Chương 50: The walls are caving in

Grim didn't get much sleep, every cough or creak in the building woke her up and sent her to high alert, her hand never straying far from her weapon. Most of the others seemed to have the same problem except for Songjae, who was not so quietly snoring on the plain linoleum floor, sprawled out without a pillow or anything. Every time she opened her eyes, she noticed Maya was awake as well, but she had been quiet ever since Grim had activated her Authority.

She also seemed to be ready to defend herself at any moment, the hypervigilance in her aura never left. A half-shout woke her up from a sleep she hadn't realized had claimed her. Orion's eyes darted from face to face as the static electricity in the air built up to almost painful levels. He scanned through everyone in the room until his eyes landed on Grim.

"You."

"Me?" Grim asked. The static in the air formed into electricity that buzzed around his fingertips. His eyes gained a faint hue of blue as his hair stood on end.

"What did you do to me?" Grim weighed her options, he was shaky still and she could tell he was still unsteady on his feet, although he seemed to recover more and more by the second. Her aura was still recovering almost just as much as his was, so she might have the advantage there, but if she misjudged her timing, he might get her before she could grab him and use [CEDE]. It wasn't worth it, and she fought to push down her first instinct to take him out.

She'd just gone through all that work to save him; it'd be stupid to throw all that away now.

"Saved your life is what I did, you were about to wake whatever that thing was up. You're only alive right now because of me," Grim said, all her aggression going into her words. A stunned look hit Soryn's face.

"I was fine before you... you, you touched me!" The rest of the people in the room had woken up from his yelling and turned in unison to stare at Grim.

"You did what to him?" Solomon asked, his face twisted into a half smile.

"Fuckin' seriously? That's your best description of what happened? I touched you?" Grim countered to Soryn before glaring at Solomon.

"Oh, now you're making jokes?" Alyn pinched Solomon before he could reply, causing him to yelp and do his best to skitter away from her while Soryn looked at her, his aura flaring but restrained for the benefit of the people in the room.

"Where's the rest of my team?" Soryn asked, switching topics. Grim hesitated, "I think... either dead or they've run off somewhere." Soryn stood up. It was painful, she could tell, but that wasn't going to stop him.

"I need to find them. Thanks, I guess. Good luck with the rest of the trial."" Whoa, big man. You've just woken up. Let's wait until morning, and we'll figure something out, alright? You took out a whole horde of them yesterday, you've got to be exhausted," Solomon said as he put a hand on Soryn's shoulder. Upon making contact, he yelped and flapped his hand.

"Sorry," Soryn said as he walked past him to the balcony.

"I made a promise." He jumped off with a flourish of energy, scorching bits of wood before he fell. Grim stood up and grabbed her gear and weapons just as the sound of lightning crackling could be heard outside.

"Everyone get your shit, we need to go," Grim ordered.

"Solomon?" Orion asked. Solomon was already up and moving, with Alyn close behind him.

"You heard the lady. If we're thinking the same thing, we need to move while lightning rod there is making a distraction for us."

"Yeah," Grim said. Whether they wanted to listen to her or not she didn't care, she was going and she'd take whoever with her. Fortunately, the sounds of petals moaning in the distance seemed to grant them extra motivation, and pretty soon all of them were up and ready, including the wounded. Orion was able to walk with the help of Sam, while Carrion seemed to stand up as if held by marionette strings. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"We can't go back out there! What if the Eye tries to get us again?" Natalie asked. Something inside Grim stiffened at the thought of it trying to take Natalie again, and she was hit with a small bit of pain as her authority bucked like a sprained ankle. As painful as it was, she didn't mind. The pain told her that while she could metaphorically run, it'd cause damage. Probably permanent too, although she didn't know for sure.

"Maya, you said there were tunnels underneath here, right?"

"Should be, was the only help my uncle would give me about this place."

"Good, how's your ankle?"

"S'fine. Well. It's bad. I can walk, but if I try to use my Boon, I'm going to tear ligaments. Why am I even telling you this? It's your fault, again, you made me follow you! And all for that ungrateful... AHH. This is so annoying. I could've been done by now, but instead you used your authority on me. You think I couldn't break out of that? You're lucky the clock started bonging, or you'd be dead." Grim waited for her to finish.

