The Star, The Demon, and The God - 37. The Corrupted Forest of Drulai

Luno

The first time I wake up, it is because I can feel a chill in the air. Not a normal one.

Where is it coming from?

Careful not to wake Kulu on his little pillow, I slip out of the bed and tiptoe my way to the sheet that is my makeshift door.

Trying my best to keep quiet, I peel the door back just a pinch, just incase the tent has collapsed on the other side.

Highly unlikely, but can’t be too careful, right?

I find the source instantly.

The Spirit Sailor is sitting in the middle of the tent.

That would be a small hallway between two rooms. One end leads to the entrance of the tent.

Tobias is keeping watch right now still.

Surely it hasn’t been that long since he started. I am still pretty sleepy! So that must be a sign, right?

Why is the Sailor awake and not in his room?

I watch him, waiting for whatever he could do next.

He has not moved at all. He only stares on down the empty hallway and at the entrance. He barely makes a sound as he drums his fingers on the armrests of his chair.

I frown as I watch him, unsure on what to do.

“I know you’re staring at me, you know,” He says, not even looking in my direction.

I jump a bit in fear but I quickly put on a smile then move to sit next to him.

How did these chairs fit into this thing?

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping too?” I ask. “Tobi is keeping watch over us right now. You will want your rest before your watch comes up.”

He shrugs. “I can’t sleep. It is hard to.”

I frown. “Do you need my help? I am sure I can make you sleep. I made Raiyo sleep after all. I don’t even think he can sleep!”

He gives a tired smile. “Yeah probably not. I am fine though. I do not need your magic.”

I look down the hallway. It is rather empty. All we see is the entrance of the tent.

“Aren’t you bored?” I ask. “How long have you been awake?”

He tilts his head in thought. “Maybe two or three hours. It’s fine. I’m used to it.”

Well that isn’t something you should be used to. He needs a distraction!

“I’ll be right back,” I say and hurry back into my room.

Throughout this journey with Tobias, I have managed to pick up a copy of The Tragedy of Yinx. I suppose the Sailor knows everything and all since he is very old, but at least reading this would be better than staring at a piece of fabric all night.

Walking back to the Sailor, I hold the book out to him.

“Here,” I beam. “Now you don’t have to stare at nothing. Now you can read to pass the time.”

He carefully holds the book in his hands as if he is afraid to break it.

He runs a finger over the title and lingers it over Yinx.

“I trust you would have another book I could read?” He asks, looking up at me.

His eyes look even more worn out and tired somehow.

I shake my head. “Sorry! That is all I’ve got with me. I should have asked Drulai if she had any I could take with me.”

He huffs a small laugh. “Of course.”

He gives me the book once again. “I will be fine. Trust me.”

I take it with uncertainty.

This is confusing me...what is wrong with the book? Is it because it speaks ill of the gods? The Sailor did not come across as someone who cares too much for them, but I suppose he is Drulai’s champion.

It has to be something else. The question is what?

“Go to bed, Little Star,” He says. “You need your rest for tomorrow.”

Yeah that is his way of telling me to leave him alone. He does not want to speak about any of this.

I retreat to my room and flop back down onto my bed.

Kulu lifts his head up from one of the pillows but he quickly goes back to sleep.

Our Sailor has a lot more going on behind his sad wolf face. I want to help him!

I have a feeling that he would be very much against the idea.

When I am near him, I can feel his broken and tired heart chilling the air around him.

Perhaps not literally, but in the magical sense, definitely.

I lay down next to Kulu and pull the blanket up to cover me.

