I stared out at the malevolent tree from the top of an abandoned apartnt building near the Blue Crusade’s temporary base. It’d been an hour since we first arrived, and I could feel my eyes drooping as I looked out across the massive, fifty-square-block abandoned section of the city.
It encompassed a large section of the East End except for arguably the worst parts, the Scath Heights and Projects. Guess the poor won on this occasion. It was a rarity, though no one was happy about it.
The Aythryn Exclusion Zone… In-verse Conglorate, a massive scream stream corporation, had coined the na. It was the area in East End devastated by Mother—a ghost town through and through, whether by massacre or evacuation. Even if we solved this perfectly, it would never be the sa after.
Even with the damage being localized, conservative estimates put the death count near at least a million. With rescue and evacuation efforts still underway, and fights between man and plant constant, that number would only grow.
Thankfully, the tree itself had stopped its movents outside of birthing more monsters, or the AEZ would be much, much bigger. Maybe even encompassing the whole city.
I could feel it, though. The air stirred with Mother’s wicked intent. I was far too terrified to look directly, but even an indirect sense through Insight made uncomfortable. It felt like the very air itself was drawn to the tree, stirring about as the gargantuan flora absorbed it.
The Crusade’s magic experts were still working to figure out what the end goal of all the rituals was. From the briefing we just went through, they suspected the three acted like charging ports. What they were charging was up in the air. There was no doubt it’d be very, very bad for all of us, though.
Lightning flashed repeatedly, smiting down across the city in various spots. A particularly dense bolt struck nearby, completely devastating a large tree. It seed even nature was repulsed by She Who Grows and her creations. That, or soone was channeling the storm.
I felt a heavy bitterness in my heart, one that stung at like nothing I’d ever felt before. I had all the pieces of this puzzle in my hand. All of them! If only I would’ve put them together just a bit quicker, been just a bit smarter, none of this would’ve happened. We could’ve stopped the Circle before this tragedy would have erupted.
I felt the weight of a million deaths on my shoulders. It was a heavy sensation I’d never felt before. Maybe if soone else got the interface, they might’ve been able to-
I took a deep breath, pushing all the depressing thoughts to the back of my head. An icy flicker of Cold-Blooded helped bring my mind back on track. I could think about it later. For now, I’d have to give my all while I could.
“Ahem.” A light cough behind drew my attention back to Inquisitor Ligh Strumgard. He stood as a stalwart presence against the chaotic background.
Around us, the other Squires stood in likewise silence, staring out at the AEZ just the sa as . Their thoughts were evident on their faces. Dev stared with utmost worry, his hands twitching with every flicker of light. Joshua had an expectant look as he eyed the abandoned buildings.
And finally, Hope’s face was twisted with sorrow as she sighed. Whether she was sad about the destruction the Circle caused or sad about more over ti was up in the air. The expression on her face was clear though.
Ah, and of course, we all had bags under our eyes. Yes, even I had finally succumbed to the horrible curse. I suppressed a yawn as my gaze flicked back to the Exclusion Zone.
I wanted nothing more than to return to bed at the mont. Even the temporary apartnt at the BC apartnt would be fine. Drowsiness pulled at , and my side still ached from where that borg slamd with his shield. It’d been so long since I slept… but I couldn’t sleep. Not with this crushing sense of responsibility on my shoulders.
”Here.” Joshua muttered as he held out an energy drink to . The can was still sealed, and water beaded on its surface as the rain hit it. “Got it from a- uh… broken vending machine.”
”Nova. Thank you.” I took the offered drink and cracked it open. It wouldn’t hit now, but hopefully the caffeine wouldn’t take too long to push off my eye-burning tiredness. I’ll have to ask a dic at the HQ for sothing a bit stronger when we got back.
Joshua waved his hand and headed back towards the edge of the building. "Don't worry about it."
”Ah-he-hem…” The Inquisitor coughed once more as if to draw attention. Again, he didn’t say anything. Just tilted his mask aside and spat off the building. Looked like... blood? Was his liver finally rioting?
”Sir.” Hope took the lead. “What’s our part in this?”
Inquisitor Ligh pulled a flask from his pocket. His entire body seed to crumple as he turned it upside down. Empty. “Hmm… there'sh a bar not too far from here… right, we’re on patrol around the periter. At least until the situation changes-“
He cut himself off as a high-pitched whistling filled the air. I looked up just in ti to catch a fast flyer illuminated by the storm. It whizzed overhead toward the tree. The flyer broke off just as a missile detached and flew towards the malevolent tree.
Or, at least, it attempted to. The guardian snake of the tree lashed out in retaliation, clipping the wing of the jet. A flash of a parachute popped out just before the jet hit a building in the AEZ, turning into an explosive fireball. The fate of the pilot was unknown, but the odds weren't looking great considering they landed in the Exclusion Zone,
As for the missile? It hit the tree dead on. Just like the last few strike attempts I’d seen over the past hour, though, the tree took it without flinching. As the missile exploded, dark green corrosive ooze flashed across the tree, absorbing the impact as the spawn rate of monsters seed to pick up.
“Why do they keep trying that?” Dev's hands clenched. "Can't they see its just making it worse?"
"Seriously... at least it's not a God Rod," Joshua said. "No telling what might happen."
The Inquisitor reached for the canteen again, only to slump in defeat as he rembered it was empty. “C’mon. Patrol. Now.”
He moved, the rest of us following as we descended onto almost entirely abandoned city streets.
