Inkway to Albreton

Chapter Eighteen

There was no doubt about it. The portal had gotten wider since the last time they were here. Before it was a mere crack in the air, splintering at its edges, but now it encompassed the entirety of Jasmine's plane of view, stretching even beyond her peripheral vision. Inside it was black. It wasn't a plain black though. It was a black that shifted and moved whose shadows had eyes and whose ill-intent could be felt twenty yards away.

"Whoa," said Jasmine.

"We're supposed to enter through there?" Said Prince Albert, gulping.

"It is the only way," said Enkaiein, "But here." He dipped his wing, molding his ink around them. "I will guide you safely to the other side."

"Should we not ready our weapons?" The red knight asked, unnerved.

"Weapons do little in the place beyond that rift," said Enkaiein, "Even those weapons forged from the artifacts of this realm."

The red knight knocked an arrow anyway. Jasmine almost smirked. Some fearless knight he was.

"Let us go," said Salina with conviction, and Jasmine gained the tiniest bit more respect for her.

The flight through the barrier wasn't as bad as what they emerged from the darkness to find. A giant bird nearly took all of them off of Enkaiein's back, cawing something that sounded distasteful as it flew away.

"Shit!" Jasmine said, gripping Enkaiein tighter, "That thing was like the size of you!"

Enkaiein laughed, "Is everyone still with us?"

"Y-yes," said Prince Albert, who had flattened himself and Salina down further into Enkaiein's ink. Salina made a squeaky noise that indicated her presence. The red knight grunted.

"Some ride," said the knight.

Jasmine peeled herself out of Enkaiein's neck, ink sliding down her arms. "Where are we, exactly? And don't say Olden. I mean do you know where we are?"

"We are above Fowlina's Forest," said Enkaiein, "A treacherous territory on the safest days."

"Perfect," said Jasmine, and Salina made a face that reflected hers.

"Then, where shall we go from here?" Prince Albert called over the wind, "Is there something in this forest that can cure Kurventhor or must we travel even further into this hellish place?"

"Even if there were something here, it would not be something we could merely take." Enkaiein flapped his wings. Droplets of ink dripped onto the treetops below. And then Jasmine saw how huge the trees were. What she had assumed were a cluster of trees growing into each other and up from the ground was actually one giant tree. Its branches curled up towards the black sky and its leaves glowed in a subtle but definite pattern. She saw a luminescent tendril waft out from the very edges of a colossal leaf Enkaiein passed. "We must look elsewhere. I will fly us out as swiftly as I can."

"These trees," said Salina, having noticed the same thing as Jasmine, "What are they? They look like the creatures who inhabit the Hall of Truth."

"That is because they are one and the same," said Enkaiein. "As I told you before, Veins are found in every crevice of every world. There is no escaping their presence."

"I think they're kinda cute," said Jasmine.

"Speak for yourself," said the red knight.