Chapter 22 - Path and Pull

Lazar pressed his hand against the cool stone wall, feeling for any lingering vibrations. He frowned, moving closer to listen, but he couldn’t hear anything. He couldn’t tell if that strange rumbling was truly gone, or if his perception had grown so poor after falling that he could no longer tell.

“I think it’s stopped for now,” he said, finally taking a step back. His brows were furrowed. “It sounds like it came from deeper into the caves, but I can’t tell what the source was.” The scale of the sound had brought to mind the dragons of the third realm, and it wasn’t impossible that there could be demons of similar statures in the Abyss. There was also the chance that it was an earthquake or some other movement of the land, unattached to any living being.

“You and me both.” Ciel walked up to the walls as well, knocking on one of them. “Not that it matters. We don’t really have much of a choice here, unless you’re a fan of going outside again.”

Lazar’s eyes flickered to the thin gap at the cave entrance, and he shook his head.

“No, it would be too dangerous when those flesh eaters already know we’re here.” He paused, considering. “Do you know your way around these tunnels?”

“Nah, I’ve never taken this route.” The demon shrugged. “Even if I had, it’s been so long that shit’s probably all different now anyway.”

Lazar frowned and peered deeper into the darkness. It would be easy to get lost within those winding paths, and there was no guarantee they led to the bottom of the ravine. His uninjured hand gripped at his chest, and he exhaled. He hadn’t succeeded in perceiving essence while in the cavern, but it should be thicker here, so much closer to the gate.

The seraph closed his eyes, slowing his breaths until they fell in a long, even pace. He focused on that rhythmic sound, allowing all other noises to disappear, quieting everything but the faint warmth of his soul. He pictured thin strings of essence coiling around rocks and stones. Inhaling, he attempted to reach out and grasp them.

A sharp spasm sent him doubling over. He wheezed, clutching at his chest. It had only lasted a second, but for that single moment, it had felt like he was falling again.

It took several moments for his ragged breathing to settle down. Slowly, Lazar opened his eyes. His hand was shaking, barely listening to his commands as he pulled back his collar just enough to glance down at his chest.

The mark sat there, its jagged lines innocuous and, to his relief, the exact same size as before. He released the fabric. He’d gotten lucky. He could’ve easily further damaged his soul just now.

Lazar carefully straightened again. He still felt a bit dizzy, but the pain was quickly subsiding. Gold eyes studied him impassively.

“Did the mark grow?” The flesh eater’s voice was every bit as clinical as her gaze was. Lazar shook his head.

“No, I… I was trying to sense the realm gate to see if it could help us through the caves. It seems I pushed my soul a bit too far.”

“Notice anything?”

Lazar blinked. Careful to use only a surface level of perception, he focused again. The seraph’s eyes widened.

It was faint, barely perceptible, but there was just the hint of a pulling sensation on his soul. Like a string lightly tugging it in one direction, beckoning and calling.

An emotion that felt dangerously like hope bubbled up, but Lazar quickly forced himself to further analyze the situation before he could do something impulsive.

Besides that slight pulling sensation, there was nothing else he could tell about the feeling. Based on the fact that it was specifically acting on his soul, it was indeed possible that it was a natural reaction to the realm gate’s presence. His soul, stripped of so many layers during its fall, now craved more concentrated essence.

On the other hand, that wasn’t a guarantee, especially when he still wasn’t able to see any strands themselves. Lazar admittedly didn’t know much about the process of gaining essence perception; perhaps it was normal to first develop a general feeling for it, then move on to active visualization.

The more he considered alternate explanations, however, the more Lazar realized that, whether the pull was from the realm gate or not, they didn’t have many other options.

“I can feel a pulling sensation on my soul,” Lazar explained. “I’m not certain it’s from the gate, but it does seem to lead through the cave system.”

The demon hummed.

“Well, it sounds like it’s better than nothing. I certainly don’t know the route.”

He nodded slowly. “I agree, but we should be careful. There could be any number of demons in these caves.”

“Personally I wouldn’t mind running into a few.” Ciel held up her hand, which was still visibly crooked and misaligned even wrapped and covered in bandages as it was. She grinned. “I need to stock back up.”

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Lazar tightened and loosened his hold on the halberd, testing the strength of his fingers, then glanced down at his makeshift sling. He could move that arm if necessary, he assessed, and he felt overall stronger than when he’d just woken up from falling. Still, given the injuries both he and Ciel had sustained and the demon’s lack of reserves, he knew better than to think they could handle an attack like the soul eater or the horde of flesh eaters again so soon.

