Branches of Life

Up close, I was able to make out more of the vaguely familiar writings etched into the edges of the windows behind the half-landing. We didn't bother stopping or trying to read it as the guys would've. Instead, we took the staircase to the right, with a rusted-over metal railing that was cool to the touch.

At the top of the stairs was another landing, leading to a hallway wider than the first one. Even covered in dust, I could tell the floor of the hallway was built of various sizes and shapes of gray stones, as well as the walls and ceiling.

"Dammit." Harmony groaned as she stared down the dark corridor, hands on her hips and lips pursed.

More unlit sconces lined the walls, and as before, all lit up when touched. The only pops of color in the monotone gray hall were the paintings hanging over each sconce. The one closest to me was a landscape. What landscape? No fucking clue. It was old as hell. With its colors faded and dull with age. The sky was now a faded yellow, with possibly a red or orange sun. Grayish purple mountains rose in the distance behind a gray, maybe formerly black, castle.

As we continued down the hall we passed more landscape paintings, all of unknown places, with muted colors.

There wasn't an ominous presence like out in the forest, but I still felt unsettled nonetheless. The cloying silence pressed all around us, and as before, it was one I felt uncomfortable breaking.

We passed several of the paintings before we came across the first door. It wasn't anything special, just made from a dark wood, with a tarnished handle. After a couple of light test touches to ensure it wasn't a trap, I turned the handle and was relieved it wasn't locked. The door stuck a little, needing a little bit of extra force to open. An obnoxiously loud groan came from the hinges as they protested the movement.

I had thought the stuffy air out in the hallway was almost too much, but it was nothing compared to the stagnant scent wafting from the dark room. I almost shut the door and walked away, and probably would've if Rowan hadn't brushed past my legs and entered the room.

Ari followed Rowan, as did the others. Heaving out a sigh and steeling myself against the smell, I followed them, making sure to leave the door wide open. No way was I risking getting locked here.

From the light in the hallway, I was able to make out a large canopy bed at the back of the room, with its heavy curtains tied back. To the left of the bed were similar curtains, talking up nearly the entire wall. I yanked them open—the material tattered and dirty as hell—and revealed two glass doors. Moonlight filtered into the room the best it could through the fogged-over glass. Revealing a mural painted on the wall to my right, depicting a man shifting into a lion and a woman shifting into an owl.

It was safe to assume we could now add summoners to the mix of traitors. The mural reminded me of the ones we had in summoner's lands. If our legends were to be believed, summoner deities had the ability to actually shift into their spirit animal. Hence the mural. I remembered being envious as a child, wishing I could have that freedom.

Turning away from the painting, I found another door on the opposite wall. Ari was the one to open the door and check out the inside. She pulled back scrunching her nose in disgust. "No." With more force than necessary, she slammed the door, wiping her hands on her jeans.

Of course that piqued our curiosity. We opened the door and found a filth-covered bathroom. Complete with rusty faucets and a formerly white sink, a cracked and disgusting toilet, and a stained clawed-foot tub. The green—at least I think it used to be green—wallpaper had peeled halfway down the walls. Every tile was chipped and so nasty, I wouldn't even dare walk across it with shoes on.

No thank you.

Harmony shut the door as quickly as Ari had. I think we all reached the same consensus; that we'd rather stay covered in kraken and werewolf blood, and piss in a cup rather than go in there.

Drifting back over to the balcony doors, I peered out the glass, trying to see outside. Other than the moon and the dark sky, I wasn't able to see much. Unlocking a door, I pulled it open. A feat that took some upper-body strength. Outside the doors was a small balcony.

The balcony was made up of gray stone, with a metallic railing. Somehow it overlooked the towering and thrashing trees. An icy breeze blew over me, bringing with it a gust of much-needed fresh air as it ruffled the curtains. My eyes drifted shut as I inhaled deeply. It would've been nice standing out here away from the musty air, had it not been for the growling and screams that sounded human.

Human lives were already so short, it was unfortunate they had these fuckwads taking away what limited time they had to live. They should just hunt each other into extinction. Do us all a favor.

