The Haunting: Destiny (FF)

Chapter 28

Armen's POV:

The sunset peaks through the trees on the left as the resistant rain continues to collide with the floor, submerging into the odd patch of dirt poking out of the stone path. The occasional light that bounces off the rain pierces my left eye, closing it helps dull out the throbbing pain but I don't want them to ask any questions. So I keep it open and power through the dull bright light. We've been walking non-stop in the pouring rain since Drake got up, drenched beyond belief. It's been radio silence the whole way, Grayson's taking the lead, walking at a constant pace ahead of us, hopefully in the right direction. Drake's been lagging behind, occasionally muttering something to himself. Then I'm in the middle, still contemplating if telling Drake that lie was the best idea.
Either way, we need a rest, so I quicken my pace, catching up to Grayson. Whilst next to him he looks at me in confusion.

"We need to rest. If we carry on we won't have the energy to fight if we get spotted." I claim.

"We're fine." his words are cold. I glare at him.

"We're soaking. We're tired. We're going to get a cold." I pause; Grayson ignores me, "Look at Drake. He's lagging behind and at any rate he'll pass out. I don't think you'd want to be carrying him around, especially since I can't help that much. We need to rest."

He stops, looking around the area before continuing, "There's a path up ahead, there should be caves around there. We can rest there and start a fire. We'll rest there 'till the rain stops."

I give a grateful smile, "Thank you."

I slow my walking, letting him take the lead again. I quietly sigh, back to silence then... or so I thought. In the corner of my eye I spot Drake hesitantly inching towards me. I pretend to not notice him until he gets next to me, shivering.

"What did you two talk about?" he asks, voice weak.

"Nothing much. We're going to rest as soon as we find a cave." he nods, I ponder, "Are you ok?"

He gives me a fake smile, "Yeah, just a bit cold..."

I nod, looking down at his feet, "Y'know, you might feel a bit warmer if you had shoes on."

He looks down at his feet, "Huh, I forgot about that." he mutters, "It's fine, I'm used to this anyway."

"Oh, ok." I half whisper. Silence.

I keep my speed constant and he attempts to do the same. My scars sting. My eyes itch. My arm hurts. I'm tired. I'm cold. I'm confused. Nothing seems to be going right like I thought they would, find out about Drake's... condition... that just cements all the fears. Turning off the main path the squelching of the mud irritate my ears, so much that it was a struggle to hear Grayson as he jesters towards the entrance of a overgrown cave. Upon entering Drake slumps down, sliding down the wall whilst I lean against another. Grayson looks around and exits, returning a couple of minutes later with some wood. Drying them off as best as he could, he sets them up whilst grabbing other elements of the campfire from his bag. Soon, a flame starts to flicker from the fast fire. The heat is nice, it removes the cold feeling but at the same time it's scary, reminding me of events I'd rather forget. I choose to close my eyes as the warmth seems to burn my skin yet leave no mark. The crackling of the embers ignite that cursed image of the Keep, fire, bodies, destruction. My breath becomes shaky as I fail to open my eyes, reliving that horrid memory that I'd rather burry away. Thankfully, a shake on my shoulder jolts me back, in front of me is Grayson holding out a raspberry red potion.  

"Well, you gonna take it or not?" He asks impatiently.

"I- what is it?" I cautiously ask.

He rolls his eyes, "It's a health potion, it'll help with the wrist." with that he places the open bottle in my hand.

"I... thank you." I mutter as I drink it. It tastes a bit sweet but at the same time it's surprisingly sour. As I start to feel better I look at the now empty bottle, my reflection distorted and vague. My eyes drift over the scar that lies diagonally across my face before I quickly place it down. 

"Drake?" I hear Grayson say, poking my head up I look over, he's shaking but at the same time he's sweating. What's happening? Is he going to get possessed again? Grayson carefully moves towards him, no reaction. He removes his glove, placing his hand on Drake's forehead only to retract it immediately.

"Shit-" he quickly pulls his back towards him, searching through he pulls out another bottle and opens it, quickly yet carefully getting him to drink it. With a bit of spluttering he finally drinks the potion, his shaking calms down but it's clear it didn't work that well. 

"What's wrong?" I question as Grayson searches through his bag.

"He's got a fever." he mutters, pouring water on a small cloth.

"What!? How bad is it?"

"How am I meant to know?" placing the damp cloth on his forehead he turns to me, "It doesn't look bad but as long as he stays warm and we give him water it'll be fine." I don't respond, this is just too concerning. 

The crackling fire dances around whilst the rain outside continues to slam down upon the soaked ground. It's surprisingly soothing, relaxing my eyes land on Grayson who's looking at me. We keep eye contact until he looks away and starts to speak.

"Earlier this morning... what I did was wrong, I'm... it was a bad thing to do. Despite everything, even though this- though I- I... I care about you two, and I don't want you to die, not again... I just want to make sure Anni and Luke didn't... didn't die for nothing..." he murmurs, into his arms. 

"I understand, but please don't... please don't do that again." he looks at me with saddened eyes.

"I'll... try." not even a promise.

I'm almost a hundred percent certain the book is the leading cause of this change. Although nothing overly drastic has happened, I feel like it'll only get worse if I don't do anything about it. I could burn it, maybe not whilst they're around, especially Drake. Thinking about what he said when we first found it, I don't think Hero would take kindly to the action. It's also surprising that Grayson hasn't attempted to steal it yet, I don't have a magic seal nor do I have the ability to defend myself. Maybe he's gotten better, being away from the book does seem to have an affect... I'll just have to stay alert.  

"Looks like the rain stopped." Grayson's voice perks me up as I turn to the entrance, "He's not going to wake up any time soon. I'll get some more wood, yell if you need me." he gets up, taking his bag with him and exits the cave. 

Once the sound of squelching stops I gaze back at the fire, although nothing has changed, suddenly being alone just, doesn't sit right. I look down at my bag, resting next to me... hesitantly, I struggle to reach into my bag before slowly pulling out the book. Resting it on my lap I observe the cover, I can't read the writing that is spread across it but there is an odd circle in the middle, three mini-circles are inside it as lines come from the middle sectioning them off into thirds. On the back of the leather book there's nothing apart from a small indent, yet again, in a language I can't understand. 

"Turn it over."

I drop it. Quickly I look around trying to spot who said that, maybe Drake mumbled it? Can't be, it was too loud to have been him. Looking out at the exit I quietly call for Grayson, questioning if it's him. I get no answer. 

"Look inside."

A shiver runs down my spine as I shove it back in my bag without hesitation. What the hell was that? I feel my heart race as I hold the lip shut, fearful of what re-opening it will bring. I wait, seconds then minutes pass, and nothing happens. So I relax. Letting go of my bag I resume my position in front of the fire as I watch the embers die out.