Hell's Bane (COMPLETED)

Chapter Five: The Transition Age

            The explorers went on their way the moment dawn appeared, and by noon, they were out of the jungle.

Susan, as Davis instructed, was never left alone or unwatched. Riding on the same horse as Drea, the spy found herself in the middle of all the horses, unable to break through if she was to take control of the reins.

Or so the explorers thought. None of them knew Susan well enough, and underestimating her was a mistake. Nobody noticed how silent she was the entire time as their horses trotted field after field, plotting her escape once again.

Davis, meanwhile, was still met by an onslaught of questions that day, and when Hugo and Drea weren't asking him about the Brimstone Faction, they were asking their leader about simple history, of the time when magic still existed.

It was a strange thing, to think of magic as some mythical fairy tale that children grew out of. Hugo had heard rumors of those able to wield magic, and of the time of magic itself. But few were open to the subject – to Davis' description, it was something many began to frown upon over the years as new technologies were unearthed.

"Over time, truth becomes fable, and fable becomes lie. The lie becomes something else entirely, and then it becomes society's truth yet again." That was what Davis had said. But beneath the expression of calmness, Hugo thought he saw pain in the leader's eyes.

As they stopped for lunch, Susan eyed the can carefully as Davis handed one to her.

"You're giving me food?" the spy asked incredulously, fumbling to open the can.

Davis stared. "The Claimant captured you for a reason, but we aren't savages."

Susan thought about what Davis had said, but then quickly dismissed it, too hungry to care. But some part of her mind began to think differently from ever before – perhaps what she was told before wasn't true after all.

But you can't bank everything on that, the spy countered as she began to regain her energy. For all you know, Davis could be buttering you up, and in a few days, he'll be leaving you to starve again.

Susan's thoughts were shattered as Drea, beside her, asked: "What happened to your hair?"

The spy looked at her indignantly and placed her one free hand on the top of her head, where only the thinnest patch of hair remained. With a grumble, Susan answered: "The Scavenger perceives such things as unnecessary. They will only get in the way, and we have no time for such petty inconveniences."

Drea nodded, grinning in amusement. "And all that black... do they make you wear completely black all the time?"

Susan continued to grumble but didn't answer, going back to thinking about her escape plan, convinced that Drea was mocking her. She looked at the explorer again to see any sign of such intention, but by then, Hugo and Drea were again asking Davis questions.

"What do you mean, a time when magic existed?" Hugo asked, clearly fascinated with the idea. "And how does magic not exist anymore?"

"...Some say that magic just blinked away," Davis began. "They say that the next generation just somehow didn't possess any relation to magic, and the past generation also felt it fading away. Magical creatures that now only rest in folktales and lore used to roam free before they suddenly became extinct – slowly, I believe, as the magic that kept them alive began to ebb away in them, leaving them at the mercy of the animals that fed on them."