Paul’s POV, 3 days later
“So good of you to finally join us.” A voice sneered as I entered the scout’s command tent. It didn’t matter that I beat half the people there, Maximus was a noble asshole who looked down on everyone without the proper pedigree.
“Apologies Optio.” I said, not bothering to give him an excuse. Not only did it rob him of something he could use against me, but it gave me just a little bit of glee to thwart him so easily. Poor bastard would have been penniless if he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
“No matter.” He reluctantly waved it off as the remainder of the squad entered behind me. “Listen up. Reports have our reinforcements arriving later today or early tomorrow. We will have that damnable stone maze mapped out before they arrive, as well as whatever lies beyond.”
“And what of the mists?” Someone asked.
“They won’t stop us.” Maximus declared. “We won’t have a 15 mile trek to go around the maze, so a little fog is nothing. Caius, you are best with cartography, so you will report back to base once we reach the end of that maze. Everyone else, make sure you have what you need to rough it for a night. We shouldn’t need it, but the maze might be a little longer than we thought.”
“Any chance of hunter reinforcements?”
“We don’t need them to steal our glory.” Maximus answered. “No more questions? Good. Get everything you need together. We leave in ten.”
I followed everyone out of the room without voicing my objections. No doubt it would just lead to ridicule. Seriously, glory? We won’t get any glory if we are dead, and not waiting a half a day for backup is just idiotic. Well, at least I would have some backup. A quick trip to the tent had me in my hunter armors, drab colored to help me blend in. The only other thing I took was my sword, as I wasn’t about to weigh myself down. A quick check of my diary under my pillow, a glance at Albert, and I was out. Now to get my own backup.
“Decanus?” I softly called, trusting Brandon’s hearing to wake him up.
“Huh? Paul?” He asked as he stumbled outside, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“I need a favor today if you can swing it. Maximus is determined to get through the stone maze. Can you keep a bit of an eye on us? I don’t like how that thing is set up.”
“Yeah, no problem. You want me to keep the squad on light duty just in case?”
“If it won’t get you in trouble with Clavis, yeah.” I nodded. Having more bodies to dump exhaustion on would be a great help.
“We’ll take care of things on our end then. You be safe out there.”
“Always.” I nodded, then turned to head off. I was one of the first to arrive, but luckily only got a sneer from Maximus. That was until his second arrived and he could put on his show since he had an audience.
“Not even a blanket? There’s a good chance we’ll be sleeping outside tonight.”
“I’ve slept in worse with less.”
“Of course you have. You should have stayed there, scum. Gutter trash will always be gutter trash.”
“Lemme guess, noble trash runs off to join the Legion?” I smirked.
“What did you say?” He snarled, getting in my face. At my silence, he continued, “That’s right scum, know your place.”
“You think you scare me?” I whispered back. “I’ve trained with things that would make you piss yourself in terror. You’re a yapping dog barely worth my attention. You hate me because I’m rising above my station well, guess what? I nothing you. That’s right, you are nothing to me, not even an obstacle to overcome. After this post? I won’t think of you again.” I stepped back, having noticed the rest of the squad arriving.
I hid my smile as Maximus glared at me, vein on his forehead throbbing in time with his heartbeat. “We’ve got a mission to do. Everyone move out.” Spinning on his heel, he strode out of the camp and headed towards the Stone Maze.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
An hour later and we were entering the maze. The entire atmosphere felt off though. Not only was the mist knee high instead of ankle, but every demon face had a maniacal smile and was spewing out fog. We were halfway through the first open chamber, the entire squad subconsciously bunching up when I spoke up.
“Maximus, something’s wrong. This” I never got to finish.
“IT’S OPTIO TO YOU!” He snarled, rounding on me. “I’ve had enough of your craven attitude! You will-“
Pushed past all patience, I smashed him in the mouth. Falling over from the sudden attack, his eyes were wide with fear while I stood over him with my blade at the tip of his nose. “By Amaterasu, you have to be the stupidest fucker to ever be put in charge of other’s lives! Taking caution isn’t being craven, and I don’t know about you but I plan to live a long and full life, not die heroically in battle when I could make a few preparations that could save lives! Look around you! The mist is thicker than before and spewing from the walls! Even without training the others feel the aura of this place!”
“He’s right sir.” We both started as someone else spoke up. “It’s like we’ve gone to Yomi.” That said, he tossed his rations aside as if they were contaminated. I barely heard him whisper, “Best not to risk it.”
