Chapter 187: Maere appears

It took us just a few more hours after the storytelling concluded for the group to split apart. Yet, rather than just escaping from the wingless humans incapable of keeping up with me and Teria due to their lack of ability to fly, I actually talked things through with Longinus.

As much as their presence could be helpful in the lands of the winged tribe, there was no denying that it would arouse suspicion and wariness as well. Just like Teria on my side resulted in an entire unit of exceptional mercenaries getting dispatched from the city to intercept her, I could tell that the same reaction would be given if Longinus' party were to appear before the walls of the winged-tribe city.

"So we will travel all the way to the south. Once we reach the southernmost kingdom, we will ask where the last huge battle took place and then shoot our way right through it." Recounting every step of the plan that I came up with over the last few hours, Arsha raised her eyes on me with a clear doubt written all over her face and aura. "And we are to believe that you guys will be somewhere on our path, right?"

Hearing the obvious protest of the girl, I put a wry smile on my face. Sadly, that was all I could do without going into a lengthy explanation of some dubious nature as there was absolutely no damned way I would reveal the real reason why I was in such a hurry.

And that reason was pretty simple. With the limited time of the time-freeze, there was only so much time that I could spend in this world and by extension, on attempts at fulfilling my current mission. While there was no real problem if something were to stop me for a minute or two longer than the period of a time freeze, given how I had no clue what Jef was planning back on earth, I dared not leave Ayda all alone to handle it.

"Yes, that's what I want you guys to believe. But don't expect us to meet you somewhere on that path." Shaking my head, I finally could put a smile on my face. "Either we will manage to bring that core to where it belongs so that my mission will be fulfilled and there will be no reason for me to participate in this jolly anymore…" Taking a moment to swallow my saliva, I could see how Arsha's eyes spread open with annoyance. "Otherwise, you can be damn sure that the rumors of our exploits will be heard loud and clear all over the place."

This was one of the sentences that I always wanted to say. "You will find us. The whole Ukraine will shake with the news of our actions." Even when I spoke it for the first time in my life within a proper context, I could clearly see the face of the actor who said it in the modern serialization of one of the national epic pieces of literature of my homeland. And now, thanks to being in a damn pretty similar situation as the legendary prince and Axe for the Cossacks I knew about from the past.

"Well, that leaves us with nothing else to discuss. Marius… I hope you didn't just do us all in. Just by letting you go from the city we already turned ourselves into fugitives." Finally speaking something contrary to how silent he was over the course of the entire planning phase, Longinus looked at me with a grave look on his face.

"And why would I do it?" Responding to his seriousness with a curious look of my own, I asked. "I always said that I just need to bring the sacred core to where it belongs. Since it clearly didn't belong on that altar, now I'm bringing it to where Teria believes it should go." Shaking my shoulders, I smiled. "It's that simple. You guys are following us not because we need your help at all, but because, for some reason, you guys believe it will be hard to get past the borde…" Before I could finish my sentence, a strange shiver traveled down my spine.

At first, it was just a fleeting feeling. Nothing greater than just a bad premonition. Yet, with each passing second, I felt as if some kind of great evil was closing on me in an attempt to crush my soul to bits. In less than just a single minute, I could barely stand on my feet. Or rather, for only a minute I managed to keep myself in a straight position. Crushed by this unknown force, I could feel my knees giving up before I powerlessly fell to my knees.

"Marius? What's wrong?" Raising my head with an utmost effort, I could see how I appeared to be the only one affected by the approaching evil. It was as if they couldn't feel…

This thought finally allowed me to understand. While we were all humans, winged or wingless, there was one kind of experience that only I could go through in this entire group. The one thing that set me apart in terms of perception from others.

My witchcraft ability to feel emotions at way greater intensity than an average human from outside of this magic craft.

And right now, given how it was a while since I met anyone openly flaunting the aura of his emotions to left and right, I didn't hold back with my aura reading, turning it into something that was almost automatic! And now, with the overwhelming negativity born from something in the north overflowing my senses, I had to cut my reception off in order to regain control over my own senses.

"Marius! Marius! What's going on?!" Startled by my sudden loss of power, Teria was frantically shaking my arms. As my consciousness once again took possession of my own body I noticed how cold my forehead was from all the sweat trickling down my skin. Raising my hands to my eyes, I could see how they shook in something that I didn't feel for a long while already.

In a terror.

"We need to run. And as fast as we fucking can." There was no urgency in my voice as if I was just calmly stating facts. And surprisingly enough, it appeared as this complete apathy with which I spoke the warning made everyone aware of just how serious I was.

"Marius, what the hell is going on?!" Only Teria remained in place, still shaking my shoulders. Yet, as she pressed me to recall what I just experienced, my body shook in terror once again, threatening to cut my consciousness off once again.

"I don't know. Something bad. Something extremely bad is coming here." Shaking my head I attempted to get rid of the terror that this moment of feeling that thing induced into my soul. Right now, I was nearly as shaken as I was in the initial days of my journey to attempt learning something that would help me save my mother from her lethal injuries.

"Can't you speak any clearer?!" Tripping even quicker than usual, Teria looked as if she wanted to just slap me in the face to…

Slap.

She not only looked like that, but she actually slapped my face. Yet, rather than getting angry at her, a feeling that appeared only for the shortest of the moments, I actually felt a wave of gratitude. With my own emotions finally taking over my rationale, I was ready to be back into action.

"Everyone, drop everything that's not necessary and scatter. Runaway for two days and nights straight, then attempt to return to our earlier plan." Standing up from the wet ground, I wiped all the tears and snot from my face. "I have no idea what's coming our way, but I believe it's better not to…"

In order to remain sane, I had no other choice but to block my witch-given perceptiveness to the emotions. As such, I deprived myself of my own volition of the only means to gauge just how far that hellish something was. That's why, when I saw a little boy and a little girl holding hands as they walked from between the forest, I didn't felt alarmed at all. Only when I actually noticed that neither of them had any face, eyes, mouth, or nose, my heart started to beat faster.

Everyone realized that something was wrong when I unusually cut my sentence short. And as they traced with their eyes where my own pupils were directed at, it seemed as if everything just froze.

The boy extended his hand towards me. No, it wasn't a hand. As soon as the sleeve of his tattered outfit revealed what was underneath, my heart skipped once again. Teria to my side hissed like an alarmed cat before drawing her sword in a single, slow yet fluid motion.

"A maere…" Arsha whispered as her short staff nearly fell out of her suddenly tightened hand.