"Please don't tell me we're leaving right now." Steve begged, watching as Cassi and I exited the Pylon building. He looked to had just settled into his signature napping coil, his head lifting from his body in a sudden jerky motion upon spotting us.
"Sorry buddy. You guessed it, we leave tonight." I said aloud, making sure Cassi could hear as well. She had voiced an annoyance over watching me stare at my snake intently and suddenly have information every so often, so I'm making an effort to be more 'communicative', I guess. Though I'm fairly certain she didn't need to know what Steve and I spoke about.
"Why? Why do we leave in the middle of the night ever. Fucking. Time?!" Steve angrily questioned, looking to the sky in anguish.
"Because the prisoners Cassi took down earlier all squealed ahead of schedule, and Korbin wanted to get to their Pylon at sunrise." I answered, restraining the urge to tell him to suck it up like everyone else. It wasn't like everyone else necessarily wanted to be shipping out right now either, we just have places to conquer.
"It's THAT far away? Oh, fucking SUPER!" Steve shot back in a rather bitchy tone. His glowing slotted eyes rolled around is the utmost exhibition of sass I'd ever seen from a serpent.
"Stop whining like a fucking baby and let me finish." I said to Steve mentally.
"The next Pylon's actually only around 10 miles out, so if we move quickly we can leave in a couple hours at the latest." I said out loud, being sure to give Cassi the affable spark notes of what I'd mentally instructed Steve. Checking my internal notifications, my eyes glided up to the time that was tucked away in the corner of my mental display.
23:18
"You're so fake for that shit." Steve shot back, commenting on me having spoken to him differently mentally than verbally in front of Cassi.
"You rather people heard when I tell you you're being a baby? Your choice, not mine." I snickered back mentally. Steve just shook his feathered head before laying back down on his coiled scaly body.
"Did anyone else think Korbin was a smidge too happy? At least for someone who said he had to 'do what's necessary' to get information?" Phoebe asked from behind me and Cassi. Lonni and Derrick walked with her on either side, neither looking quite as concerned. If anything I'll at least know Korbin will be staying at the Pylon building for a while.
"I mean, he said they didn't have to do any physical harm to them, that sounds like a decent enough reason to celebrate." Cassi replied. It was a sweet gesture, but I'm more than certain Korbin got a few demons out if the opportunity presented itself.
Justification, Tom. That's the secret.
"Has anyone seen Hayden, by the way?" Derrick asked, looking around.
"Pretty sure I saw him rolling back in before Tom and Cass returned with those giants. I'll look for him, let him know we're leaving tonight." Lonni said, taking a surprising amount of initiative. His speaking up also brought his rather noticeable increase in muscle mass to my attention.
"I'll come with you." Cassi volunteered, quickly striding next to Lonni. He looked over his shoulder at me with a nervous smile. I winked back, hoping to instill some confidence in him.
"Hey Tom, quick question." Phoebe said, interrupting me from proudly watching my oversized boy slowly becoming a man all over again.
"Shoot." I replied plainly.
"Korbin said he has all the info he needed, right?" Phoebe asked.
"Yeah."
"And the dungeons we kept those prisoners in were installed under the Pylon building, right?"
"Uh-huh, your point?" I asked in an aggravated tone, not seeing the point in her questioning.
"Then…then why'd he go back in?"
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The incessant moans and ululations unconsciously blurted by those stupid enough to have broken Korbin's contract the moment after signing it bounced off every stone wall. Korbin let those whose minds were too fried wander outside of their cages freely, seeing as though they showed no signs of even caring where or who they are let alone escaping. I couldn't help but feel terribly conflicted seeing Jeneane being one of our mush-brained friends. Not to say she deserved to be essentially zombified, but I certainly wouldn't find myself feeling sorry for her either. The rest however, including Paul, should've just listened to Korbin. I tried to warn them.
At first I figured Korbin would use them to shame me for having hardly fought back from sharing my knowledge, at least comparatively to the rest of our squad. Instead, he'd often plead for me to reason with my fellow giants, though the way he framed his requests often pissed off my comrades to no end before I could say a word. Whether or not it was intentional, even 28 contracts later, I couldn't confidently determine. The man was strangely cruel in delivering his punishment, yet he never laid a finger on any of us with malice. After sneaking in an Identify on the guy, I couldn't imagine he'd exert too much effort in dispatching the majority of us either…
Across the way from me, now standing rather than being strapped to a seat was Sue. She had been pacing back and forth nonstop after her conversation with Korbin, though I felt he treated her the kindest compared to the others. Still, she saw Jeff being dragged away with his eyes rolled in the back of his head, convulsing violently and foaming at the mouth. Thing is, Jeff decided to throw a punch at Korbin, powering through the madness' effects to finish his strike. Korbin leaned back as Jeff collapsed to the floor, writhing in what I could only imagine was a twister of overwhelming voices and ideas that were never his own.
"We have a long walk ahead of us, I recommend you rest while you can." I said to Sue, sitting on the ground. Being free of my chair had also removed much of my overall terror in being here, even though I knew there was no way I could escape bringing them back home. There'd been no sign of sadistic intentions, only a rather intense yearning for very pertinent information regarding our peoples settlement.
"I'm still trying to figure a way out. I know you already prostrated yourself to the mighty Korbin, but I'm still loyal to my people." Sue shot back, poking her chest with her own thumb.
"You act like Paul didn't tell him the vast majority of their information on us. Everyone who signed that deal agreed to bring him there, including you. You can hop off your high horse, princess." I shot back, feeling disgusted at her hypocrisy. End of the day, I didn't even want to be a part of this team. Winston insisted I'd be good at grounding Paul, which normally I am. But, something about him, this mission in particular, just really rubbed me the wrong way.