— — —
As we stepped onto the city streets, the silence hit first. The kind of quiet where life used to hum and buzz, and now only quiet remained. The usual street sounds—the chatter of vendors, distant engines, and constant voices—were gone.
Of course, it wasn’t absolute silence. Screams and gunfire echoed down abandoned streets. Neon signs and neon lights buzzed carelessly, their advertisents entirely pointless given the situation. The sounds that got by only seed to build the subtle wrongness of the AEZ.
And we were just on the periter. Closer to the tree, it must feel entirely different. Worse. Like Hell.
Flickering neon sputtered overhead, casting broken halos in blues and violets on wet pavent that reflected like oil. Ads still whispered on loop, and holograms danced to a tune that no one knew. Glitched faces and broken smiles from broken signs stared down at us.
The air reeked of old ozone. Trash rustled alongside the gutters, moved by the occasional stuttering of wind. Water poured from the sky as if to cool the heated tension in the air, only to make everything feel even worse.
Neon graffiti, done in bioluminescent paint, pulsed with every water drop that hit it. It stood painted across a shop’s tollgate: HELP. Below it, slathered as if in a rush: RUN. The graffiti was one of dozens visible. Who even had ti to paint all of that while fleeing? Why?
Footsteps in the distance echoed from sowhere, but when I turned, nothing. Just the city breathing its last under a sky too bright with flickering neon. Even the sounds of the other Squires and Inquisitor felt more subdued than usual.
Abandoned cars littered the street like trash. All it took was just one person to abandon theirs, and the calm order driving required was shattered. They lay like ghosts.
So were still idle, humming low as their insides flashed with lights on wet asphalt. Others were scorched, hacked or sabotaged with their doors twisted open. At so point, chaos had reigned. Even that was gone now. Just us.
In the distance, a flyer lay slamd against the side of a building. Its once sleek black body, corporate issue, lay crumbled like tinfoil. The windshield spiderwebbed from an impact with sothing. The sar of red across the dash and hood hinted at what.
I kept walking in pace with them. Carefully. Because this might not be an entirely empty street. There was always a chance of an ambush. I squeezed my eyes shut for a mont as my side ached, though I managed to push the pain back down with a flicker of Cold-Blooded. Once our patrol was over, I’d…
I’d what? Rest? Didn’t all of this happen because I spent too much ti playing around and resting in the first place-
No, no… that’s not fair. It wasn’t entirely my fault. The bla didn’t lie entirely on my shoulders… or did it? I was given such an opportunity with the interface, and yet I was too weak to monopolize on it. Soone else surely would’ve already hit level twenty in their Skills if they’d-
Cold-Blooded poured ice on my head once more. I was just tired and irritated. Maybe a little nap wouldn’t hurt-
“Over-! Wait, sorry, sorry. Just a shadow.” Dev was the first to break the heavy silence that had settled over our group as we walked down our patrol route.
As if the dam had burst, Joshua started making fun of Dev. The entire mood lifted sowhat, though everyone was still tense as if expecting an attack at any mont.
Hope slowed down a few steps to walk alongside . “Hey, you don’t look too good.”
I looked down at my rifle, tracing its shape with my hand. “I’m fine.”
”If you say so…” I could feel her gaze on , though I was far too scared to look up and et her eyes.
”You know… back when I first started, I was too slow to go answer a call once.” Hope sighed, her gaze turning off of as she seed to sink into the past. “It was a borg Glitching. Military grade stuff, heavily ard and armored.”
”Yeah?”
“The car I was in broke down on the way. It was partially my fault, and I ended up having to walk the rest of the way alongside the squad I was with to make it in ti.”
”You weren’t with the Inquisitor?” I asked.
”No. He was busy with sothing else.” Hope toyed with her rifle for a mont, pulling back the charging handle to check the chamber. “Anyway, we were late. By the ti we arrived, the borg had gotten into a holess camp. It was a massacre. Even the ceiling was slick with blood.”
I looked up at her. “Why are you telling this?”
Hope laughed lightly, dropping her rifle into her sling as she t my eyes. “I was crushed. Defeated. It felt like I should’ve done sothing—anything better.”
I looked at the woman quietly. Sure, she had a heavy, depressed mood most of the ti. She irradiated confidence like no one else, though. It was hard to even imagine her defeated.
She continued as she tried to smile. Unlike usual, her grimace and baring of teeth felt oddly warm. “The Inquisitor told this afterward; sotis things just happen that no one can stop or predict. Feeling responsible for it- it doesn’t an you failed. It doesn't make you a failure. It only ans you’re human, looking back and striving to be better.”
I went silent, turning my gaze away toward a fallen doll in the middle of the sidewalk. It was the kind that a child would’ve kept with them, though now it was trampled into pieces, crushed under the weight of thousands fleeing.
I felt Hope’s hand on my shoulder as she patted and sped up slightly to walk ahead. “Just don’t let it weigh you down too much, Zuku.”
I stared at her figure ahead of , feeling a small warmth in my chest. My gaze shifted to Dev’s slumped shoulders and Joshua’s warm laughter as he lightly made fun of the heavily armored squire. And then to Inquisitor Ligh’s back as he took the lead. Occasionally, I felt his gaze on as he tilted his back.
Zuku.
That warmth faded under the torrent of bitterness as I felt truly guilty for the first ti in a long while. The kind of guilt that was a hundred percent , and not so enchantnt’s effects. The guilt that I was here amongst them, and yet still lying.
It's been a while since I've felt this alone. This isolated. I suppressed yet another sigh and chased after them.
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