Angel Monarch-Chapter 601: The Expedition Continues

They waited until Aralim fully calmed down. While holding his hand, Naomi noticed the cuts caused by the mirror fragment. She bandaged them and rebound his bloody foot.

Aralim was an Evolved, albeit a weak one. While he couldn't fight and had no summonable weapon, his natural regeneration wasn't slow. It was already easier to stand and walk on his damaged foot.

The trio searched through the rest of the buried building, but the other hallways all collapsed, leaving nothing useful behind. Every other book fell apart upon touching them, not that they felt the need to read more.

It was obvious the books weren't normal. The knowledge contained within them could transfer the author's own emotions... At least that was Aralim's working hypothesis...

He still couldn't forget that word... Madness...

"What could it mean?" asked Aralim of no one in particular.

Sorath and Naomi both glanced in his direction, concerned. He was still quite pale and sickly looking. Cold sweat ran down his face, wetting his band.

"I don't know, but you should probably forget it," said Naomi with a forced smile. She moved a bit closer until Aralim and her wings touched. It sent a shiver down the young boy's spine, pushing any fearful thought out of his mind.

He hid his embarrassment by placing his bag on his lap, and pulling out the mirror. In the darkness, the fragment only showed the empty void surrounding them. However, for a singular moment, it seemed like there was something else within...

It looked like an eye... A golden-green eye...

Eventually, he shrugged, thinking it must've been his brain playing tricks on him. He put the mirror back in the bag, then the trio prepared to leave.

They used the long staircase to reach the building's highest point, then Sorath dug upward, until darkness shone inside the building.

With a bit of hesitation, they climbed out of the tunnels, then searched for some landmark. After about ten minutes, they found a tall crystalline outcropping, which Naomi and Aralim recognized.

As it turned out, they weren't far from the crossing. Luck seemed to be on their side, and fate must've guided them as they arrived at the outcropping without issues.

They jumped from one island to the next, away from the center. Rotations passed, and soon they found themselves at the edge of the Hollow Archipelago.

Their next destination was a cluster known as the Dancing Isles. Unlike other clusters, this place consisted of only smaller, few dozen or about a hundred meter long islands. They also didn't follow any obvious pattern with their movements and moved vertically as well as horizontally.

The good news was that monsters couldn't survive the constant movement, since it was easy to fall off the island's edge. Sadly, this hazard was also true to expeditioners, like the teenage group.

The outcropping at the Hollow Archipelago's edge led into darkness. However, as they approached the very end, a few floating islands appeared in their vision.

The closest was about two dozen meters away, an impossible jump given the speed at which these islands moved.

"Half a rotation and we'll be in range," said Aralim, while glancing at his Rotation Watch.

While there wasn't a constant crossing to the Dancing Isles, there was a few minute time period when the outcropping was the closest. That was the safest moment to cross, since instead of two dozen meters, the distance decreased to less than ten.

Soon, the islands became closer, until the time for crossing had arrived. First, Sorath tossed Aralim onto the other side, then his twin sister. After both made it safely, he jumped after them.

All three made it with little trouble. Without a break, they continued jumping between islands, moving towards the cluster's center.

Unlike most, the Dancing Isles had no larger center island, only the broken pieces of one. They stopped at the center to rejuvenate their energy by eating some disgusting rations, then soon continued jumping and climbing the islands.

Along the way, Aralim kept glancing at Naomi. She looked paler than usual, and sometimes she winced with specific movements. Concern was growing in his heart, but Naomi dodged all his questions, or outright changed the subject.

As they approached the cluster's edge, they stopped to configure their map and search for the next crossing. Aralim stood a few centimeters away from Naomi, gazing down at their map.

He sniffed the air in suspicion as the smell of rot hit his nose. At first he thought the wound on his foot or hand got infected, but he checked on them and they were healing nicely.

Sorath stood a few dozen meters away, out of earshot, so Aralim decided to press Naomi about her acting strange.

"What are you hiding?" he asked in a whisper.

