As Jonathan skids on the oak and makes a turn left, he abruptly stops himself, "Where did he go" he thinks to himself. Looking to his right and left are two extended hallways, and as he turns to look behind, Truth sprints at full pace.
"Where the hell did they go?" Truth asks, as he huffs and puffs with his hands on his knees.
"I don't know how I could just loose him like that" Jonathan mutters to himself in a defeated tone. Turning around to face Truth, he whispers to him, "We've got to split up T, you take left, I will take right. That's the only way we can find him." Jonathans tone, getting more desperate as the seconds go by.
"Are you even thinking right now? What if one of us finds them, how will the other person know, its not like we have those hollorings that gold grades and above have to communicate with. Also, aside from that, it's not the kid I am worried about, it's the damn hand soldiers and those hunters" Truth whispers back in an utter frenzy. "You haven't lost your train of thought, have you? You do know who the hand soldiers are right? There is no way you think all these hallways extended by chance, do you?" he questions, every word he says quickly buzzing by like a fly.
"Truth, listen to me, I…don't…care, we are getting that kid out of here. Shout out to me if you find him" Jonathan insists whilst turning around and heading towards the right hallway.
"JO!" Truth hisses whilst straining his voice. "We are not even supposed to be out here at this time. Has he lost his damn mind" he mumbles to himself as he lifts his hand of his knees and begins to head for the left hallway.
As Jonathan commits all his force onto the oak with every stride he takes, he begins to think to himself, "Am I even going to the right place? This damn hallway feels endless. Truth is right, I remember back in training – what was it they used to tell us, 'When the hand soldiers are out, don't be out and about. The Tower of Babel shifts and expands for them, so stay in your room and be a gem'. What absolute bullshit" Jonathan utters, thoughts running wild.
Huff, puff, huff, puff.
"I have never seen him act like that before, especially when we could easily get in trouble, or even worse…die! I hope that damn kid is around here somewhere, he's got me out here huffing and puffing just to get him out of the building." Truth mumbles to himself whilst beginning to slow his pace down. "Wait is that…" he thinks to himself as he squints tightly to make out the 2 people with their backs facing him. "Is that…Blake and the…damn kid? Why is he taking him into that room?" Truth mutters as he quickly slides and hides behind a corner.
CREEK.
"Mi…mighty hands, I am so sorry to interrupt you! I saw you walking past my room and I couldn't help but see this little one tailing you." Blake yells out with a certain frantic tone whilst holding the kid's left arm tightly, causing his white shirt to wrinkle.
STEP, STEP, STEP.
"Who are you?" Soldier NO.2 calmly asks
"I am Blake, mighty hand! My father is a Ven in the motherland!" Blake responds whilst getting into a salutation stance and the left corner of his lips quivering, creating a faint smirk.
"Blake, hm, they are both here now, we can't let them out of here." Soldier NO.3 says.
"Yes, indeed, you have entered the Sven's supreme fortress, sit down and display reverence, and no harm shall befall you" Soldier NO.1 states out.
"H…O…L…Y shit, this guy is still the rat he always was back in training" Truth whispers, his head tilting a tiny bit to the right to catch a glimpse of the situation. "I can't shout out right now, what type of plan is this. What the hell was Jo thinking. I've got to get him before anything goes down." Truth thinks to himself as the inked black door in front of him shuts. "Shit, shit, why did I have to find him?" he mumbles to himself, his strides, permeating the floor with urgency.
"He is here." Soldier NO.1 barks, his voice dropping an octave as his chin snaps down instantly, fixing his eyes on the floorboards. Soldier NO.2 and 3 then force the two captives onto their knees, their heads pushed down until their foreheads almost kiss the oak wood floor.
"Don't fucking push my head down like that," Nero shouts out, his words smudged due to the position of his mouth.
Blake grabs the kid and pulls him into his elbow, locking the kid in place. "Don't look," he breathes into the kid's ear, his pulse, hammering against the kid's cheek. "Why is he not showered with fear?" Blake thinks to himself. As he unlocks his elbow from the kid's neck and begins tapping his cheek, the kid reacts with no life, his head begins to dangle, but his body stands still.
"Get away from the kid, he has chosen him as his vessel so remove your tainted hands of him," soldier NO.1 screams out.
"What do you mean? Who is this Sven, I have never heard of him…" Sudden darkness befalls Blake, his lips unable to move, his eye movement locked onto the kid in front of him, his sense of hearing nulled as if he was dead.
"THINKING IS NOT PERMITTED IN MY FORTRESS OF TRANQUILITY." a calm voice rings in Blake's ear. "MY HAND, WHAT IS IT I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED FOR?" the same voice questions. Inky liquid begins to course out of the kid's mouth. As it flows through the room, it circles back on top of the kid's head, transfiguring into a halo. "WHERE IS THE PURPLE HAIRED BOY? THE MOTHER IS INDEED DISPLEASED WITH THE RESULTS OF THE CORE!" The deep resonant voice states.
The kids' dangling head begins to rise, a tiny smirk drawing on his face. As his eye begins to open, an inky dark substance dilates his entire iris, and dark tears begin to flow and stain his white shirt. As the voice begins to speak again, it transforms from calm murmurs, into a hideous and layered rasp that perfectly mirrors a kid's tone.
"WHERE IS THE BOY?" the unnatural harmony of the dual voices bouncing off the cream painted walls.
