The Last Dainv-Chapter 146

The Last Dainv-Chapter 146

Gale opened the bag immediately, realizing what it was. It contained bones, too small for an adult. It was a child in a fetal position. They were old, yellowed by time. The cloth around it had rotted all around, fibres sticking out outside.
Rachel knelt beside Gale, her flame lighting up the view even more. "A child…"
[Mission: Give the bones a proper burial.]
[Reward: 1000 points, ???]
The notification suddenly lit up in front of him. This whole thing
must
be related to whatever the hell was happening to all of them. Everything that happened so far was to lead them to finding these bones, and the monster was looking for it. Of course it was. After all, the thing had 'progressing' taint. It wasn't fully tainted yet.
"Well," Kyle folded his arms. "Now what?"
"We need to give her a proper burial," Gale said, meeting Rachel's eyes. "I think the entity has been trying to find Dyani's bones. Remember, it would always run away from us. It would've never entered the room Robert was in and find the basement. It was looking for Dyani to probably give her a proper burial."
"To bury them?" Rachel asked. "That... makes sense, actually. There's lots of cultures that believe spirits won't be able to rest without being laid to rest."
She stood up from her spot and continued, "I agree with Gale. If this is connected to Dyani, we need to give these bones the respect they deserve."
"That doesn't make sense. Why would a corrupted entity care about burying bones? Those things don't have complex motivations. They destroy. They corrupt. They don't perform funeral rites," Ollie said.
"Because you're thinking too rigidly," Gale said.
"What's not clicking for you, Ollie?" Kyle laughed, nudging his twin. "This is straight out of 'The Ring' or 'The Grudge' or pick your ghost movie. Spirit can't rest because their remains weren't properly buried. You bury the bones, ghost stops haunting your ass."
"Classic horror trope," Clyde nodded. "Haunting 101."
"You want me to base my decisions on movies?" Ollie sighed. "Fucking movies? Both of you need to stop rotting your brains with that crap. This is real life."
"Real life with ghosts and monsters," Kyle said.
"Exorcisms were never my jam though," Clyde said. "It's faster to just put a bullet centre mass."
"I'm going to put a bullet up your centre mass if you don't stop talking about movies!" Ollie shouted. "Some of us have businesses to run. Save lives. Unlike you two idiots that base everything off horror flicks and crime dramas."
"Well, real world experience says don't fuck with ghosts," Clyde said.
"Look," Gale said, standing up with the bag of bones. "I don't care what any of you think. This is Dyani. And I'm going to give her a proper burial. She deserves that much."
"And what if you're wrong?" Ollie asked. "What if burying those bones makes things worse?"
"How could it possibly make things worse?" Gale asked.
"You'd be surprised. Besides, the ground is frozen solid outside. We can't dig through-" Ollie stopped as his eyes caught onto Rachel. "Never mind. Do what you want. I'm clearly outnumbered here."
Gale wrapped the bag carefully, using his scarf as another layer to the bag. "Let's go upstairs, find someplace outside."
The group was then led by Gale up the concrete stairs back to the main floor. Pushing through the door at the top of the stairs, he stopped suddenly, causing Rachel to bump into him.
"What's wrong?" she said.
Gale continued walking through, taking in the view of the forest clearing around him. Snow covered the ground, only ankle deep compared to the snowstorm they trudged through. The air was crisp with barely any wind. No howls and no snowstorm to fight against. They stood at the centre of it all as the treeline's border created a perfect circle around them.
When they looked back behind them, the door they had come through was gone. No hotel, no more door.
"What the fuck?" Kyle spun in a circle, pistol and dagger already in his hand. "Anyone else seeing this shit?"
"Yeah," Clyde said, back-to-back with his twin, his long gun up. "We're not at the shining anymore."
"First time seeing a spatial shift?" Rachel asked, sounding pretty calm.
"You've seen this before?" Gale asked.
"Not exactly like this," she said. "Mom would talk about such stuff on her adventures in Aur."
"Well, shit, I haven't," Kyle said, still turning slowly, checking the treeline. "Over a fucking decade in Aur, and I've never seen shit like this."
Ollie somehow agreed with the twins. Gale couldn't understand. He'd seen such things himself in the Eclipsed in the Dainv ship.
"We're in the ceremonial grounds," Rachel said. "That's my guess, anyway. The place from the child's drawing."
"Bury it. Now. Quick, before anything else changes," Ollie said.
Gale nodded, choosing a spot where the hotel wouldn't be. He knelt down and signalled for Rachel to come over. The ground would still be frozen even in this calm weather.
Rachel stepped closer to him and held out a palm. It ignited like a jet engine, fire spreading around the snow in a three foot circle where Gale had chosen. Steam rose, snow melted, showing the thawing soil beneath.
"That should soften it enough," she stepped back.
Gale clawed at the flat ground, not using Alter to dig. Dyani would probably want that. No shortcuts to a proper burial. He dug the small hole until it was about two feet deep and wide enough to encase the whole bag.
