Darsihm melted out of Harper’s back, a formless mass at first, then slowly becoming an ethereal crow again.
“You conscious?” said Roman. A beat passed. “You alive?”
Neither answered.
“Hmm. I suppose if you were dead, there wouldn’t be anything left of you.” He picked the reaper up with a soul-empowered hand and then hoisted Harper over his shoulder.
That only left Hector. And with all the rubble around, the kid could be just about anywhere.
‘Hey, is Hector even alive?’ he asked.
There was a pause, and then Voreese said, ‘Garovel can’t recreate him from scratch, so he must be there somewhere.’
‘Dammit, why’s that kid gotta be so resilient? I don’t wanna search through all this shit.’
‘What about Harper?’
‘Yeah. Already found him. Pretty sure he’s just unconscious. Darsihm, too.’ He flipped over a bisected tree trunk. ‘Aha, hey. Think I see Hector.’ He moved closer and pulled a pair of legs out of the ground. ‘Aw, shit. It’s just his legs. Hmm. Guess he’ll be wanting these pants, though.’
‘Y’know, you could try calling out to him.’
‘Good idea.’ Pants and belt draped over one arm, he started shouting. “Hector! Where are you, pal?! If your lungs still work, then say something!”
Rather than a voice, a sudden spire shot up on the other side of the rock formation. When Roman made his way over, he found Hector’s upper body in the midst of regeneration. Crumbled chunks of his helm remained around his head, and he had one-and-a-half of his arms, but his chest had yet to fully reform. Roman could see Hector blinking at him.
“Well, now,” said Roman. “This brings back memories. You managed to stay conscious this time, though.”
-+-+-+-+-
It took a while to reach the nearest rallying point. Karkash didn’t even know where it was. Because he didn’t need to. Hoyohté had all the fallback locations and contingency plans memorized. This one was a long-abandoned gas station, and it stood some fifty kilometers north of the Carthrace Nature Reserve.
Karkash was the first to arrive, of course. He took a seat on the roof, which groaned under his weight but held together.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
“Well, now,” said Roman. “This brings BACK memories...
ReplyDeleteFixed, thanks.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if it's an inconsistancy or just me misunderstanding but... in some earlier chapter Hector said he needed to be able to move his hands to create metal somewhere or wherever. But now he is beheaded and even the head isn't fully functional but he still raised a metal spire... how? He might have direct contact with the earth but the creation of the thing contradicts previously stated things...
ReplyDeleteSo was just wondering how he did that. Maybe I just didn't think it through too... :D
Mm, that's a good point. Decided to rework it so that more of Hector's body had already regenerated by the time Roman yells out to him. I think it makes a little more sense with the timeline as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the check, by the way.
Wait, Roman's carrying Harper and his reaper, yet somehow he managed to loot Hector's pants supiciously fast?
ReplyDeleteOr is there a brief 5 minute interlude where he puts them down and then does it?
Most likely.
ReplyDelete...um, how did Darsihm melt out of Harper's chest if he was face down in the mud? Every time I try to picture it, I see Darsihm going into the ground...
ReplyDelete'“You conscious?” said Roman. A beat passed. “You alive?”'
I think I found this funnier than it was meant to be lol. And Roman is right Hector is annoyingly durable, just ask Karkash heh heh
Speaking of Karkash, damn I wanted him dead.
Oh wow, um, your welcome! Thanks for considering it! Love the communication you keep with your readers.
ReplyDelete's a good point. Changed "chest" to "back." Thanks for the check.
ReplyDelete