Chapter 27: The Flood Is Coming

  The girl slowly regained her composure. The tension eased from her shoulders, and her gaze grew clearer, almost scrutinizing.

  “So you truly aren’t from here. I’ve never met anyone like you. I didn’t even know something like you existed.”

  She blinked briefly, as if trying to recall something.

  “In the heat of the battle, I couldn’t really perceive the Oracle properly. What did she say?”

  Her voice sounded strangely monotone, almost detached from the situation.

  “She said there would be a flood,” Darek replied.

  At that very moment, heavy raindrops began pelting down on them. First a few dark spots appeared on the ground, then more and more, until the sound of rain shattered the silence.

  Votaria slowly extended her hand. The drops struck her open palm, splashing in tiny bursts before gathering between her fingers.

  “A flood?”

  Her calm seemed inappropriate, almost out of place.

  “How lovely. It’s been a long time since we’ve had one.”

  Darek blinked in confusion. For a moment, he wasn’t sure he had heard her correctly. Reflexively, he ran his fingers over his ears, as if the rain had distorted his perception.

  He stared at the girl in disbelief.

  “You don’t seem worried at all. Do the prophecies never come true, or what?”

  “No. The flood will probably arrive soon. But nothing bad has ever happened as long as it was foretold by the Oracle. As long as she prophesies, everything is fine.”

  The rain intensified. Drops streamed down Darek’s face, yet he didn’t move.

  He kept staring at her. Even more bewildered than before.

  Ursula and Seraphis slowly opened their eyes, still groggy.

  Ursula lay stretched out on the ground. Seraphis had curled himself tighter in his sleep than he had realized, his slender body loosely coiled across her belly, as if he had unconsciously sought warmth there.

  For a single breath, everything remained still.

  Then they both noticed at the same time.

  Ursula jerked back. Seraphis pulled away abruptly, his body snapping gracefully off her and instantly forming a tense S-shape.

  Their eyes met.

  A brief moment of awkward closeness.

  Too familiar. Too soft.

  Ursula snorted quietly. Seraphis lifted his head slightly higher, his neck tightening as if he wanted to make it clear that it had not been comfortable at all.

  The embarrassment faded.

  Now tension filled the air.

  Ursula raised her head higher. Seraphis drew his body in slightly. Both moved at the same time, each careful not to show weakness.

  A deep growl vibrated in Ursula’s chest.

  A soft hiss answered.

  Then a swift lunge, a dodge, a brief feint. No real hit. No retreat. No yielding.

  A draw.

  Darek and Votaria called out at the same time:

  “Ursula, over here!”

  “Seraphis! It’s fine!”

  Both stopped.

  Not startled.

  Not forced.

  But consciously.

  Slowly, they withdrew to their respective masters. Yet even as they did, they never broke eye contact.

  No hatred.

  No blind aggression.

  A tie was not something creatures like them could easily accept.

  Only that silent, unspoken promise:

  Next time.

  Ursula snorted once more.

  Seraphis’ tongue flicked out briefly, testing, almost challenging.

  Neither of them had yielded.

  And neither would do so willingly.

  “Next time, if you’re going to hold me back, at least do it properly and spare me the worry. Understood? Just look at your scales. Who knows what they had to endure underneath.”

  Darek crouched down beside Seraphis and let his gaze travel carefully over the serpent’s body. His fingers moved cautiously along the scales, searching for a split, a pressure mark, anything that might reveal the force of the blow.

  But there was nothing.

  No cracks.

  No dents.

  Not even a dull discoloration.

  That can’t be right.

  Darek scratched the back of his head and slowly straightened up. He tried to make sense of it. The strike had definitely connected. He had felt the impact.

  And yet Seraphis stood there as if nothing had happened.

  Just as Darek was about to doubt himself again, another voice reached his ears.

  Ursula was getting scolded as well.

  “I told you not to use your bud. You’re still too young!”

  Darek, Iris, and Seraphis stepped closer.

  Darek raised an eyebrow as he looked the bear up and down. A faint, amused smile flickered across his face.

  “Young? Him?”

  The girl nodded seriously.

  “Yes. He’s only eight years old. Silvarian bears are considered adults at thirty-five. Only then can they use their bud safely and to its full extent.”

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  She looked over at Ursula with gentle eyes.

  “If they use it too early, the bud can take control. You have to understand, the bud is a part of the forest itself. It lives in symbiosis with the bear.”

  Her voice grew calmer, but more insistent.

  “If the bud is pushed too hard at a young age, it can spiral out of control. Either it withers away and both of them die… or it takes full control of the bear to protect itself.”

  A brief silence followed.

  “Insightful,” Darek said slowly, now noticeably more serious.

  “He’s incredibly strong. Even for a Silvarian bear.”

  She said it with pride.

  Then her gaze shifted to Seraphis.

