The Beast That was Promised ✔

SEVEN: By The Bridge

According to his map, Emrick was nearing the town of Fovatia and the bridge the Mother had told him about. When the morning mist wasn't so thick, he could sometimes see it on the horizon, but couldn't make out whether it was occupied by Ishini forces or not. Part of him hoped that it wasn't, but there was a high chance that it was.

He'd been walking along the crystal river for days, shivering and wishing he was still with Isiah where it was warm. Travelling was slow and hard, but he couldn't stop no matter how much his body begged him to. He walked through the night, stopping only for a few hours during the day to sleep, scared that staying too long would result in him freezing to death.

He was utterly exhausted, but he couldn't afford to stay a night in Fovatia, especially if it was under Ishini control. He needed to get across the bridge as quickly as possible and meet up with Isiah. The detour had already taken far too much time as it was. Even though his legs ached and his lungs burned from the cold, he pushed himself further, walked faster until Fovatia was a constant dot on the horizon.

Even as he stumbled through the thick snow, he couldn't tell what was going on in the town, couldn't even see the bridge he was supposed to cross, if it was even still there. A few times as he walked, he caught sight of strange lumps on the crystal river, ones that didn't resemble the waves of frozen water the crystal usually looked like. He could only assume they were people or animals. There were less of them the longer he walked and he knew that as he grew closer and closer to Ziya, the crystal would eventually be safe to touch.

One day, he would have to go back to the Sanctum of Belganine to have a proper look at the falls. It was obvious that Isiah had wanted too as well, before everything changed. That was if they were both still alive by the end of it all and if they still wanted to be together. They'd barely had any time before they were separated and in his topple off the bridge, he'd lost the flower Isiah had given him.

If they lived, they would have to spend more time together. It was the only thing that brought a smile to his face as he walked through the pain and the cold, that and possibly going back to his studies when everything was over. He could focus on the crystal falls and how the pillars were formed. It was fascinating.

But first, he had to get to Fovatia and across the bridge. It seemed almost impossible, as if the town was moving backwards at the same speed Emrick was, taunting him in the same way the fear stone had back in Askarune's trial. He hadn't used the thing since the battle on the bridge, he hadn't needed to. In the empty fields of Minisia, there was no one to bother him, not since he had killed Jonin.

He couldn't exactly say that he'd killed Jonin, but surely breaking the bridge and making him fall counted for something. If he hadn't done it, all three of them would have died. It felt good, knowing that he'd been the one to end Jonin's life, even through underhand measures. He'd avenged Turian and he didn't feel any regret like part of him had expected to. If only he had never needed to avenge him, but if he'd still been alive, Emrick never would have gone with Isiah.

Parts of his journey had been worth it, meeting Isiah and starting whatever relationship they had with him, bonding with Nerin for the first time since they met, becoming such good friends with the Princess of Minisia that she trusted him with a secret that could ruin her family. He wasn't glad that Turian had died, far from it, but at least it hadn't been all bad. There were things he could smile about, even if those things were far away from him.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Fovatia getting closer and closer until its double-storey homes and stone stronghold towered over him. A few hundred metres from the town, the bridge across the river was easy to spot. It sat in the middle of the town, joining both halves together. But that wasn't the only thing he noticed. Spread out on the snowy field surrounding the large town were tents not unlike the ones he had seen in Maeve. The Ishini army was there.