Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 773: A Truth ()

The huge canopy of trees blocked out a good portion of the moonlight, but the forest was well lit up by the vast clusters of large, glowing mushrooms. They lined the side of the trees, as large as a human fist, and their glow stemmed from a slimy green secretion coating their top.

The glow cast the forest in a dim green hue, but the light was just enough to see the way through. A path stretched on through the forest, it was almost hard to make out, as it was not often trodden on and was slowly being taken back into the forest itself.

The forest was silent, eerily so. The clusters of poisonous mushroom littered through it was more than enough to ensure no life could linger here. With the exception of equally or even more poisonous reptiles.

This dreary place was infamous for the hundreds that had met their end here, after venturing into its unassuming depths

There was a rustle in the trees above. It seemed so subtle, one could mistake it for the wind, but Menarx knew better.

He had known for a while already and it was quickly getting on his nerves.

"Come out." Menarx murmured, in a tone just audible enough for his company to hear.

No response.

"Do you take me for a fool? I know you’re there." Menarx hissed. "I can practically feel you breathing down my neck."

An audible sigh and then a thud behind as he dropped to the ground from the towering trees. Menarx turned slightly, fixing a questioning look on him.

Kirgan. Just as he expected.

Kirgan grinned sheepishly, lifting a hand in a mock wave. "How long have you known?"

"You trail me halfway across the stronghold and somehow expect to be subtle enough to escape my senses?" Menarx’s reply was a question of his own.

"All along then." Kirgan murmured to himself. "Should have expected that."

"That and...green scales are hard to miss in the skies." Menarx deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest. "This is the end of the trail, Kirgan. Go home." His tone was calm, but there was unmistakably a warning undertone to it.

One he knew Kirgan would not miss. It was not necessary to be harsh with a brother of his, but at this point, Menarx didn’t really care much for any of it.

Kirgan’s usually playful expression turned serious. "You know I can’t do that."

"I do not prefer to repeat myself, Kirgan." He continued, still eerily calm.

"What do you think this is? An intervention? I’m not going anywhere without you, Narx. And if you have a problem with that, we can fight it out...we both know how that would end." Kirgan replied simply.

"With me beating you up?" Menarx asked pointedly.

"Exactly." Kirgan grinned. "But you would not be in a better shape yourself. And I’ll heal in a day or two and be right on your trail again. Why go through the trouble?"

Menarx’s brows twitched, the only visible sign of his annoyance.

"Did Veah not tell you to stop hunting me?" He asked.

He had especially made the request, selfish as it was of him. But he knew at that moment, Neveah would not deny him of anything. Not even if it hurt her.

"Oh, she did." Kirgan said.

"Since when did you disregard the words of the Queen?" Menarx’s tone turned dark now and he fully faced Kirgan. "Growing rebellious, Kirgan?"

"Don’t be dramatic." Kirgan dismissed, rolling his eyes, though he looked visibly offended. "I acknowledged My Queen, bent the knee. I live and die by her orders."

"And so when she said not to hunt you...but accompany you. Not to drag you back home against your will, but protect you in silence from the shadows no matter how far you choose to go, or for how long...." Kirgan paused, sucking in a sharp breath.

"Even if it meant sending away two more pillars in a time when she needs us most... she gave the order. And I... I did not hesitate."

"So do not dishonor me or question my loyalty to My Queen, or you won’t find me a very likable company." Kirgan finished, his gaze narrowed.

Menarx was quiet for a moment. Kirgan’s words did not necessarily surprise him. Veah had let him go, but there was hardly a chance she did so without a contingency plan.

If there was one thing Neveah would not do, it was to leave him unprotected. Even if he claimed not to need any protection.

She always knew... what he actually needed.

"I should have known she would not let me be." Menarx murmured, more to himself than Kirgan.

Kirgan responded either way. "Neveah only wants you to be safe, as we all do. Nothing more, nothing less. She made no other requests but to accompany you and aide you when you need it."

"I’ll stay out of your way. As long as you’re not planning to poison yourself to death in this dreary place." Kirgan assured. "Though if you’re looking for dragon-killing toxins, you might be at the wrong place."

Menarx frowned slightly at that. "She said to... aide me?"

"Yes. Like she knew you would be attacked..." Kirgan began, but trailed off. "Or, that you were up to something else."

Menarx heaved a quiet sigh, running a hand through his hair.

"That’s it, isn’t it?" Kirgan asked. "You’re not just flying around seeking the choicest place to kill yourself, or wallow. You’re searching... for something."

Menarx did not respond, but that was all the response Kirgan needed.

"And here you thought you were being sneaky. She has you figured out, Narx. I’d say she knows you better than we do..." Kirgan left the words hanging.

"That’s what happens when you share your soul." Menarx murmured. "Even if only for a fleeting moment...it feels like, you’ve known each other a thousand years."

"Way to make me feel like a child." Kirgan grumbled beneath his breath.

He watched Menarx quietly for a long moment, "You still... love her, don’t you?"

Menarx’s gaze hardened almost instantly. "I love Adrienne." He said sharply.

"That doesn’t answer the question." Kirgan replied calmly. "The reality of one, doesn’t take away from the other. Two truths can coexist."

"Not in my world." Menarx replied blankly. He turned to continue down the path, but stopped.

"When you find a love that completes you in such a way. The heart may know others...but it never forgets your first." Menarx admitted quietly.

"I thought I was better than most men. In the end, I am just like every other. I failed one for the other, and now... I don’t even know my truth anymore." He said.

"Your truth is, you just lost your true bond. And the love you have harboured all this while is the only reason the severing hasn’t consumed you yet..."

"And because you know that, you are wallowing in guilt. That you are handling the pain better than you expected... because you still have something to live for." Kirgan regretted the words the moment he said them.

Menarx’s expression changed. Turning into something hollow. "I should have died in that volcano."

Kirgan sighed as he watched Menarx storm off into the forest, disappearing into the darkness ahead.

"Really? You choose to be brutally honest now? Did you ever learn to read the room?" He questioned himself. Heaving a sigh, he trailed after Menarx, lingering back far enough so he did not interfere anymore than he had already.

The deeper into the forest they went, the atmosphere rapidly changed until the very air itself was thick with toxins.

"You know, any human venturing in this far would already be dead by now." Kirgan called out. "This place was warded off for a reason. What are the chances you’ll find what you seek here?"

"What did you say about letting me be?" Menarx replied through gritted teeth, not wasting even a glance on Kirgan as he pressed on.

The path had long disappeared and now, they trudged through the dense forest, no defined route in sight.

"I’m all the way over here. There’s about ten steps between us." Kirgan pointed out. "And a few trees."

Menarx groaned. "Of all the people to babysit me, she chose you?"

Kirgan gasped, clutching his chest. "That’s hurtful, brother."

"If it was anyone else, you would ignore them completely. I’m the only one that can get you to speak even when you don’t want to..."

"Well, I and Neveah. But that’s beside the point."

"Be quiet, Kirg." Menarx warned.

Kirgan was about to protest but he fell completely silent when he caught it. A trail of a shimmering silver streak hovering over a spot in the forest.

His brows furrowed and he swiftly caught up with Menarx, eyeing the silver streak cautiously. It darted about restlessly, but more than what it was, the aura it exuded...

"Is that..." Kirgan asked in dismay.

Menarx sighed heavily. "Adrienne’s final magic strand." He admitted.

"And the reason I’m halfway across the stronghold."