In my distraction, I missed Maximus’ second in command sneaking up and placing his blade by my neck. “Sheathe your weapon legionnaire.” He calmly said. “I know you’ve got issues with the Optio, and the gods know I should have stepped in sooner, but this isn’t the way. Despite his flaws, Maximus is right and we have a job to do. We’ll take some precautions, but we need to find the end of this maze.”
“Fine.” I huffed, slowly pulling my blade back to not startle him. “Thoughts?”
“We split into pairs, always within an arm’s length of your partner. Caius, you and Maximus are in the lead. I’ll go with Paul here, the rest of you pair off. You see anything strange, call out. Better to investigate all tricks of the light in here than to miss an ambush.”
“Linnaeus” Maximus started.
“Enough.” He replied. “Get up and lead, and set this silly class feud behind you. I thought you would grow out of it, but this just proves you won’t. So when we get back, I’ll be sending in all the questionable orders and punishments you have given over my tenure as your second. You’ve been fairly discreet, so you likely won’t be demoted, but kiss any thoughts of promotion goodbye. Now can we put the drama behind us and do our jobs?”
“Yes sir.” I said, nodding instead of saluting.
“Excellent.” Linnaeus said, cutting off Maximus before he could speak. “We move in pairs but as a large group to the Hall of Onis. We’ll pause there as Paul uses his aura to map the rest of the maze. Do you think you’ll be able to reach the exit if we are in the middle?”
Stunned, I stammered for a second, “Um, yeah. The mists have been cutting back my sensing, and the maze itself interferes, but I should be able to. How did you know?”
He smiled, “Unlike Maximus, I asked around about our new soldiers.” With that, we were off. Having already mapped the way, it was barely ten minutes later when we arrived. Most of the maze hadn’t changed, but the Hall had. The human bodies were reduced to shattered skeletons, while most of the onis had grown more muscular. All paled in comparison to the King. He was now hunched over in height, with three faces and six arms. The middle face was bone white and looked stern, while the other two were blood red with tongues extended in glee. Four red arms extended from shoulder height, each bearing different weapons. Katana, club, sickle, and whip. Two white arms extended out from the torso. The right held a man-catcher, the left held a corrupted shakujo. The end was a skewered skull, and fused ribs were substituted for the normally metal rings.
“Paul?” Maximus asked as we were all staring at the transformed hall. “I think I need to apologize for not trusting you earlier about how the maze was slowly changing.”
“Tell ya what.” I said, just as unnerved as Maximus was. “We get outta here, you buy me a beer and we’ll call it good.”
“Beer? Surely you mean a nice saki.” He said before getting a glare from Linnaeus. “Er, I mean done.” He nodded. “Think we could move this along a bit? I swear it looks like those ruby eyes have flames dancing in them, but the black eyes on that center face.” He shuddered.
“Black opals.” Someone said as I started extending my aura. There were too many different paths to take, so I was going to have to go down them one by one. I could at least reduce the eight openings to three, as they were directly opposite the entrance we came in through. “Dad was a gem merchant, and I used to love the black opals. Depending on the angle, the reds, blues, and greens would chase each other.”
“Chase or fight?” Someone else asked as I found yet another dead end. The best part of using aura though was that I could extend one area while withdrawing another, meaning that I only lost the time to explore a dead end rather than the journey out and back.
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“Chase, but I agree with you that they seem to be fighting here.” I felt someone nearby shudder.
“Is the green supposed to look like some evil flame consuming the others?”
“Not at all.”
“Found it!” I cried out. It was the third door, but the feeling of my aura exiting the maze was amazing. With rising excitement, we rushed through the remainder of the maze in about 15 minutes. As we came to the exit, we froze once again in horror. We could see pale mists beyond a corrupted torii. Two tall demons were connected by a double bladed spear through their grinning mouths as yet more fog poured out. Across the tops of their heads was a bar forming the top portion of the torii.
“Hurry through and wait on the other side.” Linnaeus ordered. “Caius, you have your map finished?”
“Almost.” He said, making a few marks on his hand. “I can transfer it over if you give me a minute.”
“Right, while he does that, we will split off in ten degree arcs alternating from directly out of the maze. The mists seem thicker, so prioritize stealth. We need as much information as we can get.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Nearly two hours later, Linnaeus and I finally saw something. Roughly two miles of forest were behind us, and nearly a mile clear cut in front of us gave a great view of a tower rising out of the mists.
“How far away do you think that is?” Linnaeus asked.
“At least a mile.” I answered, struggling with the distance. “Maybe more depending on how many levels are beneath the mists. I can only see two.”
“I see the top of a third one, so probably safe to assume at least four levels.”
