The Star, The Demon, and The God - 35. The Second Quest Begins

Luno

“So how are we doing this,” I ask Tobias.

He tosses a bag onto the Spirit Sailor’s boat.

“We are supposed to teleport to the closest body of water to the forest,” He says before offering his hand to me.

I take it and step onto the boat.

“After that, it will be a long ass walk to said forest.”

Looking over at the palace, I try and see if the Spirit Sailor is on his way yet or not.

“What do you think we are going to find there?” I ask. “Drulai said it was dangerous.”

He shrugs. “It’s a corrupted forest so who knows who or what might be in there.”

Oh gods I did not think that far honestly. Would there really be some kind of evil creature in there? I swore I would never kill a living thing!

Maybe...maybe I could restore the place!

Something tells me that, that will not be possible.

“Tobi?” I say hesitantly. “Are you alright?”

I’ve noticed he has been quieter and more standoffish. It is quite normal, but not so much with me.

He looks over at me and I swear I see pain in his eyes.

“I’m fine.”

I don’t believe him.

Something is wrong. The chest pain he was feeling this morning was so weird. He never told me what happened after he came back!

Everytime I try to ask, he either ignores me or tries to talk about something else.

He puts on a smile. “I am being serious, Luno. I’m fine. I swear it!”

Narrowing my eyes at him, I still don’t believe him. He barely says my name when he is talking to me. Why would he all of sudden use it now?

He reaches out and grabs my hand, intertwining our fingers.

Okay now I can’t help but feel all giddy and warm inside.

I like holding his hand!

Kulu slithers down my arm and wraps around Tobias’.

I take it Kulu likes it as well.

“I’ll tell you later,” Tobias says while looking down at Kulu. “After I have had time to think it through.”

Squeezing his hand in assurance, I lean up and sneak a kiss on his cheek.

A corner of his mouth lifts up.

“Why is that you seem to be the only one who is genuinely happy in this world? It is a big one, but I haven’t met anyone like you.”

I shrug, not entirely sure how to take that honestly.

He leans in and rests his head on top of mine.

“You smell funny,” He says. “What did you do; roll around in the field of flowers behind the palace?”

I blink at his words and almost run off the boat.

“There is a field of flowers here?” I exclaim. “Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

He snickers and wraps an arm around me and pulls me close.

This feels nice. I wish I knew what was going on though.

We are kissing a lot. I swear we are close together all the time now. Everytime I look at him, I feel my spirits rising and a smile tugging at my face.

Is he feeling the same thing? He said he liked me. Does that mean he is feeling the same gooey feelings?

The flutter of wings grabs my attention.

A pretty bird with orange feathers has found a place on the side of the boat. Its head twitches this way and that, watching us.

The birdie hops closer to me and lets out a single chirp.

Smiling at the pretty thing, I use my magic to bring out a single bead of ocean water into my hand. With that bead, I concentrate on making something new; a present for the curious bird.

When I open my hand for the bird, a small pile of sunflower seeds falls to a spot on the boat next to me.

Watching the bird practically ravage those seeds brings memories of Enfi to my mind.

I can’t believe she’s dead. The Enfi! A creature who has died multiple times but always come back.

Raiyo’s magic is so dark and twisted, not even she could make such a miraculous return.

Just thinking about him is making my blood heat up.

Why must he kill everything he touches? He does everything so recklessly! He abuses his powers but he also speaks ill of the other gods. That seems pretty hypocritical to me.

Does he not realize he is acting like the ones he complains about? Is he that blind to his own actions?

He kills so much, I think it might actually be considered normal to him!

Enfi, Vlad, the Halehigh soldiers, Angels, even his own demons!

I remember he killed an incubus when I visited. It was scary hearing their cries of pain. The smell of burning flesh is rather hard to forget.

There is also Mother. How could I forget that? He killed the one who raised me.

I hate him. I hate Raiyo.

...do I?

Those green eyes still pierce through my mind every time I want to hate him.

Something is not right about that. Who’s eyes were those? They held a great fear when I saw them. Fear of what? Being trapped maybe? Is someone trapped in the body of Raiyo? Could that be a thing? It could, could it?

Maybe I am thinking too much into it but those eyes definitely belonged to someone who was not Raiyo.

A kiss on my head brings me out of my thoughts.

I look up at Tobi.

“Your flowers were going through a whirlwind of colors,” He frowns. “What are you thinking about in that pretty head of yours? You worried about me?”

I shrug and paste on a smile. “Everything and anything I suppose. Of course I am worried. You’re a terrible liar!”

He scoffs and shakes his head. “If you say so.”

I jump in my seat when a loud thump goes off behind me.

