Young Writers Society

I noticed a folded up map among some pamphlets on a coffee table, and pocketed it before we moved for the door.

'Shall we go to the Control Room? That's where we left each other, so the others will likely go there if they wish to find us again.'

Lucy nodded. "That sounds like a good plan to me."



Oliver let out a horrified gasp as the blade pierced Kartiel's side; he had been in battles before, but none had involved the actual usage of blades. He felt even more nauseous than before as he watched the blood soak through the god's hoodie.

"Oh," Kartiel said, slowly looking down at his abdomen. "Wow. You actually attacked me. I didn't see that coming. I thought you would have wanted me to stick around so you try getting more information, but you must be one of those 'actions speak louder than words' guys."

He tried to pull out the sword, but it seemed difficult when Aegeas was still holding onto it. The blade cut into his hands as he attempted to pry it free. It was an absolutely horrifying sight to behold, and Oliver's stomach twisted and churned at the sight.

After another minute or so passed, Kartiel sighed and gave up. He looked at Aegeas, his wound growing worse with every second. "Well, it looks like this is goodbye for now. It really is a shame - I was starting to like this body."

An intense heat passed through the corridor, and then Kartiel's body fell lifeless on the blade.

And Oliver wasted no time in looking away from the sight.

Bo opened his mouth to speak before Kartiel spoofed into thin air, and once he was gone, he frowned, and the crease between his brows deepened.

"Well. That happened."

He looked down at Aegeas with a mix of frustration but also mutual understanding.

Aegeas was just doing what he knew how. And someone who carried swords the way he did was ready to use them when they deemed necessary.

That said, though, he was disappointed that they would have to find Kartiel again somewhere, since his clear reference to his body as one of many indicated that he could regenerate or get another new body somehow. How long that would take was unknown, but he knew Kartiel would be back.

He was also disappointed that he didn't get to ask all of the other questions he had burning in his head. The main one being - how they were being tracked via the digital map in the control room. Did it simply pick up heat signatures, or sense life somehow? Or did they have tracking devices on them somehow? Not that knowing such was directly pertinent to the situation and all of the other concerns (namely: Wraiths), but...

Bo shook his head, looking over at Oliver, who was noticeably disturbed. It was only then that he remembered that not everyone was accustomed to acts of violence, blood, and things of the like.

He set a hand gently on Oliver's shoulder. "Oh - man. I'm sorry you saw that, Oliver. You okay, kid?"

He looked up at Bo, keeping his gaze firmly on his face and not allowing it to wander in the direction of Kartiel's body. "I-I've seen terrible things before," he whispered. "But it's never been like that. There's never been...there's never been so much blood." Death due to violence was different back there. A shot from a blaster would always leave a mark - a fierce little burn concentrated in one spot - but he had grown used to it after seeing it so many times.

Spilled blood was a rarity there, and it was why someone like him could get so upset over the death of a man who likely wasn't truly dead.

His gaze dropped down to his hands. What if he had to use those blades while he was here? What if he needed to fight Kartiel, or one of those Wraiths? He couldn't do something like that, even though he wasn't really a "kid" anymore. He had never really been one; he had grown up too fast and-

His breath caught in his throat.

He had been so distracted by Kartiel and the short-lived battle that he hadn't noticed just how far his fractures had progressed. Thin little cracks laced his arms, gray peeking out from tanned skin. It was impossible to tell how far they had gone while he was wearing his jacket, but he had rolled the sleeves up only a short time ago.

He swore under his breath.

Bo's eyes followed Oliver's, and he looked at his hands and arms. It was unlike anything he'd seen before. Cracks? Or something like it.

"Woah. That... Did Kartiel do this to you? Or is this normal for you?" He asked with concern in his voice.

That was odd. Aegeas had expected Kartiel to step out of the way, or the sword to deflect off his chest, or something a little less gruesome than the dead body he was staring at. Still, Aegeas had made his decision - there was nothing to be done about it now.

He pressed a foot on Kartiel's back, grabbed the sword in both hands, and yanked it out after a few seconds of pushing. Pulling a piece of yellow-stained cloth from a pants pocket, he sat down and rubbed the edge of the blood-soaked blade. It'd be impossible to clean up all of it, as much as there was, but at least he could keep his sword from rusting.

Aegeas couldn't figure out why he felt so calm. As he pushed himself back to keep away from the pool of blood growing around Kartiel's body, he realized that Kartiel's death had been cathartic, but unsatisfying. Part of him had hoped that killing Kartiel would send them all back. Yet, they were still here in this abandoned, potentially dangerous place.

He could hear Bo and Oliver talking behind him, but he wasn't really paying attention. "That's enough of him," Aegeas said, standing up while still cleaning his sword. "Let's go back and find the others."

Oliver looked wildly from Bo to Aegeas. While the first had noticed the fractures lacing his arms, the other seemed completely oblivious to it. He must have been too distracted by Kartiel's sudden death - Oliver foolishly looked in the direction of the lifeless body and paled even more than he already was.

