Revival Of Stars

14 | The Promise

CHAPTER 14
•••

Two long days passed. All three of them were in that state where everything felt hesitant, awkward, sensitive. There was no connection or word from what was happening in Main Wispern or the Bishops; the mountains attained no electrical signal. So, like a couple of sailers hiding in a boat, all of them waited for that one single lightning to find their boat and ruin everything.

But the storm wasn't coming just yet.

Currently, they were still hiding in the boat—the crooked cabin hidden deep in the desolate Southern Mountains. It was relatively quiet, save for the few times Raya would try to bring up the mission and the 'recipe' to destroy the sword—the real reason why they were brought there. But Lance tried to ignore every advancement, constantly thinking to himself that what he was doing was for his family.

He already got Oran in the mess—and, who knows, his parents, too. Lance didn't want to dwell too much on that.

However, as for Etta—who was back to normal, healthy as ever—and Oran, they both kept near the bookshelves planted around the cabin. Huge, cracked and misshapen shelves jutted out from the wooden walls, and on top of them stacked multiple old books, the spine threadbare. Etta took joy in reading all of the tales from the pages, since, as a child, she had only heard of them through her mother's voice. Oran, on the other hand, delved into the multiple history books scattered about. In them, were heavily detailed information that explored the rich history of witches, Necromancers, and even Clairvoyants—which looked similar to the book in his father's office. He couldn't read it all, but, God, did he want to. All books pertaining information of supernatural texts were banned from Wispern. For a guilty second, Oran was glad he was there.

Throughout the days, they both took their time busying themselves in the tales and texts, occasionally spouting nonsense to each other to pass the clock.

Oran was trying his best not to fret over the mess back in Main Wispern—in Pleasant Valley. In doing so, he kept his mind focused on the words on the pages, but another incessant thought kept roaming through his head. Raya. Oran was the only one who knew of her name. Raya for short. She had to be the Great Raya; it was no coincidence. Right? Right? But the only stump that blocked him from coming to the conclusion was the fact that Great Raya had been alive over a century ago. There was no way she was right there, in the cabin where they all were. But then again...she was a witch. Oran continued to read the history books to understand more.

Meanwhile— Etta couldn't stop thinking about back home, back at The Archaic Bar. Although the adrenaline of being in a witch's hut was exhilarating, Etta wanted to go back for a second and talk to Sierra and Sid of the experience. She swallowed each and every word of the tales so that, when she'd go back who knows when, she'd be able to recite the stories more vividly.

They were all living separately in the cabin.

Three sailors waiting for that lightning strike, unaware of the captain who hid along with them who knew of a place to escape.

•••

When the third day hit, Lance couldn't hold himself back anymore.

"Will you stop." He pushed the chair he was sitting on back angrily. They all stopped chewing on the food they were eating as they stared at Lance, who, in turn, was glaring at Raya. Her incessant prodding on the topic of their destiny was getting out of hand.