Chapter 148: For the First Time in a Long, Long Time

I stared blankly as my mind processed the young man's words. "Are you crazy?" I finally shouted as I raised my hand. Flames danced on my fingers.

"You're crazy!" Joshua replied, his eyes wide open as he grinned. "Look, there is only a single one!" He laughed.

In the meanwhile, the snake attacked Vincent, who barely rolled out of the way of its massive twin tails. I gritted my teeth. I was sure there were more of them. 

"Hey!" Erik shouted. "Shut up Joshua. We're moving towards the river." He nodded at me as I stood there, stunned. "And someone please kill this god damned thing!" He shouted.

He grabbed Alina's arm and began to drag her towards the grassland at the river's shore. It took me a moment to act – I was so surprised to see him actually agree with me that I momentarily forgot the snake, still harassing us. Magic gathered in my raised palm and a dark bolt leapt towards the creature, killing it in one blow. As its body plummeted to the ground, I followed Erik. 

Soon, Vincent and Joshua also joined us at the shore. 

"Ok, why are we under the god damn sun?" Joshua asked. "It's just one creature!" He insisted. 

While I didn't agree with his reasons, I also disliked the sun – something that had started happening only recently. The bright light burned my eyes. I squinted and covered my eyes with my hand. "Because there are more of them," I replied with a sigh. How I wished for some clouds to block the sunlight right now.

"But there aren't!" He shouted. Birds flew from their nests as his loud voice startled them. 

"Shut up." Erik grabbed Joshua's shoulders. "Joshua. Shut. Up." His gaze turned towards me, who was standing there stunned once again. "Kai, where are they?" He asked, his voice filled with anger. But this time, I knew his anger wasn't directed towards me.

"In the woods, I'm sure of it." His sudden defence of me was unexpected to say the least. Honestly, I was expecting to be ignored and avoided. I never expected him to listen to me and believe my words.

"We need to pass through those woods." He let go of an angry Joshua and glanced at Alina. "What can we do?" 

Silence covered the forest, with only our breaths and the sound of flowing water breaking it. 

"I'll take care of it." I said after a few seconds, unable to bear any more of this heavy silence. "Make sure nothing gets to Alina."

"Wait, what are you planning?" Vincent asked, taking a step towards me. My lips formed an almost wicked smile as wings appeared on my back. 

"I'll kill them." I leapt up into the air before they could say anything. As my wings carried me to the treetops, I let the flames within me break free, just a little. Crimson flames danced on my fingertips as I flew above the treeline. 

Where were they? I knew the creatures were there – I could sense their presence; I just couldn't pinpoint their location. 

Soon, it turned out that I didn't need to, as the first pair of shining yellow eyes appeared among the leaves. Moments after, more of them appeared, clearly craving for food – me. I waited for them to leave the trees, to fly out into the open.

"Kai!" I heard Erik's shout as more of them slowly showed themselves. I counted twelve of them. While alone, they stood no chance against us, if all twelve had attacked at once while our guard was down, we could have suffered serious injuries, or worse.

As soon as the creatures were out of the woods, I extended my hand, my palm facing them. The flames dancing on my fingers suddenly roared as I poured some power into them. Streams of fire leapt from my fingertips, easily finding the creatures. 

The smell of burnt flesh tickled my nose. I called upon the winds to carry the smell away and waited until nothing but ashes remained from the creatures.

I returned to the group not long after, only to be met with wide eyes and pale faces.

"What the hell, Kai?" Vincent mumbled as my wings disappeared in a cloud of black mist. "Since when are you a sorcerer, or a wizard?" 

I couldn't help but laugh. "I'm not." Though I could understand why he'd ask that. I could manipulate flames and wind freely, of course I looked more like a wizard or sorcerer than anything else.

"That was quite a show of power." Joshua's calm, yet ice cold voice startled me. "How did you gain it?"

My smile faded as my expression darkened. I had expected this kind of treatment from Erik, not Joshua. "By not wasting my time in the city." 

"Right." The young man said with a twisted grin. "Looks like you're all ready to finally go into demon territory." He spread his arms and laughed. "We don't need to worry about a thing!"

I hesitated. What the hell was he talking about? "I wouldn't say that," I replied after a moment of awkward silence. "Don't underestimate the demons and certainly don't overestimate me."

"Anyways," Erik Joshua off just before he had a chance to speak. "Let's set off. We're nowhere near demon territory yet – there's no need to argue over what will happen once we arrive."

Alina nodded, though I could see she wasn't really listening. She was like a shell of her former self, her beautiful smile that reminded me of the dawning sun was nowhere to be seen. She was still grieving her dear friend.

I took a deep breath but remained silent as we set off. Only more things were being added to the pile of things I had to worry about. Once again, Joshua was walking with Alina, while Erik and Vincent shared a conversation. 

