The Last Dainv-Chapter 101

The Last Dainv-Chapter 101

The phone beside his pillow rang. Gale immediately jumped from the bed on the first ring swinging Weber on instinct and slicing off the tip of the chair thats tilted sideways. He looked around, finding no beasts or crazy people trying to kill him. That was the case, except for the fact that his arms and neck were covered in his own blood from last night's fight. The gray hoodie he got from red cross only lasted a day.
The slow walk back last night was just him and his own thoughts. Figuring out how to fight against the tyranny of the Guide… or at least get it to break its monotone act.
He sighed. Who was he kidding? The Guide probably isn't even sentient. Just a super advanced program that responded to his questions.
Though, he really should get a better alarm app. The phone's default app had an alarm that went to 100 at first beep. Maybe a calming app, like rain. Mom and dad always told him to do some chores when there was rain in the camp. Now, any kind of water dropping made him wake up.
Picking up the phone from the side of his pillow, notifications appeared on the lock screen.
[Andrew: dude you alive??]
[Jacob: holy shit man are you alive??]
[Mia: If you're getting these messages, please respond. We're worried.]
[Andrew: gale seriously man if youre ok you need to let us know]
[Jacob: if this is some kind of sick joke its not funny]
[Mia: I'm going to assume you somehow made it out. Call me when you get this.]
Eight missed calls. Three voice messages that he didn't even know how to open. All from last night after they got home.
Gale swiped away the notifications. The last minute plan he came up with was to make them think the thing had killed him. After that, he'd protect them while using Distort.
Mission successful, right, Gale? Then you watched them run. Didn't even look back. Then after you saved them, they just drove away like nothing happened. Kind of like what he did in the Eclipsed.
This was different though. They would've just gotten in his way while he hid his powers from them. The three were mundanes, and they didn't know Aur. That was justifiable enough… right?
Logic didn't help. It never ever did. All Gale wished for was to ride in the car with them after the whole ordeal. Maybe.
Gale swiped up the phone and tapped on the phone icon. He found Ollie's number and started typing him a text while attaching multiple pictures and videos.
[Gale: Found this in an abandoned asylum. Some kind of rift tech. It turned on and opened a portal. Red sky on the other side. Hooded figure tried to come through. Path agents showed up after, twins named Kyle and Clyde.]
But Ollie was busy with his CEO research stuff. Would he even care to look at what he sent him?
Fuck it. He tapped send.
The response came fast:
[Ollie: Where are you? We need to talk about this NOW.]
Gale checked the time again. 11:12 AM. He had class at 1:30 at Mrs. Chen's chemistry. The one class he actually liked. He typed:
[Gale: Can't right now. Have class at 1:30. Can meet after.]
Three dots appeared, then:
[Ollie: Fine. After your class then. My office.]
Next thing he should do is be casual. Send something casual. Adults usually treat texts as casual anyways. He just casually found something in the abandoned asylum after all. A thumbs up emoji would do.
Gale tapped the thumbs up emoji and then tapped send. Casual so that Ollie didn't have to treat it too seriously. He nodded to himself with a smile.
Getting up from the bed, he tossed his phone back and rolled his shoulders. The trek to the bathroom came next. Origin extraction only closed the wounds, and all his muscles were still sore from last night.
He walked to the bathroom door, each step taking an excruciating amount of effort from the soreness. Not having fought in a while made his muscles lazy. Muscle soreness onset coming all at once.
Taking off his clothes and looking in the mirror, it showed him the purple bruises on his chest, shoulders, and forearms. It could've been worse. This wasn't bad.
He stepped into the shower and turned the shower water all the way to hot. The water washed away everything as the caked up blood flowed downwards, creating a swirling of red and black at the drain.
Twenty minutes later, clean and in relatively fresh clothes of a baggy sweater and jeans, Gale grabbed his chemistry book and notes. He took the storage box on the folding dining table and stuck it into his left pocket. Can’t leave without his trusty kill-everything stick, he smiled.
The bus to Yorkdale Adult Learning Centre took forty minutes with 1 transfer in between. He climbed to the 2nd floor, found room 317, and stopped just outside the door.
Just act normal, Gale. Nobody knows what happened last night, except for those darn kids that saw him die. It shouldn’t be that hard to think of an excuse. Then why don’t you already have an excuse?! Shut up voice in my head! You think of an excuse while I deal with the chemistry class.
Gale walked in five minutes before class. Mrs. Chen had already set up an experiment at the front, putting out beakers and chemicals. A few students were chatting while he walked in.
