The Last Dainv-Chapter 77

The Last Dainv-Chapter 77

The classroom sat empty except for Gale, still typing out the last bits of his . The he did during the bus ride 'wasn't good enough' for Ms. Jackson. She told him to retype major sections of his and send it to her before midnight or else risk failing the class. And to him, that sounded like a
challenge.
Through the unreliable narrator, Poe demonstrates how the mind can perceive reality as both real and unreal. He finished typing the conclusion. How's that, Ms. Jackson? That conclusion was one hell of a punch, and what do you know, it only cost him 1.5 hours of typing and deleting and typing on repeat.
The paper explored madness and paranoia, drawing from his own experiences. Poe's character's heightened senses felt similar to his own when he let the passive ability seep too much into him. There was also the duality of the knight and the actual insane man named Elliot. But he didn't put too much of his own words there. Can't have Ms. Jackson thinking he's weird or anyone for that matter.
He checked the word count one last time: 1,500 words exactly. The minimum requirement met, no more and no less. His citations followed MLA format perfectly. The less memorable his work, the better it blended in.
"To:
[email protected]
," he whispered, double-checking the address.
After he clicked the send button, the laptop screen went black. Battery dead. Perfect timing.
Gale quickly stuffed his dead laptop and open notebook into the backpack. Everything was ready and set. It was time to get out of this creepy looking run down public building.
Exiting the classroom, he looked left and right. Somehow, it reminded him of the cold, creepy darkness of the stone tower's basement, except it was a building for adults.
And adult he was. Adults shouldn't get scared of the dark. Shouldn't get scared of walking in the dark alone too. In fact, darkness was one of his powers. Kind of.
Dammit. Where was the cleaning staff when he needed them?
He slowly walked towards the stairs to the left. His first two steps echoed on the vinyl flooring, then immediately disappeared. However, not having footsteps made the emptiness even more empty, and again the footsteps echoed. Red lights that the emergency lights used didn't help with the atmosphere.
Ghosts aren't real, Gale. You know that. Guide knows that. Definitely not real. It's not even that late. Only 9:47 PM. He could've worked in the park or something instead of this empty haunted school at night. But no, he just had to stay. They did say the security guard would start his rounds soon. Maybe he could ask him to walk with him. A 28 year old asking for help from a security guard? That's stupid talk. But I'm only a teenager! 18 is not a teenager.
A door slammed somewhere in the building, interrupting the chain of thoughts. From the sound of the echoes through the stairwell, it came from the second floor.
Gale's hands tightened on the straps of his backpack. Just the wind. Or the heating system. Or the security guard working late.
Stupid ghost stories. Stupid strange noises. There was no way this school was haunted anyways. This wasn't a war zone for the tide. It was just an ordinary mundane building for people to learn the wonders of… bureaucracy.
Nothing could compare to the horrors he faced in the rift… maybe one. But ghost stories shouldn't bother him. Not this much.
[Essence: 9/200]
This amount of essence could barely last 1 minute. Especially if he fired on all cylinders.
Reaching the stairwell door, it opened with his touch. All stairwell doors creak. That's normal. Breath of the Void told him otherwise. A cold current flowed upwards from the second floor.
Three flights down to the exit. Just three flights. He could make it without using skills. Just ignore that something or anything was wrong.
His foot hit the first step. The vinyl flooring echoed much louder inside the stairwell. Again, Gale muffled his steps, keeping them as silent as possible. Breath of the Void's tendrils flowed into the second floor, feeding him everything. Something moved in the darkness. There was no form. All it was just a blurry entity within the vision of the tendrils.
Or it could just be electromagnetic static because of an electronic that he learned from physics class.
Before he could step onto the landing between the third and second floor, a wail started low, barely audible. It rose in pitch and volume until it filled the stairwell like the howl of the wind. Cold air seeped through his hoodie, and goosebumps pricked his skin though he wasn't sure whether that was from the cold or from the fact that the wail was clearly not just the wind.
His heart pounded against his chest. Flight or flight response kicked in. Adrenaline filled his veins.
The wail cut off abruptly, leaving him in silence with ringing ears. Tendrils picked up the electromagnetic blur from the second floor moving along the hallway towards the stairwell.
He should leave. Run and find another exit. But that would admit that ghosts were real. Besides, he was an Aurian now. Not a normal mundane human that didn't have the skills and tripped whenever they ran away from a monster.
The movement stopped. Andrew did say he saw something this week, but he never did say where. He would've avoided it. Found another stairwell to exit from. Maybe even just jump off from a window. The fall wouldn't hurt him.
Gale reached the second floor. His hands shook slightly as he pushed open the door to the second floor's hallway. The hallway stretched into darkness and only the red lights from the emergency lights revealed anything. The lights themselves seemed dimmer. Beyond the first lights near the stairs, a red light flickered.
