Page 4 of Haunted Hearts

“No, I don’t think so,” Jonah interrupts my musing with an objection. “When I first got here, I remember being super cold and now I’m not.”

“That’s because your flesh was cold. Your spirit has adjusted to the temperature here.”

“How is this possible?”

“I will answer all your questions later.” They are the same ones all the spirits have. “Right now, we have to—”

Howls and chilling shrieks break the silence of the wasteland around us. Jonah and I turn as one towards the noise. Far, far off in the distance along the horizon, I see movement. Demons. Dozens of them. They race across the ground, kicking up dirt and dust in their wake.

“I’ve never seen so many together,” I mutter to myself.

“You mean they don’t run in packs?” Jonah shuffles closer to me as we watch them sprint in the direction we’re headed. I look over at the spirit. His jaw is clenched, as are his fists, and his eyebrows are pulled together. “Whenever they came for us, there were always so many.”

I shake my head slowly, “It’s not typical behavior.”

Jonah swallows, “If this isn’t normal, then I bet their pack formation has something to do with Willow. They’re heading in the same direction as we are.”

My body stiffens, “Then we need to get there before they do.”

“Let’s go.”

* * *

When we come to a stop again, I know we’re close. The pull towards Willow is so strong that I actually stumble forward under the strength of it. Around us, the terrain has changed ever so slightly. It’s rockier here, with large boulders scattered about. Not too far off are mountains and drop off points. The terrain and isolation make this the perfect spot to commit horrific acts.

“Look!”

I turn at the excitement in Jonah’s voice and follow the direction he’s pointing in. There, not even a quarter mile away, are sevenUtikyie. Their dark armor catches the light from the magic being cast behind them. My stomach drops and my heart skips a beat as fear creeps through me. These guardians aren’t supposed to be feared by the masses, yet their very aura makes one cower in terror. Thankfully, we’ve billowed between a cluster of large stones, which blocks their view of us.

Their foreboding presence, however, is overshadowed by the tree behind them.

The mammoth tree is thick and tall, with massive gnarling branches that stretch out and upwards. The tree trunk is so thick that if theUtikyiestood shoulder to shoulder, they’d hardly span the width of it. But what’s even more impressive, and easily the most terrifying thing about the out-of-place tree, is that it is red. Blood red.

My attention is pulled away from the tree when movement by the base of it catches my eye. There, pacing back and forth, is an individual with tattered clothes and an unruly beard. From this distance, I can’t make out too many more details, but I don’t need to see more of him to know that this is Fulton. As I watch, the man stops and looks up at the tree. I’m not positive, but it appears as if he’s speaking. Is he uttering a spell? Or is he just talking to himself?

“Where’s Willow?” I ask Jonah as I search the rest of the area for any signs of her.

“She’sinthe tree.”

I look from him to the tree, and then back at Jonah. “I don’t understand.”

“The brief vision that I caught of Willow, showed her trapped inside an alcove in the middle of the tree, about one third of the way up the trunk.” There’s a short pause. “How are we going to get to her? We’ll have to distract theUtikyie, defeat a crazy ass warlock, and—”

He’s cut off by the sound of demonic shrieks in the distance. We’ve beaten the creatures here, but only by a few minutes. Soon they’ll be on us, and then Willow.

“Andfight off demons,” Jonah adds. “Did I miss anything?”

That’s one hell of a list.

“I don’t think so.”

“Ok, so we need to come up with a plan that ends with us getting Willow to safety without us dying.” Jonah nods to himself as he considers our dilemma. His tail comes up to scratch his head as he ponders our conundrum. “Wait,canwe die again?”

“Our souls can most definitely be destroyed, which is something I’d very much like tonothave happen.”

Jonah gasps before his hands cover his mouth. He stares at me for no more than a few seconds before he drops his hands and asks, “How is that possible?”

I grimace, “Because he’s using Death Magic.”

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