Chapter Twenty-Four: All First’s Are Memorable
1220 Words
“So, at what point was it clear that there was something wrong with the general arrangement of the-,”
“The fact that there is nothing alive in the vicinity but people.” I answered Wreigners’ fifth mediocre question, “This is a haunted graveyard; things like that are a no brainer.”
“Not all graveyards are like this, though.” He responded.
“Not all graveyards are haunted? Duh? What is your point?”
A painful tug pulled my ear.
“What the hell did I say about picking fights?”
“But I am not….” I pouted at Breca that her grip may loosen.
The sky was no longer dark. In fact, it seemed to be peering to four or five in the morning. Still, the fog maintained itself.
We were outside now, awaiting the second group while keeping to the shadows.
“I’m going to go…pee in the woods.” I excused.
“What?” both Breca and Wreigner turned to face me, puzzled.
“ What's the ‘what’ for? Women pee too.”
“That’s not the point! Who the hell pees in the woods? In haunted woods nonetheless!!”
“Do you want to hold my hand?” I asked, “I’ll only need it when I wipe?”
Horror plastered itself on Breca’s face as though she truly could not believe the words I uttered carelessly.
“Just…just go.” She shooed, “Please.”
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Wreigner G Hyle
“So…uh…where did you meet, Miss Rose?”
The question spilt from his lips before he could frame it in such a way that she would have felt as though she had brought the conversation on ‘Rose’ up.
“Miss? What is this, a crush?” Breca poked his ribs before turning her gaze to the distance. “There they are. You are taller than I am, wave.”
He did wave, only he did not want to.
He wanted her to answer his questions on Arusei. To focus on him until his curiosity was firmly settled.
How long has she been going on dangerous missions? How long have they known each other? How long has she been peeing in the woods, an act that can literally disqualify one from high society?...or society for that matter. What her abilities are? What lies between her and the Crown Prince?
Why did she bear mostly hostility towards him? As though he had wronged her, yet they have never met?
Or did she perhaps hate all aristocrats? Should he take comfort in her generalisation, if at all he was correct in his assumption?
Should he have followed her in the woods?
Breca took a step before him, jostling his mind to reality when he noticed the three group member’s odd limps.
Alden held his side while Ruben carried Kat in his arms.
“What the hell happened?” Breca was the first to break the silence.
“Oh, the usual, this i***t was attracted to the light a will-o-wisp produces, then she left us,” Alden answered.
They had been on three raid’s together, Ruben and he, this being their fourth, so they were not as close as she, Alden and Kat were.
“What the hell Kat!?” Breca, the unmistakable mother figure of the group, asked.
“Okay, look, it wasn’t that bad. The zombies saw some orange light that distracted them.” Despite the blood dripping from her leg, she responded in her usual cavalier manner.
“What the hell do you mean, ‘it wasn’t that bad’? You have a literal vertical s***h on your leg!! How the hell will you run or walk? How are we supposed to go on more raids together if you keep behaving this way?”
“Bah! You are over-reacting.”Kat shrugged, “Speaking of overreacting, what is with your makeup.”
“Makeup?”
“Yeah, the neon thing on your face, what, are you auditioning to be a Brackhill guild member?”
“Okay…one thing at a time, don’t try to deflect my attention from your recklessness.”
“They should probably apply as well, right?” Wreigner asked Breca.
“Should they? We've already left the tower? It shouldn’t matter now?” Breca shrugged.
“Oh, no, definitely, we should apply the neon makeup. I mean, what if something happens?” Kat said as she winked at him.
A sign that she received his get out of jail free card.
“Fine!” Breca said as she ransacked her bag for the container, dropping her planned lecture, “But this isn’t over….where the hell did I place it?”
After a few seconds, she located the tin, opened it, and smeared it all over Kat’s face to show her annoyance.
Kat smeared her excess on Ruben, whose hands were full, and Alden spread the last of the powder across his face.
“What about you, A?” Breca asked as she closed the lid on the powder for storage, “How did you get hurt?”
“It’s the same case as Kat’s, really. When we separated from Kat, Ruben and I tried to get to her, but the guild member leading us refused, so we fought. Halfway through the fight,” Alden continued, “We saw the bright orange light that Kat mentioned, the instructor clicked his tongue then tried to knock us out in one move, and when that failed, he leapt through the window.”
Wreigner stilled. A knot of anxiety formed at the clarity the two stories held.
“Wreigner, I think we need to get out of here.” Breca frowned as she said the words, as though she too understood what he did.
“Why, what’s up?” Kat asked.
“I don’t….” Breca began, however on cue, the wind picked up.
“Off! this weather, though! It's just for sleeping in!” Kat concluded.
A song…no, an eerie lull filled the space they were in.
“Do you hear that?” Alden spoke before all of them noticed that they now breathed out mist.
“Its…cold?” Kat frowned, her orange cheetah print ears springing to high alert.
The lull of the atmosphere grew with the wind’s heaviness.
The loudness of the branches swaying grew more pronounced as the wind's pace grew such that a majority of them snapped from their source.
The tragic song that elicited feelings of bizarre loneliness began once more.
“Ah…Guys, c-can you see that?” Kat pointed in the distance with her tail, forcing everyone to turn their gaze in the direction.
A tall floating being with a lantern holding a deep blue flame approached.
The being oozed black smoke that did not flow with the wind. Rather, it floated around their feet.
Despite the windy atmosphere, the lantern it held did not sway or extinguish itself.
Every cell in Wreigner’s body begged him to run, and for the first time, he felt his entire being tremble in terror.
It was odd.
Wreigner was certain that he had turned his body to his friends, that he had told them to run, to use the teleport sheets they had and leave everything behind, yet…he hadn’t moved.
It was as though he had sleep paralysis.
- Writer
