smiled sadly at me, squeezing my hand just a bit.
"Yeah," I said, sniffling. "I guess so." There was another pause as Camille shifted in her sleep. I kept thinking about Logan, how I looked into his eyes as mine closed for what I thought was the last time.
"Where did she learn all of that stuff?" I asked eventually, after my thoughts managed to move from Logan.
"About the 'afterlife' and how we don't really die?" Virgil questioned. I nodded.
"Well, I don't know. There's a lot we have to ask her when she wakes up—just add that to the list"
Owen's P.O.V.
After nearly an hour we stopped to let Arion and Lidia rest.
"We cannot stay in one place for long," Roman announced after a few minutes. "The creatures of the night are slow, but if they spot us resting we'll be stuck in a fight." With a deep breath, he jumped back up on Arion. Following his lead, Milly mounted Arion and Logan and I mounted Lidia.
"Onward!" Roman yelled, starting Arion forward.
~time skip~
Another hour passed, and no one spoke. Milly and I kept exchanging glances and mouthing things to each other.
"How much longer?" I mouthed once or twice. She shrugged in reply. I looked up at Logan every once in a while, and from the bits of his face I could see I could tell his expression was not changing. He seemed to be focused on going forward and nothing else. The same could be said for Roman—I hardly even saw him blink. We rode on, still remaining silent, and I started to fall asleep.
Surely I slept for a while, as when I woke up the moon had shifted in the sky a bit. I repositioned myself, as I had been leaned completely against Logan's back. We were going noticeably slower, as I noticed upon fully waking up. I leaned over slightly, seeing our destination just a bit ahead.
"Here we are." Roman said a few seconds later as he stopped Arion and jumped to the ground. Logan, Milly, and I got off our horses and paced for a bit to readjust our legs to the ground. Roman whispered something to Arion, then moved and whispered something to Lidia. Both of the horses appeared to nod and trotted away together.
We all turned to face the door, which I then noticed was not even a door. It was just the frame, no door or hinges in sight. Roman stepped forward and summoned three swords wrapped in sheaths, which he handed to each of us, and summoned belts around us to hook the swords to. He summoned one more, which he kept in his hand.
"Be careful," he warned. "Those are the some of the sharpest swords in the Imagination. Keep them in their sheaths until absolutely necessary, or we could end up... I cannot strain this enough, refrain from fighting unless absolutely necessary. We are here to get Virgil and Patton out of there, not to get revenge." He forcefully placed his sword in his belt.
"The door of darkness." Milly said, stepping up to stand next to Roman.
"The door of darkness." I echoed, standing next to her her. Logan stepped up next to me and took a deep breath.
"Let's go." he said. In synchronization we stepped forward together, and marched onward to save our family.
YOU ARE READING
The Dark Curses
Fanfiction"I knew that, with them considering me family, what I would be forced to do later would only be even harder." Roman and Virgil Sanders had been fighting for weeks, and Thomas decided to try to calm them down by sending them on a walk together in the...
