The Cave

Jaron didn't need the rude man to tell him - he jumped ahead of the others, sprinting towards the alley. He slipped into the shadows and ran until the alley opened up to a cave wall a short distance away. That's where he stopped to take a few shallow breaths.

As he'd feared, no trace of Kendrik or Thytes.

Putting his hands on his head and his knees on the ground, he tried to smell the air for some distant trace of either of them, some hope that they were close by. Jaron suddenly stopped sniffing - it wouldn't be nearly as effective as the shallow lines in the earth that curved away from his vision. He looked to his right, where the lines vanished down another alley.

They led to the courthouse.

Orrin only strayed a few feet from where Jaron was, trusting his senses over his own. Maahes, Lucifer and Kartiel all searched the surrounding area with worried gazes - some more obvious than others. Lucifer fiddled with his pencil. Kartiel's eyes flickered between green and purple. Maahes's eyes moved just a little too fast. They were all disturbed by two people suddenly disappearing, but none of them were brave enough to address that fact.

Orrin followed Jaron's gaze.

"Do you think they're in the courthouse?" he asked, looking back at Jaron with worry in his own eyes.

James did not have the energy to run, but ended up speed-walking in Jaron's direction until he finally caught up to them.

Jaron nodded his head and stood up. Blinking the tears from his eyes, he staggered off in the direction of the courthouse, climbing up the shattered steps and making his way through what had once been doors, had they not been thrown into the courthouse and crushed.

The courthouse was, needless to say, a mess. Something had cleaved right through it, splitting the building into two, almost perfectly symmetrical pieces. Splinters of wood and chunks brick unsteadily clung onto the ceiling, as did the marble above them. Most of the furniture - the chairs, the jury's box, the judge's seat - had been set in a loose semicircle around the entrance. The quiet rang in Jaron's ears, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the courtroom's darkness, as the light from the cave only illuminated the center of it.

And there were bodies everywhere.

They'd been tossed across the floor, thrown into the walls, and hurled through the windows at the back of the courthouse. Jaron hesitated, seeing the skulls that seemed to grin up at him, and waited for the others to arrive.

James slowed as the building came into view. A numbing sort of dread washed over him as he drew closer, and when he eventually stepped in behind Jaron, he thought he would throw up the soup he had earlier. The sight of all of the thrown about dead bodies made him feel sick, and the smell of death was suffocating. He turned his head as he convulsed ever so slightly, before swallowing it down.

"Gods, get me out of here," he muttered weakly, resting his hands on his knees. "What the hell happened?"

Kartiel and Maahes both came to a stop in the entrance to the building, horror clearly written across their faces. They had both seen death before - and Kartiel had experienced it - but it had been a long time since either one had seen something of this magnitude. It made Kartiel want to throw up, and it made Maahes's essence twist and churn within him.

But Lucifer and Orrin surveyed the scene with a calmness that almost didn't seem natural, and they even went as far as walking past Jaron to survey the room. It was downright disturbing to both Kartiel and Maahes, but even if their thoughts had shown on their faces, the other two didn't seem to notice - or, if they had, didn't seem to care.

Lucifer's clothing shifted from a hoodie and jeans with a quickly uttered spell, and a chain and sickle appear in Orrin's hand as their gazes swept through the room. Lucifer's tail swished behind him, horns glinting in the little light that came from the cave.

Adeline followed behind the group as they entered the courthouse. She had tripped a feet feet back and had started being left behind. After jogging a bit to catch up, she took in the view and desperately wished she hadn't.

James seemed to be on the verge of throwing up, and she walked over to gently pat his head. In truth, she felt nauseous herself, and was suppressing a whimper.

She'd seen dead bodies before- plenty of them, and in different stages of decay. There was just an overwhelming wrongness of this massacre that made her want to run and forget she'd ever seen it.

The silence grew even thicker inside the courthouse as the group arrived. It was suffocating, swallowing every word or plea that Jaron thought of saying. As the very faint howl of wind reached his eardrums, he spotted the track, which had snaked its way through the courthouse and disappeared into the earth, leaving a hole in its wake. Big enough for him to fit into.

While he took a few, tentative steps closer, the sound of the wind grew louder. Most everyone would've only noticed motes of dust being lifted off the ground, or perhaps the waving of a skeleton hand. Those who could see a ghost saw one.

A lady appeared in front of them. Round and cheery, she wore a dress that stretched down to her ankles. Her bare feet hovered above the ground, dotted with splinters and blood. She didn't seem to notice the pain, however; her curly hair cascaded behind her as rosy cheeks and a warm smile embraced the group.

