The Last Dainv-chapter 32

The Last Dainv-chapter 32

Gale's eyes locked onto the darkness oozing from the stone tower. Something about… felt comforting. His heartbeat slowed… but it was dangerous.
Power. Warmth. Comfort. Books. Come to ██████'s embrace. It's what you want. Not the pain you're suffering right now. Embrace what's inside you. Become what it says.
Everyone, we need to move. We can't stay here. Don't listen to the whispers coming from it. Don't get too close, let's move.
Gale moved away from the stone tower, onto the path towards the giant tower. He memorized it. Even marked each couple of metres in case anyone got lost.
Come, young one. Embrace the gift of solitude.
"Gale?" Rachel pulled at his arms, causing him to stumble backwards.
He looked back at Rachel and the rest of the group, along with the rescued. He had crossed the threshold between the forest and the clearing of the stone tower.
"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.
What the hell? Wasn't I-
"Calm down. We told everyone already not to look at the stone tower. We need to move, away from this place," Rachel said.
He saw Annett and the rest of the group staring down at the grass.
Fuck. Gale dug his nails into his palms. Blood dripped from his closed fist. Looking at the path he memorized, there was an X mark to the left of the group. He moved back in line, taking the front.
"Follow me. I marked the path to the giant tree," Gale said.
The group moved again, pacing their hike as the women breathed hard from the relentless pace.
A rustle caught Gale's attention. Immediately, he activated Distort around the women, refracting the light and twisting where the group visually was.
The beast suddenly pounced from the foliage beside the rescued women, swiping at them, but it missed. It hit the refraction a couple of centimetres away from the women's real position.
Annett used her time slow while Gale dashed to the beast. Sabre swung at the beast's neck from below as he flung himself to the opposite end of the group. Phase Touch activated, aiming its point at a position in the underbrush where a beast had just emerged from, stabbing directly into the centre of the beast's head. In one fluid motion, Gale had killed two beasts.
He wiped his blade on the leather of his pants. The survivors looked at him wide eyed. Rachel's response was slow, however she had the right idea to block the first beast. That was fine.
"Gale, are you ok?" Rachel asked.
"I'm fine," he said, taking a deep breath. "Let's keep moving."
The decision to rescue the women was definitely the right one. Anyone would have rescued them in that kind of situation when it was right in their face. He told himself before that he'd never get caught off guard again.
But what the fuck was that earlier? The group back at the camp was already just as full of civilians who wouldn't be able to take care of themselves. Getting caught by the same trick twice, Gale? Do better.
The air around him warmed up as Rachel held onto his forearm. "It's going to be okay."
Gale pulled his arm away from Rachel's grip. Dad always said comfort was for women. Glancing back at the group… looks like the women aren't comfortable.
"We need to keep moving," he said. Better not dead than dead, I guess.
Rachel's hand lingered in the air for a moment before dropping to her side. Her brows knitted together, but she said nothing.
The group resumed their trek through the dark forest. Gale let out his Breath of the Void, spreading metres away. No beasts so far, so good.
Lily stumbled, shoulder hitting a trunk beside her. Her blonde hair stuck to her sweaty forehead.
"We're getting tired," she said, her voice hoarse. "Some of us can barely walk anymore."
They couldn't stop. Not here.
"Stopping means dying," he said.
"Gale's right," Rachel said. "I hate it, but we can't rest here. It's too dangerous, especially when all of you are unarmed."
Alex stepped closer to Lily. "Hey, this whole place is a death trap anyway. Might as well die running away, right?"
Silence fell for a second before Alex continued, "No takers? Alright. Maybe that wasn't funny."
"Well, at least the beasts are going to die with us. That's something, for what it's worth." Annett chuckled.
"The encampment is just ahead. We can cut through the forest." Gale pointed slightly to the left. "Won't need to go back to the giant tree. This route will only take two hours."
Rachel sighed. "Two hours."
"Can you make it?" Gale asked Lily directly.
Lily straightened up. "We'll have to."
The group pushed forward. Gale led them down a steep slope. Each of them held onto one another as they descended.
Anna mumbled as she descended, "The eyes are watching. Always watching."
