Chương 25: Chapter 24: Critters

The city did not lie directly behind the manor's walls. Instead, a dense, untamed canopy of ancient trees stretched forward into the darkness, completely swallowing the landscape. Only a few scattered beams of silver moonlight managed to pierce through the thick roof of leaves, leaving the forest floor in near-total obscurity. Elma stopped. She expanded her field exactly ten meters ahead, making three evenly spaced, sustained Fission.

They flared to life, casting a green light that cut through the gloom and made their path clearer.

"Where is it?" Elma asked, her hood shadowing her face.

"Just ahead," Jorm said cheerfully, adjusting the massive canvas sack on her shoulder.

"Everything here looks remarkably similar. Becoming lost seems inevitable." Jorm crossed her arms over her chest, flashing Elma a cocky, self-assured look.

"Trust me, Elma. I know exactly where I'm going." Elma let out a quiet sigh and followed her. The terrain was brutally rough. Elma's short legs were unsuited for navigating a floor thick with exposed roots and loose shale. Her stamina was depleting at a rate she found highly unacceptable. Still, she calculated the theoretical distance; the city couldn't be that much further. She could force her body to make it.

"Why is the Altheris manor situated this far from the city?"

"Oh, it's not actually outside the city," Jorm explained, stepping easily over a massive fallen log.

"The estate sits right on the northern skirt of the city lines. The paved road from the main gates is completely clear and direct. But since we are sneaking out, we can't really go there." Elma didn't reply. She was too busy trying not to face-plant into the dirt. She kept stumbling through the thick vines, her small lungs heaving as she forced herself to keep up. Meanwhile, Jorm—who was currently carrying a canvas bag that weighed more than her—didn't seem bothered in the slightest.

She was walking as if she were on a casual stroll through the estate gardens. Every ten minutes, Elma would pull her hood back slightly and ask, "Are we close?" And every single time, Jorm would offer the exact same vague response: "We're super close!" By the third repetition, Elma's patience broke. To pass the time and extract actual, quantifiable data, she found herself attempting to teach the maid the fundamental concepts of percentages.

"If you cannot provide a localized landmark, you must calculate the remaining distance based on our velocity," Elma lectured, her voice tight as she panted.

"If total journey equals one hundred percent, and we have traveled for thirty minutes, what percentage of the trajectory is left?" Jorm just blinked at her blankly.

"Uh... a lot of it?" Eventually, Elma's lower limbs completely gave out. She slumped down against the rough bark of a wide tree, dropping her head back as she forced air into her burning lungs.

"I need to rest and regulate my breathing for a moment."

"But we are so close!" Jorm urged, turning around.

"Come on, Elma, we don't have all night."

"Just a moment," Elma insisted. Before she could finish her sentence, Jorm stepped forward, bent down, and effortlessly hoisted Elma up onto her hip, wrapping a remarkably strong, solid arm around the toddler's waist." You dare!" Elma shouted, her eyes snapping wide.

"It's totally fine, I can carry you," Jorm said easily, shifting the massive sack to her other side.

"We're on a tight schedule." Elma opened her mouth to order her down, but her logic quickly overrode her emotional indignation. With a dark scowl, Elma gave up. She allowed her student to hoist her like a common sack of grain, her small feet dangling uselessly in the air as the dark forest ground began to move rapidly beneath her. Suddenly, a faint, distinct rustle in the dense woods to their right caught Elma's attention.

She instantly snapped one of her floating green torches, launching it like a flare directly into the deep shadows where the sound had originated. The green light washed over the thick brambles and dark trunks. There was nothing there.

"What is it?" Jorm asked, slowing her pace slightly.

"I heard something."

"Oh," Jorm said, her eyes shifting toward the dark woods for a fraction of a second before she resumed her quick march.

"We... well, it must be a critter. There are tons of them out here at night." Elma couldn't shake the persistent sensation that they were being watched. The prickle on the back of her neck remained active, and a strange, uncharacteristic silence settled over Jorm as they pressed deeper into the woods. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Finally, Jorm came to a sudden halt.

They stood before a massive, looming dark structure that swallowed the treeline. Elma directed one of her floating green torches toward the facade. The light washed over a skeletal remains of a building—charred timber beams, collapsed stone masonry, and fractured walls reclaimed by wild vines. At the very top of the ruined entrance, a golden, sun-shaped sigil caught the light. Elma's gaze locked onto it. It was the exact same geometric design as the pendant she carried.

Jorm exhaled heavily and carefully lowered Elma back to the ground.

"I need to rest my arms for a bit," the maid muttered, leaning against a low, trimmed stone wall and rotating her shoulder in a slow, circular motion. Elma adjusted her heavy hood, her voice sharp.

"So we only stop once you're the one on the verge of collapse?" Jorm glanced down at her, a flash of unintended sass cutting through her exhaustion.

"Well, if you want to carry me the rest of the way, my lady, we can keep going right now." Elma pouted, crossing her arms tightly under her cloak as she sat down on the edge of the trimmed wall. Jorm dropped her massive canvas sack beside her. She reached into the folds of her apron and pulled out a small parcel meticulously wrapped in heavy cloth. The scent immediately hit Elma's senses—fresh, sweet fruits and salted meat. Instead of eating it, Jorm walked entirely across the narrow dirt street.