When I look back, I see the Spirit Sailor has dumped a bag next to his giant oar. He looks particularly mad right now. Wolves can look pretty scary when they are angry. This case does not look very different.

“Would...would you like me to try and convince Drulai to pardon you?” I ask timidly. I don’t want the wolf to lash out and bite me.

He stares at me in silence. I almost feel like I am some kind of prey that he wants to kill, but he quickly looks away.

“I am fine,” He says. “Let’s just hope we can get this over with quickly.”

Tobias grunts in agreement.

Great...I am stuck with a mean cat and dog! At least the cat has gotten used to me. I hope the dog gets along with us soon. I want to be his friend! He seems very lonely.

“Do we have everything?” I ask. “I imagine this will be our last chance before we are away from any lakes or ponds.”

Another grunt. This time from the both of them!

“Okay...I am going to assume we do,” I pipe up. “Maybe if we are lucky, this quest will be fun for all of us! Who knows?”

I swear I see Tobias giving an evil look that tells me to stop, but I see the Spirit Sailor smirking to himself. I didn’t even know wolves could smirk! I suppose it helps that the rest of his body is human...I think.

“Luno,” Tobias says softly. “Please...for the love of all gods...shut up! It is the morning for gods sakes! Give me some time before you start picking up with this crap!”

I can’t help but snort at that. “Then go to sleep! You can sleep on my lap if you want!”

He narrows his eyes at me and looks down at my lap.

For a second I think he might actually take up my offer, but he shakes his head and curses to himself before looking the other way.

“When the fuck are we leaving this shithole?” He yells. “You plan on taking us someday soon you old dog?”

Looking back at him, I find the Spirit Sailor glaring daggers at the back of Tobi’s head.

Even with Tobias’ meanness, he does pick up his oar and pushes the boat off the beach.

He must be very strong if he can do that with all of us on here!

Tobias is unimpressed of course. He just stares out at the ocean. The breeze runs through his hair and I all of a sudden find myself unable to look away.

I always figured he was handsome. Scary, but still handsome.

Right now though...is it strange to call a man pretty? His blue eyes look especially nice with the water in the background. The sun shining on his hair makes it look all nice and fluffy from the bath he took earlier. It makes me run to run my fingers through it!

Biting my lip, I allow a few moment of staring at handsome Tobi before looking away, not wanting him to catch me or anything like that. I am sure he would make fun of me for it.

Looking over at the Spirit Sailor, I see he was watching us with a knowing smile.

Warmth builds up in my cheeks and I turn away in embarrassment.

To my surprise, I feel Tobi reach down for my hand, squeezing it gently.

I knew he wasn’t annoyed with me!

The Spirit Sailor grunts slightly with each pull of his oar.

We get further and further into the ocean. The waves become smoother but they dip down more.

Since we are already in the middle of the ocean, the Spirit Sailor does not bring us out far.

I am assuming he needs deep waters for his teleportation thing to work.

Let us hope that lake we are hoping to arrive in is deep enough for us to get there. It would be a bit sad if we had to walk an even longer distance.

Cringing at the incoming days of walking again, I lean my head on Tobias’ shoulder and wait for the Spirit Sailor to do his magic.

He is a very strange Spirit. I swear he acts more human than any of the ones I have met. I guess that could be said for all the others in Drulai’s palace.

Clearly the spirits who could speak english all decided to find their ways to her home. I got all the spirit creatures.

Maybe to some they would see that as lame, but I love them all!

A glint in the corner of my eye grabs my attention.

I frown when I realize that Tobias is holding the moon necklace in one hand. I could have swore it was Kulu.

He is staring down at it with his brow creased with worry. Over what?

Maybe it is not over the necklace at all. It could be about what happened earlier with the random pain he was feeling. That was awfully strange. Did Drulai help fix it? He has stopped complaining about it so maybe she really did do something?

I look away when he moves his hand to scratch the back of his neck.

The water underneath the boat begins to foam up with bubbles.

Looks like we are about to find a whole new place to explore! I am pretty excited!

I know the forest is going to be dangerous, but whatever the land around it? What is it like? All I have really seen are the snow covered hills and trees.

Avelin was barren, but that was in some strange evil way. Something was very much wrong with that place.

“You know,” Tobias says out of nowhere. “I thought about becoming a farmer for a short time.”

A smile spread across my cheeks when I imagine Tobi a straw hat and a pair of overalls, barefoot and on his knees pulling weeds from the dirt.

“That sounds very unlike you,” I laugh. “What made you change your mind?”

He shrugs. “Things happen. They push into paths you don’t see coming.”

“Aw,” I pout. “Sorry to hear it! You would have been a fine farmer.”

He bites his lip to try and hide his smile.

