Leaning against Nikorai’s cell was a tall, red-headed girl. A bloody knife twirled around her fingers.
“Didn’t take you for the heathen type,” Lysandra chortled. “Few people manage to piss off the Order of Truth. You’ve either got balls of steel or cotton for a brain. Or both. Both is good.”
“Very funny,” Nikolay frowned in an exasperated manner. “Would you mind breaking us out instead of poking fun at our situation?”
At first, it seemed like Lysandra was happy to comply. She had already pulled out a lock-picking set from her cargo pants, but she quickly paused once Nikolay’s words registered.
“Us? Our?” Lysandra swept her gaze across the room, only to find it was empty apart from Nikorai. “You alright in the head? Concussion or something?”
Shit.
Nikolay wouldn’t normally make such a trivial mistake — at least, he would like to think so — but it seemed that their conversation with Guthasar still affected him.
“My head is hardly unscathed, if you couldn’t tell from the bruises,” Nikolay said dryly. “But no, I’m not hearing voices. I promise my mental state is as normal as it can be inside a prison cell.”
Lysandra suspiciously squinted at the particularly dark corners in their cell. “If this is a trap, you’re doing a shit job at hiding it.”
“Lysandra, please. I know I’ve already taken advantage of your kindness once with the stable, but... Oh fuck. Rascal.”
Their heart dropped at the realisation.
Raine started to feel panic and fear build up in his mind. It’s been three weeks — can a horse survive that long? I feel horrible for leaving her, even if it wasn’t our choice.
“You’re bleeding, bruised and bandaged up, but the first thing you worry about is a horse?” Lysandra chuckled. “Alright, you pass. Only because you’re too compassionate to pull such a cruel trap.”
The metal bars swung open with a shrieking squeal. It only took a few more seconds for Lysandra to nimbly work her way through the lock on Nikorai’s handcuffs.
Lysandra mockingly bowed as Nikorai stumbled their way out of the cell. After so long in the cell, their legs had become unaccustomed to holding their body’s weight. Similarly, their arms were burning from the sudden shift in position.
Lysandra heartily patted Nikorai on the shoulder. “For your information, Rascal is just fine. She ran her way back to her stable, neighing frantically. I heard from her stable hand that you might be in trouble, but I never thought you’d wind up tangled with the Order of Truth. Seriously, what’d you do?”
What were they even supposed to say? They didn’t even know the full extent to why the Order of Truth kidnapped them.
“It’s... a long story,” Nikolay waved his hand dismissively. “But I’d like to ask you something in return. What exactly is the Order of Truth?”
Lysandra pulled out her bloodied knife again. She looked both ways down the long hallway before gesturing for them to continue on their left.
“It’s a borderline cult,” Lysandra frowned. “The Order of Truth has followers across Kosira, regardless of who they are: background, history, whether they have magic — it sucks everybody in. Guthasar, the leader, advertises this philosophy of ‘attaining the truth’, whatever the hell that means. The real kicker is that all of his followers worship his every word, even though he’s nothing but a manipulative, ruthless piece of shit.”
Nikolay reflexively clenched their fists, causing the dull pain in their left arm to flare up. Despite this, he didn’t show any signs of letting go.
Ever since Nikolay had discovered that mental blocking was an option, he naturally kept himself distant unless necessary. The only exception was during their interaction with Guthasar, which was more than justifiable. Thus, it surprised Raine to feel a strong distaste leak out from Nikolay’s mental barricade.
Raine kept quiet despite his curiosity. It sounded like a lot was going on in Nikolay’s mind, and he didn’t want to provoke any bad memories. Though, it was probably a little too late for that.
“I take it that you’re here because of your aversion towards this organisation?” Nikolay asked, glancing at Lysandra’s bloodied clothes.
“Yeah. I suppose it’s unfinished business. Or something along those lines,” Lysandra said. “I don’t really have pleasant experiences with the Order of Truth.”
“That makes two of us.”
Their conversation lulled to a halt, neither of them willing to talk about their past. They continued down the corridor, passing empty cells stained with dried blood as they walked. Given that Nikorai looked to be the only prisoner in this wing, there weren’t any guards posted here, either. Any guards close to Nikorai would have already been dispatched by Lysandra, judging from the blood dripping from her knife.
Lysandra stopped when the hallway split into an intersection.
“The exit’s up those stairs,” she pointed to their right. “I’ve already cleared that entire area, so nobody should bother you there. Just in case, I’ll give you something to defend yourself with.”