“MOVE!” I screamed, having barely detected the swirl of aura beneath me. Launching myself sideways, I felt the spear slash its way up my jaw, barely missing my eye. Unfortunately Linnaeus merely had time to turn his head and give me a shocked look as he was impaled through the skull.
“Oh how wonderful, one of you managed to survive!” A giddy voice seemed to echo from all directions in the mists. In front of me, it swirled to form a vampire. Most of its face was hidden by a conical hat, but I could see its lower jaw was covered in drying blood. “Though not quite unscathed. What to do, what to do. Most of the rats behaved, and died to my traps. But what do we do with the canny rat that saw the trap? Ah, we shall see how the rat fares. Will it scurry about and try and hide from the hunt, or will it change to a rabbit and run, run away? I’ll be sporting little vermin and give you a five-minute head start.”
He had to yell the last part as I was already gone. Street living gives you great instincts on when a fight is winnable, and this wasn’t. At all. BRANDON! I mentally screamed. NEED SOME HELP! I’VE BEEN DETECTED!
Paul? Oh shit! It felt like someone was taking a feather duster and sweeping around in my skull as Brandon shuffled through my most recent memories. I’ve called the squad, we’re here for you. You worry about getting back, I’ll control your DODGE LEFT! I veered off just in time, as an arrow shot through the space my head was previously in.
“Little raaaaaabbit! Did I get you little rabbit?” A haunting voice called out from the woods. As I stumbled past some bushes, I felt a pinching sensation on my cheek.
Sorry about that. Brandon said. Had to seal the cut and destroy the blood so he couldn’t track you.
You can do that? I asked, slightly impressed. I knew he could probably take care of the blood, it went with the whole sanguimancer title, but healing from a distance? That could be amazingly powerful.
Small cuts only. He replied. Keep going, I’ve sent a few aura flares off in different directions, all surrounding a few drops of your blood for scent. Hopefully that can distract them.
The next hour was the worst of my life. It was like being chased by police that could track you by smell, and had no desire to bring you in alive. I tried to keep as much cover between myself and what I assumed was a growing horde behind me, but it was inevitable that they would get clear shots on occasion. Thank Solaris Brandon was linked to me, as his being able to take control of my aura and watch behind me was the only reason that I was making it as far as I was. His directions turned crippling wounds into scrapes and slashes, though there were a few arrows that found purchase in the flesh of my arms and shoulders.
The torii had changed as I approached it. The grinning demons were now drooling and had eyes of green flame, and I could swear as I darted through their jaws moved. It didn’t matter though, as an arrow cut into my lower back just to the side of my spine.
“GAAAAAH!” I cried, stumbling and counting my lucky stars as I felt another arrow notch my ear. Keep going, I’ll leave some caltrops behind! I heard Brandon say as I rounded a corner and heard some inhuman screeches. Aura caltrops and the fear of future traps would slow them down some, but they were already entirely too close for comfort. Despite my heart hammering in my chest, I slowed down a bit as I could already feel the maze pressing down on me. The mists had also given the rocky floor a slippery coat, but I could feel Brandon recognize the danger and give my greaves cleats of aura for extra grip.
The rattle of bone on wood was the only warning I got, but my strained senses gave me enough of a clue that I fell to the floor and slid for a bit. I had just darted into the Hall of Onis, and the King wasn’t where he was supposed to be. I turned as I stumbled back to my feet, barely dodging a club that sent stone shards slashing through my exposed flesh as it smashed the ground where I used to be. “Surrender to the sweet call of death.” The middle mouth croaked in a voice that nearly had me freeze in terror.
GOTTA MOVE DAMNIT PAUL! Brandon roared in my head, breaking me from the fear effect.
“Yomi’s devouring flames.” That croaking voice said, and I darted around a demon statue just in time. Green flames splashed against it, then wrapped it up as if they were living tentacles. Screaming in terror, I flashed through the exit as swiftly as I could. While I could hear the slow, thundering steps of the Oni King, I knew I was safe from him as
“Gurk.” I said involuntarily. I saw a sword and body slowly build themselves from the mists, the sword jammed up to the hilt in my guts.
“Hello again little rabbit.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Moments earlier, back at camp. Brandon’s POV
“Dorian, get an ambush force ready and wait by the maze exit.” I ordered, feeling like it would be ok to split the squad. Paul was coming up on the maze, and if we could catch them at a choke point on the exit we could kill or at least severely injure the group chasing him.
“Belay that order!” I mentally groaned as I heard Clavis’ voice. “There is no way we are going to-“
He never got to finish, as I interrupted him. “That’s our brother out there! We can save him! If we leave now, we can even get a prime ambush position!”