"Paul's brain is fucking jelly because he refused to bring them to our people. The second you folded, they were doomed. Me accepting that contract was the only way I could be functioning long enough to figure this out. Of course, you only worry about keeping yourself breathing so, I can understand how your shallow mind would assume I acted similarly. Winston will know of your betr-"
"WINSTON, ISN'T HERE! Do yourself a favor, and look the fuck around. It's done, anyone capable of something like this fucking prison and defeating the Porphynae tribe in this region is more than prepared to walk through our defenses. Either go along with their demands and hope they're merciful, or fuck off. You're going to get us killed." I said, turning my back to Sue and headed to the corner of my cell. Looking at her any more than I already had for the last 3 hours would have made me homicidal at this point, and I had no intentions of killing my 'friends' once we're out. Just leaving them if we get out of this alive. Frankly, Winston didn't care if we came back as far as I'm concerned.
"That doesn't give you the right t-"
"To WHAT? Survive?! Speak for yourself, I never gave that to some power hungry Demigod." I shot back, fully fed up with her blind faith. Everyone shared this mentality, all resentful to any who weren't 'touched' by some deity they've never met. Only Winston, yet he rarely shared their conversations, no matter how much time I devoted to his teachings and assisting in his quest to shape the strongest mages on earth. Loud thuds of the large wooden door down the hall dragging across the floor cut through the chorus of groans and incoherent rambling. The steps sped down the hallways, clapping quickly toward me before Korbin stopped on a dime at my gate.
"Sammy, my man! Hope you got some rest buddy." Korbin said, unlocking my gate.
"Not really, with all my people's minds you melted." I replied coldly. Korbin chuckled.
"Don't act like you weren't there. I gave everyone a fair warning, same as you. That's besides the point," the gate swung open, Korbin stepped away, offering me to exit.
"I need a favor. Your friends here? They all signed the same contract saying they'd bring us to your settlement. Issue is, nearly all of them they also violated it to the point the madness had rendered them unable to even speak coherently." Korbin began as I exited my cage into the red glowing prison hallway.
"What do you want me to do about it? Sue's the healer." I said, pointing behind Korbin. Sue stared back with hatred painting her face in response.
"No, nothing needs healing per se. I just need you to get these folks in order, at least enough to not get lost in the woods." Korbin replied.
"I can't do that? They didn't even listen to me when they could still remember their fucking names, how am I supposed to lead them anywhere?!" I asked, letting my frustrations slip.
"I can't remember asking, but I'm sure you'll figure it out." Korbin responded, patting my shoulder and walking back toward the exit.
"Wait! When are we leaving?" I asked, trying to get some semblance of information.
"Soon." Korbin said, slamming the wooden door behind him and leaving me free to roam the hallways. 'Free' is probably being used liberally, considering the congestion of those whose minds were destroyed by madness clogging the path.
"Sam!? Get me out of here!" Sue whispered from my side. The panel by the door was covered in buttons, none of which bearing any markings.
"I…I don't know if I can." I said, searching desperately for some clue as to what any of these buttons did.
"Fucking figure it out, we don't have long before that prick comes back." Sue replied, fighting vigorously to peer her head between the bars of her prison door.
"If he comes back and we can't get these people moving, we're all dead, Sue. THINK." I countered, hoping I won't have to pretend to make an educated guess with this panel. The sheer amount of options meant there had to be a variety of things these rooms were capable of, and freedom was usually only a one to three button job.
"Just try to free me first. At least then I can help you, right?" Sue offered pleadingly. Sweat started forming across my forehead looking over the rectangular buttons, all of which the same grey color. There were 8 rows stacked vertically, making for far too many options for a single room.
"Let's go, Sam! We're running out of time!" Sue persisted impatiently. Not willing to be badgered further, I slammed my finger on the very first button. There was ahigh pitched beep, then…nothing. Confused, I hit the button harder, assuming it just didn't register. After 20 seconds, nothing happened.
"Sam, there's no way it's that complicated? It's one fucking panel." Sue continued bitching from inside her little cage. As much of a dear friend she may be, her instincts to tell everyone they're not doing well has steadily grown unbearable. Anger boiled realizing the cruelty in this panel, rubbing both hands against every single button. After 30 more seconds, still nothing.
"It's fake. These panels don't do anything. Sorry, Sue." I finally concluded, turning back down the hallway to tend to our less-than coherent comrades. Jeff's ragged posture drug itself over to me, slowly bumping into my chest.
"Okay buddy. We're going to fix this, you just have to listen to me." I said, placing my hands on Jeff's shoulders. Jeff's face suddenly contorted into an animalistic hatred grasping onto my wrist and pulling hard.
"NO MORE, NO MORE PAIN! YOUR PAIN, YOUR TURN!" Jeff screamed, his voice cracking while throwing panicked wild punches at me, nearly breaking my nose on one. I scrambled back, trying to refrain from hurting my friend across the room in his maddened state.
"Jeff fucking stop it!" I pleaded, hoping he'd remember my voice if he couldn't recognize my face. Instead, Jeff dropped down to all fours snarling and hissing like a wild animal. The incoherent ramblings were replaced by unnatural screams of anger as Jeff retreated back into the crowd of our wandering comrades, ducking low amidst their numbers. Sue's cackling from her cell only worsened knowing how unbelievably annoying this task is going to be. She looked me up and down judgingly as she replied.
"So! You uh, you sure you got it?"
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