Tainted roots

Throughout the night, I was haunted by nightmares of the creature’s realm. Being clawed at and bitten by a pack of werewolves. Running from wyverns in the lava region. A tsunami appeared out of nowhere in the wastelands, and I had nowhere to hide. Ugly scaly fish creatures pulled me off the ferry and dragged me down into the icy depths of the pitch-black river. Being stalked by those distorted figures I had hallucinated in the demon territory.

Each scenario ended with my death, but instead of waking up, I found myself in a new region going through the process all over again, in a seemingly never-ending cycle.

I awoke in an unfamiliar room. A few feet in front of me was a wall made of opaque teal glass. Sitting beside me was a wooden side table, containing a couple of books and a short, round stained glass lamp. Blue, pink, and orange shafts of light lit up the wall, the ceiling, and the bed. A crisp floral scent filled the space but was nowhere near as strong as the spicy and smoky scent enveloping me.

Heat engulfed my back as a firm body shifted behind me. Koa’s hand flexed against my stomach, and his arms tightened around me.

I lightly trailed my fingers over his hands, matching my breaths to his until my heart rate returned to normal. His presence grounded me in the here and now. He buried his face into the crux of my neck, placing soft kisses that had me tilting my head back to grant him more access. His low chuckle vibrated against my skin. “You’re insatiable.”

“And you aren’t?” I asked, knowing the answer when I felt his hard dick pressed against my ass.

“For you? Always.” Koa kissed my neck again. “But I don’t think Gemini would appreciate us doing everything I have planned in her bed. Not when one of those things is fucking you so hard, everyone in a half-mile radius will hear you scream my name.”

Heat pooled in my core, as my pussy throbbed and became soaked. It took everything I had not to grind against him, or turn around and have him make good on his words. Koa’s chuckle had a rough edge to it as he placed a kiss on my shoulder, and climbed out of bed.

I rolled over on the soft bed, full of equally soft orange pillows. The gray duvet slipped down to my hips as I sat up and watched Koa enter the bathroom. The sounds of the shower turning on filtered through the closed bathroom door, and I knew I needed to get out of bed before he returned fresh from the shower.

There was no way my willpower would hold.

Climbing out of the large and plush bed, I found my bag sitting on the dresser and changed into a fresh pair of clothes, consisting of shorts and a T-shirt. I’d need to stop at a clothing shop on our way out of the city. I packed for a quick visit to the Fire court, not for the shitty weather of the creature’s realm.

Once I was presentable, I opened the other door and entered the front room. A plate of muffins sat on the kitchen table, where Ari sat unwrapping one.

“Next time I get to sleep in the bed cuddling with a hunky man,” Ari griped, not taking her focus from her muffin.

“Next time bring your own and we’ll see,” I shot back, sitting next to her and grabbing a muffin. A delicious blueberry and lemon scent wafted from the still-warm baked good. “And I’ll be sure to tell Koa you think he’s hunky.”

Ari snorted and threw her wrapper at my head, which I easily caught before it smacked me in the face. “I talked to the others earlier. Ander’s team is in the gorilla territory, and Harmony’s is in the moonlight district,” Ari said, distracting me from my thoughts of throwing the wrapper back at her.

I nodded to myself, taking a bite of the muffin. “Did you tell them about—”

Ari shook her head and pressed her lips together. “No, they would insist on joining us.”

While I didn’t want to put our friends at risk, maybe it would be better to have them join us. There were several instances in the other realm that proved we were stronger together. What if we needed an elemental or a blood mage?

Reading my expression, Ari shook her head again. “Gemini thinks the reason we got attacked on the ferry so soon, was because of how many of us there were. Even though we weren’t using active magic, our constant stream of energy gives off faint signature. It’s not noticeable with a couple of Mythics, but when you have seven of them and a familiar out in the open, with nothing to hide our energy signatures… Let’s just say we’re lucky it was only one kraken that attacked us.”

“Then shouldn’t we have been attacked more?” I asked as I balled up my wrapper. At Ari’s raised eyebrow, I sighed. “I mean, yes we did get attacked a lot, but we went hours in both the forest and lava region without anything happening. Shouldn’t we have been constantly attacked?”

“With inactive magic, the creatures would have to be near enough to sense it, even with our numbers. And since the river was pitch black and hard to see into its depths, who knows how many creatures were lying in wait.

We didn’t speak again as we finished our breakfast, both of us lost in our thoughts. As much as I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about my nightmares, each as terrifying as the last. All of them had two common factors; I died and was always alone. I kept telling myself that it wouldn’t happen, that Koa wouldn’t let it happen, but memories of how the splitting earth separated us in the wastelands surfaced. Anything and everything could happen in that realm, there was no guaranteed safety. Not when we weren’t allowed to use our magic.

Koa came out of the bedroom, wearing fresh clothes, his hair still damp from the shower. “Where’s Gemini?” He asked as he chose the chair on my other side, before reaching out and dragging mine closer to his, resting his hand on my upper thigh.

