Burning Soul

…

As per planned Theo along with Ember arrived at the Inn.

It was more like a tavern with beds to sleep, but for their low-key adventure, it was perfect.

Before entering he noticed the cart which Aeneas and others were traveling in! The cart was a mess with all the mud around, it looked really worked out.

He slowly opened the door of the Inn to enter and the first thing he saw was Aeneas being tied up in the corner with a piece of cloth stuffed in his mouth,

looking all guilty.

The girl at the reception was also terrified for some reason, not to mention the other people had a baffled look on their faces.

His situation clearly indicated he had angered someone!

..

“The-o-dore!”

As these words fell on his ear a wave of shiver ran through his veins.

It was a familiar voice that came from the waiting room which was separated by a wall from the reception.

Theo gulped and walked a few steps to walk into the room, only to find what was waiting for him!

He turned towards the room and closed his eyes out of fear that he’ll be scolded badly after he saw what Aeneas went through.

He could hear her footsteps approaching,

but after a few steps, everything got quiet.

He thought to himself that he had somehow averted the disaster and thus he opened his eyes to see what was going on,

Vivian was standing there with wet eyes and reddened cheeks,

To his surprise, she jumped on him and hugged him tightly while sobbing!

“Where the hell were you?

Do you even have the slightest idea how worried we were?

What happened?

What took you so long?

We were supposed to meet-up sooner!

I thought something happened to you?”

Theo was still in shock, before he could process the scenario Ember piped in,

“Ahem! What can possibly happen to him with me around!

Don’t you know who I am?”

Vivian looked at her while wiping her tears and spoke

“Oh right! It was because you were with him!

How can I not worry?

I thought she ate you or something!”

As she said so with a smug face out of Theo’s view Ember stood there shocked!

“Oh! You can say something like that huh!”

Theo could feel the mood intensifying, both Vivian and Ember’s eyes were on fire,

just as they were to explode Vivian spotted something and she almost melted from within!

‘Meow!’,

A small kitten,

snow white-colored and fluffier than a cloud with teal blue eyes just popped up on Ember’s shoulder.

Her cuteness melted Vivian from within,

She shoved Theo aside with one hand and moved forward to take a close look,

“Aww! Where did you meet this little one?”

Seeing this sudden change in her Ember didn’t know how to react!

“You mean Luna? I found her strolling around in the forest while the master was sleeping.”

…

“Sleeping?”

The latter part seemed to have ticked her off,

“What? Did you just say when your master was sleeping?”

“Umm-hmm”

Ember could only utter this as she saw Vivian’s face getting red with anger!

She turned to look at her side where Theo had almost climbed on the wall to flee!

“You!

You were sleeping?

I was worried sick for nothing!”

She grabbed his collar and pulled him close to scold.

He couldn’t defend as he knew this time around, he had messed up

“Do you have any idea how many monsters we had to slay because someone had the pleasure to sleep? And we also got lost thanks to that man goofing around!”

She said so pointing at a miserable figure in the corner!

“And here I was thinking you were having our back!

I can’t believe you got so careless!”

She added with a sad tone to which Theo looked down with guilt clearly reflecting on his face!

…

“Now now!

Let’s calm down Vivian!

He’s gotta be tired as well!

Let them come in!”

Seeing the situation, Catherine tapped Vivian’s shoulder to ease her off.

Hearing her she let Theo go and let out a sigh!

Even though she had let him go she was still angry at him and without saying anything she left the room. Everyone had a tiring day, so everyone left for the rooms, Theo was left behind along with Aeneas who was in a sorry state!

Theo went close to him with his head down and stood next to him.

He then pulled the cloth stuffed in his mouth,

“You know, I had this weird dream! In it I was standing next to someone very beautiful,

An elegant person,

maybe ten folds more powerful than even you! I was crying for some reason, there I heard my mom calling me, saying

‘If this is what you were fighting for, don’t shed any tears as what awaits on the other side is even terrifying!’

Her words shook me from my sleep. Was it just a dream or is there any meaning to this? I can’t figure it, man!”

Aeneas looked at his sad face,

“Kid sometimes, life is not so simple!

But you must not let it bother you!

As what happens tomorrow is a mystery, and what has happened in history, what we have right now is most precious, isn’t that why it’ss called the present?

We should learn to live it, don’t worry about the dream much, okay? And can you...,”

he moved in closer to ask as his whispering won’t reach him from where he stood!

“Untie me for god's sake!”

He had wet eyes and a regretful face! Looking at him Theo let out a sigh and untied him, just as he did so Aeneas jumped on him and tried to hug him in excitement.

Theo in reply dodged his jump, grabbed his arm, and pulled him down making him lose his balance and falling on the ground!

“Don’t ever do that!”

Theo left stomping his feet to his room leaving Aeneas behind.

…

After having dinner Theo was standing in one of the balconies of the Inn,

lost in some thoughts, he had quite a tiring day.

Looking at Theo standing alone Ember joined him!

