Chapter 47: Fire

I find myself laying on an endless panel of white facing towards a sky of light blue. No clouds or wind flows through this expanse however, and before I realize it, I find myself staring at the endless expanse of white surrounding my sight. After a few minutes of mindlessness, I glance around where another set of eyes meets my own.

A replica of me stares with an animalistic intensity. The irises of his eyes form slits giving him a hypnotic, piercing gaze. The gray skin of his body creates a dull creaking as if his skin was made of metal. His black hair and lean yet muscular frame makes him appear more like a wolf than a man. As he grins with a familiar mocking, I recognize the person behind the expression.

Deluge says with the deep rumbling that forms the voice that echoes in my mind so often, “It’s good to see you, Jack.”

His features brighten. His eyes widen while his while his grin dampens, but in no way does this detract from his appearance. If anything, it adds a layer of sincerity and warmth. He says while standing up,

“Throughout all the time we've been together and all that we've seen, we've never both been asleep at the same time. You could say this is our first time truly meeting one another. It's an interesting prospect.”

He rolls his shoulders once he’s standing. After silent moment of contemplation, he says with his usual dry insight,

“What do you see that gives you a reason to glance so closely?”

I raise an eyebrow saying, “Besides ugly?”

“If you would be so kind as to forgo that specific detail in your description.”

I Grin as I say, “Then I would describe you as a replica of me, though with gray skin and blockier, more leaden features. I wonder myself, how do you see me?”

He raises an arm towards me as he says, “You seem to match your own description, at least by my sight.”

My grin ends as I say with a far grimmer air, “At least that leaves me ready to face what's to

come.”

“There will be darkness where we travel my friend.”

“Good. I won't travel to places I haven't been.”

“You'll be forced to kill.”

“It will be a decision I made for my own ideals.”

He spreads his arms as his ashen limbs contort due to lean muscle. He says beaming his bloodlust and excitement, “Then let us tread onwards with open arms.”

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I open my eyes with my body crushing a mossy bed of soil beneath me. My sense of balance returns while my mind and body beams with energy. I haven’t rested so soundly in ages, and the reinvigoration fills me with a steady and ample drive for the day’s tasks.

Using that energy, I push myself with my hands digging into the soft earth before I stand beside the bed. None of my possessions litter the room. Only empty walls and a barren floor meet me when I look around.

This lack of possessions includes even basic necessities. How am I supposed to walk outside with so little clothing covering me? My upper torso exposes itself while my pants ripped to tatters on my calves. Whatever Deluge did last night must have been a truly awful experience if these clothes tell the right story.

Finding a burst of will from Deluge’s tasks, I grind the ruby plate covering my door before I spot Luke, Antoinnette, Razor, and Sophia talking near the centered corundum. Their echoes fill the cavern with the light tapping of indiscernible voices and the purple lighting of the giant gem gives the entire place a sort of mystical ambience. Like someone was trying to accentuate the unusual aspects of the group meeting.

As I tread towards them, I see myself as an alien treading into their territory, but I can’t stand here watching in this cavern forever. I drape myself with a set of bedsheets before I tread onwards to admit why I gathered them here anyway. They deserve to know.

My resolve faces a crisis at the sound of my steps however. The gentle strides mutated into clobbering stomps, and by the changes in my balance and the change of pressure on my feet, I reason my weight must have spiked by a few hundred pounds since I’ve slept. .

I hope Deluge didn’t perform a metamorphosis on my face at least. It will make explaining all of this even harder.

As I near the group, Razor turns towards me with her sleek, faceless form oozing a warm pressure, like a pushy mother as she says, “Hello Jack. I see you’ve awoken after your rest. I hope you’re feeling well.”

I grin before I say in a voice ever so slightly deeper than I ever remember speaking before, “I’m feeling excellent. Thank you for your concern. How long was I out?”

Sophia turns with the others before she says after a silent pause, “Two weeks.”

My steps stop for a moment before I say, “What? Two entire weeks?”

