Purity awaits my wretched soul.
Violent delights bring violent ends.
A wretch will die as a wretch.
----------------------------------------
When I reached the front of their shop the next day, with the dirty rags I normally wore, a steam truck was already near it. Darwin, Damica, and the red haired man from the last day were putting barrels and crates in the back of the truck.
“Ah, Regis.” Darwin called out and I silently turned to look at him. A moment of silence elapsed and he nodded to himself. Maybe he realized something about my resolve, perhaps he understood that there was no point in talking anymore.
He gestured to the crates and barrels. “It will be faster if you help us put it all in the truck.” He explained and kept on moving things into the truck. I followed suit, ignoring the nod the red haired man gave me, and the constant half glances Damica shot at me.
By the end the truck was full, I was about to follow Darwin’s suggestion to stay at the back of the truck, when the red haired man called out. “You all look kind of grim.”
I stopped and moved to the back of the truck. Looking at the barrels, deciding which one will be best to get into.
“Darwin?”
“All s’good Aiden, just a slow morning.”
As Darwin and I entered the truck, him at the front and I at the back, Damica walked by Aiden, hugged him, and for a brief moment she slipped a letter in his hand. The man kept smiling and hid the letter in his pocket, as if it was totally normal.
When Damica entered the truck from the front we started to move towards the church. I didn’t care about the letter, Damica, Darwin, or the red haired man, I didn’t care about any of them or any of their schemes. Instead I followed Darwin's instructions on which specific barrel to enter, one in the back of the truck that had a small sigil cut into it, a sword piercing the sun.
It had fish and buckets of ice in, but it would help me hide if anyone was to check it. Not that the smell or the coldness could bother me even more than it already had my entire life.
The ride was bumpy, and the barrel had little light in it. When we finally stopped, I heard Darwin speak with someone, while another walked in the back of the truck. barrels and crates were being opened.
The person that was checking the back of the truck stopped. “I have to say you look oddly familiar.” The man said to someone.
Damica said something that I couldn’t really understand. She sounded as if she was outside of the truck.
“No, seriously, I swear I saw you from somewhere.”
Darwin laughed. “Do you fancy my daughter?” He asked pleasantly from the front of the truck. “I will have you know that she is taken already.”
Footsteps, the man walked away from the back. Meanwhile, I was clenching a knife in my hand.
“Come on Mateo, stop trying to charm the girl.”
“I- Ugh, I must be mistaken, please you are free to enter.”
“Thank you both. Have a pleasant day.” Darwin said to them both and a moment later the truck was on the move again.
Only when we stopped a second time and people started to take the barrels and crates outside of the truck, I realized that I might be too heavy in that barrel. After getting stuck in thoughts on how they will carry me, I heard Darwin talk.
“Yeah, that barrel almost broke my back. By ashur, it is full of giant fish, it is.”
Two minutes later, I almost jumped out of the barrel as someone used Sol to carry the barrel. luckily, the terror helped me stay still until I was put down.
People were walking around, barrels and crates were put down, when the lid to my barrel opened. “Let’s just see that all the fish are fine and dandy.” Darwin said out loud as he started to push the fish a little bit. In one of his pushes, his hand, which was holding a not too small piece of paper that covered something thin, went a bit further down, reaching me.
He wiggled it and I grabbed it.
After his ‘check’ he sighed, a few more people were organizing the place until some doors were shut and silence overtook all the surroundings.
Slowly, and cautiously. I peeked through the lid, and saw that there was no one in the storage room. I couldn’t help but think to myself about my next action, as I didn’t remember the map Darwin had shown me.
Luckily, the paper he gave me was a miniaturized map, with a couple of side notes about the areas that I needed to avoid and reach. Alongside it, the paper held three lockpicks. Though they were unneeded as I was already prepared.
Good.
From there the entire premise was open to me. As long as I didn’t need to get into a vault, or if any single hallway had someone patrolling in it. But even if there was someone, I could always just kill them.
