RE:volt! Chapter 16: Murder Most Foul
"WAKE UP!" At Irelix's words, Ark's eyes snapped open, his pupils immediately scanning for threats within the cramped cell of the hospital.
Whats- Ark began but stopped, realizing he couldn't move. Irelix, what the hell is going on?
"You've been poisoned." The dragon explained, manifesting and pointing at the nearby soup and bread that Ark had ingested the night prior.
Shit.
"You need to stop compressing your core and circulate mana to cleanse your body right now." Irelix instructed with Ark already at work trying to speed up his natural recovery to fight the paralysis that held his body hostage.
"Oh my." The familiar voice of Marible said, the elderly apothecary staring at Ark from the entrance of his cell with a butcher's knife in hand. "You're awake."
"You!" Ark struggled, slowly sitting up.
"Oh no! Oh heavens no dearie! You shouldn't be awake!" Marible exclaimed as she rapidly approached Ark and placed a hand on his chest, forcing Ark back down.
"What did-!" Ark grit his teeth, trying to formulate words so he could stall and buy time to counteract whatever the woman had done to him.
"Hush. It's ok. You don't have to be upset dearie. Auntie Marible is here, I'll get you something to go back to sleep, and your suffering will be over, just you wait." The apothecary said before taking off, leaving Ark behind who was struggling to regain control of his body.
Shitshitshit! Ark yelled inwardly, his body hard at work circulating energy with the help of Irelix to purge the poison.
A moment later the apothecary was back, a worried look on her old weathered face as she approached Ark with a small wooden bowl in hand. Ark's eyes focused on the wooden bowl, his jaw clenching as he eyed the clear liquid sloshing around.
"Please, please understand that I'm trying to help you." Marible said, placing the knife on the floor as she dipped her boney finger into the salve, swirling it around to coat her philange before she tried to place it in Ark's mouth.
Mustering his strength, Ark snapped, biting the woman and forcing Marible to recoil as the taste of almond mixed with copper pricked Ark's tongue.
Immediately his tongue went numb as Marble clutched her finger with wide eyes and snarled, the kindly old lady grabbing the butcher's knife and swinging it at Ark only for his hand to rise up and catch her wrist.
"How?! How are you moving?!" Maribel exclaimed, confusion on her face as Ark's hand clasped around her wrist, the little boy matching her strength.
"I!" Ark spat, his arm trembling. "Did not! Spend! Years crapping myself to die like this!"
"What does that even mean?!" Marible cried, placing her free hand over the knife and pushing down on the blade with her weight.
Ark grimaced, his body shaking, every fiber of his being attempting to stop the blade that was already touching his chest.
"Get! Off me! You psycho!" Ark spat, the effects of the poison lessening across his body.
"Can't you see I'm doing this for you child?! Can't you see I'm helping you!" Marible reasoned, tears in her eyes. "You'll be free! Don't you want that dearie? Freedom!"
With a groan Ark spit in the woman's eyes, causing her to flinch and recoil just enough that he was able to divert the path of the blade and turn over, striking the woman with a kick that sent her across the room.
"Bastard." Ark huffed, rolling out of bed as he grabbed hold of the butcher's blade embedded in the wooden board beneath the hay.
Immediately the woman scrambled, attempting to rise to her feet but Ark was upon her.
"WAIT! NO! I WAS ONLY- UHK!"
Despite her hands raised in surrender Ark swung the butchers blade, embedding it in the woman's neck.
Her eyes went wide, her hands scrambling to remove the knife from her neck.
Oh no you don't. Ark narrowed his eyes, his free hand grabbing the other side of the woman's neck, and holding firm, applying a lesson he'd learned from Stya.
If Marible managed to remove the blade, blood would go flying from the wound, coating the cell and presenting evidence that a murder had happened.
Ark couldn't allow that. He couldn't afford to draw too much attention to himself. Especially not now that he had his core.
Maribel continued to flail, struggling against the inhuman strength possessed by a child that stared at her with piercing blue eyes.
She attempted to say something but all that came out was a low croak, a small hiccup followed by a stream of red crimson leaking from her opened mouth as her blood coated her white robe and Ark's hand.
It was warm, the ichor of life staining his fingers.
Ark stared at her, holding the knife in her neck until her frantic eyes stopped darting around. She reached up, tears in her gaze as she stroked his cheek in a manner that was almost loving.
Then her old hands fell to her sides, her body no longer possessing the strength to continue to resist.
Ark inhaled, holding his position until the light in the elderly woman's eyes died and all he was left with was a soulless corpse staring at him with her mouth ajar.
A moment passed, then another, with Ark's jaw clenching and unclenching rapidly. "Shit."
[SPELL BOOK ONLINE!]
Huh?
"What?"
*****
In a land far away on an isolated island covered by jungle and teeming with wildlife, a grand tower made of white marble obscured by green moss stood in the center of the landmass.
At its peak, a rusted blazer suddenly lit with blue flames, the fire illuminating an elderly man clad in yellow robes who's tired and dead eyes immediately snapped open with disbelief.
"Ha… haha." The man chuckled, his green eyes leaking tears as his boney hands clenched around his simple wooden staff. "Ark… You've returned."
"G-Paw!" A short-haired girl with blonde hair called out as she opened the wooden hatch leading to the roof of the tower. "The beacons are lit! The beacons are lit!"
"Ah. So it would appear so Lila." The old man said, shuffling to face his excited great granddaughter with a joyful smile.
"Is it time!? Do we get to leave the island!?" The twelve year old said, bouncing up and down with her white apprentice robes flapping everywhere. "What do we do now?!"
Soon the girl was joined by others in white robes. Men, women, and children of various ages and races. Some possessing round ears, others pointy, but all present sharing a similar goal as they collectively kneeled before their teacher.
The old man smiled, the archmage's eyes twinkling with light that had long since been extinguished.
"We search for the savior of humanity."