Releasing a long groan, I turned away from the balcony, knowing there was nothing I could do for those humans. If only we had exiled the necromancers to some other fucked up realm, maybe things would've been different.

As soon as I shut the door, all of the overlapping screams vanished. Leaving us in a blissful silence. I hadn't realized it until now, but even when I stood above the tops of the trees, I hadn't felt that slithering awareness of being watched. I still felt the dark energy of the forest, but I didn't feel like I was in immediate danger of being attacked, like how I felt earlier. I would have to ask Wyatt if this place was warded beyond the hidden entrance. It was the only explanation.

Back in the hall, we continued along the hallway, passing several more paintings until we came across two more doors on either side. Both of them were the same as the last one and after a quick peek inside them, we confirmed they were similarly designed. And therefore not worth our time exploring.

"What in the actual fuck?" I groaned after slamming yet another bedroom door. I'd lost count of how many we passed. Each of them nearly identical and just as abandoned as the last. After the first room, we didn't even bother checking out the bathroom. I did take a peak at the murals on the walls.

Each race ended up being represented, even the necromancers. The designs were beautiful, with stunning silhouettes of shadowy figures for the necromancers. Depictions of multiple suns, each a different color, and size for the blood mages. Another one had many moons, also of multiple hues. The elements were depicted in various landscapes. A tidal wave approaching the beach, a volcano erupting, a field with a large chasm splitting the ground, and a tornado.

I found it more than a little odd that the elements represented natural disasters rather than scenic representations. No doubt it was a reflection of this place and its creator's intentions.

The part I really couldn't get past was why were there so many bedrooms? Were there really that many traitors? Was this like some sort of destination vacation point? And if that were the case, what happened to them? Why was this place abandoned?

"Should we just give up and go back?" Harmony asked, pointing ahead to where the hall forked into two hallways. "I doubt we'll find anything other than more bedrooms down that way."

"I'm getting the impression that we're just wandering through a hotel," Starling said crossing her arms.

"It's better than sitting around with our dicks in our hands," I grumbled.

Starling snorted, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she shook her head. "Then I guess the question is, do we split up and cover more ground? Or do we avoid a horror movie cliché and stick together?"

"Split up."

"Stay together," I said, speaking over Ari.

"We're the first beings to step foot in this hotel in decades, there's no one else here. And if it turns out I'm wrong, we can handle anything that comes our way. It's not like any of us will be alone," Ari said, waving between the hallways and the number of people we had. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I agree with Ari. It's not like we'll be far apart, and if for some reason any of us get into trouble, we can alert the others with our crystals." For emphasis, Harmony held out her wristband.

"We really should've put them on silent before coming here. It's lucky none of us have been called," Ari said almost to herself as she stared down at her wristband.

Turning them on silent hadn't even crossed my mind. Maybe Wyatt was right, maybe we were morons.

"Koa and I turned ours on silent before entering the rift." Starling frowned as if it had been common sense to do so, and she couldn't believe we hadn't thought to do the same.

"Well aren't you just so smart," I grumbled, crossing my arms and looking away.

Starling laughed under her breath. "Anyway, messaging using the crystals might not be possible. If we're being attacked, we might not get a chance to send off a message or make a call."

"Can you stop being the logical one? You're making the rest of us look dumb?"

"You don't need my help with that." Starling laughed, patting my shoulder as she drifted past me.

'There is a way you can't communicate without your crystals.'

I met Rowan's yellow eyes. "How?"

'You and Starling take one hall, while I will protect Artemis and Harmony in the other. If any danger arises, I will warn you and protect them as if they are my own until you arrive. If you are attacked, I will know.'

It took me a moment to gather my thoughts. To say I was taken aback that she not only assigned our teams but promised to protect my family was an understatement. A warm feeling spread throughout my chest at the knowledge of how Rowan already knew me so well, and how much my family meant to me.

I met the others' expectant and confused faces and explained Rowan's plan. None of them had any objections and agreed it was a solid plan. Look at me with a smart spirit familiar. It was probably the universe's way of balancing out my lack of thought when it came to things like, leaving my wristband on loud when going through a dangerous realm. Or maybe I was reading too much into everything.

