Putting my claws together, I empty my tired body of air and get up. The bottom sides of my palms strike the train walls gently and I head to the exit. I squeeze on through the door before it has time to open fully. Turning a little more, I see Liadanann seemingly struggling to manage her cargo.
Going up to her, I offer her a claw so that I can help and she huffs away. Looking around and then down, I shake my head and go after her. She can't carry all of that stuff on her own, not the way she's trying to right now anyway. She's insistent about not accepting my help.
Getting in her way, I put a claw on the top box and she comes to a screeching halt. One foot scrapes along the floor, marking it with thin white lines. Meeting her glare, she starts to cause issues for herself to move elsewhere. Shaking my head, I apply some pressure on the top box.
"You can't carry all that on your own." I point out right as she almost loses control of the whole stack. I put some gentle pressure down on them to keep the stack acting in a straight manner.
"I can, I will and I don't need you of all people to help me!" she snaps against my face, teeth bared. Taking a slight step back so I am not compelled to push her off, however gently I will do it.
"Stop being so difficu-"
"Go away." she hisses and I shut up. Nodding, I do as told and walk away with a groan wheezing out of me like a burst gas pipe. I patch the hole before I pop open spectacularly and hop over the handrail. Not minding how I land, the ground jumps into the air and rattles back down onto the ground.
Following the path, I head directly for the small group of guards and just walk on by. Not minding whatever it is they're saying and trying to do. The one who tries to grab me is shoved to the ground and I warn the one reaching for his weapon with a quick spell. They seem to leave it at that.
"Cunt." echoes after me and I step into the immense darkness of the dig site. Offering a quick look at the main attraction, I gaze up to the extent of its great height. I do the same for its width. Hmming my thoughts out, I head onto the ground floor and step close to the monolith.
I tap a single digit.
"Glass?" I question, ignoring the Suhurlodst students walking around the place and the weird looks they're giving me. A glow appears in the corner of my eye and I crouch down to look at it closer. A small group of insects, ones with little skull-shaped shells on their backs. A gentle and soft, bluish glow lighting up my front.
Looking up once again, an old memory flashes to mind and I look to my claws. It really has been a long time since then, hasn't it? Five years of fighting Smiling Jhurack, maybe a year of everything afterwards. However many years I spent with magic in my system afterwards.
My last few weeks as a human were in a place like this, well, tangentially. The mountain I escaped from was filled with osibindah and this one is instead filled with researchers. There was also only one of these little insects and he helped me escape. I owe a lot to these strange things, perhaps they're even the reason why I am an osibindah to begin with.
I don't know, I really don't know if these little things are responsible. Taking one of the insects into what was once my turned arm, I cup it gently. Nothing happens, the dust-making capabilities I've known them for do not come about. Kneeling, I make a point of blocking a different insect's path again and again.
"I guess even insects can change?" I question, straightening myself out and letting my little bit of living cargo back down. Walking off elsewhere, I take note of how the insects are starting to follow me for whatever reason. This dark patch of cavern glows bright with the combined light of hundreds of these things.
Finding a chair, I sit down and rest my chin on my palm. Stopping myself from going a step further and taking my hat and mask off, I look to my left. Some kind of equipment is attached to the glass and I roll my wheels on over. Awkwardly putting a mask lense against the viewport, I seem to be able to get an opaque view into what's beyond the wall of glass.
A statue? One that's quite immense and even armed with a grand sword...
Leaning back, my claws come together on my belly and I start to recall something. A sentence, a warning. But, it's not repeating to me in the voice of Smiling Jhurack no matter how often my mind tries to assume it's him. I look at the swarm of insects chittering in synch before me.
Some of the students start to record the moment from up high on their platforms. One happens to be walking by with a long pole that is either for a light or is part of something else. My eyes narrow and the sound of metal banging elsewhere starts to paint a clear picture. That earth shaman that captured me, he was the one who said it.
"Beware the... P... Pest... Beware the Pest? Pestilence? Pesterchubilisidubsi?" I try to guess, devolving into a made-up word while my mind settles on my second choice. This place is it, then? The thing I was warned about all those years ago when the osibindah leader found my escape plan.
Looking over to a dark corner, the shadows start to warp because of all the outlines I can see. I delude myself into thinking that it's moving and a memory comes to mind. He showed me a depiction of what he was warning me about, that earth shaman. I look back into the contents of the glass and move away nodding.
"Hm, life is certainly strange." I remark quietly, not sure what to think of the great trouble I am metres away from. I start to shrug as what I was told is years old at this point and with how this is all buried in a mountain, I doubt anything will happen. Loud banging catches my attention and a familiar shape starts to move across the entrance.
