The Last Dainv-Chapter 31

The Last Dainv-Chapter 31

Gale activated Distort, bending the light around him to become invisible. He slowly walked straight ahead to the town square centre. The same man moving buckets of water balanced on a plank passed by him.
It was all so obvious.
He looked around the square as his eyes settled to the left of him. A tall tower that seemingly had no meaningful function stood tall against the houses. Houses obstructed the view on the base of the tower.
That was it. Gale ran through the street, muffling his steps as much as he could. He reached the weathered walls of the tower. At the base of it stood what looked like a church with symmetrical sides of triangular roofs.
Gale began climbing as a hand went to the first stone that stood out from the wall just far enough. Easy enough, he reached the top in just a few seconds.
He looked back and the layout of Blue Haven revealed itself. Streets lined the streets in a square grid. Buildings clustered themselves in the squares assigned to them, however, something felt off. It was too neat. Designed like it was made for efficiency of… looking good from the ground. The streets themselves looked busy just like how it was when they entered. The whole place felt like it was teeming with life.
Wait.
Gale watched the man walking with the two buckets balanced on a plank. The man turned right after hitting the end of the street. He kept walking until he reached the end of the next junction and then turned right again. It repeated again, and again, and again until the man fully circled the whole town. All of that while the smile never left the man's face at all during all of this.
The girl eating the muffin. She walked in a different pattern. Moving away from the centre, circling a block, and then back to the centre. She repeated this in different directions.
What the fuck is this…
Examining more of the villagers, all of them did the same thing. Their paths were regular patterns that would repeat after getting to the end, like animatronics with set paths. It was an endless cycle. This whole thing was a patrol.
Gale moved his eyes to the torture chamber he had just come from. There were no patrols around that area at all, and it was far from the main buildings, as if meant to be hidden. Squinting his eyes, he could see the altar and the chiseled eye pattern on its surface.
Totally not intended patterns, eh?
Decision made. He descended from the tower, moving in silently to the village wall near the torture chamber.
Thank you for presenting yourself, amateurish stone wall. Now how do I make you collapsible… his eyes moved to his sabre. Might as well try.
Gale took up his sabre, activating Phase Touch along its edge. The sabre passed through the surface, embedding itself into the wall like a butter knife into butter.
First step. Cut a square section. Check.
Second step. Cut crosses along the square section. Check.
Third step. Cut deep enough so that he could just kick it open. Check.
Fourth step. Look back at the torture chamber menacingly, as if he were looking at an ugly old man. Check.
All checks were done. Rachel will understand it all after he shows her action rather than words.
Now, time to find the only person that might listen to him. Gale moved through the streets once again like a literal ghost, as Distort made him invisible. The man walking with two buckets passed him as he found Ollie walking around the square, looking at the pulsating fruits in the vendors.
Gale fell into step beside Ollie, whispering, "Don't react. Keep walking. Listen."
Ollie's eyes slightly widened, but then back to blank.
"This whole thing is a trap," Gale continued. "There are women trapped in a torture chamber in a hidden building. It's sacrificial rituals. You get me? Wait, don't answer that."
Ollie pretended to examine a blue fruit, taking out his grey marble to touch it with. It glowed green. Safe to eat.
As they walked, Gale outlined his escape plan. "I'm going to create a distraction. I'll lure a forest beast to the village. When the commotion starts, I'll rescue the women from the basement. You tell Rachel and the others to escape. You guys can figure it out on your own, we need to escape separately."
"Hey, mister, how much is this fruit?"
"Hello there, young man. You can have it for free for today." The vendor said. "After you get a job, just come back here and give me 5 coppers."
"Thanks a lot, mister!" Ollie happily took the pulsating veiny blue fruit and took a bite. "Mmmm, blue berry."
"We'll escape. Go back to the encampment. You need to keep searching for the exit while they're distracted by us stealing from them," Gale whispered. "When you find the exit rift, head straight back to the camp. And please, Ollie, tell Rachel I'm sorry. She won't listen to me, but she'll listen to you."
Ollie made a small nod while biting into the fruit. Gale took that as enough acknowledgment from Ollie.