She nods before Antoinette says, “I can’t believe you made friends with Razor. She’s a queen slime!”

Luke turns towards her for a moment before he says, “I know right? Everybody else just acts like it’s normal.” He turns towards me before he brandishes his hand outwards saying, “That and you reawakening the golem of the end too. That’s crazy man.”

I shrug for a moment before I flex an arm while saying, “I have a terrible disease. It’s called, ‘Being awesome.’”

The group laughs for a moment before I sit between Razor and Sophia. The makeshift seat of stone has the same moss as our beds for added softness, but my weight crushes it until the stone underneath presses against me. Damn you Deluge.

Sophia glances up and down towards me before she says, “Would you mind telling us why we’re here?”

I turn towards the others before I sigh out my anxiety. After taking a deep breath, I say, “I believe that’s a question you all deserve an answer too. I’ll give you a shortened version of the situation.”

I tap the edge of the seat for a moment before I glance around. They look at me with patient yet demanding stares before I say,

“I’m the demon.”

No one changes their expressions, so I continue my confession, “I was almost murdered by Helefeston within a week of moving to Mareovosa. I killed him as I defended myself, and since then, I’ve been protected by Petra’s influence from whatever group that tried assassinating me.”

I raise my right hand saying, “During this period of protection, I trained with Petra where I learned how to handle the chaos of battle. I also found Sophia dying of one of those same assassination attempts. I saved her before I began hunting down whatever organization attempted killing me and my friends. I was angry. I was afraid.”

I raise my left hand while leaning onto my knees, “It was a strange situation that led me down darker roads then I’d like. During my investigation, I ended up taking the shard of Gaia. From that gem, figured out the shadow group’s true purpose.”

I spread my arms saying, “They use human souls for golems.”

Antoinnette releases a gulp of air before I continue, “The group assassinated people without families or loved ones, preferably students. Using these bodies, they would force the stored souls into a golem. You all met Aether I presume?”

They nod before I say, “He fought and destroyed those golem fighters. I...I killed the people running the operation.”

The glance of Luke hardens before I raise a palm towards him saying, “I have reasons. They had attempted murdering me before and Sophia not once, but twice.They tried killing me.as I tried pacifying them .”

Luke’s clenched jaw and clasped hands soften before I say with a brittle hardness in my voice, like the ringing of glass, “It’s a strange set of circumstances I find myself in. I had to either let them live and live in fear, or kill them so I could be assured of my safety.. I figured the world could do with less corrupted chainers who use the souls of others for their own monetary gain.”

The corrosive bite of malice leaking into my voice almost frightens me before I release my own clamped fists as I say, “Regardless, Petra and Joan figured out what happened after they found Razor and Aether. I figured that due to your close associations with me, you would all be targets.”

I raise myself in my seat as I say, “So I hid you all here in the safest and deepest hole I could find.” I turn towards Razor saying, “Having Razor here keeping you all safe was a bonus.”

She giggles for a moment before she says moving the blades around her, “I see you’ve been busy recently.”

I nod before I turn towards the others saying, “I’m sorry if your stay here has been less than optimal. I’ll try to find someway for all of you to return to your homes soon, but I have to make sure it’s safe at the campus first.”

I lower my gaze as the tone of my voice darkens. I say, “I don’t know how the church, the empire, or that shadow organization will respond to my actions.” My voice strains as I continue, “I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to trap you all here.”

Antoinnette blinks a few times before she says, “So...”

I turn towards her saying, “Ask anything.”

She fumbles with her fingers for a moment before she says, “Couldn’t you have reported the bad guys to school?”

I shake my head before I say, “It isn’t quite so simple unfortunately. Multiple high tier gemchainers worked for this organization, and I already had evidence that one of the professors was a part of the operation.”

I reach out a hand as I say, “It’s a sad thing unfortunately. I saw Sophia being murdered twice. Expecting me to go to the university that was harboring my previous murder seems...unreasonable.”