Lysandra rummaged through the several pockets in her pants and pulled out a sheathed dagger. It was small, no bigger than the size of Nikorai’s hand.
Nikolay hefted the weapon in his hand to test the weight. Raine noticed that he held it in their left hand, despite the bandages around their palm limiting its movement.
“Thank you,” Nikolay said, tucking it into his waistband.
Lysandra directed her attention towards the intersection in front of them. “As for me, I gotta meet up with my teammates. I’d say ‘see you later’, but only bad things would lead to us meeting again.”
“Would you take a final goodbye?”
“Nah, I’m not the type of person to say farewells. Sounds too much like a definite ending. With that being said, I’ll be going now.”
True to her word, Lysandra rushed down the other path without looking back.
Doesn’t it bother you that a teenager is killing people?
What do you mean?
Lysandra’s a lot younger than us, and even I would be apprehensive about stabbing someone. She’s just acting as if killing somebody is a completely normal thing to do.
Your point?
Isn’t it… depressing to see that she’s desensitised to this? Taking somebody’s life is an irreversible action. At the risk of sounding cliché, those victims have friends and family who will mourn their death for months — even years.
Nikolay pursed his lips. People grow up in different backgrounds. Sometimes, you need to kill to survive.
Doesn’t that make you feel bad? That people are forced to live like this because of circumstances beyond their control?
That is simply how the world works. Besides, she’s hardly the youngest to have killed. You get used to it.
Here we go with the cryptic talk again. Does this have something to do with your past?
We should save the interrogation for when we make it out of here alive.
Ignoring the annoyed huff from Raine, Nikolay made his way up the stairs.
After they had been climbing for a while, Nikolay felt something wet fall onto his head. His first instinct was rain, but they were currently inside the depths of a building. Curious, Nikolay reached a hand up to his hair.
He pulled his hand away to find that his fingers were coated in crimson liquid.
Blood...?
Nikolay whipped his head upwards, frowning at the sight.
They saw a dead corpse, predictably. Judging from the precise gash across their neck, they had died quickly at the hands of a skilled attacker. Blood was still flowing out in a pool on the floor around their head, spilling down onto the stairs below.
Not the worst sight that could have greeted them, given that the only visible wound was on their neck.
Lysandra wasn’t lying when she said she had cleared out this area. Though she could have been a little more considerate of the spillage.
Raine made a concerned sound. Hopefully, that’s the worst thing we’ll see on our way out.
Avoiding the corpse on their way up, they were shortly greeted by an archway made of stone bricks. Ducking through the entrance led them into another hallway, though it was much less prison-like than its previous counterpart.
Instead of cells lining the halls, there were white wooden doors with plaques denoting their purpose. The rooms ranged from meeting rooms to gymnasiums, but the lack of windows meant that there was no way to confirm this.
Some were labelled as classrooms, to Raine’s surprise.
Classrooms? There are kids here?
Not anymore, clearly.
I can’t tell if you’re making a joke in bad taste, or being dead serious.
They passed a few more corpses, all wearing the same guard uniform. A neat slit along the side of their necks indicated that Lysandra had dispatched them, too. If not for the pools of blood creeping along the sides of the floor, the guards could have been mistaken for sleeping on the job. But upon closer inspection, it was plainly obvious that they were no longer living. Between the slacked jaws, open unfocused eyes, faces frozen in shock and fear, everything glaringly pointed to the conclusion that they were unequivocally dead.
It was painfully silent in the hallway. There was only the sound of one pair of footsteps, the sound of only one person breathing. Everything else was still. Agonisingly so.
Raine cut his consciousness’ auxiliary connection with the vessel. It wasn’t particularly gory, but the sight of glassy eyes and paled skin was enough to haunt his dreams for a long time. He almost wished that the corpses weren’t identifiable — that way, it would be all too easy to ignore the fact that these were once living, breathing people. Humans like anybody else, each complete with their unique dreams and aspirations.
Without a doubt, Nikolay had sensed that Raine was no longer spectating his actions. But he said nothing at the feeling of the vessel’s physical sensations being disconnected from Raine. On one hand, Raine was glad that Nikolay wasn’t calling him a coward for retreating. On the other hand, it would have been nice to be comforted after seeing... that.
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Since Raine was no longer able to see through Nikorai’s eyes, he was essentially left blind.