Starling and I chose the hallway on the right and for the first few minutes, the silence between us was awkward. This wasn't the first time it was just the two of us, but the last time we were preoccupied with our search for Koa. It was possible the awkwardness, at least on my part, was due to the fact she was Koa's sister. I never really dealt with family members of the guys I was with, since most of the time it never lasted more than a couple of weeks. If even that. Despite all of the time we had spent walking in silence, both through the forest and this creepy hotel, I hadn't allowed my thoughts to wander to Koa. The few times they drifted to him, I ended up quickly shutting down those thoughts.

The first dozen rooms we came across were more bedrooms, big shocker. I was close to suggesting that we should stop checking the rooms and just follow the hallway to where it led, when Starling opened a door and said, "Found something."

Following Starling into the room, I found that it was nearly three times the size of the bedrooms. Hanging on the wall nearest to the door, I found a sconce similar to all the others, only this was silver in color. Scratch that, it was silver. "Fucking shit! Motherfucking assholes! Cunt-ass bitches!"

Luckily I had only touched the sconce with my pointer finger, but it didn't diminish the stinging pain. It made zero sense to me why any of our weaknesses would be here. Not when it seemed this place was open to all Mythics. It wasn't like it was a sorcerer hideout, and they put the other race's weakness around to ensure we wouldn't breach their space. Whoever put the silver here were dicks. Plain and simple.

As before, once one sconce was lit they all were, as well as the small chandelier made of the same tarnished silver. In the center of the room sat a couple of rigs that held cauldrons aloft, and probably lit a fire underneath them if you knew what to do. Situated around the caldrons were rows of dark wooden high-top tables.

All along the back wall was a set of curtains hanging from floor to ceiling. The material having once been red. Starling peeled back one side and revealed a window that appeared to take up the entirety of the wall.

"This reminds me of the magic workshops in the lunar courts."

I couldn't agree or disagree with her statement. Every time I was in the sorcerer/sorceress's courts, the only buildings I went into were the bars, clubs, and weapon shops.

"There's a lack of supplies here, it must've been raided before being abandoned." I nodded my head to the empty shelves lining the side walls. With the sheer amount of storage space, there was no way ingredients hadn't been stored here at one point.

My attention snagged on the writings filling the wall surrounding the door. In several areas, it was cramped together and sloppy. While others were more neat and evenly spaced out. It was similar to the writings on the white vase, and written by more than one person. The writings didn't seem as put together and decorative like it was on the vases. This wasn't for decoration like the murals.

"I bet if we translated them, they'd be spells and musings from the sorcerers and sorceresses who used this workshop," Starling murmured, brushing her fingers over the script. She tapped the crystal on her wristband and tapped the air above it, moving her wrist around as she walked along the wall.

I wanted to laugh at how crazy she looked, even though I knew what she was doing. Essentially, she was taking a video of the wall and was probably sending it to whatever sorcerer helped them before.

We didn't stay in the workshop long. While it was an interesting find and a much-needed break from the monotony of finding bedroom after bedroom, it only brought us more questions and not many answers.

A little ways down the hall we came across another door, this one on the other side. This room was even bigger than the workshop and thankfully, the sconce was free of silver. And yes, I'd been the one to touch it. I was more careful when doing so, even though it was more orange in color. After touching the sconce without getting burned, I spent more time observing the metal.

"Is it me or does this look like copper to you?"

Starling joined me by the sconce, squinting as if that would make the layers of rust vanish. "Earlier I would've said no, but after the last room I wouldn't put anything past them."

"We could always get Wyatt in here to test it out." I laughed, even though I was only half joking. It would be the easiest way to find out if this was copper—his race's weakness.

"It makes you wonder if the others were lead, gold, or iron."

I shook my head, turning away and finally taking in the room. I'd been in enough to instantly know the purpose of the room, even without any weapons lining the walls. It was a training room.

As with the last room, curtains lined the back wall. Mats covered the floor, and other than the punching bags hanging from the ceiling, that was all that was in here. It must've been raided as the workshop had been.

When I said this theory aloud, Starling verified it, showing the places that were clearly meant to house weapons. What the fuck happened here, that scared everyone enough to raid and then abandon this weird hotel?