SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES OF FANTASILIA SERIES
𝘈𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦. 𝘈 𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴. 𝘈 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.
Xanthiene Vivenca, af...
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Why had June spent the last five minutes getting soaked? Beats him.
He awoke in this dark room, staring up at a rocky ceiling. Gods, he hoped some of that would fall on him to end it all. His latest memories were of Reeca and the others talking to a strange voice with no form inside a cave that smelled of cleret piss.
June twisted his torso to look around. There's something about a Pilgrim Path, right? He squinted at a distance to his north. Where in the gods' navels was he? Where's Xanthy and the others?
Then, gallons of water slammed into his head as he moved to stand up. He went down, his rear hitting the rocky floor. Pain shot up his spine, igniting a wince.
He swiped at his face as he pushed his dripping hair off his forehead. Ugh. Did something die in that? He spat at the ground and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. It didn't do much because every part of him was still soaking wet.
Gods of Calaris.
June clamped his hand by his eyebrows and pushed down, driving the water away from his eyes. Okay. What happened? His hair fell down in long tentacles that shielded his vision. He cursed. Time to shear that away as soon as he got off this stupid water cave.
His arm itched and he moved to pick at it. His fingers touched flesh where the bandage should have him. A gasp sped out of his lips as his eyes widened. He held out his arm in front of him and gave a small, amused laugh. His arm was perfectly fine—no bandages, lacerations, or any pain. It's...as good as new.
June hummed. Perhaps it's a good day after all.
He craned his neck at the rocky ceiling and knitted his eyebrows. There's no way water could have come from there. He glanced to his left and shook his head. Not from there either if the walls were as smooth as that. He tapped his boots against the pristine cavern floor and his soles came away wet. There's water snaking past him from somewhere ahead of him.
Where was all this water coming from? It surely wasn't from him.
Silence echoed in the cavern. That's strange. June scratched his head, the water seeping into his nails. Shouldn't there be at least an insect present in caves? He sighed and started walking forward. He hoped Xanthy was having a good time somewhere.
Blood rose up to his cheeks. He paused, his mind taking him back to that night at the thought of the Virtakios. Why did he even do that?
Reason complicated things. June cursed as he continued forward. Part of the reason he went with her from Cardina to that godsforsaken brown-town was because of something he must do but there's no denying that a huge portion of that reason was because of this itch in his gut called "feelings".
June sighed and crossed his arms. He shouldn't even be doing things that might interfere with what he really came here for. That night in the darkness, when he said those words to her, he did just that.