He saw them immediately. Andrew sat in the back corner. Dark circles under his eyes, clearer today. Poor guy, had a rough night. Jacob sat next to him, holding a coin that had the symbol of two wings and a star in the middle. His lips moved, muttering something inaudible while shaking his legs. Mia, to their left, read a book, covering her whole head with it.
Andrew spotted him first at the front. His eyes went wide. Deer in headlights wide. He elbowed Jacob, who looked up and froze immediately. Mia looked at them before looking up over her book. She closed the book in a snap, startling a few students who looked towards her after.
Gale smiled at them. However, that made Jacob's leg shake even more. Mia looked away immediately while Andrew flinched.
That was the most friendly smile he’d ever put on. That should show them he was friendly. He took the remaining empty seat in the middle of the class.
Mrs. Chen started the class as soon as his butt hit the seat.
“Alright,” Mrs. Chen cleared her throat. “Today we’re examining acid-base reactions. Find a partner and come get your safety goggles.”
Students moved around, making pairs. No one came to Gale. From the corner of his eye, he saw Andrew whisper to Jacob, both looking his way.
Mia stood up, looking toward him. She took a couple of deep breaths before she was pulled back by Andrew to join their group. She shook Andrew's hand off and went to a different group, one with two other girls.
For a moment, Gale thought she might've come over. Pull him into their group. It's ok, Gale. You can explain later. Just do your best at smiling and acting as friendly as possible.
Mrs. Chen cleared her throat again, looking at him. "Gale, you'll need to join a group."
"I'm… umm… uhhh." Caught off guard, Gale didn't know what to say. He
could
go over to them like usual like nothing happened. "Can I do the lab myself?"
"That's not how partner labs work." She pointed to the back. "Join Andrew and Jacob's, please."
Great. Just smile. Smiling fixes everything.
Gale grabbed his stuff and moved to Andrew and Jacob's table. They shifted away as he sat.
"So," Gale smiled as wide as he could. "What did I miss,
bros
?"
That's right. Use their language. Both Andrew and Jacob are into that 'maaan, and brooo' thing.
Neither answered. Jacob's leg shook faster. Andrew's head went close to the lab instructions paper.
"Can I have a look too?" Gale asked. "It must be an interesting lab ."
Andrew flicked the paper towards him. It slid over, and the man's head continued staring at the table.
Gale read the instructions:
[Most chemical reactions release energy as heat, but some release it as light. This phenomenon is called
chemiluminescence
. A well-known example is the chemical
Luminol
. When oxidized in a basic solution, luminol produces a temporary, visible blue-green glow.
This reaction, however, requires a
catalyst
to proceed at a visible rate. In forensic investigations, the catalyst is the
iron (Fe)
atom found within the
hemoglobin
of red blood cells. This makes luminol an incredibly sensitive presumptive test for detecting trace amounts of blood at a crime scene, even after an area has been cleaned.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please the violation.
…]
The instructions were easy enough. Gale looked over to Andrew,
"Anyone got the…" he read the instructions again. "The ferricyanide thing?"
Andrew slowly passed the beaker over with two fingers on the lip.
Gale reached for it, but before he could get a grip on it, Andrew flinched and dropped it. He quickly caught the beaker by the neck, contents of it splashing and hitting his hand.
"Careful," Gale smiled widely, wiping his hands on his sweater.
Jacob's eyes darted over to Andrew, then back to Gale, then back to Andrew.
"Alright class. Observation time," Mrs. Chen said, turning off the lights immediately.
On the back of Gale's hand, where the liquid had splashed, the blue glow of the luminol crept in. All over his hands were two distinct lines where the luminol was the strongest.
Jacob whimpered, sliding his chair further away. Andrew did the same, looking away.
"Why is my hand glowing?" Gale asked. The two lines on his right hand was where the skin walker had scratched. The wounds closed by the Origin extraction.
"Because!" Andrew said, then shut up.
"We watched you die. You're not Gale. That thing ate you," Jacob whispered, teeth chattering.
"Obviously, I'm here now and I didn't die."
Shit. That was a great explanation.
"Then how are you here?" Mia appeared at their table behind him, arms crossed. "We saw it. That thing's mouth ate your head."
"I got lucky. Some invisible thing found me and took me away or something. I blacked out for most of it." Gale smiled again.
"Gale doesn't smile. He's always serious and flinching at every sound," Andrew whispered. "You can't possibly be Gale."
