"Honey couldn't keep up."

"Dai!" Honey wailed. They'd made it through the village and silence and were headed up the mountain, but there was no path and Honey was still a Lekki. She couldn't keep up with Dai, especially when he was like this. From up here, Honey could see the bright bursts of magic. They were more controlled than when Dai and Lukas fought but still... impossibly damaging. Honey could smell the stench of burnt cloth and flesh from here.

Dai's tail thrashed. "Hurry up!"

"I can't!" Honey said. Her knees felt weak and her stomach was probably filled with the ashes of the village considering how nauseous she felt. "I can't make the jump!"

Dai glared. He was in a foul mood so he didn't make any cracks at Honey's height or weight. He just jumped across and then scooped her up in his arms, carrying her as if she weighed less than a feather to him. He jumped across the gap but he didn't put Honey down when they got to the other side. He just... kept running, holding Honey tightly to his chest, cloak fluttering behind them.

The cloak still had the tear in it from when Lukas stabbed Dai through. It had the little tear from when they visited the battlefield together. It still smelled faintly of the perfumes from the vagabonds. The cloak that Dai had worn through their entire journey together. The cloak that had been through so much with them.

How was it possible that the owner of that cloak was related to such a monstrous man?

"Dai," Honey said, her voice impossibly low. "Was that man... was the Dark Master telling the truth?" She wasn't even sure if Dai heard her. She tried again louder. "He was lying, right? He had to be, right?" Dai didn't respond again. Honey felt tears bite at her eyes. "Dai!" she said, as loud as she could. "Dai please!"

Dai's ear flicked. "He's only... he's only my half brother," he finally said. His pace didn't falter in the slightest. "He's only my half brother."

"Oh," Honey said. 

Because... what else was she supposed to say? What was any person supposed to say when they realized that the person they'd been traveling with for months and months was actually- he was actually-

What was Dai?

Honey halted at the question, looking up at the Mutare. He was... a Mutare. There was nothing even remotely divine about him. He was bound by the familiar curse. That wasn't something- that couldn't be something a god could do to- do to another- Honey couldn't finish the thought. Because... it simply wasn't feasible. It couldn't be.

Dai couldn't be a god. There were only twelve of them. Balance and her eleven children. One was fallen and one was lost to time but there were still only twelve gods. Honey knew all of their names and could recite the most common tales for each but... there was no Golden Eyed god. There was no Mutare god. There was no... ice god.

"Is the Balance Goddess-"

"No," Dai said. It was curt and cold and completely disgusted. "My mother was a Mutare and just as mortal as they come. You have her locket after all."

Honey swallowed hard, her hand flying to her chest. In a moment of panic, she was terrified she'd lost it before she realized Dai would never let that happen. It still hung there, a steady weight around her. Right. This wasn't a gift that the Balance Goddess would give out. This was a gift from a mortal woman.

"Are you and Lukas-"

"No," Dai said.

"Then... who is your father?"

Dai looked down at Honey. It was the look she didn't want to see. Because it was the look Dai gave to make people feel small and stupid. Honey wasn't small or stupid, even though she was beginning to feel that way the longer Dai carried her in his arms like she was some kind of damsel. 

"Moon," Honey said.

"Right."

Honey waited, the question hanging in the air. Dai knew it was there. It was the obvious question that would follow any such confession. Moon, the greatest evil the world had ever known, at least according to Lukas, had created one last wicked thing that was meant to destroy the world. One last evil.

The child of Moon. The one Lukas had been sent to kill.

"That's why you thought he'd kill you if he found out," Honey whispered.

Dai didn't say anything once again but that was enough of a confirmation. Instead, they ran the rest of the distance in complete silence. Honey wondered if Lukas had put together the same conclusion. She didn't know. Sometimes Lukas was the smartest person in the room and sometimes... well he was an idiot. And right now he was fighting with all of his strength in order to give them a chance.

The waterfall had long gone dry. The place where water had once been had now filled with ash and dust. Dai set Honey down. Her legs wobbled a bit but she managed to catch herself before she went face first into the stone. 

However, despite the arching entrance to the cave with one of the worlds greatest wonders waiting for them inside, Dai had turned his head back down the mountain where the flashes of light had become brighter. The battle was certainly picking up intensity. Honey gritted her teeth. They needed to find the Rose Book and put an end to this.

"It's been so long," Dai said, "since I've seen this sight."

"What does that mean?" Honey asked.

"Nothing," Dai said, turning his head and walking towards the entrance of the cave. "I just haven't seen anything like that since the battle between the Dark Master and Lady of Light."

Honey's eyes widened but she made a mental note to ask Dai about that later. Right now they had something more important to focus on as they headed to the exposed cave entrance. Inside, there were carvings on the walls. The work of an expert and the work of a child. Together they painted the sides of the walls in a rose garden.

Honey ran her hands along the edges of the walls as Dai tapped crystals they passed, causing the caverns to light. Honey's eyes widened as everything was painted in the pale light of the glowing rocks. Shadows didn't dance the same way they did beside fire. Instead they were long and steady and half seemed to smile.

Dai walked the paths as if he'd spent his entire life walking them. Honey didn't know if it was confidence or arrogance that pushed him forward. However, when she saw the streams of natural light pouring in from the cavern... well she couldn't help herself any more. She pushed past Dai, running forward, her heart pounding in excitement.

"Honey!" Dai called.

But it was too late. Honey entered the largest cavern, carved in a perfect dome with a hole in the roof, which allowed sunlight to spill inside. In the center of the cavern, covered in thorny vines of long dead rose bushes, cracked and tilted due to the wear of time, there was a gazebo and in the center of it... an empty pedestal.

Honey should have known then that there was something wrong. Still, she rushed forward in a burst of ignorance and hope she was wrong. She wasn't wrong but the closer she got, the more certain she was. She got closer and closer and closer still until she was standing in the gazebo, looking down at the pedestal.

Dai walked up behind her. He didn't seem alarmed, surprised, angry, happy, disappointed, anything. He just looked down at the ruins inscribed and read aloud. "Here I leave the rosen book to its fate. I hope it never falls into holy hands once more. I pray my daughter shall never have to bear its touch."

The Rose Book... it wasn't here.

They'd... failed.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

They're dead ¯\_(ツ)_/¯