"It's, uh, a little normal?" he answered, his voice quiet. "Just a little? It's sort of a medical condition." First it starts with the extremities. The hands. The feet. Then the head. And if it's gotten as bad as it had on my arms...

He slowly raised a hand up and touched his cheek. Though he couldn't see it, he could feel a fracture running right down his left cheek.

Bo held up a hand in Aegeas’s direction. “Hold on. You go on ahead, but I need to take Oliver to the nearest first aid kit...” he pulled out his phone and pulled up a picture of the map he’d hurriedly snapped when it showed up on he screen. Using two fingers he zoomed in on the map, searching it for some kind of medical wing or whatever they’d be called. When he finally spotted the medical center he nodded to himself.

“There’s a med wing a few floors down. Oliver, we can go there and see if they have anything to help with your skin condition. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like that on earth, but if that’s a thing in your universe they gotta have something.”

Aegeas took a few seconds to notice that Bo had spoken at all. It was only after he decided to put aside Kartiel's death and think about it later - it was distressing, but couldn't be fixed - that Bo's words entered his thoughts. When he caught the word "injury," he turned around. Had he hurt Oliver by accident?

On spotting the network of gray cracks stretching across Oliver, Aegeas leaped back. "That's your condition?!" he said. Aegeas placed his swords in his scabbards and looked up at Oliver in horror.

When Bo mentioned the medical wing, Aegeas nodded. "Let's go to the medics, then," he said. "Need any help walking?" He tentatively reached out a hand in Oliver's direction. He didn't yet trust Oliver, but this looked like a genuine problem. Part of him also wanted to make up for killing Kartiel by saving someone else.

Lola nodded and followed Raiden down the hallway. She was kind of hungry, but she was also kind of curious as to what kind of food they would find in the kitchen. Well, she thought, gazing around at the seemingly same gray walls, If we ever even find the kitchen...

The kitchen wasn't all that far from the control room, and soon enough they found themselves inside a room that looked vaguely like a kitchen, but one that was from a sci fi movie. Raiden tentatively walked over to the fridge -- or what at least looked like a fridge -- and he opened the door, taking a peek inside.

There was food!
Cheese, some fish, some vegetables and an assortment of other edibles were inside the fridge! With an excited glint in his eyes, he snatched up the cheese and looked over it carefully. It didn't look to bad, so he opened it and took a bite.
"Thish ishn't badth," he said, with a mouthful of cheese, turning to Lola.
"Yew want shum?"

He took a deep breath, one that shook at he looked at the concerned faces of Bo and Aegeas. They would never find a cure in the infirmary. Calling it a medical condition had been more than just a little stretch - it was a part of who he was. The only way he could stop it was by changing, and he was never going to do that in front of them.

But if he kept following their lead in an effort to trick them, he'd run out of time.

He looked down at the hand that Aegeas had extended and shook his head.

"I'm alright." I'm not. "I can-I can walk like this." For now, anyways. If the fractures started to get worse and spread through more parts of his body-

He didn't want to think about that.

"Let's go to the infirmary," he said, certain that he was making a horrible mistake.

That didn't sound like an accurate statement from someone who looked like he was about to turn to stone, but Aegeas didn't have any reason to disagree. He'd have to keep a close eye on Oliver, but he was already planning on that.

Pulling his hand back, Aegeas was reminded of his shoulder. He'd forgotten all about it when confronting Kartiel, but it made its presence clear now. Rubbing his shoulder, he winced when it audibly popped. "It'll also be good to get this fixed," he said, looking up to Bo and waiting for the taller man to start moving.

Bo nodded at Oliver and Aegeas, before stepping forward and leading the way. Now with a map in hand - out of necessity, because his phone batter was still not going to last forever - he was able to navigate his way to what looked like an elevator of some sort. Outside of the sliding doors was a small podium with a very sci-fi looking glowing screen on it. He had to assume it was a button for the lift or something, because there was nothing else that looked like that.

A bit unsure, he poked at the screen. When a loading bar popped up and started to fill up partially, but stopped, he pulled back.

"Uhhhh, okay, how does this thing work," he mumbled to himself, poking again only to get the same result - the loading bar stopping in the same place. It wasn't until he tried setting his whole hand on it, that the loading progress shot to 100% and the elevator doors opened with a small whoosh of air. With a smile, and an "ah-ha!" he turned to the others.

"Okay, get in! This'll take us down. It's way faster than stairs."

Aegeas watched warily as the doors slid open, revealing a small room made out of glass walls. The doors and edges of the walls were the same dark-colored metal that covered the place. He wrinkled his nose in disgust as the air carried the smell of the metal to his nostrils.

"What's this?" he said, reaching a foot forward to tap at the glass floor. Nothing happened. "Is it safe? How is it faster than stairs?"