Chapter 10- Shock

 

Nazarius couldn’t move.

 

Or, rather, his body wouldn’t let him.

 

Rocks the size of clock towers didn’t just pop up out of nowhere; Nazarius knew that even without any sort of education. Then, how in the name of Hades did one just appear behind him?

 

Nazarius’s breath grew shaky, his neck finally allowing him to look upwards. However, all the way up, all Nazarius could see was more of the pillar, no clue to be found. ‘Well, maybe this just happens here,’ Nazarius thought, causing his guard to drop slightly. ‘Speaking of, where is here?’

 

Never in his entire life had Nazarius ever even heard of such an intimidating place. A dark, daunting hole made out of some crimson material. ‘That hardly matters right now,’ Nazarius thought, ‘I need to find a way out of here before that lunatic kills aunt Gyn.’

 

Fishing through his shredded pockets, Nazarius was able to feel the cool glass of a single vial of medicine. ‘Oh no, Fíle! I’ve got to get out of here fast!’

 

Urgency once again claiming his body, Nazarius flicked his head across the ceiling of the hellhole he found himself in, noticing only a singular speck of light far above his head. ‘There’s the exit,’ Nazarius happily thought. ‘But, how am I going to get there?’

 

Even as he thought those words, Nazarius already knew the only answer. ‘Well, this rock seems to go all the way up. Will I be able to climb it?’ The large pillar seemed quite coarse and had plenty of areas that Nazarius could grab on to, however that only went for what Nazarius could see. ‘Well, it’ll probably continue up, right? Plus, if it doesn’t, I can just climb down.’

 

Finding sense in his own logic, Nazarius hesitantly took off his top before dipping it in the ominous river and putting it back on. The pain was horrific, though not as excruciating as it was before. ‘At least now I can see better,’ Nazarius thought as he rubbed his hand across the first stone gray and surprisingly warm handle that led to the top of the pillar. ‘Focus on climbing, not on the pain.’

 

Finding the handholds to be sufficiently stable, Nazarius sprung up a few more, eventually managing to climb a whole two meters from the ground before the light from the river dimmed to the point where he had to rely on his soaking tunic. ‘It hardly looks any closer,’ Nazarius griped even though he had already placed his hand on the next protruding stone.

 

…

 

Fíle didn’t know how long he slept for: all he knew was that the sun had somehow fallen more eastward than it was the last time he was awake. ‘Did I sleep almost a whole day,’ he asked himself, a little baffled. After taking a moment to engage in the most satisfying stretch of his entire life, Fíle hopped out of bed and wandered into the kitchen where he found aunt Gyn buttering some bread. Hearing his footsteps, she looked over at him, causing her to look as if she deaged ten years. “You’re awake,” aunt Gyn said, her smile beaming brightly at Fíle. “Uh, yeah,” Fíle said, “so, what exactly happened? Please tell me that I didn’t almost die.”

 

Aunt Gyn’s eyes fell to the ground. “According to the doctor, you had something called salmonella. And…” aunt Gyn slowly walked over to Fíle before hugging him. “It can be gotten from bad eggs. Fíle, I’m so sorry. Because of me, you almost…” Aunt Gyn trailed off as Fíle felt droplets of water fall onto his back. “It wasn’t your fault, aunt Gyn. If anyone, blame the chicken,” Fíle joked, attempting to lighten the atmosphere.

 

“Anyway,” Fíle asked in hopes of changing the subject, “where’s Naz? Is he still in his room?” Fíle felt aunt Gyn tense up at his words. “I’m… I’m pretty sure he went to find a cure yesterday. But he hasn’t come back yet. I think that Ándras found him and will bring him back today. I’m sure he’s fine,” aunt Gyn stated, a non-negligible amount of guilt hovering on her back. Fíle’s eyebrows arched. “Ándras is here?”

 

Aunt Gyn gently pulled away from Fíle. “Yeah, apparently he came here for work, but he visited here while you were… sleeping,” aunt Gyn explained. “Huh. Oh wait,” Fíle uttered, aunt Gyn’s puffy eyes reminding him of the previous day, “did the guy who was here before come back?”

 

“No, I haven’t seen him since he left yesterday. What did he tell you,” aunt Gyn asked out of curiosity. Gunk appeared in Fíle’s throat. He knew that, if he told her about Pierre’s offer, she would without a doubt want him to go. “It was nothing. He was just asking how I was feeling and stuff,” Fíle stated.

 

Suddenly, a firm knock echoed throughout the house. “Coming,” aunt Gyn stated as she shuffled to the door and pried it open. “Oh, hello again sir. Would you like to come in,” aunt Gyn asked Pierre, who seemed significantly more serious than before. “Yes, please,” he blurted before quickly entering the house. “Do you mind if I talk to your son again?”

 

“Oh, not at all. Should I go somewhere else, or should I stay here,” aunt Gyn courteously asked. “You can stay here. Ok boy, c’mere for a sec,” Pierre said while nearly dragging Fíle into his room. After entering, Pierre, who seemed a lot more somber than before, opened one of his water skins before pouring it out on the floor and freezing it around the doorway. “I doubt she’d eavesdrop, but I can’t risk it right now,” Pierre nearly whispered. Moving towards the bed, he took a big sniff before beckoning Fíle to come closer.

 

“So… kid… who else lived here besides you,” Pierre questioned in a hush tone. “Aside from Ándras, it’s just me, aunt Gyn, and Nazarius; my other brother. Why?”

 

Hearing this, Pierre pursed his lips. “I… I don’t really know how to tell you this, but… Nazarius, your brother… he’s dead.” Crickets chirped in Fíle’s skull, not a single thought occupying any space in that brain of his. “What?” Pierre stayed silent, trying to give Fíle time to process the information. “What do you mean he’s dead,” Fíle pressed, shock giving way to anger, sadness, and confusion.

