Chapter 43: Chapter 43
Aquila
New York City
They had finally arrived in this weird place, like Colter before them and any other creature that might have crossed the portal, it was an alien landscape. The buildings were so tall that they cast shadows over the bright city.
Aquila was annoyed at how excessively large it was and how polluted it had seemed. He had been able to smell their air and it was not as fresh as the air in their home world. Unlike every other village, town and city they had seen before, Aquila noticed at how in this world, the people are still active even at the latest of nights.
“Find him” Dyron’s voice echoed in his head and Aquila doubled his concentration on tracking the missing prince. He had isolated the scents of everything that was in the air, from the smoke that their steel carriages seemed to emit, the cold breeze of the night air, the smell of human essence that was vastly different from an Ecanus, the animals that were littered around New York City and finally, after flying for so long, he had managed to catch the smell of an Ecanus.
They dove down into a deserted road, devoid of any people and creature and slowly shapeshifted themselves into humans. Aquila had realized that they were unable to now choose their appearance, thus, they were given grotesque features. The six vultures that had landed, now shapeshifted into humans, had a pallid corpselike look to them. Fear would certainly be the first emotion anyone feels when they run into them.
They stepped into the bustling streets of New York City and at once, a man wearing a worn-down suit bumped into Aquila.
“What’s the idea, I’m walking here!” the man had shouted in a thick New York accent, but once he saw the person he bumped into, his eyes widened. Aquila glared at him evilly, making motions with his head, taunting the New Yorker into trying him. The man let out a yelp of surprise and started running away from the group of evil looking people.
Aquila then approached another person, a homeless person wearing a tattered shirt and sweatpants, but as soon as they closed in, the homeless man screamed at the top of his lungs and ran off into the street, nearly being struck by a speeding car, whose driver was also looking at the disguised vultures with horror.
“Talking to people here will be a challenge” one of the vultures said, the others nodded in agreement. Aquila simply shook his head and pointed his finger at a crowded plaza.
“We should be able to find our prey there. I can smell his essence lingering in this place”
It was a hassle, people had actively avoided them because of the evil aura they gave off, but they searched nonetheless, looking for the prince that their king wanted captured. They looked into passersby, trying to get a hold of that faint smell of an Ecanus nearby, hours passed and they decided to regroup into an abandoned place and try their luck again when they are rested. Breaching the portal had taken a huge amount of energy from them, and they would start again when their strength had returned.
“One way or another, princeling” Aquila said to himself, staring darkly at the busy streets of New York, “by chains or by force, we will bring you home.”
---
King Dyron
Kingdom of Havocc
He let out a triumphant roar as he saw his beautiful vultures cross the portal and reached the other side, like everyone from their world, he had gazed in amazement at the foreign land. The towers, the buildings, the cars, the lights and the bustling people even at the latest of nights.
He can feel it, he can feel it so bad that he could practically taste victory on his tongue. He was so close to finding the rogue prince, and he will do everything in his power to use the prince for his own purposes.
“A rare feat to hold the avatar of fire” Dyron said to himself greedily, “Should you not help me in my conquest, little Colter, I shall force it out of you and take your powers myself.”
Behind him, his minions were lined up, in a prostrate posture, listening to Dyron talk to himself. They had felt his joy and excitement at the news. The vultures had reached their destination and are now actively trying to look for their quarry.
‘Just a bit more’ they told themselves hungrily, ‘Just a bit more and we will finally shed Ecanus blood.’
“My beautiful birdies” Dyron crooned suddenly, relaying new commands, “Triple the effort, find the prince and take him to me at any cost necessary.”
---
Tessa
Vida’s Apartment, New York City
Hours later, in the middle of Vida’s apartment, two women sat facing each other.
“Call me ‘Capital F’ for FUCKED!” Tessa told Vida, as they sat in the living room, “I just had another one of those weird visions, girl!”
Vida looked at her friend with concern, “Are you sure you haven’t been drinking again?”
“Girl you would know that if I drank any drop of alcohol, I would not be having these fucking dreams!” Tessa sounded worried and exasperated, “It’s like your goddamned fantasy books are starting to haunt me.”
“Deep breaths, Tess” Vida consoled her best friend, “Slowly and surely, tell me what happened in your dreams”
“I saw him struggling against more of those freaks the first time, I saw wanton bloodshed, people get pulped by debris, knights of some sort of fucking roundtable apparently” Tessa said visibly afraid and annoyed, “fighting these monstrous things. It was a fucking hodgepodge of fuckery!”
Vida, remembering Colter’s nightmare worried, “What did you see Colter do?”
“Vida, I saw him fall over and get taken by those flying weirdos! He even stared me in the eyes and told me ‘run’ of all things!”
“Colter had nightmares last night too” Vida muttered, quieting Tessa with who looked at her with wide eyes, “He was screaming and yelling at something to get away from him. I had to hit him square in the face to wake him up. Then I felt like he was severely disconnected from the world as we went out to get some ramen. He was very disturbed and quiet; he was also saying a sort of goodbye to me.”
“Something’s not right…” Tessa said, regaining her voice and her courage, “Could this be a sign?”
“It’s something!” Vida confirmed, “We need to figure this out, Tess. I don’t want anything bad to happen to him, it’s too obvious to be coincidental now. The dreams, the visions, the nightmares, we are all sharing them these past few weeks.
“It’s a warning” both of them concluded immediately, staring at each other in horror as they had the same thought.
“It’s a problem, it’s a warning, it’s a right fucked mess” Tessa complained, still shuddering at thinking about her nightmares and visions, “We need to confirm this”
Vida then remembered Colter’s outfit when he first arrived in her life, Tessa had called him “A medieval prince cosplayer”
Putting the pieces together, she realized that something big was brewing, Colter was hiding something, it had been obvious when he had been saying farewell in the coffee shop. Confusion reigned in Vida’s apartment as they tried to figure out what the visions meant.
“Were they metaphorical…?” Tessa had asked herself, while Vida shook her head.
“It’s possible those are literal.”
“Well, you tell me, honey. You’re the expert in literary tropes like these. Try to think of all the books you’ve read and what they mean.”
“What the hell, Tessa?” Vida muttered; stung at the way her best friend slammed her fondness for fantasy novels.
“I’m not fucking around here, Vida Vance. If you don’t want to, then let us at least warn prince charming!” Tessa said, Vida agreed and they both left her apartment.
Deciding that Colter had the right to know these visions, and hopefully, he could help them decipher it. But their disappointment welled big time when they walked into his apartment and found nothing but emptiness.
“Where is he?!” Vida exclaimed, pained and sad at the empty apartment they found themselves in.