  “How old is Seraphis, actually?”

  Darek pondered for a moment.

  “Theoretically, he’s six hundred years old. But he was only born a few days ago. He shouldn’t even be a week old yet.”

  For a heartbeat, there was silence.

  Then Votaria visibly lost her composure. Her eyes widened, her body swayed—and in the next moment, she toppled backward.

  Ursula reacted instantly and caught her before she hit the ground.

  Dazed, she blinked in his arms while the massive bear held her with surprising care. Almost gently. He pulled her closer and even lowered his head slightly over her, as if trying to shield her from the rain.

  “Well…” she murmured weakly. “Let’s go to my place first. Who knows when the flood will arrive.”

  The group set off.

  They followed Votaria, who was still comfortably being carried by Ursula. The rain grew heavier, thick drops drumming against fur, clothing, and scales as they made their way through the soaked terrain. For about twenty minutes, they marched on, accompanied by the steady roar of falling water.

  From an outside perspective, the group must have looked rather mismatched.

  A small blonde girl in the arms of a Silvarian bear.

  A floating eyeball with bat-like wings.

  A silver serpent.

  And a seemingly ordinary boy.

  Of all of them, he looked the most out of place despite his ordinary appearance.

  ???

  In the middle of the dense forest, a roughly three-meter-high entrance gaped open in the rock face of a massive mountain. It did not look like a random crack in the stone, but like a deliberate opening.

  It was as if the forest itself had shaped it.

  Exposed roots, thick as arms, spiraled around the entrance and clawed deep into stone and earth. Between them, damp moss shimmered, dark and rich, as though the place were breathing slowly and steadily.

  A powerful trunk had fused with the ground and split just before the opening into two curved forms that resembled a natural doorway. No axe had shaped it. No tool had carved it. And yet its form was too precise, too intentional to be coincidence.

  Above the entrance, intertwined branches, soil, and roots arched together into a protective dome. Raindrops ran down along them and disappeared into the weave without ever reaching the interior. From the outside, the cave almost completely blended into its surroundings. Anyone not looking carefully might have mistaken it for a shadow.

  Everything about this place felt grown.

  Not built.

  Not constructed.

  But born.

  A piece of forest that had decided to grant itself a refuge.

  “So, here we are. This is our home,” Votaria said energetically as she jumped down from Ursula’s arms. “We should be safe from the flood here.”

  The moment her feet touched the ground, she moved forward. By now the rain was falling harder, heavy drops splashing onto the forest floor and against the rock wall.

  Ursula raised her massive paw protectively above the girl, as if forming a living roof. With remarkable care, she held it just above Votaria’s head so that the last steps to the cave would not end in rain.

  For someone her size, the giant bear had to hurry, which looked almost comical. Her massive movements tried to be quick, yet still remained powerful and heavy.

  A colossal guardian attempting to appear careful and swift.

  Darek and the rest of the group followed her into the cave.

  As soon as they entered, Ursula grabbed an enormous boulder, even slightly larger than the entrance itself. With seemingly effortless strength, she pushed it in front of the opening. Stone scraped against stone, dull and heavy, until the entrance was completely sealed.

  The rock must have weighed several tons.

  Yet Ursula had moved it as if it were nothing more than an inconvenient door.

  Darek looked at the bear with admiration.

  “You really have a caring bear there. You wouldn’t expect that side of him.”

  Votaria laughed and placed her hands on her hips.

  Ursula, however, lowered her head slightly. Almost shyly, she traced the tip of her massive paw through the dusty ground, as if the praise had caught her off guard.

  A giant body.

  And an unexpectedly gentle reaction.

  An hour ago, he had seemed like the wildest beast alive… and now… Darek thought.

  From the inside, the cave was spacious, though dark.

  From above, several narrow openings close together in the ceiling allowed streaks of light to fall down, gathering in soft clusters within the chamber. Not dramatic beams, but a diffuse, gentle glow that made dust particles visible in the air and cast parts of the cave in pale gray.

  The ceiling arched high and unevenly. In some places, long vines hung down, having found their way through fine cracks in the stone. Thin roots ran like veins across the rock walls, gripping tightly and merging with the stone over time.

  The ground was surprisingly even. Not smooth, but not jagged either. Between the rocks grew low moss, in places threaded with damp earth. The air smelled of wet stone, old leaves, and a faint trace of smoke from past fires.

  Ursula exchanged a nasty, almost exaggerated glance with Seraphis. Then her gaze shifted to an extinguished fire pit near one of the light openings above. Shortly after, it returned to Seraphis.

  Seraphis returned the look just as seriously.

  In the next second, both of them silently made their way to the fire pit and began working together to bring it back to life.

  “Tell me, Votaria, how long have you been living in the forest? And why? During my fall, I saw a city not too far from here.”

