Chapter 50: Anxious trigger finger

I leaned to get a better view of the chamber, and there they were, wriggling like maggots in a pool of blood and ash—the jailors that survived the chain explosions. The floor near them looked like a work of modern art, shit. Just a bunch of colorful splashes surrounding broken objects. The objects referring to their broken bodies and pieces of shattered armor covering the floor. 

I heaved a sigh of relief and stepped inside. Their crazed gazes tore into me immediately, but there was nothing they could do to stop my approach. This wasn’t a wound the jailors could heal from, not without external intervention. At least I supposed so. If that wasn’t the case then the one I killed during my escape shouldn’t have stayed down after getting stabbed. 

I strolled at a leisurely pace, still cradling the wand like my life depended on it. I kept spinning to keep an eye on the myriad paths leading away from the chamber, but no one came. It was just me and the jailors. 

I glanced at the path leading out, and hung the wand around my shoulder while summoning Silent scream. 

The dagger manifested in my hand with its usual cloud of smoke, not at all as flashy as the wand, but much more discreet. I much preferred being discreet over being flashy. If there was a way to summon the wand without fanfare then I would find it. Just the thought of having to summon it in a dark room made me cringe. As it was now I couldn’t summon it while trying to stay hidden. Not that summoning it ever meant I wanted to. It wasn’t the most quiet weapon the world after all. 

I closed in on one of the stragglers and prodded at his ribs with the tip of my boot. He snarled and groaned, clawing at me with his one remaining arm. He almost caught me too.

Having half his body blown off didn’t seem to limit his gusto that much. Once more I realized just how lucky I had been to paralyze the first jailor with just a slim blade. It was almost an unthinkable feat when you saw how they could move around despite being maimed like this. 

The dagger felt light in my hand. With my wand summoned I didn’t have the same qualms as back then. I sat down on his back, pressing my knee down on his arm to restrict it. He was strong and kept flailing, making it a struggle to balance, but I managed with a few curses. 

I clenched my teeth and used my free hand to wrap around his forehead, using it to angle his face upward. His struggle ended as the blade tore through his face. I don’t know where it entered, and I didn’t want to know either. Detaching myself from the act was the most sane thing to do. This had to be done, but that didn’t mean I should revel in the killing. Even if these motherless fucks were monstrous torturers. 

His head went limp after a few spasms. I gently guided it down to the floor before he vaporized into ash beneath me. There was something off about these jailors. They didn’t feel real. Not in the same way the first one had.

I put down the second one in the same manner. It struggled too, but with the practice from the first it didn’t matter. The blade did its job, sliding into the soft parts of his face without resistance, ending the last jailors life in mere moments.

“Last chance to tell me if you want something here done,” I said with my eyes resting on Sera’s broken shell. I waited for a few breaths before giving up on receiving an answer. 

With heavy steps I walked over to her, and used my hand to pull down her eyelids. I expected the porcelain looking shell to be hard, but she was soft. Like lips cracked from too much sun. 

“I hope to talk again soon,” I whispered and walked away. Without the satchel I didn’t have much room to store the bullets littering the floor, but it seemed a waste to leave them. I gathered as many as I could, shoving them into my pockets and boots—anything that I thought could hold a few more pieces of ammunition. When I was finished my limited supply of five bullets grew to thirty. It was a pitiful amount when compared to what I once had, but it would have to make do. As soon as I linked up to the others I would have a near limitless supply after all. 

I stood below the archway once more and took in the sight of the torture chamber for what I hoped to be the last time. 

This was where my journey started. Where my life as a Blessed began. The whole experience so far had been bittersweet, and it had only just begun, but it felt good to have a purpose, even if it was ambiguous. 

I stepped into the hallway. “To struggle is human,” I whispered to myself. I didn’t know who said it, or what it meant really. I just always thought it alluded to the duality of things. Joy cannot exist without suffering, and if my life had been only suffering, then me finally finding some joy in it was long due. Because that was what these days of struggle felt like to me. Joyful suffering. My purpose since losing my family had been so scattered. For the first time since then I had something to work to, a goal. To escape, to save people, to get stronger, to explore the Forgotten lands and uncover the secrets Sera refused to explain to me. 

I felt the pull of a smile prick my cheeks. 

The wand really was something after the rework. A therapist in object form almost. 

My magic still didn’t recover nearly as quick as I liked, but it got better with each minute. I had about enough for a few uses of Burst, maybe even a few empowered shots with Jackpot, although I hadn’t tested it, so I didn’t know. That would remain a last resort until I knew for sure what it did. Unless I couldn’t help it I hoped my risk taking days were over. 

