The Netherling Curse

Chapter Five

"Do none of you freaking people here wear shirts? This is ridiculous," Luke mumbled.

The Etherling turned and looked at Luke. He slowly approached Aravut and Luke but stopped a few yards away. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air. "Hmm, warrior. Seems as if you have a human pet. Smells great. I'm sure my brothers would love the snack."

Aravut growled and Talon tensed up, his eyes never leaving the Etherling. "He's not for sale, sorry," Talon spat out.

The Etherling pouted, widening his pitch black eyes. There was absolutely no white in them. "Hmm, but that isn't any fun. Who says I would buy him? Why wouldn't I just, oh, I don't know, take him?"

"Because you'd have to go through me first," Talon sneered.

The Etherling cocked his head to the side and sniffed the air again. "Warrior, Netherling, human, and who else is that? Not quite Netherling, but not quite an Etherling either. Definitely not human though. Lived on Earth for a while." I crept behind Talon more, laying my hands against his back. His head snapped towards me as soon as I moved. He smiled unnaturally wide, revealing rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. "Ah, I know someone who will be very pleased that you've arrived. Don't worry, you'll unite with her soon."

The Etherling sprung through the air, swiriling in a golden spiral as he flew straight towards us. Talon flung himself at the Etherling, colliding in the air. They tumbled on to the ground in a flurry of black and gold. Punches were thrown, but they were moving too fast for me to see who was getting hit. A blade was unsheathed and the two separated on to opposite sides of path. The Etherling held a heavenly looking sword and a cut drizzling blood was etched across Talon's chest.

Talon pulled a dagger out of his boot and flew back at the Etherling who met him with equal force. It sounded like two trains hitting one another. Aravut sneered and ran into the thicket of blades and blood. He tore the Etherling off of Talon and flung him into a tree. The Etherling got to his feet quickly and advanced on Aravut. Aravut swung his claws at the Etherling's face and reared back on to two legs. He roared as the Etherling swiped his stomach with the sword. All of a sudden, there was an awful crack and the Etherling stopped moving. He stood still for a moment, with his head cranked to one side, his eyes on me as his body collapsed to the floor. Talon stood there with the Etherling's head between his hands, blood seeping out of where it's body used to be. Talon dropped the head with disgust and wiped his hands off on his pants.

"Uh, I swear to Athanasia if one more damn Etherling ruins my clothes, I'm going to kill every last one of them," Talon growled.

"What clothes?" Luke grumbled.

Talon whirled on him. "You know, for a guy who just got his life saved, you could be a little more grateful and a little less sarcastic.

"Talon?" I asked.

"What?" He moaned as he looked at me.

"You haven't stopped bleeding. Let me fix that." He softened a little then, muttered something under his breath and walked towards me.

"Call your cat. Ask for some water," Talon ordered.

"Why would I-,"

"Just trust me." He winced as he leaned against the tree.

"Lunar, some water please?" I asked. He appeared out of thin air, a canteen of water hanging from his neck. I turned to Talon. "How did you know?"

"Are you really going to question me?" I didn't answer and uncapped the water as I pour it over his wound. I tore off the bottom of my dress to dab the blood and water.

"Aravut, you okay?" I called over my shoulder.

"Yeah, I heal quickly." He cleared his throat. I looked over at him and there wasn't even a single scratch on him. I raised and eyebrow. I shouldn't be surprised. I felt Talon wince again and I looked up at him sheepishly.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Don't be it's fine," he smiled weakly. "Look, from now on, if I say quiet, both of you," he glared at Luke, "be quiet. We were lucky there was only one of them. Those guys fight like ten Netherlings. And you," he looked down at me, "if I'm hiding you, there's a damn good reason as to why I'm hiding you. Don't move. This place isn't all mystery and beauty. It's cruel and deadly."

I just nodded and kept dabbing at the cut on Talon's chest. He grabbed my hand and smile. "Don't be so hard on yourself, squirt."

"But I didn't even say anything!"

He laughed, "You didn't have to. You used to do that pouting thing when you were little."

I frowned at him and looked at his cut. "Hey! It's healing all by itself!" His cut was shrinking by the second. I started to move away but he grabbed my hand and held it to his chest.

"Sorry, luv. Can't blame me for wanting some alone time with you." He chuckled.

"Alone time? But Aravut and Luke are-," I looked around the path, finding no one. "Not here?"

Talon smiled. "Aravut is preoccupying Luke with a lesson in how to find edible food here. We've been traveling for almost six hours."

"We have? It only feels like it's been an hour?"

"As Aravut was explaining earlier, time travels differently here. And even though Athanasia doesn't set, it will still be dark soon, so we'll need to make a camp. I want to at least make it into the Nether before we do."

"Talon?"

"Mmhmm?"

"What does it mean if your eyes are glowing red?"

"Are they?" He asked and quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, they are."

He chuckled lightly and closed his eyes for a moment. He cleared his throat and then opened them up again. "Better?" He asked with sea green eyes.

"Yeah, they're normal now. What does it mean?" I freed my hand from his and untucked my hair from behind my ear.

