Shadowbane

"Oh right, I wanted to ask you something. Who killed the four or five casters that were standing around the God when he first appeared? We killed the ones in the back, but I lost sight of the others after Markus breached the God's barrier."

"Uh, I think that was..." Ishar looked up into the sky and went silent.

Shana sat down next to me and chuckled, "The God killed them. When he summoned that abomination it smashed all of them with its tentacles."

Now that's just sad... Poor bastards.

Shana continued, "And sorry if I seemed absent. My clones were playing decoy for some other monsters who tried to approach us. One of them I swear was a living sand monument on four legs. The creepy thing was fast as hell despite being as big as that abomination. That clone nearly died dozens of times before the monument finally crushed her. We're lucky it didn't come back for us."

"Shit, that wasn't the only one. There were far more dangerous entities nearby than I was comfortable with. One of them was following us the entire time we traversed the Abyss... Only the God attacking us means that we probably used up all of our luck for the next hundred years." Ishar continued, "Our resident ninja here pulling a few away from us was also a huge relief. Thanks for that by the way."

I heard a beeping sound behind Vi, and when I looked in that direction I saw several women of this nation's military placing a device in front of everyone's face one by one. Face scanners huh... They're using it on Keith right now but I shouldn't have anything to worry about. I was in the database but I was just a kid... Then again, if it does show me they're going to want to know where I've been and why I look the way I look.

Normally I could just stealth out of a place like this when the spotlights aren't on our group, but I can't leave everyone behind. These people will obviously find it suspicious that I disappeared and that'll make it even more difficult for Markus and the others to leave. And odds are they'll just want an account of what we saw through the portal. Probably by forcing us to show them through our soul realms. Which is something I don't blame them for, I'd do the same if a portal suddenly appeared in my nation and unknown monsters came flooding out of it.

The man in power armor approached our group with the two women assisting him. One bent down in front of me and Shana, while the other scanned Vi and Ishar.

"This will only take a second you guys, don't worry. We rarely find anyone that warrants a closer look." The woman said as she scanned Vi.

While both of the women had scanned us without a single hint that something might be wrong, it was obvious that they had in fact found something. As the man in power armor was now looking back and forth between his datapad and Vi. It looks like he's glancing at Ishar and Greyson too...

Ishar had obviously picked up on this and was signaling me with his eyes to be prepared. But there's no escaping this place as a group. There are hundreds of guns aimed at us and spotlights everywhere. So I assume he's motioning for me to slip away and break them out later. It won't be easy though... If I had originally found them jailed in the middle of Jericho then breaking them out would have been annoyingly difficult. And in the worst-case scenario that's what I'll have to do here.

The man in power armor continued to discuss something with the two women out of earshot. While that was going on, Markus walked up to our group and sighed. "Don't do it, Rei. I know what you're thinking, and indeed their actions are a little suspicious, but you'll only make things more difficult. Lord Arkaios spoke to the man and the nation here seems to have quite a high appreciation for him. They don't worship him, but they do allow branded members to pass through and stay in their nation. So whatever problems just arose, it won't be a large hindrance to us."

I hope he's right... In a situation like this my instincts are screaming at me to flee, so forcing myself to stay put is killing me.

The man in power armor walked over to us and looked at Vi. "Miss, would your name happen to be Vi?"

Vi worriedly looked over at me. The man saw that and panicked a little. "Apologies Miss! There's no need for you to be scared. It's just that our---Your Father has been worried sick about you ever since your convoy was hit by Demons."

Wait... That means this place is...

Vi's face lit up when she heard that. "Oh! We're in Xethra?!"

Yet another city or nation name starting with 'Xe' for Xerath... Xelba was built on the abandoned city of 'Thelba', so he just mashed the two words together. Viktor's obsession with the faceless monsters knows no bounds... That aside, I think we're royally fucked here. I can see Ishar and Greyson are also looking back and forth for a way out of this. Markus noticed our expressions and is even starting to look a little worried himself. He doesn't know the exact context yet, but he trusts our judgment, so he knows something bad is about to go down.

The man smiled and nodded, "That's right Miss Vi! You're back home now. So just come along with us and we'll put you in a nice hotel where you can rest until your Father comes along to pick you up. The moment we scanned your face, he would have been made aware that you were found, so I'm sure he'll be here in the next couple of days."

Vi looked over at me. "Isn't that great, Rei! And don't worry, I'll tell my dad what you did for me, I'm sure he'll forgive you for whatever problems you two had in the past."

"Oh you really don't need to do that, Vi. It's best to leave things in the past where they belong, the past. So just tell these nice men and women that we saved you and then we'll be on our way." There's no way in hell that whoever it is will forgive me, regardless of how much they love their daughter and appreciate what I did for her. The others are going to be dragged down along with me too... Shit, this couldn't possibly get any worse. Why couldn't the coin have landed on tails...