Jacob leaned away. "How do we know you're really Gale?"
"What?"
"That thing could change its shape," Mia said. "It could look like anyone."
Goddammit. They really thought the monster ate him and became him. "I'm not the fucking skin walker."
Jacob flinched. "How do you know what it's called?"
"I dunno. I heard one of you say it," Gale lied, not sure whether they actually said anything or not. "Before everything went creepy crazy."
Mia quickly covered Gale's right hand, where the luminol had splashed, before Mrs. Chen came to their table, frowning.
"Is there a problem here?" the teacher said.
"No, ma'am," Andrew said quickly. "Just discussing the procedure."
"I'll be turning on the lights soon. Make sure everyone writes down a small paragraph on what's happening," Mrs. Chen said.
"This is ridiculous," Gale muttered while writing results. "I'm not some shape-shifting monster."
"Prove it," Mia stared at him.
"How exactly am I supposed to do that?"
She leaned closer and whispered, "Tell me something only Gale would know. Something from before last night."
"Two weeks ago, you loaned me your blue pen during the quiz on molecular structures. When I gave it back, you said it was your lucky pen, and you named it Pickles," Gale said.
Her eyes looked to Jacob, shaking his head. "That doesn't prove anything. You could have been watching us for weeks."
Gale grumbled, drooping his head to the table where the luminol had spilled. More of it went to his chin, making his chin glow as well.
The lights suddenly turned on.
"Alright class. Hand over those papers to me as you leave class," Mrs. Chen said, sitting down at the front desk of the class.
Andrew quickly wrote up a paragraph, put all 3 guy's name in it and stood up. He walked over to the front desk and left. Jacob did the same. Mia went over to her group and packed up then left as well. None of them looked back.
Gale packed up, sighing. Great job. That was one hell of an explanation. But what else could he tell mundanes? He could tell them that he was the invisible thing the whole time. He protected them by guiding them to a destination he also wasn't sure about. Still worked though.
[Ollie: Class over yet?]
[Gale: Just finished. On my way.]
At the top of what they call TD Tower, Ollie typed loudly on his keyboard. Same old broken frame at the left side of the wall, still kept uncleaned.
"How's chemistry?" Ollie asked.
Gale didn't answer, leaning his head against the window. The tiny people down at street level gave him something to think about. Each one of the people down there had their own lives, doing a job, and making a life for themselves.
A car blocked the intersection, making a bunch of cars honk their horns at him. The honking then caused some pedestrians to point at the honking cars.
Though none of this was relevant. Just to pass time.
"My classmates think I'm a skinwalker," he finally said, turning from the window.
"That's just what happens. Mundanes see things they can't explain and then they start making stuff up like ghosts, skin walkers, banshees, demons. Who actually believes that, am I right? Be careful with those demons though. Their bites sting. Smelly too." Ollie spun toward a second monitor on his desk. "Here, come take a look at this."
Gale took the empty chair beside him, leaning over Ollie's shoulder. The screen showed his photos that were magically made clearer.
"The equipment you found? It's a prototype." Ollie clicked through images, stopping on the central pillar. "This is a rift container. Or trying to be one, anyway."
"Those mundanes built that?" Gale asked.
"They tried." Ollie zoomed in on a console. "See these markings? Looks like configurations for dimensional research. We got similar configs in another lab on the west coast, but nothing operational."
"Why not?"
"Well, you see. There's these assholes called the Asshole Knights. They shut down everything because it's illegal and unsafe. So I tell them, who cares if it's illegal, it's money!" Ollie opened a drawer, pulled out a manila folder, and put it on the desk. "That's not my research though, but that's what I'll tell them. It's kind of dangerous and lots of hazard pay. Too many accidents."
"Accidents like what happened at the asylum?"
"Worse." Ollie flipped through the folder. "Workers' compensation. They never actually manage to build one because mundanes just can never build one properly. Then they cry and bitch about getting injured on the job."
"That thing in the asylum did work though." Gale folded his arms. "It did more than work. Something looked back through it."
Ollie's fingers stopped typing. "What?"
"When I powered it up, the rift opened. Showed some place with red skies. Then this... figure appeared. Hooded and it didn't look human. It spoke, but not in any language I've heard."
"You're lucky it didn't come through." Ollie leaned back, rubbing his face. "Whatever was on the other side was probably hostile. Something from beyond. Those mundanes built a working rift device with just electronics and no glyphs? That's..." He shook his head. "That shouldn't be possible."
