34.

Nevia stood with the Engineer, her face stern as Erak came trudging back to them. The high of the fight was fleeting, his limbs heavy once again as exhaustion crept upon him to steal his strength. Lost in the smoke below them, the day’s passage had been long and difficult, with more blood having been shed in a few hours than Erak could honestly comprehend.

Julius peaked around from Nevia and Rutledge pushed herself off of a wall as the rest of Nevia’s squad had relief written across their faces. Sammus just quirked an eyebrow when Erak handed his newly acquired knapsack to the Engineer and signed crudely to Julius.

“Lord Bloodsworn has completed another level and needs a moment to strengthen himself,” the professor said. Nevia didn’t say anything but her mouth was firm and there was anger in her eyes radiating outward with a warm fury.

Erak Bloodsworn lvl. 14

Strength: 42

Vigor: 23

Durability: 23

Perception: 20

Processing: 20

The small burst of pleasure was just a temporary relief against his accumulating aches and pains, but it was relief nonetheless. The boosts to vigor and durability would help him continue this marathon day while a single extra point to strength just nudged him slightly further along.

“Should we go and find the ship that Dull was talking about, or go straight towards the Sword?” Nevia asked, voice stiff and angry. Erak could understand that anger. It was his existence that had pulled her away from her unit and he had ran off to chase a fight while leaving her to stew. He would invite her on the next hunt.

“To the Sword,” he signed to Julius and the man relayed it.

“My apologies, ummm, my Lord?” the small engineer said. All eyes turned on her and she shivered at all the attention.

“What is it?” Nevia barked.

“If the entrance to the old girl is as bad as the entrance into the docks was, it’s going to take me some time to open her up. Maybe an hour.” Erak struggled to keep his temper at the newest delay.

“A guard on the engineer. The rest to the secondary ship,” Erak ordered and Julius nodded as he told the rest.

“Podzki, Ramos, you two are with…what’s your name?”

“Laura Bason, ma’am.”

“Podzki and Ramon, go with Laura and get the door open. Nothing touches her, you got me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the two assigned soldiers said, both nodding and then quickly leaving with Laura tucked behind them.

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“Constance, rearguard. My Prince, I’d humbly suggest putting yourself in the middle of the formation with the professors. My squad, envelopment. Lord Bloodsworn has lead.”

Nevia’s four soldiers posted up, two to a side of the professors and Prince, forming a small column three wide while Constance and her last two soldiers slunk to the back of the formation. Nevia took up position in front of her squad while Erak was moving forward.

He made it through three intersections before stopping. He didn’t know where he was going. He turned to look back and saw a few smug smiles that were quickly stifled. Professor Rutledge cleared her throat twice before speaking.

“Take the next left, Erak. Follow it straight and then there is a ladder we will have to climb if the elevator isn’t working.”

Erak nodded and moved without another sound. If there had been any energy left over for embarrassment, he may have felt a tinge of it. He was paying attention and heard a few snickers behind him. He was certain it was the Prince.

The hallways here had no gristly decorations, being rather clean and bare, but Erak didn’t let that make him lower his guard. There were plenty of spots that one could be ambushed from in the tight confines of the docks.

The trip passed peacefully and they found the elevator they needed worked, though it moved slowly. It was larger than the one they had took up, all of them managing to squeeze in even if Erak was pressed tightly into a corner and with his arms up to touch the ceiling to make a bit of extra room.

“Smells dreadful in here. Erak, when we have a moment, do be a dear and bathe. You are coated in…hmmm…well several things,” Rutledge said as she leaned on her cane, having a small bubble of space around her.

Erak sniffed and could smell little beyond his own odor of stale sweat and body heat in the helmet. He had coated his exterior in several beings through the course of the day, and there was the trip into the sewer monster. His armor would need a good scrubbing.

The doors slid open and the entire elevator fled, moving swiftly to escape the close confines and spreading out as they stared at the partially open hatch in front of them. The words over the hatch were written in bright red paint.

Warning: Construction In Progress! Be Alert! Danger!

“Now they tell us,” Constance muttered under her breath and there was a round of dry chuckles as Erak stepped up to the stuck hatch and wedged his fingers into the gap and pulled. Metal strained for a moment,then something gave way with an audible shriek and the hatch swung out to them.

A bar had been wedged in the door, a crude attempt at a barricade right behind it. There were no signs of violence even if the barricade had been abandoned. Erak ducked his head and walked through the hatch and past the mound of boxes strapped together and began moving across the construction yard.

There should be a new possible spirit here, born from a ship's A.I. The dockyard here was a long and wide tunnel with poor lighting and wide doors. Scaffolding and abandoned equipment lay everywhere, as if dropped in the middle of their work. Still no signs of violence.

“Second berth Erak, on the right. The one with the doors already open,” Rutledge supplied. Erak nodded and shuffled his weapons, getting a firm grasp on them. There was something off-putting about this. The air was wrong, the stillness of it a warning of sorts.

Erak tread through the wide portal and into the partially constructed ship. Every portal was open and the lighting was only the faintest red light coming from somehow still functioning emergency lighting. The pallor cast across the polished steel of the ship was haunting and macabre and his spine tingled as he looked about, every nerve on edge.

“Something is fucked here,” one of the soldiers muttered. Constnace hissed at him and they all lapsed into silence again.

“No, the soldier was right. Something foul is here. Erak be on guard!” Rutledge barked at him, the sudden shattering of silence unnerving a soldier who bit out a cry of fear and surprise. They kept moving, each step taking them deeper into the steel skeleton, whose shape only hinted at a future that would not be seen.

The bridge was coming up, mounted near the front of the ship with wide windows all around it, letting in the scenes from the world below. They crossed into the bridge and the tension had grown so thick that Erak could have sliced it with his spear. Sweat was trickling down faces and hands shook as they looked about with worry in their eyes.

“Oh, no. You’re here,” a voice wailed in despair.