In The Eyes Of Another: Resurrection

Chapter 5: Syurein

Jai pressed his fingertips to five black spots on a white wall and inserted a strange knife-like object into a hole to his right, causing a tall panel to click away from the rest of the wall and slide left to reveal an endless pit of what seemed like everything and nothing.

"This will take you to the outskirts of the city Syurein lives in," Jai said.

"What is that?" I asked.

"A Haerylbrinn ['hail-brînn]," Dana explained. "It's a portal-type thing that only transports from Haerylbrinn to Haerylbrinn, but spells and their equivalents can be cast on it in order for one to be transported under certain conditions."

"I trust you'll find the answers you need, and then some," Jai said as Pyralis stepped into the room with Jaya in her arms, who Dana promptly relieved Pyralis of.

"Syurein has agreed to treat Jaya at his house," Pyralis told Dana. "We'll be leaving her there when we leave for the next leg in our journey."

My mother embraced her friend and thanked him.

Jai pulled back and dropped his voice, though not low enough so that I was unable to hear. "Pyralis, you will have to tell him. If you do not Syurein will and we both know who you'd rather have tell him."

My mother didn't reply, instead stepping into the Haerylbrinn, Dana shortly proceeding. Before I followed, I thanked Jai.

"I don't deserve it, Kaine," he replied solemnly.

Deciding not to dwell too much on the foreboding comment, I walked through the Haerylbrinn and into a clearing of cherry blossom trees.

"Took you long enough," Dana yelled from the other end of the clearing. Pyralis and Jaya were nowhere to be seen. "Come on, slow coach."

With that, she disappeared into the pink foliage and I warped over to where she was in order to catch her up. When I looked around only to see she was no longer in sight, I tried telepathy, to no avail. I started walking around when a heard a growl behind me and a pair of short, though strong, arms were thrown around me.

"Gotcha!" Dana laughed.

I grinned. She did this often; jump-scaring was her favourite pastime. "Jeez, Dana. That was good, I admit."

She continued to laugh in triumphant glee as I pulled out of her weakened hold and looped an arm around her shoulders. "Your face!"

Our fun was interrupted by a clearing of the throat from our left. We turned to see Pyralis propping up a semi-conscious Jaya.

"Come along, children," Pyralis sighed.

Dana and I shared one more chuckle between us before she caught up with Jaya to help her walk. As we walked, my mother fell into step with me.

"You really love that girl, huh?" she asked.

Feeling a little awkward at the subject of one of the first of our conversations since her resurrection, I kept my answer light. "You've just caught on? Well observed, mother."

The joke gained a disapproving grunt from her, but she kept composure. "Where did you meet her?"

"I found her fighting off some witches she stole from."

"Watch your back, Cross!" one witch warned, clutching a severely wounded arm to his chest.

"We'll find you," the other threatened before he threw an ice-white globe a little bigger than the size of a golf ball to the ground, releasing a mist that pulled the witches in and vanished the moment the last claw sank into it.