 

“…Let me explain. Every single person has a distinct and recognizable smell. This smell may be difficult for others to notice, but I’ve got a good nose thanks to my blessing. Pretty much, I can smell anything with moisture in it no matter how thin the smell is. Your brother’s… Nazarius’s scent… I could smell it inside of a trypa.”

 

Fíle’s brain tried desperately to process the information it was taking in. “A trypa? Like the hole?” Pierre sighed. “Yep. That kind of trypa.” Fíle stared straight through Pierre, his expression unmoving. “Nazarius… fell inside a trypa,” Fíle repeated. Pierre paused, wondering how much he should tell the boy. “…yes.” In the end, Pierre decided to spare Fíle the gory details about how his brother’s death could have been less than an unfortunate coincidence: a decision he hoped he wouldn’t live to regret.

 

“You’re lying.” Fíle stood up abruptly and glared at Pierre. “You’re lying!” Pierre looked at the ground remorsefully, not daring to refute the adolescent. Pierre’s silence did nothing but affirm the statements that Fíle desperately wanted to deny. Fíle took a step backwards. Then, another. After two more steps back, Fíle ran into a wall.

 

The brick wall felt constricting, as if it was trying to trap him with this information. Fíle couldn’t stand it. He needed to escape. Triggering his blessing, File’s hair dyed gold, his eyes green. Fíle doubted this would help, but, at this point, anything was better than nothing. His eyes flicked around his room, digging for a way out. Figuring that he’d be able to make it out the door, Fíle jammed his shoulder into the icy wall, only to be met with an impossible amount of resistance. A sharp pain flooded his shoulder.

 

“Wait, kid stop,” Pierre protested, desperately trying to calm Fíle down. As Pierre’s arms neared Fíle’s shoulders, the urge to escape reached its peak. ‘I need to get out,’ Fíle inwardly screamed, his entire body glowing as bright as the sun. The sudden flash bang caused Pierre to back away, his mouth agape. The next second, Fíle had completely disappeared.

…

 

“Hey, drunk guy.”

 

“…”

 

“Skyla, he’s not saying anything.”

 

“Give him a minute! He chugged more than a dozen cups before I came up to him. Honestly, I’d be more surprised if he was awake already.”

 

“Fine, but if he doesn’t wake up soon, I’m gonna mush him, okay?”

 

Ándras’s head buzzed as it tried to make itself work. He could hear people talking, though their words were really fuzzy. Confused, he cracked his eye open, the bright light causing his head to scream. “Gah! Where am I,” he moaned.

 

“Dammit, he woke up! I was really looking forward to using that nice hair,” an eerie, childish voice griped. “You are such a freak,” a familiarly feminine voice retorted. Now more alarmed, Ándras forced himself on his feet and into a combat stance. “Who are you,” he growled.

 

In front of him sat two people: a boy with perfect olive skin, short, white hair, and solid black eyes, and a familiar woman with azure blue eyes and long, blonde hair: Skyla. Both sets of eyes settled on Ándras, a chilling calm sitting in both of their eyes. “I’m Skyla, silly. Don’t you remember,” Skyla said, a warm smile instantly replacing her indifference. Hearing this, Ándras did his best to remember, but to no avail.

 

“Skyla, if you did your job properly, how would he remember you,” the black eyed boy snickered. Instantly, the smile melted off of Skyla’s face. “Yeah, you’re right,” she sighed. “Where am I,” Ándras questioned while doing his best to look intimidating. Around him seemed to be a large, brown, cylindrical wall that opened up at the top, revealing the daylight. A well, almost: just without any water. “Yeah, we can’t really tell you that,” the boy sarcastically stated, “but if you pinky promise to tell us everything we ask, I’ll kill you painlessly.”

 

Ándras was speechless. “Agóri, I already told you he could be a useful asset, so why are you threatening him,” Skyla scowled. “I was bluffing, dammit. Now that he knows he’s valuable, interrogating him will be harder,” Agóri sighed angrily. “What is happening,” Ándras muttered, the situation feeling like a dream.

 

Skyla looked back at him. “Remember, last night you were all like ‘I wanna be stronger to avenge my brother,’ and I said, ‘okay, follow me,’ and I dropped you in here?” Ándras looked at her as if she were crazy. However, as soon as she finished her story, the memories of last night flooded back into his head, causing tremors of pain to spread throughout his body. “You! You’re one of Aphrodite’s, aren’t you,” Ándras growled, refusing to believe that he would spill so many secrets in any other situation.

 

The little boy, Agóri, snickered. “And now that he figured that out, you can’t charm him anymore. Man Skyla, you suck at this.” Skyla rolled her eyes. “All this does is prove that I was right, and that he was smart enough to be worth recruiting. Now then, where’s the boss?”

 

“I told him that you wanted to see him here like twenty minutes ago. He said he wasn’t busy, so he should be here any minute,” Agóri replied. “Did somebody call for me?” Not even a beat after Agóri responded, a plain, male voice echoed from the top of the cave. “Yes sir, I did,” Skyla respectfully stated. “I found a potentially powerful person who expressed interest in joining our ranks.” Ándras looked up, only to see a ghostly pale man paired with a set of average looking hair and eyes. In fact, aside from his bleached skin, the man looked completely average.

 

“You are the leader of the rebellion,” Ándras questioned as he desperately tried to steel his nerves. “Technically, though, I mostly see myself as more of a figurehead. Everyone else does all the heavy lifting,” the man said, adding a self deprecating laugh. “The name’s Droserós. And you are?”

 

Ándras pursed his lips. How much should he tell this man? Is he trustworthy? “Ah, sorry. Didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that. Anyway, all of you, come out of that hole. Let’s give our new friend a tour of the place.”