CHAPTER 211- UNEASE

[Keeno POV]

Only two days had passed as we crossed the bridge. In that time we made it far enough to only see the small outline of land behind us, but in front of us was a still infinitely stretching expanse of grey and blue. Well, not entirely blue, we’d noticed that a few patches of ocean had started turning black.  At first we thought it was just illusions of distance and shadows from either clouds or something under the water, but when Ama saw that through me, she became concerned. She left to go and meet the Ocean Goddess to see what was going on and hasn’t gotten back yet. On our side, Freya’s condition was worsening. While she was slightly more pleasant with us, she’d begun to get easily irritated by small things like people ahead or behind us talking too loud or the topics they were discussing. Especially the ones talking about our looks or how they’d like to do things with us.  They clearly didn’t know we could hear them.

It’s not that I wasn’t also annoyed at those comments either, but my worry that Freya might snap was more prevalent. I did trust her to keep her cool but it was coming to a head when night of the third day arrived. It was a moonless night and to say pure void would be an understatement. It was so dark it even felt like the stars were being consumed. I discussed with everyone and we decided to keep going for a while longer instead of setting up a small camp like many others.  The reasoning behind this, aside from hoping it would help lighten Freya’s mood, was that we could cover much more ground when we weren’t stuck between several groups of people moving at the same speed. Sure, we still had to avoid people’s small camps, but that’s much easier than moving around moving groups. I took the lead as my dragon core lit the way for us as I didn’t want to use a fireball to disturb others too much.  I wouldn’t call the vibe eerie, but more haunting. The waves far below us lapped against the bridge, their breaking sounding almost like a mournful symphony.

The further we got, the more everything felt off. I could understand the darkness, that was the most natural of everything here, but the almost musical quality of the ocean and the vibe of everything felt almost manufactured.  It was only when one of us spoke that the spell-like atmosphere was broken, and the one to do that was Freya.

‘I don’t like this. It feels like we’re being watched.’

‘Freya, do you think this is what’s affecting you?’

‘No.  It’s not, but Pram, get closer to me. I don’t trust whatever this gaze is.’

Pram did as she was told and walked closer to Freya. It was the. That I heard what sounded like the rustling of feathers.  I would have chalked it up to Huginn or Muninn, but this sound was rougher than theirs. I stopped and the others followed suit.

‘Freya, Pram, Mostima; I’m going to make it a little brighter for a second, shield your eyes.’

Everyone covered their eyes and an internal apology to everyone around us later, I shot a small, albeit bright fireball into the sky above us. This illuminated the area in a bright blue light that made a few of the travelers around us stir awake and glare at us.  I ignored that as I scanned the sky only to see nothing but shadows diving away from light, leaving only a few feathers to float down around us. Picking one up, I studied it. It wasn’t from any bird I knew, and its color was odd. Even when tinted by my light, the dark green of it was unmistakable. I extinguished the fireball while moving on, the others following shortly after me.

‘What do you think, Keeno?’

The worry in Pram’s voice was evident.

‘I don’t think it’s necessarily dangerous, but we should keep our ears trained and anytime we hear feathers I’ll shoot a fireball.’

For the rest of the time we were moving, we stopped about six other times. Every time I shit a fireball into the sky, the haunting melody in the atmosphere stopped for about half an hour. It was only when we reached a proper rest area that we decided that we had enough for the night. We found a decently free spot and set up two tents to sleep. As we did this the melody started again, but it sounded further away from us as if it learned to avoid our group.  I kept watch for about two hours before Mostima switched with me where I got some, not very good, sleep.

The next morning when we and most others were preparing to depart again, we noticed that the melodious sound was still present, but much quieter, barely audible over the din of people. I also noticed that several people or groups had many feathers they’d added to their possession.

‘We should all be cautious. I’m not sure what they are, but whatever is leaving those feathers is doing it purposely. Keep special attention above us and be ready for anything.’

Throughout the day nothing outwardly suspicious happened though I did notice that there were shadows high in the sky circling around, but they were too far up to make out just what kind of bird they were. I did try to send Huginn and Muninn to check things out, but the second they started flying the shadows vanished and only returned when my two birds returned to me.

“Guys.” Freya said as her expression briefly twisted in pain. “Can we take a break for a bit?”

With concern, we moved over to the edge of the bridge out of the way of traffic and sat. Freya placed her head in her hands as her ears flattened against her head.

“Freya…” Pram pulled Freya close as Freya’s tail began to twitch slightly either in pain or agitation. “Tell us what hurts.”

“It’s my head. I don’t know why, but that itch from before is starting to feel like someone is stabbing into me with a knife. And…I’m starting to hear things.  It’s still quiet, but every so often words are clear.  A lot of anger and hate, but more overpowering is the sadness and regret.”

Pram seemed lost for words and Mostima’s expression told me that she was just as clueless on how to help. For me, I didn’t know if it was my Death Authority telling me something or some long forgotten memory subconsciously resurfacing, but I had some kind of idea on how to help Freya, even if it was just a temporary thing that I’d have to do again later, but if it meant helping my friend, I’d gladly do it.

“Freya, I’m going to try something, please stay calm.” I said as I placed a hand on her forehead after she moved her hands. Closing my eyes I circulated some mana, mixing it with some of my Death powers and, just like when I banished that ghost before, a shadow seemed to lift from Freya.

“Thanks…that feels…much better.”

Freya was breathing slightly heavier than before but the pained expression was gone. Pram went back to holding her tightly. We decided to rest for a while longer until Freya was ready to move again, the other mystery completely forgotten for the time being.

Chaos Realm:

Nykuro: …

Swii: Nyy?

Nykuro: I sense something interesting is gonna happen.

Swii: Nyy excited expression pretty.

Nykuro: Hmm?

Swii: *shakes head*

Cute.

Order: Very.

Luna: Adorable.