Crusader King-Chapter 128: Beneath the Statue(13)

It took just a few more minutes after he had begun feeling the first sensations of the tingling feeling within his legs, a long time in comparison to the rest, but that seemed to be normal with his legs right now, until he was finally able to stand up once more and start walking ahead on now wobbly knees and legs that seemed as if they hadn't supported his weight in at least a week, causing him to fall over a few times while he was trying to get to another tree, a goal he had set for himself a few minutes ago so he could get used to walking once more, and perhaps also because he wished desperately to look at something weird on it, a small black dot that he had previously been looking at while he was trying not to think about what had just happened, or at least nor repeat the very same train of thoughts in his mind as he had done so many times that he had gotten bored of thinking itself, something that had never really happened while he had been crossing the chains but seemed to have happened as he had nothing to do right now, and neither could he do anything.

With wobbly steps, and after falling down a grand total of five times, he crossed about fifteen foot, something he was quite proud of as he had enhanced his speed from zero to something in an instance and something that made him even more happy as he had, just for a short moment when he had been back in his body after following the flow of intent, thought that he might have lost the ability to control his body, something that he did however soon realize to be false as he realized that he was still able to move his eyes, something that would be impossible without any muscular control, and even just the fact that he was able to look out of his own eyes was also quite a tell-tale sign that he was still at home within himself.

Finally he arrived at the thin tree that looked as if it was made out of wood, and as he arrived he was almost certain that the silence that covered this island grew even more heavy as he got closer to the small, black dot that almost looked as if it was moving, multiple tiny, black tentacles extending from it`s body and moving rhythmically to slowly bring it forward piece by piece, something that Cades had been quite engrossed in during the last few minutes, after the tiny dot had first appeared along the side of the bone tree, he held one arm against the tree, holding himself up so he wouldn't fall against it and touch it, partially due to his interest, partially due to all his experiences in this accursed place, and finally, he could see what the black thing truly was, something that he had already known but simply not believed, simply not thought of as possible.

It didn't really mean anything to Cades in his current situation, at least not from what he could tell, well, of course it meant SOMETHING, but he wasn't really able to unpack all of it right now, all of the happiness from seeing something that he would've previously just put off as an annoying incident, not even given the time of day in the slightest, perhaps not even the time of the minute or second it happened in, aside from a small note in his mind if there were too many of them in one place.

There, on the thin tree, about fifteen foot big and a foot wide, was crawling a singular, battered ant, one that Cades could tell was old, hungry, despaired and lost, but Cades could feel intent even from that little thing, a thing that he was soon to realize was at the third sequence, about as strong as.. well.. an ant in this realm, but still about as powerful as a normal ehetrian in terms of magical power and even intent, and from that intent Cades could feel that the ant wished to survive, wished to go from this endless island, wished to serve its queen, but at the same time he could tell something, something he had felt previously but had simply not expected from such a miniscule ant, such a, well, insect.

It might have lost a leg, only having five left over, it might be covered in what Cades could only speak of as tiny dents and scratches that must have come from a long time of venturing through this realm, perhaps even longer than he himself had been alive, after all, he could feel that, he felt it within the creatures intent, something hiding beneath the surface, far beneath an ocean of primordial desires and a raging storm of fear as a giant was now looking at it from above, from the place it had learned to fear from experience that might have been even greater than his own.

While the small creature was crawling away from the gaze of the powerful giant that was now watching it that very same giant finally collected his thoughts about what was beneath the intent of the small insect, small even for an ant, into a simple conclusion, that which he was feeling, it was the age of the ant, an age that was greater than his own, an age that was older than almost everything else he had seen before entering this accursed realm, though there was only really one thing that he now realized had been older than this insect in front of him, the living sickness on the island filled with the eternal forest, the island on which Manug had died, the sickness that he had killed.

To Cades, who was weirdly concise in his thinking after finally realising this it could only mean one thing, one thing and that was it, aside perhaps the small creature somehow being a vampire, something that was actually possible if it was at the third sequence but incredibly unlikely and difficult to achieve, even for a vampire.

One, perhaps no one, aged in this realm, not even the monsters, not even the animals, not even the people who were banished here, not even Cades, not even he, himself, would age in this accursed realm, neither would he starve, nor would he die of thirst, perhaps even breathing was optional here, he was stuck, there was so much missing to be truly alive, it was simply sad, it was just disappointing.