The Ancients

16: Trust

Catching his breath, the muscles in Dante's entire body screamed. He returned, utterly exhausted, not used to running such long distances on two legs. Despite hating the skin he was in—he welcomed the pain his muscles seemed to so freely give. 

As if they were ripping apart, he felt a pull with every move he made. Even small movements, like turning around, caused small burns of pain to tickle through him.

"What happened, Onar?" A voice sounded behind him, causing Dante to spin around.

Facing his brother, he took another few moments to catch his breath. His twin smirked cockily. 

"You look worse than Tyrion does when he's flown five hundred kilometres."

Scowling, he did nothing to reply. Tyrion was the least athletic of the four. Comparing him to his youngest brother was, therefore, a slight insult. 

Still, he didn't indulge and instead took a deep breath.

Ryker only wanted to get Dante into a better mood, though he couldn't quite understand how Ryker intended to do that by insulting him.

Dante tried to focus on the matter at hand, as disturbing as it was. 

Being athletic wasn't important now. He would have enough time later to get back in shape. 

"I was in Cave Eiiren just now. They wanted me to burry the body close to the Saiina river."

Widening his eyes in shock, Ryker stared at him with piercing grey eyes. "That's far away! Are they keeping this from their people, then? No proper burial?"

Nodding his head slowly, Ryker's twin arched his dark brown, bushy eyebrows. "Yes, I suppose so. I just can't really understand why."

Creasing his forehead, Ryker pursed his lips. He was identical to Dante in nearly every way but the eyes and the build, Ryker being slimmer and shorter. Their facial expressions however were one and the same.

A few moments of silence passed, in which Ryker thought about Dante's words. "In such a secluded community I suppose having a murderer on the loose would cause a lot of chaos. If everyone knew, no one would feel safe. By hushing it up, the council avoids a lot of turmoil."

Agreeing, Dante figured the council decided to deal with it as they saw fit, anyway. The few encounters he'd had with their members had shown him what they were made of.

Small minds.

Though something large was going on behind drawn curtains, the minds that controlled it all weren't anything Dante was used to. He expected more of humans—low as those expectations already were. Winning the war had proven that humans also harboured masterminds amidst their kind—no stupid people would have been able to rot out an entire race. Especially not one as advanced as they were. Yet, here they were. 

Fighting against genocide. 

Against extinction.

There was one thing that nagged at him, however. It wasn't their small mindedness, nor their intelligence in general.

What bothered him most was not knowing what they knew. And they knew a great deal more than they led on.

"Does the council still trust you?"

Dante nodded, though he was unsure. He didn't think the council trusted anyone, really, but the little faith they put in him... He wasn't sure if it was enough. Dante already suspected what Ryker, his twin, was about to ask him.

"No. No way."

Ryker took a step towards his brother and looked him gravely in the eye. Dante hated it when Ryker put on his serious-face. Especially when Dante didn't want to do what Ryker wanted him to.

"You have to get into Council Hall. The archives are there."

Lowering his voice, Ryker left no room for argument. As much as Dante hated it—he was right.

"I did some thinking when you told me they moved a lot of books down there. What if there's something in those books that could help us figure out how they did it?"

Dante instantly shook his head, narrowing his eyes to slits. "No, I can't do that! That place is heavily guarded. Most of the council's members aren't even allowed down there. Why would they let me?"

Turning to face their house, one that stood proudly in the midst of all the open land, Dante cursed under his breath. Going down there would give him a one-way ticket out of the council—and for now, they still needed the council's support and what little trust they were willing to give. 

He couldn't afford to get caught, and not to was much harder said than done. How would he explain that to Madame Esmara? 

They barely trusted him enough to keep his eyes and ears open!

Ryker was delirious.

"I didn't explicitly say you had to go down there. You just have to get in."

Furrowing his brows, Dante stared at his brother. "What the hell does that mean?" Wanting to change the subject, Dante added, "We need to make an appearance at the Iarhus today anyway. So let's get going."

Ryker huffed, as if Dante was the dumbest person in the world. "You can speak to animals, dumbnut. You'll figure it out." 

Chapter Question: Soooo, what do we think of Dante speaking to animaaalsss? Also, why do you think the council is acting all secretive? Any theories? 

Readers Question: Since the last one was really lame I decided to google a question I could ask. What song would you play at a party?

I'm into a lot of different types of music styles, but for a party I'd probably play "Amnesia" by DREAMDNVR. Totally love the beat of that song. 

I'm adding it to the bottom!