"Alright, hold still." Healing gloom flaked off her hand as she hovered it near Maya's ankle, it was swollen for sure, but as soon as her shadow flaked off onto it, her skin gained a sheen that coated it and made it look as it should have. Looking at it at a certain angle seemed to shift it between the two realities: one where it was healed and one where it wasn't. Trying to peer deeper into it was making her head ache, so she backed off.

"Better?" Maya put weight on it and her eyes opened wide.

"You're a healer too? That's so unfair. Ugh, I hate you. At least you can do something useful instead of TRICKING PEOPLE." Grim grabbed her right before she dashed, "Whoa, wait! I don't think my shadow's gonna hold up to that."

"What? Why?"

"Think of it like stitches, it's holding you together, but you move too much and you're gonna rip them. You can probably dash once before the whole shadow breaks," Grim said.

"Damn, I saw her move out there. We could've really used that," Solomon said as he huddled around the front door.

"I don't know what we're gonna find out there but the hallways are tight and it'd be easy for us to get overwhelmed or mixed up with each other so me and Alyn are going to go first while all of you stay behind us. Give us space to manoeuvre and throw a Boon or two in if you think it will help. Ready?" Grim agreed with everyone else, and Maya begrudgingly formed up beside her.

"Let's go," Solomon said as he slid the door open and walked into the hallway. The rest of them followed close behind. Grim was behind them with Maya by her side, while Natalie clutched onto her cloak. Sam brought up the rear with the wounded in front of her. The hallways were a dull yellow carpet illuminated by white fluorescent lighting. Doors were equidistant lining the hallway, while at the end there was a metal door.

Paintings lined the walls and as they moved, the eyes of the tall slender figures inside followed them. Their faces were unrecognizable while a large petal grew from the back of their heads. The more she looked, the more details she was able to see. The way their skin crackled and shifted, as if something was moving inside. Their voices were quiet but if she leaned in just a bit closer— — An unearthly scream rattled through the building, sending doors shuddering open and closed as they shuffled down the hallway.

The smell of lavender filled her nose as the sound of fighting grew louder outside." Saints, Solomon. What the hell is that?" Orion wheezed." Just hurry up. That's not something I want to find out." After passing through the metal door, they entered a stairwell. Metal steps led up and down the building. Solomon glanced upwards and, after seeing it was clear, they continued down. They made it down a flight of stairs before Grim felt a tug on her back.

For a split second she thought it was Hazel, but when she turned her head, it was just Natalie staring at her, almost completely pale.

"Grim," Natalie whispered.

"Did you see it?"

"See what?"

"The paintings."

"Yeah? Tried to avoid looking at them. What about them?"

"They had our faces on them, every one of us," Natalie said, her voice so low she almost couldn't be heard. Her eyes darted around, as if looking for something to jump out at them through solid metal. Grim blew out a big gust of air. Great. That was just what they needed.

"Ignore it, alright? It's just this place trying to get to you. Stay close and you'll be alright, okay?" Her words didn't seem to reassure her much, but she nodded and Grim returned her focus to treading down the stairwell. Their footsteps echoed through the enclosed area, and she cringed every time her footfalls weren't light enough to minimize it.

"Do you think these stairs will bring us to the tunnels?" Solomon asked.

"I wasn't given a map or anything, but I didn't see any other stairs when we were in the lobby," Maya replied.

"Alright then, I think we're just about past the lobby now. Won't be long then." The sound of the door opening above them made them all stop. Grim looked upwards, but she couldn't see anything. The door closed, and she held her breath, straining to see or hear anything. Orion's wheezing was louder than almost everyone else's breathing, despite the exertion they'd just gone through. Grim's heart pounded in her chest, and she wanted to yell, to draw somethings attention.

Just to reveal whatever it was, but she knew she shouldn't. It was a certain kind of misery she didn't do well with, she wasn't comfortable being prey. Then the door opened again.