  “Just call me Aria. All my friends do.”

  Her expression turned slightly shy.

  “Well… Ursula at least. I don’t really have any other friends.”

  She smiled crookedly.

  “How long we’ve lived here? Hmm… I’m not really sure. At least for as long as I can remember.”

  She laughed softly.

  In Darek’s thoughts, Iris spoke up.

  Darek, this is still a dream. Concepts like time and space behave strangely here. Don’t rely too much on your two-eyed perception. In some dreams, time runs faster. In others, slower. Sometimes even backward. It can stand still. Or dissolve entirely.

  Darek nodded almost imperceptibly.

  Right. I mustn’t forget where we are.

  Votaria noticed nothing of the mental exchange.

  “Yes, we know the city. But they won’t let us in. For some reason, they see us as a threat. All of Silvara… no, the entire world seems to be against us.”

  As she spoke, she looked at Ursula warmly, as if they needed no one but each other.

  “Everything except this forest.”

  Darek frowned.

  “Why would they do that?”

  Votaria shrugged helplessly.

  Outside, the rain intensified. The splashing was now clearly audible throughout the cave. The echo of the drops reverberated dully through the chamber.

  “And the Oracle. What’s the story there?” Darek asked.

  “She is the ruler of Silvara. The city isn’t governed by a king, but by an Oracle. I don’t know much more than that. We hear her and her prophecies from time to time. Like everyone in Silvara.”

  Her voice carried a tone of reverence.

  “Everything she says comes true. And no matter how terrible a prophecy sounds, no one has ever been harmed.”

  What do you think, Iris? What’s the core of this dream? Even my compass didn’t know…

  Iris’ gaze grew thoughtful.

  Hard to say. I would assume we should stay with Aria. Sooner or later, we’ll figure it out. But the Oracle seems to be a central element as well. It’s just strange. A dream always belongs to one person. And here, two have such a strong presence.

  “I admire her,” Aria said quietly. “She and Ursula are the only constants in my life. And honestly, I just wanted to enter the city once. Because of the Oracle. I want to meet her. See her. And thank her.”

  Her eyes shimmered.

  “Something draws me to her.”

  Darek and Iris exchanged a glance.

  “Well, I suppose we’ve found our destination,” Darek said quietly. “We need to go to the Oracle.”

  Seraphis hissed in agreement.

  So it is her dream after all. Faster than expected, Darek thought.

  BOOM.

  Suddenly, a massive crash echoed through the cave.

  A deep rumble.

  Then the sound of water slamming against stone with tremendous force.

  “You said no one has ever been harmed?” Darek asked skeptically.

  “Of course not! Otherwise, she wouldn’t be the great Oracle she is to everyone!”

  A trace of defiance colored Aria’s voice.

  “Ursula has met other Silvarian bears. Some of them live in the city and hunt with the Hunter Order of Silvara. Even the bears of the Subjugator Order worship her. They say she brought everyone a golden age.”

  Her expression softened.

  “I hope I can become like her one day.”

  I should probably avoid speaking ill of the Oracle in her presence, Darek thought.

  By now, Ursula and Seraphis had lit the fire. The cave grew warmer. Smoke rose upward and was drawn out through the openings in the ceiling, as if the cave possessed not only skylights but a natural chimney as well.

  “She really does seem extraordinary, Aria,” Darek said in a conciliatory tone.

  In the background, Ursula and Seraphis were already preparing food. Although they were working together, it felt more like a silent competition.

  Ursula placed a piece of meat into the fire.

  At the same moment, Seraphis let a bundle of wild berries slide into the pot.

  They exchanged a brief glance.

  No words.

  Yet each clearly wanted to prove that their ingredient mattered more.

  The stew began to simmer.

  And neither of them wanted to be the first to lean back.

  “What do you think, Aria? Iris, Seraphis, and I were planning to take a look at the city anyway. You know your way around here. How about you guide us? And we try to arrange a meeting with the Oracle for you?”

  Inside Darek’s mind, Iris’ voice echoed.

  Quite clever. You make it seem like you’re doing her a favor, even though it was your goal from the beginning. And you secure yourself a guide at the same time.

  It’s simply the easiest way for everyone, Darek replied inwardly, slightly embarrassed.

  A pleasant scent spread through the cave. Sweet, with a hint of wild meat. Seraphis handed Darek and Aria a bowl of wild berry stew made with boar broth.

  Aria beamed at Darek so enthusiastically that she almost spilled her bowl.

  “You would really do that for me? Darek, you’re the best! I knew it, there are still helpful and selfless people out there!”

  She hastily set the bowl aside, grabbed Ursula’s paws, and began hopping in a circle with her.

  “We’re going to see the Oracle. All thanks to Darek! Isn’t that fantastic, Ursula?”

  Iris shot Darek a mildly reproachful look.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” Darek muttered.