Kill them… I repeated in my head in a daze as I slowly made my way through the long pathways of the building. Every once in a while stopping in the edge or entering empty rooms to avoid people.
I couldn’t help but think to myself what would happen if I would have worn the normal clothes Darwin gave me. Would I have been able to blend in? To look normal?
All the thoughts disappeared as I saw the blimp from one of the windows. People were constantly transporting things into it, some of which they even needed steam trucks to unload.
Now how am I going to get in there?
I looked through the map Darwin gave me, hoping to see any type of hint or suggestion, only to see nothing of interest. It only said: “Reach the exit of the building, and get on the blimp.”
How am I supposed to do that?! I clenched the map in my hands, holding myself from ripping it apart. A few moments of utter anxiety and small whispers that nearly made me lose my mind, I saw one of the trucks reach a warehouse connected to the building.
A plan formed in my head. Upon reaching the warehouse I found it almost empty. I listened for a bit to the people who were there and learned that there are two to three more transports that need to be taken. Lucky.
I went under the truck almost at the time that they had nearly filled it to the brim, and as the truck started to move, I latched myself to the underside of the truck.
I highly underestimated myself. With Sol I would have been able to do it with a breeze. But amidst all the personnel of the church there was no way I could even use a drip of it to enhance my body.
I, a growing man, who barely eats or exercises, had to hold myself from falling to the ground for about straight three minutes. It was pure dread and fear that held me from falling down.
When the truck stopped, I had to hold myself from grunting or making any noise, and at the same time I had to find a hiding place to dash into when the couple of people around the inside of the blimp were organizing everything all around me.
I was already capable of silencing my steps and making myself smaller than I had to. Plus the ragged clothes, which were dirty beyond comparison, almost helped me blend.
Hiding between a couple of large metal and wooden crates, I Took a few moments to get a hold of myself and made sure to go over the plan. When I went over it all, I realized how flawed it was, and went over it again.
No, no no. Shit. SHIT!
If there were slaves in these crates, how would I get them out? How was I going to save them? If I killed the nobles, what would be next? I should have asked more questions, I should have doubted Darwin more.
“Shit…” I cursed under my breath, trying to think of a way out. A way to solve all of this.
If they were alive, I couldn’t leave them. I wouldn’t let them die. Not again, never again. But how could I save them? How could I protect them?
“...Help…”
I snapped my head in the direction of the thin muffled voice. The crate next to me. I looked at it wide eyed. The crate was too small for someone to get into it. Too small.
“...Please..”
The lid of the crate was closed, closed shut with nails. “Hold tight, don’t make a noise, I’ll help.” Taking my knife out I slowly went at the nails, trying my best not to make noise. When the lid opened a weak human groan went out.
Inside, cupped up in a position that had had his head at his knees. The young boy was as thin as paper, and he put up his hands to block out the light.
Before he could utter another word I shushed him. "I'll get you out of here, but you have to stay quiet." I spoke without thinking about how I would protect him, let alone save him.
But before he could answer his eyelids started to close, until he clearly went unconscious.
Where have you been while they have been suffering? You had the power to save them, to free them. And yet you did nothing.
Your fault.
Mother whispered in my ears.
It didn't matter how I would save them, or protect them. I would do it, or die trying.
I took the boy out of the crate and put him on the metal ground of the blimp. I didn’t really think about whether it would be better to leave him inside or try to wake him up, I only knew that being inside that small crate must have been painful for him.
With him being buck naked he soon started to shiver uncontrollably and I decided to give him my rags. Leaving me half naked from the waist up.
“After this one we have one more truck and that's all! Let's move it! Remember where to put the last fragile things!” One man shouted out, and some sort of fervor caught the workers. Thinking back on it, they all wore hardened expressions.
How far does their corruption go?
With the passing of time, I could understand the inquisitors who wanted to help the families of their friends. But it wasn’t only them. It seemed as if every part of the church was corrupted.
After all the workers finished their job, only a few people were left, making sure that everything was in place. I even had to put the boy back into the crate at one point, as one of the workers did a check in my area. After all, I couldn't have him suddenly wake up and make too much noise.