Vi scrunched her face up in disapproval. "I really wanted to spend more time with all of you, but I can tell you're busy and have other places to be..." She then looked at the man in power armor, "Can you please let them go? The Demons had tortured and left me... Broken. But these people saved me! I wouldn't be here without them."

The man scratched the back of his head and looked down at his tablet. "Hmm... Honestly, I'd normally allow it and even reward them handsomely. But we really do need to know why this portal appeared out of nowhere, and why your group appeared through it. You won't have all the answers, Miss Vi. So at the very least, we're going to need them to stay for a little while."

One of the women behind the man approached him and whispered something into his ear. He nodded and then looked back and forth between Ishar and his tablet several times, before finally sighing and putting the tablet away.

"I can only promise to let them go so long as they answer all of our questions and allow us to see their recent memories in their soul realms. If they do this, then they will be free to leave." The man looked at the Tengu Lord, "He will also need to stay somewhere until we can confirm that he's a 'Righteous Tengu Lord'... I'm having a hard time believing that such a Tengu exists, but he does feel and look different from the two I saw in the past..."

Okay good, we still have a chance to get out of here... Maybe. After all, I don't know how high up the chain this man is, so if he's just some grunt and someone higher up decides his word means nothing...

The man then motioned toward the ninjas resting near the Tengu's legs, "Who are they?"

"They serve the Tengu. Once you scan them you'll understand. They're still trainees and not all that strong yet, so they helped by infusing the Tengu as we escaped that realm." Markus said.

Looks like they're taking turns helping the ninjas who lost limbs. I can see stumps forming already as they take turns healing one another. That exploding rain really fucked them up. They must have been focusing their enhancements onto their torso and heads while ignoring the rest of their body just so they could survive, and it worked thankfully.

"I see... Well, it looks like they'll need a place to rest and heal, so maybe it's for the best that we give you lot a safe hotel to relax in for a few days."

'No need, we'll be more than happy to leave right now...' Is what I'd love to say, but I already know what kind of response I'd get.

The man walked away and was quickly replaced by the two ladies. "Now then, if you'll all kindly follow us, we're going to take you straight to the hotel. The sooner the better, since we need to be back here in case any more invasions take place."

"What about him?" Markus asked as he pointed at the Tengu.

Before the girl could respond, the Tengu pointed at himself and then down at the ground. He then did it again by pointing at his staff and the portal behind us.

"You want to stay and battle anything that comes through the portal...?" The girl asked, amazed.

He still wants to fight huh... That's all he did when he was with us too. Fight, pass out, eat, and then start fighting again.

The Tengu nodded.

The two girls looked back at the man and he just laughed in response. "By all means! We'll accept any help we can get." He looked at Markus, "If he really does battle those creatures with us, it's going to be much easier to convince the higher-ups to let him go."

Markus glared at the ninjas, "Don't even think about trying to stay here with him."

"We know! We're useless here, that much is obvious even for us..." A ninja replied.

Surprisingly mature of him. I guess even they realize that they're too damaged and untrained to support an army using this amount of firepower. Plus, they'd literally get in the way. The Tengu will survive some bullets hitting him, and even an explosion here or there, but the ninjas would die quite easily if they stayed near the portal.

"With that out of the way, shall we proceed?" The lady asked.

I, Ishar, and Shana stood up and followed behind Markus' group. On the way, Greyson slowed down until he was right next to us. One look at his face and I could tell he was ready to bolt right there and then.

Greyson leaned over toward us and whispered, "We're out of range of their encampment. I say we run. There's no guarantee that anything that grunt said will come to pass. What are we going to do if someone above him, some fucker who sits at a desk all day, decides we should be detained? They know who I am. Hell, they know who Ishar and Nisha are too. I... I can't be stuck in a cage again... Not again."

I looked at Ishar, "What do you think we should do?"

"I'm more interested in what you think we should do. Aren't you the one most at risk here?"

"True... If Viktor finds out that I'm still alive and relaxing in one of his cities, I'm nearly one hundred percent positive he'll kill all of us."

Greyson's eyes shot open, "Who is this Viktor and how worried should I be? I'm already freaking out as it is. I don't know if you've experienced what it's like being in a sweltering hot prison for years on end, but it was horrible, to say the least. Although the food was surprisingly good..."

"... He's the creator of this nation. I don't know what title he's using, but it'd be on the same level as a 'King'. And he'll want me and anyone connected to me, dead. Loose ends are something he rarely allows to exist. We won't be one of those exceptions, in case you're wondering."

"Oh good, one more thing to worry about..." Greyson sighed.

