Worse

"How is that possible"? Leen asked out loud once the two mages disappeared in the dark.

"Ambrose did the other mage explain any of this to you"?

Leen turned to me.

"Ambrose"? Leen turned her head around looking for me but I was gone towards the entrance peering outside.

What they just witnessed couldn't be explained by lore and only by religion.

"Blessed are those that walk in the light of Useja Under Heaven, born of purity I pray" Fooya whispered underneath her breath.

Yuit stared at the ground in front of him, throughout this journey he has seen amazing wonders.

Houses that moved on sand and water, castles built into mountains and monster's that his mother warned him about as a child.

But this was akin to godhood.

'Is she a god'?

'Did I disrespect a god'?

He questioned himself over and over again.

Rumi leaned against the wall as he watched Alia work.

"What is your name" Rumi asked while Alia placed her palm in the brown mans chest.

The man mumbled through his lip that healed so incorrectly he had cancer mass in his mouth.

The didn't need him to answer, they only needed him to think it.

Every time Alia nodded Rumi asked a new question until his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he died of mana toxicity.

"What did you learn"? he asked while he breathed heavily.

"He is a nobody, he was hired directly from Aug"

"Scum from the street looking for quick silver" she replied.

"Why did he bite his tongue" Rumi asked?

"He thought me a war goddess that will take his 'soul away from the light'... he is a follower of Useja" she replied.

She stood in silence for a moment before opening her mouth.

"That child is cursed" she whispered as she remember the cold chill down her neck.

Rumi wanted to refute it but he couldn't.

"What should we do with the others, what if they tell someone what they just witnessed"?

"What if Yuit and Ambrose don't pass selection into House Kiseson" her voice cracked.

"We just showed them arrays and even 'light mana'"

"Dear Lum how can things go so wrong so fast" she massaged her temples as the excess memories from the 'urchin' flooded her mind.

"Stop panicking" Rumi said still sitting cross legged.

"Easy for you to say you can wash your hands of this at any minute" he smiled at her words.

"You can trust me Alia, your family has paid me well in stones and silver".

"If we get to the Association and they end up being trash all this would be for nothing" she replied glaring at their direction.

"We should get rid of the girls, if they end up being followers then I leave myself exposed to the laws of the great mages".

"That's up to you, but if you do you risk alienating your two new acolytes" Rumi replied.

"It's best for you to see how the situation plays out" he took one final deep breath and got up slowly.

"You lost a lot of blood, are you okay"? He asked.

"I'm fine" she replied through gritted teeth her rosy cheeks now as pale as the mana she wielded.

"You sure you don't want me to check"? he gave her the smile that dropped many a woman's guard alas it was too dark for her to see it.

"Positive, were stopping by Aug I want to find the one who commissioned this filth" she said as they walked back slowly.

Once they reached the children they found them on their hands and knees prostrating in front of them.

"Where is he"? Alia asked still refusing to use my name.

"Right here" I said walking towards them from the entrance.

"Merchants are crossing by and they stopped to inspect the bodies" I reported.

"Lum damn it all"! Alia cursed while grabbing Rumis arm and tossing it over her shoulder.

"Get up"! she said and began to walk back into the dark.

The last thing she wanted to deal with are more people, not knowing the threat level she decided to wait until Rumi is well rested.

Yuit thought he was being punished and followed with a stiff shoulder.

Once we are deep enough she finds a relatively dry patch of dirt and helped Rumi down.

"Go and fetch Shoo" she commanded us and we slipped into the dark quietly.

"Let me see" she whispered.

"Gladly" he said light heartedly while lifting his arm with a grimace.

He had a small gash on his right side below his ribs.

"Any deeper and she would have... it would have hurt" she said.

"Mmm" he grunted.

She placed her hand on his ribs and brought the light from her hand close to his wound.

"It isn't much... but it should help" she said.

"Mmm, it does".

"That feels damn good you know".

"Stop lying it's a weak light" she said.

"No I meant your small delicate little hands on my skin".

"I can imagine those hands playing with both my b-" his words cut out as she used the same hand to press on his wound.

"Shh" she said coldly and he responded with a whimper.

I come back first and begin to clean the slug, when the others arrive they don't even attempt to clean it.

They stare at me with puppy eyes until I raise my hand and receive the still wriggling slug.

Alia did the same as Rumi earlier and heated a much larger stone.

As the meat was cooking Alia took some for Rumi which the others happily gave.

'No please no! They have their own they don't need ours'! Ava pleaded as Rumi continued to eat one slug after the other.

He didn't eat as much as I would but he still ate a lot, we went back to hunt twice.

"Lums breath Ambrose you made that foul slug taste like sin" Rumi sighed as he drank the last of his water.

"No point in hiding it any more" he mumbled as he bit into his thumb and created an array.

I recognized it instantly as the water condensation array.

I felt the chill instantly and so did the others.

I heard Fooya praying and Alia click her tongue.

Soon water began to drop out of the air in the center of his array.

It was a few drops and then a steady stream.

All Yuit was thinking was why they didn't do that throughout the desert, he had no concept of condensation.

"Come and fill your water skin" he said and we all gladly did so as the last time it rained was two nights ago.

"We should leave" Alia said.

"I could use a nap" Rumi sighed but got up anyway knowing he wouldn't be able to sleep in the eerie passage.

It was the end of the night and first light when we reached the passage again.

We all notice the flow of people going back towards Undia.

"What is this"? Rumi muttered, he knew that certain routes are for certain parts of the year and right now merchants flowed towards Boone.

As we got closer we see more and more people.

We step out into the wide canyon.

The children saw merchants flowing but Alia, Rumi and I only see potential threats.

"This can't get worse" Alia said right as the loud roar of a beast could be heard and the people began to run.

It's figure could be seen in the western sky getting lower and lower.

Her face contorted into one of pure rage and frustration.

"At least it can't get worse than this" Rumi chuckled as he began to go back the way he came.

As soon as he finished his words another roar could be heard from the eastern sky.