They seemed to go to other sections in which they were able to rest on chairs, or even play card games, seemingly done with their duties. I took that as my chance to take the boy out again and check other crates and barrels.
At first I went from one to one and whispered or gave small knocks, putting small markings to remember where I was in the cargo maze. It wasn’t until the fifteenth crate that a sound came out. The crate, just like the last one, was way too small, and so I couldn’t leave the person inside.
One after, I found more and more. Five people, ten, twelve. In one giant metal crate that could hold a small steam car I heard voices, and from the way the person inside described the inside, it sounded as if there were fifteen in there.
My blood boiled, as the person inside told me that two people inside had stopped moving, they didn’t have air in there. I couldn’t open them without making too much noise and alerting the workers.
I can’t kill them either, not now. They have their duties, which are checked by others. I must be patient. My mind turned cold. The blimp was still not airborne. The nobles were not on yet. But if any more were to die…
A small drop of Sol flowed through my fingertips, I slowly pushed the metal doors apart, and pushed some more. With how slow I was going there was barely any noise, the metal, under the pressure, started to crack and break, until some holes were made into the giant crate.
The smell that emanated from the small hole was potent enough for me to recognize it. It was the smell of death and decay. There weren’t only two dead people there.
After what felt like two hours. The number of people was near one hundred. While I was gathering the broken people at some hidden points and trying my best to gather clothes from some of the cargo, a large voice boomed through the blimp.
“Taking off in twenty minutes. All personnel be prepared.”
The blimp was taking off, which meant I would have to start hunting down the nobles. Which left the slaves unprotected.
Darwin didn’t really have a plan. If he had he would have told me on the ride. He wanted me to kill the nobles. but at the same time he also wanted me to save the slaves. After all, if he didn’t he wouldn’t have told me.
I looked back at the groups of people. Huddled, afraid, weak and fragile. I was once like them, but I wont have salvation, not anymore. They, however, could still be saved.
Making up my decision, I knocked out the workers who were around, and huddled the slaves together. When a few of them asked how we would get off or what’s next I told them that everything would be alright, as long as they stayed there.
Getting out of the storage room, I walked through the metal halls of the blimp, daggers at hand. I looked through any key hole that I could find and listened at any corner. When I actually heard a noble complain in one of the rooms, I had to stop myself from knocking the door down and butchering him.
They weren’t the top priority.
I walked and avoided any inquisitor or worker that was in the halls until I came upon my destination. The cockpit.
From the keyhole I could see the pilots of the blimps. All I had to do was to hold one of them with a knife and make him land it, after that, with the confusion I could kill the nobles, or try to.
Only problem was that it left the slaves with no one to save them. But at that point, I already knew that there was nothing else that could be done. I was alone. and no one would help me.
At least they would have a chance at truly fleeing the blimp while I hold them off.
I opened the door and closed it behind me. Everyone turned to look at me, with surprise on their faces. One person quickly pressed a button and brought a microphone closer to him.
Crackle sounded throughout the blimp.
I grabbed one of my knives from its blade and threw it, it hit the arm that was pushing the button.
Crackled sounded again, but the microphone didn’t relay the screams of the man. “The next one that moves dies!” I roared, adrenaline coursing through my blood. Everyone, except for the man with the knife in his arm, stilled.
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“All of you move to that corner now!” I ordered, trying my best to keep my voice steady. I walked over to the injured man and grabbed him by the stabbed arm, making him almost squeal.
With a bit more control over the situation, my mind started to cool down, I brought him to the control panel and swiftly smashed his head on the board.
Fear. Fear and violence, that's the only language they knew, the only one I knew.
I could hear the rest shuffle as the man groaned and tried to regain his balance. "Land this blimp now."
He blinked a couple of times at me, blood flowing from his head. He was going to touch the panel when the sound of a door opening drew both of our attention.
For a moment I thought that the other members were trying to escape.
But the sight I saw was far worse.
At the opened door, was an inquisitor.
My thoughts stopped and my mind turned cold.