Looks like this will have to be dealt with at another time? If he will let me.

~~~

The second time I wake up, it is because Tobi slides into the covers with me.

I open one eye and roll onto my other side to look up at him through sleepy eyes.

“Hey,” He whispers. “It’s only me. Go back to sleep.”

Pulling myself closer to him, I rest my head on his arm and close my eyes again.

He smells good. He smells like freshly rained on grass.

I feel him press a kiss to the top of my head.

Smiling lazily, I sigh and look up at him.

“Do you want to talk about this morning now?” I ask, my voice a bit raspy from waking up.

He shakes his head. “No it’s fine. You should sleep. We can at a later and better time.”

I shrug. “Something tells me this will be one of the best times to do it.”

He glares at my words, but his face softens after a small moment.

“What kind of thinking is that?” He presses another kiss, this time on my forehead. “Usually I am the one who would say something like that.”

Another shrug from me.

“That forest,” I say. “I have a bad feeling about it. Don’t you?”

He looks like he wants to disagree with me but he gives in and nods.

“Yeah but that could only be our nerves getting to us,” He says. “I will keep you safe at all times. Remember?”

I smile and lean up to kiss him.

One of his hands tangle up into my hair and pulls me closer, as if he is afraid this will be our last kiss together. The other hand reaches back and grabs my hip, squeezing and pulling me closer as well.

When he pushes his tongue in and runs it against mine, I have to pull back to breathe.

My face feels as if it is on fire and my stomach feels all tight and warm.

None of the books I ever read made kissing sound this...steamy.

The ones I had with Viktor were definitely not even close to being like this.

“Gods,” Tobias sighs and leans his head back onto his pillow. “How did I manage to get myself here?”

I let out a small laugh. “Don’t tell me this is another of those things where you tell me that you are not worthy or something like that. I already told you how I feel about that!”

He smirks and leans down to kiss me again, this time it is slower and softer.

When he pulls back, he runs his thumb along the curls near my neck.

“I was saying,” He says, “How was I lucky enough to be the one who gets to do this with you. A powerful Star who doesn’t even know his own strength.”

“So now this is about power again?” I pout.

I do not like hearing about how powerful I am.

Mother said it was a disappointment that I had so much power but never bothered using it. I remember Tobi saying it as well, once upon a time. It never made me feel good, nor did it really affect me much, but I do not want to hear it anymore!

He sighs. “I am not trying to get all riled up. I was hoping it would come across as a compliment. No need to get all defensive about it.”

Right…I am coming to conclusions with all this pretty quickly

“Sorry,” I mumble and pull the blankets up higher to my cover my shoulders.

Another kiss, this time on the cheek.

“You going to fall asleep now,” He asks.

I shake my head. “Not till you tell me what happened this morning.”

He chuckles and press his nose into my hair. “Alright then.”

Silence fills the air for a time. I do not push him to tell me anything or to speak up. I want him to do it when he is ready.

If he were to say that tonight was not the night, that would be fine with me!

“Well,” He speaks up. “You know how you lost Taisla? You said you could feel it.”

I did feel it that day. I felt it when I had tried to bring the village back. When I had blinded that poor human soldier.

“I guess I was feeling it today,” He says. “Drulai sort of helped me realize who it was. It was...it was my Uncle. The one who is also a demon. He died.”

Reaching for his hand, I hold it to try and comfort him.

“Do you know how?” I ask. “It seems so sudden!”

He shrugs. “Can’t say that I do. I have no idea where he’s been for the last few weeks.”

That’s strange. That long without ever speaking to one another?

I suppose because it is Tobias, that is somewhat better than what he usually puts effort into others.

What could have happened to the Uncle? Obviously it was something bad...but what?

“Okay I told you,” He says quickly. “Now we can move on.”

“What?” I frown. “But we need to talk about it!”

He shakes his head. “We already did.”

“No, no we did not!”

He glares at me. “Did so!”

“Did not!”

“So!”

“Did not!

“Would you both shut up!” The Spirit Sailor’s voice cuts through the air. “Gods! You’re going to awaken the dead with all that racket!”

My eyes widen when I realize how loud we were getting.

“Sorry,” I mumble, probably not loud enough for the Sailor to hear me.

Some distance has been placed between me and Tobias.

“Look,” He starts. “He is gone now. I don’t like to think about it because I have no idea where we are supposed to go after we die.”

Oh.

“I already died before as a human,” he says. “Where am I supposed to go when I die this time?”

This is something that feels very foreign to me. Nothing I have read has ever told me what happens when an Angel, Demon, or even a God dies.

What happens when I die?

Nothing that I know of ever tells you what happens.

Is there a second heaven or hell? Is there a vast open space that goes on and on and on?

Do we cease to exist?

Well that’s no fun to think about!

I reach up and rest my hand on his cheek.

“Alright,” I say. “We don’t have to keep talking about it. Let’s just go to sleep.”

He stares down at me, perhaps able to see the thoughts rolling through my mind? In the end, he nods and pulls me close to him once again.

I don’t want him over thinking about what comes after. It is a mystery. Who knows to what, but for now, it would be best not to dwell on it. Not when we have so much to live for!

Somehow he falls asleep before me.

I can’t really do that after pondering over things I have never thought of before.

