A crystalline spear coalesced within Amus’ palm, shining bright with golden energy as the Dawnseeker slowly marched through the field of corpses. He only stopped when he had reached the edge of the battlefield, no more than some fifteen feet away from Inspector Davids. Amus lowered his spear, drawing a line in the sand with its tip.
“I’m not here to fight, don’t you worry Golden Boy.” Davids grinned with a shrug. “You already killed one. Just hand me the runts and I’ll go.”
Silas watched as the other groups received a nod from Amus and slowly stepped away from their mutants. When his small group received the nod, they too backed away while Silas stood still next to it, his blade now still in his hand. His eyes locked onto the Inspector’s figure, trying to see some semblance of humanity, remnants of the man that was.
“You don’t wanna let that one go, kid?” Davids paced over leisurely. No one moved. Even when the mutant crossed Amus’ line, the surroundings were silent. Silas wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t move or if Amus just didn’t care, but no one stopped him.
Lilith was physically held back by the Sergeant next to her while Hector’s hands were held tight by the Ice Mage next to him, leaving Silas alone to face Davids. When the mutant finally stopped, he was only steps away from Silas. “You want it dead?”
“Yes.” Silas nodded, stern.
“Even if I want it alive?”
“Definitely.”
Davids leaned to the right, peering around Silas to look at the limp mutant’s condition. Silence lingered briefly until the former Inspector sighed, finally pulling a hand from his pockets and rubbing the back of his neck. “Fine, fine. You got a grudge or something?”
“It nearly killed me. Twice.” Silas nodded again, hiding the confused look in his eyes.”
“Fair enough. This one’s on the house then, kid. An aberrant is worth a lot, too. You owe me.” Davids grinned, stepping around Silas and approaching the limp mutant. The former’s dull green eyes shone for the smallest moment.
Then Davids kicked its head clean off its body, sending it flying over a nearby rooftop. In the midst of its many rotations mid-air, Silas caught a glimpse of confusion in its dull green eyes. When he lost sight of it, he slowly looked back to Davids.
“Now, you said you know me?”
“We met briefly. More like acquaintances.” Silas said tentatively, keeping an eye on the mutant’s movements. “You’re my friend’s boss.”
“Fuck. I killed an Aberrant for an acquaintance?” Davids groaned, slipping his hand back into his pockets and turning to walk away with some muttering.
“If you tell me what an Aberrant is, I’ll tell you my friend’s name.”
The mutant stopped in place, gradually turning around on one foot. His expression betrayed a hint of interest and amusement. Silas ignored Amus’ frown in the distance. “Your friend’s name, yeah? He knew me well?”
“I’d say.”
“Deal. Shake on it?”” Davids appeared in front of Silas with a gust of wind, his hand outstretched towards him. As Silas shook his hand, the mutant’s grin deepened. Once they both let go, he immediately got into explaining.
“An aberrant is any mutant with green eyes. Simple. Once an aberrant reaches… Physique Establishment?” He looked to Silas, who nodded. “They ‘regain’ their intelligence. Only not quite human anymore. Now, gimme the name.”
“Sergeant Glass.”
“Sergeant is one helluva first name.” Davids chuckled. When it became clear to him that Silas didn’t intend on clarifying, he just sighed and waved his hand. “Whatever whatever. Good enough. Not like this place has much more Sergeants anyways.
Davids whistled sharply and the remaining Aberrants formed a circle around him. They stepped right back over the line in front of Amus as Davids gave him a wave before they all disappeared into the fog.
Amus gave Silas a long look and then retreated back into the compound, leading the rest of the Wayfinders in with him. Silas knelt down, digging the bloodstone out from the limp mutant’s corpse, gathered his things, and then followed behind the crowd. His rage had died down, sure. He didn’t like just how human Davids still seemed.
As Silas calmed down and his emotions simmered out, the fear energy drained from his veins and exhaustion quickly overtook him, his boiling blood energy now listless. He had solidly stepped through the Fourth Gate just to feel like he did nothing with it, not to mention the crack in his Nightmare Seed.
[Congratulations, Silvanus. Your Nightmare Seed has Cracked]
[Congratulations, Silvanus. You have opened the Fourth Gate]
[You are growing fast]
“Yeah? Been nearly a month and I can still barely fight.”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
[.. Your world is in peril, Silas. Take solace in being alive]
Rolling his eyes, Silas stepped through the gate and back into the crowd, pocketing the bloodstone before anyone could see. Lady Brightshade walked into view, the air suddenly shimmering in place before she emerged from it. Silas’ eyes narrowed. She was stronger. And unhurt.
“We won.” Brightshade spoke to all, standing in front of Amus. Valmor stood behind them, continuing to hold his snapped bow. “But not without a cost. A moment of silence for those we’ve lost.”
The moment passed and Brightshade continued her weird impromptu speech, Silas noting that it was very obvious she had never done anything of the sort before. Rigid speech and strange verbage. He didn’t really care- not everyone is innately good at speaking. His issue came at the end.
Silas raised his hand high and spoke when Brightshade nodded at him, something she regretted quickly. “Lady Brightshade, Amus, why are we still here?”
“Pardon?”