“Why is he sad?”

Luna spoke to Ember in a way no one else would hear her,

“Whoa!

You can talk that way also!

Hmm, no idea!

Maybe something happened!”

She talked back in the same way.

“Master! You seem tired, why not sleep already? We can discuss the plan later! Don’t worry about that one master!”

“Yeah kid, relax we can take over it?” Aeneas walked in from behind after seeing both of them.

“It’s not that, for some reason, I can't really forget the dream! After all these years why'd my mom show up like this and what exactly was she talking about? The dream felt so real, I just can't let it go like this!”

Aeneas had heard about it earlier and he had a clue what was bothering him.

“Kid! Let’s keep that aside for now! You need to do what must be done right now! Being deluged in such dreams won’t help you move! You’ll find out the meaning of what you saw one day! For now, let’s leave it here!”

He replies looking into Theo’s eyes giving him a push he needed.

“Ah! If you say so! Let’s talk about that plan of yours!”

…

In the lobby, everyone was waiting for Aeneas as he had proposed a plan earlier which left others thinking. Now that he had brought Theo and Ember, everyone was finally together to discuss their next move, getting to the ‘Olive Tavern’!

“You sure you want to split up our forces?

We can stay together and hit back if needed, the way you talk about has a risk! If anyone is caught up, we will lose that person for good!”

Nuae who had questioned his plan earlier spoke out his mind!

“Listen! If we go to a flock, we are an easy target!

He’s no joke guys!

Don’t dare underestimate him, he’s freaking Plane Guardian!

Duvrion knows his territory way better than anyone and he’s been guarding it, for well over 60 years now, also he has two sons who excelled at almost any fight-style you can talk about.

We simply can’t overlook this fact!

His elder son is close to being a Sword-Saint, master at that!”

As Aeneas said so, Naomi who was very much accustomed to swordsmanship felt a jolt of shock!

“Wait,

doesn’t that take years of training a certain fight-style in swordsmanship?

In the last five centuries, there’s been none so far! And you want to say such a beast of a man lives in there?”

Her reply was a shock to others, especially Theo who was unknown about such things!

“Crap you always point out main details in the end!” Catherine complained as she rubbed her temple.

“Hey! That one is no prob, who do you think I am ladies?”

Aeneas had a proud expression as he pointed towards himself with a smug face.

“Idiot, carefree, freeloader, pervert!” Vivian replied with a sharp tone,

hearing which Aeneas had a stoned face!

“If we listen to you, we need to split in three main parties with air support which we lack expertise in.” She still was mad at Theo as she said thus cold-heartedly.

“Exactly!

Not the later part, just the party thing!

We need to split up and decide a meet-up point. Me and Naomi will enter through this forest region as that region has some pretty tough terrain and has a high number of guards as well, while you Nuae and Catherine will head through this scattered forest region as you’ll need agile people there and who better can be than you all there?

As we know Theo and Ember with our new member will be up in the sky having our backs…”

Saying this Aeneas turned towards Ember who was dozing off

“Right!!”

Him yelling at her gave off a blow!

“I don’t see a problem with this, as long as we are not losing our so-called ‘Air Support’!”

Vivian’s reply made Theo feel even guilty about what happened!

“Yeah, I won’t goof around this time, I promise!” He replied with conviction.

“Hmm, any questions?”

Aeneas asked to which Nuae replied with a bothered face,

“Why not tell us where we will be meeting up?

Or do you want us to keep strolling through that forest until we meet with our end?” Hearing this everyone looked at Aeneas with questioned looks.

“Oh right! My bad! I didn’t say anything about that! We will meet up at the base of this little hill here, as per what you said earlier the tavern is somewhere there right?

Theo will easily spot it, as per telling us where it is exactly….”

He had a troubled look to which Ember replied,

“I can do that!”

he opened his eyes and asked, “How?”

Everyone seemed troubled,

“What now?” Theo asked him.

“She said she can help!” He pointed towards Ember.

“Did she? We didn’t hear anything!”

“That’s my skill” He heard her voice again,

“See she said it’s her skill!

Did you not hear anything?” Aeneas asked Theo!

“Nah!

We didn’t hear anything!” Listening to this he clicked on something,

“Oh, right you can project your thoughts onto others and can read theirs as well!

Am I right”?

He didn’t utter a word but Ember picked his thought without any difficulty as she replied,

“Right, I can!” Hearing this, he continued,

“Well, that problem is solved so let’s take some rest, as for the location, Ember can tell us using her skill!”

No one understood his words until Ember used it!

“That’s quite handy!” Naomi exclaimed!

“Let’s turn in now!

We have a plan!

Let’s rest and move in the morning!” Vivian stood up saying so before leaving to rooms!

This time everyone felt it odd though no one dared to speak up and thus left for rooms as well leaving Theo and Aeneas behind.

“Don’t worry kid, give her some time, let’s go!” Saying so Aeneas gave Theo a helping hand.