Elma shifted a green torch to light her path. Jorm knelt by a large, flat rock on the opposite side of the road, carefully placed the food wrapper on top of it, and then walked straight back to sit beside Elma.

"What was the purpose of that?" Elma asked, tilting her head.

"Oh, that?" Jorm sighed, leaning back against the stone.

"I'm just leaving some food out for the critters." Elma stared at the parcel across the road, before turning her gaze back to the ruined monument.

"What was this building before it was incinerated?" Jorm looked up at the charred beams.

"I don't actually know. My mother never wanted to speak about it. Every time I asked, she just told me to look away."

"Strange."

"Yeah." The canopy above them was remarkably thin here, leaving a wide, unobstructed view of the night sky. Elma leaned her head back, staring up into the infinite black void. As she watched, a single, distant star flickered violently and went entirely dark.

"Did you know Leta was dead?" Jorm didn't flinch. Instead, a soft smile touched her lips.

"Ah. So that is why you were so upset earlier." Elma didn't answer. She kept her eyes fixed on the empty space where the star had just vanished.

"I know," Jorm said softly, her voice dropping to a comforting cadence.

"My mother once told me after…" The maid paused for a moment, her gaze tracking the silver moonlight across the dirt.

"My mother always told me that people never truly die, not if they are loved." Jorm's face went vacant for a bit, before she managed a smile.

"Leta taught me—and honestly, most of the younger maids in the estate—everything we know about cleaning and cooking. Her kindness is the exact reason most of us manage to survive working here." Elma took off her hood to let her hair breathe for a while.

"And her short temper?" Jorm laughed lightly.

"That's what keeps us focused on our duties even now. It's like she never left." Jorm turned her head to look directly at Elma's green eyes.

"A grave may contain a body, my mother told me. But a grave has never been large enough to contain a life." High above the ruined golden sun, a new star suddenly flared to life, burning brightly in a completely different sector of the dark expanse. Elma continued staring at the star. The persistent static that had occupied the back of her thoughts was absent. She attempted to locate it and found nothing. Interesting.

The sudden, harsh sound of heavy canvas being dragged against the dirt broke the stillness of the night. Elma snapped her head to the left. Just a few feet away, an incredibly slender, practically skeletal man had his hands gripped tightly on the straps of Jorm's massive bag and was actively trying to drag it away into the brush. Jorm scrambled to her feet immediately.

"Not that!" she shouted, lunging forward to grab the heavy fabric.

"It's over there!" She pointed a frantic finger toward the flat rock across the street. Elma looked at the rock. The carefully wrapped parcel of food was already gone. The man yanked on the bag, his eyes wild and sunken.

"You brought a big bag today," he croaked, his throat so dry his voice sounded like grinding stones.

"Give us more, please." Suddenly, the rustling in the dark woods multiplied. Several other figures erupted from the cover of the trees, their gaunt faces illuminated by the eerie green light of Elma's floating torches. They stumbled toward the bag, their voices overlapping in desperate, hollow murmurs. They were all Unawakened. That was exactly why Elma's Field hadn't registered them until they were right on top of her. As the slender man took another aggressive step toward Jorm, Elma acted.

She violently flared her Field forward, directly targeting the water residing inside the man's biological frame. With an upward flick of her hand, she seized the fluids in his body and hoisted him off the ground. He was pinned mid-air, his limbs locking rigidly as he let out a garbled, terrified yell.

"Resonant!" one of the approaching figures shrieked. Panic instantly shattered the crowd. The starving group scrambled backward, tripping over roots and vanishing back into the deep woods as fast as their frail bodies could carry them.

"Leave him!" Jorm yelled. Elma held the man suspended in the air. Her eyes widened slightly, her focus shifting entirely inward. Through the active tether of her Field, she could physically feel everything happening inside his body. She could feel the erratic, frantic pumping of his heart, the slow, methodical filtering of his kidneys, and the desperate expansion of the moisture in his lungs. He was entirely at her mercy. Is this how an Unawakened feels to a Resonant? Is this exactly how I felt to Fenric?

Jorm stepped forward, shoving Elma's shoulder hard enough to make her stumble half a step. The man crashed hard into the dirt. Without a second of hesitation, he scrambled onto his hands and knees, retreating frantically into the dark woods until the sounds of his retreat completely faded. Elma recovered her balance, her brow furrowing in sharp irritation.

"Why did you let him run?"

"You were hurting him!" Jorm snapped, her chest heaving.

"He was stealing from you."

"He was just hungry," Jorm argued, her voice cracking. A sudden, deep heaviness entered her breathing, the bubbly maid instantly replaced by someone carrying a profound, suffocating weight. Elma stared up at the maid for a moment, then looked away.

"We need to keep going." Jorm looked down at the dirt, taking a long, shaky breath before hoisting the massive canvas bag back over her shoulder. They resumed their trek in total silence. They did not have to walk much further. Just past the next dense cluster of ancient trees, the thick canopy finally broke apart entirely, and the sprawling, glittering lights of the lower city finally became visible.