ENDLESS JOURNEYS (O/A)

[PixelMuse]

Trinity's eyes slowly opened. Her body felt complete wormed out. Something felt odd, like something was missing. She felt her neck "What? Where is it?" She remembered taking it off but not much after that. She sat up, started patting the ground looking for it, "Where is it!?" How could I be so careless?! That choker, is very important to me. It was the las thing she had left of him. Sadness took hold as she started to weep. It may have been a little thing and would have mattered if it was someone someone else… but no it was him…. I should have never taken it off… I always had it on…  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Alec winced as Trinity began to weep. It reminded him of when his father cried for the death of his aunt. It was hard to watch a hardened adult cry like that.

He then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. As he did, his body steadily shifted back to his wolf-kin self. He turned around to face Kerana before gripping her upper arms and looking into her eyes firmly but without malice. It was fear and love.

"Are you okay? What were you thinking running away like that?" he asked with purest concern and worry. He wasn't angry with her, just scared.

Then he heard the burst of wet coughs coming from the direction of Nova. Alec put aside his concern for the moment and suggested, "We should probably tend to them."

The ashes blew in the wind, but the child's consciousness still lingered. That was it's curse. It would soon reassemble, but it's state of being wouldn't be any better. It would be in the sad state it was just a few seconds ago.  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity didn't want anyone to see her like this. She took a deep breath and placed her hood over her head which covered her eyes. Only her lips could be seen. She stood up and saw Nova coughing. She said nothing, just bit her lip. There was nothing she could do at the moment and asking if he was ok wouldn't help any.

Yet she hopped he would be okay, she needed him now more than ever. How was she supposed to 'bring light to the darkness' if by doing that could release the goddess? Judging by how worn out she was, it can't be good for her.  

[Nova Blancke]

Nova's breath became more stable as the coughing subsided. There was more blood on his hand then before. His time was coming soon and he knew it. There was still so much more to do. Sending the kids away may become a luxury he could not afford. Though mortal danger was a big part of this journey, it was still a journey that had to be made. And he would sacrifice every one of them if he had to.

Wiping the blood off on the inside of his robe he slowly got up and thanked Kerana for her assistance. But once he was done thanking her, she had another thing coming. But this time, he did shout.

"Next time when I tell you to do something, you do it! No questions asked! If I say it's Shara, it's Shara! Is that head of yours only for decoration!? Think before doing something! If you hadn't let them in, none of this would have happened!Think about the situation we are in! You almost died! Trinity would have died! Alec as well." Nova unloaded at Kerana. He looked over at Alec." But you....you did good Alec." He turned back at Kerana.

"So you make a choice right here and now. Stay and obey or run away and stay foolishly naive." His anger subsided as he gave the ultimatum but his voice was just as firm.  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity let out a deep breath as Kerana and Alec left. It was a lot to take in, they may have been words from a young naive fox kin but words can hurt. No matter how perfect and invulnerable you think you are. "You okay Nova?"

Regardless of his wishes, she may need to convince the fox kin and her guardian to stick with them, not for her sake but for his. He really needed to rely on others to cast the spells, considering how much his condition weakened him.  

[Nova Blancke]

Nova raised a brow. This girl was making no sense at all.

"Shara is undead. Undead go against Nature. As a druid he may correct that. And she would have killed you with a smile if she had the chance. Guardians are supposed to get their hands dirty and protect their masters. No matter what. He did what you could never do. Don't lecture me about life, girl." Nova replied in a bit of a cold tone. As she tossed the book on the ground and burned it, he put it out just as the flame started. Trinity might have need for it later, when he was gone.

Keep her safe, Alec. I wish you the best of luck. You are not useless. Don't let them ever tell you so. You will be great one day. He sent his thoughts to Alec. Kind words in a kind tone. He meant every word. The ancient had no problems with the young wolf boy.

He let out a deep sigh as the two left. It was for the best. Their time was short but he did grow a bit fond of them. Still if the situation arose, he would sacrifice them."Yes I am okay. Why would I not be? What about yourself? Happened that made you hide your face from me?"  