~~~
~~~

Tobias

I suppose I should have somewhat talked about why I had pulled away from Luno the other day; back when we were on the boat and almost held hands in front of the Sailor.

There were a lot of things I should have gone over, but I was too chicken shit to try.

I know it is helpful to pull back and lean on someone for support, but that’s not me. It never has been and never will...I think.

These last few weeks have been a bit life changing. Second life changing?

Either way, they have definitely changed how things work. Mentally and physically, I am drained. So much goes on every day and I want to sit back on a nice hot beach and chill out.

A desert is somewhat close but there won’t be any ‘chilling out’ when we are out there.

Heading to some dark forest might kill us before we even reach the damn sand.

Yup. We are headed to our death right now.

Not even doing that!

We are staring death in the face right now. Well...about two hundred from from it, but still we have reached the forest.

It is rather creepy which I suppose is the point.

I swear the air has gotten a lot colder here yet there isn’t a single sign of air brushing against us.

“I-I don’t know if I want to go in there now,” Luno says, grabbing onto my arm.

Yeah I don’t really want to go now either.

Of course I can’t act like that in front of him! Especially when the Spirit Sailor seems completely content with what's in front of us.

“Don’t worry,” I say. “We’ll be alright. Don’t sweat it.”

I say content, but really, he looks somewhat pissed just from looking at the spooky place.

“We shouldn’t be here,” He says.

I wait for him to continue, but that is pretty much all the wisdom we gain from him about this place.

Great. So useful!

“Do we have a choice?” Luno whispers now, thinking that something can hear us from all the way over here like the cute dumbass he is.

“No, not really,” I sigh. “Might as well take your deep breath now.”

The closer we get to the forest, the world starts to feel darker and smaller.

Luno’s grip on my arm starts to hurt but I don’t bother with prying his fingers off. The pain somewhat helps keep me level headed.

There are strange white plants that make up the forest. They look like they are made of bones.

A shiver runs down my spine.

They naked trees I’m guessing, but they have moss hanging between them all. It is a ceiling completely covered in moss.

The colors are a bit intimidating from the trees.

Dark greens and browns fill in the ground and ceiling. The whites from the trees make me feel as if someone has been keeping them clean.

Imagining some skinny white man with no face brushing off the trees with the scatters remains of creatures comes to mind.

What a frightening thought to have right now.

Could that creepy man be swinging from branch to branch in all that moss? Is that what is making them rustle around and make disturbing hissing noises?

“What happened here,” Luno whispers to himself as he looks around.

I almost jump out of my skin when I step onto a small bit of water.

I was too busy staring upwards that I didn’t even notice the ankle height water in front of us.

Is this some kind of swamp now?

The water looks dark, but that is mostly from the dark grass underneath it all.

I freeze when I hear the giggling of a child.

Turning towards the source, all I see is the white bones of trees blending together, completely making the way we came disappear.

“How the hell are we supposed to find that fucking water in a place like this?” I hiss. “There is water everywhere, no signs on where the special water could be, and we have a giant forest of...that to go through!”

I gesture to all the trees blending together around us.

Luno keeps holding onto me. His heartbeat must be going through the roof based on the expression on his face right now.

The Spirit Sailor steps ahead of us.

It is now that I realize he has the map in his hand.

Why wasn’t he in front of us sooner?