Naomi glanced down at him, pretending to be confused. It would've worked on most, but Aralim had known her close to their entire lives. He could easily see through her miserable attempt at deceiving him.

"Nothing. Why do you ask?" she also kept her voice low, which basically confirmed the lie. She also didn't want Sorath to hear this conversation.

"You look pale and unusually tired. Your body is covered in sweat, and I've seen you wince a bunch of times during our journey through the Isles... You're hurt, I can tell!"

A brittle smile grew on Naomi's face, but for a few seconds she didn't say anything. Instead, she continued eyeing her map, while a slight tremble shook her hands.

Aralim sighed, then reached forward and grasped the young woman's hand. She glanced in his direction... her smile turning even sadder...

"Ara, will you continue this expedition... even without me?" She didn't look at him while speaking, as if afraid of seeing the answer written on his face.

"Will you try to save our people? Could you lead them out of the misery and darkness into a place full of light and joy?... Promise me, you won't give up even if I'm not here anymore!"

Aralim couldn't answer. The questions simply confused him too much, but after seeing the mix of fear and urgency on Naomi's face, he forced himself to talk.

"I'm not sure what's wrong with you, but... If that's what you want, I'll promise to do my best... Albeit, what you ask might be too much for someone weak like me..."

He glanced down at his fidgety hands as Naomi burst into laughter. However, upon noticing the hurt on Aralim's face, she stopped and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"You aren't weak. In fact, you're the strongest person I know... Someone powerful wouldn't fear to venture onto other clusters to explore... Someone stupid wouldn't recognize the dangers of these expeditions...

"You're the bravest, since even without power or foolishness you still come to help us. That fear in your heart doesn't mean you're weak. It just means you aren't an idiot and know exactly how much danger you put yourself in for the sake of your friends!"

Aralim's face burned bright red, but before he could've turned away, Naomi leaned even closer and pressed her burning hot lips on Aralim's cheek. The tiny peck lasted for a single second, during which the boy's heart entirely stopped beating.

Needless to say, he didn't question Naomi anymore. They soon left the island behind, then spent a rotation searching for the crossing.

Their next destination was a cluster known as the Hungering Fields. This cluster consisted of massive islands covered in tall black grass.

Like the Dancing Isles, the dangers here weren't monsters, but the environment. As its name suggested, the Hungering Fields could devour you whole. If one brushed against the grasses too frequently or with too much strength, the ground would literally swallow you!

With this in mind, the trio left a dozen meters between each other as they walked among the tall grass. Their steps were careful and slow, so they could avoid disturbing nature too much.

While this wasn't the most dangerous part of their expedition, it was definitely nerve-wracking. They couldn't take breaks, since the grass would get alerted, and they would become its sustenance.

They also needed to walk slowly, which made the journey through the cluster much longer. It took a few rotations, but eventually they made it to the next crossing.

Their destination was a massive island, which had only a few islands surrounding it. However, to reach this place, they needed to cross two more island clusters.

The next one after the Hungering Fields wasn't too bad. It was called Silent Cluster, and it comprised many few kilometer long islands.

This place didn't have any environmental dangers and only a single monster lived there. This humanoid beast was judged to be an Abomination, but it had one weakness... It was blind!

After crossing to the Silent Cluster, the trio became extremely silent. They moved even slower than on the Hungering Fields, since even the slightest loud noise could gain the Sightless Guardian's attention. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

They were mere Evolved, so fighting against an Abomination was out of the question.

With slow progress, they reached the Silent Cluster's edge and crossed onto the last cluster before their destination. This would be the most dangerous challenge, since both natural hazards and monster hordes roamed over the place.

This place was known as the Revolving Forest. From the outside, this place was beautiful. Larger islands orbited a massive island at the center.

Trees with blood-red foliage surrounded the islands, with whitish-black flowers growing on their branches. Fields of tall golden grass danced as a pleasant breeze blew through the area.

One would never think of such a heavenly place as dangerous, yet the trio crossed onto this cluster with heavy hearts. Fearful if they would make it through...