Hyperion POV 

I cracked my knuckles, looking at the map we'd been given to share between the 13 of us. Some people had already reserved certain biomes.

"If nobody's taking the snowy mountains, I'll claim them." Ari smiled, circling them in a pale blue marker that had been appointed to her.

I nod, looking down at the map. An area of plains biome and dark forest were all that were left. I turned to Aeron, who nodded at me, circling the plains in a dark green marker, myself circling the dark forest in the dark red pen I had. "Everyone got the whistles Gwen left for us?" I asked, a slight hitch in my voice.

It had only been a day or so since Gwen had been killed in cold blood. Emotions were still chaotic, some people feeling numb, like Caspian or Aeron, well she almost always felt numb, so this was no difference. Some people just wanted to move on, like it wasn't that big of a deal that the person who had looked after us for a week straight, making sure we didn't get killed, had just been killed in front of our eyes.

"How would it feel if it was one of us? If it was Alfie or Juno? Or Caspian or Darcy? How different would you react if it had been one of our friends? Not just our instructor. How different is it, really? Because Gwen was my friend. She may not have been yours, but she meant a lot to us, Pri, so keep your thoughts to yourself, ok?" I had said to the person who had complained about Aeron and Caspian's shared sobbing session.

"Yeah, I've got mine. Everyone else?" Ari looked around, nodding as everyone else nodded. "Alrighty! Let's head off!"

We all split off from each other, me, Caspian, and Aeron walking to the east of the central campfire. Aeron fidgeted with his whistle, seeming preoccupied.

"Hey, Aero, you alright?" I said, walking beside him and wrapping my arm around her shoulder. "You seem... off."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Fae smiled, the grin not entirely reaching his eyes.

"Is it Gwen?" I asked softly, understanding that it was rare for him to be like this. She tossed her long black ponytail over their shoulder, shrugging. "It's fine if you wanna change the subject."

Aeron raised faer whistle, looking into it and holding it up to the small chinks of sunlight that broke through the tall jungle trees. "What's this for anyway?"

Caspian, who had stayed back a sec to join in the conversation, spoke up, smiling. "They're to summon the faeries! They're little critters who're there to help you build something! You tell them exactly what to build, and they'll build it for you!"

I raised an eyebrow. "How the hell do you know?"

Caspian chuckled. "History nerd, I studied all of the old world when we were settled here, and I know everything."

"Wow." Aeron smiled, a twinkle in his eyes. Can't they just kiss? I swear I saw them kiss. They've been flirting for over a week already.

The two clueless lovebirds obviously flirted for another few minutes while I daydreamed about Darcy... Darcy...

Darcy!

Him and Tsuki had gone south-west of the circle, Tsuki settling next to Ari, and Darcy in between Tsukes and Skye.

"What's that?" Aeron said, running forwards to a medium sized stone pedestal, three more, slightly smaller ones, beside it, two on the right, one left. It looked like there was meant to be two on the left, but the one closer to the central one was missing, a patch of dead grass in the place it was probably supposed to be.

"Looks like an altar." I muttered, pushing away the vines and plants that had covered the statue on the pedestal over the millenia that humans hadn't inhabited here.

A tall stag stood there, a blue light almost radiating off him, when it was really just the reflection of his thin blue paint, cracked and chipped beyond belief.

The other three were also more animals. The closest on the right a doe, a green light emanating from her. She was sat down, head bowed in an almost motherly way.

Next to her was an eagle, standing tall and strong, wings outstretched in flight. It was held up by the tip of its tail, defying nature. It glowed red, eyes glinting powerfully. It looked as if it were about to burst into flame.

On the far left, a majestic swan sat, neck bowed away from the others, wings folded under, as if he was asleep. Yet his eyes were open, ominous blue eyes that seemed to peirce you as it glared.

"Aeor." I found myself saying as I stroked the back of the stag in the centre. I didn't know the word, but it came almost naturally.

"Atura." Aeron looked at the doe, before turning to the eagle. "And Ignius."

"And Aquaen." Caspian mumbled, eyes on the swan.

"How the fuck do we know who these are?" I asked, turning back to the other two.

"Not a clue... but I don't wanna know who that is." Aeron pointed at the space of dead grass between Aeors and Aquaens pedestals.

I hate to say it, but I agree.