The halls were oddly quiet despite the others having supposedly run through them. After a little while, marks of battle started to appear on the walls. Large cracks I didn’t recognize, gashes left by blades. My throat closed up as I noticed a small stain of blood on a Bullet altar. 

I stepped close and ran my finger through it. It was cold, or as cold as things got in here. They must have passed through long ago. 

I could only hope it wasn’t one of my comrades’ and move on. Time would tell, and time would heal. 

As I kept moving, the curious lack of ash covering the floor, and gashes in the walls told me that they must have picked up their pace in an attempt to escape without fighting. They must have been severely outmatched to make that decision when they knew they couldn’t keep up the pace with Samuel slowing them down. His blessing didn’t grant him speed, or superhuman abilities, not like Nea’s in any case. They couldn’t have left him either, the jailors would have caught him then, and there would be blood, not to mention a corpse.

A slight whisper made me halt my step. I squeezed the trigger of my wand tight, but not too tight, and looked around, slowly stepping back to press my back against the wall. 

“What the fuck…” I muttered and gathered confidence. “Who said that?” 

The whisper answered, I couldn’t quite make out what it was saying, nor hear where it was coming from. I took a short breath and hurried my steps. 

“Wait!” The whisper hissed. 

I whipped around aiming my gun down the hall. My eyes darted around trying to find the speaker to no result. 

“Don’t shoot! It’s me, Samuel!” 

I raised an eyebrow but didn’t lower my wand. 

“Yeah? Then why are you sneaking around?” 

“I hid so the others could run ahead of me. Look, I’ll come out. Just don’t shoot me, okay?” 

I nodded, and kept my eyes glued to the direction of his voice. 

He stepped out from the wall looking as normal as ever. I blinked a few times and lowered the gun when I confirmed that it was in fact him. “How did you do that?” 

He chuckled nervously, hands still raised. “It’s my blessing.” 

“You can walk through walls?” 

“No… I can camoflage myself as… Look it’s complicated.”

I nodded my chin at him to stop his approach. “Try me.” 

“I can use my objects to extend my senses. If I concentrate hard I can kind of take on the same aspects. Look,” he said and held up his hand to the wall. He closed his eyes in deep concentration, his breath slowing. 

Before long, the presence of his hand seemed to mix with that of the wall. It wasn’t as much of an optical illusion as it was one of perception. He was still there, he just felt like part of the building. Like part of the object. 

“Freaky…” I muttered, a twang of déjà vu washing over me, and shook my head. There were more important matters to attend. 

I lowered the gun, for real this time, and asked, “Where are the others?” 

“Don’t know. They left quite a while ago. I was just about to go after them.” 

I gave him a slap on the head, “Why’d you wait so long?!” 

He glared at me while rubbing his crown, opening and closing his mouth as if undetermined about saying something. Finally, after moments of indecisiveness he mumbled, “I wanted to make sure you were alright.” 

Well that was unexpected. If I didn’t have my wand with me that might have floored me. I cleared my throat, and looked away. “Well. Thanks for that. I’m fine as you can see. Let’s move on.” He nodded and followed without a complaint. 

We reached the gate statues without any additional hints of the others or their pursuers. I hadn’t thought the jailors were able to leave the Chambers. That seemed to have been a dire miscalculation. 

I gestured to Sam to stay near the doors as I stepped onto the large platform at the top of the stairs. I looked over the edge and still couldn’t spot the others. 

“Let’s go,” I shouted. Sam’s hurried steps echoed into the massive nothingness of the underground city. As he strode up alongside me, we began the descent. 

“Can you find them?” I asked while cautiously scanning the rooftops below. It didn’t make a difference, really. If we were ambushed here we’d be sitting ducks. Or running ducks. Running either back up or down. Neither of the options would be very attractive while under fire. 

He stopped and knelt down, placing the palm of his hand against the steps with closed eyes. 

I felt a slight tremor ripple through the veil, when I looked I could just barely see it. Wave upon wave the rippled to make way for his prodding touch. 

I leaned my head to the side and studied the movements of the threads. 

Couldn’t I do that…? I wondered. I certainly should have been able to, with my blessing granting me mastery over the threads and all. I scanned the rooftops once more before closing my eyes and focusing on the movements of the threads. 

I would need to be able to touch many while using only one… 

I had tried already, and failed. But I was sure there had to be a way. Especially now that I knew I could create things with the threads. Maybe there were more parts to my blessing that I had yet to learn. I smiled to myself.

“There,” Sam said and pointed down the stairs. I jerked and opened my eyes to trace the arc of his finger. 

“Shit…” I mumbled. 

I knew the direction well. It was where I first ran into Elana and the Slitherstitch.