[PixelMuse]

"Nothing I can't get over on my own, I guess... but there is one problem now. How am I supposed to use the magic that will save us all from the necromancer if by doing so summons the goddess. You saw, it didn't take much to trigger it."she folds her arms in thought. "It was so careless of me to do that... it was the first thing that came to mind when they were dragging me down. This may sound a little weird, but I feel so incomplete without it. I guess I've worn it so long..." she rubbed her neck a bit.  

[Nova Blancke]

"You will get used to it. I assume the idiot has it. But it seems you cannot use Holy without the choker. Doing so summons the Goddess. Which is, as I am sure off, not good for your body. So from now on, you are prohibited from using it. Having you get used to the other elements is even more important now as you will be using those instead. Fire and Lightning seem to suit your fighting style more so we will be focusing on that." Nova said, explaining his next course of action regarding the training.

"Don't worry. We'll get it back."  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity rubbed her neck as Nova continued. She nodded in agreement and said, "I suppose so." Though it was good to continue using magic, she wondered how she was going to protect herself from the undead. Holy was the best thing.

He reassured her about her choker, "I hope so…" she formed a fist, frustraited about her actions earlier, "I hope so…" She punched a tree breaking off some of the bark, letting some steam out. She exhaled, "Let's get going. Where to?"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Kerana

At first she felt relieved when Nova thanked her for helping him heal. But then the shouting began. She already knew, her decision was unwise but it gave him no right to rub it in. Kerana wanted to run off again a tear crawled down her cheek. Instead she turned to Nova. She had enough.

"You... you disgust me... here you are patting Alec on the back for stabbing a woman in the back. When the law of being a druid is 'Every life has a purpose. Good balances the bad, the bad balances the good. Nature decides what live and dies, not the druid.' " she turned to Alec "That's why you didn't kill Ash right?"

"The only one that is going to be naive is you. Instead of opening your mind to the possibility that you may not know everything, you close out the possibility that you may be able to learn something from your students. Congratulations Nova Blancke you failed in my eyes!"

"We're done here..." she toss earth book to his feet and burned it. "You have been a terrible influence to Alec and a terrible teacher to me!" Kerana lead the way for Alec to follow.

Alec's gaze turned towards the ground when Nova complimented him. As much as he had yearned for such praise, he didn't want it right then. It came as no surprise to him when Kerana started shouting at Nova. What did come as a surprise was that she started to storm off. He quickly looked between Trinity, Nova, and Kerana. It didn't take him long to make the decision he was bound to.

After covering some ground, and getting out of earshot, Alec spoke up.

"Kay? Kerana? Could you stop for a moment. We need to talk about what just happened."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wait." a small voice called from the ground to Trinity and Nova.

A small, child like, eyeless face had reassembled itself from the dispersed ashes. Tiny particles were still assembling slowly around it.

"Please..." it pleaded, "don't leave us like this."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Alec felt his face flush red. He followed his usual MO of hiding behind his curtain of hair.

He swallowed hard and took a deep breath. This was difficult for him, as standing up for himself was something that he didn't do often.

"It...it wasn't easy for me. I didn't want to attack her, but..."

He paused for a moment as he recalled what had happened when Shara had him under her control.

"Her scent was all over the place. It wasn't natural. I asked her questions. I tried to see if she was lying. She said had been homeless for weeks, but then she told me that she would love to share some of her tea leaves with us."

"Someone traveling for that long with a child has no need to keep a stock of tea leaves. They hold no practical use."

"And then I thought about...before. She made me attack you. If Nova hadn't been there-" he huffed. He peaked through his hair and locked eyes with her before continuing.

"I wasn't going to let that happen again. I'm sorry I scared you, but fighting fair doesn't factor in when mind control is a possibility...and you know that."

He rubbed his left arm uncomfortably. "As far as Nova goes...I think you're right. But still, Trinity may need our help. The necromancer has been focusing a lot of effort on her. So that must mean she is a big threat to him, right?"

"She's going to be alone again if we don't stay with her. The stench of impending death hovers around Nova like cheap perfume."

"At least...that's what I think."