"Anna, please," Rachel said softly. "We're almost home."
"Home?" Anna laughed. "This isn't home. Home doesn't have monsters."
Gale focused on the path ahead. Idle conversation distracted him from the landmarks he'd memorized with the tendrils. Following the marble might've been good for comfort, but not for speed.
The rescued women fell into single file behind him as they crested a hill with roots that made the climb uneven. One of the women almost tripped, but Annett caught her.
Another steep dip on the floor blocked their way. Though, a dip was an understatement. More like a cliff. The other side was around 8 metres. Easily jumpable for Annett, Rachel, and him. For the others, that would be olympian level, and the ground wasn't even.
"Annett, can you catch the women one by one to the other side?" Gale looked to Annett.
"Gale, I don't think that's a good idea…" Rachel mumbled.
"We're already here. It'll take longer to go back to the original route," Gale said. "The encampment should just be on the other side of this."
"It's fine. Let's follow through this anyway. My slow can make the landing softer." Annett jumped over to the other side.
"Lily, you first," Gale said.
Lily closed in on him.
"Stiffen your whole body otherwise you might break something," Gale whispered.
All her muscles tensed as Gale grabbed her by both her legs in a princess carry.
"Ready?"
She nodded. Suddenly, he threw her to the other side. Lily held her mouth with both hands, eyes also closed. Then she floated slowly into Annett's arms.
"Good. Next." Gale took the next woman and threw her the same way. One by one, until all fourteen of the women were on the other side, plus Alex and Anna.
Gale looked back, finding Rachel blankly staring in his general area. Why was she still on this side? She could jump by herself.
"I can throw you too. Hold on." He moved closer to her, almost picking her up by the legs.
"Wait, I got it." Rachel avoided his arms and eye contact. Jumping over to the other side, she waved her hand for him to come over.
Gale jumped over. Easy. Landing silently onto the platform.
"That building," one of the women had already climbed up the hill.
The rest of the group followed suit, and the familiar surroundings of the original encampment came into view.
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"We're finally here," Rachel said. "Come on, everyone go inside."
Rachel ushered each of the rescued women inside. Some of the women refused to go in. Understandable. But Gale could see Rachel purposefully warming the air around the women to give them a sense of comfort. So dad was right. Comfort was definitely for women.
Though it didn't take long for arguments to rise up, as expected for new people entering an already resource strapped camp.
"You're crazy! We can't support this many people," the old man yelled. "We're already scraping by, and you expect us to feed this many people suddenly? The last foraging party didn't manage to get enough for just the current people!"
Rachel stood her ground, not inching away from the old man's forward step. "So what? Do you expect us to leave them there and die? Lennard, they were going to kill all of them for some ritual. We're not monsters here."
Her shoulders slumped slightly. Gale winced. She didn't even know how much more gruesome it was in that cellar. His eyes caught sight of the rescued women huddled together nearby the argument behind Rachel. All of them looked down, flinching as camp members walked by.
"I understand that, but what about us? We were here first." A woman clutched at the blanket around her shoulders and continued, "We barely have enough food to last for a day for just the current members. Now there's more to feed. Are we just going to let the ones here first to starve because of
them
?"
Gale had known something like this argument was coming, but not from the angle that the encampment played. So the only reason why they had allowed him and celebrated him was due to his power. It was all a lie. And that was disgusting. Yet he himself chose to save the weak mundanes he always looked down on.
"We'll figure it out," Rachel insisted. "We always do. We've faced worse before."
"Figure it out?" Lennard scoffed. "There are more than 40 of us now, Rachel. 40! And how many can actually defend this camp? How many can hunt? We're not just talking about food. We need more shelters, more blankets, more of everything!"
Lennard shifted over, looking beyond Rachel's shoulders. "And what about the beasts? They're getting bolder. We can barely protect ourselves, let alone a bunch of helpless women!"
Rachel flinched at his words.
"We're not helpless. We can learn and work. Just give us a chance." One of the women pleaded.
Disgusting human, Gale glared at Lennard. Slipping away would've been easy. Rather, it was what he would've done before all of this shit. Safer, more comforting. But as he looked at the women he rescued, he realized his feet didn't even bother moving to do what they wanted anymore. Lennard's words were familiar. Too fucking familiar that punching him in the face right now would probably feel way too good.