“Or they could have a group already there! Mind your tone Decanus, I won’t tolerate insubordination. Anyone attempting to leave will be treated as deserters.”
“But-“ Alfred tried to interject.
“NO BUTS!” Clavis roared. “If he’s as good as you think, he should be by shortly then.” Clavis mumbled something to his guards, then walked away.
Fuming, but unable to do anything from where we were, I kept doing what I could. Paul wasn’t lying when he said the maze and fog both really weighed down on aura usage, and it was taking everything I had to multitask everything I had going. One portion was giving Paul directions through the maze, though it seemed like the distances were all changed. Luckily it was only distance, and not directions. One part was keeping his aura billowed out behind him to give him warning of any approaching danger, and one was channeling his exhaustion to all the members of our squad. I was already on our fourth member, as Paul had been running flat out for several miles now.
I watched in horror as he entered the Hall of Onis, and barely survived two attacks from the statue king. The statue was merely a glob of aura concentrated in the chest, and I had no idea what part of its body it was moving where. I did, however, feel it when its aura split off and traveled down the staff.
GOTTA MOVE DAMNIT PAUL! I screamed in his mind, burning a bit of blood in his legs to see if pain would break the spell. It didn’t matter what worked, what mattered was when Paul darted away again as a burning ball of aura chased after him. I watched in horror as it splashed on a different statue, consuming the aura within in seconds. Luckily Paul had managed to
“PAUL!” I cried out as I felt the sword stab him in the stomach. I tried to bring his aura to bear but had to stop as the blade was twisted. It took everything in me to hold the pain at bay and keep ahold of the connection to Paul.
“Hello again little rabbit.” I heard through Paul’s ears. “I do hope you enjoyed the chase as much as I did. You impressed me so much with your ability to evade death by a hair’s breadth.”
“Let go of my blade, and I’ll show you a game you’ll love.” Paul growled. “It’s called Lose Your Head.”
“Oh, I am going to have so much fun breaking you.” He said, and I tried to absorb as much pain from Paul as possible as the blade in his guts twisted yet again. “With my healing ability, you are going to sing such sweet requiems. Of course, your blood will have long since told me all I need to know about your friends.”
Kill me Brandon. I heard Paul think at me. Kill me before he bites me, but first can you tell Alfred something for me?
You can tell him yourself! I thought back, desperately trying to find a way to get Paul out alive. Any twitch of aura resulted in not only a twisted sword, but also a flash of aura from the vampire that seared through Paul’s guts. We’ll get you out of there!
It’s too late for me. He thought, and I could feel the sadness and acceptance in his mental voice. I had a feeling this was gonna be a one-way trip. I need you to tell Alfred-
Tell me what? I heard Alfred demand, having managed to link him in to the conversation. Part of me knew that this would be the end for Paul, so I wanted to give him his last request.
Al. I’m sorry Al. He thought, though I wanted to give them privacy I couldn’t. Not without dropping the connection.
DON’T YOU AL ME IN THAT TONE! Alfred thundered. That’s your giving up tone. You can’t give up while you still breathe!
Sorry love. Paul replied. I’ve got a sword in my guts, a vampire in my face, and more enemies coming out of the mist. There’s no escape for me this time, not even with Brandon helping.
Love?
I shoulda told you long ago, but I’m no good with words.
No! No, no, no, no, no! you can’t say that to me while giving up!
Shut up and listen damnit! Paul ordered. This guy won’t talk to himself forever. I should have admitted it a while ago, but I couldn’t. I was scared, nobody has ever meant to me what you do. Your opinion of me was the first one that I ever worried about, the first one that actually mattered to me. I cherished the little moments we could steal without anyone knowing. That’s why I joined the scouts. I knew I had a talent for aura manipulation and for getting out of jams. If I could get the information back to the people giving your orders, I knew I could make you safer. I guess this time my luck’s finally ran out.
Paul….
Al. Beneath my pillow is my diary and my will. I had it set up already, that you are to get my pay. You are the only person in this world that I would call family. I want you to have a good, long life. One where you meet up with your sister again, and tell her stories of me. Tell her I’m sorry I won’t get to meet her.
Paul…
Listen, this guy is about done. I want, no. I need you to have a long, happy life. Then when we meet up once again you can take your time telling me all about it. Got it?
I love you too Paul.
I love you. Brandon, I have one last request. I can’t let him get any information out of my blood, and he’s been eyeing my pulse for a bit. I need you to withdraw all my blood to my heart, then shove a spike of it into his chest. Let me at least take one of them down with me.
You got it Paul. Rest well, brother. I’ll pass on what you learned, and we will all watch over Alfred for you.