Natalie

The Three Prongs Inn’s doorbell chimed at Andrew and Natalie entered the reception. They planned to stay awake until Sophie and Flynn came back, hoping to hear their plan. No sooner had they arrived at the inn, however, did they get a taste of what the rune smith had in store for them. Sophie had requested a late dinner to be served up to their rooms the moment they arrived. Sophie had already covered the expenses.

When Natalie looked at Andrew for an explanation, he simply frowned and said how sus[ected that she was working with something with the innkeeper when he waited outside.

“Man, I’m starving,” Andrew sighed. Natalie simply nodded. It had been a long day, and she had to admit that even she had grown hungry.

“There’s also someone here who wants to talk to you,” The receptionist said.

Andrew and Natalie looked at each other with uncertainty.

“Someone for Sophie?” Andrew asked. The lady shook her head.

“He did not ask for Miss Emerson in particular. But you see Hector, he… well, you’ll see for yourself.” She said as she gestured over to a man sitting among a row of seats tucked away in a corner beside the reception desk. Natalie saw recognition fill Andrew’s features.

“The fisherman,” he mumbled.

“The harpoon man with the thin nose?” Natalie asked. Andrew nodded, but then frowned soon after.

“You did not know his name?” he asked.

“There was no time for names, Andrew,” Natalie sniffed. Andrew sighed in acceptance.

Being led by the receptionist, Hector met them at the desk. He had his fishing hat crumpled to his chest as he approached them with a kind nod.

“I was worried that you’ll be sleeping by the time I found you,” he said. Once again, Natalie and Andrew shared a look with one another.

“Does this have something to do with pay?” Andrew asked.

“‘Pay’?” Hector frowned.

“I recall Shepherd refusing payment for finding me, but if that did not apply to you then-”

“-Oh cycles no-it’s nothing like that!” Hector waved his hat in front of them adamantly. “In all truthfulness, this is the opposite of pay!”

“You’ll be paying us?” Natalie asked. At this, Hector turned to Andrew with hopeful eyes.

“I saw you at the gathering. You willingly involved yourselves in a fight that has nothing to do with you. Why is that?” he asked.

“I’m hoping that it will get us down river sooner,” Andrew said.

“I thought so,” he said. There was a long, intense look in his eyes. It was as if he was contemplating his next words. Andrew must have taken his question more for interrogation because he folded his arms, saying: “You disappointed that I’m not purely doing it out of kindness?”

“Oh! No, nothing like that. You said as much back there too, it’s just. I also recall how desperate you were to keep travelling... I wondered what’s changed, but it seems like nothing has. That troubles me.” There was that look in Hector’s eyes again as if trying to gauge Andrews’ will. “You realise that even if you help solve this crisis tomorrow, it’s very unlikely that anyone will risk straying too far down the river anytime soon.” Andrew’s eyes twitched at that news.

“I was running under the illusion of hope,” Andrew said with a weak chuckle.

“So you’ve guessed that much already,” Hector said.

“It crossed my mind a few times,” He said with a sigh.

”So then why didn’t you ask about it when you were at the gathering?!“ Natalie snapped.

“Not like there was anything they could do if my hunch was right. Thought it was better that I didn’t get a straight answer.” Natalie saw Andrew’s shoulders slump. The fatigue that was clear on his features when they first entered the inn returned with a vengeance. But despite his crestfallen posture, there was a hint of a melancholy smile on his face. Natalie’s heartfelt numbness at the sight of it.

“I just wanted to confirm that you understood what it is you are putting your life on the line for. You two are young. You came through here to reach your mother, right? So don’t feel you owe us anything.” Hector said. Biting her lip, Natalie drew in closer to Andrew’s ear.

“We can still rest up now and be off by foot. Not fighting here means more rest for the journey.” Natalie said.

“How would any of us sleep soundly if I chose that?” Andrew said.

“You don’t have to take up the fight on my behalf anymore,” Natalie said, but Andrew shook his head at that.

“I’ve given my word,” he said. “A man’s word is his bond.”

“What?” Natalie mumbled.

“And after seeing the gathering, talking to Gracie about all the crap that’s going on around here, it’s not as if these things did not phase me. I now know too much to just ignore it. If I felt this strongly just now, I know you want to help them even more.” Andrew chuckled that last part to himself. Natalie’s heart skipped. Unsure of where to place her eyes, she glanced over to the glass door leading to the stairwell with folded arms.