"Netherlings' eyes glow as I'm sure you've noticed. It's our way of communicating without speaking. Have you ever heard that the eyes are the window to the soul? Well, our eyes let our emotions show through with colors."

"Is that why the Etherling's eyes were black? Because it has no soul?" I asked.

Talon nodded. "You catch on quick. Yeah, there is no soul, there is no color. Each color reflects a different emotion."

"So what's blue and red?"

He quirked an eyebrow. "Why those two?"

"Because they're the two that your eyes are the most."

He laughed lightly. "Yeah, I suppose they would. "Blue is anger, red is compassion."

"Oh," I mumbled. I blushed a little and looked down at the ground.

He chuckled again and tilted my chin up. "Don't be afraid to ask any questions you have. I understand that this is all still very new to you. But we really do need to get back to the others if we want to make it to the Nether before dark."

"Okay, just one more for now." I said.

"Alright, ask while we walk?" He grabbed my arm and started leading me back to where the others were.

"What did the Etherling mean when he said I'm not quite Netherling but not Etherling either?"

Talon snapped his head towards me, his eyes flashing between orange and blue. "That's not a question I'm willing to answer. And it isn't my question to answer. Ask it again when we get to the palace."

I sighed and followed him as we stumbled upon Aravut, Luke, and Lunar. Luke turned and smiled at me. "Look, Sera! Aravut and I got some dinner!" I couldn't help laughing a little at his excitement. It was kind of cute and charming.

Talon was smiling a little too, surprisingly. "Mmmm fruffle berries! My favorite!" He grabbed a handful of these bumpy purple berries out of Luke's sack and popped them into his mouth. "Sera, try some."

He handed me the bag and I held some up, looking at them in the light. It was almost iridescent and looked kinda slimy. "Trust me, Sera," Talon egged on. He grabbed another handful and shoveled them into his mouth, mumbling happily to himself.

I chuckled a little and popped the berry into my mouth. As soon as I did, my mouth exploded with flavor. Stars crossed in front of my eyes as I closed them, enjoying the taste. It tasted like the best candy apple I had ever had. "Oh my God! These are delicious!"

"I know," Talon mumbled around a mouthful of food. I laughed at him and chucked a couple berries at him. He looked totally shocked with his mouth hanging open. "Hey! Don't waste the berries!"

That only made me laugh harder and I threw a couple at Luke who caught them in his mouth. He closed his eyes and moaned a little. "I would live off of these if I could."

"Netherlings do live off of these if they are hunting. They're a great source of calories when they're needed. But you can't eat too much at once. You can get a bit...drugged if you consume too much."

Luke stopped moving and slowly spat out the berries in his mouth, causing Talon and I to explode into laughter. "How many did you eat, Luke?"

"I don't know," he looked around sheepishly and fumbled with his pants.

"Luke?" Aravut demanded.

"I don't know! Like...fifty?"

"Oh, Athanasia," Aravut muttered and rolled his eyes.

Talon and I looked at each other for a moment before laughing harder. Luke started patting his chest an looked around frantically. "How long do I have left, Simba?" He asked Aravut. I started laughing harder, holding on to my stomach.

"Simba?" Aravut asked.

"A famous creature that looks a little like you back on earth," I explained. Aravut rolled his eyes.

"About ten minutes before you start experiencing all the symptoms if I had to guess," Aravut answered Luke.

"Oh no! Oh no!" Luke started crying. "But I can't die! I'm only.... I'm only.... really young! Oh no!" He started crying more and I couldn't help but laugh at him. "Sera! I can't die! I'm falling for Sera! Don't you understand that, Simba? I need to save Sera!"

Talon and I stopped laughing and I couldn't stop staring at Luke. The guy who had punch poured over me at my senior prom. The guy who had led me on, played me for a fool. The guy who was the star football player. The one that dated the head cheerleader. HE was falling for ME? Talon cleared his throat and I could tell that any buzz he was feeling had vanished, just like mine.

"Come on. We got to keep moving," Talon said.

Luke layed down at Aravut's paws. "I love you, ugly Simba." Then he yawned and fell asleep. Aravut groaned.

"Let him ride on your back?" Talon asked.

"If I have to. He reeks." Aravut sneered.

"Sorry, pal," Talon laughed. "He does reek."

Aravut stood up and bit the neck of Luke's shirt. With one swift movement, he swung Luke around so he was draped across his back. He almost looked dead. Talon stood up and held down a hand to help me up. After pulling me to my feet, Talon smiled weakly at me before he started walking towards the lighter side of the forest. It took me a second to notice he was still holding my hand, not that I minded.

As we got closer to the edge f the forest, I couldn't help but compare the surrounding trees to ones you'd find in a comic book. They faded from almost black and white and kept on getting brighter, more vibrant. It was truly breathtaking, just like the Ether side of mid-country. We were right on the brink of the edge of the forest. We took one last step and suddenly, I couldn't see anything except this piercing white light. I was blinded. I fumbled around, trying to find someone, anyone. I had lost Talon's hand and felt completely alone.

"Talon!"