Beyond the Void

Chapter 99, Connected to each other by a bond

ERIC

Six moons since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

"How are we supposed to find Becca and Andrew?" Jess demanded from Eric. "You made this place happen. We had to follow you."

"There's someone at the edge of the forest." Sarah saved Eric from having to say something.

"It's a warrior. A woman." Kauri frowned. "Is she talking to someone?"

"Should we take a look? Maybe there are others in this place? I think we should be careful." Mai pondered.

"There's someone else there." Jess had climbed atop a boulder. "Someone small. Sitting on the ground" She pursed her lips and jumped into the waist-high crops.

"Jess! I know we want answers, but take it easy on her! Becca is a child, and something took advantage of her." Kauri shouted after her, climbing the stone fence.

Everyone else was hurrying after the angry Jess. This place did not follow common sense. The distance they had walked had to have been shorter than what they saw. No one else other than Eric seemed to have noticed or cared enough to voice the thought.

"Becca!" Jess half-shouted. There was a threat in the way she said the girl's name.

Eric picked up the pace in case this got bad. But a blood-red sword lodged itself into the ground in Jess' path. A dark wake danced around it and Eric could smell a bitter chill in the air.

"You!" Eric barked out of reflex. He could not find the offender at first but not far from the female warrior was Andrew.

He was sitting on a small boulder, in the shade of the trees. His arms were leaning on his knees and he looked weary. A few fresh cuts and bruises decorated his face and arms. Something about the way he was sitting meant he was in pain. There was a red, wet spot on his shirt, just above that ridiculous sash of his. Anger flared inside Eric and for an instant, he was ready to draw his sword. But fear got the better of him and the moment faded.

Andrew said something in the foreign tongue of this world. "He is telling us to calm down. To not start trouble." Mai said with a sigh.

"I wasn't going to!" Jess growled. "But is he sure, he isn't asking for it?"

In response, Andrew's mouth twisted into a grin. The warrior by his side raised her eyebrows and measured Jess from top to bottom. After a moment she too grunted a laugh.

"What is so goddamn funny? Who is this?" Jess demanded haughtily.

"Merely one who once was counted among the Six Guardian Deities of the North." Mai said awkwardly after both Andrew and the warrior talked at the same time.

"I remember her!" Robert exclaimed. "I saw her with the monolith of void. Where the people were frozen in time."

In the meantime, Mai exchanged a few words with Andrew and the man called his sword back to him. For a moment, Eric was afraid Andrew would not be able to catch the blade. It looked even sharper than his did. But it vanished at the last moment.

"She is inside him." Kauri said with a disbelieving voice. "How can we see her?"

Although he wanted to focus on more pressing issues Eric found himself looking at the unfamiliar features of the warrior. Her icy eyes frightened Eric. And if you looked closely, you could see scars on her neck. Most likely there were more of them underneath her clothing and armour. Her shaven hair with two long braids was the most peculiar thing about her.