“It doesn’t matter who wants it more,” Natalie huffed. “So long as we agree, then…”

… Thank you… Natalie felt a deep sense of pride and admiration for Andrew at that moment.

As conflicted as she was about putting this village before Andrew’s mother, she could not help but love the fact that Andrew got it like she did. It was not just purely for her sake that he wanted to help. Hearing Andrew sighs a chuckle behind her brought Natalie back into the now.

“Honestly, not being ignorant to the troubles of the world can be a real pain sometimes,” he said.

“Kids your age shouldn’t be burdened with such heavy choices,” Hector said.

“Tell that to the cycle,” Andrew said with a dry smile.

“Saying what should or should not happen is just another way people convince themselves to not do what they must,” Natalie said.

“Apply put, young lass. It’s true that we cannot always pick the burdens we carry, but some of us grown-ups can at least lighten the load a little. Hence the reason I’m here,” Hector said. “I cannot ask others to risk their lives to go travelling right after a demon crisis as bad as this. But I can at least risk myself if I so wished. And so here is my proposal; if you fight alongside us, win or lose. I promise to take you to Aqua Falls the moment it’s over.”

Both her and Andrew 's mouth hung open.

“Do you mean it?!” she asked.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking about this. My mind’s made up.” He said. “If you’re willing to risk your lives helping others even though your hometown might be in trouble, then I’d be ashamed if none of us here at least returned the favour. So I’ll drop you off at Aqua Falls and we can call things even.”

“And if demons show up on the journey there? Just so you know that we-“ Andrew looked at her and sighed before continuing. “Well… I know that I’m not all that good at dealing with demons underwater, at least.”

“I’m sure between the four of you, it will work out. I’ll hire dock hunters for the return voyage. As I’ve said, I thought this through.”

“But that’s the thing. We are risking our lives in hopes of returning to our own business that bit sooner. So you see, this is not a fair trade.” Andrew picked up. Hector bowed his head as he nodded.

“You’d be right there. If you swallowed the story, I just served you as it was. But I’ll get a little something out of this endeavour.”

“What would that be?” Natalie asked carefully.

“Now that’s classified info. Can’t give out my business ventures before they venture. You’ll just have to trust me when I say that you won’t be leaving me high and dry once we reach Aqua Falls.” Hector said. Natalie was at a loss for words.

“Well… as long as you feel that you’re getting something out of this.” She said carefully.

“Maybe I’ll be in the mood to tell you once we are off to Aqua Falls, so then. What say you? Do we have a deal?” Natalie breathed a grateful sigh. Having a guaranteed means to their destination took the edge off things. Looking at Andrew, however, she frowned. He still seems to be in deep consideration of something.

“Andrew?” He blinked in surprise at his name before shaking his head.

“Thank you,” he said to Hector as he put a hand out, taking Andrew’s hand as they shook on it.

“Guess I better get myself to bed now if I am to get you to your destination without issues. May the cycles grant you success.” Hector said. Placing his fishing hat back on, he rose from his seat, and with a respectful nod to both her and Andrew, he left the Three prongs Inn.

~#~

The receptionist brought their meal up soon after. Grilled fish seeped into a tomato curry base, finished off with an assortment of blended onion and ginger. As they ate, Natalie and Andrew fell into that sacred spell that accompanied all good meals. Utter, comfortable silence. That trance remained for a time until Natalie cleared a third of her plate. Watching Andrew, still entranced by his meal, Natalie put down her bowl.

“Win or lose, we will make it to your mother,” Natalie mumbled. The time was set, her mind made up. She should feel happy but…

“You don’t like the thought of moving on even if we cannot kill the demon, don’t you?” Andrew said. he wiped the last of his bread across his empty bowl as Natalie nodded.

“But it just means that we won’t fail,” Natalie said. Plopping the last of his meal in his mouth, Andrew nodded. “Gracie said that my power over the rain would be useful to help keep the forest from bursting into flames,” Natalie said.

“That’s certainly one way you could help,” Andrew said. “But why bring that up now? Worried that you might suffer performance issues?”

“Performance?” Natalie asked.

“You know, as in making it rain on the day,” Andrew said. Natalie shook her head at this. He should know better by now that summoning storm clouds has never been a problem. Her issue was the complete opposite. She wanted to be vexed at him, but even she had to admit that it was nobody’s fault but her own. To this day, she’s never really explained how her powers worked. Understanding this, she looked down at her hand, feeling it as if a strange tool was attached to them.

