Chapter 13

One bump after another, Walter slowly became conscious. He woke up a lot weaker than the previous time. However, he could tell that he was in a more comfortable position than the last time he was up.

He lay on a pillow and wasn't tied up. He opened his eyes fully, and began hearing the clattering of hooves as the chariot rode slowly. Looking at the driver, it was John.

"You're up!" John exclaimed, "that bag beside you. Yes, that black one. Open it up, there's the fish you said you wanted."

Walter hurriedly crawled to the bag and desperately opened it up.

"What the hell? These are daggers!"

"Gotcha!" John jested, an attempt to lighten up the mood. Taking another look from the horse, he saw Walter wasn't having it.

"Alright, alright, here's some food," he said, stretching another bag.

Walter reluctantly collected it and opened to see that it really was food this time. He rushed the food.

"I can see you're really hungry." He said, expecting Walter to respond, but he didn't.

"I apologize on their behalf," John said, "I know they're mean sometimes, but it's really just passion that drives them. I apologize once again."

With still no reply, he continued,

"A lot of souls have suffered so. It's almost unbelievable how many people have been killed by your Father. What's worse is that no one can stand against him. He single handedly stood up to Nether and is giving them a tough time. He formed Jotunheim all by himself."

He turned to Walter who already finished the food but was still quiet, and said,

"We need your help to bring him down, Walter.

We know you're an important key because he hid all your details even from his most trusted soldier. " John said, "We need your help." He requested once again.

"I'm still hungry," Walter replied.

"Oh, here's some more," he said, giving him another bag.

"Where's Aaron?" Walter asked.

"He went to deliver a message."

"To who?"

"'To whom', Walter. It is 'to whom'."

"I'm….. lost," Walter replied.

"The correct grammar is 'to whom'."

"Oh,"

"I know it could be confusing differentiating 'who' from 'whom' but here's a trick to remembering. If you can replace the following word with 'him' the correct one word to use is 'whom'. If it can be replaced with 'he', then it's 'who'. The 'm' behind 'him' should make you remember which is which."

"Thanks, but you still haven't answered my question."

"Right! He went to deliver a message."

"What's the message about?"

"Well, it's to inform your Father, that you're with us, and safe…only if he shows up."

"Shows up?"

"Yes, we want a bargain, so he has to meet us on our own terms."

"Wait, what's in it for you guys? What do you want?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. But for the meantime, you'll be with us."

Something wasn't right, Walter suspected.

"Where's the other dude?" He asked.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that either." John replied.

"Who's side are you really on?"

"Ah, that's a tricky one. Well, everyone has a reason for doing what they do. However, I'm going to say this; life…or should I say death, whatever it is, was a lot more peaceful before Will started the war. Nobody knows why he's doing this, but it was obviously better."

"So you're on Nether's side?"

"I'm on the side that wants peace. That's a better way to say it."

"Then why aren't you working for them?"

"I like the way you think. You're not as blunt as we all thought you were."John said, "To be honest, I'm just curious why they drag people into this place."

"So they are responsible after all?"

"What did you think? Wasn't Nariah the one who killed you?"

Walter, sad and heart broken, remained quiet as those words reopened his emotional wounds.

John looked back to check his face. His sadness was obvious.

"Oh Walter, calm down. There's a 50% chance she didn't actually kill you."

Walter remained down despite hearing those words.

"The truth is, in this place nobody feels hungry, even though we do need food to replenish our energy. Here, hunger is just not a thing. But since you got here you've been whining about how hungry you are, that counts for something right? And plus, your eyes are still black unlike our bluish irises."

"Are you just saying that to make me happy?" Walter asked with a little bit of desperation.

"Well yeah, I am saying that to make you happier, but I'm also saying it because it's the truth."

"Thanks for that, John." Walter said, lying his back down.

"Don't lose all hope yet, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks."

After the few minutes of silence persisted before Walter spoke up.

"Hey, John."

"What's up?"

"I want to ask a question."

"Go ahead"

"If you're more on Nether's side than on Will's, why did you guys save me?"

"Jason, help me out here."

"Wait, what? Who's Jas–"

a thud to the back of his head knocked him out, yet again.

Jason, the White Knight gradually became visible at the other end of the cargo.

"That dude talks a lot. I was itching to do that."

"We can't keep doing this to him though. We need him on our side, we need him to cooperate if we ever want to defeat Jotunheim."

"This kid has no powers whatsoever, I don't think we'll need him for everything, except as a regular soldier, maybe he'll be useful then."

John looked over Walter's body, feeling a tincture of empathy for him, and how he has been treated.

"You don't need to worry about this guy, we've got bigger things to worry about, John."

"Has Aaron's falcon returned?" John asked.

"Yes, his message has been relayed to the king, but no response but there's a little issue. The information about Walter being with us has spread everywhere so it'll take a little time for him to return because of the people searching for him. We're all targets now."

"We'll need to keep our guards up. We can't afford to make the same mistake Nether did. We could go top with the Prince in our hands. Hopefully," John said, "However, I feel we've gotten on the wrong side of Nether too." he added.

"Nether is still the leading power, but I do feel they've lost their flare. Nariah is no longer with them, I heard. I heard she was weak when she brought the Prince down. She got killed and thrown off the Bahimi by Nether's new warriors."

"Those warriors are the real deal now. We know nothing about them." John replied.

"Oh please, we also are at an advantage. They don't know our base. We're safe for now."