The Horizon of Despair

Chapter 5: Victory to Fantasia

Amidst the heavy, dark-grey clouds of the bleak, colorless sky, was a girl. The girl sat on top of a hill peak, overlooking the cliffside edge. She bounced her feet back and forth, watching the dull waves crash up against the cliff. He stood far behind the girl. The only path to her was surrounded by countless dead bodies, all piled upon one another. All of them were riddled with stab wounds and bullet holes. The only bit of color he saw was the beautiful, vibrant, long flowing red hair from the back of the girl's head.

He ran towards the girl with raw emotion fueling him. Each step became harder and harder to take as he neared the girl. His quick, firm steps soon became slow and sluggish. He cried out, trying to make it to her. All the dead bodies had smiles of joy. Veins bulged from his head when he forced himself to keep moving. He moved as if he was underwater with weights on both feet.

Unnaturally, it started pouring rain in an instant. He slipped and his body swiftly smacked against the muddy ground. He struggled to get back up, but he was so incredibly fatigued. The pressure felt like he was at the bottom of an ocean. He crawled towards her, while the rain got increasingly heavier. He threw his hand out desperately, screaming in agony. No sound came out of his mouth. He lost vision of her through the rain. When the rain eventually let up, he saw no girl seated on the cliff anymore. There was only a horizon of despair left to view.

***

Flardryn moved with the wagon every time it hit a bump in the path. He was thankful nobody questioned his hooded attire. Although he was happy nobody noticed he was an elf, Flardryn was incredibly uncomfortable with the heat. The hood was very hot, making Flardryn uncomfortably sweat from his armpits and his palms.

Being nervous about being figured out also added to the sweat, but watching Ten cheerfully making friends with the girl beside her (who they learned was named Kya) calmed Flardryn down. Also, it was getting slightly cooler out as they headed further up north, which Flarydrn liked.

As for everyone else, they all got along fine. Arzon made idle chit chat with Ten and Kya. He was mainly quiet though, thinking to himself and mentally preparing for the ancient monument. He just kept remembering what kind of life he could live with Ten when they came back from this together. A nice, quiet life of luxury with the most important person to him. It sounded like paradise to Arzon.

Ten kept her one-sided conversation with Kya going, unknowingly only allowing Kya to slip in a "Yes, no, maybe," here and there. Ten learned of how Kya loved the moon and of Kya's affinity for water magic, which instantly impressed her. Ten began to talk more and more as her excitement grew, listing off all her interests to Kya. Kya smiled politely, with her face obviously twitching from annoyance at Ten's constant rambling.

Arzon had to step in to put a hand on Ten's shoulder to say "Hey, Ten. Dial it back a bit ok?"

Ten realized what she was doing and dialed it back. Ten and Kya were actually able to have a normal conversation from thereon.

Xig, meanwhile, managed to scare the living hell out of everyone in their wagon. He and Crimson were passed out for most of the ride. Arzon was the only one who noticed Xig occasionally squirm and mutter to himself in his sleep. Kya was busy with Ten, Ten was rambling, and from where Flardryn sat he didn't have a great view of Xig. Arzon was the only one who saw it. He didn't really question it though until something happened that made Arzon nearly cough up his heart.

Xig, out of the blue, frantically jumped up in a cold sweat screaming. He panted heavily, with sweat dripping down his now pale face. He looked around wide-eyed, before realizing where he was at. He quickly settled back down into a relaxed position. Everyone else in the cabin just stared at Xig, alerted and shocked.