Sol flared in the cabin, and we both sprain into action.
He dashed towards me.
I flung at him the pilot with so much power he would definitely die upon landing, dislocating his shoulder in the process.
The inquisitor bent down, mid sprint, to avoid the soon to be corpse, giving me an ample opportunity to kick him with full force to the ground. The metal carked beneath him, I followed up with another kick down, seeking to literally send him flying through the floor, out of the blimp.
He managed to dodge, but I quickly diverted the kick, sending him flying onto the control panels, smashing them in the process.
I latched onto him and started smashing, every hit bending metal, smashing his head deeper and deeper into the panels. With a move too quick for me to react he dogged one of my fists and pushed me off, throwing me into another side of the cabin’s panels.
He stood up and shambled, face deformed and bloodied. Eyes resolved.
I dashed away from the cabin, catching up to one of the cabin’s pilots who was too slow to run away, and threw him at the inquisitor.
The living projectile shrieked as he flew in the air. The inquisitor, who was chasing me down the metal corridor right out of the cabin, had no ability to step to the side. He could only bend down again with his forward momentum, leaving him open to another kick.
Only this time, I knew how much force I needed to fling him out of the blimp.
My kick smashed the inquisitor into the metal ground, bending and tearing through it. He tried to hold on to anything he could, but he only found air as I watched him fall down into the outer edges of the city.
I stared at the fading image of the flaying inquisitor. Understanding that it was the second time I had defeated an inquisitor. I let myself smile a bit, only to snap my head in the direction of the corridor.
For a moment, my eyes caught on to the eyes of the splattered corpse of the first pilot. I could feel multiple people using Sol dashing in my direction.
I couldn’t move. Even though I knew that multiple people were coming to kill me.
The world almost started to spin, I was probably breathing too hard. And just as I could sense people come a bit too close, I felt as if something snapped in me, darging me deeper into my mind, away from anything else.
Move.
The worthless corpse didn’t matter. I dashed into the cockpit and through the shattered windows. Using my Sol enhanced knives to pierce the exterior and move myself, I latched on the smooth outer side of the blimp.
Though the air was constantly at my face, I could hear the shouts from the destroyed cabin. One inquisitor was looking out from the broken window right at me, while others were shouting about how the blimp is going to crash.
The blimp was going down, it wasn’t fast, but it was ever so slowly catching speed.
As I continued to stab at the blimp and move myself further from the cabin the inquisitor kept staring at me, he didn’t make a single move to chase, probably because of the fact that he needed something to latch on.
Move.
My body moved before I could understand why. Sol exploded from inside the blimp and a hand pierced through the blimp at where I was. They could sense the small amount of Sol I put at the knives.
I pierced my way up the blimp, jumping from one point to another dogging the arms the pierced through, trying to grab me.
When I finally reached the top, there were two inquisitors waiting for me, they ripped a hole through the blimp in order to get to the top.
No chance.
I turned back and ran away, sensing the two inquisitors hot on my tail. The blimp however was not infinite, and after a second I decided to smash my way down through the blimp.
I crashed down into another part of the large blimp. Crates, barrels, luggage. It was the cargo area, an area I already snuck past while getting out the slaves.
Instincts took over. I stopped using Sol and hid. The inquisitors were at where I was a second after, but they were too late. The small etches I made on some of the crates, as well as my constant surveilling in the last couple of hours helped me know where I was in the giant maze of crates and luggage.
I could sense them separate, one went in a completely other direction, while the other went straight down a path leading to me.
I had learned from my last time in the sewers. With them there was no conserving energy.
As he was about to reach my corner, I struck with my dagger and aimed for his neck. The attack, fueled by Sol, was so powerful and swift that my arm went through his neck, his headless body slumped on the floor. Lifeless.
With the disappearance of his comrade’s presence, the second inquisitor quickly made his way to where I was. And while he did dodge the first strike I made, he didn’t dodge the second one which tore a hole through his chest.
A cackling sounded through the blimp. “All perso- -re for impact! The bl- is going dow-” A booming voice called through the speakers.
