“He wouldn’t do that, Alex. He’s not a fool. He doesn’t know what he will be up against, so it would be safer for him to continue to travel with the army. Going off on his own could mean his death, and there would be no chance of stopping the darkness then. There’s too much at stake to risk that.”
I nodded, thankful for the reassurance that Atlas wouldn’t go doing anything stupid.
I started to follow him to… well,I had no clue where.Which wasn’t surprising considering this was pretty much Aster’s rodeo right now. Until I could be useful, it felt like I was just along for the ride at this point, but then I wondered… with so much of a head start, how did we have any hope of reaching Atlas in time.
“So, how do we catch up to him?” I asked, trying to put as much enthusiasm into my question as possible, hoping it would rub off on him. He hesitated, and I narrowed my eyes.
“Please tell me you have a plan.”
He released a sigh and stopped walking. “We will need help, but yes, I have a plan,” he said, with a tight-lipped grin.
“From who?” Skepticism laced my voice, and well, it turned out to be warranted when he didn’t answer right away.
His jaw tightened, and the muscle flickered as if even thinking of the mystery person pained him.
“Someone I used to know,” he said finally, his voice distant like he was reliving a memory.“Someone who I hope is still alive…”
“You’re kidding, right?”
He didn’t answer, he just gave me a dry look before he continued walking, telling me, “Come on, we have to keep moving.”
“What’s the plan then?” I asked after catching him up. His legs were a lot longer than mine, seeing as I was just a little human, after all.
But that was when he came out with words I really didn’t want to hear.
“Just trust me, okay?”
This was Aster. The fun-loving Minotaur that had saved my life and forgiven me after I had broken his trust. The one who loved Atlas like a brother. So, I knew more than anything thatAster wouldn’t be putting Atlas’s life on the line on a chance, that if this plan he had didn’t work, he would have a backup plan… well, a girl could dream at least.
Man, I really hoped he had a backup plan.
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Fine. I will trust you.”
I then looked past him, toward the horizon where the land stretched out in folds of greys and reds. The sun hadn’t moved, and the moon was still disappearing over the horizon. I knew it was going to take me a while to get used to how time worked here. It would also take a while to get used to the bland color of the land, trying to picture what it would have looked like as Aster had described it.
“Let’s pick up the pace. We don’t want anyone getting wind of us being here. There could be scouts in the area.”
“Scouts?” I asked, my voice coming out strained as my eyes swept over the land, and we started walking across the plains. As if any minute I expected to see shadows moving, stalking us like prey.
“Don’t worry,” Aster said, patting my back. Even a gentle touch from him had me nearly falling over from the force.
“We should be fine as long as we keep moving. Besides, I’m here. I can go full Minotaur if I need to,” he said with a wink. I knew it was a ploy just to try to put me back at ease.
Although what he said was true. Hecouldgo full Minotaur, and it was impressive to say the least. I felt sorry for anything that decided to attack us because I knew they wouldn’t last long against Aster.
“Are you similar to Atlas then?” I asked, only now thinking of the parallels between them.
“In what way?” Aster asked, giving me a side eye like he wasn’t sure where this conversation was going.
“Well, I recall you telling me you’re a Berserker Minotaur. The last of your kind, right?”
He nodded,
“That’s right.”
“You change into a Minotaur when you’re mad. Well, Atlas changed into…” I didn’t know what to call the beast he turned into. Did it even have a name? “Something… when a witch attacked us on the way back from the Rift.”
Aster shook his head.
