Chapter 33: A walk amongst the haze of purgatory, Part 2
*whoosh*
Whether it is the breeze or a body moving amongst the trees, the hardest thing to pin down was the constantly cracking sticks surrounding the perimeter. It could be near, or far away, and yet the sound of the wind howling or a body moving at great speeds didn't always overlap with these sounds.
It created this strange sense of yearning to see what it was that made the cracking noises, yet at the same time what entity was moving with the wind, the main point being the decision on if these were the same creature or two separate things.
'Listen for the sticks?... or the wind?...' Jaeger's hand slid out from under his arm and gripped a chain blade from out of thin air.
Using the pistol might alert Tom, which was the greatest problem of following him. The quest had said to not directly interact with him, or let his presence be known, for tense and purposes this could mean several things.
Not show his body, but his voice? Not let him know his back ground? But it said 'directly' or in other terms up front association and so without pulling attention to himself he had to help Tom.
'Damn watc…I shouldn't think those words either…' Jaeger shivered.
His gaze wandered over to where Tom was. He had gripped the lantern tight by the ring set upon the top 8 sided lid cover, and was holding it up with his thumb pressed on the bottom at the ready.
'Huh?' Jaeger eyed his posture with both a curious and surprised look.
*whoosh*
'Something' spiraled out from the canopy of the trees, it was strange to look upon as there was truly no 'body' that it possessed. What could be seen were leaves being pushed out of the way and debris cascading upon an invisible form.
Tom waited till it grew near and shouted "DIEEE" before whipping his thumb across the lanterns bowl shaped bottom and blazing out a bright light from the lanterns center.
Closing his eyes momentarily, the fire energy of the lantern permeated the surrounding air and warmed it considerably. Tom felt a warm glow upon his face and opened his eyes as they adjusted to see the invisible figure had seemingly disappeared.
"It worked?..." Tom asked to nobody in particular.
Jaeger's body was slumped against a tree and panting hard, he slowly held his hand up and gazed upon the slowly fading 2nd line of a lightning rune.
He struggled for as much as he could muster to spin the bracelet on his other wrist and after several seconds his body felt energy again.
"Fuck me…" He whispered silently.
When Tom had let loose the bright amount of light, the seemingly dark atmosphere had turned resplendent and golden as light cascaded upon the earth and like a tide washed away the shadows.
That would be from Tom's perspective, but from Jaeger's the first thing he saw from a distance when the light had brightened the area was the 100's of figures wreathed in shadow and death watching Tom from the tree line. For Tom in that split several seconds, he had indeed washed away the invisible spirit and cindered it to ashes. The energy turned out from the lantern wasn't merely light, it was an extraction and recombination of stored energy from external sources and in this case being fire.
From how Malcolm put it, it used fire as a means to convert moving particles into fire energy which it stored within the base. If let loose in a sudden flash, the energy within the lantern would change the surrounding particles of matter and air.
For Tom, he had felt a warm embrace but for a being of energy in this aura it was a tragic fate.
Jaeger whipped the bracelet on his wrist and shattered earth as he shot forward faster than a bullet into the tree line. In the several seconds Tom had closed his eyes, a chain blade had whipped around the forest like a dragon. A glow of energy was let loose from the chain blade, cackling like a demon as small bolts danced across its body. Bodies wreathed in shadow, soon turned to bodies convulsing in utter despair and pain as they were ripped apart.
As the last 'spirit' was taken care of, the forms of those things disappeared into the earth once more as Jaeger slumped against a tree.
'This kid…'
What would have happened if Jaeger wasn't here? Had the abilities he had? Or was it BECAUSE he was here, that things had turned out this way? However then again, if Tom hadn't been given the lantern and it HAD only been one spirit freak then how would it have turned out either way?
'Fuck it…' Jaeger sighed. The wind slowly died down as a sudden still silence came over the area with only the mild sounds of nature mixed in periodically.
Tom had already got a little rest, and went and fetched the strangely presliced branches covering the area around him. With a shrug he assumed it was the wind, but for Jaeger this was like a hammer to his head and pride. He slumped a little deeper against the tree and covered his body in the dark wing cloak before nodding off
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Daylight peeked through a crack in the cloak, Jaeger's eyes quickly shot open and gazed through the cloak with his head slowly moving further out like a rabbit from its hole. Tom was slouched against a log near the dwindled fire, it would seem that although he had rested it wasn't for a long enough period to not feel tired after such an intense moment last night.
Regardless, Jaeger counted his blessings that Tom had woken up and left without him. Who knows what would have happened then.
*pack*
"Ow…" Tom rubbed his forehead in swift up and down motions. He had felt this same thing last night before the fight, and couldn't place exactly what the hell made him feel such a pain.
A pebble of course, but he wouldn't know that.
Jaeger waited a bit for Tom to get up and stretch, before following him with about a 100 meters between them.
Like a baby the lantern was cradled in his arms, Jaeger was glad he gave it because it would seem it had allowed Tom to create at least somewhat of an impression of confidence within himself. If he had to, he would even leave the lantern here in the past, it wasn't impossible to get another.
He did like the thing though.
Several hours passed of trudging through forest and grass. Jaeger finally had the chance to check out the 'past version' of the place he had come from, and was still bewildered to find himself calling it beautiful.
'Huh?' Jaeger's gaze wandered onto Tom who had broken out into Joy atop a hill. Jaeger rubbed his chin, 'It must be the church…were close to the quest then.'
Tom ran down the hill and out of view, while Jaeger caught up and inspected the surroundings.
