Urekin was still kneeling on the floor as he warily watched Lanri making her way over to him. Her movements could not be described as graceful, instead, they had a methodical efficiency to them. Her purposeful strides were not broken by the debris lying about, as she kicked any obstacles out of her way.

“You are not a Suggestor,” she said when she finally stood over him.

“I’m not, no. Never said I was one either,” said Urekin as he tried to get up from the floor, but Lanri placed a firm hand on his shoulder and kept him down with ease.

“Subjector?”

“Yes.”

“Then clear the room.”

Urekin looked up at her for a while more, then attempted to focus on the debris lying about, yet as soon as he tried to lift anything up, his nausea came back twofold and he began vomiting on the floor. His position was awkward, as his body involuntarily started bending over, yet Lanri held it in place with ease, not minding the vomit which dripped down her arm. Pain shot into his sides as his body fought the position he was forced into, and he thought that he might have cracked a rib, when the nausea finally stopped.

“From now on, you work under me. You do what I tell you, no more, no less. Understood?”

Urekin managed a weak reply, after which she released her grip on him.

“There is a team shift in twelve hours. Our Boundary needs to be powered, so we must provide a distraction away from the Apsylum. Be at the Aula on time.”

Lanri strode away from him, which gave Urekin a moment to spit out the bile that had remained in his mouth, and he finally managed to get up, although any sudden movements resulted in a surge of pain in his left side. Looking around the room, he could see that Sergh had already opened a portal back to the Aula, and the two injured were carefully carried through.

Urekin made his way through as well, taking his steps gingerly to avoid straining himself. On the other side, he could see Lanri and Vehn talking quietly among themselves, while Vehn was looking over at him. Soon after he stepped through, the portal closed behind him and the sounds of the people around him crashed all around him in a wave, and he could not make out their words in the jumbled sounds. Vehn then gave him a nod and walked toward the elevators.

Lanri headed out through the entrance hallway, while Sergh and some others rushed the injured Igrim and the man away to another room. Only Enti remained nearby, and the ogre was leaning against the counter, with his iconic console in his hands already. There was a slight bump to the left of his horns, the initial signs of a swelling being formed.

“Enti, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” said Urekin.

Enti cleared his throat as a reply and continued playing, but he seemed to be more relaxed as he lowered his shoulders.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, Enti playing his game while Urekin tried to find some way to talk to the ogre. During that time, moved about the Aula on some work or another, or just were resting together and watched others work. However, all of them gave a wide berth to the both of them, with what Urekin thought were wary glances.

“...I’m also sorry,” came the deep rumbling voice from Enti. “I almost lost control and hurt you back.”

“Lost control?”

Enti gave a deep nod as he said, “...I know what it’s like, hurting others when you don’t mean to.”

Urekin didn’t want to interrupt the ogre, now that he actually got him talking, but Enti just kept his attention on the console, content on not saying anymore on the subject. Urekin decided not to push the subject some more, but he wanted to know the ogre some more, while he was feeling talkative.

“Can I ask you something, Enti?”

A deep grunt.

“I don’t mean any offense, but ogres are highly sought after everywhere, and there aren’t exactly a lot of you. So how did two of them end up here? Weren’t there better places for you?”

Enti seemed to chew on his words before he said, “...Anti can do here what he wants, as long as he does his job well,” he gave a shrug, “nowhere else would they let him glazed.”

“Wait, they allow him to do drugs? And that doesn’t concern you?”

Another deep grunt.

“But what if he-”

“He has his reasons, as do you, and so do others. That’s it,” he said, and left the counter, along with Urekin. His large frame hunched as he thundered over to the elevators, his head in his game.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Urekin was left wondering about the exchange. No matter how he thought about it, letting anyone be drugged out of their wits was a bad idea already, but letting an ogre do it was plain reckless. He could just imagine the carnage it would cause, if one went berserk.

Carnage, huh? I guess I’m not much better either, and I’m not even glazed. He thought back to the moment where he was so frustrated with not being able to do as he pleased, something blocking his attempts, and then just going all out and causing the destruction. In the moment, he felt elated at his own strength, then both the things he was holding up, and his elation crashed back down to reality. He still felt a bit nauseous when he thought about moving anything, but at least the world had stopped spinning upside down.

What had caused the nausea though? He was sure he overdid it somehow, but at the same time, he remembered being able to control much more during previous years, as he lifted up a bridge with some help from others of his Kin. Was his contribution back then less, than what he thought it had been? Surely not. Even so, that probably was the smaller issue for him at this point.

