CHAPTER 115: THE VISITOR

As her body spinned off course, she struggled to see who it was.

Zeke.

His natural course was going to miss the opening just wide enough that the suction that occurred closer to the opening wouldn’t be able to pull him in. So he had used her to correct his course after being able to move his body slightly. She had thought she was doomed, but someone else had it worse... Jamie.

Zeke had used him to correct his horizontal direction, pushing him further away from the opening, while Janet was used to finish the rest.

If not for Mark who struggled to reach for her hand not far from her, she would have really been doomed. And if it wasn’t for Jamie’s slight wariness of Zeke that allowed him to react quickly enough to be able to ricochet off one of the tables and back to their direction, he also would have been doomed.

She didn’t know Jamie personally, but she could tell that the experience had really changed his perspective about people.

There was this visible gap in communication whenever she talked with him. It felt like he was holding everyone at arms length, ready to cut them loose at any time even though he was putting on a sociable front.

The truth of the matter was... they were not the same again. All of them. They had been thrown into a spiral of events they never planned for. Knowing that the only reason they were still alive was purely because they were lucky. Some series of events had happened in a certain way that had been favourable to them. They weren’t special... They were just at the right place at the right time. Who knew when that luck would run out...

She stopped walking abruptly, thinking back to how Mark had helped her. What if this was her turn. Was his luck about to run out and she was just watching it happen? She couldn’t let that happen. Her conscience wouldn’t let her rest if anything happened to him.

"Don’t..." Jamie flimsily tried to block her way, but she pushed past him, running the opposite way down the cliff to follow after Mark.

Jet kept walking forward while Jamie stood with a conflicted expression on his face. He knew Janet meant well for Mark, but also knew she wasn’t thinking straight. He gritted his teeth, "Jet! I’m going after her. She’s going to get caught, and then that would put us in further danger!" He called out, hoping Jet would come also. His firepower would be a great help for anything that might come up.

Jet didn’t react at all, simply walking further down the cliff like he hadn’t heard a thing, making Jamie sigh in reluctance before taking after Janet.

After they had gone for a while, Jet eventually stopped with a furious expression. Angry at himself for feeling the way he was. Guilty.

Why?! He didn’t owe them anything! He had come into this world just as lost and as confused as they had! And yet he had given them help. He had taught them as much as he could within this short time... but they still messed things up.

For the last few days, his excitement at meeting other humans had worn off, and in its place some slight discomfort had started to sprout. He had been alone for more than a year now, so he had his method of doing things... Having other people around messed with that.

He knew Jamie was right. Wherever they were taking Mark to... Whoever they were taking him to... would get curious. And his life would get a whole lot more difficult.

He clenched his fists tightly, blasting a few fire spells into the distance in anger before he calmed down and reluctantly took after them in a sprint.

Janet had better not try anything foolish before he got there.

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Noctis. Somewhere in the dark lands...

A specially made carriage shook slightly as the snow build-up on top of it became too heavy, causing the sled runners to sink deep into the snow, unable to move forward. Two men from the twenty or so passengers in the carriage stood up, hefting the large shovels they held above theirs heads as they squeezed through the tight spaces between the passengers who huddled together for warmth despite the fact that they were covered head to toe with very insulated beastfurs overlaid with a few runes.

Among these passengers was Kathelyn. She was in a corner of the large carriage squeezing herself tightly in the thick blanket that served as a double layer against the cold. She braced for the extra chill that was about to blast into the carriage again as the men opened the sealed doors.

A light grumble of discomfort at the sudden dip in temperature buzzed in the carriage as the men quickly opened and closed the doors before climbing up carriage to shovel off the snow.

Kathelyn hated this cold to her bone.

"How do you fare, Kathelyn?" Lira, the fox-elf woman huddled next to her asked.

Kathelyn could barely peek out her blanket to reply, making Lira chuckle lightly with a slight shudder that she couldn’t help. Even she was feeling the cold.

They were deep into the dark lands, heading for the capital of her tribe. Apparently their great ancestor had a revelation that spoke of ’the visitor,’– Kathelyn, even without ever seeing her. So when word of it arrived at the border tribe, the village head had immediately followed the directive that she should be brought to the capital as quickly as possible. There had also been orders to attend to her every need, directly from the ancestor herself.

So immediately after that, Kathelyn’s status had risen to be the highest in the small border village. Even more than the village head. In fact, she could have decided to stay put and they would have had to follow her order, but she knew that would put them in a limbo. So she simply decided to see what this ’revelation’ was all about.

They had prepared her for the cold, stressing that it was going to be very frigid... but Kathelyn still felt they had underplayed it way too much.

This was beyond frigid. It was brutal. She needed to move every now and then so she could feel some parts of her body again, even with all the thick coverings she had on. Her lashes would get frozen almost immediately after the door was opened every time the men went out to clear the snow build-up from the top of the carriage.

They had been traveling for two days now and aside from the cold... there was also the darkness. She could catch a glimpse of the absolute blackness outside the carriage whenever the men opened the door. Their figures usually disappeared completely after taking a step out. It was jarring. Almost like they disappeared.

It reminded her of the void back in the Grand Hall construct... except this was accompanied with extreme cold.

There was still six more days of travel before they reached the capital... and Kathelyn was counting the days. Whatever was waiting for her at there had better be worth it...