The first three days passed without any issues, Henry attempted to converse with Lumora like old times, but she had lost her will to talk. It was understandable, the fact that Henry had kept his attitude until now was a miracle, one he owed to the good memories of his friends. 'I can't blame her for not being more like me. She's her own person.' He shrugged.
Staying within the small area of the camp was, mind numbing, Henry didn't like staying in one place for so long. His nomadic tendencies were not fit for keeping peace within a camp like Lumora's. Each day passing making him itch to explore more and more.
His routine was simple, wake up. Search the very nearby ruins for food or water, which there normally was none of. Then he'd find something to kill the time with until he could sleep again. It wasn't productive, but he hadn't ever been productive.
He had made a habit of something else, something just to make the time pass by faster.
It was training. Not anything flashy like Lumora had done with her stone training dummies. But just some small stretches, and exercise's here and there. Mainly within his room as to not distract Lumora. He would start with trying to hold himself by the rocks on his ceiling for as long as possible. It was similar enough to pull ups and would help him in the future if he ever needed to climb, then he would stretch, though never formally learning he could guess enough from what felt right and what felt wrong. Add in some cardio here and there, and that was Henry's own workout routine. He felt like an athlete just doing it, but he was not. Henry was just a kid trapped inside a dangerous city, with one of his only friends. And in the back of his mind, he knew that the way out of this was not going to be an easy escape.
Pushing those thoughts away, he pulled his animal skin up and checked the back of it. On it was all the notes he had on the door that appeared in Rakh'el.
From what he knew it only appeared in random locations, and what it led to was random as well, but it was able to enter places that were normally impossible to find, such as the castle.
Henry looked down, thinking about the queen. It was odd, he had known her for such a short amount of time, yet her impact on him was vast. He had never been cared for by someone to the point where they would give their lives to aid him in his future. He shuttered thinking about the two dead eyes floating above them, Lumora must have thought they were stars, but Henry knew the truth.
***
Wandering his room, Henry thought of the hidden corner that he had found when first arriving at the camp. It was not odd in itself to have a secret room. Yet, the idea that she had it in desolate city surprised him. Henry had always been quite open with his camps.
'I'll have to ask her about it.'
Henry peeked over to the room Lumora was in, she had been training for the past three hours. It felt like she was nervous, as if she had something to say to him, but she just couldn't.
He wouldn't pry, they had both been through enough. Henry was at the verge of losing control before seeing the fire. From the camp. If he had been alone any longer… 'No.'
Something that was on his mind was if Lumora, had come across anything that could help him with finding an escape. She was quiet, not like she used to be, and she was reserved with whatever she said to him, as if there were things she was hiding from him. It was to be expected, three months of pure isolation, would do that to you, but Henry always expected Lumora to be the one with better mental fortitude in the group. Henry lost his train of thought and started wondering about Marlon.
Marlon was a powerful person, not just because of his family, he was intelligent, Henry knew that. The damage he had caused to Arden In their first fight was not insignificant it was calculated, Marlon knew where to hit, and how to hit him. Without causing too much damage on top of that.
'I'm sure he's doing alright.'
The two would have to catch up when they escaped. 'Marlon won't die, I know it.' He was confident in his friend, and he hoped Marlon was confident in him too.
Henry got back to his thought about Lumora, and stepped into the room she was staying. He wasn't trying to spy on her or anything, but if she was writing short stories on one animal hide. What was to stop her from writing more on others.
Making sure she was occupied, Henry snuck down and checked her bed, pulling out the two animal skins that she used as bedding, before sneaking back to his room.
'Sorry Lumora, I'll give them back.'
Slowly unwrapping the skins, there were multiple things written on them, the first one he had was labeled. "Days Since" and it seemed to be a diary of sorts, with each day she had been there. Henry begun reading it.
***
"It's been around five days since I arrived at the ruins. From all of my research, I have come to the conclusion that this is Rakh'el, the city of doors. Unknown to any other chosen, and considered the most deadly. No one has ever come back from here alive.
From the five days I've been here, I've realized that Rakh'el is a desolate wasteland, besides hearing things from paranoia, I don't believe there are any monsters here. Which means I can't complete the trial. If there are truly no monsters in Rakh'el, I will have to find a different method of escape."
Henry skimmed down until he saw something that caught his eye.
"Thirty days since arrival,
Today when I awoke with the fog's dissipation. I saw something. In the distance to far from my camp.
Was smoke."