A figure appeared in the flickering light, disappearing whenever the red light didn't shine on it. A woman, twice his height at over two metres, crouched down below the ceiling. Its hair moved like it was underwater. Its proportions were wrong. Too thin, with a neck that snaked forwards.
Gale had already reached his left hand to his pocket, gripping the storage box lightly.
The figure turned. Where its face should have been, only a spiralling void. On one hand, it dragged something. A body with a security guard uniform. On the other hand, it held a head stuck in a screaming expression.
The wail started again, rising from a low moan to a howl. Coldness stung even more at his skin as the temperature around him plummeted until his breath came out in white puffs.
Weber blade materialized into his right hand. Phase touch activated along the edge and circuits of the blade pulsed with teal.
Offense.
Gale lunged forwards, putting as much of his weight behind the strike aimed at the neck. In a single dash, he had crossed the distance from the second floor's stairwell to the halfway point of the hallway. However, the blade passed through without resistance. No contact felt. Just like hitting air.
The figure's head tilted and turned to him at a 180 degree angle that would snap a human neck. The black void that was its face pushed out more cold air from its wail.
He landed on the wall and immediately transitioned to a jump back to the figure. Another slice, and again, it hit nothing.
The figure lunged at him, slithering through the air. Gale rolled backwards while swinging the blade. It didn't seem to be scared or fazed by any of his attacks.
Its hand extended towards him, making him backpedal. But its fingers extended into long sharp needles. He tried to block it.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. the violation.
No use. Fingers passed through the flat of his blade and into his shoulder.
Instead of leaving blood or burying into his flesh, nails as dark as its face passed through, leaving behind a bone chilling feeling that he had never felt before.
The cold spread from the point of contact, numbing his arm. This wasn't like the rift creatures. This wasn't like anything he had fought before.
The wail built again, drowning out all other sound.
Gale tried one last attack, channeling every bit of his remaining essence into the blade. Phase Touch glowed a brighter blue in the darkness. One lunge again towards its neck. The strike was perfect, aimed at the base of where the neck met its thin body.
Blade passed through. He crashed onto the ceiling. Lights and electricals snapped and sparked, lighting up the hallway. The figure's arms slithered towards his chest again.
Run.
As soon as his hand touched the floor, he pushed himself away from the figure. The emergency exit sign glowed at the end of the hall. In one lunge, he closed the distance to the exit. He slammed through the door into the stairwell. He jumped onto the landing of the staircase and immediately turned to jump down another flight of steps onto the next landing.
The figure's wail followed him down. The chill in his shoulders throbbed from the sound that bounced off the concrete walls and seemed to come from everywhere.
Gale's blade vanished back into storage as he ran. His essence reserves were dangerously low, and there was no way to hit an enemy that couldn't be hit.
One last landing. Exit door appeared ahead. Moonlight was visible through its window. He crashed into the door, bursting out into the outside.
No stopping. His legs kept running at full speed. Traffic noise drowned out and replaced the wails.
Andrew was right. That was probably the second or third or even more security guard who had disappeared during his rounds. The maintenance worker who quit after seeing something in the stairwell. The cleaning staff who refused to work alone after dark. There was no way the mundanes didn't notice the phenomena.
Those were all supposed to be just urban legends or rumours. He'd faced horrors in the Eclipsed that would break most people's minds. But he couldn't even fight against whatever
this
was.
Gale slowed to a walk, breathing ragged, gasping for air to catch his breath. All the storefronts he walked by were closed. Even the late night convenience ones didn't have any lights on.
A red and white sign for a bus stop was just up ahead. A few adults waited there, checking their phones or staring at the road to look for the bus. He stood there with them.
The bus rounded the corner, headlights sweeping across the street. It stopped right in front of the bus stop, and people filed in. He reached for his bus pass, but his shaking wouldn't stop.
"Getting real cold these days, buddy. Take your time," the bus driver said.
Gale nodded and forced a smile. After he finally fished out his bus pass, he tapped it immediately and went to the back of the bus.
He glanced back at the learning centre. Its windows were dark except for the red emergency lights. From the outside, it seemed like nothing moved in the shadows. But that whole thing was no hallucination. His shoulder still throbbed from the cold.
"Guide," Gale whispered. "What the hell was that thing back there?"
[Spectral Entity. Name Unknown. Host lacks the necessary skills to apply damage to creature. Threat Level: Moderate.]
Gale gulped. "So ghosts are real then?"
[Incorrect.]
[Ghosts definition: fictional constructs based on cultural mythology. Entity encountered: creature of spectral origin.]
The bus sped through the empty Dufferin street. Each flash of the street lights brought back images of that faceless
thing
, and those fingers it touched him with.
Gale rubbed his shoulder where it had touched him. "Then what other things are out there that I should know about?"
[Multiple classifications of non-standard entities exist. Relevant categories include: Void entities. Spectral entities. Lucid entities. Aberrated entities. Achieve higher core class to unlock clearance.]
"What do you mean 'clearance'? Since when do I have restrictions?"
