The Orb And The Onslaught {COMPLETE}

This Is Getting Old

   "The Vainsteor? But you don't even know what they are, let alone where to find them. And why find them, anyway?" Quentin fired at her.

He looked agitated and Florence could tell from the redness in his cheeks and nose, it had something to do with sticking around this frozen iceberg.

    "You're right, I don't know where they are but I plan to find out. I need to know who they think they are telling my parents to send me away. I want to rub it in how very wrong they were about my magik. It's just one more thing I need to do, okay?"

     Quentin frowned but nodded, they'd agreed before arriving that this was Skyrah's situation to deal with. They would support her no matter what she had to do. If she needed to go confront these Vainsteor then that's exactly what they'd accompany her to do.

"Okay Skyrah, where shall we start?" Florence started, wondering if Quentin's intelphone had a map of Eracinda.

    "Actually," Penlah interjected, his smile was wide and stretched out his wrinkles. "I may know where you can find them."

They all turned to him and Skyrah blinked back her surprise. "You've heard of these things, Penlah?"

"Only stories, old tales passed around the fire at night, nothing specific. I didn't know your parents had summoned them to test you, I wasn't sure they were even real. But yes, if the stories are true then I know where they reside."

    "Where? Where are they?"

"Supposedly it's a mystical cave on the island of Lopar," he paused at Skyrah's creased brow. "And that is why I said supposedly."

"Why?" Quentin asked, his interest piqued.

    "Because Lopar is abandoned, the people of the mainland believe it's haunted. Strange lights can be seen in the middle of the night, however nobody lives there."

Skyrah nodded, "We're going anyway, I have this strong sense that I need to go there. Don't ask me how or why, I just do."

     None of them questioned her, their whole quest was based on theories and feelings, there was no point pulling at the threads now. There was a reason Skyrah needed to go to Lopar and they were going to find out what it was. Ghosts were just a check on their list by this point, another knot in their ever growing rope of unusual occurrences.

    An hour later, Penlah and the rest of the staff were struggling to say goodbye to Skyrah. There were a lot of tears, a number of them had already decided to leave the royal household; including Penlah. He stated that hearing Skyrah's horrific tale was the last straw, he had enough money to retire and take care of his family. He would voluntarily leave Gwilong, there would be no exile for them. This seemed to make Skyrah happier and her departure that much harder.

    By the time they left the royal house and were exiting Gwilong, through another of the doorways out of the underground city, Skyrah looked exhausted. She lolled while she walked and Florence had to link her arm in Skyrah's so she didn't fall over.

"Emotional torrents like the one you unleashed will do that to you," Florence remarked with a smile.

    Skyrah leaned on her a little, "I had all of this pent up anger and pain, and it all came bursting out. Now I feel like I could sleep for days."

Florence nodded, holding onto Skyrah while Quentin led the way up the stone steps. The stairway looked identical to the one they'd entered through, however Skyrah had picked one on the opposite side of the city.

    "How are we going to get to this island?" Quentin asked curiously. "I don't remember seeing any tolah nearby when we were outside and they don't look like they can swim."