“If I’m to play a role in all this, then what role would that be?” she asked. It was weighing on her now that their course was set. She wanted some kind of affirmation from Andrew. So it was a little annoying for her to look up, only to find him picking the meal out from his teeth with his tongue.

“That will all be cleared up nearer the time,” Andrew said. “At least that’s what they told me.”

“But they don’t even know that I’ll be joining.” Andrew stopped picking his teeth right then. He was seeing her dilemma.

“You’re neither a knight nor an archer. Guess it will be hard to place you.” he frowned. “Now that I think about it, we’ve never really needed to define what you can or cannot do, have we?” Natalie took all this in silence, meanwhile, she squashed all urges to bonk Andrew’s insensitive skull with her spoon. Some of her urges must have shown vividly on her face, however, since Andrew looked back at her and froze mid-sentence. Holding his gaze for a while, Natalie bowed her head to compose herself. As bonk-able as he was, Andrew had a point, her role in a group had never been defined. Her powers have never once been used in a battle on this scale.

Small-scale battles only required the mind and body to be in order. To hold firm belief that your limbs will move or your strike will land. You master your mind and limbs through countless years of training to make them tools of combat. When and how you use them, whether you block or dodge, jab or kick, can determine victory or defeat. At the end of the day, it was all on you and nobody else. Large-scale battles require that and more. They too require insight and order, firm belief in yourself, and control over your emotions. But it also required you to be the perfect cog in somebody else’s game. Being a cog in the system was something Natalie had long given up on even trying to do ever since she turned her back on the hunter system. She never regretted the decision. The system turned its back on her first. But now that there was reason to at least get along with people of the system, she felt more uncertain about how their roles would mesh.

“Even if I fought with a weapon, there is still the problem with my affinity,” Natalie said. The knight system is mainly based on one’s affinity. Segregation of elemental groups marked different people as different tools. All have their key place in varied environments, situations, and locations. This made job requests specialised or applicable for only a particular class of pentagon knights. This also makes organising a large band of knights less complex. Even if one had nuances in how they applied their affinity, there was still a line of consistency to follow. No matter their experience, weapons, or means of fighting, sticking a bunch of flame knights together essentially compounded the strength of all flame knights. Mixing and matching elemental affinities can also make for more dynamic and destructive tools. A mix of Air and fire knights was an easy go to for effective combos.

Pentagon knights have a common role to play in battle and so even when put in a large group with some solid insight from their lead strategist, they can easily find a place to slot in. That just left Natalie wondering about her role. Her powers were arcane in the best of times. Her emotions heavily governed them. She made for an inconsistent tool. She could throw thunderbolts constantly enough and her angel sight allowed her to see beyond things others could not. With her lightning-paced punches and kicks, she was good at close and mid-range combat, but that only meant that she had options, and right now that only scrambled her head. It was at this moment that Natalie caught the sound of someone entering the hallway outside their room.

She expected to see Sophie and Flynn walking to their door when she turned on her angel's sight. What surprised her, however, was when they walked past their own door to reach hers. Natalie ran over and opened the door just as Sophie put out a hand to knock. For a moment, the two of them just gaped at each other. It took Natalie a second to realise that her angel sight was still on. Right now Sophie, without a doubt, could see her purple pupils. Sighing the tension away, she returned her eyes back to normal. Even if it was too late, it was all she could do. To Natalie’s surprise, Sophie had simply blinked a few times before smiling at her in greeting.

“Oh, thank the cycles. I was hoping to catch you two awake,” she said.

“Sophie, about earlier I’m…”

“You had a great deal on your plate,” Sophie said. That left Natalie at a loss on what to say. She was grateful, but she desperately felt the need to reconcile. “Right now, we need to agree on who is going to fight in this up-and-coming battle. I was just thinking about the personal benefits it will bring you if you choose to-“

“-That’s what I wanted to talk to you about!” Natalie cut in. “I want to help, but if I get involved, I’ll mess things up!” Natalie held onto the frame of the door as she let out the tension.

“So you do want to help these people?” Sophie asked. Natalie looked up, only to see her perplexed face. It was then she recalled declaring that she would not lift a finger to help them the last time they were together. With her face reddening, she averted her gaze, only to see Flynn’s proud face leaning off to one side of the hallway.

“Like a tempest, her heart sways,” he said.

“This happens every once in a while,” Andrew said with an apologetic sigh. Sophie just looked at her with an unreadable expression. In an effort not to look at her and the boys, Natalie turned her back to Flynn and leaned on the door frame, folded her arms and closed her eyes.

“He exaggerates,” Natalie said with a shake of her head.

