Chapter 120: A Radio Chat (Part 1)
Hearing Hunter’s thrilled and relieved voice, I beamed at Hazel, who just responded to my expression with, “We don’t know who else is listening, so be careful with what you say. And don’t say I’m with you.”
Nodding at her first, I push the button to talk and say, “Hunter! How are you? Are you okay?”
“Yeah… I’m good,” he pauses for a moment. “I’m a little hungry, but I’m probably not alone there…”
“Definitely not! No sleep either!” I say, overjoyed and chuckling.
“Tell me about it. So, uh… are you in this maze, too? I swear I’m going crazy in this place,” says Hunter.
“Yeah, I am. But just to be sure that we’re in the same place… are there long hallways, lights in the ceiling, and weird shadows following you?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” answers Hunter before going quiet.
“But that’s not all there is…” a new male voice then spoke.
It’s Forest!
“About time you spoke up!” interrupted Hunter, his infectious, cheerful tone only making my smile wider.
“Damn, I wish I had remembered about these radio transceivers earlier. Anyway, have any of you seen a painting by any chance?” abruptly asks Hunter.
A painting?
Glancing over at Hazel to see if she had seen one before we ran into each other, she silently shakes her head.
“Nah, I haven’t,” replies Hunter.
“Me neither,” I add on.
“Hm, okay. So these paintings must be pretty hard to find, which means that they’re important in some regard,” says Forest, staring at a painting in front of him.
“Yeah, they are,” groggily says Ember, joining the conversation in typical ‘Ember-like’ fashion.
Forest doesn’t seem to be thrown off by her response as he asks, “Mind filling me in?”
“I don’t know if we found the same painting or if all the paintings are identical, but the painting should be pointing in the direction you need to go. If you go that way, you’ll eventually exit the maze and find a large room with a spiral staircase. That’s where I am.”
“Large room with a spiral staircase… understood. I take from your last sentence that you’ll wait for me there?”
“Yeah, I will be. A few hours ago… I found Faith dead in one of the hallways. She was alone, and I don’t know how she died. But I know that if we don’t try and work together, I have this gut feeling that we’ll meet a similar fate,” says Ember.
A sorrowful expression materializes on my face.
Faith…
“Okay… I’ll try not to take long,” says Forest.
“You shouldn’t. I discovered this place about an hour after encountering the painting. I don’t mind waiting; I need the rest anyway,” says Ember.
“How are we supposed to find these paintings?” desperately asks Hunter.
“Sorry, Hunter, there’s not much I can do to help you there. There aren’t any indications or clues that’ll help you find the painting; you just have to find it,” says Ember, yawning afterward.
“Okay… shoot. Y’all better wait for me too!” says Hunter, whose often relentless determination is reignited with fresh hope and purpose as he takes off running down the halls.
Pushing the button to talk again, I say, “I’ll do my best to catch up as well. Good luck to everybody.”
I take a deep breath and turn to Hazel, letting go of the button, “Guess we have ourselves a painting to find.”
She nods, and the two of us start down the hallway again.
After walking down various hallways for a few minutes, Hazel expresses, “Thank you… for listening and not revealing that I’m with you.”
I weakly smiled, “Of course.”
***
Putting the radio transceiver down, Scar peeks out from around a corner and inspects the series of green lines his goggles are presenting. Making a right turn, Scar’s mind goes to work as he analyzes the information he just eavesdropped on.
No surprise that Ember and Forest aren’t far behind. At this rate, though, I’ll solve this maze before they even climb the staircase. I don’t know how many mazes there are ahead of me, so advancing ahead might not be the worst strategy. Eliminating the others might be required, but to be honest, I might not be forced to take such measures…
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Scanning up and down the path, a green, wolf-like silhouette suddenly emerges and separates itself from the left wall. Silently sprinting toward me on all fours, I lift my weapons in preparation for combat. Taking the first step, I activate rift flow and strike through the invisible wolf, killing it instantly. Rising to my feet and looking behind me, the green silhouette fades away, and I refocus my attention on the path ahead.
Because this maze’s monsters are much more lethal than that passive shadow…
Alex’s POV
Entering a large room, my attention is immediately drawn to the central staircase. But almost as quickly as I noticed the stairs, I saw Ember sitting up against a wall adjacent to me. She must’ve heard my footsteps because her eyes opened in a flash as she whipped her head toward me. Processing that she was looking at me, Ember immediately reached for her sword and got to her feet, holding up the blade's edge in my direction.
This sequence of actions has occurred in the split second since I entered the room, and now I’m caught in a predicament. Activating my iris, I hold my position.
Shit… what do I do here…?
Between the two of us, Ember spoke up first, “Ace… been a while.”
Remaining indecisive, I don’t make a move as I reply, “Yeah, it has.”