Antoinnette blinks before I say in a gentler voice, “What I mean is...I felt forced to act out as I did...I felt trapped.”

She whispers after a moment, “You killed people?”

I raise a hand as I say, “I never murdered anyone. Anytime I killed, I did so in defense of my own life...but yes, I killed people.”

She turns her face downward before Sophia chimes, “You actually saved me three times. I analyzed the broken gem from whenever you fought the golem. The gem had been tampered with by overloading its frame during the resonance procedure.”

Luke says, “Uhm....Could you word it more simply?”

She rolls her eyes before she says, “He stopped the sabotage attempt designed to kill me. I was working on an operation to stop the souls of creatures from having to suffer through the process of soul forging. After I had accomplished that, I intended to do the same for gemchaining, though I doubted that was possible.”

She lifts up the slab of Alexandrite that contained the part of Gaia. She says, “This has given me a key hint to that process. Replicating the properties of this will be difficult, but I’ll be able to stop the tortures of soul forging and gemchaining using this.”

Antoinnette and Luke glance at me before Luke sighs saying with a mischievous grin, “This sounds crazy complicated....Man. You just do insane stuff all the time I guess.”

Antoinnette raises her eyebrows in shock as she shouts at Luke, “You’re just accepting all he just said?”

He shrugs before he says, “Whenever I was seven years old, I was out hunting with an uncle before we saw a wolf outdoors. He chose not to kill it since it hadn’t done anything wrong to us.”

A muscle in Luke’s neck twitches before he grabs his thigh saying, “The wolf ended up killing my uncle before I took my uncle’s sword and stabbed it...”

He glances around as he says, “It’s easy to say someone has done something wrong whenever you’re here sitting safe and sound, but whenever you have to be surrounded by that kind of...panic, well, it makes it hard to think clearly.”

He looks towards me as he says, “I think Jack’s just doing what he thought was best, though it was rather...brutal. I wouldn’t have done is much different my self really.”

Sophia shrugs before she says, “I watched him fight a golem that had been tampered with to go berserk, students would have died if not for his intervention...He may appear uninjured now, but he was devastated during the conflict. I’m sure he didn’t crawl out of these other situations unscathed either.”

Antoinnette slices into the conversation, “But he’s killed people...Aren’t you guys scared?”

Sophia shrugs saying, “He’s saved me three times now.”

Luke scratches his nose before he says, “It’s strange. I can’t imagine Jack hurting me.”

A warm grin grows on my face before Razor says, “I’ve killed people who have tried fighting me here before. I don’t see why you weren’t scared of me.”

Antoinette says while circling her thumbs, “You’re not a normal person though...”

Razor laughs before she taps my shoulder saying, “And Jack is?”

At this point, the group glances at me with an observant eye for the first time since my awakening, and the open expressions of sudden shock send waves of worry up the skin of my back. I crossed the line of what is accepted as human .I doubt they’ll see me as one any longer.

Their observant stares cause my foot to fidget as I try to control my nervous response. A sort of realization dawns on Antoinnette and Luke for a moment before he nods his head saying,

“I see what you mean...”

Sophia says, “Jack’s still Jack guys. It isn’t something to treat him differently over. I bet you he can still play as well as he ever has.”

I ball my fingers into a fist with one finger following the flexing of the others before I stretch out my fingers all at once.. I say, “I would think so.” I turn the back of my hand towards me, “At least it feels that way.”

I raise a hand as I say, “Regardless of my circumstances, I believe you all may be lacking in the finer aspects of living such as clean clothes or the like. I will do my utmost to restore some slither of your normal lives.”

I open a palm towards them through a fold in the sheets covering me as I say, “I can teach you all music if you’d like, and with Sophia’s own expertise, you can both learn the basics of soul forging. I personally despised astronomy, but if you want to learn about that as well, I can gather the books necessary.”

