Chapter Thirty-Five
Shear
While I often ended up in tight quarters with the rest of my squad, it never felt like this. We were trapped together in what was about a ten-by-ten space, with room to stand, sit, even lie down, but not to get away from each other.
It dragged on me, all the uncertainty, the inability to do anything but wait. I couldn’t even study the crystals, had no way to access information to explore theories, nothing.
I had to just sit here.
Yun had stayed by us for a short time before she’d left to explore what she could. The monsters that followed her showed she wasn’t free even if Corsa hadn’t put her into a cage as he had us.
There wasn’t a lot of time, and we couldn’t just wait and watch for an opening. Instead, we had to find a path free from this.
I gritted my teeth together, the frustration eating away at me. I couldn’t sense Yun at all, couldn’t tell anything about her, where she was, what she thought, whether or not she was safe.
It meant the moment she stepped out of my sight, the tension inside me rose dramatically.
Was this how others felt all the time? How on earth did they live with the uncertainty?
Corsa’s interference—though now I wondered if it was due to these crystals—had blocked me from Yun before, though I’d been able to at least send a message when I could see her.
Now, however, the barriers erected around us cut me off from using my powers outside the box.
I could sense the thoughts of the rest of the squad, but it was as though the world outside this square didn’t exist, like watching a television playing a lie.
It meant I could sense the rest of the squad, but I didn’t give a damn about them at the moment. I knew what they thought, that they were fine. I didn’t like having Yun so close that I could see her but be entirely unable to read or reach her.
In addition, I had no idea where Corsa was, where he had gone, or when he might return.
Had I ever truly felt this blinded? Like the world was a far larger and scarier place than I’d ever felt?
No, not even back at Obsidian. Not even with Mr. Yorn and his sick experiments. He’d never managed to truly blind me, and even the times he’d attempted it, I’d always known I could have broken it if I’d wanted.
This time there was nothing for me to break. Between Corsa and these damned crystals, I had no ability to see or feel anything. I couldn’t do anything.
Was this how Kenyon felt all the damn time? I’d felt his inadequacies in the past, but I’d never really understood them. I did now, though.
I felt useless standing there.
“Relax,” Carter said, having taken a seat on the ground near the center of our prison with Ingram behind him, leaning back to back. They both appeared at ease, as though none of this were out of the ordinary or bothersome at all.
“Yes, because our current situation is exactly one we should relax in.”
Kenyon lifted his head, which made me realize that he lay in Carter’s lap like an anime girl. “Relaxation helps the body prepare for action when it’s time.”
Again, I had to recognize that the people I shared a squad with were quite unhinged.
No, not unhinged. That implied they’d been hinged in the first place, but these men? They had been insane from day one. Perhaps what they’d gone through had upped the danger factor, had made it louder over the years, but they’d never been quite right.
Me either.
I sighed and attempted to better my attitude, mostly because if even Kenyon understood this, I needed to get on board. Pacing and stressing would do nothing to better our situation. It wouldn’t magically give us an answer, and it wouldn’t make the time without Yun any easier to endure.
So I came over and plopped myself down to the side of Ingram and Carter, on the other side from where Kenyon’s body stretched out. I wasn’t about to do the whole head in lap nonsense, but I leaned my back against their shoulders. “I don’t like not sensing where Yun is.”
“Welcome to our world,” Carter answered. “She really is going to be the death of us.” His words appeared light on the surface, the sort of comment anyone would make without meaning any of it.
I knew better, though. It was in the slight drop to his voice, the hesitation between the words that made the sentence take just a heartbeat longer than it should have.
“That might be okay,” Ingram said. “Fuck it, if she’s the death of me, I think I’d take it as a win.”
Kenyon nodded. “Same.”
I went to agree, but never got anything out before a tearing sound echoed through the dungeon.
My gaze slid to the portal, expecting to see it shimmering, to find it collapsing. We still couldn’t work out how long we had exactly, but that sort of sound, echoing through The Pitt, was too familiar to forget.
Nothing. The portal didn’t shift, it didn’t shimmer, it showed no signs of collapse.
I hopped to my feet at the same time the others did, searching for the source even if we could do nothing from in here.
There, just a few feet from the edge of the barrier, purple shimmered in the air, like a long scar. It wasn’t round like a portal, but instead appeared like a tear through space. Shadows moved on the other side, black silhouettes that danced and moved like demons.
Corsa’s laugh signaled his arrival, but I didn’t even bother to look his direction. I’d prefer to keep my eyes on the most dangerous thing here.
“You didn’t believe me, did you?”
“What the fuck is that?” Ingram asked.
Corsa walked into our line of sight, standing just before the tear, and lifted a small device. It wasn’t a crystal, but it had a similar glow. “This opens space between this realm and theirs, letting me communicate with them.”
I gulped, the action making my throat ache. As unbelievable as his story had seemed, as unwilling as I’d been to believe it, how could I keep denying it in the face of what I saw?
“Maybe that’s just a tear to earth,” Kenyon said, though a shake in his voice suggested he didn’t believe it.
Corsa laughed, the sound maddened and amused.
“You can believe that if you want, but it won’t save you.
You see, as much as we hate the monsters that come through those portals, that hatred means little compared to those who stand on the other side of this tear.
They have suffered far worse than we have, and they place that blame firmly on our shoulders. ”
“If they hate us so much,” Carter asked, “why would they trade with you? Why help you at all?”
