Chapter 41: Isle of The Skye Pt. 5

Theriault walked the halls of Dun Scaith with the skeleton, creeping along as he left Shen Yi and Hunter to rest.

"They are slowing you down," The Skeleton muttered as Theriault shrugged. "They didn't ask to join really, I invited them, they deserve the rest..." said Theriault.

As he turned another corner he saw Scathach, standing there majestically and stoic in a combat uniform. Noticing Theriault she gave him a nod and turned toward him.

"All ready to set off then?" Theriault asked, looking her up and down.

"She's not bad looking..." The Skeleton said as Theriault rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I have everything I need to go back to the mainland, I only pray for anyone who gets in my way during my... Cooling off," She replied, ignoring the skeleton's comment and turning back to the wall.

It was translucent but distorted as if she was looking through water. Theriault looked as well, seeing the unmistakable waters of the Irish Sea.

"Quite beautiful. Have you been holed up in this lonely place all this time?" Theriault asked, sticking his hands in his pockets as Scathach shook her head.

"I do not enjoy small talk young adventurer... But yes, it has been just me and my sister for several centuries now... She goes outside while I stay here, keeping the memory of Dun Scaith alive."

Theriault noted the small talk comment, shuddering ever so slightly at the mention of her Aife. "She was quite the warrior, by myself I'm not too sure I'd beat her right now-"

"Do you mean your condition?" Scathach interrupted, looking at him blankly.

"Haha... You look so Pale boy, don't seem surprised that she would know," The Skeleton said, chuckling to himself as Theriault looked at the distorted image with a blank expression.

"My condition? Sure, we can call it that," Theriault replied ever so mysteriously. "Once my companions wake we'll set off, it shouldn't take nearly as long to get back as it did to get here..."

Scathach smiled at him, surprising him and the skeleton as she took hold of one of his wrists, moving close to kiss his cheek. "Good luck young man," She said, her smile disappearing as she let go.

"You hold a heavy burden, yet go around without complaint, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were a natural born warrior, but adventurer is your chosen job..."

Theriault stood there, shocked as Scathach walked off, waving away the distorted image of reality, leaving the two to their thoughts.

"A wise woman is truly terrifying, it's almost bipolar how she acts, one second she's a shell, the next second a ball of emotion... So peculiar..." Theriault murmured quietly to himself before setting out toward the others once more.

He found the room empty except for Hunter sitting against the far wall. As soon as he caught sight of Theriault he rose. "Is it time? Shen Yi went to find a bathroom... I tried to explain to her that the only way this place has a bathroom is if there's a bucket next to her bed, but she wouldn't listen"

Hunter sighed before taking a seat once again next to the wall. "We should probably leave sooner rather than later though, it's not smart for us to be in the ether realm so long, we're still physical matter... I would hate to become an undead because some idiot wanted to try something new... Though I guess since the world ends eventually no difference does make," He muttered softly.

Theriault paused, thinking for a moment as he looked at the skeleton. "What do you think? The Ether can turn us into undead so quickly?" He asked, causing Hunter to glance uncomfortably at the skeleton.

"It's possible, but unless you guys stay here for a decade or so you'll be fine. The Ether doesn't claim outer world things until it's certain they're there to stay."

Theriault nodded, making a gesture toward the skeleton as Hunter looked uncomfortable.

"I never asked, and Father said he didn't know... But what key do you have Theriault? No offense but that thing is creepy as hell, and Fenghuang is avoiding him like the plague, he's not talking either..." Hunter said, looking between the two as Theriault gritted his teeth.

"I don't think that matters much, if it's ever a matter of life and death I'll tell you, but for now... Don't worry about it... Man, that just ruined my mood haha," Theriault said as Shen Yi walked into the room looking utterly defeated.

"I... Had to use the window," She said without emotion, looking drained and as if she was about to cry.

Theriault and Hunter looked at her with equally blank expressions, that was until they understood what she meant. Both boys burst out laughing in Shen Yi's expense.

"Welcome to the peasant life princess, should have just gone with your grandmother and father huh?" Theriault said, still laughing as Shen Yi groaned.

"We need to get out of here now, I can't spend another minute in this realm..." She replied, shaking her head as Hunter and Theriault continued chuckling behind her back.

"The Ether is just an opposite world, it reflects whatever world is most prominent in one reality, in this case it's Earth. The people here are all undead, the buildings that are fine in reality, are all destroyed here, and vice versa, it's not too terrible of a place... It is basically a representation of balance," The Skeleton said, smiling menacingly as Shen Yi shook her head.

"I'm going to ignore him speaking, so creepy, does he always follow you?" She asked looking at Theriault, who's eyes darkened ever so slightly.

"No..."

"When can we leave?" She interrupted, sending a disgusted look toward The Skeleton.

Luckily, Theriault didn't need to answer her as Scathach walked into the room, decked out with knives and a short sword strapped to her thigh. "Immediately, I am prepared."

She reached around her neck, grabbed a large black key, and thrust it into the air, a door appearing in front of her.

"I was wondering how she had access to the ether... The Realm Key," The Skeleton muttered, smiling a bit as Scathach opened the door and led Theriault, Hunter, and Shen Yi out into the long halls of the museum they'd originally been in.

Something was different though, Theriault could feel it.

"It... Closed down? In just a day?" Shen Yi said before Scarthach closed the door, sighing a bit.

"I almost forgot... The Ether realm moves at an incredibly slow time... In this world it has been nearly a year since anyone has seen you, things may have changed drastically, which is why I feel not much time has passed, but I suppose for my daughter... it's been about 300 years..."

Shen Yi, Hunter, and even Theriault looked at the woman with shocked expressions.

"Nearly a year!? I was supposed to send a letter home to my father after a month! Shit, he's gonna go insane!" Hunter yelled as Shen Yi looked around, a sinking feeling in her chest.

"Ah... So we lost a year huh," Theriault said, sighing as he looked at his shaking hand. 'Not the first time...' He thought, closing his hand into a fist.

"Get over it, that's just adventuring, a year barely matters to a being such as Lucifer, he probably hasn't progressed a bit since we've left, besides, we still get paid no matter what happens to Ireland..." Theriault said, shrugging a bit as they all looked at him.

"That's so insensitive!" Shen Yi complained as Hunter sighed to himself.

"Complaining won't get us anywhere... We should go..." Hunter said after a bit, thinking of his family's worry when they didn't receive his check-in letter. What would they think?

At that moment, none of them had any time to truly let it soak in. For danger had arrived, and Theriault could feel it.

"Go?" A voice echoed through the halls, a cold, venomous, deadly voice.

Theriault clenched his fists as Shen Yi's body tensed.

"That... Voice," The girl said as memories of her mother dying and the fires burning all around her at her estate flashed through her mind. "It can't be..."

"Now now friends, we have been waiting for you guys to return here for nearly 9 months now... We assumed you would be in Dublin, but don't worry Sky Trotter was able to track you all the way here to Scotland... We killed all those human tourists for food, quite a tasty sustenance, nothing compared to Keymasters... But a close second for sure..." Cloud said, smirking as he walked up in his bright white clothing with four other people at his side, said as he looked at the group with deadly eyes.

Hunter looked at him in confusion, as did Scathach, to them this was a random guy who was talking about eating people.

Then Scathach caught on, sniffing a bit and immediately letting a dagger slip into her hand. "I'd prefer Gae Bolg for this type of enemy..." She murmured as the man smirked, unleashing his claws and looking at the group with bloodlust practically pouring out of his eyes.

"Hello... Theriault."