I point upwards as I say, “II’m not much a cook really, but I’ll attempt making whatever meals you want from above if you’d like, and I’d be willing to-”

Luke interrupts, “Woah. We don’t need you to act like a servant or anything. Aether and Razor have helped us so far. You can handle what’s on your plate in the meantime.”

Antoinette says, “It was surprising at first, but Razor is a kinder lady than most of my family...She can be scary when she’s mad though.”

My shoulders drop as I sigh in relief. While squeezing her arms together, Sophia says, “It’s been a blast really. We’ve been talking to Aether and Razor about all the stuff they’ve done or been interested in. It’s felt a lot like camping really.”

I nod for a moment before I say, “Excellent.”

I turn towards Razor before I say, “I hope they weren’t too much a burden.”

Her new form glows brighter before a set of blades waves down her back like wind bending branches. She says, “It’s been interesting hearing about how humans see us. I never imagined so much fear and distress.”

She crosses her legs before she says, “We always looked at humans as a race of ingenuity. A race with a surprising knack for survival in a world that offers compelling reasons for dying. It was saddening to hear about how little your kind saw in us besides creatures of death.”

I shrug before I say, “If there is one thing I have figured out about my kind, it is how even subtle differences in appearance can result in massive changes of mindset. That is why I asked you to change forms before.”

She nods before I say, “I see you learned human expression rather rapidly.”

She raises a bladed arm as a breeze of cool air brushes against my skin. She says with her powerful and firm voice, forcing all who hear to listen,

“I’ve met many humans throughout my lifetime, especially after we made a deal with the group above. Learning from the younglings here simply sped up the process.”

I grin before I stand and stretch my body. I turn towards my ,“captives,” before I say,

“So how did you all spend your time here while I rested?”

Sophia jumps up before she says, “I’ve been studying the alexandrite you gave us earlier. It’s conductivity for holding souls is unparalleled even by the opal I have.”

I nod before I say, “Did you find anything useful perchance?”

She crouches lowering herself as she says, “Well, I noticed two specific details.” She lifts up as she raises a hand, “This gem can hold any amount of souls without any degradation of the units within.”

She raises her other hand as she says, “It also has a sort of...pacifying effect on the souls it holds.”

I lean down as I place my hand on my chin saying, “So if you could figure out how find the specific properties of this gem that give it such ample traits, then you could create gems that make the process of soul forging painless?”

She beams with warmth as she says, “Exactly. It’s the breakthrough Alistair and I had been working on since...well, since we met really.”

I nod before I say, “Whenever I go to check the campus, I’ll check on him to make sure he’s safe. I doubt the campus will hold him accountable for wanting me to work with him, but you never really know how people will react.”

She nods before Luke says, “Why do you guys care about what happens to the souls so much?”

The eyes of Sophia viel her hatred as her glance peers through a lowered brow. Even with her shaking, small shoulders, her fury permeates through the room before I say with a hand raised,

“Our reasons tend to be personal. It’s a touchy subject, though I understand your curiosity. My reasons stems from the experiences of a friend. He described it as, ‘utterly evil,’ and as, ‘a pain beyond imagination.’ I believe in the conviction of those I place trust in, therefore I fight for their causes as if they were my own.”

I place a hand on Sophia’s shoulder before I say, “I do try to keep my anger in check howvever..”

She turns and blushes before Antoinnette and Luke glance towards one another. A sort of unspoken rule forms in an instant as they read each other’s thoughts. The glance reminds me of when my childhood friend Chris and I would hold secrets from our parents.

We would only hold a glance for a moment before we spoke countless conversations, and I believe the first milestone of many good friendships starts with this peculiar and unspoken glance. It offers a sort of understanding between two people without words.

In Luke and Antoinette’s case, they spoke only a few words of this silent language, but this gave them enough of a connection that Luke turns towards Sophia saying,

“I’m sorry for asking. Of course it’s wrong.”

Antoinette walks over before she hugs Sophia as she says, “It’s ok, love. We understand.”