And whose side are you on anyway?

“Then it’s a good thing we just ordered our meals to come up to your room because now you can elaborate. Can we come in?” Sophie said. Reluctantly, Natalie leaned off the door frame and bid them enter. As Flynn closed their door and Sophie looked around the room, Natalie could not help but feel the dreaded question coming.

“Now about this worry of messing things up,” Sophie said carefully. “Does this have something to do with the powers you have?” Natalie bowed her head as she turned anywhere but at the three pairs of eyes looking at her.

“There are so many things that can go wrong. These powers are chaotic and cause a scene. Even if nobody gets hurt, the display of them distracts people.”

“Do you mean that lightning display? Because it’s safe to say that you’ve given them the full initiation. Hate to break it to you, but nothing is going to shock them as much as all that.” Flynn said.

“You can summon storm clouds and can shoot thunder from your hands. Your eyes can also change colour. Am I overlooking anything?” Sophie said. Natalie tightly folded her arms over her chest. Not getting an answer from Natalie, Sophie nodded to herself. “Back when we were being chased by the wolves, you could have made use of some of these powers, but you held off deliberately, didn’t you?”

“I did not want to shock you, not in a situation like that,” Natalie said. She found she could not look Sophie in the eye.

“Worried that the distraction could kill us?” Sophie asked. Natalie nodded. “Has something like this happened before?” Natalie’s grip on her other arm became that bit tighter to the question. “I see… so then, Is there anything else that you feel could shock us to not know before an important battle?”

There was one more thing she felt she needed to show them. Preparing to summon her wings, Natalie reluctantly faces Sophie and Flynn. Seeing Andrew sitting down in one corner of the room was a comfort. It was not like she’d never shown her wings to anyone else before. They had then been seen by hunters and normal floke alike. But Sophie was neither. She was a Rune Smith from the prestigious halls of Hallow Peak, a sharp woman with an uncanny ability to read into the core of a person in an instant. To Natalie, Sophie’s opinion meant a lot to her. Having been afflicted with powers, she’s hardly made sense of leaving her more unsure of herself. What Natalie feared the most was the unpleasant clarity. She feared that in Sophie’s vast wisdom she would not only be given all the answers that she ever wanted about herself and what she is now but also find out that what she is afflicted with is so twisted. So inhuman that there was no way that she could claim to ever belong to her own native species.

It was stupid to think that one could unravel all of that in one glance, but no matter how much she rationalizes it that panic swelled up inside her. That one day the rig would be up and some sage or expert will tell her what she always feared was so much of one’s life at a glance, but that did not deter her strong feeling towards Sophie.

Bracing herself, Natalie summoned her wings. She’d closed her eyes as it fanned forth from her shoulder blades. She opened her eyes to the sight of black feathers falling around her, Andrew shielding her bowl of food from the petals of flight with an outstretched arm as the two westerns observed her in silent awe.

“Black wings,” Sophie breathed.

“So ‘Dark Angel’ is more than just a fancy title,” Flynn said. Meanwhile, Sophie picked one feather up one of the and twirled it around in between her fingers in disbelief.

“Just like in the myths,” Sophie said to herself. “But how is it possible?” Sophie asked. A double helix of dread and relief flooded Natalie’s mind to the question. It implied that although she knew something about what became of her, Sophie did not know enough to place it all herself. Natalie could not help but avert her gaze at the question. Recollection of being dragged away from home, of being stuck in a glass tank and experimented, looped on in her mind. She could feel her hands growing clammy and her breath ragged. The rumbles of thunder echoed off in the far distance. She was losing control again.

You’re not there anymore! You’re not there anymore! You’re not there anymore! Gritting her teeth in frustration, she swallowed down her own panic.

“The bastards I’m after are the ones who did this to me,” she said.

“For revenge,” Sophie whispered. It was as if a tome of deep understanding fell upon her lap.

“When I said that the abyss is all that I have left, I meant it,” Natalie said. “So what now? Are you going to tell me that revenge is wrong?” Sophie made out as if to say something further, but sighed and shook her head.

“Believe me, Natalie, if I thought life to be that simple, I wouldn’t have travelled so far from home,” Sophie said. She took a hold of her hand then. Natalie could feel her warmth pouring into her cold, clammy fingers. “I won’t ever sit here and pretend to understand what you’ve gone through. But ain’t you being a little untruthful to yourself?” Sophie smiled up at her, leaving Natalie uncertain. “You’ve saved children and loved ones because of your drive. And yet speak as if your actions are nothing but self-serving.”

