AlekAundra
Thanks for waiting. It's been an eventful past couple of days.
"Is there no other way—?" I stammered, glancing between Micah and Claude's headless body in the brightly lit hallway.
The cat was obviously Chase Daylan, and the favor was to die early.
Is Micah suggesting there's no way out of this but death?
He had told me to be ready at a moment's notice, but this was too soon. It had been but a handful of days.
"Luca, Leo is dead," Micah declared, his expression shifting to one of grave seriousness.
"No." I blinked my eyes. "How….?" I asked.
"He was within range when Claude activated this runic sphere," Micah explained. "He killed Leo and took me hostage. I can't leave it, nor can anyone enter."
Damn it.
I stepped back as Claude dragged his feet across the smooth stone floor, and the red runic sphere advanced slowly, casting an eerie glow.
I rubbed my temples while Leona chirped in despair.
It was the first death this round that affected me. There was my sister's guard that had died, but I didn't know them. Leo was different. He was a close ally. He had helped me with the Wobbly Pebble, as well as helping my sister with her inventions, helping bring her fireworks to a successful realization before the Summer Festival. And he was Elda's friend—one of her only true friends, her own age.
There was also the practical matter of Leo's value. He was intelligent and resourceful, and if his talent was nurtured, who knows what else he could have come up with alongside my sister? He could have been a great asset in the war against the Kobar Empire. Then, besides his value, there was the issue regarding his mother. Sarka Jarbez had been assured that her son would be safe within our protection.
But that promise is now broken. Will she continue to help us in the future? Will she be capable of it? Or will she fall into a pit of despair?
"Luca, look and remember this man," Micah commanded, bringing back to the present.
I understood his intention and obeyed.
My eyes swept over Claude's pasty white skin and his contrastingly black runic tattoos. I couldn't make out all of them, with some partially obscured by the placement of his head and the curvature of his limbs.
Chase had indicated that these runic tattoos were Claude's method of transferring information from one round to the next and that they might even have information dating back to the very first round. My brother seemed to have attempted to decipher them but failed before he could.
My memory, being faulty as it were, wouldn't recall the intricate foreign texts and images on its own. But I had a System that could memorize and relay any information.
AlekAundra
Thanks for waiting. It's been an eventful past couple of days.
"Is there no other way—?" I stammered, glancing between Micah and Claude's headless body in the brightly lit hallway.
The cat was obviously Chase Daylan, and the favor was to die early.
Is Micah suggesting there's no way out of this but death?
He had told me to be ready at a moment's notice, but this was too soon. It had been but a handful of days.
"Luca, Leo is dead," Micah declared, his expression shifting to one of grave seriousness.
"No." I blinked my eyes. "How….?" I asked.
"He was within range when Claude activated this runic sphere," Micah explained. "He killed Leo and took me hostage. I can't leave it, nor can anyone enter."
Damn it.
I stepped back as Claude dragged his feet across the smooth stone floor, and the red runic sphere advanced slowly, casting an eerie glow.
I rubbed my temples while Leona chirped in despair.
It was the first death this round that affected me. There was my sister's guard that had died, but I didn't know them. Leo was different. He was a close ally. He had helped me with the Wobbly Pebble, as well as helping my sister with her inventions, helping bring her fireworks to a successful realization before the Summer Festival. And he was Elda's friend—one of her only true friends, her own age.
There was also the practical matter of Leo's value. He was intelligent and resourceful, and if his talent was nurtured, who knows what else he could have come up with alongside my sister? He could have been a great asset in the war against the Kobar Empire. Then, besides his value, there was the issue regarding his mother. Sarka Jarbez had been assured that her son would be safe within our protection.
But that promise is now broken. Will she continue to help us in the future? Will she be capable of it? Or will she fall into a pit of despair?
"Luca, look and remember this man," Micah commanded, bringing back to the present.
I understood his intention and obeyed.
My eyes swept over Claude's pasty white skin and his contrastingly black runic tattoos. I couldn't make out all of them, with some partially obscured by the placement of his head and the curvature of his limbs.
Chase had indicated that these runic tattoos were Claude's method of transferring information from one round to the next and that they might even have information dating back to the very first round. My brother seemed to have attempted to decipher them but failed before he could.
My memory, being faulty as it were, wouldn't recall the intricate foreign texts and images on its own. But I had a System that could memorize and relay any information.