I followed them a few steps behind, not because I wanted to keep my distance, but because my mind was once again a mess. Joshua's behaviour surprised and worried me and on top of that, I couldn't help but feel anxious – we were heading into demon territory. What if we ran into Delthur and Vixia? What if we ran into that man? 

I shivered at the mere thought of it. Even with my current power, I would be helpless in front of him. 

I shook my head to clear my mind of such thoughts. No matter what, we couldn't ignore this quest – pissing off the Divines was just as bad an idea as trying to kill the Demon Lord with my current strength. 

We walked until dusk. As the sun began to set and the sky turned crimson and purple, Erik suggested we set up camp. It took us a while to find a suitable place – an alcove at the bottom of a small cliff. 

As the Kestler brothers set up tents, Alina absentmindedly lit a fire. Erik helped her out, then glanced at me as I carried some water from the river. 

"Hey, Kai?" He called my name as I placed the buckets nearby. "I want to check the area, just in case. Would you mind joining me?"

I hesitated. "Uh, sure, let's go." I said after glancing at the surprised Vincent. He seemed just as confused as me. 

I followed Erik into the woods, still somewhat nervous. The heavy silence was only broken by our footsteps. We walked like that for a while, until we reached the shallow, yet wide river we were following. 

"You look different." He said as we stepped out of the woods. I flinched and turned towards him. "What do you mean?" 

He shrugged. "I don't know, something about you is different though." He ran his hand through his hair and sat on a rock by the shore. "I can't put my finger on it."

I chuckled. "Maybe it's the wings." Of course, I knew that wasn't what he meant – he was talking about how I carried myself.

"Maybe." He said with a nervous chuckle. I approached the water and knelt at the shore. My reflection, illuminated by the bright moonlight, looked back at me from the calm river's surface. "But maybe it's something different." He said as I splashed some water at my face.

"Who knows?" I said as I got back up. Was this why he wanted me to join him? I could see there was something more he wanted to say – it was clear from his expression. "What's wrong, Erik?" 

"I'm sorry." He said, looking away, at the far away mountains. "At some point along the way, I think I lost myself for a while." His voice cracked. He coughed and cleared his throat – I was immediately reminded of Delthur. 

I shook my head. "No, listen-"

"Please let me finish. This is already difficult enough." I hesitated, then nodded. He took a deep breath and continued. "I felt like I was supposed to be the strongest – the person who would keep everyone safe, no matter what." He raised his hand. The moonlight reflected off his armoured glove. "But that night you didn't return to camp, all the way back in the Torchlight Woods…" he clenched his fist. "I failed." His blue eyes focused on mine. "Your name disappeared from the group on the interface. I thought you to be dead." 

I could have said somethings, but I chose to remain silent. He continued with an unsteady voice. "I had to choose between going to search for you and keeping everyone safe. I chose the latter." 

I knew that already. They'd chosen to leave me behind and escape to Stonepatch Village.

"Then, the monster appeared. We weren't strong enough to kill it. It was easier to promise myself that I'd avenge you and… drink. What began as a toast to you, quickly turned into an escape from this awful reality." I clenched my fists, hidden beneath the cloth of my cloak. Was he laying the blame of their drinking on me?

"I couldn't believe my eyes when you came back. I swore to myself that I'd protect everyone, you included. This time, I'd actually do it. But then…" His voice faded. "Then you jumped in front of the phoenix' claws, despite the harsh words I'd shouted at you. We thought you'd die. Again."

"And then you came back, this time with wings and flames. Once again, you'd nearly died and gained more power. What couldn't kill you had made you stronger." He sighed. "I was jealous – why couldn't I become stronger like that? I was angry at myself because I had failed. Again."

He glanced at me, almost as if expecting an answer. I remained silent. What could I say to something like this?

"I think what happened on that peak snapped me out of it." Erik finally said, his voice filled with regret as sorrow. "I don't know what had gotten into me – I attacked you for god's sake!" His voice became louder. "I don't even know why you came to help us after everything I'd done!"

"I couldn't live with myself if I let you die there." I finally said, my voice heavy and my expression as dark as it could be. "I'm no saint – I couldn't save Samantha after all." I looked at the moon. "I was furious at you. Ever since you began wasting away your days drinking, I was so angry." I directed my gaze at him again. "I came here, prepared to fight you, Erik." 

He visibly flinched. 

"And you wouldn't stand a chance if I did so." I added. "But I'm glad you told me all that." A faint smile appeared on my lips. "So, how about we try this again? Let's see how this quest goes, try to build upon our teamwork." 

The fear in his eyes left its place to relief. "Yeah. Let's do that."

"No drinking though." I said, grinning. He laughed with me, for the first time in a long, long time.