Page 411 of Flirting with Darkness

My cheeks burn, chin dipping to my chest.

I’d been so wrong for so long. That it wasn’t my fault, that I was doing exactly what I’d been taught, doesn’t lessen the blow.

And I rutted with…

I sit there, hands shaking, unable to complete the thought, as the world I thought I understood falls out from under me again.

I flex my shoulders and shake out my arms, trying to get these feelings to move off of me.

I don’t regret being with him. Not really. But for so long I had him sorted in a box marked evil.

That’s what felt wrong.

Succumbing to evil, to temptation. Even though I hadn’t. Not really.

It’s still plenty to wade through.

And I think maybe I will keep having these…episodes. These moments of shattering, until I fill in the gaps. Fill in doctrine with whatever rings true for me.

I stand, shaking out my whole body to get out of that space. I can’t afford to dwell there. Because maybe it wasn’t all for nothing. Maybe I hadn’t wasted my whole life. Maybe I ended up right here, right now, to help that woman get out of here.

Without another thought, I’m sprinting past the ward and back to the trail. Back the way we came.

The rune glows on my chest, and I don’t know if it makes me run any faster, but I can definitely see a lot better.

What I thought were firebugs in the trees are actually glowing flowers. And what I took for shadowy trees and shrubbery are home to all manner of small, flying creatures.

I don’t stop to explore further, but the little pixies seem unbothered by my passing scrutiny.

Father prepared me well to be the next Keeper, so my stamina is unmatched among everyone in our village. I could run like this for an age and not need to stop.

But I don’t have water or ale or anything to refresh myself. So, I cut my pace by half and continue on the trail.

In short order, I’m running along a familiar stream. I slow my pace, studying the landscape.

I had made no turns off the path. Hadn’t strayed from the route we’d taken and yet…

This is the stream we bathed in.

How can this be?

We were here what had to be hours ago, perhaps a full day, and yet somehow I ran here in only a few minutes?

I pause, stopping to make sure this is in fact the same stream.

Our footprints on the rocky, muddy shore are proof enough. I stumble backward, landing hard on my backside, and the rune on my chest glows brighter.

How?

The king’s words play back for me.It’s dark because the realm knows its king is back.

If this realm had command over the very sun, did it then follow that it could manipulate space? Reality? These woods?

I get my feet under myself once more and spend no more time on that shore. I sprint back the way I came as fast as I can, trying to outrun the memory of those awful clacking sounds.

And in seconds, far faster than I should be, I’m back at the tree stump. Empty ward glittering around it.

What in the gods is happening?

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