The slaves were the first thing that came to mind. The second one were the other presences of Sol that came hurtling towards the cargo area.
I dashed to where I left the slaves only to see them bundled together, some shaking, some holding their hands together in prayers. But when one of them turned to look at me, they all turned together.
They were silent and so was I. There was hope in their eyes, while I had nothing more than a scrambled mind trying to figure out how I was going to save them.
I could sense other inquisitors make their way through the cargo area. It wouldn’t take too much time before they found them, and even if they were dealt with, how would I be able to get them off the crashing blimp?
“Do any of you have a plan? How to get off this blimp?” I asked in a hurry.
All of their faces instantly fell.
One person rose from the huddled group. “I suggest we jump!” he half hissed, trying to stay silent.
From despair, their expression turned into shocked fury.
“We could open the giant door of the cargo bay, jump before the blimp truly crashes down. Maybe even put the children in one of the vehicles and drive them off. It will be safer than being in this metal coffin!”
That’s… That sounds good?
From the hopeful eyes that returned, some of them thought it to be a good plan. The cargo door could be opened, and there were a couple of cars in the giant cargo area.
“Alright so that’s the plan… I’m going to bring you all to the door and from there I will bring a couple of cars for the children. Let's move.” I briefly explained and started to move, ignoring the small protests that quickly vanished.
Dodging those inquisitors by myself would have been easy. Dogging them with a hundred slaves following in a single line was an entirely different hurdle. So before they could spot us, I would step into their path and deal with them in surprise.
Though they were prepared for something, they were not prepared for me, nor for my hate.
A couple of bloody corpses and a small scuffle with an inquisitor that was too badly hurt but refused to die, I was back leading the slaves to the door of the blimp. Though I was starting to doubt if the ‘plan’ would really work, considering everything in the cargo area was rattling and some of the smaller crates and barrels were moving on their own from the turbulence.
I swiftly found the laver for the giant cargo area door and pulled it, the door ever so slowly started to open and strong gusts of air blew through us all. The city was already past but not by much, from how slowly the blimp was falling, it would seem as if we would crash not too far from the city.
Luckily I didn’t sense any more inquisitors making their way into the cargo bay, They all stayed in the other side of the blimp, even though they could have clearly sensed the disappearance of the others who died while trying to stop me.
As everyone gathered and a few cars were brought to the door, everybody started to look at each other, some were even smiling slightly, it seemed as if we could truly make it.
Or at least the slaves will, the leftover inquisitors could chase them, and the nobles are still not dead. I thought to myself as I stood guard, waiting for any at all to come and attack the group.
“You are the noble killer aren’t you?” One of the slaves asked.
Turning around to look at the man, It was the same one who put up the idea to leave the blimp through the door. His face was grimy, and unlike some children and women who were given the expensive clothes from the noble’s cargo so that they would not freeze, he was barely clothed. Rags, that's all he had, rags that could barely hide his skin.
Yet still, there was a spark in his eyes.
“In the name of all of us. Thank you. We will never forget this.”
All turned to look at me, they didn’t need to speak to tell me their gratitude, it was set in their eyes.
For a brief moment, my heart fluttered. It wasn’t the first time saving slaves, I had learned, in the hard way, that they were my responsibility. As the only one who was opposed to those who would take and hurt, I was the only one who could save them.
My life might be of some worth. To them.
I nodded silently and returned to my vigil. But, at the brief moment of distraction, I lost track of all the Sol users in the blimp. Like lamps that turned off all together, all except for one.
And it was coming right at us.
I took a deep breath. “Prepare yourself, someone is coming.”
At the edge of my sight I saw the group simply huddle tighter together.
The person, likely an inquisitor, was running through the pathways of the blimps, to the storage area, and jumped, jumped high. Looking right at us, standing near the giant open door of the blimp.
I don’t know what made me want to run, but the sight of the bloodied inquisitor sent shivers down my spine. For a moment that can only be described as an eternity, I was a little boy running through a maze of bushes.
It’s him.
