Branches of Life

We didn't end up pushing the bodies into the water, despite my protests at having two dead bodies—both without heads—laying around. I knew why we didn't want to risk it. They could attract other creatures to the boat. I didn't have to like it, but I understood. While I gave the demons a wide berth, Wyatt bent down and examined them both. Going as far as peeling back the collar of their shirts and peering at the left side of their chest.

Koa had been the one to notice reddened and blistered skin on my wrist and had been more than a little reluctant to move out of the way for Harmony. She rubbed some sort of cream on my wrist that both numbed and cooled my stinging skin.

"Looks pretty close in my opinion." Wyatt was now comparing his sketch to one of the markings on the demon.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I asked as Harmony finished wrapping my wrist.

Wyatt released the collar of the demon's shirt and joined us by the benches. Rowan walked a perimeter around the ferry since Wyatt had been right about us not being safe here. Although there was no forewarning if the creatures came through the rift, as the demons had done. I'd have to consider what the demons were up to in the human realm later. Figure out if they were terrorizing humans or if it had something to do with us and the attack a couple of days ago.

"Many years after coming to this realm, I witnessed an unsanctioned interrogation of a werewolf. He was tortured while in human form, and that was when I first noticed a tattoo on the left side of his chest. After that interaction, whenever I came across another creature, I would check for the tattoo and found it in the same spot each time. No matter what species they were, they had it. These demons are no exception."

Obviously, I had no clue what he was talking about. Every time I faced a creature in the past, I'd been too busy trying to stay alive to notice anything else. "That's interesting and all, but why is it even relevant right now?"

Instead of answering, Wyatt held up his sketchbook. I didn't know what I'd been expecting, but it wasn't this. The drawing was a fucking tree, with ten bare branches, each connected by a jagged circle—if you could call it that—drawn around it.

"What's so special about this tree?" Koa asked.

"For years, I thought nothing of it. I pushed it from my mind until today. When I realized that I had been looking at it wrong. Before, I looked at it I saw a tree, same as you, but I should've been looking at it as a river." Wyatt traced the trunk and then the branches of the tree—river. His finger followed one of the branches to the jagged circle. "Right here is where the river branches lead. From what I saw, cliffs surround the perimeter of the river."

He tapped each one of the spaces between the river branches. "These are the different regions. There are eleven of them. I only saw six of them. Keep in mind that the last time I was here, was over a hundred years ago, and I wasn't here long. Now, assuming the river runs this way." He traced the trunk, running from the bottom to the top, before circling the right side of the river branches.

"The forest next to us is somewhere on this side, as well as the region of volcanos, and some grassy area." He then moved his finger from the right side to the left. "Over here, we have waterfalls. I can't be sure what the region next to it was; it was pure darkness. After that, we have a region filled with ice and snow."

While having a general knowledge of what the realm was shaped like and knowing how many regions there were was helpful, I couldn't help but be disappointed by how vague and general it was. We only knew a little over half of the regions, but not where they were or what creatures actually lived there. Hell, I didn't even know what the fucking plan was. Or if there was even a plan in the first place. Was this plan like the one to find Wyatt's house?

"Fuck!" Koa's growl yanked me out of my thoughts, nearly making me leap off the bench in the process. He was staring down at the glowing crystal of his wristband, his entire body rigid.

"What's happened?" Starling's voice remained level and calm.

"More creatures have gotten through our rift." Koa powered off his wristband, pushing to his feet and yanking his hands through his hair as he stormed over to the railing. If this had been a normal ferry and not one protected by magic, we most likely would've heard the railing crack in half, with the way his hands gripped the wood.

"Vampires?" Ander asked, resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward.

"No, gorgons."

Gorgons? Fuck. Those were some bitches I never wanted to face. A small selfish part of me was glad I hadn't been around for the attack. Being turned to stone wasn't something I wanted to experience.

"How many?" Harmony's voice took on a higher register.

"Over sixty." Koa's shoulders rose and fell with heavy breaths as he tried to slow his breathing. His anger was palpable, so much so that I wondered if the others could also feel it as I did. "Twenty were turned to stone. Three of them weren't found in time."

Chances were I didn't know the three dead, but I still felt a sense of sorrow for those who died in that way. Especially since there was a cure if administered in time. If turned to stone, you had a short window of time until you couldn't be saved, and your soul left your body.

"The demons helped them through," Wyatt said, nodding to himself. He inclined his head in the direction of where the dead demons lay. "I would bet everything I have, that it was those two. They reek of black magic. More than normal."

"What are they hoping to gain by coming into our realm and attacking us? Is it just to create chaos or is there an actual plan?" Ander's question was quiet like he didn't even realize he'd spoken it aloud.

"Before the first attack, I would've said it was impossible for the creatures to work together and coordinate an attack. Now? I have no clue what's possible." Ari's feet were propped up on the back of the bench in front of her, legs bouncing. "Do you think it's the necromancers controlling them?"

"Why can't we just say they're extinct, and stick with that?" I couldn't disagree with Harmony's question. It would be in all of our best interests if the necromancers were either extinct or had learned to mind their own business.

Unfortunately, just because we wish for something, doesn't mean it'll come true. The creatures haven't attempted attacking our realm before, and they most certainly haven't been working together or in big groups. Not since the necromancers controlled them all those years ago. Something's changed recently. Something has them working together when they haven't before. If it wasn't a necromancer, maybe it was the Mythic who helped create the rift to this realm. I brought this up to the others.

