Requiem for an Aberrant Chapter 7: Chapter 7- The Lost Gorge

Read chapter 7 of Requiem for an Aberrant by TheJestersGambit on NovelPedia.

Many hours passed and dawn slowly approached, basking the trees in a weak light. After a few close calls, Cole and Aegis had finally escaped. The Kingdom was now behind them and the forest stood in their path, a breath of the old world waiting just beyond the canopy. Ariana stood beneath the trees, waiting in anticipation. To Cole’s surprise, she said nothing about the wait. She just had a soft smile. One that remained on Aegis a moment longer than it did on him. There was something in her eyes that wasn’t just relief. It was the embers of hope. Cole trailed behind them, slower than he meant to be. His body walked, but part of him still stood at the edge of the Kingdom they’d crossed, wondering if it had really let them through. As they continued north, the trees began to thicken, and far ahead, where even the wind sounded hollow, the Lost Gorge waited. “Aegis… have you ever heard of a beach?” Ariana asked. He glanced over, the question pulling him out of his thoughts. “I have,” Aegis replied, already wondering what the girl was imagining this time. “Describe it to me.” Aegis felt a flicker of irritation, which he despised. He knew the question meant nothing, it carried no consequence. Still, he felt hatred being the source of someone else’s expectation, even for something as small as this. Pathetic. “Apparently,” he began. “It’s a place where the skies have fallen to Vahnor. A vast expanse where the joy gathered from above settles below. They say it’s a glimpse of the world beyond… the kind we’ve only dreamed of.” He watched her carefully, knowing his words would be enough to hold her excitement in place. It was certainly enough to hold his. Ariana slowed, her smile fading. She came to a stop, standing still as the wind moved softly through the trees around them. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Is it real?” They both stopped. The curiosity in her tone made Cole glance up. The raw, fragile, need that had desperately clutched onto straws reminded him of something, which he should have never let slip his mind in the first place. ‘Didn’t this girl slaughter her family?’ Aegis’s eyes stayed on the path ahead. “It’s said to exist somewhere in the neighbouring lands.” His expression was calm and detached but Cole caught the tremble in his fingers, like someone trying not to believe in something they’ve already fallen for. Cole walked a few steps behind, more alert. ‘That girl’s not ordinary, yet Aegis prevented her execution. Maybe she had no other choice… maybe someone pushed her to kill—’ “I haven’t seen you before.” Aegis turned to Cole. “Where are you from?” Cole shrugged, recalibrating himself. “I’ve been sent on a divine mission to guide you both to a beach.” Aegis shot him a glare but said nothing. Although he didn’t believe it, he didn’t challenge it either. “It doesn’t matter,” he muttered. “We’re nearly there.” Soon enough, the three of them reached an open field where the grass swayed gently beneath a sky still smeared with the last remnants of dawn. Whilst they crossed the field its colour began to fade. The vibrant green gave way to ashen grey and sickly brown, and at the far edge, they came to a sudden drop. Below them stretched the Lost Gorge. On each side of the valley ahead were the sickened stains of the world: The Blighted Expanse. It was a land that reeked of slow death. The ground there was cracked, mixed with a sickly hue, the scarce trees twisting as ash-coloured vines crawled over them and stone. Not even flies dared hover for long. That place wasn’t for him. Not now, or ever, hopefully. His head turned down to where his trial would truly take place. The valley’s terrain unfolded like a puzzle whispered by Gods gone mad, every path splitting into ten more, winding into tunnels and stone arches that mocked geometry. Glowing ivy writhed faintly beneath the cracks of the rocky surface, and sometimes, you could hear it: a slow, low lub-dub echoing through the walls and floor, like a creature breathing bene