Running through snow, clawing through the bushes.
It’s him.
Bloodied, insane, death incarnate stared at me once again.
A street orphan like you doesn’t even have anywhere else to go anyway.
I sensed him making his way towards us. My heart thumping so loud it almost outgrow the winds. I took a step back, vigilance crumbling into terror, until I felt something touch my back.
Reality returned. I turned around and saw their eyes.
Hope.
A line from the book that taught me about Sol, the same book that I feverishly read in order to grow stronger, in order to not be a rat who has nowhere to go, came crashing into my mind.
Purity awaits my wretched soul. I will protect them. I will protect them all.
I took a step forward right as the bloodied inquisitor came crashing down, shambling to a straight posture. My legs were as heavy as lead and my entire body trembled. But I was ready.
The inquisitor however, wasn’t.
Weakness.
I dashed forward, throwing one dagger at him, only for him to catch it an inch from his forehead. When he casually threw it to the ground, I had reached him, fainting a blow and going low to strike him.
He moved like a blur, and my body screamed at me to move as he struck from behind.
The spot at which I was had a hole in it, the inquisitor tilted his head and looked at his bloody hand which pierced the metal. “...Ah, I've lost too much blood.” He turned his look from his hand to me. His gaze was wild. Eyes twitching, as if they were bursting with energy.
“So the voices were right.” He chuckled, and turned away from me, to the slaves.
No!
The fist came crashing down on my face before I even knew it, I didn’t even manage to take a step towards him. I crushed through the cargo of the storage.
Screams broke out and I stood on trembling feet.
The inquisitor was standing among the slaves. Corpses laid around him.
White noise clouded my ears. Warmth enveloped my entire being.
Your fa-
“No!” I sprinted at him as he kept on his slaughter. Through the bloodlust he didn’t notice me, and I managed to pick him out and throw him out of the blimp with me through the open cargo door.
Vertigo clasped me alongside the ever blasting wind, but the bloody figure made me focus. Wild eyes met mine, and a fist met my face right after.
I rolled through the air tasting blood in my mouth.
The inquisitor crashed into me, holding me by the neck. Manic laughter rang out, even the rushing air couldn’t hide the glee. He started to squeeze my neck, slowly.
I took two of his fingers and bent it, but his laughter only intensified. His grip hardened.
The world was starting to flood with black spots, my heart pounded inside my ears, I tried to reach his face to take his arms off, to claw at his mask or hands, even break more of his fingers, but he was prepared and unrelenting.
Dark turned darker with his wild eyes being the only thing I could focus on. The warmth faded and so did the noise. But just as it all faded into absolute nothingness, coldness grabbed my mind.
Second breath filled my lounges, my hand, which moved on its own, was two fingers inside the inquisitor’s eye socket, through his fragile skull touching his rotten brain. His arms left my neck, both going to my arm in a desperate attempt to grab it.
But before he could, I kicked him and we both blew away from each other.
Something crashed beneath me, and a great pain washed over my entire body. A dust cloud blew up all around me and my body was as stiff as lead.
It took me a moment to realize I had hit the ground. And that if I had survived the inquisitor must have survived as well.
Slowly rising to my feet, I could see the blimp through the dust cloud, it was nearly touching the ground, and at its speed it was going to crash rather hard.
I turned to look at the inquisitor who fell not far from me, he looked at his two bent fingers and bent them back without a whimper of pain. The mask shattered on the fall, and as he turned to look at me with his one eye, I could see dark veins around it.
Something was terribly wrong with him. Insane murderer or not. The eye which was basically shaking with vibrations, and the dark veins surrounding it were not normal.
He started to laugh, a terrible laugh.
It somewhat echoed. It was twisted and full of glee.
This is not a human.
He turned away from me to the blimp, and ran.
Instincts took over and in a split moment I was right behind him, ready to pummel him to the ground. He bent backwards, spine cracking and arms swinging straight into my stomach blowing me back.
I crashed into the ground, and an unimaginable pain rushed over my stomach. Stars took my sight and I managed to get myself up by pure power of will. The beast was running again in the direction of the blimp, this time on all four of its limbs.
