Chương 7: Splitting Up

No one had spoken to another since their escape from the inferno. Josiah had his one good arm wrapped around Jane, who was passed out with her stump cradled against her chest. Even though everyone had their own injuries, none compared to Chloe's. Oscar only had mild burns, but even that was excruciating for someone as sheltered as him. Chloe's burns were so awful looking, he'd never seen anything like it. No one said it, but it wasn't expected of her to make it through the night.

All they could do is wait for Bruno and hope he had some sort of remedy for her.

"How are you holding up?" Amari asked as he sat down next to Oscar. Oscar jumped in surprise, but welcomed the friendly tone in his voice. He couldn't stop himself from flinching when he saw Amari. The skill that Ardeo had used on him left the right side of his body burned. Strangely enough, despite how intense that skill had been, the burns weren't anywhere nearly as bad as Chloe's.

"If you hear me complain, you have permission to beat me up," Oscar said, provoking a chuckle from Amari.

"You got a class. When did you get it and what is it?" He was dying to know, but he prayed that no one saw him use his own skill. That wasn't something he wished to answer right now.

"When Jane got her hand cut off, I passed out for only a brief moment from the overwhelming fear. I thought I was strong… but seeing that was a wake up call for what kind of world we're in now," Amari said.

"Well, whichever god it is that bestows these classes, they gave me the [Guardian] class. It makes sense for me because when we all met each other, I knew how important it'd be to have someone you could all rely on. Unfortunately, it would seem I have failed in that, though."

"Ease up on yourself, man. None of us could have been prepared for that freakish senior citizen. And besides, don't forget you saved Brock and myself." Oscar gave him a light punch on the shoulder. He felt so incredibly awkward doing that, but it was what people did in the movies. Amari loosened up and just sighed. He was a good guy. A genuinely good guy. Oscar wished he could be more like him one day.

The first step he could take to being that man he pictured would be by telling Amari about the class he got, and who gave it to him. But he didn't take that step.

"She's dead. Chloe… she's dead," Brock said, snapping everyone out of their haze. No one moved or spoke for what felt like hours after they heard Brock's announcement. The words laid heavy on everyone and denied them the permission to budge from where they were. He felt bad to think it, but the main thing on his mind was how glad he was that it wasn't him. Chloe had been a nice girl, and he wished they could've saved her… but the thought of that being him was petrifying.

The wind was blowing a nice breeze and the sound of nearby animals continuing about their lives was the only thing he could focus on. They didn't come to a halt just because some unfortunate woman from another world died a tragic death just a few minutes away from their forest. Life had to go on, and as the sound of leaves being crunched underfoot was heard by the group, he forgot about Chloe for a moment and instead worried about if they were all about to be next.

"Finally, I caught up to you all. You guys really got the fuck out of there, didn't you?" Bruno called out, alerting the group that he had found them. Oscar had relayed to the group that he'd saved him and how he'd help them all after he dealt with Ardeo, but that had been hours ago. They weren't even all that far from town, so what took him so long? Brock approached Bruno first, his anger plain to see.

"Where the hell were you? If you were quicker you could've saved Chloe!"

"I'm sorry about your friend. I tried to deal with Ardeo as quickly as possible, but he was tougher than I expected," Bruno said.

"Did you get the bastard at least?" Josiah asked.

"Nope. Those damn villagers saved him. I didn't know they would be so loyal to him." Bruno gave a small shrug.

"Wait, where's that other girl of yours at?" Oscar paused and looked around confused. Everyone was here, so who was he talking about?

"Wait, he's right, Gita isn't here…" Josiah said.

"S-She wasn't with us when we regrouped after the inn fire. At least, I don't recall seeing her…" Jane said, having apparently woken up at some point. The window to her room had been shattered and with her most definitely not in it, so she for sure had gotten out. Amari and Oscar both knew that, but in the midst of everything they hadn't thought about her. She was such a quiet girl that she sort of just faded into the background. An acorn flew threw the air and hit Bruno right in the forehead.

The man exclaimed in shock as he looked up at his attacker. Oscar also looked up and saw none other than Gita herself, laid back and reclined in the crook of one of the tall trees they were surrounded in. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Hey… I'm here, so uh, calm down," Gita said casually.

"Didn't realize you'd all worry so much."

"Where the hell have you been? Did you leave us after getting out of the inn?" Amari asked.

"Yup. Situation looked bad, so I ran and waited. Thought you'd all follow, but then that man showed up," Gita said.

"Looked like he was gonna kill you all, so I left and was going to wait for the sun to rise before I returned and checked. Coincidentally, you guys all headed my way. Just in case the danger was still following, I chose to keep my distance still." Bruno let out a loud laugh.

"Smart girl! Ardeo wasn't worth losing your life over." Gita nodded in agreement, but then Bruno got serious.

"You're a coward, though. Didn't even try to help them escape once I showed up? Being smart is good and all, but don't you think somethings are worth being dumb for?" Amari cut in, his anger too hot to be contained any longer.

"Chloe's dead! You could've helped her or… or something! Don't you care that shes gone? She was one of us."

"Why would I care? I lost my whole family and life back home and didn't lament their loss, so why would I feel that way for her? I knew her for less than a day just like all of you. If we can't adapt, then we'll all end up mimicking her fate." Gita's words were cold and harsh, but Oscar understood where she was coming from. And that concerned him.

"I won't pretend like I know all of your stories. I also don't care about any of them, except for you. We can bury your friend after I get some answers," Bruno said as he pointed at Oscar.

"Me?" Oscar asked. His heart started to race. Had he seen him use his skill?

"I saved your life, so I expect complete honesty when I ask this. What's your connection to Calus? Lie to me and I'll make you regret it." There was no hesitation in his mind. He was going to lie. Even though Bruno saved him, he just couldn't bring himself to admit he was in Calus' debt.