"It's likely, they'd have current knowledge of our realm, and could even witness the damage done." Wyatt rubbed his chin as his eyes scanned around. "But we can't rule out the necromancers. I've always thought it naive to assume they were extinct. It may not seem like it, but the necromancers were smart. Smart enough to sit back and wait. Let everyone underestimate them or think they're dead."

"Now that we have this new information, what are our plans for finding the information we seek?" Ander's cool eyes flicked between the siblings and then landed on Wyatt.

"Our best chance at possibly finding information here, is to find the demon's region. They were the common factor in both attacks and are more likely privy to the overall plan," Wyatt said climbing to his feet.

"And how do we do that? With your extensive and detailed map?" I snorted at Koa's sarcastic question.

Ari gave a short laugh, tipping her head back to rest against the top of the bench. “Like your plan at finding Wyatt was so much better."

"Do you know if the demons live in any of the regions you saw?" Harmony asked.

"They didn't. I believe I will be able to sense which one is theirs. Demon magic is easy for me to spot and I—"

Wyatt's words were cut off when the ferry rocked hard to the side. Harmony, Ari, and I slid off the bench and were thrown to the ground in a pile. One of their damn elbows jabbed me in the ribs.

Water sloshed over the sides of the boat as it rocked in the water. Wasn't this damn ferry supposed to be warded? Shouldn't that include rocking around in the waves of the river? Three fleshy pink tentacles came flying over the sides, blinding swatting the air, and flopping on deck. Shit. It was a fucking kraken.

We stayed low, narrowly avoiding being sideswiped by a tentacle as we drew our weapons. Ari fired off several arrows, while Rowan lunged and bit into a thrashing tentacle, holding it still for me to chop off the barbed tip. A booming and gargled roar shook the ferry, nearly knocking me off my feet. Black blood flung everywhere as the injured tentacle retreated into the water. Only for another one to take its place.

The rocking of the boat mixed with the soaked deck, made it near impossible to stay on my feet as I slid and stumbled around. I was so focused on not falling over, I didn't see or hear the tentacle shooting toward me until a second before it slammed into my left side. The sharp barbs that ran along the bottom of the tentacle, buried themselves in my stomach, bringing a sharp surge of pain.

I whirled my blade and sliced through the appendage, and like before, the limb retreated. With a hiss, I grabbed the amputated tentacle that was still making me a pincushion and yanked the barbs free. Blood flowed from my stomach, but not enough to make me worry or hold my attention long. I had other things to focus on. "This is pointless, all we're doing is pissing it off!"

Without magic, I honestly had no clue how we would kill this thing. Unless one of us got in the water and stabbed the damn thing in the head, which seemed like a recipe for disaster, the best we could hope for was preventing it from killing us. But to what extent could we keep this up? Until we somehow managed to find the demon's region? And that was assuming, this whole scene didn't bring more creatures to us. The only thing we had going for us, was the fact that it couldn't capsize the ferry.

"She's right, we need to end this before more come to its aid!" Ander grunted when a tentacle drew blood from his leg. He whirled around, stabbing down into the tentacle with his sword, pinning it to the deck. The tentacle tried to retreat, but it was stuck. For now. All Ander accomplished was pissing it. In retaliation, five more crawled up the side of the ferry.

Fucking hell.

Wyatt's swears were barely heard over the sloshing water and thrashing limbs. "Start casting," Wyatt ordered Ander, and without complaint or questions, Ander sprung into action. He cast using a mixture of his blood and the kraken's. "Once it's dead, I'll por—" Wyatt's words cut off when he dove out of the way a tentacle slamming into the deck, where he previously stood. "I'll portal us out here, be ready to run."

As the blood and sigils sank into the pinned tentacle, Wyatt added his magic to the mix. A ball of blue and purple energy slammed into the same place the sigils were applied, and the kraken exploded in a gush of hot black blood and fleshy chunks. I didn't need to look to know my clothes were soaked. I could feel the blood dripping down my face. "It better not be in my hair."

Once the portal whirled to life, we rushed through one at a time. As soon as my feet touched the grass, I instantly wanted to return to the blood-soaked ferry. Even if more creatures were likely to attack.

The grass beneath our feet was a faded brownish green, crunching under my feet the way grass shouldn't. Twisted and warped trees stood before us, the leafless black branches unnaturally sharp. Behind us, the ferry still trashed about on the wild river, with the scenery of the mountain ranges behind it.

My stomach sank like a rock in water. We landed in the forest region. The one that gave me the creeps and had an unsettling energy oozing from it, more intense now that we stood beside it.

"Did you purposely choose this region?" Ander asked, not turning his attention away from the trees.

"No, I didn't do this on purpose." Confusion shrouded Wyatt's expression as he glanced between the forest and the ferry. "I don't know if it was due to the rift being nearby, or the realm itself, but somehow my portal rebounded."

Well wasn't that just reassuring. The supposed all-knowing sorcerer had no clue what went wrong. Great.

"None of that matters right now. We need to get far away from here, now." Without another word, Wyatt headed toward the forest, disappearing into the coiling shadows. Every single one of my instincts told me to go anywhere but that creepy-ass forest, with its twisted shadows and energy. While I agreed with every one of my instincts, it wasn't like I had many options. It was either this or take my chances with the water, and since our guide was in the forest, that's the path I chose.