Aster pushed the dagger’s blade into the grass until it was sticking out of the earth by itself. He then pulled back, walking toward Bronte, who was once again digging her fingers into the skin behind her eye guard. Blood poured down her face and her hands, making me wince and almost try to stop her. I even took a step toward them, ready to shout for them to end this, when I realized that she knew what she was doing better than I did.
She scrunched her face up like before, handing the guard over to Aster as thunder boomed above. The horses reared and neighed, startled by the loud noise, but soon calmed. They were the horses of soldiers, so they were used to noises like that.
I watched as Aster pulled the bottom of his shirt away from his stomach and wiped the guard. Their mouths moved, but I didn’t hear the exchange of words as thunder boomed again.
Then, A bright, blinding light flashed wide, blocking both Aster and Bronte from view suddenly. My natural instincts kicked in as I held a hand up to protect my eyes. The horses pulled on their reins again, with this being a lot more than they were used to.
I pulled them back, shushing them as the reins burned through my hand from their protests. I took their bridles in either hand and held on tight, hoping they wouldn’t run the opposite way to each other. Squinting through the light, I forced my burning eyes to watch as Bronte controlled the lightning, focusing it so it arched through the air directly into the dagger's pommel.
The clear crystal swiftly came to life, shining brightly as it absorbed the lightning and slowly began to solidify. Now taking on a light blue tint that matched Bronte’s eye color. The lightning stopped abruptly, and it took my eyes a moment to catch up before I could see Bronte leaning against Aster's chest. His enormous hands covered her face, pushing the guard back into place.
She looked exhausted as Aster helped her sit down on the ground, before wiping the blood from her face. They exchanged a few more words, no doubt Aster asking if she was alright, as I saw her nod yes in return. After that, he pulled the dagger from the ground and started to make his way back over to me.
Clearly, the gods had spoken.
They had gifted me their power.
And now, there was nothing left but to…
Hope fate was on our side.
Our horses were different to Acelin, which meant we could only get short gallops out of them, and they needed to rest more often than we would have liked. The delays only made my anxiety worse, not knowing what we would find when we crossed over into Aster’s world.
Would Atlas have already made it? Would he have succeeded in killing his brother before we could reach him or had Demetrios taken control of the kingdom with Atlas and Lazaros now lying dead at his feet?
Questions like this lived rent-free in my mind for the entire trip, ripping away any hopes of worthwhile conversation between Aster and me. Along with any hopes of sleep at night. Though with the snores that escaped Aster and vibrated the earth below me, there wouldn’t be any chance of sleeping even if my mind was behaving itself.
The silence outside the tent, which took me back to my survival days, was broken every few seconds with these snores. Something that only pushed my anxiety to even greater levels, not knowing what malicious creatures would hear them. The thin mats we were sleeping on did nothing to ease the burn on my back, either.
It wasn’t until the second night of camping, and the anticipation of reaching the Rift, that Aster finally opened up.
“I know you’re worried about him, but Atlas was the leader of that army before he ever became king for a reason. He will be fine,” he said, preaching the same comforting lines that, at this point, were starting to sound rehearsed.
“Yeah, yeah, I know he was top of his class at General camp… but that’s not it, and you know it isn’t,” I bit out.
“Alex…” I was quick to cut him off before he could give me any more General of the year spiel.
“Look, I get it, he’s more than capable of leading his armies into battle. But the thing that has me worried the most is if we get there too late and he’s already killed his brother. When he then finds out that his parents’ death wasn’t Lazaros’s doing, but he’s already dead by his hand, then Atlas will never, and I mean never, forgive himself. And as for douche bag Demetrios, we still don’t know what his end game is here.”
Aster released a heavy sigh but didn’t say anything because, obviously, I wasn’t facing this fear alone. In fact, I couldn’t recall Aster ever being lost for words, and that also concerned me. It was like I could feel a darkness surrounding us and, at that moment, I knew behind that humor, behind his sarcasm, he was worried too. Possibly even scared. For the man that I loved, that he loved too, and not just as his king but as a friend.
“He’s not just the King to you, is he?” I said gently after he passed me a flask of water. We had already eaten the sandwiches and protein bars from the supplies that had been packed and carried on our saddles. Which meant all that was left to do was sitting around the small fire Aster had made outside the tent, with nothing but the stars above and the worries below.
“You really do care about him,” I pushed again, waiting for him to speak, watching as the flames danced in his eyes, turning the amber golden.
“I may as well call him my brother,” Aster finally said, letting out a long sigh, and I wasn’t sure whether he appreciatedtalking about this or not. But then the thought that anything bad could have happened to Atlas wasn’t something either one of us wanted to face. And as for what would happen tomorrow once we made it through the rift, well, that…
That was the biggest question of all.
**********************
The next day I was happy that we made good time. My nerves were on edge as we got closer, but not enough to regret the decision to do this. I was both eager to get there and dreading it at the same time.
We had removed the tack from the horses, and Aster gave them a light tap on their backend. An action that sent them off down the path we had just come up, as it was now time to make the rest of the way on foot.
I reached the trench, jumped down, and continued on with Aster next to me. The buzzing and the static told us that we were close. Like something in the air was trying to cling to our skin. But then as quickly as it came, it was gone again. An eerie silence took its place as we finally arrived, standing there and staring at the near translucent wave of the Rift.
This was the third time I had stood in front of it, and each time, I had felt different toward it. The first time, I was nervous, dread filling my lungs with every breath. Because I hadn’t fully trusted Atlas then, I was always questioning his agenda, as if he was using me for this single purpose.