“You should know as well as I do that power is what really matters. The world is all about give and take. That was your problem from the start, that you didn’t understand what real power is.
You think it’s just your personal strength, your speed, your skills.
That’s all transient, and it doesn’t offer people real, lasting power.
Instead, that comes from connection, from our place in the world, from what you can do with those skills you’re given.
I had power before due to my name, my family, my own work.
Here I’ve gained power because I took over The Pitt, because I’ve gathered items that could pose a threat to them, because I can offer them information about our world, so they work with me.
” He spoke like some egotistical CEO, so assured of his own worth that he looked down on everyone else.
I kept my mouth shut, trying to study his face, to glean anything from him even without my powers.
“And what exactly do they want with us?” Ingram asked.
“They’ve never gotten their hands on uncorrupted espers from our world.
Only those already corrupted have breached before, so I imagine they want to study you, watch you, perhaps tear you apart to see how they can use you to their advantage.
” He shrugged. “It doesn’t much matter to me what they want with you, so long as it means you are not my problem anymore.
This will ensure they are willing to trade with me enough for Yun and me to live a very happy life. ”
I breathed in a sharp, short breath, holding back any insults.
“Fuck that bullshit,” Ingram said, voicing the very things I’d wanted to.
I glanced around, meeting Carter’s gaze.
The plan was simple, really. He’d have to take down the barrier to move us, right? To hand us over, he’d have to release us. If that were the case, we had a chance.
Not much of a chance, but anything was better than nothing.
The tear widened like fabric ripping at the seams, like it was pried open by constant force. That thin line of purple grew wider, the darkness inside it solidifying.
It was different from the portals that I knew, the ones I’d spent most of my life around. Those shimmered, and were impossible to see through. This gave me a good view to the other side, growing clearer with each passing second.
Standing there were three people, and they appeared so human, I again wondered if this wasn’t some grand trick. I thought about the monsters we fought, the twisted forms, and had expected the same from their world.
Instead, these people looked like that—like people.
It was a man and two women, the man in a loose shirt and pants that appeared the same. The women both wore dresses like something straight out of one of those old picture books on ancient Greece. The only difference?
Their eyes were purple, and light purple streaks rested on their skin, shimmering and moving as though a part of them.
“You’ve called us sooner than usual,” one of the women said, her voice tight and high. “To demand a meeting when the sacred space still connects to your world is sacrilegious.”
Why the hell could we understand her? I wondered it at first, but then the soft current of power, so low I’d nearly missed it, gave me an answer.
They must use some energy to send the meaning through as well, to make the words understandable no matter the language.
It suggested they used some sort of mentalist power.
Corsa smiled as though he had no fear of them. “I have something that cannot wait.”
She peered past him, her gaze landing on us, and a shiver ran through me at the weight of that look. It felt as though she peeled my skin away, like she saw deeper than any person should be capable of. “A few corrupted? Useless.”
“Look again,” Corsa pressed. “They aren’t corrupted. They are espers prior to corruption.”
That seemed to make the difference, with the woman standing up a little taller. She turned her gaze to the side, but when her lips moved, I couldn’t catch the words anymore. Was that her way of having a private conversation with the others?
I focused instead on the space around her, on trying to make sense of the world she stood in. It was bright, bathed in sunlight, and seemed like an exterior meeting space.
Stones and crystals created pillars behind them, and the ground appeared to be made of cobblestones, but the light that poured in suggested there was no roof above them.
Just beyond where they stood, a few trees reached up high enough that I couldn’t see the tops, but the twisting trunks were obviously similar to the ones inside dungeons.
I recalled what Corsa had said, that the dungeons were mirrors of both our worlds. The monsters we fought seemed the same—always close to our animals but mixed with something else, grotesque mockeries of what I knew.
The woman folded her hands behind her, the action making her chest press out, the stance of someone used to telling others what to do. “Very well. You are right that we have hoped for such an occurrence for many years, for the chance to truly understand our foes. I find this an acceptable usage.”
Corsa nodded, though his expression said he’d never expected her to refuse. “They’re all of the highest rank, so I will warn you that they are quite dangerous.”
The woman narrowed her eyes, the purple on her skin glowing brighter and moving faster, like the tail of an agitated cat.
“Believe me, you do not need to impress the dangers of your kind on us. While you have somehow managed to retain some semblance of sanity, I expect nothing but violence from those who come from your world.”
Her tone held a fair bit of animosity. It made me wonder what exactly had happened to her, to them all, that would cause that reaction. No one hated that deeply without reason—fair or not.
Then again, what was my feeling about monsters? About dungeons? Even the idea that these people were somehow at fault for all that death and violence made me hate them a bit as well.
She stepped through the space until she stood on our side, the other two following suit.
She moved forward, walking with the sort of confidence reserved for warriors, for those who feared little.
She stopped just before the barrier, making me wonder if she sensed the energy, as I did with corruption.
Her gaze shifted over each of us, slow, as though studying animals rather than people. When she reached me, however, when I didn’t shy away, meeting her gaze head-on, not flinching away in the least, pain seared through my temples.
The blast of energy felt like a power washer, striking me with enough force that I nearly took a step backward. Was she a mentalist? Maybe. I couldn’t tell. All I knew for sure was that she was powerful.
“Monster,” she whispered, mirroring my thoughts about her exactly.