Chapter 58: Chapter 58

“What do you mean?” Both the shadows’ lord and the human king asked worriedly, not missing the desperation in the ice queen’s voice which quivered with every word as if it was draining her.

For someone as powerful and strong-willed as her to sound not only that desperate but also weak and exhausted was more than alarming to both the men in the room staring at the black book with worried eyes.

“Did something happen during the sail? Where are you now?” Henry asked with urgently, his heart clenching with fear and anticipation.

“Weren’t you able to reach the center?” Eren asked, his voice more composed than the other two, even though he was equally worried, only that his worry was mostly on the mission, and not the soldiers, including himself.

“We did make it to the center, but most of the group died on the way, I am so sorry!” Rima’s voice turned incredibly small and frail at the end of her words, and while Henry’s mind went directly to his friends, Eren focused on her tone, and how strange of her to speak that way, even if there were casualties, it was very expected since they were at war, but instead of her usual strong and composed voice, she almost sounded… guilty...

“My generals?” Henry asked hesitantly, trying his hardest to remain still while waiting for the painful confirmation he feared, which came after a few seconds.

“They didn’t make it, only five of us did, all demons, I am terribly sorry, Henry!”

“Don’t be!” Henry said after a second of silence in which he swallowed his grief, telling himself that even though he just learned about the deaths of his closest friends, it wasn’t yet the time to cry and mourn, especially since the war didn’t even start yet, “We are at war, it wasn’t your fault, and I am sure you have done your best to save them.” Henry’s words were meant to be encouraging and alleviating, but unknown to him, they felt like a harsh slap that froze the ice queen in her place, almost breaking what was left of her resolution, all while filling her with fear of what would he think of her when he finds out what truly happened to his generals.

He can’t! Rima thought to herself, he cannot know! It would destroy him, and that would destroy her!

Let alone the fact that it would destroy their alliance!

“How?” but of course, the shadows’ bastard had to ask! Rima swallowed the curse and instead took a second to gather her thoughts and organize them into proper sentences, ones that do not refer to her involvement in the generals’ death.

“You were right about the circle the hybrid girl draw, Eren, The damn thing is actually a barrier, a line of defense, formed by a huge swarm of these monstrous creatures that circled the external perimeter of the center island’s regional water.”

“Creatures?!”

“Yes, things I have never seen before, nor saw the likes of them, they were barely half my size, but they were very strong and monstrous, and most importantly, numerous, there were tens of thousands of them if not more, they attack anything that moves, but they were more attracted to humans, like moths to flames, they are very fast and elusive, and can kill with one bite, their only weakness is the fact that they are blind, and probably deaf too, but it does not do much in holding them back for it is all made out for by their sharp sense of smell, we barely managed to escape out of their circle alive, the good news is that they didn’t follow us beyond that circle!”

“Strange!”

“It is strange indeed, but it felt as if they couldn’t stray away from that circle, not that we were granted any time to rest though, for we were right faced with this fog after it, one that trapped us inside our dreadful illusions, created by our fears, our sadness, our guilt, as if the fog was using the darkness inside of us against us, we were stuck in it for two full days without even realizing, it made us attack each other, or even harm ourselves, we also lost few of our soldiers there, some died of thirst, some threw themselves in the water!”

“How did you escape this fog?!” Eren whispered his question, a doubt already forming on his head about the way the ice queen escaped the so-called creatures, a doubt he didn’t want to address, especially with the pained expression the human king had on his face at that moment, one of a person imagining the horrible fate his friends faced while pushing away the dark thoughts and assumptions.

Let alone that the fact of a prison made of illusions scared him even more than the so-called creatures, he wasn’t afraid of the monsters of the outside, no! the ones that scared him lived inside his head.

Ones from his past, his bloody childhood, the screams of the woman who gave him life, but the ones that truly scared him were the ones created by the guilt he felt towards a certain silver-haired princess.

“Don’t think, That is the key! the fog would make you think, and then a thought would lead to another, and slowly you would find yourselves in a dark path of thoughts, you would be gone, detached from reality and trapped inside a dark cell of your own making, stay in the present, and always remind yourself to remain in the present, and not give in to your fears and assumptions, because they will form a labyrinth around you, one which you won’t be able to leave!”

“Alright!” both Eren and Henry said in union, “So these are the only barriers?”

Why do the Gods need barriers in the first place? The three of them thought at the same time, why won’t the Gods just use the creation energy to directly kill the intruders?

There was something they were missing! or maybe something none of them understood just yet.

“No!” Rima said with a frustrated sigh while her demonic eyes scanned the place she was in!

The clear water, the golden sands of the narrow shore, the dark smooth rocks, the weird crafts, and…nothing else.

“No? but you said you were in the center’s island?”