The act surprises me. Sophia even hugs back before she murmurs, “I shouldn’t let it bother me so much any way. It’s unfair to you guys.”

After the warming moment, I say with a curt nod, “I’ll be going then.” I turn towards Razor, “But before I go, where’s Aether anyway?”

Antoinette glances up from Sophia’s hug before she says, “He’s out getting supper. He won’t get any animals, but he knows what plants to collect after I told him about what we can eat.”

I say, “Perfect. I wave my hand as I say, “Until we meet again.”

Antoinette nods before she says meekly, “What are you going to do?”

I raise an eyebrow as I say, “A little surveillance...I doubt I’ll be gone for long. I’ll be bringing back something for supper as well. Probably a deer.”

After they wave goodbye, I trot over to a makeshift set of stairs ground into the wall of the cavern. They lead up to the next floor, and Aether managed to carve a surprising amount of detail into the stone.

He never boasted whenever he spoke of understanding the pressure needed for crushing rock. That knowledge combined with his strength allowed him to craft a set of stairs with crude drawings on the tops of trees. The artistic mural shows another talent of Aether’s. He has a knack for sculpting.

It was a form of artistic expression I never excelled at. My own attempts resulted in deformed blobs in the majority of cases, and even with several sessions involving hours of blistering effort, I couldn’t make anything worth keeping.

These nostalgic thoughts flood my mind before I reach the next floor where I’m met with a spiral staircase leading up to the sun’s orange glow overhead. The artwork of the illustrations grows in complexity as I pace upwards until I reach a hollowed out area right underneath the hole which leaks light from above.

Aether must have burrowed out the lower caverns before he created his own growing spiral of steps outwards. His talent for artwork flourished during this project as the mural’s quality steadily improves with each step upwards. Scenes of birds and clouds and rain grace the outer edges of the wall as I reach the top of the expanse.

A set of smooth, symmetrical patterns flow overhead making the room seem holy and biblical. The light from the gap above pierces downward for two hundred feet creating a sense of awe at the sheer size and scale of the project. Even with his unlimited energy and time, Aether outdid himself with this particular project.

A small pang of envy fills me before I shake the useless feeling. Of course Aether will own talents of his own. He is more than a mere tree. I should expect at least his much.

After brushing aside my thoughts, I glance around the symmetrical room until I spot a cavern leading towards an earthen path. The tunnel slants downwards as I walk, and after a few feet, I notice a pool of murky water resulting in the end of the tunnel.

After wading into the expanse, I dive under the water. A sort of second eyelid covers my eyes before I dive under, so I never have to shut them. This allows me to see several feet in front of me revealing the goopy mud at the bottom of this lake.

After swimming under a lump of soil, I dash upwards before my head rises above the water. The light of the sun beams across the surface of the once still lake. As I glance around noticing the limits of the small pool, ripples collide with the edges of the pool. A set of trees grows around the expanse, and as I turn around, the edge of a coarse hill of boulders meets my eyes.

That must be how Aether hid his project from any would be explorers.He surrounded the entrance with a lining of boulders. Even if they knew the entrance’s existence, I doubt they’d try aussalting the place from such an easily defensible position.

What I need to focus on is the reconnaissance. After I traverse through several miles of trees, I reach the edges of the campus where a set of waving tapestries catches my eye. The symbol of a tree with a plague mask over the roots gives an eerie impression as no students jot or trot down the walkways of the campus.

The lights that lit the walkways between the buildings no longer remain glow. The same tapestry hangs across several of the buildings. The gray and crimson coloring of the symbols give an ominous ambience when seen with the lifeless campus while they wave with animation. The scene’s almost like the flag of an enemy nation over the salted ground of your homeland.

Even the glowing fauna disappeared. At least without any students crossing the campus, I’m able to hide and run through several of the brushes left across campus allowing me to reach through the area uncontested.

Reaching the library, I glance around. No smells notify me of any life near here, and no eyes peer back at my own as I survey my surroundings. Everything hums with silence. I glance into the library where I find no students reading books or idly chatting their days away.