Meanwhile, Nikolay caught sight of a hunched figure kneeling over one of the dead bodies. He quickly stopped in his tracks, darting his eyes around for a place to hide. All the doors were locked and the straight, unbranching hallway gave little space to duck into.
There wasn’t enough time to find another option — he was stuck here. The figure looked up from their inspection to glance in Nikorai’s direction.
Wet tears still glistened on their cheeks.
Shit.
What’s happening?
Don’t worry about it.
Sounds like something I should be worrying about, Raine said, reconnecting to the vessel.
The guard’s eyes darted towards the dagger on Nikorai’s hip, then to the blood on their hand from touching their head earlier.
Nikolay knew what the guard was thinking, and he didn’t particularly care that their conclusions were wrong.
“You... It was you, wasn’t it?”
Their voice trembled in equal parts of grief and anger.
Even if Nikolay wanted to respond, he wasn’t given any time to do so. The guard had already leapt from their position on the floor, roaring in anguish. Just barely, Nikolay blocked the incoming sword with his much smaller dagger.
The underlying thrum of pain in their left arm spiked immensely in response to the pressure. It peaked at their palm, where Nikolay was tightly gripping the dagger’s handle. The pain caused even Nikolay to grimace slightly.
Can’t you switch to your right hand?
I’m left handed, obviously. Do you think I’d choose to use an injured hand?
If you’re lefthanded, then why the hell did you cut your left arm?!
...My right arm is more important.
Nikolay gracefully side-stepped to avoid a sword in the stomach.
Raine groaned. Look, I won’t ask for more details, since I know you’re not going to give them. But at least pass the vessel over to me — I’m right handed.
I can still easily take this guard down with my other hand.
Nikolay pushed forward to illustrate his point, skilfully dodging the guard’s swipes. Blinded by the heartbreak of mourning a loss, their swings were easily parried or dodged with a decent amount of agility.
It wasn’t long before they were within close quarters of each other. The long blade of the guard’s sword wasn’t nearly as effective here. Nikolay knocked the weapon out of their hand with the hilt of his dagger. A well-placed kick sent the sword skittering away from them. Disarmed and caught by surprise, the guard couldn’t react when Nikolay leapt forward.
But rather than stabbing the guard, Nikolay reached up with his right hand. Both Raine and the guard were baffled when Nikolay roughly grabbed the guard’s face with his hand.
All three were still for a split second until they simultaneously realised that nothing had happened.
Ah, shit.
Thankfully, Nikolay swiftly backed away before the guard could take advantage of their close distance. As both combatants regained their breath, Nikolay absently rubbed his right forearm with a slight frown.
Raine was also concerned, but for completely different reasons. Nikolay had just tried to use magic; there was hardly any other explanation for what he did. And whatever Nikolay had just tried to pull, it didn’t look very gentle. Raine was no expert in magic, but not many attacks required someone to grab their opponent’s face, outside of horribly disfiguring them or straight up exploding their head.
But of course, the middle of a fight was hardly the time to grill Nikolay over the details.
What happened to easily taking them down?
Instead of replying, Nikolay stepped back from the vessel.
Raine fought off a smile when he slipped into control. I’ll try to put those hours of training into use.
Aim for the area that you saw Lysandra hit: the carotid artery. Just under the ear, either side of the neck works.
Wait, you want me to kill them?
Do you see another feasible option? We can’t run away from them in this long, straight hallway.
We can knock them out, at least.
I don’t recall you knowing how to do that. Besides, we don’t have the strength to do that. Remember, we’re up against a trained guard. A pansy shot to the jaw isn’t going to cut it.
It’s true, I don’t know how to knock somebody out. But you could teach me how to, instead of immediately resorting to senseless killing.
In the midst of their long talk, the guard had rested long enough to recover their stamina. The guard’s sword was far behind Nikorai, but it did little to dissuade the guard. They lifted their fists, fury still burning bright in their eyes.
Watch out!
Raine’s eyes widened, and he stumbled backwards to avoid a right hook. Realising that Nikorai was still gripping Lysandra’s dagger in their left hand, Raine hastily switched it over to their right.
I knew it was a bad idea to let somebody else fight.
Have you ever considered that you might be a little of a control freak?
Does it matter if it keeps us from dying?
We haven’t died just yet, Raine thought in exasperation. No need to be overly dramatic.
The guard continued advancing, seeing that their opponent wasn’t attempting to counter-attack. Raine was able to narrowly avoid being socked in the face, but with much less grace than Nikolay did. Their body suffered a few bruises, but Raine managed to block when it counted.
