Chapter 584 (2/2)

Randidly frowned. It was a man who he didn’t recognize, but Randidly’s eyes could see that he possessed a wrongness as well. And as his eyes pressed, Randidly could suddenly see he was wearing an image to look like a human. And below that was only a skeleton.

The tentacle creature shot its limbs outwards to gather up the remnants of the bodies and Randidly spun his spear to block it. But then the skeleton man struck.

“Heroic Charge!” The skeleton man smashed downwards, with a raised bastard sword. To Randidly’s surprise, the man’s blow was heavy, so much so that Randidly was knocked backward. He was almost comically easily knocked back. It was a mental mistake really; after using As the Sun Stills he felt strangely frail and light. It would take some getting used to before he could compensate for it.

Their eyes met right before the water hit, and Randidly felt himself being carefully judged. Then there was only the press of water, and most of Randidly’s other senses were knocked away by the concussive force. He reached out with his Aether Perception and gripped at them, but as he felt them moving farther away, they just became slippery.

It was strange, but their energy signature… it somehow seemed difficult to grasp. It only took Randidly around 5 seconds to gather himself, but at that point, they were gone.

For several long seconds, he stood at the bottom of the lake, furious. But then he slowly relaxed and released a sigh. Even the bulky body of Chrysanthemum was gone, beyond the limits of his senses. But perhaps she had died when Thea had?

Either way, it wasn’t necessary to chase them. Randidly had accomplished his two goals. Father Foster, at least the experiment leading version, was dead. Thea was also…

It was a quiet swim to the surface. Even though he wanted to, he couldn’t take it easy yet. There was still much more to accomplish.

*****

Hank looked around the room, wary. It looked like the domain of a feral child. One who enjoyed geometric mazes. Drawings of different varieties of mazes covered the walls. They were simple and complex, and the filled the room with a strange sense of vertigo. The room was small, in a hidden area behind a brick wall in the cellar of the school. The man was hooked to life support systems, which Hank deactivated.

One by one, he and Thaddeus pulled the different plugs. The man in the bed was asleep, but as they worked, his brow began to tense.

Truly, the man looked familiar. He looked like the pictures of Dr. Thomas Karman that Hank had seen, yet different somehow. Like this was a version made out of a different color of paper mache.

Even though this man was unconscious until only a minute ago, Hank still kept his pistol trained on him. Thaddeus followed his lead.

Right when he opened his eyes, the man seemed puzzled, but after he looked at Hank and Thaddeus and their distraught states, he seemed to realize something. The man smiled up at them, and Hank was taken aback by how much genuine warmth was in the expression.

“So.” The man said, his voice high pitched and weak. “You are my executioners. Well, get on with it then. This is what I deserve.”

“Tell me where my brother is first,” Hank said sharply.

The man seemed to sigh. Then he closed his eyes. For a brief moment Hank was worried the man decided to ignore him, but then the man’s eyes fluttered open. There was an expression of deep sadness on his face. “Your brother… There is a small hospital near Bradford, one of the Northern Villages. Your brother is there. And as of yet, unharmed. It appears… my Faust was killed before the operation could begin.”

Hank just looked at the man, unsure whether to believe him. His feet hadn’t yet told him to leave. So…

“Was all this worth it?” Hank asked as he aimed at the man’s forehead. He was so thin that Hank wondered what fluids the tubes had been putting into the man. But he was going to shoot with the revolver. Better safe than sorry.

The man chuckled, of all things. “Heh. If that’s your question… you’ll never understand what I managed to accomplish. I am more than human. I am… I am a tool of god. To me… to change the fate of humanity for the better makes me deserve-”

“To die,” Thaddeus added, looking in disgust at the old man.

That stopped the man. When he did his best to shrug from his lying position. “I am now simply a symbol, boy. The human who I originated as is long dead.”

After the bullet ripped through the man’s brain, Hank felt the tugging on his feet. It was time to move on.