‘How does one go to get fresh air while being outside?’
That was plaguing me after Senshi’s sudden departure. A spitfire in her own right, I just hoped she’d at least stay out of trouble. Those wings of hers did give her an advantage over the rest of us. It would be useful in scouting and gaining intel though the question of her being quiet during such a task left much to the curiosity.
Coming back inside to an empty suite was a little unsettling. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was alone once again in this strange place or that I was growing use to the presence of others, even if we had only met a day or two before.
Plenty had happened in such a time frame already.
Looking around to see that there wasn’t much left in the weapons department, I was relieved by the idea that the others had at least took measures to defend themselves. I wasn’t too worried about Senshi as I was sure she’d take on an entire army on her own, what with the ability to control the ground and those arrows of hers. Nu would be in good hands with Vandal as well.
Doing a final sweep of the place, I figured I’d do a little exploration of the hotel and the general area. It’d be better to see what we had on hand before leaving as we couldn’t stay here forever after all.
That familiar buzzing of my phone grabbed my attention before I managed to leave. Opting in just ignoring the thing, I grit my teeth as it continued to vibrate.
Couldn’t have that thing attracting unwanted company.
You’re alone again.
I looked around the parlor room.
What are you going to do? Actually, what can you do?
I slammed the phone down onto the counter, ignoring the buzzing of the next few messages.
“I don’t need this shit,” I grumbled as headed for the door.
I only paused when the phone went from buzzing to ringing. It shouldn’t have been able to do that if there was no service. Hell, I shouldn’t have been getting texts messages. Doubling back as it continued, I stared down at the ‘Unknown Caller’ flashing on the screen before picking up the phone and putting it on speaker.
“It’s quite rude to ignore me, Jayden.” I felt my blood run cold almost immediately. “You of all people should know that I don’t like being ignored.”
“Y…you…”
“You’re shaking, Jayden…” I looked around the room as calmly as I could before looking at my hand to see that I was. “That means you remember me after all. That’s wonderful!” My gaze then settled upon the phone. “Cat got your tongue all of a sudden? You used to be so talkative.”
“Round two, Jayden.”
I flinched. “T-that was you…”
The other hummed in amusement. “We’re not done but tell you what. You could leave the others behind and no one would know. It could be our little secret. No one would find them. It’s not like you have to be responsible for them.”
I held the phone tighter. “They’re my charges.”
“You don’t even know they’re status. They’ll be fine. It’s not like you’ve been much help to them anyway. One can forge weapons but you can’t. The flier can take an army if she so chooses but you’re pretty defenseless. Even a healer is more useful than you in this state. Leave them. We can go home together.”
“They’re my charges.”
"Don't you want to go home?"
"That's impossible and you know it."
"Only because you say it," they replied in a nonchalant manner. "If it's because of those people, leave them. It's easy. All you have to do is walk away. You were good at that."
"I'm not leaving my charges here," I growled.
“Did you forget what I told you? They’re gonna die, Jayden, and there’s nothing you can do to change that.” A familiar laugh – my laugh – rang in my ears. “And they’re going to blame you right before they do. How’s that–”
I hung up before hurling the phone onto the couch. Heading out of the suite as it buzzed, I slammed the door shut behind me prior to making my way down the hall even as the phone started ringing.
This wasn’t good.
This was bad.
This was worse than bad.
If he was the reason we were here, the reason I didn’t have my scythe, the reason for everything…
I slapped my hands against my face before exhaling slowly. Panicking wasn’t going to solve anything.
‘You’re panicking…’ my thoughts chided and they were right. ‘You’re shaking.’
I could tell as much as I traversed the hall. I had yet to stop as I made it to the lobby. I had to keep it together.
However, saying and doing were two different matters entirely.
“Ok, Jayden…” I looked in the direction of the warehouse district before opting in heading in the opposite direction. “You just need to think of a way to get everyone home,” I said aloud as I looked at the busted windows of the buildings. “That should be easy enough, right?”
Who was I kidding?
I still had no idea where we even were. The city didn’t look like one I had ever been to and the idea of an entire city being abandoned didn’t sit well with me.
What if this wasn’t a city at all?
Umbras shouldn’t have had free reign to move around like this if this was an actual city. If anything, they only ever appeared if the deceased lingered a bit longer than they should have.
That idea then made me stop as I looked all around. Did something catastrophic happen here?
‘That can’t be right…’
Omega would’ve said something about it if something like this occurred at such a magnitude, right?
I slapped my hand against my cheeks again as I started walking. It wouldn’t do me any good to doubt Omega on something like this. That would mean that this place wasn’t an actual city.
There wasn’t a place like this at Central though and that place had a lot of interesting locations.
Rift didn’t have buildings either as it was more so a void - a transition point,
I looked around again.
Was this a pocket in Rift? It could’ve explained the Umbras. But what about the Minotaur and freaking spider from Hell? Perhaps Umbras could adapt to monstrous sizes? It was going to be something I had to run by Sairix. I figured he’d now a lot given what he was.
A shiver ran down my back at the thought of that before I noticed a faint light coming from what looked like an old shopping center.
I forgot how much I missed the mall as I stepped inside the decaying structure. Stores still had their barricades down to prevent entry which dampened my mood a bit. Coming across the food court, I doubted there’d be anything appetizing compared to what we had back in the room. I did come across a first aid station along with a defibrillator at the far end of the court. I decided to snag that for the journey back as I figured having this would at least give Nu a break.
Doubling back as i got to the lowest level, I came to a stop in front of a fountain that looked relatively clean compared to its surroundings. It was still fairly dirty, what with the mold clinging to its stone features but it was still running. Running with what was the question though.
Sitting along the edge, I stared down at it to see that it wasn’t casting a reflection. After placing my fingers in it, I studied the dark substance to discover that it was sticky and warm. The longer I lingered, I started to notice a light but noxious smell of decay.
I figured it was just the general area. This place looked like it would collapse at the slightest earthquake.
“Note to self: Do not bring Senshi to the mall.” I then turned my attention back to the goo in curiosity before looking around as something, presumably a ceiling tile, fell and shattered somewhere in the distance. ‘I should get going. I hope the others are alright.’
Picture credited to Pinterest