"Well? What do you want to do, Rei?" Ishar asked again.

"I feel we should run, but..." I glanced behind us and looked at the Tengu Lord. Only his head was visible from up here, as the portal is on the lower end of the valley below.

"You think they'll look harshly upon him if we leave? They might, but honestly, if he wants to run, he'll be able to get away from here just fine."

Most likely, yes. I just can't help but want them to see him for what he is, and not what he was created from. If he's known and respected, he'll be quite the ally for any land requiring aid in erasing corruption. Knowing Viktor he won't be on great terms with other countries, but the deeds of this Lord will still spread.

I looked forward and spotted something in the distance. Enhancing my eyes, I saw about four different people on separate wooden platforms watching us with some type of equipment. Those buildings look rotted or burned, normally no one would expect people to be up on top of them... Are they built to look like they're abandoned?

"Well, this discussion is over. They just ended it for us. There are four people watching us from those ruined towers a mile or two ahead of us."

The three of them looked between the towers.

Greyson shrugged, "I don't see anything? And those towers are way the hell out there. Are you using an ability?"

"Something like that. They're all laying down and looking at us with equipment through that small gap below the wood."

"There's more," Shana said.

We all looked at her and she jutted up with her chin. After looking up, I saw a few mechanical objects flying through the sky. There's one small round object with an antenna sticking out of it, and a massive airship floating high above it. Yeah... We're not running away from here. I could, but Vi already said she's going to try and smooth things over with me and her dad, which means they'll know who ran away, and everyone will end up dying whether I'm there or not. I guess the others could try and convince her not to, but that would depend on whether they even have access to her.

"Okay, what if I disappear and you all convince Vi not to mention who I am? I'm worried that they'll put her somewhere else though and you guys won't even be able to talk to her."

"And that's exactly what is going to happen. Even if we did save her from that hell back there, there's no reason for them to put her in the same hotel as us. Assuming we even are going to a hotel..." Ishar trailed off and shook his head.

Greyson began rubbing his arms, "Ahh god damnit, I just want to be free again and not have to deal with this shit. Fuck this nation and fuck this 'Viktor'."

I can understand his frustration. While I don't know what it's like to be locked up like that, we did just go through a long... I don't even know. A month? Regardless, it was a long battle to get the hell out of a place I'm sure they all found to be rather frightening. It was by no means a normal area that's for sure. And immediately afterwards we're tossed into this shit... I just want a break damnit, and I'm sure these guys need one far more than I do.

A few minutes later Ishar suddenly started chuckling sardonically. "Yeah... I see them now too. Rei can still slip away, but honestly, I'm not sure what the correct choice here is..."

"I don't either, so I say just come with us, Rei. Knowing you, you'll be able to stealth away later if we need you to." Shana said.

I looked at Greyson and he just shrugged. "Might as well just come with us. As the ninja girl says, we'll find a way to get you away if we need be so you can save us later. Hopefully it doesn't come to that though..."

Just like the coin toss from earlier, there's really no way of knowing what the correct option here is. For now I'll just go with the others and pray it doesn't backfire like that coin toss did.

"This is it! We put our guests who are still under scrutiny on the first three floors here. So you'll be in a nice place, but we'll still be watching everything you do." The lady said, showing off a fifty-floor hotel. At least she's honest about it...

"And Miss Vi?"

The lady looked at Vi, "Oh goodness no. We'll be taking her to where our VIP guests are accommodated." Of course you will be... God damnit I knew it.

"What?! But I want to stay here with everyone here!" Vi yelled into the lady's face almost point blank.

"I'm sorry Miss Vi, but we cannot allow you to stay here. However, you will be free to visit your... Friends, during the day." The lady looked at us and continued, "Now everyone, please enter the hotel. The staff already know you're coming so they'll immediately take you to your rooms. Feel free to get cleaned up and rested."

This group does smell quite bad. I don't have a natural stench like the others, but all the dried blood and whatever the hell else is on me isn't doing me any favors.

Vi stared the lady down for a bit but she eventually relented and followed her down another street after telling us she'd come visit us tomorrow.

After that we entered the hotel and right away I could tell that if I had to break out of here it was going to be a major pain in the ass. On top of the whole area being lit up, there were guards and cameras everywhere. The front desk is on the left, while the right is weird a split between a lounging area and a cafe. There are people just sitting around on couches and recliners eating large meals while talking with one another. No more than ten feet from most of them is a heavily armored man with a gun half the size of his frame. And they're apparently fine with that? I'd personally hate it, but maybe it makes these people feel safe...

"A beautiful new prison. Lucky me." Greyson said.

Markus was already at the counter talking to the people behind it. One of the armored men reached out and touched the artifact after Markus presented it to him.

Alright then, time to see where this all leads...