The old idiot!

He silently leads the way through the forest.

He turns at the oddest times, he back tracks every now and then. Sometimes I swear we had literally walked in a circle.

I am beginning to this he has gotten us lost.

When I am about to get onto him, Luno speaks up first.

“Do you hear that?” He asks, letting go of my arm.

He looks over to our right and stares at a wall of trees.

“Hear what?” I whisper in case there is a foe that might attack.

Luno steps a bit closer in the direction he’s looking and I quickly grab his arm.

He jumps in surprise before turning to glare at me.

“Do not leave my side,” I glare back. “Something could kill you out there!”

Fear sets in him once again and he grabs my hand.

This time I don’t bother with caring for the Spirit Sailor’s presence.

I notice he wants to keep walking on however.

“There it is again!” Luno pipes up. “Do you not hear it?”

I frown. “Do you hear the laughing too?”

Simply mentioning them brings another fit of giggles echoing behind me.

He shakes his head. “Someone...someone is talking over there.”

Luno tries to walk in that direction, but I do not budge.

“We could get lost,” I grit out, trying not to let my own fear get the better of me and sprint back the way we came.

Like hell am I going to some random creepy voices that Luno heard!

Luno lets go of my hand and quickly follows whatever voices he is hearing.

“Luno!” I whisper shout. “Get back here!”

Quickly, I chase after him. The Spirit Sailor follows, growling under his breath.

Following Luno proves to be rather tricky since his hair blends in with all the lines of white in this stupid place.

“They are so close,” Luno says. “Look!”

He has stopped moving and points at...nothing. He is pointing at random spot between two bone trees.

Luno’s grin slowly disappears.

“They...they were there,” He says, walking over the empty space. “Their voices were so clear!”

“You were hearing things,” I say. “This place is getting to us. I was hearing things too. Let’s get out of here. This was a bad idea from the start! To hell with saving Thymestrys!”

Luno pouts. “But I heard Laneer!”

I shake my head in confusion. “The hell are you talking about?”

Glancing at the Spirit Sailor, he stares at Luno. I can’t read his face for what he is feeling. The wolf face makes it hard to tell.

“He was here,” Luno says, his enthusiasm growing weaker. “I...I swear I heard them.”

Sighing, I rest my hand on his shoulder. “Hey, listen. It’s alright. The Forest is toying with us somehow. Let’s just go and get someone else to do this mess.”

“We’re here,” The Spirit Sailor says, looking off to our left.

At first I think he is being an ass and trying to mess with us, but when I follow his gaze, I see a strange tree that is different from the others.

The pale tree sounds like bells slowly echoing in the distance. Each ding of the bell feels like a pang into my skull. It leaves it feeling fuzzy and leaves my vision blurry. The corners of my eyes get darker and darker with each ding of the bell.

Surrounding the the tree is blackness. That is the best I can describe it. The water that surrounds it is completely black, as if it is the source of all this darkness…

Slowly, I feel my body walking towards it.

My boots make a small splash with each step through the ankle length water.

Why do I feel so entranced by a pool of black?

“Tobi?” Luno calls. Did he call? His voice sounds so faded.

My hand moves to my pocket, wrapping my fingers around the chain of the moon necklace.

I pull it out and hold it with both hands and stand before the water.

The black pool sits perfectly still. It does not ripple from the softest of breaths. It does not move at all. There isn’t a single sign of life.

“Tobi!” Luno calls again.

Why is he calling me? Everything is fine.

The water is getting bigger? That’s...that’s fine.

Cold all of a sudden surrounds my body and I am encased in the darkness.