Kingdom Fall (Ethereal #1)

-Chapter 30-

Old Man's Disease

Earic

Earic could only stare at the glowing letters in front of him with squinted eyes.

'Her hand writing is very bad,' thought Earic to himself.

Dear Prince Earic (whom I have a strange urge to strangle at the moment),

We arrived to the blasted city, alive and in one piece for now. Not safely. We did not have the privilege to do so, thanks to that idiotic brother of yours who decided to take the worst route that almost got us torn into pieces by monsters from hell. Since the two of you are a pair, I am pretty sure you had an idea of what could have happened. Your confidence in us is very flattering...

'That girl even had the audacity to insult you!' cried Gen from behind. 'It was not like we had any idea there might be too many dangers ahead.'

'Hmm,' said Earic.

'Don't tell me you actually knew!'

'About that... I didn't think Tyler would choose the dangerous one.'

Gen gave the prince a look that could even make a grown man cringe.

'I hope your brother gets well soon, otherwise this kingdom won't survive with your various antics.'

'Aren't you the one who gets mad at people insulting me? You insult me more than anyone else!'

'That does not mean anyone else is allowed to do so.'

Earic scowled and turned back to the letter.

... Still, this place is stranger than it seems. Almost everything is golden. It seems the city is the head quarters for a group of demon hunters and Naajim is rather queasy about it...

It was hard to ignore the heated gaze Gen shot at Earic from behind him, 'I swear I didn't know!'

... Also, the omen that we all so much mused over is actually a giant floating rock on top of the city. You cannot actually call it a rock it's rather shiny and smooth, but probably a rock never the less I think. The locals believe that the rock can attract all the monsters from the desert around them. They say it happened before during the Great Descent. It seems the High Priest of the Malakie (the demon hunting religion) is rather influential in Oblivion. He forced the Sultan to surrender to Shokra. Most people are rather grateful while some are skeptical since the thing is still in the sky...

'As I thought,' said Earic, 'It really had something to do with her. And she is still keeping it there for insurance.'

'What does a floating rock got to do with her?' asked Gen.

Earic tapped his fingers on his table in the dark while leaning his head on his other palm, 'You have seen enough of what the Ethereans were capable of. It's clearly a drone-ship. Well, it seems so by the diagram she sent.'

There was in fact a diagram in the letter, a rather very unclear messy one adjacent to a rather clear one, drawn by an artistically trained hand. Earic was sure it wasn't drawn by Sapphire. Her hand didn't even have an ounce of artistry in them. Even a rather impressive city was drawn below it.

'Even if it is,' said Gen, 'how can a sky-ship attract animals?'

'Animals are sensitive to things humans aren't aware of Gen, they clearly used their knowledge to their advantage... we can think about it later.'

The letter ended soon after that with a small paragraph depicting their struggles.

...We are planning to go back to Artaria before hell breaks loose here. Your brother dearest is quite drunk at the moment. Well wishes to his highness.