"Plan starts once shit hits the walls," Gale whispered.
He slipped away immediately, leaving Ollie to eat his fruit alone. The plan was risky, but so what? Rachel and Annett being sacrificed to the blue moon or Ollie being enthralled? Hell no.
He approached the medieval looking gate. It was closed shut. Gale phased his whole body, allowing him to walk right through the gates. He looked left and then sprinted towards the dark forest.
Dry air hit his face as he ran through the two hills that they crested. It wasn't long before he saw the border between the dead forest and the lush one.
That was when he stopped. Now moving cautiously. Allowing his feet to softly land so as not to get more attention than he needed.
He sent out Breath of the Void's tendrils, passing through trees, giving him all the information available in his surroundings. He needed a forest beast. One big enough to be a threat and also not big enough to completely decimate the walls. Something too weak would die right away, and something too big would kill too fast.
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A dense thicket brushed by him as he jogged slowly through the forest. Suddenly, a low growl to his right caught his attention. Gale turned.
Beside the fallen tree was a silhouette of a beast, or maybe it was a predator. It had sharper features, and by that, it meant that its skin was more twisted, like a patchwork of fur and scales. It wasn't as big as the biggest one he had seen, and it wasn't small enough that he could one sidedly beat it up.
It was a perfect 2 garbage trucks.
The forest beast emerged from the thickets. It growled, sniffing the air until it turned to Gale's direction. Its eyes locked on to his.
Gale took a step back, watching the beast's muscles tense below its skin and baring its blackened decaying teeth.
"Come get me, dumbass!" Gale deactivated Distort.
The beast lunged at Gale as he also bolted backwards towards Blue Haven. The monster's heavy stomps caused the trees around him to shake slightly.
This one is a chunky boy, eh.
The settlement soon came into view. It was never that far from the lush, dark forest anyways. It was a miracle they haven't been attacked by something bigger.
Gale bursted from the dead treeline. Seeing the forest beasts running at him, the guards shouted to each other and rang the bell for alarms. He activated Distort once more, disappearing from view. Phased his whole body then ran straight through the iron gates.
Chaos struck the wall.
Gale beelined to the torture chamber. No patrols in sight. He blasted down the door open. Sabre swung against the floorboards that hid the staircase, quickly opening up the path.
Descending the stairs, muffled screams and cries travelled through the stairwell. Gale reached the cellar, all of them were still intact.
"I promised," he whispered, looking straight at Lily. He moved towards the cages, and the women inside whimpered, shrinking back to the other side of the cage away from him.
Gale fiddled with the lock, pulling at it. But even with his newfound strength, he still couldn't open it. No choice, "stand back"
"Behind you!" a woman shouted.
He spun around with his sabre in his hand. Too late. Marcus lunged at him, forcing him to stumble backwards onto the floor–What the fuck! You were supposed to be dead!
Marcus's fist connected with his chin, sending him crashing into the cage behind him and bending its bars. Metal tasted bitter in his mouth.
Gale rolled sideways, avoiding another frantic lunge from Marcus. At the corner of his eye, he saw the white eyes, grayed skin, sharp teeth, sharp eyes, sunken cheeks, and most important of all, the neck he had cut open, dried up by the dirt he'd buried him with.
What the!
Marcus swiped at him. Gale dodged, jumping up to avoid it.
This wasn't Marcus.
Gale ducked from another swing.
It fought like a beast.
He kicked it in the stomach, but the kick didn't seem to register into its pain receptors.
It felt like a beast.
Marcus swung its fist at his cheeks. However, Gale took it in, not moving from his spot.
So, it must be a beast.
Gale put Phase Touch on the sharp edge of his sabre. Kicking with full force square on the chest, Marcus stumbled backwards. He pinned him down with a leg on the chest.
Immediately, Gale cut off Marcus' wrists, severing both hands cleanly.
"Stay down."
But the beast didn't listen. Marcus didn't even flinch when his hands were cut as he flailed his arms at Gale. No blood poured out from the severed hands. Its teeth tried to snap at his legs, but he put more weight onto his leg to stop it.
What the hell are you? This defied everything he thought he knew about life and death. But if a girl can manipulate fire and time, the chance of the undead existing wasn't that far off.