“If there’s more than three at once, I’m not sure we’d be able to handle them with our injuries.”

The flesh eater raised an eyebrow.

“So basically you’re saying you approve of fighting as long as it’s, like, only two demons.”

Lazar felt the corners of his lips tug up.

“Approve is a strong word.”

Ciel snorted, pushing aside some stray strands of hair from her face without much care. “Well, better head out before that rumbling starts up again then.” She tapped on her chest, mirroring the position of his mark with a grin. “Lead the way, seraph.”

Lazar nodded, but paused. He glanced back at the thin gap, the sheer cliff face barely visible between wall and boulder, and the shining stones dotted with black flowers.

He brought his hands together. The motion was a bit clumsy and off center due to the sling, but he managed it. Quietly, he murmured the passing prayer, the same alternate form he’d used at the base of the mountain.

It wasn't until he was done that he focused on the pulling sensation again, took a step forward, and began to make his way deeper into the caves.

The whole time, he felt Ciel’s golden gaze burning into his back.

—

The moment the realm gate’s light could no longer reach the walls, the cave was quickly plunged into darkness. Those reflective stones were completely mundane without light, and the inky flowers became indistinguishable from their surrounding stone.

The pulling sensation remained constant, guiding them around bends and corners and steadily through forks in the road. Lazar noted that the path did indeed continuously slope downwards, which lent some credence to the idea that it would eventually take them to the ravine floor.

As he walked, he swept the end of his halberd in front of him, using it to feel the path ahead. Ciel walked beside him, albeit much more casually, and she didn’t seem to have any hesitation about speaking out loud unlike in the cavern. He suspected it was because she was actively trying to draw other demons out, and while he didn’t like how exposed it made them, he understood the reasoning. Only time would heal his own injuries, but the demon was one “meal” away from regaining use of both hands.

“How far’s your mark anyway?”

Lazar carefully wove around a sharp stalagmite, his halberd clinking against it as he did so.

“It hasn’t started spreading yet,” he said truthfully.

“Ah, freshly fallen.” The demon’s eyes narrowed for a second in contemplation. “I’m guessing you’re not that far along on the whole soul building thing, then.”

“I haven’t managed to perceive essence again, no.” Lazar frowned. “I’m getting closer, I believe. I think I should be able to by the time we reach the realm gate.” He paused, taking in the sound of their echoing footsteps. “How close to ascending are you?”

“Couple more meals away. Less if we find some demons with stronger souls.”

That made Lazar glance her way.

“I didn’t realize ascension could be achieved so… quickly.”

She snorted. “Oh it’s not. There’s a reason most flesh eaters never make it. I just had a better baseline to work with, plus that soul eater was probably one of the better meals out there.”

Lazar stayed quiet, silently observing her through the darkness. The demon didn’t seem to have any qualms or hesitation about referring to other demons, including sentient ones like the soul eater, as meals. There was a casualness to it, neither kind nor malicious, that seemed to mirror everything else he knew and had heard about the flesh eater so far.

It was odd, to interact with someone who was so distant from everything. For as much as Julius had tried to be stoic, he was always inherently an emotional person, and he’d never quite been able to erase that part of himself.

Cold eyes flashed in his mind. Lazar tightened his grip on the halberd.

A distant clatter broke him out of his thoughts. Snapping to attention, Lazar ducked behind a large boulder and heard Ciel do the same. From the narrow space between the rock and the cave wall, he could just barely detect hints of movement, but it was too dark to make out anything specific.

“Flesh eaters, mindless by the looks of things.” Ciel’s low voice rumbled from behind him. “Two.”

Lazar glanced back, and he could see hints of amusement dancing in her golden gaze.

“That fits your rules, right?”

The seraph couldn’t help but smile a little. “It does.”

His eyes shifted back to the approaching demons, listening closer. One of them seemed to have multiple legs, based on the number of clicks and steps he heard, while he suspected the other one was some sort of amorphous demon with no limbs at all, based on the sliding, slightly wet sound coming from the right.

Silently, Lazar slid his arm out of the sling and let the fabric fall to the ground. His shoulder and arm still throbbed, but he could move them, and that was what mattered. Adjusting his grip on the halberd, the seraph got in a crouch, ready to spring into action.

“I’ll take left.” Ciel’s low, rumbling voice had moved to the edge of their hiding spot.

Lazar nodded, listening again for the approaching demons. Internally, he counted down as they came closer and closer.

Three, two…

Movement flickered from around the stone.

One.

Lazar lunged.