[Information access tied to Host development level set by username: Amazing Vianne. Current Core Class: Awakened. Higher classifications require increased Core Class.]
"You're telling me there's a whole classification system for these things? What about that security guard it was dragging?"
[Analysis inconclusive. Physical remains not detected. Recommend avoiding direct confrontation until acquisition of appropriate countermeasures.]
Gale's hands clenched. "And how exactly am I supposed to get those?"
[Multiple paths available. Path One: Core advancement through standard progression. Path Two: Specialized training in Phase skill. Path Three: Acquisition of equipment. Current recommendation: Path One. Host still adjusting to recent modifications.]
"And what happens if that thing gets out of there, chases me, and I'm not ready? What then huh?"
[Strategic retreat advised. Entity demonstrated anchored local spatial influence. Maximum effective range: approximately thirty metres. Escape beyond range nullifies immediate threat.]
A group of drunk college students boarded, filling the bus with loud chatter. They looked at him, then dropped onto one of the middle blue seats.
"You said it was a 'moderate' threat. What qualifies as severe?" Gale whispered.
[Classification based on multiple factors. Immediate lethality. Area of effect. Resistance to conventional countermeasures. Reproductive capability. Intelligence level. Example: Entities within rifts typically classified as severe due to dimensional infiltration potential.]
"And what about that security guard? Should we it or something?"
[Negative. Detected local enforcement presence in the area. Action from host deemed unnecessary.]
And what if they don't?
He would've had to come back to that room. Again. At night. On the third floor. With Ms. Jackson. He didn't want her to die. At least she gave him a chance to send her his homework before midnight.
The bus suddenly stopped, throwing Gale forward in his seat. He looked at the windows and saw he was already at Eglinton street.
He grabbed his backpack and moved to the exit. The middle doors opened with a hiss, and cold air hit his face as soon as he stepped onto the side walk.
His stomach grumbled. He'd only taken one bite of the protein bar since he woke up.
Going to the other side of the street to the next bus stop for a transfer, he went into the shelter. Though that was useless. The shelters offered no protection from the wind or cold as they let cold wind blow through. It was meant to stop homeless people from sleeping inside them. But all it did was inconvenience everyone.
The bus stopped at Eglinton and McCowan. Getting off the bus stop, this street was even emptier. He was alone again. His phone showed 11:47 PM when he got off. The golden arches of McDonald's glowed just ahead. 24/7, but he never had any money to even afford anything on the menu.
Looking at his wallet, there were only $15 in cash left. It was enough for something. The Path's stipend would come in tomorrow anyway.
Upon crossing the street to the McDonald's, a man emerged from behind a dumpster, blocking his path. Left hand immediately went to his pocket.
The man's clothes were in tatters, crusted with dirt and what looked like dried blood.
"Please," the man said, voice rough like grating gravel. "Anything helps."
Gale stepped back, ready to walk around when he noticed the man's arm. Crystals jutted from the exposed skin. Clusters grew on the man's forearms that reached out to him, blood dripping from each pierced spot.
It stopped him in his tracks. The crystals seemed to pulse with their own light, spreading beneath the skin with roots and veins. This wasn't normal.
"Just some change, please?" the man pleaded, stepping closer. "Or food. Or something to make it stop."
That's when Gale saw the man's eyes. A crystal shard protruded from his left socket, skewering the eye outwards, blood dripping onto his cheeks.
"The pain," the man wheezed. "Can't sleep. Can't think. Please."
Gale stepped back, pulling his hand away from his left pocket. This wasn't an enemy. The man was clearly human.
"I'm sorry," Gale whispered, backing away. "I can't-"
The man stepped forward again. Gale stepped back once more, nearly tripping over the curb. The bloody arm reached for him.
Before it could, Gale turned and ran. Behind him, the man's pleas turned to screams, then faded into the night.
He didn't dare look back. All he could think of was running away. Everything was too much. The forest was simple. Over here, there were too many things he didn't know.
The path, the other actors in Aur, the families that Rachel mentioned back in the Eclipsed, the crystal things that grew from the homeless man, and the ghastly spectre. He didn't realize the size of the things they spoke of back then, and now this.
Earth was easier to live in. He didn't need to worry about something killing him every hour. However, that came with its own complications.
A lot of complications.
Gale entered his building across the road, tapping his key fob onto the reader. His hands still trembled even more.
The elevator was out of service. Of fucking course.
He ran straight up the stairwell, not caring about how loud he was and how fast he went. Reaching the 6th floor and unit 608, he pushed the key in. With one wiggle, the lock turned, and he slammed the door open and closed it behind him.
Flicking the lights on, he threw his backpack onto the folding dining table too hard. It collapsed, but he didn't care.
He sat on the wall beside his desk, knees up to his chin. Only his ragged breathing distracted him from the silence.
Where was Rachel? She at least told him some things about Aur. But that wasn't the reason why he asked himself that.

.
!
Chapter 77