Gale shook his head. Focus on the mission. Just think everything is plausible from now on. His eyes focused on the creature in front of him.
He swung his sabre, slicing the beast's neck, cleaving through the flesh and separating the head from the rest of its body. Its eyes glared at him as it rolled across the floor. It snarled at him, jaws kept snapping at his direction.
A sob from one of the cages brought him back to his original task. Fuck this beast. The women needed his help. No time to waste.
Once again, he activated Phase Touch on his sabre and swung at the cage bars all around him, slicing through them like butter.
"Everyone out, now!" he shouted.
The women hesitated for a few seconds. Their eyes switched between Gale and the still moving parts of the beast. At this point, it's better to just call it a zombie or ghoul.
A snap of a finger broke their daze. Lily came out first, and the others followed suit after her.
"Follow," Gale said, already walking to the staircase. "Stay close. Stay quiet."
They emerged from the basement and were met by the sounds of chaos. Not any screams he expected from 'normal' people. Instead, it was all just the forest beast rampaging and roaring at everything that moved.
Gale guided the group to the wall where he had created a collapsible section. He kicked the wall he had prepared, and it collapsed outward immediately. On second thought, he saw the hole was a bit too small. But then he looked back at the women. Most of them weren't that tall and could fit through as they were mostly bones. Horrible, but convenient.
"Through here," he whispered, ushering the women in. "Quickly now."
The last woman squeezed through the gap, and Gale glanced around, making sure that no one followed before going into the hole himself.
On the other side, he saw Rachel already there.
"Gale! Over here! Hurry!" Rachel shouted.
He sighed, relieved at finally being able to see her face again. And there was also a slight smile on her lips.
"Follow them!" Gale shouted at the women.
The group of terrified women looked between Gale and Rachel. However, as Rachel waved them over, they began to move. One woman almost stumbled on another.
Gale helped her up. "Be careful and go."
She nodded, immediately running to catch up with the others.
"Follow that really tall lady over there," Rachel pointed at Annett.
Annett shook her head and then gestured for the women to come over.
Hesitating a step, Rachel moved to Gale, just a step away. She looked down and then looked back up. "We need to hurry back to the encampment. Ollie said the exit rift was near. He's going to meet us back after he finishes scouting."
Gale nodded. The exit rift was close—a chance to go back home.
"Let's move," Gale said, grabbing Rachel by the arm and jogging in the encampment's direction. "We need to put as much distance between us and Blue Haven as possible."
The forest predator's deafening roar cut through the air, echoing against the walls of Blue Haven. Gale glanced back for a second and saw the beast had created a giant hole where the iron gate used to be.
Gale and Rachel soon caught up with the rest of the group, with Gale taking up the lead. Annett brought up the rear while Rachel tended to the women.
"What happened in there?" Rachel asked as they hiked, her head turning back to the direction of the encampment.
"Ritual. Sacrifice." Gale turned his head back, looking at Lily. "Looks like women only. No wonder there were no young women in the settlement."
Gale had memorized the route back to the encampment, taking the straightest route to each milestone. He led by cutting through the side part of the scorched earth, allowing the underclothed women to walk through the soil rather than the burning ground nearby.
Rachel came up from the middle and asked, "Where are we going? This isn't the route."
"Trust me," Gale said.
"Ok. I trust you," Rachel squeezed his arm, then went back to the middle.
Gale continued leading the way, optimizing the previous route they had taken. Breath of the Void had mapped out the area while they crossed this the first time. The red marble had taken a long roundabout way rather than going straight forward.
Soon, a familiar area came into view as they saw a hint of a cobblestone building through the thicket of trees.
"We're halfway there," Rachel said. "After we're done resting here, it's just a little bit further. Just a little bit further, ok?"
"Wait, we can't rest," Gale said, clenching the hilt of his sabre. "Look."
The stone tower exuded a darkness that seeped out from the door. Each step going towards it felt like going deeper into water, pressing against the ribs.
"It has eyes! Eyes! Eyes! Eyes!" Anna cackled, repeating the words like a broken record.

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Chapter 31