Liadanann perches up when she can and she spots me and rushes off. Tracing her movements, I see that she is heading straight my way. I start to grumble under my breath and shake my head. Can't exactly go hide with all these insects illuminating my immediate area.
"So much for 'leave me alone,' honestly..." I mutter and my focus shifts to the armoured woman on the final approach. She stomps over the insects without a care and comes to an aggressive halt. I lead around her to look at the quickly filled holes she's made.
She's very lucky these things are behaving differently here, I used one to tunnel perhaps a kilometre or more up at an angle. That power of theirs can get through her.
Sighing against my chitters, I look her in the eye, "Can I help you?"
She says nothing and clenches her fists, "..."
"Chair?" I offer, getting up from mine when I see no other ones lying about. She charges towards me and takes my cloak into her armoured hands. Her hot breath washes over me with ceaseless tidal aggression. Leaning back a little, she moves into the motion and allows herself to believe she has me pinned.
"No more promises." she states cryptically and I frown.
"Huh-"
"No more telling me to be patient."
"Ah..."
"We settle this here and now, Nin. I am at my limit with you."
I sigh and move to remove her grip but she fights back, "This is not an answer you want to force."
"But I do, I really do." she hisses, bordering on tears as her mind plays out its chaotic warfare. Whatever is going on in her head, she's had a fair bit of time to think about it. The job we finished, everything that happened during it is setting her off. Have I failed to keep my word?
I made some kind of promise to her before we left... I guess, thinking of it like that means I have forgotten.
I frown out of view, from behind the safety of my eye-covering lenses and she shivers, "Nin... Do you love me?"
I blink and stare to the point she knows that is all I am doing, blankly staring, "..."
"Answer me... Damn you answer me!" she demands, almost screaming it were it not for the tears choking her.
A thousand answers race through my head and it all ends on one result because that's all there is.
"ANSWER M-"
"No." I state, calmly.
She lets go and steps back a little.
"And you never will?" she asks, her body already slumping to the clarification she knows she doesn't want to hear.
"I never will, yes." I tell her, stepping forward and rolling out the bracelet Motrtha gave me. I suppose it's now Liadanann's turn to hear me explain what this thing does to the people I care about.
"Th-Then why did you even bother coming to me that day?" she asks, growing so weak she starts to struggle to stand.
"Because the one woman I do love, even though she never loved me and made sure I understood that fact. She wanted me to move on. And, simply put, Liadanann, you were the closest one I could try my word out on." I can't help but explain with venomous hissing. I don't hate her, I hate myself for trying to live some lie I knew I couldn't stick to. While it might seem like I am taking it out on her, I am not.
She just happens to be the one unfortunate enough to care about me...
"I've done everything I can for you... Nin. I gave you a home. My home. I let you into my heart even when I knew I shouldn't have. All my friends are gone because of you and my business suffers whenever you're present because of what. You! ARE!" she rattles off, jabbing me violently as her tone rises towards the end.
"Then we are both as stupid as each other." I snap quickly, hoping to find a moment where I can just go outside and be done with this. She can go home and we can part ways. It's like she said, I've only caused her grief.
"But, I looked past it. I thought I was forgiving you for it but no, apparently, I was just ignoring it all. I did all of this because I-"
"Do not even so much as say it!" I almost roar, shoving her to the ground either way. She blankly stares up at me, body curling in slightly, a hand lingering on the ringing thud on her armour. The amulet lights up, ready to go.
Leaning down closely, I let my chittering become as loud as it can be, "You do not love me. No one I have ever known has ever loved me. You see this thing on my wrist? It's a magical bracelet given to me by Motrtha, the Goddess of Mothers and Love. Whatever her reasons for giving it to me are, your feelings are not your own. They're the byproduct of this damn thing. SEE!?"
I throw the bracelet at her and she catches it. She holds it close and starts to break down crying, shivering without end. It's pathetic and I turn away, ready to leap for the exit so I can get out of here. I hear her struggle to open her mouth and I turn so I can at least see her face as this will be the final time I will talk to her.
I owe her that much but... I am getting out of everyone's life from this point onwards.
I don't care anymore. I cannot keep my promise to Lari, I never could. It was a fool's mistake to ever think I could ever try to move on from her. One does not simply forget the love they feel for someone after spending five whole years fighting non-stop for it.
"B-But... I do love you, Nin... I don't understand what you are trying to tell me? I do love you... I don't understand..." she whimpers, hiding herself behind what she can and I freeze up. I start to scratch the spot the bracelet was on and my blood starts to get warm, hot. No... This has to be...
Yes.
Yes!
"DO NOT LIE TO ME!" I roar down at her, swinging my fist towards the machine on the glass. The ancient tomb cracks loudly and it echoes.