Fake Cultist

"You said you'd haunt me when you died," I said.

The tears had dried. My heart had calmed down. I was okay now.

As okay as I could be.

"Maybe she's still with us," Shia said. She was still with me for some reason. Alustur and Methilda had left. "Watching over us."

"Maybe. But there's a hole in my chest." I said, standing up. "Oh, it's already evening huh?"

"Yeah."

I hadn't realized. No, I didn't care.

I tried walking but I felt so light. Like a great weight had been lifted off me. The weight of love.

I was always afraid. Always afraid she'd stop loving me. She'd realize I wasn't who I was and she'd stop loving me.

Yet… why? Why does it feel so… Ah, I thought the tears had dried.

Fuck.

Why did you have to die!

Damn it! I slammed my feet. Rage boiled. But where would I put it? What would I do with it?

What can I do with it? This rage?

Nothing.

There was nothing I could do.

Mom was dead. It would have been a thousand times better if she'd stayed alive and stopped loving me. After all, she'd still be alive.

But no, she was dead.

And she never stopped loving me till the end.

No, maybe she had. Maybe she regretted the decisions maybe-

"OF course, she didn't!" I screamed. "OF course, she didn't! FUCK!"

"Sol…" Shia hugged me from behind. She didn't let go. I didn't try to get away either.

I just embraced her warmth and cried.

But no matter how much I cried, I couldn't stop. I couldn't control the emotions. I thought there was a hole in my chest. I thought things were light now.

But… were they?

If so, where was all this grief coming from?

***

"Tell me," I said.

We'd come down. Alustur and Shia were staying over at an inn. Methilda had left.

Alustur sat on a chair. I stood directly in front while Shia was confused for some reason.

"For now, process your emotions," Alustur said. "Once you're settled, I will explain everything. Then we can come up with a plan to return to the Western Continent and avenge-"

"I know that!" My voice roared. I wasn't angry at Alustur. But I really needed something or someone to lash out at. I suppose he was right. I had to process these feelings first. "I'm sorry. I can't wait."

He crossed his legs and started thinking. I sat down on the bed.

I'd stopped thinking about things. No, I couldn't stop thinking about my loss, so I was distracting myself with this. Revenge, just a distraction. No matter what I did, mother wasn't going to be coming back.

"That's why we need a plan. As we are, I may be able to stand up to one of them. But what about the other 6, who's going to handle them? We need a plan."

"Yeah. But you need to tell me what happened first so I can think about this."

He sighed. "Then I should probably start from the first."

"Please."

Alustur came to this island roughly a month ago.

He and Shia walked around and found themselves dragged into a war. They were overwhelmingly stronger than the people here and singlehandedly stopped the war. A peace treaty was proposed and soon it would be signed. This particular war had no goals, so nothing really changed.

Shia and Alustur went to almost all the major countries of this small continent and searched for Mom. Although called countries, these were more like small cities so searching was easier than they assumed. However, searching for a single person in a sea of people was always going to be 'not easy.' And they didn't have any luck. However, they kept hearing about some elusive duo who were really strong and were being chased by someone stronger. Alustur and Shia didn't really know what to make of such information but they too were on the trail and eventually ended up here. They didn't see the strong duo or the chaser but they found a note.

"Denkar wrote it himself. I know his handwriting. He wrote it to you. And I don't want to give it to you," Alustur said to my face. "At least, till now. But…." He spread it towards me. "I will if you insist. It is your right. However, if you have even an ounce of respect for me, please do not open it till we leave this place. I beg of you."

Respect?

Beg?

I never expected Alustur to say those words.

And I wasn't in the mood to honor him either. My heart kept racing and I wanted to know more. I wanted to figure things out. And deal with everything. I wanted to-

But you're just avoiding everything. You're just running away again. Just like this- I took the folded paper and carefully placed it in my breast pocket. "I won't open it till we leave. And about that, how do we leave?"

"I was hoping you would be able to help us with that. Where even where you?"

"After I fell in, I was with mermaids. It's a long story but I used a weird current and ended up in an island on this continent. Weird plant monsters, sex themed things, sirens; bad experiences. Aftewards-"

"Wait, wait, wait, what the hell!" Shia yelped. "Just what kind of crazy adventur were you having while we were running around searching for your mom?"

"I don't know. Now it all feels surreal. And as though, heaven is punishing me for having a good time." I chuckled in self-deprecation. "Anyway, afterwards I ended up in a centaur village and met Methilda. She took he here. All the time, I doubted whether I'd get to meet you or mom or Den ever again. Actually, I just assumed Mom and Den were dead. I thought that way, I'd be able to deal with any situation. I was wrong."

"Sol…" Shia patted my back.

"You can talk to the Sirens?"

"Yeah?"

"Excellent. Then we'll barter our way out," Alustur said.

"Let's do that then."