I don’t know if it was fear, or strong will that forced me to chase it. The will to do something for others. The fear of being a lesser man, or perhaps nothing at all. But nonetheless I ran again and managed to catch up to it right as the slaves were jumping off the blimp.
The thing lashed out at me, body twisted, face elongated and stretched in a horrifying gleeful expression, but it was wild in its swings. I kicked it into the spine in the same moment that the blimp cracked into the ground, its screech was louder than the sound of crashing metal.
I tried to squash it with another stomp only for it to roll away and dash back at me. It clawed and screeched, it tried to tear my flesh when it grabbed hold of me. I grabbed its head and smashed it on the ground again and again. There wasn’t enough Sol to keep my body durable, and so it’s bites and inhuman claws managed to cut me and tear parts of me.
But I endured. I smashed it, it slipped, I grabbed it and bent its arm out of its socket and it slipped.
Slipped away to the direction of the crashed, burning blimp and to the slaves that were running away from the giant lump of burning metal.
“Just fucking die already!” I screamed at the top of my lounges, stomping on it again, it squirmed like a rat beneath my feet, even though the ground beneath it shattered and crumbled. I held it beneath my foot and leaned down. I grabbed it by the neck and started to pull.
It scratched at my arms and squirmed while I pulled its neck from the rest of its body. Flesh tearing and bone cracking, it kept scratching, filling my arms with deep carves until a pop rang out and its skull ripped off its body.
It stopped and flopped. And I started to use whatever Sol I had left to keep my blood inside my body. Vertigo took hold me and I tried to take control over my haggard breath.
For the first time in my entire life, I had managed to kill something that could have been said to come straight out of my normal occuring nightmares.
A tremendous achievement.
Realizing this, I smiled and grimaced at the intense pain. The rush of the fight left me alone with the almost overwhelming pain, caused by carves and cuts. Bites and cracked bones. Alongside nearly a hundred slaves rushing towards my site.
ungracefully, I kneeled at the ground, giving a small look at the corpse.
Dark ichor flowed from its headless stomp. And the head that I let go of, had flopped to the ground, and ended up facing my direction. Face stretched to its limits in a gleeful expression, one blue eye staring in my direction, It was not glassy, nor distant.
I blinked, and my entire body grew frigid as the eye seemed to stare at something distant, something far away.
Couldn’t help but wish for a moment, that it would actually stare at me. Instead of having the look of death.
When the slaves finally reached me, I was one breath away from dropping to the ground. Everything hurt, every muscle, every cut, bit, bone. And yet I stood, looking over them all.
There was something new in their eyes. Some must have saw the creature amidst our battle. And everyone that reached close enough to the corpse could see its inhuman shape. Long fingers, extended to claws. Elongated limbs and twirled body. And worse, the head and its expression that remained even in death.
To my surprise, some of the slaves fell to their knees and clasped their hands together. Eyes shut, crying, they prayed. Most simply stared between me and the corpse.
“What now?” Someone asked.
Good question. I looked at the giant burning blimp, and back at the city.
City it is. I thought and started to shamble towards it. Darwin better have had something, anything at all, in mind.
One step, three. The sound of footsteps sounded behind me.
My vision blurred, something was wrong.
I looked at my hands and saw that my blood started to flow freely. I had run out of Sol.
Ah.
A gentle euphoria came over me.
This is it?
I stumbled and fell, people shouted behind me and I blacked out for a moment.
And in the next moment the city was much closer. The slaves carried me, but they stopped. There were inquisitors and crusaders in front of us. A red haired man stood at the helm raising his two hands with his palms open towards us.
In a haze I shook the slaves away from me, and drew any drop of Sol that I had inside me. It felt like I was pulling something important away, but it mattered not.
“... I won't… Let you touch them…” I stood in front of the slaves for a moment, seeing the familiar red haired man’s eyes widen.
The next moment, my legs gave out.
I didn’t hit the ground.
But darkness took me all the same.