"Dearies," she said. "It's nothing short of a miracle, I swore for sure there wouldn't be any-" she cocked her head and frowned, ignoring the small arctic fox that skittered under her and darted for the hole. "Oh my, your poor son. Thomas?"

A lanky teenager appeared beside her, holding gauze and needles in his hands. One bandage had been wrapped over one of his eyes - blood still soaked through.

"Looks messed up," he said, shaking his head.

The lady scowled at him. "Don't be rude, dearie," she said. "We haven't a thing to worry about - he'll be coming soon enough."

Lucifer and Orrin both grew stiff when the two ghosts appeared. They turned so they were facing the ghosts in question, each preparing to deal with them in their own way. Then their eyes met, and they both came to the simultaneous realization that another person who could see ghosts was present in the room.

"Hello," Orrin said, giving the woman a warm smile of his own. Lucifer gave a small, shy wave in greeting.

The lady waved in return. "Hello, dearies! You look a smidgen dazed. Come, you ought to sit."

"Must be that shell-shock, ma'am," Thomas said, voice barely above a whisper. "Like in the war."

"Then it's a good thing he's coming," she replied, gesturing for the others to follow while she pointed to the ground. A line of stretchers materialized. Some were empty, some held injured men, women, and children, and staff draped sheets onto yet others. "So we won't have any more of those foolish things."

The quiet of the courthouse gave way to hustle and bustle as ghosts popped out of the walls, rose from the floor, and descended from the ceiling. A ghostly wall of spikes pointing at the front door grew into existence, with a dozen rifle-wielding men looking past the group and staring down the entrance. Behind them, families gathered around tables loaded with dried food and medical supplies. Women and men darted between them, always asking questions about each family's health and anxieties.

And, as expected, one whispered phrase rose above the rest - "He's coming."

Adeline's head pat did not go unnoticed, but he couldn't bring himself to reply. A wave of nausea washed over him and he convulsed again, trying to hold back what little was in his stomach.

It wasn't working.

He briefly witnessed Orrin and Lucifer talking to nothing (though he had to presume it was the ghosts they'd mentioned) before he ran out the front of the building. The moment he stepped outside he turned away from the gaping opening of the building and threw up - several times - until it was just bile coming up.

Adeline glanced around, wide-eyed and shell-shocked, as Orrin and Lucifer greeted something she couldn't see. She felt a chill run through her, and was backing toward the door already when she heard the faintest of whispers.

She couldn't quite make out what the whispers where saying, ("cunning", maybe?) and that terrified her more than anything else.

When James rushed out of the room- to be sick, she guessed- she took it as an excuse to run out herself.

Not wanting to be a nusiance now that she was outside, she stayed a several feet away from James, wringing the fabric of her shift anxiously. Stupidly, she nearly asked if he was alright, only to stop herself. Fussing over him would only make things worse- she was intuitive enough to know that, at least.

Digging through her satchel, she produced another canteen of water, and wordlessly held it out at James' eye level.

James breathed raggedly with his hands on his knees. Weakly, with his body shaking, he spat away the excess vomit dripping from his mouth.

As the canteen of water came into view he didn't question who was holding it out, or where it came from. He grabbed it and took a long gulp before finally taking a breath, messily letting some of the excess water drip down the front of his shirt as he leaned back down with a hand on one knee.

As the scene enfolded around him, Lucifer tried his best to keep his surprise off of his face. He had never seen something as large as this. Usually ghosts were alone. They could be with a couple of other people, but it was rarely even more than four. The thought of whatever tragedy had occurred here made his stomach feel nauseous.

And though he knew he should be focusing on the ghostly display before him, his eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of the weapon that had appeared by Orrin's side. His eyes widened in realization. He knew exactly what the reason was for everything that was different about him. But, frustratingly enough, he knew that he couldn't tell him right now. They had to keep up the act, which Orrin was already diving headfirst into as he made his weapon disappear.

Orrin sat down, and Lucifer followed suit several seconds later.

"It is a good thing that he's coming," Orrin agreed. He gave the woman a smile. "You haven't seen some friends of ours by any chance, have you? They would have just been here. We were supposed to be going on a walk together, but he-" Here he wrapped his arm around Lucifer's shoulder, much to the god's surprise. "-got distracted and the two wandered off without us."

The lady frowned softly. "Yes," she said, "I've heard that the creature can do that. Rather wish they'd said as much on the radio. Sorry, dearies, I'm sure we'll find your friends eventually." The bags under her eyes seemed to grow a little darker as she finished the statement, as did her frown, but her expression snapped back to normal soon enough.