Alex moved along with Cross, joining up with Devonte and following after Khan. The hounds were easily found, their bodies somewhat smoky and greyish, but what was oh so obvious was the fact that they had very piercing human blue eyes. Just as they noticed Alex and his friends looking at them.The hounds were silent, which came as a surprise to Alex, he at least expected them to talk, but all they did was turn around and start walking towards the sea. At first Alex thought they would be king the miraculous and walking on water, but instead a sort of smoky path came into being in front of them, Alex shrugged his shoulders and followed, dragging Cross along who admittedly couldn"t see what Alex, Devonte and Khan could.
Ghost dogs walking on the sea was spooky enough, but the thing they didn"t notice was that the very moment the noticed Bran and Sceólang, their presence seemed to have vanished.
And normally that would have been to their advantage, if not for the fact that they were noticed by none other than the guide who had led the tourists here. And the moment that happened, and inkling suspicion was already planted in her mind, there was no way she wouldn"t think that their disappearance wasn"t connected to the hounds Bran and Sceólang.
But even if she had a suspicion, there was nothing she could do as they had already vanished from her sight. As for Alex and the rest, The seemed to have vanished from the very face of the earth itself as even Louis couldn"t find them. And he was left very stumped and very confused.
For Alex and co though, the moment they steps into the smoky path in front of them, the sea it self seemed to have disappeared and they suddenly found themselves walking on a meadow. The person who this change affected the most was actually Cross, but never the less she pushed through with them as they went forward. She held on to Alex as she noticed that the world was all too different, the meadow itself didn"t seem to be real as it seemed like it wanted to fade out of focus, and then back into it.
There were series sounds to be heard, the feeling of the dead stretching forth their hands to take the essence of the living. There were ghosts flitting about, Wraiths and spirits of the dark sort. But yet they didn"t come close as they kept a respectable distance from Alex, if it was before they wouldn"t care, but now he was significantly stronger, string enough that he could end most spirits with just a gaze.
The meadow seemed endless, but eventually they came to a stop as they noticed a camp, and a little ways ahead there was a cave. The camp was lively, Alex could see real flesh and blood men and women, moving around and carrying out their daily routines, this was exactly what an army would look like if they were preparing for war. This army seemed to be numbered at about. Thousand men and women, as far as armies go, they were a lot.
No one said anything to them as the hounds kept going forwards, leading Alex and the others forward until finally they got to the cave. However the moment they got to the entrance of the cave, under the gaze of every other member of the army, which had chosen to pay attention to the intruders in their camp, the hounds Bran and Sceólang walked past Alex and began to growl at Devonte and the others, and then they spoke.
"From here on out, only the spirit king is allowed to move ahead! The rest of you can just wait."
There was no way in h.e.l.l anyone of them would agree to a suggestion like that, no matter how legendary of a hero this Finn McCool might be, and how strong an army his Fianna might seem, the rest of them couldn"t deny the fact that they were having weird feelings about this entire thing, and leaving Alex on his own was the very last thing they would want to do. But Alex showed them his hands as he said to them.
"Don"t worry, you guys stay here and stay sharp, I"ll be safe."
It was not enough to rea.s.sure them, but he was their leader, and everyone here was willing to trust him. Also no one wanted to be the person to disobey, what they had was a weird feeling, and they hadn"t talked to each other to know they all had the same off putting feelings, if they did, they would have tried harder to stop Alex from going on ahead into the cave.
Alex moved forwards following after the hounds as they walked into the cave, at first glance it was extremely huge and Alex almost couldn"t see the end of it. It seemed more like a cavern than a cave, but it was dark and even with his extremely sharp eyes, Alex couldn"t see the boundaries of the cave. But apart twenty meters forward, there was a small two meter in diameter pond of sparkling clear water, and there was a man Lying down dead beside the pool.
Alex gave a cursory look at Bran and Sceólang and then moved forwards.
Apart from. The small pond, the dead man, and the hounds, Alex couldn"t see anything else.. for one he knew that he was in the cave when he first walked in, but the deeper he went, the more difficult it became and he was so sure whether he was in a cave or somewhere else, he doubts he was in an illusion, there was no spirit, not unless it was stronger than him, that could put him in an illusion, and that"s because so far he"s not seen such a spirit.
Alex kept on walking into finally he was by the side of the man, and the pond. There was a fish with extremely vibrant colors in the pond, it glowed extremely brightly and seemed to have an aura of sorts that dragged Alex ever closer to it. He also noticed that it was an Aura the dead man shared, and so he shifted his focus. Apart from the lack of breathing, and the extremely pale skin and blue lips, it just seemed as if he was sleeping rather than dead.
He was handsome, blond hair, a full beard, sharp eyebrows and a well defined angled jawline. A pretty boy or in this case a pretty man as he looked to be somewhere around his kid thirties to early forties. This was the kind of man girls of all age and sizes would not hesitate to drop their panties for because of how masculine and attractive he was.
But in the end he was nothing compared to the second prince, and even more nothing compared to Michael. So Alex didn"t dwell too long on the handsomeness of a dead man as he focused on something else. Apart from the sure of that salmon that he could feel coming from the man, he could also feel spirit energy within, him, but it seemed to be locked, or frozen in time, unable to go forward or backwards, it as just still. Then Alex turned to Hounds and asked them.
"Well what am I supposed to do here now, he"s already dead and seems to be in a sort of suspended animation to keep him alive, I have no experience with time and I can"t bring him back from the dead. So what would you have me do; Bran? Sceólang?"
The hounds were silent as they looked at each other for a bit, before turning to look at Alex, then they bowed their heads in a sort of Melancholic way and then looked up at him before speaking up with a sigh. It was at this moment that Alex felt that something was wrong, but he couldn"t exactly tell what it was.
"We have no idea who you are spirit king, but you seem to have a good heart. Please forgive us, but everything we do, we do for our master and based on his orders. We will try our best to complete any lingering sentiments and tasks you have left in this world, now please...die!"
"Yes! As my brother have said! Please die so that our master can live!"
And then in a display of speed that would match the Morgana, both hounds surged forwards and took a ma.s.sive chunk out of Alex"s neck, ripping open his throat in the process as his blood and energy spewed out of his body in rivulets and bathed the very still, and very dead form of Fionn Mac c.u.mhail. Alex had his eyes opened wide as he got up, he was frantically trying to staunch the blood flow from his neck, but the blood was going everywhere.
It got into the pond, and a healthy amount fell over the dead body of Finn McCool, and eventually Alex found himself on his knees, a pool of his own blood rapidly spreading around him, and most of it slowly trickling into the pond and onto the salmon. And then as he closed his eyes to fall into the Embrace not death, the eyes of Finn McCool also sprung open.