“Why are we still here? In Ironside? We are completely outnumbered and they have proven intelligent. The literal stars have fallen alongside the gods, a magic Lotus is sending us to worlds unknown, and there are at least a thousand people here who need to get out of Ironside as soon as possible.”
“The mutants are growing and fast. We can’t rely on simply not losing. As far as I know, the Lower City still stands. The Mayor and the Garrison Leader are both still alive and they’re likely stronger than anything else in the city right now. We can meet up with them and leave.”
“Then go.”
“What?”
Lady Brightshade’s eyes turned dark. “Then you can leave. We are not stopping you, yes? Don’t worry about the bullets you used, either. Just go.”
Blood dripped down Silas’ side and onto the gravel below. His bones ached deep while his muscles burned like fire, pins and needles spread throughout his entire body. Even his blood energy was lethargic, albeit it had slowly begun to boil again. “And the group?”
“Will stay here.” Brightshade spoke coldly. “As a group. Why, do you believe yourself a better leader? You barely know the Empyrean Pathway and your Nightweaver Path has no direct power-”
“Shut up.” Silas commanded, the Eye from the Nightmare Seed looking at Brightshade. With a flash of purple and blue, she found herself unable to speak even as he opened her mouth. Her expression changed as she stood in stunned, forced silence.
He figured it out. It’s just politics. They want control. Over people, Wayfinders, Empyreans, whatever. They had a group who did as they said and hoped it would stay that way for as long as possible. If they brought these people to the Lower City, control would return to the Mayor and Old Isaac. After that, they’d just be Wayfinders again. Not leaders.
Brightshade had even probably been here the whole time, looking for opportunities to assassinate an Aberrant. The issue was that she failed and the fight just went on. How many would have survived if she took action sooner? Or at all? Why didn’t she?
It was eating away at him the last month or so. Once he settled in. They had done absolutely nothing to change the status quo, sitting within the fences and hiding away as they got stronger. Even risking running into the mist outside the city was a better idea than waiting here for the mutants to get strong enough to just wipe them out.
Amidst strange looks and worried gazes, Silas left the crowd and stepped into his little room, quickly grabbing any belongings and spare clothes he had, which was incredibly little. He only found a few spare bullets and his chisel materials.
Packing up, Silas noticed Lilith standing next to his room quietly. He picked up a roll of bandages, sitting down on his cot. His jaw tightened as she stood there, watching. Gesturing with the roll in hand, he spoke blankly. “Do you mind?”
She raised a brow, nodded, and then stepped inside. With a quick grab, Silas suddenly lost the roll of bandages and stared at Lilith with a dumbfounded look. “Excuse me?”
Lilith tilted her head at him and then stepped forward. Silas scootched back.
Silas scootched back again, Lilith stepped forward.
“Treatment.” Lilith shook the bandages in her hand. “You asked.”
When Silas was finally against the wall, he looked at Lilith who maintained the same distance the whole time and just sighed in defeat. In one movement, the Solari pulled his shirt over his eyes and wrapped him, tight, in bandages until no blood was seen.
He let out a squawk as she finally tore the bandage and clipped it into place, pulling his shirt back down and slapping his chest hard. Lilith nodded upon seeing a job well done, then sat down next to him. “When we leave, I’d like to pick up the Blackwall Gang.”
“What? When we leave?”
“Yes. when we leave the Refinery. We’ll pick up my father on the way.” She tilted her head again, confused. “Is that a problem?”
Silas shook his head with a groan, struggling to loosen up the bandages a little bit. “No, not at all. I’ll remember that.”
“Good.”
“Can I bring my family, too?” Hector appeared in front of Silas’ little hut with a hand raised slightly, not daring to look the tyrant Lilith in the eye. “There won't be many people. We don’t want to just wait here.”
“You’re both coming with me?”
“Well, and my family yes-” Hector stopped, “Should I not? It just seemed like you kinda had a point back there.”
“Yes, but I’m also weak.”
“She’s not.” Hector pointed at Lilith, sighing. “And an entire gang of people following behind is a force to be reckoned with. I say we’ll be fine until we hit the Lower City.”
Exhausted, Silas got them up to date on when to meet the next day and pulled a pair of rather heavy rocks from beneath the bed. He spent some time slowly getting familiar with his newfound strength, as much as he could without straining his injuries at least. The Fourth Gate was an incredible increase from the Third.
If the Third Gate was the peak of human condition, the Fourth surpassed it by a good margin, increasing his strength and likely his speed by a third. If that’s the case, he’d likely be twice as strong at the Sixth Gate and three times stronger than the Third Gate at Nine. He needed to make sure they picked up the Blood Cleansing Pills on the way back.
He definitely needed to ask The Director about the Twelfth Gate and the Atlas Gate. The Nameless Ascension Art didn’t mention either, and it seemed fairly common knowledge to Cassandra. Did one of the guards tell her? Another Wayfinder? If it was the former, it’s just dumb luck. The latter meant not all Empyreans were from as humble a beginning as he was.
Silas’ strength as a Nightweaver was growing fast. If another Wayfinder was in a similar situation with their path and had the safety and resources required for quick growth.. power would shift quickly from Imperial hands in places of less control. If that was the case, he’d have to be careful.