Chapter 287 A Strange Feeling
"I don't know... but I'm sure there is something wrong."
"That's a baseless assumption, Northern."
"I know..."
Raven looked at him for a couple of moments, then curved a corner of her lips and scoffed.
Northern frowned.
"What is it?"
"I'm quite surprised. I had no doubts that you were carried away by the beauty of this place. It seemed to me that you wouldn't even mind spending eternity here."
Northern grimaced,
"Are you insane? Why would anyone want to spend eternity in a rift?"
"Have you ever felt like you don't belong anywhere, and then you get to somewhere and feel like you belong?"
Northern stared blankly at her for a couple of seconds, then looked away.
A feeling like that was very relatable in his past life. No matter how much he tried, he was just an outcast struggling to fit in.
And when his supposed girlfriend came his way, that was the one time he truly felt alive and found a home in society; her family became his.
But in the end, it was all lies.
Northern's expression became intensely dark.
Regardless of what was going on in his mind, Raven continued.
"The continent of Stelia is it for me. Sometimes, I don't want to leave... and when I saw your eyes in this rift... it's almost the same as mine when I first arrived here."
Northern breathed.
"I'm glad you said 'almost.'" He paused and continued, "While I do find this place exciting, I'm not dense, and my vision is not obscured. In the end, this is a reality I do not fit into. It's one meant to breed destruction and nothing more."
Raven smiled a little bit.
"Scary."
"I've had to learn the hard way... but I can't lie, I do find this to be a very comfortable environment. I can fight without pretending and without restraints."
Raven nodded and smiled once again.
A couple of silent seconds passed, then her voice resounded in the dimly lit room again.
"So, what do we do now? Should we follow Terence's orders?"
Northern was in thought for a while, his eyes fixed on the ground.
Then he retorted,
"I think we need to talk to Ulzred."
Raven nodded in consent.
"That's sensible, and it would be completely easy for you to do."
But Northern shook his head.
"No, not under those circumstances."
"Why?"
He explained:
"All these days, he has not been able to say anything, at least not in clear terms. I'm guessing there should be a reason for it. Maybe he's being watched, and he doesn't want to get caught."
Raven gently touched her hair and tucked it behind her ear.
"Strange..." She belatedly looked at Northern, who looked like he had entered a trance.
"Is something else wrong?"
"No... not at all," Northern responded, vigorously shaking his head. He seemed to be shaking away many thoughts with that gesture.
"Have you actually thought... maybe Ulzred asking you to teach him was because he needed help?"
Northern frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I don't think there's a better environment to communicate his need for help than the one that both of you have now. What if he's just being smart about it?"
"So you're saying maybe we just need to wait for him?"
"Or at the very least, ask him in a way that others wouldn't suspect, even if they are keeping both of you under intense surveillance."
Northern's eyes lowered for a few seconds, then he raised them back to look at her and commented:
"You are correct. I think I'll use writing... now that I think about it. He is always mostly interested in learning how to write since I suggested it. But the time he got to spend with me suddenly reduced after Krullgath observed I was teaching him writing. He asked once what it was, and I told him it's a form of communication that was incredibly hard to learn."
Northern paused.
"What?" Raven inquired, seeing his sudden silence.
"Well... I didn't think much about it then, but now that I try to remember, I think he might have given me a little condescending gaze."
Raven leaned back and sighed.
"So, what do we do?"
Northern was silent for a while.
"How about I speed up things with Ulzred? I'll try to get what is wrong on his part, and you, maybe you should try finding how the colors in the sky are supposed to lead us to Sura."
Raven nodded.
"Sensible."
"Yeah... because in your dream, Terence made it seem like Sura is alive, and these creatures talk about him like some myth..."
"Do you think he's one of them, an Origin or a Tyrant?"
Northern shook his head a little bit and smiled with the corner of his lips.
"No Raven, let's not forget that this is a tier IV rift. The guardian is going to be a Maelstrom rank. I don't think any Origin or Tyrant would be a Maelstrom rank. I think they'd probably be much higher, and who knows, they might follow the drifters' ranks. But what I'm trying to say is that the rift tier would be much higher if we were facing a Tyrant or an Origin."
Raven nodded gently.
"That makes sense... you are making a lot of sense. I find that baffling."
"And I find your statement just now offensive."
Raven chuckled. It was a sweeping moment, but her face glowed with a dark, enigmatic allure that could captivate even the coldest heart.
Northern felt a beat or two skipped within his chest and quickly looked away.
"I'm just worried about the poor kid, that's all."
Her smile widened sincerely.
"Would you be concerned if Ulzred was a human kid?"
Northern frowned in defiance.
"Of course I would be. What? You think I'm some maniac that favors monsters over humans?"
Raven looked into his eyes.
"Anyone would think so. But perhaps everyone was wrong. I was wrong? Would you be willing to help me understand who you are?"
Northern felt like a wind of butterflies blew past him; his stomach churned uncomfortably too.
His cheeks reddened, and his chest was beginning to burn. Something was wrong.
He didn't like this at all.