The rows of bookcases pass my sight as I search for any useful texts. Evoking a wave of panic, I see a guard through the tops of several bookcases as he walks across the hallway.

A glowing scythe in his right hand rings with a high pitched, almost unbearable sound. The scythe’s aura even creates a layer of energy turning the air around it into a dark haze.that wafts around at each his moves. A mask covers his face with a set of tinted, glass circles that block his eyes while the raven like beak reaches a full foot from his face while a blackened leather robe covers the rest of his body.

It’s a plague doctor. I shuffle between a set of bookcases as he glances in my direction with his mask casting him into a sinister expression of unfeeling cold. He paces between two sets of bookcases with each of his steps tapping the edges of carpet floor.

The tapping grows in volume as he nears me. Beads of sweat flow down my head as the rumble of his scythe fills my ears. He produces no smell nor sound. All that approaches me is an omen of death - a harbinger of the coming quarantine for the area.

Legends have been told of the plague doctors. They work for the highest and most powerful segment of the church - the palisade. They operate as extermination centers for the plagues and demons. Entire towns disappear after a large sightings of monsters or disease, and I’ve listened to tales of the plague doctors eradicate\ing the very souls of all who lived there or worse.

They normally go towards towns with infestations that grow and infect the surrounding lands. They must fear my alliance with Razor and Aether. I can’t blame them, but they complicate the circumstances I’m in.

I never imagined I’d have to fight one of these legends. I clamp my hands into fists like balls of iron as my heart pounds in my chest. The beating grows until every inch of my body bursts with energy. I hold my breath as the scythe’s sound transforms into the sound of burning flesh. Scenes of my parents burned corpses flash in front of my eyes as he nears me.

Right as he reaches the bookcase nearest to me, a bird slams into a window opposite of my hiding place.He turns towards the loud bang for a moment before he paces away from me with his spindly frame emanating a mind numbing pressure. I’d rather avoid fighting something like that, so I skulk out of the hallway before I close the doorway leading outside as I make sure I use the quietest noise I can muster.

Damn that was close. I camouflage myself in fauna once more before I trek through the empty campus. The appearance of the palisade changes my plans. I can no longer idle as they go about with their quarantine and purging of this area.

I don’t know what the palisade or the church has planned, but I must make sure I understand their plans before I stop them. My lurking through campus accelerates as I traverse the campus towards the GC. The same empty walkways greet me as my pace alters from a calm, reserved sneak into a full blown sprint through the bushes.

As I reach the building, the inklings of voices ooze into my ears from somewhere nearby, so I alter my route towards the noise. The echoes grow until I stand at the front of an aching forge. The rot of dead flesh and fresh blood slams against me. Marks of torn fingernails from dragging litter the ground as I pace through the entrance.

A horde of pale students shiver on the ground as I pace through the entrance. The stench wafting from them singes my nose. They haven’t left this room in days even though they are unguarded. None of the students glance upwards at me as I pace through the room either. They just stare at the floor with sunken in expressions as a few ramble madness at themselves.

The sinking feeling in my stomach grows as I walk through several of The Hearth’s hallways. I hear the wails and screams of students. I hear the squish of tearing flesh and the coarse snap of splitting skin.

I don’t jump to save the closest sounds I hear for a single reason however. A light, fading voice expands in my ears overcoming all other sounds. The voice holds a surprisingly feminine charm, but it contains an undertone of strength. It reminds me of marble. It reminds me of home.

I pace down the steps until the soft hum of the voice reverberates across the walls. My skin radiates heat as my skin crawls at the high pitched lamentations coming from the lower floors. As I reach the bottom floors, a stabbing wail slices through a mountain of other sounds.

A moving voice full of more agony than any could endure. A voice that unshackles the restraint of sanity and the limits of brutality. A voice that evokes a wrath so real and so overwhelming, I quake and crumble.

I hear Joan.