Leaving

Emile and Blood continued to wait on the outskirts of the cavern. Quiet minutes turned to uncomfortably long hours.

'Is my sense of time screwed up?!'

'It's been forever! Soon my—'

Suddenly a light glaringly appeared below Blood and Emile. After adjusting his eyes, Emile looked down and saw the gray sky from the surface, its contents constricted by some oval rift in the stone.

Then, a man appeared on the other side of the rift, looking up at Blood and Emile. He nodded in recognition, then stepped into the rift and was transported right in front of them.

The portal closed and he brushed off his coat. He was an older man, later forties. He had slicked back, peppered hair and wore thinly framed spectacles. Oddly enough, he dressed incredibly professionally: black dress shoes with matching slacks, a presumably leather belt, a white button down shirt with a black trench coat. The only color on the man was his orange tie. Why orange?

"Good evening Blood—" the man bowed his head, "and a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Jumper. I will be your guide." He similarly bowed to Emile.

Blood pushed himself off the wall and stretched his arms, flicking his finger, Emile too rose into the air.

"Hey! Where are we—"

"Alright Jumper, let's get going. I'm sick of this place." Blood interrupted Emile.

Jumper courteously turned away from the two and gestured to the area before them. Another portal appeared in the ground with the gray sky reflected within it. Blood stepped forward and dropped into the portal just before Emile was dragged in as well.

Within an instant, Emile found himself back in the pearlescent desert. The endless white dunes surrounding him, the black ocean visible far in the distance. And like last time, the Ivory Lighthouse was nowhere to be seen.

Jumper finally came through the portal as well and began looking around. After a moment, he nodded to himself and then began walking through the desolate desert.

With his hands in his pockets, Blood too began following Jumper with Emile in tow.

"So Jumper, do you mind telling me where we're going?" Emile asked, hoping Jumper was more talkative than Blood.

"The Hollow Mountains." Jumper luckily responded, but he didn't look back and acknowledge Emile, he simply kept his hands locked behind his back and continued forward.

"What's in the Hollow Mountains?"

"HQ."

"Okay—HQ for what?"

"Our organization."

"Which is?"

"A group of people who come together to perform specific, and yet similar, duties."

Emile looked at Jumpers back and then at Bloods. Why can't anyone have a conversation? Who is Emile going to tell?

He's literally been kidnapped by the people he's talking to. Once he arrives he's going to find out regardless, so why does everyone have to be so stubborn?

At least Blood didn't entertain him. Jumper is responding, but is responding with less than helpful answers.

Emile decided to try his luck again.

"So what's your gift, Jumper? Is it teleportation or something?"

"Why can't you be quiet?!" Blood answered before Jumper could.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't realize kidnapping was so common here! Am I supposed to obediently comply? It's my first time on this end of the stick! " Emile snapped back.

Blood pulled Emile around to face him, Blood continued walking forward while Emile floated back. Blood glared at Emile and then took a deep breath.

"I can't kill him…I can't kill him…" Blood whispered to himself, but he brought Emile close enough to hear it.

"Listen brat! We are going to—"

"Who are you calling brat?! You're like seven years old!" Emile yelled in Blood's face.

"Oh my God's!" Blood screamed. He snapped his fingers and part of the blood crystal around Emile returned to liquid and slid around Emile's mouth, then hardened again.

"Are you happy now?!" Blood roared, "No more talking for you…. And I'm not seven jack***! I'm fifteen! That's DOUBLE what you guessed!"

Blood moved Emile behind him after that and silence returned to their journey.

Forced to contemplate by himself, Emile tried to piece together whatever he could. From what he remembered, the Hollow Mountains separated the desert and the forest. It was also home to the Black Gates.

The Black Gates was famous for its overzealous cruelty and savagery. In the texts they were described a lot like a tribal community: basic infrastructure, small communities that war with each other between the caves, and a low reliance on agriculture.

Emile had never seen the mountains themselves. They must have been too far away from the shore to be visible, they still weren't visible even though the desert was mostly flat.

So the mountains had to be either insanely far away or strangely small. Hollow Hills perhaps?

Was this organization Blood and Jumper a part of from the Black Gates? Were they one of the many groups that existed within the cave systems?

Emile didn't think so. They didn't fit the description of the type of people from the Black Gates. Emile also wasn't sure how accurate the Fallen Sky's information was.

With a depleting population and a constant war effort, did they have the time or resources to spy on foreign kingdoms? It seemed unlikely.

So Blood and Jumpers organization probably wasn't a part of Black Gates. They were an organization powerful enough to house Blood and Jumper. Emile wasn't sure how strong they were in comparison to the rest of the world, but they seemed striking.

And their organization was at least powerful enough to infiltrate Fallen Sky, give Blood an official military position, and then leave without issue. Although, having a whole section of the wall unmanned seemed pretty unintelligible.

Emile could probably sneak into Fallen Sky himself…didn't he already? Emile and Emma had just shown up one day and were accepted, did Blood do the same?

And Emma, she was still there, training with the rest of their class. Emile wasn't too worried about Emma. She had always been a bit rough around the edges. Constantly getting into fights, ordering kids on the playground around, she was strong.

Paired with her extraordinary gift, she was sure to be okay. At least until training was over in four months, after that she would be sent to the front lines, but Emile still believed she would survive, probably even excel.

Emile was still sad. Sad to leave. Sad to be away from Emma and the other members of his little click, but people left all the time.

Him and Emma left their planet and all of the people they cared for. They had left their town not too long before that to be on their college campus.

But Emile wasn't worried about Earth. Just knowing Earth didn't have monsters or gifts, extraordinary powers that any Joe or Jane could use to cause havoc, was a huge relief. Everyone he loved would be okay, that was almost a certainty.

Emile didn't know what would happen tomorrow. If he was able to travel to another planet already, he could definitely do it again.

And besides, he had more pressing matters to worry about, like the fact he was kidnapped.

Emile looked up at the gray sky and then closed his eyes. He was tired, not from walking since he hasn't done any of that, but from existing.

Who knew existing was so exhausting?