His eyes widened a little bit has his gaze fell upon a familiar building this time surrounded by a castle like backside. It was the fort, and yet from the look of it it was a medieval version of the former. The castle behind it must be the church, but from the dark stone and high bridges it looked more like the castle of some lord of the past. Jaeger remembered that this plane ran on the system of kingdoms still, albeit in a modern city.
For the 'church' to have such a look meant that they had stayed to a more in context type of church, rather than some modernized version of it. However, seeing the fort something was certainly different. The front gate that would slide with the flick of a button was now a barred gate with only enough space between the bars to fit a hand through. It also had windows in some areas that the other didn't have.
Maybe it wasn't the fort, but merely a style of architecture that had been carried over to the modern fort he knew? That was the closest guess he had other than the two were related in some way.
'We need to hurry up…something doesn't…feel right again' There it was, the ants on his legs and necks, that same familiar feeling he felt in the dark forest during the mobbing of the curse as well as that of the school.
*pack*
"Ow fuck! If you are gonna tell me where to go…be easier about it yeesh…" Tom felt something hit his right shoulder.
'Oops I threw that a bit hard…heh…' Jaeger snickered as his eyes scanned the forts exterior, apart from the front barred gate there was a window a bit down the way that was hung open as if to invite them in. Tom began to walk down the right side of the castle compound before he found the open window. With another *pack* on the back of his ass, he got a clue and hopped through and into the inside.
Jaeger checked his watch, after about a minute he moved to the window and looked around before pulling out his smoke and lighting it up. He took a deep breathe, and puffed it out into the air as he rubbed his forehead.
'Should I protect the outside? Or will the danger be from within? Or will there be a separate danger then the curse, and it will attack outside while we have to make a decision inside?' *puff*
Jaeger craned his neck over the window and peered inside and saw within it was a small looking office with a cross on the wall, a desk, a large cabinet, and a random wooden box about a foot across. Tom had left the door going out from the office ajar slightly, and had long disappeared inside.
"I'll just follow behind him and lock the door behind myself, it's a church…nothing evil should come in from the outside if there is no place for it to enter into." A bit of a superstitious thought that spirits couldn't cross a barrier, but it was all he had to rely on.
*scrrsh* Jaeger put the cigarrete out on the stone wall on the left side of the window and hopped up as silently as he could. With the renewed cigarrete still hanging from his mouth, Jaeger crept towards the door slowly before peeking out of it at an angle.
'No kid seen…which way did he go…' Jaeger moved his head out slowly and quickly looked left and right before stepping out into the dark corridor. It really was like the fort from before with a different texture and material. If Jaeger remembered correctly, then the office he stepped out of was a storage closet in the other version. If all this was true, then he at least knew the layout of this place apart from the castle.
'The central room is one right…forward, and up 4 steps…' This was the place he had got his ass kicked by a blazing inferno before.
'However… there was nothing there before other than the equipment and I doubt much would've changed, it's probably the main prayer area…actually…that's all the more reason to go check that one out specifically'
Why? For free totems and wards and shit duh.
Jaeger rounded a corner and stopped in his steps almost as abruptly, there was a figure down a ways slowly pushing the door to the central room open. Jaeger looked down to the ground covered in streaks of blood running towards the central room, and had a large guess as to whom the figure who had entered the central room was.
It was Tom, following the blood of bodies pulled to that room.
'Ah fuck…' Jaeger danced forward as silently as he could before stopping in front of the ajar central room door. It was a dark oak, unlike the lighter colored maple wood doors he had seen so far, this door was much more ancient. It was engraved with a cross on each door with the bottom and top being very ornamental.
"Mmm…" Jaeger plopped the smoke into his breast pocket and took a half step into the room to see where Tom was. He was currently standing over a large hole in the central part of the room, his head tilted up and around about 60 degrees left and right to the countless bodies thrown about.
After Tom had a cursory glance, he turned around and puked his guts out.
'Poor kiddo…' Jaeger had seen too many dark things for this to bother him; try 1,000s of ninja's piled high.
Tom wiped his mouth and lit up the lantern, peering down into the hole with caution. The one thought he had in his mind was what the hell had happened here, the same could be said for Jaeger.
None of the bodies seemed to have been ritualistically killed in any way such as a heart ripped out of their chest or otherwise, but it did seem they had been through some trauma that had left their faces petrified with fear and indignation. Somehow, Jaeger knew that they had lived in the fear of something unknown or died directly by its hands within that fear.
Jaeger's eyes dilated as he thought that one of the pairs of monks eyes a had looked over to him, but when he gazed at the body it was coldly staring at the hole in the room. Jaeger followed his gaze and caught the last glimpses of Tom's head going beneath the sunken earth.
Jaeger crawled to the hole and stuck his head over the edge, his eyes followed Tom as his person slowly climbed further and further down. The lantern showing a grotesque amount of old bones that held the earth and hole together. It was like tens of thousands of bodies had been compacted as the foundation for the church.
'My gods…'
Tom seemed to have landed on earth as he stopped, and moved horizontal across the ground until disappearing into a chasm below.
Jaeger gripped the chain blade from the air and threw the blade at the stone ceiling, imbedding it deeply. He swung and hung over the hole as *clink* *clink* *clink* the chain extended out while lowering him down. When Jaeger reached the bottom he left the chain there dangling, if he ever had to get the hell out quickly he could grip it and whirl up at great speeds.
Turning around from the dangling chain, the faded light from far above couldn't reach down this far and instead cut at odd angles leaving the shadows of protruding bones and skulls.