Chapter 115 - Moving On

“I know we couldn’t last long in that village,” Jasmine said in her refined tone.

Jack isn’t having a good day after all. All his expectations have been cut short. After his conversations with Azulu, he decided to honor Azulu’s request to leave the village with his wife.

“We could have stayed and fought if the Imperial Prince later showed up,” said Jack. They have been walking for an hour in search of shelter. It’s quite difficult to find shelter in the land of the dead. Even when a shelter is found, it’s impossible to sleep with both eyes closed.

Since they got to the village of the souls that has found rest, Jasmine knew they couldn’t stay there for long. She believes, that whatever happens, is for a purpose. Perhaps Jack’s quest is drawing them to their fate.

Jasmine increases her pace to catch up with Jack who was a few paces ahead of him. Drawing closer to Jack, she began to speak. “I know you love to kick the Imperial Prince’s ass after what you heard about him, but you and I know you will put the rest of the souls there in danger. We did the right thing by leaving.”

“From what Azulu said, the entire land of the dead is at the mercy of this so-called Imperial Prince.” Jack glances at Jasmine. He isn’t happy he left the place he felt safe since they got to the land of the dead. Staying back to fight the Imperial Prince was an option for him. But now they have left, he won’t get the chance to know who this Imperial Prince was.

Azulu didn’t want to see his village destroyed, so he has to ask Jack politely. Though he has not seen the Imperial Prince or known who he was, the stories he has heard about him were so terrifying that he couldn’t take his chances. He hates to see Jasmine and Jack go but he has to keep his village safe.

“We should focus on how to get back home. If the Imperial Prince has put us on a wanted list, the least we could do is to stay away from creatures and beings here and the best we could do for ourselves is to find a safe passage back home.”

Jasmine didn’t come to the land of the dead to end up dead. She didn’t want to see Jack dead either. Whoever this Imperial Prince of a person is, he must be obsessed with them to make such publication.

From the stories Azulu told Jack before convincing him to leave, he stated that the Imperial Prince possesses the power to vanquish any being or creature to hell. Hell is the last place Jasmine and Jack should be. Jack has no option but to finally give in to the persuasion of Azulu.

“How many hours do we have to walk until we find another place to stay?” Jack slackens his pace. “We can’t sleep in the open like this and it will soon be night.”

“Yea, I know that. We keep walking no matter how long it will take.”

“Did Azul not mention the Imperial Prince to you in one of his stories about the land of the dead?” Jack’s curiosity about the Imperial Prince can’t be ignored. If Jasmine has heard of certain creatures, beings, and places in the land of the dead, the Imperial Prince should be one of them. At least, it will relieve Jack of his worries and know exactly who is after them.

Jasmine squeezes a soft reply. “No, Azul didn’t. This is my first time hearing about the Imperial Prince.”

Jack’s curiosity isn’t satisfied. He is more worried than ever. Knowing that someone is after him and not knowing things about the person makes him feel uncomfortable. “This is bad,” he said.

At least with Jasmine’s detailed explanation about the Imperial Prince, he could know what to expect. Although he has other plans to go after the Imperial Prince before he comes after them first.

Jasmine noticed the sad look on Jack’s face. His face isn’t bright. He looked troubled and sad. She stopped as she pulled Jack to herself. She opened her mouth and spoke in a soft soothing voice. “We should be focusing our energy on finding a way out of this place. We don’t belong here.”

“I know that but we should as well watch our back when we have a target.” Jack puts up a fake smile.

Although the fake smile didn’t get to Jasmine. She could tell easily that the smile isn’t from his heart but he was forcing it. “You are not smiling from your heart,” she whispered. “Are you not happy we have each other here?”

“I’m glad we do have each other but we should be worried…”

“Shush…” Jasmine whispered with her index finger on her lips. She brought her lips closer to Jack’s and kissed him. “Worrying won’t help us. We should focus,” she whispered.

“I’m happy to have you as my wife,” Jack mutters as he kissed Jasmine. He kissed from memory and out of memory.

This shouldn’t be going on in an open place. This isn’t the moment to start showing love or expressing love. Jack didn’t bother with where they are. He couldn’t get his lips off Jasmine’s. If only they were home, they could have been doing more than just kissing.

Their moments were suddenly interrupted by multiple whispering that howled down to them.

“Jasmine…”

“Jasmine…”

The whispering softly calls out to Jasmine. Jack didn’t ignore it. None of them did. They quickly flicked around as the whispering continued howling closer only to make a profile of a man dressed in a flowing red robe with sea nymph ears.