“I don’t know how long this conversation here will last, but I have no issues with you. The difference in our strength is obvious, and I’m not stupid enough to take a fight that I don’t have a chance in hell at winning. In other words, I’m entirely at your mercy in this situation.”
Growing comfortable with those facts, I take a step toward her, and that simple action causes her to take two steps back in response.
“You’re cautious and attentive; not much has changed since I last saw you.”
“Can’t say the same for you. Seems you got a handle on those powers now; maybe exile wasn’t the worst thing for you,” she says, remaining vigilant.
My gaze narrows at the mention of my exile.
Exile wasn’t the worst thing for me?! Like hell, that’s true! She doesn’t know shit!
“Now that I’m thinking about it… Ember, you voted for me to be exiled… didn’t you?” I say, taking another step toward her.
Taking two steps toward the center of the room, Ember replies, “Yeah, and telling you that I regret that decision would be a lie. You seem like a pretty straight-up guy, and if my vote is enough reason to kill me… so be it.”
“Because of you and the others… I’ve gone through hell, you know that?” I say, not exactly sure of what the purpose of that question was after saying it aloud.
“I’ve got a rough idea. Correct me if I’m wrong, but from the information I’ve gathered… you met Zeris and have been tagging along with him for the past couple of days.”
“That’s… actually a pretty good summary. I won’t waste your time with the extra details, but I can’t exactly attest that I was overjoyed to work for the guy,” I say as I take another step.
“Overjoyed, past tense. Are you and Zeris no longer working together?” asks Ember, shuffling back a few steps.
“Not exactly, but he’s been keeping his eye on me… I bet he’s even watching us as we speak.”
“I see… so if you’re not here on his order, the decision to kill me is entirely up to you,” says Ember. “You know… it’s kind of hard to tell with the glowing eyes, but your powers aren’t the only part of you that has changed. Your expression has, and while it is difficult to read… the look in your eyes tells me that something drastic has occurred in the short period we’ve been apart.”
A chuckle escapes my lips, “I’d argue the word ‘something’ doesn’t do it justice.”
Ember takes a breath, “Look, I’m not gonna waste any breath begging you not to kill me. If you want to, I say just get it over with. That being said… I’m not exactly useless. Killing me might be a mistake; who knows. Nonetheless, the fact that you haven’t already killed me leads me to believe that you have a different goal in mind. A goal far more important to you than killing me.”
As I recall my foremost purpose, an abrupt rage starts burning inside my chest, and my powers start to flare much more flamboyantly, “If I were you, I’d stop speaking to me as if we’re equals here.”
“Heard, but if you’re going to kill me, I’d at least appreciate some answers first.”
If she’s scared… she’s doing a damn good job hiding it.
Slightly nodding at her, Ember asks, “Did you kill Faith?”
My eyebrows raise when hearing Faith is dead, and I reply, “No… I killed Delta.”
“Hmph, I don’t really blame you. So it must’ve been Scar then…” she mutters, which makes me take a few steps toward her.
“Scar… where is he?!” I demand, snapping my fingers as a ball of fire manifests just above my thumb and index finger, ready to be thrown at a moment’s notice.
Processing my threat, Ember slowly nods as she says, “I see now… that’s what it is.”
“Don’t f*ck with me, Ember! Where is Scar?!” I demand once more, the fireball doubling in size.
“I… I don’t know. I never saw him,” Ember slowly responds, her softer voice disclosing that she fully realizes her answer might get her killed.
Holding back the urge to attack her by the skin of my teeth, I huff in place as I wait for something to happen.
“But,” she says, not breaking eye contact with me for a second.
“I have a good idea of where he’s gone,” concludes Ember, tilting her head toward the staircase.
Exchanging glances between the staircase and Ember, the fireball I’ve created retains its’ shape as I recall her earlier words about not lying.
“If I don’t find him up there, you’re dead,” I say, pointing at her as the fireball vanishes and my arms transform into blazing razorblades.
Keeping an eye on Ember as I advanced toward the staircase, she remained vigilant and focused every step of the way. Her stance and unflinching gaze suggested that she told me nothing but the truth, yet she still didn’t trust me enough to take her at her word.
Only when I was climbing up the final steps of the staircase did Ember say, “Wait.”
Glaring down at her, I quickly bark, “What now?”
After gently placing the sword on the ground, Ember raised her arms as she kicked the sword away. Without looking away from me, she walked backward until she stood beside her bag, which she picked up. Unzipping the main compartment, Ember reached her hand inside and grabbed a pair of goggles.
Dropping the bag on the ground, she walked over and tossed the pair of goggles up to me.
As I caught them, she finally said, “You’ll need those if you want to go up there. And if I hear anything, I’ll let you know as soon as possible.”
“Thanks,” I replied, briefly looking at the goggles before climbing the rest of the steps.