Chapter 19

8 1 0
                                    

"So you entered the desert as well?"

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

"So you entered the desert as well?"

They had set up camp in the middle of the jungle, caring much less about being attacked given that this area was completely abandoned. Feyrith couldn't say that he wasn't still on edge after what had happened with the creature. It could still find them, try to attack them, but he sincerely hoped it wouldn't. It had seemed defeated when it had spoken to him that last time.

"Yeah, it was weird." Lanna nodded as she said it, then shrugging as if she didn't know what else to add to that. Feyrith supposed it made sense, though. Given how he and Ayd had found themselves there in the first place, it wasn't that surprising that those rapidly appearing portals, or tears as the creature had called them, would appear around the others as well. "We saw a large city in the distance, so we went there. Ralis thought the portal we found there would bring us back, and it did."

"And when we got out of there, this is what I looked like," Arbane added, gesturing to his face. The man seemed very irritated, much more than Feyrith had ever seen him for a longer period of time, but Feyrith couldn't blame him. He knew how frustrating it was to not have answers to questions as important as this.

Arbane didn't look like a proper elf, though, which was another very strange thing about this. His eyes looked human, still, and his features were not quite as angular as the average elf's, his ears not long enough. It didn't make any sense to him.

"Maybe it is some kind of illusion?" Feyrith suggested, but Ralis spoke up from the other side of the campfire.

"I cannot detect any illusion."

"Maybe his human self was the illusion the entire time, and he's a half-elf or something," Ayd said far too casually for what they were discussing. Feyrith frowned, completely baffled as to how Ayd could think that at all.

"We cannot procreate with humans," Ralis replied, and Feyrith nodded. She'd taken the words straight from his mouth. Elves and humans were simply incompatible that way, and it was incredibly odd to say the opposite of such a fundamental fact.

Ayd leaned closer to the fire, staring right at Ralis. "And who said that? The Council?"

"Yes, and also every elven scholar since the beginning of recorded history," Ralis said, her expression completely blank. Clearly, she was not interested in starting a fight with Ayd, which Feyrith was very grateful for. He looked at Ayd, who was sitting next to him, expecting him to try to egg Ralis on, but instead, he chuckled, an amused spark in his eye.

"Really makes you wonder how they came to that conclusion, doesn't it?"

Enaryl snorted quietly, covering her mouth and ducking her head immediately as though ashamed for finding this humorous, while next to Feyrith, Lanna let out a full-on laugh, shaking her head.

"Look, I hate being the serious one, but can we focus on me again?" Arbane said, if anything even more irritated. He brought his hands to his ears, rubbing at the pointed ends with something almost like distress in his eyes.

The Nature of Magic (The Curse of Magic Book 2)Where stories live. Discover now