"Who's Calus? I don't think I've ever heard that name before. Is he related to that man from last—" A slap struck Oscar across the cheek and froze him in shock. It was a disgustingly strong slap. Blood filled his mouth, and he had to spit it out. Bruno looked at him as if to say, I told you so. Don't do it again.

"You're not half the liar you might think you are, kid." The truth about where they came from had to stay a secret. He told Bruno the truth about the rest, though. Bruno listened intently and only interjected a few times. By the end of it, Bruno had no quips as he chewed on the information. After some time, the silence ended and Bruno returned back to reality.

"Okay, so the way I look at this is that there are two options: one is that I kill you here and now. Prevent a problem from becoming an even bigger problem in the future. The second choice is that I'll accompany you in getting these stones, but we don't destroy them. Not yet at least." Anything that involved him not dying was a good plan in Oscar's eyes.

"Here's the catch. If at any moment I sense his influence on you is going to be too big of a problem, I'll exterminate you with zero hesitation." Bruno's eyes told him that this wasn't a light threat.

"What about us?" Amari asked.

"Don't care. I can't sense the stench of Calus on anyone else except for Oscar. Might be shortsighted to let you all go, but I'm not a babysitter. If I have to come hunt you all down again, at least I'll have this one to remind me on who you all are." Bruno said. After that, the group decided to give Chloe a proper burial as they thought about what the next steps for the rest of them would be. Oscar wasn't given a choice, so no one approached him or asked for his opinion.

Which meant that he spent his time in silence as he dug as good of a grave he could for Chloe without any proper tools. Bruno also kept true to his word and passed around a healing potion to the severely injured. Oscar only took a small sip of one because his wounds weren't that bad. The potion blew his mind with how quickly it worked. There were apparently some downsides, such as, they couldn't drink them in rapid succession or else it'd temporarily poison them.

There were some other minor issues, but were hardly worth remembering as apparently it wasn't an issue with the newer versions. Soon enough everyone felt much better, like they had before the inn. Since it'd been a few hours since the burns had been afflicted, it might be a few days before the actual burn marks healed. It seemed that the longer someone took to drink a healing potion, the less likely it was to heal physical scars and such.

Bruno said he didn't know why, but just attributed it to the fact that this potion was a fairly new invention. After an hour or two, the makeshift grave was finished and they hosted their own funeral for Chloe. Not much was said as not much was known about the girl. As the last of the soil covered her final resting spot, the focus shifted back to what their future would be.

"About time that I got a move on. I can't take you all with me, but if one other brave soul wants to join ol' Oscar here… well, I'm sure he'd welcome the friendly face," Bruno said with a fake smile. Oscar didn't want any of them to truly join him, and he didn't think anyone except for Brock would volunteer to come with anyways.

"Sorry, Oscar. I think I'll help Josiah and Jane head up to this city in the northwest. Bruno said it was called…"

"Relvika" Bruno provided.

"… Yeah, Relvika. There's supposed to be a [Fleshweaver] there that might be able to restore Jane's hand. I… I'd like to help them as opposed to…" Amari stopped speaking, but he knew what was about to have been said. As opposed to helping you free a calamitous evil tyrant. Oscar didn't blame him, especially after what they just went through. If he could, he'd gladly go with them as well. With three decided, that just left Gita and Brock. Oscar motioned to Brock to speak up and claim his spot to join him with Bruno.

He didn't expect Gita to want to join him, or well anyone. She seemed fine going alone and had already made it clear how she viewed them.

"I can't go with you, Oscar," Brock said. Oscar didn't process what Brock had said at first. Once he did, it felt like Brock had just stabbed him in the heart. They had a deeper connection from Earth, so how could he just abandon him?

"What do you mean…" Oscar heard himself mumble out.

"I'm sorry, man. That thing… Calus… he's forcing you out on a suicide mission, and I just don't want to die with you. I want to see my family again. And that requires me to be stronger, but I can't get stronger following you on this journey. Not yet at least," Brock said.

"I know this isn't what you want to hear, and I know it's cruel… but I have to look out for myself. There's a town called Byn. It's a spot that [Adventurers] often stop at during their travels. I'm going to see if I can't join up with one of them." Each word was another knife that stabbed him. Oscar was fine with being alone, but he had been coming to the realization that that was only within the comforts of his routines.

It was easy to forget he was lonely when he had so many distractions, but that wasn't a luxury that was available in this new world. If he wasn't such a coward, then he would tell Brock just how badly he needed a familiar face around him. After all, this was a new world with great threats they'd never experienced before, so why would he not want to stick together? It just didn't make sense to him. Sadness turned to anger, and Oscar did what he did best; he gave up on Brock.

"Okay, good luck out there," Oscar said. Brock just looked down at his feet in silence and… that was that.

"I'm good to leave whenever you are," he said to Bruno.

"Glad to see you're so eager to go, but I'd like to learn where the young ladies head is at first," Bruno said as he pointed at Gita.

"Just in case I gotta track any of ya down, I'd like to have a good starting place."

"I'll go with you," Gita said, shocking Oscar.

"You called me a coward because I didn't help them. I didn't help because I knew how weak I was compared to what we were up against. I'd like to be stronger, though… and I think you know how to help me." Bruno thought on this for a second before he replied.

"I'm not a teacher, but… I'll do what I can. Maybe an old friend within Dynarus can help you further once we arrive. You'll have to assist with the mission, but I'm sure you've expected as much." Gita nodded and said nothing more. There was a tension in the air that no one wanted to address. He didn't know if there'd be a reunion, and if there was, then they'd all likely be so radically changed from the people they were today. But that was what tragedy did to people wasn't it?

And if they didn't change, then they'd all end up dead… like Chloe.