The people before had seemed wary of him, true, but at least they were curious and somewhat welcoming, yet the news spread fast of his stunt, and now he saw mistrust and even fear in people’s eyes, when they met his gaze. Most looked away, some stared back challengingly. Some had even had disappointment written in them, as he thought back to how Vehn had looked at him just a few minutes ago. He wasn’t sure why, but that hurt him more than it should have.

On the other hand, he thought Lanri seemed to be more excited about him, although she was as unreadable as on the first day he had met her, and infinitely more terrifying. He was sure she could have snapped his neck while he was kneeling on the floor. He had half expected her to, at his weakened state. He winced as he placed some pressure on his side. Maybe she had considered it at one point…

Urekin got up from the counter, made his way to the entrance, and went through the corridor. He found himself back at the construction site where he half expected to be stopped, but while there were some glares, nobody did anything. Enti’s twin brother, Anti, was standing outside again, his lavender clothing immaculate, and his posture straight and confident. Yet, his stare was glazed, unfocused eyes looking into whatever depths he saw.

Urekin shivered involuntarily and quickly made his way further outside, to see how the construction work was going. The Boundary, was a thick layer of copper set into the ground, forming a large perimeter around the construction site, with the Apsylum at its center. As it was, he could see people gathered around panels, at distanced intervals, but he didn’t know anything about these sorts of work. Urekin looked about to see where Lanri might be, but since he couldn’t find her anywhere, he just watched the construction work for a while before continuing on.

When Urekin was far enough away from anyone else, he just settled down onto the ground and looked out toward the rest of the city, covered in impenetrable darkness. It had only been a day or two since he had arrived here, and remembered walking confidently through the dark streets toward the light he saw. He was glad of his ignorance back then, as his knowledge of the Warren had placed everything into a new perspective.

Even now, the darkness around the city seemed more like a veil, a beast of its own, even without the nightmares that were crawling about in it. There was a reason Warrens were cordoned off, yet here they were building something inside of one. Not only that, but he was going to be taken into the heart of the madness. He wasn’t sure what kind of distraction they would be causing, but he knew for certain that their purpose was to be bait while the Boundary was finished.

Urekin jumped up, and looked about nervously, as he felt as if something was staring at him, and the darkness seemed to flicker at the cusp where the light’s strength faded away. It was probably just his imagination toying with him, but he slowly backed away nonetheless, keeping his eyes from focusing on any particular thing, and just trying to track movement. The strange feeling only eased up when he was back inside the Aula, and making his way toward the elevator.

As Urekin made his way up to the second floor, he saw Sergh talking to a few people. There was a woman with a shaved head and a nasty scar running across her face, splitting her lips, and two men in guard uniforms. Urekin strode up to them and the conversation quieted down as they saw him approach.

“Sergh,” Urekin said, “How are the others?”

Sergh gave a sigh as he said, “They’ll make it, is what it looks like. Igrim has a bad concussion, as he slammed his head pretty hard and will be out for a day or two, but Alrek’s already come to and is more pained about his broken CalibroK than anything else.”

“I’m relieved to hear that. I also wanted to apologize to you about what happened, I-”

“Look, we all make mistakes, I understand that. Some of us make them more costly than others, but Enti of all people came over to me and told me not to be too hard on you. If he can put it past you, then so can I.”

“Thank you,” said Urekin, feeling a lot more relieved.

“Don’t thank me. I heard you are heading out with the others during the team shift, that’s punishment enough as it is.”

“What does that mean though? Lanri said we were to provide some form of distraction, but she didn’t go into the details.”

Sergh just shrugged his shoulders, while the woman with a scar running across her face on his left asked, “He’s also on the team shift?”

“Lanri’s orders,” said Sergh with a nod.

“That’s just what we need. A rookie who will not only get us killed, but might do the bent deed himself! I need to have a word with Lanri,” she said as she strode off the way Urekin had come from, shoving past him with force. The two men followed quickly after her, one of them giving Urekin a nod out of courtesy.

“Look, going out into the city is no laughing matter at the best of times, even with people you know and trust at your back. I’m really not sure what Lanri is thinking this time, if I’m to be honest,” said Sergh, shaking his head.

“So what am I supposed to do then? I didn’t ask for it.”

“Just… Try to not hinder the others. Do as you are told and try not to hinder them. Eventually I will extract you when the time comes, so just follow their lead. That’s the best advice I can give you, as from what I’ve heard, planning ahead is mostly useless out there.”

“That’s not at all reassuring, Sergh.”

Sergh patted him gently on his shoulder, “I’m sure Lanri has something in mind, but I don’t know what yet. Just try to get some rest, you are going to need it.”

With that Sergh left Urekin wondering, with dread creeping in as he thought about tomorrow.