“That’s a workout,” Katie said, slightly out of breath just from walking back to Sarah.
“Yeah. It’ll make it a lot easier to stop things from chasing me. Unless it’s a spider or something else that doesn’t wear shoes.” Drew grabbed one of the backpacks and began filling it with food and water.
“Planning on being gone a long time?” Katie asked, with a frown as he packed.
“No, but who knows how common food is out there? If I find someone else who hasn’t been able to get food recently, this may give them enough of a boost to follow me back.” Drew looked around and then grabbed a couple of the knives on display and several of the spare glowrocks; Katie had made a whole bunch more while he had been passed out. “Just in case they’re injured and can’t be moved…having some light will be good for morale,” he answered her unspoken question.
After he had put back on his armor and tightened the pack down, he turned to look at Katie, “We could all go together, you know.”
She shook her head, “No, we already decided on this. You’ll only be gone for a few hours and when you get back, we’ll be in a much better spot.” She forced a smile and then hugged him. “Just don’t go dying on me. I don’t want to be alone.”
Drew hugged her back, not letting go until she did. “It’ll be alright Katie; I’ll be back before dark.”
Katie nodded again but didn’t seem to be about to add anything else to the conversation.
She removed the walls she had placed and they both locked eyes one last time before she put the wall back up. Turning, Drew headed down the hill. He looked back at the shop when he was about halfway down and could see Katie watching him from the window. He waved to her and smiled again as she shook her head and waved back. Her lips were moving, but it was impossible to tell what she said at this distance.
The loading dock was near the base of the hill, not far from where they had left the main building the day before. Built under the road he had been walking down and situated between the parking garage and the building was a ramp that led down into it. Drew stopped one last time to look up the hill, where he could still see Katie’s figure standing in the window. He then took out a glowrock and descended into the darkness of the loading dock. His new vision painted the area with a brighter color than the exterior had been, showing more ambient mana in the area.
“Does that mean the building really is a dungeon? If so, what does the node mean?” He asked himself rhetorical questions to keep his mind occupied while his eyes scanned the area, looking for auras and movement. The bay was large, several hundred feet across and 30 or 40 feet tall. There were no vehicles, of course, and all four of the receiving doors were closed. There was a small access door on the far side of the building that he made his way towards.
From the corner of his eye he caught movement and suddenly went into high alert; a human-shaped aura was all he could see in the darkness. It was mostly purple in color and about his height.
Chapter Eighteen — Release
Both Katie and Sarah’s auras had ended when it touched their actual bodies. This aura continued into the body, morphing from mostly indigo to a dull violet, allowing him to see the figure’s face and body. It was difficult to make anything out, like looking at a negative of a picture.
The aura caused Drew to stop. The figure was crouching down and didn’t seem to be aware of him. Considering he was holding a bright glowrock, that meant they were either blind or physically prevented from seeing him. The bright circle of light emitted from the glowrock ended about 20 feet and dimmed until it reached the limit of mana sight, where it was nearly impossible to make anything out. Focusing into the darkness, he was able to see what he thought was a wall.
Lack of immediate threat reminded Drew to cast his buffing spells, unsure of their status over the past few days and having completely forgotten to recast them before he left the exchange. It was a bad practice that Drew had no intention of allowing to become a habit.
Blade barrier and mana shield surrounded him briefly in their comforting yellow light before fading away. He realized that he couldn’t see his own aura and had no idea if mana sight would allow him to see buffs or not. Filing that thought away for later investigation Drew considered his options.
He was sure that the aura wasn’t human; the fact that the body emitted a violet light led him to believe that it was probably a wereghoul. They had been human and were transformed into another shape, plus the orcs had been built stockier and shorter.
Frowning to himself Drew considered his options, he had killed a lot of things since the Advent started, but they had either been trying to kill him or they were giant spiders, and giant spiders probably deserved to be killed anywhere they were found. He shivered involuntarily at the thought of the Spider Queen that had almost killed him. He didn’t like the idea of killing another human, or something that once was human.
From experience, he knew that the carts that he was looking for would be in the hallway just past the normal sized door. The problem was that he was pretty sure that was exactly where the wereghoul was. He wasn’t sure how he felt about killing something that had once been someone he might have known.
Rob and Juan were gone. He understood that logically, but how much of them was retained when they had changed? Rob hadn’t attacked them when he had come to recover Juan from his tomb. But was that because they were only coming to get Juan or because he was still Rob underneath all that and he remembered Drew? What about the one that had attacked him right before the fight with the spider queen?
A dozen other questions along the same vein popped into his mind, but he realized that he didn’t have a way to answer any of them. He looked around and didn’t see any other auras. This was the best chance he had of getting one alone and maybe getting some answers to his questions.
His shoulder twitched; the last time he had started a fight on his own it had been ripped apart. He pushed forward, careful to keep his steps as quiet as he could. He realized his hands were shaking and stopped about ten feet from the door.
Breathe in, hold, breathe out. Drew’s heart was beating wildly as he gripped the glowrock tighter, looking at the bright red flesh between his fingers. Breathe in, hold, breathe out. He could do this; Katie and Sarah were depending on him being able to do this. But his shoulder twanged again, and though the pain he had felt was fleeting, that was because Sarah had been there to heal him. That wasn’t currently an option.
He tapped the half-attached piece of chitin on his chest. He had armor now, more spells, and he could escape much easier if he needed. The shaking slowly stopped as he regained control of his body. Katie and Sarah were counting on him; he couldn’t fail now.
Stepping forward, he paused to listen at the door. He couldn’t hear anything through the heavy-duty metal, nor could he see anything through the glass pane. He braced himself and turned the handle, or at least he tried to turn it. It was locked and wouldn’t budge. “Right, that makes sense. No point in leaving the door unlocked when no one’s here.” He said to himself before casting acid dart.
He waited a moment for the spell to eat through the door and into the latch. The shaking returned, less severe than before, as he was forced into idleness.
Drew ran a hand through his hair. Then he tried the knob, and feeling no resistance, pulled the door towards him. Stepping carefully into the dark hallway beyond, he looked to the left, and not seeing anything with either normal vision or mana sight, turned right towards the figure and where he remembered the carts being.
His footsteps were slow, quiet, “Hello?” He called out when the aura appeared in his vision again. It stopped all movement except for its head, which turned to glance at him, it’s lips pulling back to reveal sharp teeth. Up close he could tell it was a wereghoul, the faint wisps of mana that infused its hair mingling with the rest of its aura had made it difficult to tell before.