Creative Truths

Creative Truths

Rain’s skin had already started to turn gray around the parts Hornet was touching in the short time it took for the madman to race to the Dead Ring. She spent that time watching for any hints or signs of how Hornet's skills worked but found nothing. The mist was a constant cover for the ground, and they never passed another soul despite traveling streets Rain knew would be crowded at this time of day. Rain couldn’t find any clues about whether he had a skill that let him see the real world or if he simply phased in and out of the real world so he could choose his targets. Either way, if he ever learned her identity, no security would stop him from killing her.

“We’re in the ring now. Where? Where? Tell me! Where is the next truth!”

“I need you to put me down so I can see.”

That was a lie. Rain needed him to put her down before his touch killed her. Not that she could tell him that with him believing she was already dead.

Hornet set her down, his left arm bending unnaturally to do so. But how? he didn’t have any physical corruption. Rain shook her head. It didn’t matter right now.

Rain looked around. Most of the buildings were buried in the ash that regularly fell from the peek, with the parts closer to the Low Ring being under the surface by a few feet. There was trash and refuse mixed in with the ash there. Rain realized that the ash was higher because people would dump their waste right off the side of the Low Ring onto the abandoned Dead Ring below. It gave Rain an Idea of how to waste some time.

“Good, we’re close. Follow me.”

Rain headed towards the base of the Low Ring at a slower pace than strictly necessary. She couldn’t go too slowly, or Hornet might pick her up again, and if the pain from the parts where she had already been exposed to him was anything to judge by, she couldn’t take much more of that.

Fortunately, Hornet didn’t complain about the speed. His eyes were glowing, and he seemed intent on absorbing every moment of this experience.Fôllôw new stories at novelhall.com

“Okay, we’re here.” Rain said as she arrived at one of the larger piles of ash. “In order to gain the next book about what lies beyond death, you must simulate dying yourself.”

Hornet's eyes were locked on her, drinking every word of her blatant nonsense.

“Hornet, it's important for me to warn you; if you don't put all your focus on digging downward and look out of that hole, you will be seen as unworthy of understanding the truth behind death. So you must never look back.”

Rain watched to see if he would risk looking out of his hole, but he kept to his single-minded digging without breaking for a moment. Rain could see his hands were bloody from the fervor of his digging.

Looking at the time of the curse, Rain watched as it hit zero and the curse of tracking lifted from her. Now, the only way for her to be found was those stones. That meant it was safer now for her to get as far away from Hornet as possible.

Standing Rain tested her ankle. It throbbed when she put pressure on it, but it wasn’t so bad that she couldn’t walk. Taking one last look at the death-crazed madman digging his own metaphorical grave, Rain limped back towards the path to the Low Ring.

She had no way to tell how Hornet would react when he realized he had been tricked, but she would have to stop him if he continued his killing spree after this. She had caused his madness and given him that power. Every innocent death he caused was more blood on her already stained hands.

But before she could do anything about him, she needed a plan. For now, she just needed to escape. Rain chose to go back to the Low Ring because she would rather face the problem she knew she had a chance of overcoming than risk the outside world she’d never experienced. Hopefully, she was making the right choice.

With every ash-muffled step Rain took away from Hornet, the mist on the ground grew thinner. Rain could almost cry at the observation. That meant that if she got far enough from Hornet she would escape his domain. She might actually live to see the morning of this long night.

Rain could feel when she finally broke free of the domain as a sensation similar to her warping but far fainter enveloped her, and she found herself once again among the downtrodden crowd of the Low Ring. One of the first things Rain noted was the pair of Tineak soldiers walking away down the street.

The one in the front held something in his hand that Rain couldn’t see from here, but she could easily guess. Both soldiers were well armed, as was to be expected of the personal soldiers of the Arch Lord. Rain had robbed him of his slaves and a shipment of ore so valuable that possessing it had placed the Tineak family at the top since the first Gathering of Lords. Lord Tineak had sent out his best to punish that wrong.

The streets weren’t safe, and Rain had no way to hide in a building without the occupants reporting her. So Rain decided to go with a plan she had thought of as she watched Hornet work. She would also allow herself to be buried so deep the soldiers wouldn’t be able to sense her with their stones.

Gathering her resolve, Rain turned down a street that every instinct she had built over the months of her freedom told her to stay away from. It didn’t take long before a cracked voice spoke from behind her.

“Well, it looks like we found another stray. Little girl, you look hurt; why don’t you come with us?”