5.18

“I made a mistake, a horrible mistake.” - ****** **

Utoqa woke, his body and mind sluggish, the chill and rainy day did no favours for the cold-blooded creature. Yet his eyes still opened. ****, the tiny myconid creature Dustin left to watch him, startled at his waking.

The lizardfolk slowly rose. He wasn’t sure if **** sensed what he sensed, but it was clearly worried by his actions. Utoqa reached for Gift, the weapon never far. The years of surviving by himself, constantly moving through the treacherous jungle, a sense honed through life and death.

Dustin was mistaken when he thought that Perception had anything to do with bodily senses.

One encompassed smell, taste, hearing, feeling, all the physical sensory aspects, whilst the other was more akin to a sixth-sense. A supernatural ability to feel the reverberations of Souls even if one was blind or deaf.

Utoqa had managed to meld the two into a unified front, greater than either, yet they were still fundamentally two different things. The sluggishness of his body, a natural consequence of the cold, allowed the discrepancy to be great enough that he realised it.

His Perception was still active at full force, giving him a vague feeling of uneasiness, whilst his natural senses detected nothing.

Utoqa’s hand tightened around Gift, as he realised that he has either significantly weakened or his senses were being dampened.

The lizardfolk stared at the window and he saw his form reflected on its surface.

Yet behind his reflection was the reflection of a child. Clothing tattered, black hair dirtied and ruffled, staring at him with eyes red from weeping.

He raised Gift as he turned around, the silence of the room so loud it was deafening. Yet, he saw nothing physically behind him.

The corpse of Dustin’s wisp fell to the ground, its light snuffed out. Its name gone from all that knew it.

Utoqa slashed thin air, his eyes glued to the window, yet Gift passed harmlessly through the boy’s reflection, bringing it around, he smashed the window, the shards falling and bouncing harmlessly off his scales.

But even in the shattered shards of glass, the reflection of the boy was still there.

The boy in the mirror came ever nearer.

It was true.

The Watching Eye’s I left, scattered all around. They had been blinded, the symbol dashed till they no longer saw, a trail leading up to the window where our room is.

“Who is this Utoqa,” I whispered to myself.

“A friend who you thought would be immensely useful,” Declan whispered back.

Whether it was the friend or the usefulness part that drove me to action, was a question that I was unable to answer. Hopefully, it was a combination of both, but the fact I couldn’t definitely say that if Declan didn’t say the last part, I would still move, was a fact that I would think about for a long-

“-So you’re saying that someone is dead?” Tai asked.

The myconid nodded, the group he assembled sitting around the table. “Problem is, it seems none of us remembers his existence.”

“How’d you manage it?” ****** asked.

“I have an ability that keeps a copy of my memories stored elsewhere,” Dustin simply replied. Noam nodded in affirmation before he leaned forward.

“Something strange I noticed, but Tai you only use one sword to fight yeah?” the tiefling asked.

Tai glanced at him in confusion, “Yeah but why is this relevant?”

“If you only use one sword, then why do you carry three?”

Slowly, Tai took out her swords, the Sword of Proving, the reason for her quest, the sword she used to fight and-

-Dustin thought and thought. Then realised a discrepancy.

They came here via a train, when the train was attacked, he sent Noam and someone else in opposite directions. If this ‘Utoqa’ was sent to the front to directly grab the guardsmen, who was sent to get the civilian passengers towards the front? Did he send anyone? Were there passengers towards the front?

Did they really repel the goblins with only five mercenaries and a handful of guards?

According to ******, they-

-Noam looked around, in broad daylight when the town was not obscured by night or rain, he realised something.

“Why is this place so empty?” he asked. The town had thirty or so buildings, it was by no means small. Yet as they walked around they saw few people. Walking around dazed as if just waking.