“All actions are self-serving,” Natalie said.

“That may be so, but you can still tell a lot about one’s morals by who benefits by said acts. Like what you did today, for example.”

“I fought for the sake of finding a way out of here as soon as possible.”

“And so you did, and yet the solution you settled on will benefit all who live here. If I did not know any better. Most of your frustration came less from trying to serve your own goals, but came from being unsure of how you could help these people whilst serving your own interests.” Natalie’s face reddened at that. Seeing this, Sophie smiled and nodded to herself.

“You can look at it how you want. My actions were done so we can get moving to Aqua Falls, whether things work or not, so long as the results remain the same then I don’t care.”

“Don’t worry Natalie, we won’t fail.” Sophie smiled.

“That’s more or less what she just said earlier!” Andrew said as he pointed at Sophie with his spoon in surprise.

“I’m rather good at reading faces. It’s a standard Rune Smith practice, but even among my peers, I excelled immensely.” Sophie said proudly.

Natalie just sniffed.

“You can’t read all that just from a face,” she said.

“Maybe I can’t without context,” Sophie said. “But no matter the action, people’s attention will always reveal themselves in the things they put effort into. You cannot fake these things. It showed in how you stormed into the gathering. Despite your reluctance, you revealed to me your wings. It reveals how you are so concerned about how you can best help everyone without hindering them.” Natalie wanted to rebuttal, but she had nothing to say. It was then that she noticed Andrew was just sitting there watching them whilst eating the food out of her own bowl. He took another spoonful before noticing her darkened expression. Mouthing ‘oh’ to himself, Andrew slowly put forth the bowl. Un-summoning her wings, Natalie stormed over and snatched it from him.

“I forgor to-ars,” Andrew said with food in his mouth and hands above his head.

“You what?” she asked. Still chewing, he took a moment to answer again. Natalie noted her spoon still in his other raised hand.

“I forgot to ask, Ok?!!” he said right after finishing what he had eaten.

“Did you really?” she asked doubtfully.

“Well… ok, fair enough-I-didn’t-forget-but! Oftentimes you wasted food. I’m still hungry but I did not want to spoil the moment so I…” Narrowing her eyes at him Natalie used her electromagnetic powers to yank her spoon out of his hand, as she maintained eye contact with him the spoon came careening into her own before she simmered down.

“Just ask next time,” she said before turning her back to him, Scooping what remained in the bowl, Natalie ate with deliberate effort. Andrew sighed. He sighed! as if he was the one who got hard done by.

“Fair play,” he mumbled. “Then can I get my spoon back?” Rolling her eyes at another one of his stupid jokes, Natalie looked down at her bowl to see- another spoon. Her spoon…

“Do you even need it anymore?” Flynn asked. With an amused grin, Andrew shrugged.

“Not really, just wanted to practice asking.” He said.

Gritting her teeth, Natalie tossed him his spoon before sitting with a huff at the edge of the bed.

“Thanks,” he said. Mouthing another spoon of her food, she did all she could to ignore him.

“Electro-magnetism,” Sophie said. Her analytical blue eyes froze Natalie’s jaw and made her head nod. For a moment she forgot to finish chewing what she was eating.

“Can you fly?” Sophie asked.

“Only if I want to stand out,” Natalie said.

“That is precisely why I’m asking this question,” Sophie said. Natalie frowned in confusion and Sophie contruned. “You worry about drawing all the attention to yourself when you should think of what advantages that drawn attention may bring for others.”

“And what advantages will that earn me?” she asked

“Plenty of advantages if you distract the right crowd. Indeed, I see good use of your talents, young dark angel. Mayhap a role that would make you the centrepiece of this entire operation. Yes, with you among the ranks, maybe the plan will run like clockwork.” Sophie smiled greedily. Whatever cracked-brained scheme she had cooked up in mind, Natalie was not feeling it.

“The ‘centrepiece?’” She asked.

“You want to help these people fight for their homeland despite your own grievances. So why not be there light? Why not help them help themselves by protecting these people from the unfairness that you’ve seen in this world?” Sophie said. Natalie blinked.

“And what of my role in all of this?” Andrew asked.

“Sawyer has got something in mind for you too, though it’s more of a covert operation than Natalie’s,” Sophie replied. Now it was Andrew’s turn to frown.

“Covert in what way?”

“You’ll be helping in the fight also, but whilst you're in battle you’ve got to keep a mark on two certain someones,”

“As in taking them out if they do something stupid?” Andrew asked. Sophie opened her mouth as if to answer but then thought better of it.