"My SVEN, these hunters were tasked with finding and bringing the boy back after the core troops failed to do so. They are the only 2 who made it back, it seems the other hired hunters have been disposed of by the…" soldier NO.1 rambles on with poise.
"I HAVE HEARD ENOUGH! DON'T YOU MENTION THAT GROUP OF BANDITS WRETCHED NAME!" the Sven says, his dual voice dropping into a sudden deafening shout that vibrates through the entire room.
Instantly, soldier NO.3 drops, his navy meshed armor clattering violently against oak floorboards as his body goes entirely limp.
On the floor Mr. Black convulses, his fingers clawing desperately at the wooden boards, as thick pitch-black ink begins to seep from his ear canal. "Aaaah, Nero my fucking ear" he shouts in absolute agony. The black fluid stains the oak. For Mr. black, the world goes terrifyingly dead, an underwater hum was his current reality. He begins to tap the side of his head frantically, his expression twisting into pure desperation as the ringing in his ear swallows every remaining sound.
"What the hell was that back there?" this thought violently bounces through Truth's mind. His brain couldn't process the extension of the hallway along with the unusual ink black door. Truth keeps running, his center of gravity failing to keep him balance. His pure survival instinct leads him towards Jonathan. "Just get Jonathan" he repeats to himself to overshadow the events he just witnessed. "JO!" Truth shouts out.
Jonathan's head snaps to the left, his hand about to open a metal capped door. His eyes locks onto Truth through the dim light of the hallway. With absolutely no hesitation, Jonathan pivots, his boots screeching the wooden floor. He begins to sprint towards Truth and starts questioning Truth. "Where is he? Did you find him? Tell me you found him, please," Jonathan shouts, his two hands on Truths shoulder.
Truth hugs the cream painted wall trying to catch his breath. He then starts to speak, but his words turn into a ragged cough, he stammers, his throat dry as a sandpaper he begins to wheeze the words out, "There…there is a room with like a big black door that the hand soldiers had the militia hunters in,"
Cough, Cough
"And that rat Blake was holding the kid and took him into the room. You know how he is not really supposed to be a silver grade and because of that he is the closest to the level above all the bronze grades?" Truth asks Jonathan, without waiting for him to answer he continues to ramble "Well he was the last door before the extended hallway the hand soldiers created. I am guessing that's how he got the kid," he gasps.
Letting go of Truth's shoulder, Jonathan lunges forward and begins to create momentum with his arm. "Take your time to recover T, I will get him myself, thanks for all your help" he says whilst sprinting full force forward.
"GET THE BOY BACK, BEFORE MOTHER GETS EXTREMELY UNHAPPY!" Sven exclaims, the dual voice of him and the kid still causing chaos within the four corners of the inky black door.
THUD.
Soldier NO.2 falters onto his left knee, his position of holding Nero down, seizing. The same thick inky substance leaking out of Mr. Black's ear begins to ooze out of soldier NO.2's mouth.
"My Sven! I understand we are disposable, but I need my subordinates to complete the mothers will," Soldier NO.1 says with absolute composure.
Silence fills the air for a few seconds.
"BE QUIET!" Sven shouts, rage coursing through his unharmonized and screechy sounding voice. "DOES A HAND FEED ITS MASTER? OR DOES THE MASTER TELL THE HAND TO FEED HIM? DON'T COMMAND ME WITH WHAT TO DO!" he insists.
Nero free of any force begins to slowly get off the wooden floor, "What have I gotten myself into" he whispers as he grabs his golden yellow cross necklace from his pocket and kisses it. He begins to move back and make his way towards Blakes unconscious body. Crouched, he searches through Blake's uniform and finds a matte black metallic pistol. The pistol was engraved with the initials 'BR'. A glass canister with green liquid sat in the chamber of the pistol. "I ain't dying here today," Nero thinks in his mind, black liquid dripping down his jawline, as he picks up the pistol and takes aim on his right knee behind the kid.
"Please be okay kid, don't die for nothing" Jonathan repeats frantically in his head, his legs beginning to shake from the pure force he is using to lunge onto the wooden oak floor.
The green liquid inside the canister begins to relentlessly bubble, Nero's finger on the trigger causes it to heat up. "Life matters more than a little money…," he mumbles.
"That's the black door Truth must be talking about," Jonathan murmurs, his pace beginning to dwindle.
FIZZ, FIZZ.
The green liquid continues to heat up. Nero stares at the pistol, he slowly pulls it to his lips and kisses it, "do your magic for me girl" he states. As he fully pulls on the slide on the pistol and let's go, he wheezes out "Fuck this nation". Nero holds his breath, everything around him gets coated in silence.
BANG, BANG, BANG.
As Jonathan comes to a full stop, he looks at the inky black door. "Someone is coming out," he says.
CREEK.
The inky black door slowly opens. Nero holds onto the door for support, his right hand still wielding the pistol. Jonathan standing in awe, looks up at Nero's face, then pans his gaze straight down to the oak floor. A slight black liquid flows between Nero's legs. Red liquid begins to follow and creates a pool of thick dark brown liquid. "You can't be serious," Jonathan whispers in sheer dismay
END OF CHAPTER
THEORIES MERAKI – WHAT WILL HAPPEN WITH NERO AND JONATHAN LOOKING AT EACH OTHER FACE TO FACE?
NEXT CHAPTER – TBD