“If it makes you feel better, you have very much pushed that thought into becoming a want of mine.”

I snort and smack his arm lightly.

“Liar!” I grin. “Now you’re just saying that to make me feel good.”

My chest tightens up when we become surrounded by a bubble of water.

This time, it has become a brighter blue color.

Tobi must sense my distress because he wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me closer to him...or maybe he remembers my slight fear of this strange magic and is trying to calm me down.

Either way, the comfort is greatly appreciated!

“No I am being serious,” He says in a calm voice, as if the threat of the bubble popping does not even cross his mind.

“Your love of life has somehow grown on me.”

I snort at the pun, even if it wasn’t intentional, it makes me laugh.

The bubble begins to bring us deeper and deeper into the ocean water.

My heart starts pounding faster and faster.

Gods I hate this!

“You realize you could make your own bubble of protection in an instant if something goes wrong, right?” Tobias smirks down at me.

Sending him a half hearted glare is all I can manage at the moment.

He shakes his head and looks back at the Spirit Sailor. “How long have you been doing this?”

“Over a thousand years,” The Spirit’s deep voice says.

Tobias lets out a low whistle. “Damn that’s a long ass time.”

The Spirit must be feeling bad for me because he also adds, “Not once has there be an accident. You need not worry dear Star. I swear you are in good hands.”

I nod to him in thanks.

To my surprise, the bubble already begins to flake away into pieces as we rocket up the water at high speeds.

I grab onto Tobi’s arm in a vise-like grip and squint my eyes shut.

The sound of us breaching the surface roars in my ears but I refuse to open my eyes until the boat stops rocking back and forth. We could fall at any moment! I don’t want to drown! We finally just got here!

“Okay,” Tobias reaches for my hands on his arm and tries to wrestle them off. “You are about to cut off my circulation if you hold onto me any longer!”

The Spirit Sailor laughs lowly behind us.

Slowly I open my eyes. I have to blink a few times because the sun is shining nice and bright.

“Wow!” I exclaim and almost fall out of the boat when I hop out of my seat.

A giant bridge made of steel and stone runs across the entire length of the lake. How did the humans manage to something as wild as that? It is gigantic!

“What? You’ve never seen a bridge before?” Tobias scoffs. “You poor sheltered soul.”

I ignore his teasing and stare on as a small caravan being pulled by a donkey begins their trek along the bridge.

The Spirit Sailor begins to row us to the edge of the lake.

Looks like we are about to begin our own trek! This is pretty exciting! A whole new land to explore...for me at least.

I think I can somewhat see why the Spirit Sailor wanted to keep to his usual work. Who else wouldn’t want to go out and see all kinds of new places? Not only on Thymestrys, but in all the realms!

Now I wish I was Drulai’s champion…

“Is Drulai nice?” I ask out of the blue.

Tobias raises an eyebrow at me, possibly thinking I was talking to him.

When I look at the Spirit Sailor, he looks surprised I am acknowledging him at all.

Something tells me that he is a bit used to being ignored by his...customers?

“I noticed you get rather annoyed with her easily,” I say with a smile. “Is she not nice?”

Tobias sends me a look thats says I may have overstepped my bounds.

For a second I think I might have and that the Spirit will ignore me, but he simply gives me a slow nod.

“She is,” He says in a low voice. “She just doesn’t know when to stop pushing.”

Tobias snickers and gives me a pointed glance. “Sounds like someone I know.”

Rolling my eyes at him, I turn back to the Sailor.

“I promise I don’t push,” I say. “He is just joking.”

The Sailor simply nods before concentrating on moving the boat again.

So I take it he is not much of a talker either.

Looks like my hopes of having at least one fun buddy to talk to on this quest has pretty much been destroyed before it even started!

The Sailor brings the boat onto the land and we all get off, grabbing whatever belongings we brought with us.

Once everyone is good and ready, the boat all of a sudden begins to shrink down until it could fit in the inside of my palm.

It looks so cute!

“Must come in handy having a pocket boat that you can carry everywhere,” Tobias says, unimpressed.

The Sailor grunts before pulling out a map.

Oh good...another map!

Looks like I will be useless on that front once again. I have no idea how to read those things. I would get us lost for sure!

“We are around twenty miles south of the forest,” He says, staring down at the map.

Tobias looks up at the sky before looking in a specific direction and walking ahead.

“Is that North?” I ask, having to raise my voice since I am still standing with the Spirit Sailor.

The Sailor starts walking in the same direction so I have no choice but to follow.

Is should be known that Tobias ignored me. The Spirit Sailor hasn’t even acknowledged me following him!

These both are not exactly the best travel companions it seems…

Just my luck!