While they were slowly being pushed backwards by the guard, Nikorai’s breathing was becoming laboured. Each breath was more shallow and quicker than the last; their lungs and muscles were beginning to burn up. Raine was reminded that they had been immobile for several weeks when they were held captive. Not to mention, they had already suffered at the hands of their sadistic cell guard prior to meeting Guthasar.
They had to end this fight quickly, or they’d run out of energy.
You haven’t retaliated yet.
There has to be another way.
This elicited a wry laugh from Nikolay. Must we keep going in circles? Mercy is an illusion. When you look at it, we’re all just like Lysandra: locked into our own cages because of circumstances outside our control.
Making a monologue in the middle of a fight is pretty low, even for you.
…The least you can do is aim for the jugular, so that they bleed out quickly. It’s the closest thing to mercy that you can grant the guard.
Very helpful, Raine shot back. But you’re assuming that I want to kill him in the first place.
“Wait!” Raine shouted at the guard, twisting his head to evade a jab. “Can’t we talk this out or something?”
His attempt at diplomacy only served to further enrage the guard.
“You’re surrounded by corpses, and you have the gall to say that?” the guard roared. “To ask me to surrender, acting as if none of my friends are dead?”
This gave the guard a sudden surge of power. In the blink of an eye, they roughly grabbed Nikorai’s throat and shoved them against the wall. The dagger clattered against the floor, the crucial loss reverberating throughout the cramped hallway. Raine instinctively clawed at his throat, trying to free himself, but to no avail. His vision blurred at the edges. Already pushing the limits of their body, their lungs were screaming in pain.
Still closely tied with the vessel, Raine felt himself slowly losing touch with reality. He was just barely aware of Nikolay pulling his consciousness away from the vessel.
The next events passed in a blur, moving as if he were underwater.
Suddenly, air rushed into their lungs.
Nikolay pulled his thumbs out of the guard’s eye sockets and fell to the floor. Still disoriented from being strangled, Nikolay dazedly fumbled around on the ground for their dagger. His fingers brushed against cold metal. Not caring if he had grabbed the right end, Nikolay wrapped his hand around the dagger.
Chest heaving from ragged breaths, Nikolay staggered to his feet. The guard was still recoiling from his attack, their hands covering their face.
It happened in mere seconds.
Nikolay lurched forwards and buried the dagger into the guard’s neck, pushing it to the hilt. Tiny rivers of blood leaked out from the edges of the knife. The guard toppled over, landing on their back with a loud thump.
With the last of their energy, they fixed Nikorai with a defiant glare.
“I curse you,” they rasped. “For leaving partners and children waiting eternally for their loved ones to come home.”
“I’ve already been cursed by a million different people,” Nikolay unsympathetically replied. “One more is hardly going to make a difference.”
Nikolay leant over and pulled out the dagger. The steady flow of blood turned into a violent, almost explosive torrent. Shortly after, the guard’s chest ceased moving.
“This was the inevitable outcome, regardless of how you wanted to proceed,” Nikolay said aloud. “Raine.”
Then he broke connection with the vessel, forcing Raine to take control again.
Fuck, fuck, fuck-
Raine instantly dropped to his knees and tried to staunch the blood spurting from the guard’s neck. Desperately, he pressed down on the wound with his palms. But no matter how hard he tried, it kept gushing out from between his fingers.
Red stained every crevice of his hands. His blood-soaked clothes stuck to him. But still, he continued to squeeze the wound as if it were his own life at stake.
They’re dead. Have been for a while, Nikolay noted nonchalantly.
Anger surged to the forefront of Raine’s mind. He could still feel the despair lingering in the corners of his mind, but it was largely overshadowed.
How can you say that so carelessly?
It’s not as if the guard is going to be offended by my actions.
You’re-
Raine clenched his teeth, unable to find words strong enough to convey his emotions.
You’re a fucking heartless piece of shit.
Oh? I find that interesting, Nikolay said, unfazed. Because so are you. Eventually, you’ll go back to living your own life. In a few years from now, this will be nothing more than a distant memory.
That’s completely different from the shit that you just pulled.
We can continue arguing while we’re vulnerable in this hallway, or we can find the exit as soon as possible.
For a long moment, it seemed as if Raine would rather argue. He stood still, mind racing at a speed too fast for Nikolay to pick apart.
