Chapter 150: Chapter 157: Destination Unknown.

Throughout the whole morning, I continued to channel dark sight, seeing everything in muted colors… It had never bothered me before, but somehow it was different that time. Saying goodbye to everyone, people telling me to come back safe, people telling me to stay alive, all of it happening with muted colors made it feel dark.

It was like my life was a movie, and the director had changed the filter on the camera, signaling to the audience he was about to kill off their favorite character…

Finally, everything was ready. All the gear we needed was packed, and the horses were saddled up and waiting. The only thing we were missing was my father, who was running late…

I waited next to Zu outside the main house. “How’s my face…” I leaned over, whispering to him just to double-check.

“Fine, don't worry about it. The marks have all faded so you look normal besides the black fog..”

“That’s good, but the moment I stop channeling dark sight I feel like they’ll come back…”

“That’s probably true, you have a ridiculous amount of energy… even more than my parents did when they turned… It’s honestly kind of frightening.”

“You’re saying I give off the same aura as a demon?”

Before he could respond my father finally came out, fully dressed in armor, with a long fur cloak and a greatsword and ax strapped to his back that had seen more than their fair share of fights. “Alright then, you’re both ready yes? We should hurry and get going if we want to make it there before sunset.”

He handed Mara a piece of paper. “I finished it, send this back to the Duke.”

She placed the envelope in one of her pockets, holding onto his hand. “I can still come with you…”

His eyes quickly glanced down to her leg. “That would be unwise, as you would say… We will be fine, just make sure that you heal.”

His words seemed to comfort her, if only a little. The fact was that she was geared up too. She may not have been wearing full armor, but the greatsword strapped to her back, and her change of clothes, told me as much as anything else that she was ready to jump on a horse in a heartbeat.

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My father cleared his throat as I turned to Mount Fritz.

“Siya, are you ready? Is there anything you need? A sword, armor, and bow. Change of clean clothes.” His usually gruff voice was replaced with a jounty one, like a gushing father ready to embark on a fishing trip.

“I’m fine, I took care of everything yesterday…” ‘Let's just get going… You already showed up late, we don’t need to waste any more time pretending to care…’

“Siya…” He called my name again, this time with a low grumble. “Take off your hood.”

My heart began to race. ‘Are the markings back?’ I looked over to Zu, but he calmly shook his head, telling me they weren't.

‘In that case… It would be more suspicious if I left it on. Still…’ “Can I leave it on? The sun is really bright today.”

He started to walk toward me, more aggressively. “Take it off…”

Fritz started to get antsy, sidestepping away, and making me almost lose my balance. “Easy girl…” I lifted my hands and slowly took it off, just like he asked.

“I thought I warned you about experimenting too much with your magic.” His voice grew angrier.

‘He knows… I don't know how, but he knows…’

“Who taught you dark magic!”

Fritz started to get even more anxious as I tightened my grip on the reins. She was starting to shake, still not used to having a saddle on her back, and the tense situation wasn’t helping.

My father pulled out his sword, pointing it directly at me. “People that use dark magic become corrupted! They turn into demons and become nothing more than whispers in the abys god's ear!”

‘Guess the cat’s out of the bag…’ I stared back at him down the length of his 13-foot sword. “How do you want me to fight it then? It’s already here, watching me right now, waiting… Do you have a better idea? If you did would you even bother telling me about it?”

He rubbed his eyes, and I could see the last of a wisp-like black fog disperse from them. ‘No… There's no way, right? This… Is some kind of cruel joke, but it explains everything.’ “Someone you are to lecture me… When you learned dark magic yourself. Too bad you’re so incompetent at it that your energy can barely hold the most basic spell…”

He tightened his grip on his sword thrusting it forward, bringing it even closer as Fritz stepped farther away. “I won't let my own daughter turn into a demon! I won't let you…” His voice and posture, everything was calm and serious… Deadly serious. “I won’t let you ruin this family…” His tone suddenly changed.

I could feel it, he was about to charge me with intent to kill… I froze time to steady my thoughts. ‘So… What now… Do I run? No one can catch Fritz but… Where will I go? It’s not like I haven’t thought about it before… I wouldn’t survive the trip south, even with Fritz it’s pretty dicey. No… I’ve always known where I would run to if I had the chance. To the orc tribes in the east. So long as I prove I have a strong heart, they would more than welcome me… From what Mara said their people don’t choose spouses based on appearance, so who knows… Maybe a few years from now I could even end up with a happy family… I guess just being a part of the tribe would be enough though.’

I felt my grip on time start to slip, as my willingness to hold the spell started to fail. ‘Having green children would be pretty weird but I’m already a freak… Although giving birth to something with tusks doesn’t sound fun…’

The moment time spiraled forward again Fritz reared, nearly sending me flying off, standing on her back legs like a bear ready to throw down. “Come on Fritz!” I yelled, and her body nearly instantly reacted. I could feel every muscle in her body stiffen as her front leggings started to fall toward the ground. It didn’t even matter that the gate was closed… As crazy as it may have been, I knew she could jump the castle wall.

Just before she took off though, a meatal change rang through the air sending a deafening ring into the distance and making even the wind go silent.

Mara had drawn her sword and with a single strike, dug his into the frozen ground up to the hilt. Slicing the earth in two as if it had been split by tremors.

“Mom…” I muttered, no one else daring to so much as breathe.