22 Culminating a Harrowing (1/2)

Chapter 22: Culminating a Harrowing

As Nye laid unconscious on the bed, the black veins were growing further across her body. However, by now the visions of rain began to become visible to both Ashewyn and Jackyn. The others seemed worried already about her health, but Ashe was watching the ghost like raindrops form from the air around him. He seemed fairly anxious about this, which caught Solitaire's attention.

”Is it... the visions of rain...?” She timidly inquired, with furrowed brows.

Ashewyn was sweating, gritting his teeth, as he exchanged a deeply concerned glance with Solitaire. It was starting to tip off the others around them. They began to grow more frantic in expression, but Jack kept his nerve despite also knowing what was going to happen if they didn't hurry.

He let his eyes trail over to Zyron, who was swearing under his breath. ”Fuck... If that's the case.. There's no way in Hell that this is going to work fast enough to stop the Nightshade...”

”Give it here.” Jack held out his hand, firmly. ”I'll make it work. Just tell me what to do.”

Zyron turned to Jack, shakily handing him the bowl. ”Blood magic is risky, you sure you can do this?” His hand hadn't yet released the bowl.

”Nye is dying! Just let him try!” Ashewyn exclaimed, tension building from the anxiety.

Zyron flinched, letting Jack pull the charcoal powder from his grasp. ”Alright, you're only going to have one shot here... just use the charcoal on the entry wound.”

”I know what I'm doing, just let me handle this.” Jack turned from Zyron, to crouch down beside Nye, setting the bowl down beside her.

”(Please Maker, if you're up there... Let this work...Come on...Nye...)” Miles was unnerved, but he had to trust Jack on this. His eyes didn't budge from his focus on Nyghtmare.

Jack took his blade, cutting open his palm to release some blood into the bowl, mixing it into the powder as he clenched some with it. With his free hand, Jack removed her choker, tossing it back to the foot of the bed. Once that was out of the way, Jackyn scooped the charcoal with the same blood coated hand, and applied it directly to the infliction on her neck. Jack was rubbing it in gently, before he let his palm rest against the infection entry way on her neck. He closed his eyes, channeling his magic power. The Ichor magic began to spiral around from it, trailing from between his fingers like ribbons of blood. Then the visions began to subside subtly.

The glow of the magic aura was beginning to fade, as the black color of Nye's veins started slowly receding back to normal. Jack retreated his hand, letting his self inflicted wound regenerate. Nye seemed to be stable, which cued Jack to get up, holding back his stress of this situation. He stepped out of the room, going to grab a drink from the bar.

”Is... She going to be alright?” Miles asked Ashewyn, with his ears slanting to the sides.

Ashewyn sighed with relief. ”I think so... Might be best to bandage her up, and let her rest. Honestly though, after that... Someone needs to be watching her.”

”Might be best to rotate turns, so whoever's watching doesn't get too zonked out...” Solitaire added, shifting to bandage up Nye's neck, and partially her shoulder.

”I'll watch her then, you should rest Sol.” Miles spoke up.

”You sure, mate? I'm not even tired.” Solitaire tilted her head a bit.

”Yeah, go ahead and take a breather.” Miles nodded.

”Well if that's settled, I need to bring this to my old man's attention.” Ashewyn rubbed the back of his head, with a shrug, before proceeding downstairs. There seemed to be more customers appearing down there, taking seats, but none were aware of Nye's position.

Solitaire grimaced slightly, peering to Nye. ”Let me know if you need anything. Okay, Miles?”

Miles had stepped over to Nye's bed, but looked back to the pink haired girl, somewhat surprised at being called his given name. ”Got it.”

Solitaire then turned, stepping out of the room. Zyron looked over to the bed, watching Miles. His eyes glanced back to Solitaire, who he could see was walking down the stairs. Zyron decided to follow, closing the door behind him. Jack was now drinking whisky upstairs, as Ashe sat down with Runfaust again. They seemed to be in a discussion, from what Zyron could tell. He sat in the back, avoiding all the patrons that had shuffled in a short time ago. He seemed bothered by the crowds, trying to ignore it. Hands placed to the table, with a sigh, as Solitaire took a seat beside him.

Zyron timidly peered her way, clearly nervous about all the commotion. He could see her lean to her palm, with her eyes closed, as she took a bite out of a scone that was sitting in a basket besides the table lanterns, of the circular stone table. She glanced his way, causing Zyron to slowly turn away to avoid having too much eye contact.

”Do you think Spooky's gonna be alright, Ronnie?” She inquired, setting down the half eaten morsel.

He turned her way again, nervously. ”I really don't know.” Zyron said, noticing her gaze his way. ”Nightshade is pretty fucking deadly, not to mention the risk of blood magic. It could really go either way.” The canine spoke softly, he recalled that she snapped at him last time, and was surprised how calm she was now.

”I see....” Solitaire seemed disappointed. ”I just don't want to lose any of my mates... I haven't made too many since I found myself here...”

Zyron seemed a bit surprised by her response, he had been a hermit nearly his whole life, so the feeling of friendship was harder to grasp. He could tell Solitaire was concerned, but there was nothing he could really say, without making it worse. ”(I really should just keep quiet. I don't need to piss her off again.)”

