Rex took a few tentative steps forward scanning the room at the same time, one hand was resting on the pommel of his sword, the other clutching the key tightly in his fist, ready for anything the room could throw at him. After a few minutes of nothing happening, he relaxed his tense shoulders and turned back to Marcia, who was still staying outside on the lift platform with the others.Keep going, she mouthed back, shooing him with both of her hands, motioning for him to continue toward the empty chair.After a deep breath in, sighing as he exhaled, Rex continued toward the chair, eyeing it suspiciously, “Is anyone here?” he called out as he moved, looking from left to right.“Yes. There is,” a voice called back, the suddenness jolting Rex back into an alerted ready stance, his hand gripping the pommel of his sword once more, “Nice reflexes young one.”“Er, thanks. Who’s there? Show yourself,” Rex replied, sliding Sküülen out of the scabbard a few inches.“You may call me Alahn,” the
“Well that didn’t seem too bad,” Lacey scoffed, rolling her shoulders once Alahn’s chanting had died down, “A few minutes of pinching, easy.”“Seems like it was hard for Rex though, look at him,” Marcia said, her eyes widening once seeing Rex’s haggard look.“What did you do to him?” Minet demanded, stomping forward, her eyes narrowed in annoyance at how Rex looked.“I bound your life to his depending on how good a performance he does in the scrying tower, it is quite demanding on the soul, he did well though,” Alahn said, clapping Rex on the back, making him stumble to his knees.“We were already bound to his fate through our bond!” Minet yelled, kneeling next to Rex, “Are you ok? What can we do?”Leaning back on his heels in a praying kneel, Rex looked up at Minet and the other worried women who had rushed over and smiled weakly, inhaled a deep breath, sighing loudly on exhale, “I’m fine, just a little worse for wear. I don’t think the amonthrul liked this spell of binding he did.”
“It seems you are wrong again dear brother,” Ean said with a deep scowl, looking at the edge of the cliff they sat on, the sound of growling and claws on rocks slowly getting louder.“Snap off two branches from the tree over there,” Rector said, pointing to a large fruit tree with a thick golden trunk.“The goddess will flay us both if I touch their trees,” Ean said, recognising the elder fruit trees instantly, “I’ll die by wolves before I let the goddess end me thank you.”“You and I both know the wood is incredibly strong, strong enough to knock a few wolf skulls in, we can throw the branches into the water and say the wolves damaged their trees in the fight,” Rector said, gasping loudly as he wrapped a long piece of Ean’s cloak around his torso, tying it into a knot to hold it in place.“And they call me the traitor and liar,” Ean scoffed with a soft shake of his head, “Not even the wolf king is stupid enough to let his pack touch their beloved trees.”“I’m open to any other ideas,
“Rex. Are you ok?” a faint voice echoed into his mind.“He isn’t moving, are you sure he is ok?” another voice said.“Everything checks out, I think he just needs a few minutes,” a deeper voice added in, a tingling sensation washing over Rex’s body.Feeling a sudden boost in physical and mental strength, mixed with a familiar feeling washing over his body, ‘Rex, you suffered greatly, but I can see you are mostly intact, I will help repair the damage the best I can, but you need to wake up,’ the deep voice echoed in his mind.‘I don’t wanna,’ he said back, his voice a weary groan. He hurt in ways he didn’t think possible right now, the ache reaching bone deep, and waking up and to start moving was the last on his list of important things.“Thank f**k, I just saw him twitch and breathe properly,” a loud voice sounded directly beside Rex’s ear, causing him to groan out aloud.“Good job Lacey, you scared him so badly I think you almost stopped his heart,” another voice said.“Shut up Mine
“Well since they all seem stable, I’m going to…” Rowina started to say while looking down at the control panel before faltering, her eyes widening in shock, “This…this is impossible.”“What is it?” Percus asked, peering over her shoulder.“The scrying crystal panel, it’s saying it is currently at 33% power. I have not touched it since I initiated the last bonding sequence,” she replied pointing to the three red columns on the panel, looking up at Percus her face filled with worry and confusion,” It is supposed to be tamperproof from any outside source. But since I have not touched it, I don’t know who has, or how.”“SHUT DOWN THE POWER!” a loud voice boomed into the room.“Alahn, what’s going on?” Rowina shouted back, startling again as the panel jumped up to 50% power, Rex now jerking violently.“I almost have it!” Rex suddenly screamed through gritted teeth, blood now starting to flow steadily from his nose.“He is pulling power into himself and into the crystal in a way that is mak
‘I’m out of options. I’m in no shape to fight properly, the odds of killing the crux beast were a level field, now it seems the assassin has joined in, I have no hope. Ideas?’ Rex asked, constantly flicking his eyes around the room, backing slowly to a corner in the wall.‘All I have is, do not die before your fighters arrive,’ Fafnir replied after a few tense seconds, his usual growl softer than usual.“It seems you at a loss young prince,” a woman’s voice rasped into the room.Seeing the crux beast slowly closing the distance between them, Rex spotted a display case with a sword resting on a stand. It had a fancy pommel and hand guard that deemed the sword purely for decoration with an absurdly large fat blade, but he hoped with enough force he could still inflict enough pain onto the crux beast to make it think twice about attacking him.Breaking the glass with his elbow, he reached in and picked the weapon up, scowling in dissatisfaction at how badly the sword was balanced and how
Once the two wolves were finally dealt with, an exhausted Rector and Ean both stared at each other, they had to combine their remaining strength to defeat their enemies, something they had not done in many years.“Now the simple task of the wolves has been dealt with, please follow me,” the huntress said, a small smirk showing on the corner of her lips as she strode past both men.“You call that a simple task?” Ean said, waving his hand toward the wolf corpses.“Yes, someone from our tribe half your age could have performed this task easier and a lot less sloppy than you both did, even if injured,” she added, raising one finger up seeing Ean and Rector about to protest.“I am not doubting the strength of the Akani huntresses, but these were fully grown, I doubt your elders are foolish enough to pit your young against one, let alone two,” Rector said, raising one eyebrow, smiling slightly upon seeing the huntress stop walking, turn her head slightly toward them and smirk slightly once
Arriving at a pair of huts on stilts that raised the floor a few feet from the ground, Ean and Rector both climbed the bamboo ladder and fell forward, both panting heavily, soaked to the bone from the storm that was currently raging outside, “I was speaking about the storm currently on top of us,” the huntress announced, entering the hut after them, stepping over their bodies simultaneously reaching into her satchel bag, producing a crystal that glowed a faded shade of gold, shaking it quickly and as it glowed brighter she opened her hand and it raised a few inches over her palm. “Thank you for the obvious call,” Ean shot back, rolling onto his back, groaning loudly as his damaged body protested performing any action. “I haven’t struggled to move this much in many, many years,” Rector sighed, using his elbow to roll himself onto his back, sitting up slowly, raising an eyebrow at what the huntress was doing, “So I know you will not tell us your true name because we are outsiders, but