Reversal of Fortune [malexmale]

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

"You've been acting strangely since we entered Xandria."

"Have you seen this place? Not exactly a butterfly garden."

I sat with my arms folded on my knees, body hunched over as I fought to ignore the sounds of the voices whispering and wailing around me. Everytime something squelched or rippled, I'd eye the walls, waiting for more of those demonic spirits to pull out of the spongy material.

I still felt frustratingly shaken by the weird vision the realm had given me. Akin had told me this place would do that, pray on anyone who entered and toy with their mind to torture them. It was how the realm was built in order to punish the wrongdoers of the realm. And I could feel the aftereffects in the way my muscles felt weaker, my heart was still pounding, my senses on alert, yet still feeling dulled at the same time. It was like being trapped in one of those nightmares where no matter how fast you ran, it felt like your legs were made of cinderblocks.

And no matter how hard I fought to conceal it all, Yiuwa was seeing right through it. He'd held my hand the whole way, and some inner voice scolded me for it. I was almost as old as time itself, yet I needed a grown male to hold my hand through hell. And even worse, I needed that. I squeezed his hand the whole way, needing to feel him beside me, to feel protected. Even if I could protect my own damn self.

"Rowan, can't you give me a straight answer for once?" Yiuwa asked softly, glancing at Hannibal, who had also stopped with us to charge the orb in his palms. Hannibal thankfully appeared to recognize our need for privacy and didn't appear to be eavesdropping as he focused his energy on charging the orb.

"I did," I replied dismissively, "We should be getting closer to the tablet. Once we find it, we'll have to review as much of it as possible. Something tells me we shouldn't take it out of Xandria. If the ones in Yomi were sealed to the realm, this one could be too. And photos will probably be impossible too. So you'll need to read it quickly." Yiuwa frowned.

"I know," he answered slowly, "I understand the gravity of the situation. My realm ended because of our failure to take this threat seriously. I don't need you to tell me that." I nodded, but didn't say anything. I definitely hadn't just rambled to change his focus from me to the task at hand. A lie that clearly wasn't working, because Yiuwa was still staring at me intently. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder, and gods, it felt like he was supporting me, like I would fall over if he hadn't touched me. I felt as if I were weakening the longer we stayed here.

"Rowan--"

"Can we just focus on getting the tablet? Please," I tacked on. Yiuwa pressed his lips into a firm line, then took his hand away and I felt the loss as a physical ache in my chest. He turned away, then cursed when his phone dropped from his pocket and fell to the mushy ground. He leaned over to pick it up, and a second later, a tentacle seemed to morph out of the ground and snatch his wrist.

"Shit!" Yiuwa cursed, making Hannibal jerk his head up. Yiuwa yanked his hand back, but the tentacle dragged up with it. I grabbed onto the tentacle and sent a blast of magic through it, slicing it in half. It made the same sound you'd hear of a squealing pig before vanishing back into the ground.

I looked up to see Yiuwa staring at the ground, blinking rapidly. I frowned.

"Yiuwa?" I asked. He wasn't moving, barely breathing, just blinking like he wasn't sure what he was seeing. Then suddenly he jerked his head up, letting out a gasp. He looked around, like he had no idea where he was, until his eyes landed on me.

"Rowan?" He managed, reaching up to touch my face. The warmth of his palm against my cheek, the slight tremble there, broke something in me and I reached up, placing my hand over his as I stared at him, stared into those confused startled yellow eyes.