Upstairs, Miles sat down beside Nye; much like a sitting animal, he leaned forward to remove her goggles from her head. ”Nye...” He grimaced a bit, before setting them aside, and rested his hand on the bed, hovering over to the other side of Nye. His feline eyes stared down to her lips, trailing to her chest. Miles partially lowered his head, letting his bangs hang in his face, as he gripped tight to the blanket. ”...” He looked up slightly, so his eyes could focus to her face. ”...You've made it clear you don't have feelings for me... but why can't I stop wanting you? I just-”

There was a sudden knock from the other end of the doorway. He jolted back, looking paranoid, as his gaze turned to it. ”Miles?” The door opened, as Solitaire peeked in.

Miles had gotten to his feet before she could see him hovering over Nye.”What is it? I thought I told you I was gonna watch Nye.”

”It's been a bit since you ate, so I thought I'd switch in, so you can grab something.” She admitted.

Miles let out a soft groan, as he approached the door way. His eyes began to linger on Solitaire, as he gawked at her figure. It had to be the short skirt that caught his attention. ”(Bad timing, but can't discredit that figure. Wonder if she's wearing panties under that skirt.)” He thought, passing by her to peer at the staircase. ”Guess I'll be right back then.” Miles replied, pocketing his hands, as he continued to the upper level's walk way.

The door was left open as Solitaire walked over to look at Nye, but Miles continued until he passed by where Jack was leaning against the railing, with his glass of whiskey on the rocks. Those sharp eyes were jarring to the feline, who quickly turned away to hurry his pace, as he headed down the staircase. Miles reached the lower level, seeing how bustling it was down there. Many eyes loomed over at him, as he decided to take a seat with Zyron.

Miles plopped down, reaching for the basket of food on the table, that sat beside the pumpkin lanterns in the center. ”Man, I'm starving...” Miles muttered. He glanced over to Zyron, as he repositioned himself on the chair. The canine was looking through a journal of some kind, and not really paying attention to the cat beside him. Miles noticed it, leaning closer to peer over Zyron's shoulder. ”Hey, what's that?”

”A book, obviously. Fuck, how you can not know that?” Zyron teased, in a sarcastic manner.

”No-No, I get that, but you can read?” Miles seemed very curious.

Zyron looked over, closing the book, with a look of astonishment. ”Come again?”

Miles itched his head, ”I thought all Leashed couldn't read... Maybe it's just me?”

”Don't fucking call me that!” Zyron growled, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

”HEY! Not like I know the proper words for this!” Miles retorted.

”Holy shit, you're a fucking moron. Look stupid, you're a Lugooz, and I'm a Vulpis. The term 'Leashed' is a word the Templar came up with. I hate it, and you should too. So stop using it!” Zyron groaned, in annoyance, as he face palmed.

”Well, screw you... I didn't know that, okay?... So what's the book about anyway?” Miles pouted, with a huff.

Zyron sighed a bit, pushing the book's cover closer to Miles, as he flipped open the pages. ”From what I've read, it seems to be a log book or something. I found it down here, under one of the tables. My guess is, it's an Amygdala journal. Not sure whose to be honest.”

Miles could see all sorts of notes, and details scrawled onto the pages, including sketches of different objects and people. ”I vaguely remember Finch mentioning that Amygdala have a lot of wisdom...”

”Exactly, they keep books like this, as an archive of sorts.... One thing did catch my attention.” Zyron replied, flipping to a page on Dream weavers, that had sketches of Jackyn beside them.

”That's...” Miles tensed up, his eyes slitting.

”Yeah. No doubt about it.” Zyron leaned back briefly as he looked to Miles.

”I don't trust this guy already, but if someone's keeping tabs on him...” Miles seemed uneasy.

Many of the other patrons were peering over, seeming to be eavesdropping on their conversation.

”I met the guy once before, and at the time he was swallowing the soul of a corpse in the snow. So I get where you're coming from, but I can sense how strong his magic aura is. Trust me, you don't want to mess with someone like that.” Zyron was clearly a bit uneasy about it, but he sounded serious.

”Hold up... He ate someone's s-soul?!” Miles was trembling.

Zyron grimaced faintly, as he nodded with a soft tone. ”Yeah. He fucking did...”

Not far from where they were seated, Solitaire could be seen descending the staircase to the bottom level. She was walking passed their table, towards the bar area.

”Sol? What are you doing down here? Whose watching Nye?” Miles spoke up, seeming nervous.

She stopped, glancing over to the two of them, right in earshot of other tables. Everyone seemed drawn in to their conversation as the sound of Nye's name. Solitaire furrowed her brows, uneasily. ”That... That one bloke walked in, and I couldn't bleeding stay in there with him... He gives me the creeps...” She admitted, timidly.

”Who?... JACK!? He's in there with her!?” Miles abruptly stood to his feet, shaking from adrenaline. ”Wait.... He's planning to eat her soul... T-That's it!” Miles stammered, panicking as he dashed for the stairs in a hurry.

”Miles!” Zyron yelled to the staircase, before glancing to Solitaire. ”...”

She turned away, ”H-He gave me such a fright... I-I couldn't...” Solitaire muttered shakily, before quickly heading for the bar to Ashewyn. It was clear she was uneasy.