Gale stepped onto the stage where two people bickered uselessly. All eyes turned to him. They gulped.
"I can teach them," Gale said, this time projecting his gravelly voice on purpose. "Basic self-defense."
Rachel's mouth gaped as the air around him rose to a warmth he wasn't used to.
"Teaching is different from surviving. Can you handle it, boy?" The old man glared at him, but all it did was make Gale want to punch his face even more. "Are you planning to stick around long enough to see this through?"
"I am," he said simply. Basic self defense was easy as long as it wasn't an idiot holding a spear.
Gale stood at the base of his tree, surveying the group of women he'd rescued from Blue Haven. Lily still had scars around her neck that looked to be from ropes. The woman behind her had a black eye and swollen lips. Each one had similar marks from either ropes or beatings.
This world was harsh. Every decision could mean the difference between life and death. These women were liabilities. Lennard was right.
But so what? He wasn't going to be like Ms. Molly, a woman that never gave him a chance because it was too bothersome--just like Lennard against the rescued women.
So fuck you, Lennard. I'll give them that chance. Rachel gave him a chance to connect with her and her group. It was his turn.
"We don't have much time," he said, pointing to the pile of weapons and armour hidden at the base of the tree. "Take what you can use and put on what you can. Anything is better than nothing."
The women moved, their hands fumbling with the weapons and armour made of bone.
Gale watched closely. Each woman had a different way of moving, especially a couple of them. Lily had put on her arm guards and shin guards easily, but her stance on the spear was weak. Woman with a black eye didn't even put on the arm guards and shin guards and immediately went to a spear. Her stance on the spear was good, though. Another woman, who had the worst rope marks around her arms and neck, was able to put on the bone chest plate and had possibly the strongest spear stance of all. At least all of them were better than a boy he knew.
He stood up and moved a piece of bark out of the way to reveal a hole in the tree. Pulling out the bundle of smoked and dried meat, he handed each woman big enough slices that would make him full.
"Eat. Gather your strength," Gale said.
All of the women tore into the jerky at the same time as if they hadn't eaten for days.
"Thanks…?" Lily looked at him.
"Just call me Gale."
"Thanks… Gale. They've only fed us every 3rd or 4th sleep we get," Lily said as a tear ran down her cheek onto the jerky. Quite literally, they hadn't eaten for days.
"All of you listen up. Sit there and eat while watching!" he shouted, holding up the spear. "This is your lifeline. It's simple, but effective."
Gale activated all the muscles in his body and thrusted the spear. It whistled and, in the blink of an eye, stopped right in front of a woman's forehead as the wind blew her hair backwards.
"Your power comes from your whole body, not just your arms," he explained, carefully watching each of their eyes to make sure that they watched. "Feel the energy flow from your feet, through your core, and into the weapon."
He continued, "Imagine your whole body as a weapon. A weapon moves itself as one. However, a body has many joints. Each joint should work together to make the point of the spear steady, balanced, strong, and most important of all, lethal."
Gale thrusted at the trunk of the tree with the same amount of intensity. The bark exploded outwards, causing chips to fly all around the area and creating a hole right at where he struck the tree.
"Each strike. Must be. With everything you got, like your life depended on it,
and it does,"
Gale said. "Is that understood, men!? I mean, women?!"
"Sir, yes, sir," the women all said at the same time. Their weak voices weren't what he was expecting, but good enough.
"Now, stand up. Everyone's done eating," Gale set his spear upwards beside him. "Each of you, pick up your spears and enter the thrusting pose."
The women all moved into a line, all fourteen. Gale looked back at the encampment. At least these women were willing to pull up their sleeves and arm themselves.
"Thrust!"
The women thrust, and Gale walked up to one of the taller women, slightly shorter than Annett, but still taller than him. "You're tall. Widen your feet. Be steady. Again! Thrust!"
Another woman's stance was off. Her shoulders were slightly narrower than the rest. A problem he hadn't encountered before was training women. A problem he hadn't encountered before was also training anyone else other than himself. Goddammit.
