Requiem for an Aberrant Chapter 21: Chapter 21- The Beginning after the End

Read chapter 21 of Requiem for an Aberrant by TheJestersGambit on NovelPedia.

Although Cole had fallen asleep beside Aegis, he was no longer there. “...Everything’s fine,” he murmured absent-mindedly, rubbing his eyes from the hazy dream. The first thing he noticed was that the warmth he had been leaning against was gone. The second was that the cave had filled with morning light which gathered across the rough stone floor. Someone stood inside that light. Cole squinted up at the figure, still half-asleep, until the outline announced itself as Ariana. Her silhouette stepped outside of the brightness behind her, and for a brief moment she looked like a shadow that had decided to stand upright to scare him. He scooted backward. “What are you doing?” Ariana blinked, her lips curling into a soft, playful laugh. “Didn’t mean to startle you.” She reached behind her back and brought an item forward into the light. The same rusted mask she had taken from him earlier in the garden. “I figured you might want this back.” Cole stared at it for a moment without moving. The remnants of sleep still slowed his thoughts, deluding the world into a position a few inches further away from him than usual. “No,” he said eventually. Ariana tilted her head. “Keep it.” He pushed himself upright, stretching his shoulders slowly until the stiffness ran itself out of his back. “I don’t need it anymore.” Cole opened his mouth again before he realised what he was about to say. “How did your parents die?” Ariana’s frozen expression made him realise what he had said. “What?” “What—Sorry—I didn’t mean—” He ran a hand through his hair, grimacing. “It’s just… at the execution they said you killed them.” His voice softened slightly. “But looking at you now… I can’t believe that was your choice, or that you actually did that, at all.” Ariana's lips pressed shut as her gaze wandered past him, toward the dark entrance of the cave, as though something inside had suddenly become much more interesting than the conversation they were having. “I don’t remember,” she said, her previous warmth nearly fully gone. “Thanks.” She turned before he could respond and began walking toward the cave entrance. The cave eventually silenced the sound of her footsteps, leaving him alone with the stale taste of things he should have said differently. After a moment he slapped both cheeks lightly with his palms. “Brilliant,” he muttered to himself. He would apologise later. Standing up, he stepped inside their temporary sanctuary. It was time to move forward. Fortunately for Cole, walking had never been a problem for him. The same couldn’t be said for everyone else. Walking, in his experience, had very little to do with the legs. Muscles would fail eventually no matter how strong they were, and endurance had always been less about the body than the mind. The real trick was learning how to keep moving even when every part of your body insisted that stopping would be easier. In that regard, Cole liked to believe he had become something of an expert. “My legs hurt…” Faith’s voice echoed through the narrow valley path ahead of him as she gripped onto Filoa’s hand, her smaller steps forcing the entire group to move slower. Filoa indulged herself with the subtle squeeze of their interlocked fingers. “We’ll rest soon,” she promised, glancing back with a minimal smile. “Just a little further.” Cole walked behind them, watching the ivy which had begun creeping through the fractures below his feet, the silver seeping through the rock forever waiting to be noticed along with the doppelgangers buried within. “Cole.” He had seen the sight so many times now that it barely surprised him anymore. Strangely enough, he was grateful for that. “Cole!” He blinked and looked up. Filoa had stopped walking and turned halfway around, her brows drawn together slightly as concern softened her face. “You zoned out again.” Cole released a breath. “I was thinking.” “About what?” He lifted his head to where Aegis and Ariana were walking side by side, their quiet conversation lost beneath the di