Not only that, the town was able to support an inn large enough to house a few dozen travellers that randomly appeared. An inn of that size wouldn’t develop if this was the middle of-

-The young inn owner tripped as she desperately tried to fulfil all the orders. It was strange, yesterday she was able to do all this work easily as if she were three people. But today she couldn’t keep up, she’s served far more people than this! How was she able to keep the inn running until-

-Noam’s steps fastened as they slammed open door after door, half the houses were empty, yet all seemed like someone had lived there previously.

He thought back to the train, how when he checked the carriages so many of them were empty. Fucking hell, there was a kid who was travelling alone, the one he left with a young couple to hide under Dusts protection. Was that kid really travelling alone or did-

-The symbol of Tilt, the goddess of children was a silver bell. She had a small orphanage in this town, yet when we scoured it, it was completely empty. The silver bell at the top of the building tarnished, a detail I had noticed before but had put at the back of my mind. Food and drink were left scattered and rotted on the table. Dust had settled on it, it couldn’t be more than a few days old.

From the corner of Noam’s eye, he sighted a mirror and a reflection that belonged to no one flit out.

“Follow me!” the tiefling yelled, not bothering for an answer as he vaulted over empty tables, the reflection of a child moving through the-

-Tai kicked opened the door to the mage tower, the boy travelled through reflections somehow, and they tracked him through empty windows until it led them here.

Tai entered first, not as tough as Dustin but twice better close range. They slowly streamed in behind her, weapons long-drawn and prepared, inside it was quiet. So quiet that the silence felt deafening. And they saw-

“Fear the deafening silence.”

-Dustin was thrown to the side, body slamming into a bookshelf which promptly fell over him. They didn’t see it coming, no, they couldn’t have. Yet when the silence was deafening they could-

-Dustin was knocked out, there was no other choice. No other option he could think of. ****** knelt before the ******** **** **** * *** and-

-The myconid pulled out the **** that impaled him to the wall. His other hand held a staff, a weapon held with unfamiliar hands, yet the power there was something he was used to.

“I can see you now,” ****** said through gritted teeth. “I can ******* you.” The ***** turned and-

“-I made a mistake, a horrible mistake,” ****** muttered as his blood hardened on the ground around him. He dealt a wound but he alone couldn’t beat it. No, even with **** people they couldn’t beat it. They needed to run, as far as possible. At the very least make sure Noam made it out. If it could harm ****** then there was no telling what it could do to Matt’s real self.

Gritting a mouth that wasn’t his, ****** spoke, “Analyse, I know you’re still active. Mindless thing you are but make sure this is-”

Dustin woke in the middle of the street. Drenched in his own hardened blood, the first thing he noticed was an Analyse page opened.

1. You cannot ***** **.

Fuck.

1. It removes *********** ***** **.

Dammit.

1. If suddenly the silence becomes quiet enough that it feels deafening. Spray all around you. It won’t kill certain ‘things’, but it will deter them.

Remember these questions.

2.Why does Tai carry three swords when she only uses two?

3.Why was the train so empty? Did we really beat back the goblins with only *five?* people and a handful of guards?

4.Why is the town so empty?

And make sure to remember 5

6. Find the boy in the mirror.

7. ***** might still be alive if you act fast enough. He’s durable, he might Survive, but I’m not sure about ****** and ******, it got so many of us. **** is definitely gone. I’m not sure if I even remember all the people it got.

8. Get Noam out if he is still alive. I don’t know if it can harm Matt, but don’t risk it.

Dustin blinked as he saw the page. Floating lazily within his mind. The moon had risen and of the past few hours, he only remembered a single phrase.

“Fear the deafening silence.”

He brought himself up, warily looking all around him. On his arm, he noticed a myriad of eye symbols littered on his arm. The cantrip spell he made… but it was strange. He couldn’t see out of them at all. In fact, he didn’t make them with the intention to see out of them, it was strange.

“Why would I make such a useless spell?” he asked himself. He stood there, waiting for something before he startled as he looked at his arm.

“That was weird,” he muttered.

“Why did I expect someone to answer that question?”