Gale walked over to the narrow shouldered woman. "Narrow shoulders. Increase the distance of your hands from each other when holding the spear. Again! Thrust!"
This time, it was Lily. She breathed wrong. In fact, she didn't even breathe when she did the thrust. Gale, once again, moved near to the woman who made the error. "Exhale as you thrust. The action itself is a release of tension. Do not keep it in. Again! Thrust!"
The impromptu training session progressed. Sweat beaded on foreheads and breaths came in short, ragged gasps each time the women did the thrust. Gale let them rest to eat more of the jerky before continuing the training session. It was time to introduce basic formations.
"When facing beasts, stick together," he instructed, arranging the women into a tight circle. "Form a wall of spears. Present a unified front. Remember this: you break formation, BAM YOU'RE ALL DEAD."
The women practiced, losing track of time. Soon enough, each repetition of strikes and formation became more and more coordinated. They learned to move as one unit, to cover each other, to thrust and withdraw in the same rhythm, enough so that Gale thought that they could take down 1 garbage truck sized beasts with their teamwork. Though practice and reality were different, and there would come a time that theory will be put to a test.
He watched intently, offering corrections and praise in equal measure. Hope began to grow in his chest as the formation became tighter and the basic thrusts started to whistle. Maybe, just maybe, some of them would survive through this clusterfuck that was about to happen.
Gale called for a brief rest. He distributed water from his own private cache. The women gulped it down. Resources were meant to be used, not hoarded.
Their faces were flushed with exertion, but there was a new light in their eyes. Each of the women again gripped their spears tightly, no longer defaulting to looking down at the ground, but instead, looking ahead into Gale's eyes.
"Remember," Gale said. "Out there, hesitation—BAM YOU DIE. Trust your instincts, trust each other, and never stop fighting. You're stronger than you know."
The women nodded in unison. Although there was little time to train them, all of them stood visibly straighter than before. It wasn't much, but it was a start. And in this world and the previous one, being given a chance was all you needed to stand straight through the beatings that life gave.
"Listen," Gale said. The women gathered closer, their faces no longer wore the look that suggested they'd given up on life. Their eyes were focused on him.
Gale took a deep breath, "What comes next won't be easy. The path ahead is dangerous, filled with obstacles you can't even begin to imagine. Some of you..." he hesitated, "some of you won't make it. That's life."
He half expected them to gasp, hearing him say that some of them will die. But their focused eyes on him never changed. Some had clenched on to their spears even more, and that could maybe be a sign of resistance towards their faith.
"The people in the camp see you as burdens, as liabilities that slow them down and endanger their survival. But you are not. You are all survivors. Each one of you already endured more than they could imagine. This is your chance at freedom, at going home—at beating
life
at its own game."
He paused, turning his head towards the blue moon.
"If you fall," Gale continued, more softly this time, "know that your sacrifice isn't in vain. Your strength, your courage, might be what helps the others escape this hell. Every step you take, every beast you face, every moment you fight. It all matters. It all contributes to our collective survival. Just know that if you fall, you've helped the others make it to the other side."
These people after this would no longer be just escapees. The rescued women, or even called as 'survivors'. No. They would be warriors that would probably even fuck up Lennard.
"Remember what I've taught you," Gale held up a fist towards his chest. "Stay together, watch each other's backs. Your greatest strength lies in your unity. And above all, never give up. The moment you stop fighting is the moment you truly lose against
life
."
A rustle in the bushes distracted the group, all of whom pointed their spears towards the new player that emerged. A beast tensed up its muscles before the pounce, but Gale moved first, slicing its neck cleanly off with his Phase Touched Sabre.
"Save your strength. We move now," he said as he felt a familiar tug at his Breath of the Void at the encampment. "Stay close, stay quiet, and be ready for anything. This is it. Our chance at hitting back life where it hurts starts now."
"I've found it! The exit rift!" Ollie's voice echoed through the clearing from the encampment.
This was it. No more time for preparation.
He turned towards the camp, the women falling in behind him. As they emerged from the treeline, Gale saw the others gathered, supplies in hand. Rachel covered her mouth as she saw the armed women, all dressed in bone guards, bone chest plates, bone shin guards, and helmets.

chapter 32