With a sigh, Zolink stood up and turned to Amelia's cage, moving towards it while observing that all the other cages had gone silent.
His hands touched over the cage's keyhole and then with a loud flick of his tongue, he held onto the bars which carried the rectangular platform that housed the cage's keyhole.
Zolink's hands tensed, and as his muscles flexed, a gentle wind began to pick up around him, but before he could put his strength to use, a voice sounded behind him.
"What are you doing."
Unlike with Kruxe who got utterly frozen in shock when he appeared, Zolink only paused his action with surprise and vigilance on his face.
With his hands going into his pocket, Zolink turned and faced the man behind him with narrowed eyes, his back was slanted backwards like he was about to fall, yet neither he nor the newcomer missed how tense and ready his body was.
"Ahhh, well from what I picked up since I began following him," Zolink said pointing his thumb at the dead Kruxe, "he is her son, and well seeing as I've killed him I thought it wise to bound the mother."
"You know how mothers are with loving their children, always so emotional, the last we want is her committing suicide, and well since I don't have the keys to the cage, I decided to break it open and move her to a new cage."
With his sleek black hair, sparkling white shirt and black trousers, the newly arrived man casually looked Zolink up and down, his eyes shifting to Kruxe's body and then his mother's.
With each second that passed as the man observed the surroundings, tension between the two men built up, Zolink's eyes further narrowing and occasionally looking towards the hatch.
"Okay, that was a wise decision, but no need to destroy the cage," the man said reaching into his pocket and throwing Zolink a bunch of keys which Zolink caught.
"Be quick with binding her, your captain and the rest of the crew will soon be back, the situation outside is getting quite turbulent," the man said, turned around and began walking toward the hatch.
Zolink stood in place, watching as the man left and only when he climbed the ladder and went to the deck above did Zolink let out a sigh of relief, his shoulder dropping as he wiped a bit of sweat on his head.
Zolink shook his head, turned to Amelia's cage, and quickly moved to work.
Sifting through the keys, Zolink found the appropriate one and opened the cage, but as he swung open the door, Amelia who had been prone on the ground suddenly kicked into action and scampered toward her son.
It looked like Kruxe was just an arm's reach away, but before her hand could touch her beloved boy, another hand reached out and grabbed her.
Amelia tried to struggle, but she was like a baby struggling in the arms of an adult.
Other than letting out heart-wrenching screams as her tears flowed anew, Amelia could do nothing but watch as pieces of her clothes were torn and then used to tightly bind her.
Her hands were fist bound behind her, and then her legs, and then Zolink taking no chance, stuffed her mouth with a good quantity of cloth.
When he was done, Zolink threw Amelia back into her cage his eyes lingering on the now revealing portion of her body after her clothes had lost some material, and then with a shake of his head, he locked the cage, leaving the woman to grieve her son's death.
...
What came after death was a certain blankness, but what came after that Kruxe didn't know because after his own blankness, his eyes once again opened to the very scene he had been in before he died, and he listened to Zolink's comment after he died.
"That would have been scary and painful," Kruxe thought remembering how much Maruge squirmed as blood flood flooded his windpipe.
It wasn't until Zolink stood up that Kruxe remembered he was supposed to be dead and began looking around, his eyes soon catching sight of his own body.
Watching what should be your body leaning on a cage with its right leg broken and cradled in his hand while his bent head had blood slowly leaking from a hole in his skull was a surreal experience that had Kruxe speechless.
"What is going on" Kruxe wondered as he reached forward and tried to touch his body only for his hand to pass through it, and then when he quickly looked to his hand, he realized that it was ethereal.
[You died.]
A familiar voice said, taking Kruxe's attention to his mind.
"Is this my soul?" Kruxe asked looking his whole body up and down.
[No, if your soul were to leave your body, you would be truly dead, this is your ethereal form.
You can think of it as a projection of your mind]
Hearing the voice in his head, Kruxe went about checking his body once more, but then his attention quickly shifted to what was happening in the real world.
Paying the utmost attention, Kruxe listened to what was happening, shivering when he stared into his mother's eyes that seemed soulless like she was dead
"Are you the one delaying my revival" Kruxe silently asked.
[yes]
"Thank you," Kruxe said
No matter how much his heart bled or trembled for his mother, Kruxe knew that the only thing that waited for him if he were to immediately revive was another death, a permanent death even being a possibility.
To see Zolink who Kruxe thought was inhuman be all wary just because he was in someone else's presence terrified Kruxe.
The familiar well-dressed man had made no move against Zolink yet he had already imbued fear in Zolink and this had Kruxe wondering just how strong he was.
The thought of assessing the man's strength filled Kruxe's head, but then he hesitated due to the limits on the number of times he could use the reveal option.
"With how much Zolink reacted, that man should at least be a rank above him, and what would I even gain from accessing information about this man's PowerPoints, assuming I even can.
Him being an untouchable monster is a sure call, all I would do is demoralize myself when I see his strength."
With these thoughts, Kruxe watched as the black-haired man left and then he turned to Zolink who moved to open his mother's cage.
At first, Kruxe had been scared he wanted to harm her, but when he saw the man begin binding her up, he felt relief and after painfully ignoring his mother's screams till it was over and then he turned to find a solution.
"You've seen how strong these guys are, not to be ungrateful, but I need more help, perhaps a stronger weapon" Kruxe tentatively thought to the voice in his head.
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