Tales from Frostbourne [Cancelled]

Chapter 12 : A Body of Blood

Daryll PoV
I looked up to see Patrick ahead of us and quickly composed myself, straightening my back and trying to look my smartest. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Theo do the same thing.
"Greetings, Sire." I saluted as he stopped in front of us.
"Daryll, Theo. Azura arrived in camp earlier, saying you two had been..." he paused for a moment. "Annoying... Care to elaborate?"
I stopped breathing for a second, unsure of how to explain. Fortunately, Theo saved me from being screeched at.
"Well... it wasn't really anything, we'll find her and apologize later, but right now, we have some things to do around camp, y'know?" he explained, obviously avoiding his question. Patrick hesitated for a moment, then nodded once, and let us through.
"Alright, but don't go irritating her too much, or you know what'll happen," he said, stepping aside. We quickly speed-walked past him and into the courtyard, where we each let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Thanks, man. I had no clue what to say there." I laughed lightly.
"Yeah, you know I've got your back," he replied.
We wandered through the courtyard and to our quarters where we quickly took off our armour and hung the various pieces on the armour stands in the corner of our shared room. I glanced at the clock on my bedside table. It read 5:46 pm, almost time for dinner. I slumped down on my bed, rubbing my temples in exhaustion.
"Ughhhn..." I groaned as I accidentally hit my head against the wall. I noticed Theo looked up from his bed across the room but didn't question my actions. He was used to me by now.
We sat, or lay in my case, in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Theo tending to a few new blisters forming on his feet, me just lying down and thinking about nothing in particular.
"You wanna go find Azura?" he asked after a while, disturbing my rest.
"Not now, I'm still a bit achy," I huffed. "We'll go after dinner, yeah?"
"Mkay..." Theo muttered back, resuming staring at his blistered foot.
A few minutes later we went to get our food and took it back to eat outside our room. I'd got myself a portion of pasta bake, and Theo had a salad. We sat discussing the day's events before eventually getting up and wandering over to Azura's study across the courtyard. We knocked hesitantly, not really knowing what we were going to say to her.
Wing it, I thought. Azura opened the double oak doors and frowned slightly at the sight of us standing awkwardly there.
"Uh... Hey?"
"Hi Azura, we just came to apologize about earlier, we didn't really mean to upset you like that," Theo said, stealing the words from my mouth.
She stared at us blankly as though she hadn't even registered what we'd said. Suddenly she spluttered out laughing, not the reaction I'd imagined.
"It's OK, no need to apologize. It should really be me apologizing for ditching you guys."
"Nah, it's alright." I chuckled. "So... Apology accepted?"
"Apology accepted." the scholar confirmed, smiling lightheartedly. That was good. At least we'd made up now, so Patrick couldn't scold us like the little children he essentially treated us like. We bade her goodbye and quickly returned to our bedroom, flopping down onto the beds again, sighing contentedly.

Stella PoV
I watched from a distance as the two bandits left Azura standing in the doorway. I smiled and returned inside to my allocated room, yawning widely. I'd had a long day and really needed a rest. I quickly changed into some of my old pyjamas, and practically leapt into bed. Glancing at the time, I figured I could read for a little bit.
I picked my book from my bedside table and flicked the pages over, to where my bookmark had been placed the previous night. My fingertips traced the lines as I read, guiding my eyes which were prone to skipping entire lines at a time.
It was an odd and fascinating book about the history of the Nether, I'd just finished the part on what you could typically find there, and had moved on to the infamous monarchs of the hellish realm.
My eyes began to droop...
Something about Pig Kings...
Skeleton guards...
Thrones...
I was off. I'd already been reading for about an hour at this point and couldn't resist the tug of sleep.
-----
I opened my eyes. It was dark. My eyes adjusted fairly quickly, only for me to find I was waist-deep in a murky body of water. It was disgusting and brown, like some sort of gone off soupy substance. It felt like water though, the same smooth texture, although noticeably heavier, but not at all lumpy. I peered down into the liquid and caught a glimpse of my reflection. I jumped back and gasped as I realised I didn't look like me. If anyone, I looked more like... Ceris? I was looking through Ceris' eyes perhaps? I wasn't sure...
I turned my head around, staring into the seemingly endless black realm. It looks... apocalyptic, I thought. I began trying to find something that would tell me where, or maybe even when, I was.
"There's no concept of time here," I heard a croaky and unearthly voice whisper. I jumped out of my skin and whipped around.
"Who's there?!" I yelled into the silence, my voice reverbing around the void. The voice stated again.
"There's no concept of time here."
Stay on your toes, keep an eye out for this being, my brain alerted me to the obvious.
"There's no concept of time here," it said again.
"No concept of time?" I called cautiously.
"That's what I said, is it not?"
"Yeah, multiple times," I muttered under my breath. "Who are you?"
"I have no physical form. I am merely a being in the void."
"Where am I?"
"This place? It's nowhere."
"No where?"
"That's what I said,"
I nodded slowly, still unsure. A moment or two after this, I wasn't in control of my - or rather, Ceris' - body.
"Ceris!" I heard a shout from behind me. My body turned around to locate the source of the voice out of its own will, and I felt myself smile as I caught sight of someone standing on a shore not too far away.
"Dad!" I cried and began wading towards the man.
What the heck is going on? This is Ceris' dad I guess? I thought as I continued pushing myself through the mass of liquid.
He was several metres ahead of me at this point, and I began reaching my hand out to him, when suddenly he screamed out in agony, for a masked figure had appeared behind him and impaled him through the abdomen.
"DAAAD!" I screamed, my body not in my control.
He collapsed to his knees as the masked figure pulled his spear out of his body, letting him fall to the ground, dead.
I backed off slowly as the figure lifted their hands to their face, taking the mask off, to reveal someone I knew well.
"P-Patrick?" he smiled menacingly at me as I tried to get away.
Then another voice...
"What goes around, comes around," it chanted, "What goes around, comes around..."
It was in my head and was stubborn enough to not get out.
I cried out, screaming for everything to stop. Suddenly, as I clapped my hands over my ears, the murky water promptly drained away, leaving me standing in the midst of this black void.
I looked down and my breathing began speeding up, and I began hyperventilating.
The water... was blood. It's a literal bloodbath.
The reddish-brown stains coating my legs and waist were enough to tell me that. The slow realization of this brought upon a new thought.
What exactly does this mean? Is it a warning, a sign perhaps? I thought. But I can't receive visions... what's going on?
I began feeling uneasy on my feet. Before I knew it, the ground had collapsed beneath me, and I fell into the endless blackness...
-----
I woke up in a cold sweat, breathing shakily.
"What the- ?" I muttered, recalling the hazy events that had unfurled in my dream.
I flung myself out of my bed, grabbing a tattered hair band from my bedside table and tying my loose lavender hair into a messy bun.
In those few moments, my brain had subconsciously decided on what I had to do.
I needed to find answers.
That meant I had to do the last thing I wanted to do at that time.
I had to confront Patrick.

Indeed, this chapter got pretty weird in the last part. I have no clue what I'm doing at this point, and I'm going back to school on Friday so aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Sorry for the super long wait for this chapter, but this is actually one of the longest chapters I've written in this book, if not the longest, with a total of 1381 words! So I hope you enjoyed, and I hope it was worth the wait haha

I think I will begin to wrap up this book in the next few chapters (don't screm at me pls ;-;), I actually have a fairly good idea of what I want to happen, but don't harrass me in the comments for spoilers because you're not getting any xD

ight see you in a few months lmao