Just as Nikolay was preparing to speak again, Raine suddenly set off in the direction that they were heading before. It was far from a display of acquiescence; the tense feeling was still present in their mind.
Along the way, he continued to try every door handle as a precaution. Neither of them were keen on being stuck in the same situation again. Even still, they were expecting all doors to be locked — so it was a surprise to find that one of the handles shifted.
The small room behind the door looked like a janitor’s closet, complete with a mop and various cleaning supplies. On the top shelf, there were some jars containing unknown parts suspended in cloudy liquid. Disregarding the suspicious jars, the eye-watering smell of bleach pervading the closet was a clear indicator of its contents. Raine was pretty sure he also smelt formaldehyde, but it might’ve been his imagination.
The sound of approaching voices sent a jolt of panic through Nikorai. Without thinking, Raine jumped into the closet’s bottom shelf. He shut the door after him with a soft click.
Nikorai, being an average 22-year-old male, did not feasibly fit into this new arrangement. Their back was hunched over so far that it might snap in two. The rest of their body wasn’t in a much better place, given that they were currently folded over onto themselves like a flip phone.
What are you doing?
Raine was bewildered, to say the least. Not getting killed?
No, you’re hiding in this chlorine-smelling cramped shelf.
What did you want me to do?!
Do you have no shame? Nikolay sounded as perplexed as Raine. Why is your instinctive reaction to cower in a shitty closet?
Wha- Why did you word it like that?!
It’s not too late; you can still leave and face the incoming group.
Nikolay, sometimes I wonder how you manage to lack dignity and uphold it at the same time. It is WAY too late for that. I think I would die from embarrassment before they could even stab me.
And how do you think they’ll react when they open the door and find you stuffed in this closet? We are leaving.
Raine barely had time to protest before Nikolay began tugging him away from the vessel. The scuffle that followed was reminiscent of the several previous times that they had fought. It was a constant back and forth, comparable to two dogs fighting over a bone. Since they were continuously connecting and disconnecting to the vessel, it wasn’t uncommon for the vessel to make sudden movements in response.
As such, Nikorai reflexively bumped their head into the shelf above them. It didn’t hurt, since their head was only millimetres away from the shelf, but it created a sound loud enough to escape the closet.
Footsteps paused outside the closet.
Both Nikolay and Raine stilled immediately with a hand clapped over their mouth — as if it would do anything to help them.
“Did anybody else hear that?” an unknown voice called out.
There was an assortment of responses, all variations of disagreement.
“Check just in case,” another voice replied in mirth. “Maybe the murderers decided to go frolicking in the embalmer’s closet.”
A chorus of laughter followed, slightly muffled by the closet’s door.
Embalmer?!
Those responsible for preserving the de-
I know what they are, Raine suppressed the urge to vomit. But I can’t believe we had to get stuck in the embalmer’s closet, of all places. Why is it even in the middle of a hallway?!
Might I remind you that this situation was entirely of your choosing?
“One of the jars must’ve fallen over from your ass clomping around in those huge boots.”
“Ooh- it must’ve been the wind,” somebody said in a high-pitched, mocking voice. “Come on, man, let’s just go. I don’t want to stay in this shithole any longer. Too many dead bodies.”
Nikorai let out a held breath as the footsteps and voices drew further away.
That was a close call.
After waiting a few more seconds for good measure, Nikorai slowly shuffled their way out of the closet. It took a while, given that their aching bones had settled into this new position. But with enough determination and occasional exclamations of pain, they successfully made it out of their confinement.
It was a short walk to reach the hallway’s end; glass double doors heralded the long-awaited exit. Raine all but crashed his way through the doors, eager for a reprieve from the gruesome atmosphere within the building.
Once they were outside, Raine scanned the landscape before them. They were somewhere high up, overlooking a large forest below. He might be pulling at strings, but the forest looked like a different section of Kilorn Forest. Although, it was too soon to judge; they had been out cold for several weeks. For all he knew, they could be on the other side of Kosira — though the same jagged mountain peaks they saw from before their abduction indicated otherwise.
Where do we go from here?
Raine looked up at the peaks, much closer than before, and then down at the forest below. They’d have to decide quickly. The sun was already setting, the last of its rays just barely stretching across Kosira.
Ah. We’ve lost our map, haven’t we? Getting a higher vantage point would be prudent. We might see Veritas from a high place.
Good point.
Shall we see if we can reach the gods from there? Nikolay asked, a hint of mischief tainting his voice.