"But it was. And there were twins that came after looking for something."
"Documents, you said." Ollie tilted his head. "Did you find anything? Notes? Research logs? Test results?"
"No. But someone else did."
"Who?"
"A mundane. My friend Mia. One of my classmates from chemistry. We all went there on some stupid ghost hunt. She found documents in an office and took them."
"You're sure about this?"
"I checked the office myself after fighting the skin walker. The drawers were empty."
"Shit." Ollie sighed. "Any idea what she took? Or why?"
"No clue." Gale sighed. And now she wouldn't talk to him. None of them want to talk to him.
"You said it was a dare? The asylum visit?"
"Yeah. My classmates wanted to go ghost hunting. Some urban legend about a ghost called Mary Gallard." Gale snorted. "Turned out to be a lot worse than just a ghost."
"Cool cool cool… and why did you guys go?"
"Andrew wouldn't shut up about it. He just forced everyone after the learning centre's ghost sighting. It was supposed to be what normal people do." Gale dropped his head onto Ollie's table. "I'm normal, right?"
"Normal's overrated." Ollie closed the folder on his monitor and leaned on his table to meet Gale's eyes. "So, Mia has documents about rift tech that might actually work. The Path wants those documents,
probably
. And there's something on the other side of that rift that was trying to communicate."
"That about sums it up."
"Perfect." Ollie's phone buzzed. He checked it, frowned, then put it aside. "We need those documents. Whatever that girl found could lead to some money making. Think about it, Gale. It's a private rift. The profits!"
"You want to build one?" Gale asked. "After what I just told you?"
"Yeah, no shit I want it." Ollie stood and paced across his office. "Think about it. A rift we control could change everything. Safe passage between points. Access to resources from other dimensions. And… maybe even Dust."
"What do you mean?" Gale asked.
"Brief history lesson. One rift usually appeared every decade or so before a hundred years ago. After that, rifts started appearing maybe once a week now. Then this substance called
dust
started appearing once it occurred more often." Ollie paused. "If we could understand the origin of dust, then we would somehow come up with more accurate theories and practical applications. And most important, profits!"
"What about if things get in because of that? Like that hooded thing in the rift that looked back?"
"We can handle them." Ollie stopped pacing. "Don't underestimate Aurians. They're much stronger than you think. Everyone and everything is competent, which is also frustrating in some ways. It's not like those movies where the henchmen are just shooting practice."
Gale laughed. That was true. Even the B-movie looking Red Jacket Woman and tattooed suit guy took him on pretty well.
"This Mia. Do you think she understands what she's got?" Ollie asked.
"No way. She just thinks it's interesting history about a haunted asylum. Probably. I think. Actually, I don't know what the stuff is that she read in the document." Gale leaned back. "But she doesn't know about Aur. About any of this."
Ollie nodded slightly. "Then we need to get those documents before she figures out they're important. Or before someone else gets to her first."
"Like who?"
"Like the twins. Special Investigations Division. Quick, clean, efficient, and two huge goddamn assholes…" Ollie shook his head. "I'm not fucking forgetting Vancouver."
"Vancouver what?"
"Nothing. So, Mia?"
"I can try talking to her," Gale said finally. "Though after what they saw at the asylum, none of them want to get near me."
"What exactly did they see?"
"The skin walker attacking me. I made it look like I died so they would run. Then I protected them as a scary invisible thing." Gale shrugged. "Guess it worked too well."
"And now you show up in class." Ollie whistled low. "No wonder."
"Yeah."
"Well, either way, we need to get whatever is in those documents." Ollie reached for his phone again. "I can have some people get it from her."
"No," Gale cut him off. "Let me handle it. She's already scared enough."
Ollie put his chin on his hand, watching him. "Your call. But those documents could be crucial, Gale. If we found a way to create and contain a rift using just technology..."
"I get it. I'll talk to her."
"Good." Ollie walked to the window, looking at the city skyline. "And Gale? Be careful. If the Path is interested in this stuff, it's not just about dusty old research. There's something bigger happening."
"There always is," Gale said.
"This mundane, Mia," Ollie said, turning from the window. "What's her last name?"
"Cortez, I think. Why?"
"Just covering bases." Ollie typed into his phone. "Just in case we don't mess with anyone we don't know."
"She's just a student."
"Nobody's just anything, Gale." Ollie put the phone in his pocket. "You know that better than most. Better safe than sorry."
"I'll talk to her tomorrow," Gale said. "After class."

Chapter 101