Traveler - The Price (Book 3)
Chapter 13

Maybe one day we will replace that place where dreams meet the reality. Then, all we have ever imagined will come to life, and we would be able to touch the mind’s creation. But what happens when we are forced to face the ugliest nightmare we ever had?

The sun was burning, and we were walking on the hot streets. It was a particular smell in the air, and we could feel the heat through our shoes. This heat was filling up my soul, and a rage, which I didn’t know where it came from, was trying to get out of me, even if I was struggling to keep it inside. I had the need to give a vent to my anger, then and there, without knowing why.

Suddenly, the sun was covered by some black clouds. Then, they got together into a bigger cloud, from which started bursting forth lightning. We began running, keeping away from them how we could.

Deby stopped and started a spell, but that storm was way too powerful for her. She couldn’t stop the lightning, and I realized we weren’t dealing with some weird natural phenomena, but with the ouroboros, which had caught up with us. Deby didn’t give up on her spell, but she started to tell another one, stronger this time, trying to get rid of that storm. This time it was a better version, and it was hard for her to keep up, but she was doing her best. Then I saw it. It had human form, and it was coming to us. Deby wasn’t moving, so we had to fight.

“I told you not to ruin my plans!” he screams visibly irritated.

His eyes had a white and scary color, and he was coming closer, bringing wind, rain, and storms.

“I will fix everything you broke!” he shouts.

With a wave of his hand, he threw everyone aside, just like some puppets. After the look on his face, I realized it was supposed to throw me too, but somehow it didn’t work. I felt that rage again, and I ran at him out of control. I put him down, and the clouds were gone for a minute. Deby managed to take over and to make them vanish.

He grabbed me and hit me on the ground with all his strength, but I didn’t feel a thing, just anger. I felt we were fighting as equals, even if it was a supernatural force. I took him by his neck, and I begin to squeeze it. I saw on his face something that looked like fear if I didn’t know what I was fighting.

“What are you?” he asks in a quiet voice.

“Someone who fights for life and for what she wants!” I said with rage.

I was squeezing so hard, and I felt the time stopped. I saw my reflection in a window and my eyes were orange. That terrified me, but I couldn’t let go of that clutch. I felt something breaking into my hands, and in the next second, I was standing over a black block of ashes. The sun came out again and, when I looked into the window, nothing was wrong with me anymore.

I heard steps running behind me, and I felt hands on me.

“How did you do it?” asks Deby.

“How the hell did you do that?” asks Ivy too.

“Are you ok?” I hear Aaron.

It was all like an echo. Their voices seemed to be far away.

“Jo! Do you hear me?” yells Aaron.

Then I saw a group of nymphs, standing a few meters away. They weren’t moving, but I had a feeling they had seen what had happened. I stood up, and I saw them running away. They were afraid of me.

“Jo? What’s happening?” says Aaron.

“They ran away from you!” said Andy.

I turned my head slowly, and I stared at them.

“I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

The anger was gone, but I had managed to turn the ouroboros into ashes by myself. It was evident something was wrong.

“You have just killed the protector of the destiny! What does that mean?” asks Ivy.

“I think we can make our destiny from now on” I said.

“As if until now we haven’t done so…” grumbles Ivy.

“We don’t know what will happen next, but the thing is that the nymphs ran away when you looked at them. Aura will replace out soon what has happened here” says Deby.

“I’m waiting for her!” I said convinced. “I have leverage. She thinks I don’t remember how she looks like because she took away that night from my memories, but it sounds like I have a lot of advantages since I got back from the Underworld. I remember so well that night and her face.”

“This is an advantage. She must have a plan. But she has the map too” says Andy.

“And we have Ivy who knows the way. We will get there before she does.”

I was determined to set things right, even if there was something wrong with me. I knew I had to pay the price and I was ready for the consequences. Nothing was guarding the destiny anymore, and that thing made me more confident. I could have changed it if that was what I wanted. I felt that with all my soul.

“I think it’s time to move” I said.

I was dirty, and I was shaking, but I didn’t change much. After a few minutes of walking, I saw a little waterfall on the side of the road, and I rushed there to clean. I took off my shoes, which were white someday, and I put my feet into the cold water.

“What happened there with you?” I hear Aaron behind me.

“I don’t know for sure… I have an idea, but…”

“I’m listening” he says.

How was I supposed to tell him that because I brought him back, I had to deal with some consequences? I looked him in the eyes, and I realized I couldn’t lie to him ever again. I couldn’t hide things anymore because they were going to come out eventually.

“Aaron, I will tell you what I think, but I don’t want you to feel guilty or to judge me.”

“I have never judged you, but the guilt part? What is about?”

“When I brought you back from the Underworld, Joana said there was a price for me to pay. There will be consequences. She didn’t know much about it because she never had the courage to do it.”

He was staring at me with his warm look, and I couldn’t figure what he was thinking of because he wasn’t saying anything.

“Say something!” I said.

“I was damn sure it was a part that you kept from me. I don’t blame you because I would have done the same if I was in your posture. But I can’t ignore how guilty I would feel if something will happen to you because you have brought me back.”

“We will beat it, whatever it takes! We always do!” I said and took his hands.

I think he liked my optimism because he took me in his arms and he kissed me.

“I don’t know if you realized it, but we are stronger together. We know what the other would do in every situation, and this will help us. Like then when you chose not to move forward, but to wait for me.”

“I just had that weird feeling I would see you again…” he whispers.

“What the hell is going on with us?” I asked more for me.

“I don’t know, but I do know one thing. With you, I can walk even through Hell, and now that I am aware it exists, I’m sure we can accomplish whatever is given to us. From all the madness, you’re the biggest one, but I don’t care where I end up as long as I’m with you.”

I smiled, but I felt a lot of madness in that smile. The same in his. I felt something went crazy, but I just knew I could do a lot more. Was it all a toxic insanity what we were doing for each other? I had broken the destiny’s balance for my satisfaction, but I wasn’t feeling guilty at all. Was that a bad thing? I had thought some time ago what I would do if things got crazy between us, and now I saw where we were. I didn’t know if it was a problem, but Ivy seemed to treat it that way. Even though, I would have gone back in the Underworld a thousand more times to bring Aaron back, and not only there.

Sometimes, two people need to be separated so they can understand how much they need to replace each other again. So, I arrived at a conclusion. If we were forever young, what about that saying that true love always had a happy ending? Now I had seen the Underworld, which I knew about other world’s existence, I would have changed a bit that saying and I would have said that true love doesn’t have an ending, especially under those circumstances.