Picking up the scarf behind him, he unwrapped the scarf, leaving only the rotting bag left. He carefully placed the bag inside the hole and scooped the dirt back to fill it back up.
"Rest now," he whispered. When the last of the soil covered the grave, he stamped it softly. He sat back on his heels, waiting.
Nothing happened. No wind or sign of Dyani anywhere. Not even the wendigo appeared. Just the five of them quietly waiting.
"Maybe we need to say something?" Rachel said. "A prayer or something?"
Suddenly, a deep distorted call of a deer echoed and shook the treeline, making the hairs on Gale's neck stand up. The sound came from everywhere, bouncing in the open space.
Kyle and Clyde moved into fighting stances, weapons ready.
"Something's coming," Clyde said.
Gale stood up, eyes checking the treeline. The others formed a loose circle, backs to each other, weapons ready.
"There," Clyde pointed with the barrel of his long gun.
Between two snow-covered pines, red eyes glowed in the shadow. The two and a half meter tall wendigo came out from the trees. Its antlers glowed a mix of yellow and red; the colours seemed to be fighting each other.
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It threw its head back, letting out another distorted growl that shook the trees.
"Everybody down!" Clyde dropped to one knee and raised his rifle.
Before Gale could say anything, Clyde fired three quick shots at the creature. Not the usual shockwave rounds. The bullets hit. The creature stumbled as the bullets sparked and shattered on its leather.
Kyle's pistol came up next, emptying his magazine. "Bastard doesn't want to die!"
Ollie joined in, drawing his own gun, also emptying his deagle's magazine. His shots were half as loud as Clyde's but gave a stronger punch than Kyle's. Nevertheless, all of their shots sparked and shattered against the thick metal-like leather of the wendigo.
"Stop!" Gale shouted, but no one listened.
The wendigo's red eyes fixed on them. It lowered its head and charged, moving with the same unnatural speed it had for its size.
Rachel stepped forward, both hands covered in flames. She planted her feet wide. Heat came off her in waves, melting the snow in a circle around her boots.
Gale watched the creature run across the clearing. Something wasn't right. This wasn't how it should have played out. They'd buried the bones. That should have ended it. The wendigo should've calmed down, yet it was attacking them when before it only defended itself.
The wendigo reached Rachel. She launched her fist. Her fist connected with its chest and fire spread out from the hit. The blast threw snow into the air, making steam rise in thick clouds.
The steam lifted, revealing the solid ground. Underneath, red circles and stars painted the whole ground. The patterns from the 6th floor littered the whole ceremonial grounds.
"Fuuuucking hell," Kyle whispered.
The wendigo appeared out of the red circle behind Rachel.
"Behind you!" Gale shouted to Rachel.
Too late. One hit from its massive palm sent her flying across the clearing. She hit a tree trunk with a crack and slid to the ground, not moving.
"Rachel!" Gale yelled, already running toward her.
"Cover him!" Ollie shouted as another magazine floated into his magwell.
Clyde and Ollie opened fire, bullets hitting the wendigo's hide. It started to take effect. Black ooze leaked from a couple of wounds that managed to pierce the hide. Still, it stood, not seeming to care about its own body.
Kyle spun his dagger in his hand. "My turn."
He threw the blade. It sank into the entity's shoulder.
Blink.
He reappeared where the dagger was lodged.
The wendigo twisted rapidly, launching Kyle into the air. Dagger threw back down to the ground.
Blink.
Kyle appeared on the ground just before he reached the apex of his flight.
Gale reached Rachel, dropping to his knees beside her. She breathed evenly. On the other hand, the tree showed a large circular crack. That must've been the sound. She was just knocked out.
"Come on," he patted her cheek. "Wake up."
"That's it. No more games," Ollie said as he clutched his hand in the air. A blue outline lit up on the wendigo, wrapping around its whole self. Its muscles bulged as it tried to break from the restraint.
"You son of a bitch," Ollie gritted his teeth.
The wendigo stopped struggling, looking directly into Ollie's eyes. Its red eyes pulsed a stronger red while the red outlines on its antlers continued to invade the yellow. Somehow, it looked like it smiled.
One moment it was caught in the telekinetic grip. The next, it stood directly behind him, appearing from the red circle behind Ollie.
The wendigo swung, swatting him away like a fly. Ollie tumbled through the snow, losing grip of his deagle.
Clyde fired another round, hitting where Kyle's dagger opened a wound.
It ignored the fire, turning toward the small grave Gale had just made. In a quick two swipes of its claws to the ground, it had taken up the bag of bones.
"No," Gale whispered, watching the wendigo carry the bag in a surprisingly gentle manner. It looked at him one last time, then turned and ran into the forest.
"After it!" Ollie got to his feet, deagle floating to his hand. "No more 'don't kill it' bullshit. That thing just made this personal."
Kyle picked up his dagger. "Payback time."
"Three buster rounds for delivery," Clyde changed his current magazine with the familiar white glyphed ones. "Coming right up."
The three men took off into the trees, following the wendigo's tracks in the snow.
