The Meaning Of Eternity (TMOE #1)

Chapter 12: Apocalypse approaching

Entering the Hydrina again proved much easier than last time. Not a sob or even the hint of a trembling breath escaped him, and Lucius sat down on his old mattress with a tired look on his face. That was all he could feel at the moment. He was tired.

He couldn't stop though, and he looked around for usable items. First thing he did was picking up Mabel's old satchel to place the blood covered ceremonial knife in it. A reluctant grimace forced its way through to his face as he opened it, mostly finding dried flowers and soft coloured pebbles.

Stopping to mourn once again wasn't an option though.

I'm past mourning.

He poured the contents out onto his mattress and placed the knife in it instead. Then he continued to the other spots. On the way he irately tore off the light, flowing fabric of the worshipper's clothes. The last thing he needed was obstacles clinging to his body in case he had to run. The long sleeves didn't help either but he'd cut them off later.

He stared down at the blood stained garments. It had actually happened, hadn't it? He would've shrugged it off as a dream if he wasn't already wearing the clothes proving otherwise. Had the pact been real though? He could've killed that priest without any kind of unholy influence, right? But why had all those weird thoughts ended up taking form of a scourge then? A scourge he'd never actually read about before. And then there was the purple fire to consider.

I'll just have to wait and see.

As he'd stuffed the satchel with a pair of scissors, a tinderbox with flint and steel, all the money he could find and a water skin to hang on the side he stopped to look down at his clothes again. Perhaps it'd be best to find another outfit completely. Religious garments out in the streets were bad enough if he wanted to avoid attention, but the dark stains from the murdered priest covering it made it even worse.

Just as he was about to unwrap the complicated attire he heard voices approaching from the entrance hall, and he froze on the spot. More guards? Or people who'd escaped earlier? A silent whisper in Lucius' head wished Samueli had returned, but it was drowned out by the idea of a potential threat and how he'd get rid of it.

He was in the middle of the auditorium so there was no place to hide. Instead he brought the knife out from his satchel and got ready. In case of the worst scenario he'd at least put up a fight. It wasn't as though he had much to lose.

"Are you sure they're gone? There were a lot of them, weren't there?" someone's voice asked from the entrance hall.

"Who'd return to a place where people were arrested and executed? Besides, if there aren't a lot of them what are they gonna do? Put up a fight?"

A boy in his later adolescent years stopped in his tracks as soon as he entered the auditorium, staring at Lucius with his knife in hand.

"Uh... Maybe?"

The second boy, seemingly a bit older, stopped as well and the three of them stared at each other for a while. Lucius' eyes darted between the two. The healthy flush of their skin indicated they weren't as fatigued as he was and one of them was of a taller and sturdier built kind, but neither of them looked particularly threatening despite all that.

He could probably kill them if he had to.

"Joshua?" the shorter boy with pale beige skin and thick eyebrows whispered to the taller without taking his eyes off Lucius. "Are you seeing the Dyris worshipping ghost?"

"What would a Dyris worshipping ghost be doing here?"

"Well what would a—"

"Go away!" Lucius tried to sound as threatening as possible, still holding his knife ready. "Whatever you're here for you can forget about it. Just go away."