“This is the main problem, I am at the center’s island, but it is empty! It is like a desert, with nothing but sands and rocks on which there are these weird symbols, Eren take a look!” Henry felt as if he was completely useless while the shadows lord stared at the black pages, seeing what Henry couldn’t see, it was another thing about the demonic gate, human eyes were not able to see through it.

“What the hell is this?!” Eren asked, confusion evident on his face.

“And the thing is, we cannot walk beyond these rocks, it is like another invisible barrier of some kind! And these rocks, they are the base of this barrier!”

“Are you sure that is the exact location? Maybe you strayed off the path, or maybe another trap!”

“No, the creation energy is at its peak here, I can sense the pull of it, the tide movement is also strange, it is circular as if the seawater is also pulled by the power of the island, the sky above us is so clear, and the sun is right above our heads, this must be it”

“What is this then?!”

“What are you guys talking about?!” at the human king’s question, Eren grabbed a piece of parchment and a pen, he was never talented with anything related to arts, especially drawing, but he still tried his best to draw the closest thing to what he saw through the demonic gate.

Henry watched as the shadows’ lord draw what looked like a child scribbles, swallowing the scoff after receiving the demon’s glare, he stared at the vague ‘shape’ drawn on the parchment.

A big circle, and then a smaller circle in the middle of it.

“So, this is the island Rima is in right now.” Eren said while showing the outer circle, and henry wondered how can someone be that bad at drawing to the point where they couldn’t draw a damn circle, “And these, are the rocks we are talking about, each rock is of the size of a small carriage, the weird thing about these rocks is that they don’t look like the ones in this shore, they are white, and very smooth, they form a circle inside the island, each rock has a weird symbol carved on it.”

Another circle? Henry asked himself, not missing the strange pattern.

“What is inside the inner circle?”

“That is the main problem! We cannot step inside it, as if there is an invisible wall, and we cannot see what is inside it either, all that we see is more sands and another rock in the middle, one that doesn’t have a shadow!”

“That is because the sun is right on top of it! Vertically!” Henry murmured to himself, his mind already working on piecing things together.

“And now you are trapped on the shores!”

“Have you tried to break through?” Eren asked but the answer came back disappointing.

“Can you use your powers? Or are they also nullified?!

“I can use them here, even though I am almost completely drained!” Rima said while touching the ground with her hand and a layer of ice was instantly formed, unlike the seawater, the land didn’t nullify her magic, however, she didn’t miss the amount of magic she had to put to freeze that small area!

“What are these symbols you mentioned?!” The shadows’ lord looked at the human king questionably, nevertheless, he started to draw the symbols only his demonic eyes could see.

“There, but I don’t know what these symbols mean!” Eren said with curled lips, looking at the weird shapes he just drew in confusion.

“But I do!” Henry said after a few seconds of thinking, a ghost of a victorious smile gracing his face as he took another piece of parchment and begin writing.

“What are you doing?”

“These symbols are the same I saw on the prophecy’s recipient! The ancient language of the Gods.”

“Can you read it?!” The shadows lord asked with raised eyebrows, impressed by that very helpful skill as he watched the human lord write translate each symbol.

“Yes, I have learned it from the priests I have captured!” after torturing them into submission, Henry thought while piecing everything together.

Eren nodded and didn’t say another word, giving the human king the necessary space to focus on deciphering the symbols, and after a few minutes, the two men were staring at the puzzling random words, but only one of them understood their meaning.

The shrine of the light.

Light of the ones above.

Where the sacred heart wept tears of love.

And the warrior’s blood was spilled.

The circle!

The center!

And another circle! And then another.

“We should sail, Now, all of our forces!” Henry finally announced, a determinate look in his eyes.

“What? What about this rock barrier?”

“Just stay away from it, Rima, it can be dangerous! Just wait for me, I have a way to get through it, and…stay safe!” Henry said the last part with so much tenderness, putting all his worries and his missing in his voice.

“And the sea monsters! You must be very careful with them!” Rima warned, remembering the horrid way in which those creatures devoured the poor human.

“For that, we will have to rearrange the armies in the ships, we can use some of the human blood as a distraction as well, and we will travel calmly, the ships are bigger and stronger than the boats, and we will be numerous!”

“I can also hide our scent using my shadows, my magic should be of use as long as it doesn’t touch the seawater!” seeing the approving nod on the human king’s face as well as the relaxed expression on Rima’s, he continued.

“I will go and give the orders!” Eren said before leaving the room, feeling as if the two needed some space, a moment for them to say the things they couldn’t say in his presence.

Those sweet nothings he used to scoff at before a certain lady made him want to whisper them in her ear.

He didn’t really understand the kind of relationship those two shared, each of them looked at the other as if he was holding the moon for him, but still kept their words and actions very formal, it was there, however, the attraction, growing slowly.

NOTE:

THE CIRCLE WITH A DOTE  (THE ROCK) IN THE MIDDLE IN AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SYMBOL, IT HAS MANY SIGNIFICATIONS, GOLD, SUN, CENTER, AND GOD