"Dammit," Gale muttered, turning back to Rachel. "Come on. Wake up."
He moved hair from her face, seeing a slight bump on her head. Her eyelids fluttered at his touch.
"Rachel?"
Her eyes opened, unfocused, then cleared as she recognized him. "Gale? What happened?"
"The wendigo knocked you out," he said, sitting her up.
"Where is it now? Where are the others?" Rachel asked.
"It dug up Dyani's bones and ran off with them. Ollie and the twins went after it," Gale pointed toward where Ollie and the twins disappeared to.
Rachel pushed herself up. She shook her head once, stretching her neck and cracking her knuckles and fingers.
"We need to regroup," she said. "Before they do something stupid."
Gale got to his feet. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." Rachel took off, snow flying from her boots. "Gerard hits harder than that."
Gale matched her pace. Gunshots echoed through the trees, giving them a direction to follow.
"They found it," Gale said.
Their feet moved faster as they ducked under low hanging pine branches. The shots became louder and louder, mixed with illegible quips from Kyle.
They broke through into a clearing and saw the scene before them. The wendigo creature stood in the centre, its massive body full of bullets. More of the black ooze dripped from its leather, yet it barely reacted to their shots. It simply walked forward with slow steps, hiding the bag of bones away from the gunshots.
Ollie stood twenty feet away, firing shot after shot into the creature's side. "Why. Won't. You. Die!"
"Last hit gets lion's share on this kill ," Kyle shouted, circling the wendigo's right as his dagger flashed. The dagger dug into its shoulder. Blink. And the dagger was mid air again into one of the low hanging branches where Kyle appeared once again.
A shockwave bullet barreled through the space between the trees and the wendigo, hitting it centre mass. Clyde shouted, "Go for the head!"
The wendigo took another slow step forward, its movements getting slower as more bullets tore through its body.
It wasn't fighting back after it had taken the bones. All it was doing was just… walking. But to where?
There was no stopping Ollie now, and he wasn't close enough to the twins to order them. The taint in the wendigo grew with each bullet.
Its eyes never faltered like it was on a mission. If it was tainted, why wouldn't it fight back?! Wasn't being tainted meant that it was mindless?!
Gale reached into his pocket, pulling out the crude map they'd found earlier. Three locations were marked with childish circles. One for the ceremonial grounds where they'd found the bones. One for the abandoned reserve. And the third... burial grounds.
He looked up at the struggling wendigo. Black ooze bled out all over its body, no where was it not hurt.
"Rachel," Gale said.
She turned to him. "Yeah?"
Of course, the face she would show had an uncertainty that he could tell. Gale smiled at her, "I need to do something. Do you trust me?"
"Yes. No matter what. What are you planning?" Rachel didn't hesitate.
"I need you not to step in. No matter what happens. Can you do that for me?"
"But-"
"Please."
"What if the twins and Ollie attack you?"
"That's when I need you. Please, trust me," Gale held out her arm, squeezing it softly through her light jacket.
"Just… be careful. I got your back. Ok?" Rachel said, furrowed brows, worry all over her expression.
Gale nodded once, then stepped into the clearing.
"About time you joined the party," Kyle called, appearing beside a tree trunk after another blink dagger. "Thought you and the firecracker were sitting this one out."
Ignore him, Gale. He moved around the edge of the clearing until he saw the wendigo's side face. Reaching for his storage box in his left pocket, the interface appeared. Weber materialized onto his right hand. Phase Touch activated.
Kyle whistled. "Bringing out the good stuff!"
The wendigo turned its head slightly to the side, finding Gale. Somehow, he seemed to understand its expression.
It was just tired.
It held the bones tighter to its chest and turned away, continuing its slow walk.
Gale sprinted forward, Dainv Combat Arts allowing him to traverse the rocky and snowy terrain like he was gliding. He ducked low, then jumped upward, twisting in mid-air to go over its back.
He came down on the other side, his blade cutting cleanly through the meat of its foreleg. Not a killing blow. Just enough to make it loosen its grip. Its leg gave way, and for just a second, its hold on the bag of bones loosened.
That second was all Gale needed.
He grabbed the bag from its grip, immediately turning away, already running before his feet touched the ground again.
"WHAT THE?" Ollie shouted. "GALE, WHAT THE FUCK."
Gale didn't slow down. Behind him, the creature let out another distorted growl that shook the snow from the branches overhead. If he remembered the map, the burial grounds would be southeast of this place.
"GALE!" Ollie shouted, further now. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"
He jumped to the branches above, then launched himself from the trunk of the tree. He hit the ground running, snow crunching. His breath came in short puffs of white cloud. The bones bumped against his chest with each step.
More gunshots behind him. More shouts. The twins were calling his name now too, obviously mad at him, but who cares.
The slope began to rise under his feet. He got to the top of a small rise and stopped short. Before him lay burial grounds as if it were in a different time and different season. The ground was untouched by snow where the grass grew green. Each grave was marked by stones put in circles. At the centre of the clearing stood a giant boulder.
He arrived at the burial grounds.

Chapter 146