“Now that is a good question,” Sophie sighed to herself.

“Ain’t you meant to be the one with the answers?!” Andrew tossed his spoon into the wooden bowl between his legs.

“She has answers. It’s just some of them are not as straightforward as you think,” Flynn said.

“Then get back to me when you’ve straightened them out,” Andrew grumbled.

“Thought you were ok with getting answers closer to the time,” Natalie said. Andrew rolled his eyes and shook his head at her jive, which Natalie could not help but smile at.

“I would not be so bothered if you did not vaguely imply that I may or may not have to kill someone!”

“In any case, for better or worse. The details on all of this will be cleared up closer to battle,” Sophie said.

“I guess,” Andrew said with a yawn. “Dropping such news on me before I try to rest. Honestly not sure if I’ll get any sleep at this point.”

You don’t seem to be having any trouble. Natalie thought.

“So you’re admitting you’ll miss out on an important day because of laziness?” Flynn asked. Andrew just snorted at him.

“I’ll be up nice and early, clearing up a path heading back to my old home. You watch me.” Andrew said. Each word of his sounded more drowsy than the last. Natalie caught just the hint of an endearing look in Sophie’s face as she looked at Andrew falling asleep sitting up. That smile turned to a frown soon after.

“It’s a shame about the other knights in the hospital,” Sophie said. That pulled Natalie back to attention.

“You know about them?!” she asked. Sophie frowned carefully before nodding.

“I paid them a visit on the way back,” Sophie said. “I checked up on one of the knights who’d passed out. If only one of them was awake, we could have picked their brain on what happened to them all, but…”

With a slow nod, Natalie bowed her head. So not even Sophie could change anything. She recalled the family of three leaving the hospital, the looks of helplessness on their faces. There was nothing crueller than sitting beside a loved one, unable to do anything to help them. And what of the fighters and protectors who were passed out? Hunters who have the will and the means to turn the tides of this battle, now they cannot even protect the people they care for in their hour of need. Natalie understood the world to be cruel, for it to be wiped clean of mercy for good and honest people. She knew all this first hand but even still.

It’s just not fair.

‘But…it doesn’t have to be this way.’ The voice, her younger voice, called out. To Natalie, it sounded as if it was whispered right by her ear. Natalie did not realise that she reacted to the sound until Sophie called her name in a tone of concern. She had her hand on her forehead.

“I-i’m fine, just a…” The room spun. Arms feeling distant, Natalie swayed and fell towards Sophie. Sophie caught her by her shoulders. Gently taking the bowl off her lap, Sophie placed Natalie’s head on the pillow.

“I…I’m-“ Natalie pushed out before Sophie gently silenced her.

“We’ve had a long day, you most of all. Get some rest. We will talk tomorrow.” She said. She was already placing a blanket over her, but as it reached her waist Natalie pushed herself and caught Sophie’s hand.

“No… it can’t wait. This is important.” Natalie pushed out. By the cycles, she was tired. “The people in the hospital,”

“There is nothing we can do about them right now.” Sophie said. Natalie attempted to shake her head. She felt so distant now.

“The Alpha king… he almost did the same to…” Natalie was not sure if she finished the sentence, but by then it did not matter. The last thing Natalie saw was Sophie and Flynn looking at each other and then back at Andrew dozing off against the wall. The message was delivered. Relieved, Natalie slipped into the black void of sleep, there she was left with her endless thoughts. Her mind swirled around on the long days events, her talk with Zac and Minda. Her journey out from the desert strip, and now…

It’s just not fair. Why would the alpha king make so many capable knights unable to fight if they were not the enemy? And why was only Andrew speared the same fate?

‘It doesn’t need to be this way.’ Deeper and deeper Natalie drifted into the void until even she was not sure if there had ever been anything else but the darkness all her known life.

‘You don’t have to accept this.’

Although Natalie could not see anything, she could feel a presence beside her. They felt familiar, warm, and alien all rolled into one. Although she could not see anything, she knew the presence to be the voice of her younger self she’s been hearing since infiltrating the rock face base.

“What are you talking about?” she asked. She felt the other smile at her question. Knowing how she knew this made Natalie feel uneasy and so she stood up to face the darkness with a steely resolve. “Out with it!” She took a few steps back from where she imagined the presence to be, but still the reply came from all sides.

‘Your will has been made manifest, your waking dreams grasped its crossing through the threshold. If this manifest will truly be thy wish, then…’