“She’s getting supplies,” Ari answered, leaning back in her chair.

I pulled the plate of muffins closer to Koa, offering them to him. A smile pulled at his lips as he grabbed one. “Star and I spent several days here trying to find out what was stolen. How did you figure it out in one day?” Koa asked, unwrapping his muffin.

“Talent.”

Koa leveled a bland stare in her direction, not amused by her flippant response. I, on the other hand, tried to hide my snort with my hand. Koa’s hand squeezed my thigh in reprimand, pushing up the material of my shorts as he did so.

“How did the council not know?” I asked, my voice slightly breathless.

“Because not even Leo knew what was taken.” His fingers began tracing light circles on my upper thigh.

“Then how did he know something was stolen in the first place?”

“He heard reports of creatures breaking into houses and shops, looking for something specific. One Mythic said they saw a demon running down a walkway holding something small in his hand, telling the other demons with him that they had what they were looking for,” Ari said as she leaned her chair back on two legs, propping her feet on the table.

“He told Star and me about the reports.”

“But did he give you the names of all the Mythics who gave the reports, and tell you where you could find them?” Koa frowned, shaking his head, and Ari’s smirk grew. “I thought so.”

“He told you?” Koa didn’t even try hiding his incredulous tone. Unlike him, I wasn’t surprised, Ari’s always had a way of making you want to share your darkest secrets with her.

“He did, and no I didn’t sleep with or seduce him.”

“So, the Mythic led you here?” I asked, not wanting to risk Koa commenting.

Ari crossed one foot over the other, still balancing on the back legs of her chair. “He showed me where he saw the demon, but it was several minutes away from here. That’s why it took me so long, I had to go door to door until I found this place.”

I was about to ask what made her go to the council and figure all of this out in the first place, when I saw the front door light up in my peripheral vision. Soft chimes followed. “What the fuck?”

“It’s just alerting us that someone is coming up the stairs,” Ari said, unbothered.

A couple of seconds later, the front door swung open and Gemini entered with two large tote bags. “Good, you’re awake.” She dropped the bags on the table with a loud thump, sighing once she no longer held their weight.

“Are you visiting the creature’s realm or are you planning on moving in?” I asked once I caught sight of how much stuff was in the bags. Ranging from clothes to magic supplies.

Gemini blew a curly strand of hair, that had escaped her bun, from her face. She was one of those lucky bitches that were effortlessly beautiful. “It’s just some odds and ends. Charms to hopefully hide our inactive magic, prepared spell bombs, and clothes. I figured you probably didn’t pack for the harsh weather over there.”

She pulled out a stack of clothes, observing each stack before placing them before us. A pair of waterproof black boots sat on top of several darker-hued shirts, undergarments, and several pairs of jeans.

Excusing myself, I grabbed my clothes and headed to the bathroom, grabbing my bag on the way. Within ten minutes, I was showered, and wearing the new jeans, long-sleeved shirt, and boots. I stuffed the rest of the clothes in my bag, before braiding back my damp hair.

The others were waiting for me back in the front room, having changed into more weather-appropriate clothes. Instead of carrying her bag across her back like the rest of us, Gemini’s strap crossed her chest, allowing the bag to rest at her hip. She passed out necklaces with small metallic disks as the pendants, humming with faint energy. According to her, it should help hide our energy. My hopes weren’t too high.

As Gemini created a portal, she explained how she had warded her place so that only she could portal in and out. I didn’t know if I necessarily believed that to be true, not with these new and powerful beings coming out of the woodwork.

We entered the whirlwind of a portal, stepping out into the council building’s atrium. It was recommended that you use the fixed portals to enter the Convergence point, but if you were going to create a portal, then you should aim for the chambers. That way they could track who was coming and going in our district. Not everyone followed the rules. And they rarely ever got caught, so I didn’t know how they would be punished.

It was the same for the other courts. However, I have heard of some getting caught and being punished. The Jaguar clan had been known to hand out some brutal punishments because of it.

The atrium was empty save for a couple of male Mythic’s walking from a doorway to my right, and heading for the back hallway. They didn’t look our way as they spoke in low voices, their whispers echoing off the granite walls.

Exiting the council chambers I was nearly blinded by the early morning sun shining directly in my eyes, forcing me to squint. Turning my head to the side, I raised my hand to block out the sun. Ari led the way down the cobblestone walkway to the rift.

Some shops appeared to have been open for hours, while others were just now opening their doors. The walkways weren’t busy this morning, we only passed a couple of Mythics on our short walk between the chambers and the rift.

Sunlight gleamed off the light blue water of the gurgling fountain as it streamed between the pillars. The white stone was almost blinding in the sunlight.

“Where is the rift this time?” Koa asked, stepping into the fountain, before turning to help me. I couldn’t stop my cringe as I stepped into the cold water, hating how it soaked my jeans and entered my boots through the top.

“The Amazon rainforest.”