Chapter 38: Bloodless

Alabaster

Alley blinked a few times as he took a step towards Darius. He intended to fistbump his friend who was standing among a large group of people Alley didn’t recognize. He felt like he should know why they were there but his thoughts were becoming even more sluggish than his movements which had been reduced to a stumbling gait.

For some reason, Darius looked more than a little worried. That was weird, Alley had beaten the pirate captain. So why was the red-headed boy rushing towards him? It didn’t make sense to Alley.

‘Ahh thats why’ he thought with an oddly detached calm as his legs gave out from under him. As the strange weakness he couldn’t explain dragged him into unconsciousness, Alley's final thought was about the cloak splayed out by his fall. One of the Vial gems which Alley had only spent mere minutes ago was a quarter full.

Nine Days earlier

Alley couldn’t leave, At least not the way he had come in. While he had been completing the strange challenge put to him by the whiskey-voiced, skeletal-armed figure the castle had gone into some sort of lockdown. The front gate was sealed tight with a field of teal-colored energy. Alley had tossed a stray bone at it to test the barrier. When the light had converted the bone to ash Alley decided he probably knew all he needed to about the wall of light and opted to find another way out.

There was one he had seen earlier but had been holding off on attempting. While the crevasse had seemed unclimbable when he’d checked it earlier, Alley wanted to give it another once over before he inspected the transiteration pad.

To a boy born at the edge of civilization, a mystic device that could teleport you vast distances was practically the stuff of myth. He had only recognized the thing because the podium they used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the All Isles Festival was a long-dormant one. It had been explained to him that many a king or emperor had them, and even some of the less powerful rich people used them frequently.

Making his way back through the castle, Alley scoured his memories for any information about how to activate a transiteration device. Either he had forgotten or more likely never known, as the sum total of his knowledge on the subject was that it could be done.

Before even reaching the high ceilinged circular room that hosted the magical transport method Alley could feel a thrum in the air that made his hair stand on end. The whole castle had a sort of magical vibration to it but this was different. Teal light poured out of the Transiteration room in rhythmic pulses Alley could feel.

Carefully approaching Alley stopped at the room’s entrance. Inside the doorway the inscribed floor of the Transiteration pad was glowing so bright it reminded the boy of being lost to snow blindness. That wasn’t the strange part, in fact, Alley had peered into the room for several seconds before he even noticed. It was the walls and roof, they were gone. In their place an endless plane of grey dust beneath a black starless sky. Wherever this place was it chilled Alley to the core. Something about the sheer nothingness screamed at his instincts that life did not belong in that place.

While Alley didn’t know for sure the transiteration pad would take him to that desolate place there was zero chance he would take the risk. He took a careful step back away from the doorway and concluded that he would wait at least until the scene changed…if it did.

Alley needn’t have worried. As he soon discovered the transiteration pad wasn’t sending anything anywhere it was receiving something.

Now

Alley awoke in a lot more pain than when he had passed out. He found himself in a small unadorned room, naked and lying atop a single bed. A trio of dark-haired women he thought he recognized from the diving cages fussed over him. The youngest was probably his own age, the eldest in her early forties. Instantly Alley’s cheeks pinked and he covered himself with his hands. While he had absolutely had dreams that started like this…the women even had a sort of exotic beauty to them. This was a lot more fun and a lot less embarrassing when it wasn’t real life.

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“Can someone get me some pants please” he croaked through lips dry enough that they split as he spoke. “ Water and pants” he amended. The trio of women evidently found this uproariously funny but hurried to get him what he asked for.

Not long later the eldest of three women returned with his pants, she informed him the three of them were just outside and to call them if he needed any help or when he was done getting dressed. Putting the pants on proved to be too much for him to achieve alone.

The cut in between his ribs had been treated but it still ran deep and pulled painfully at every movement. If Alley had thought that was the worst of it, he was mistaken. His body felt cramped all over and intensely weak, his skin was even paler than usual. It made him think of the skin of his Undead creatures. Not exactly the appearance he wanted to show off in front of mysterious raven-haired women with curves he noticed even while being half dead.

Forcing himself to stay seated at the edge of the bed despite his head, legs, and stomach all demanding he lie back down Alley made a few attempts to get his pants on. After the third time, he had to stop because he thought he was going to pass out an idea occurred to him.

The boy had been on the verge of ignoring his embarrassment and calling the women back in to help him when he realized he could just will his cloak on. At a thought, the ratty black cloth appeared on him. Having a Cursed Deck was all-around terrible, but that was certainly a handy trick to have up his sleeve. Alley wondered how it would react if he wrapped something in the cloak or what kind of range the effect had.

Modesty appropriately defended, he called for the trio of ladies who seemed more than a little perplexed by the appearance of the cloak. They helped him dress and watched as he tried to drown himself with cup after cup of water poured from an earthenware pitcher into a mug of similar make.

Once he was done the trio began to file out again though the youngest looked around quickly before all but whispering to Alley.

“You shouldn’t wear that thing, It almost killed you.”

“Wait what thing?” Alley tried to reach for the girl but she turned away and was gone before his weak body could do anything about it.

‘She has to mean the cloak right?’ It was the only thing that made any sense, but how could it have almost killed him? If the women who treated him expected Alabaster Roe to just leave it at that and go back to bed they did not know Alabaster Roe. Seeing as they didn’t know him, he supposed he couldn’t really blame them.

Closing his eyes Alley focussed on the feeling of Life Essence flowing through him. It wasn’t a skill he had ever been particularly good at but he thought he could feel it a tiny bit more clearly. It might be his imagination but with his victory, the first lock inside him had grown closer to opening. Maybe it was like a portcullis gate and he had raised it slightly? If that was the case he had increased the flow if only just.

Feeling as steady as he thought he was going to get, Alley slowly made his way out of the room. What greeted him were a series of sights, sounds, and smells that made his heart ache with homesickness.

Alley was in something of a daze but he still recognised the strange festival nature of a town coming together after a calamity. It reminded him of when Uncle Tertian had organized everyone to raise a new roof for the Shellen family after theirs had been destroyed by a particularly violent storm.

It turned out Alley was in a large house presently being swarmed by townsfolk making whatever repairs they could. Outside the sun was high in the sky and a makeshift street kitchen was visible through the annihilated front of the structure. He could see the red-headed form of Darius leaning against one of the street kitchen’s tables blatantly trying to flirt with a girl who was clearly too busy trying to feed a town at work to pay him any real attention.

Once upon a time, Alley would have been embarrassed for his friend, that time had long since passed. Now he just thought it was funny.

“Come on” His voice was too hoarse and weak to be heard. Alley took a deep breath and tried again.

“Come on Darius.” Alley called. “The last thing you need is another kid.” Darius obviously didn’t have a kid but gauging from the way his friend turned pink and furiously tried to tell the girl that he was in fact not a father. Alley felt his interjection had gone perfectly.