Elthas had wasted no time in pointing out that the Keywan needed to be disposed of.
Shinsou was expecting that response and knew what his answer would be. The Telgradian realised it was the only logical conclusion to be drawn by someone who didn’t know the culture or operating methods of the Jal Shey, but there were circumstances surrounding this particular artefact that Elthas simply knew nothing about.
He took the key into his palm and thumbed the smooth surface of the rune covered item almost obsessively, dragging his digit down the sharp edge before sliding it into his pocket.
If I get rid of this, then I might as well go home. The Jal Shey aren’t stupid, and, to protect their warp points from being destroyed, each portal has a barrier protecting it. The only way of dispelling the barrier is to unlock it with this…
As Shinsou was about to offer his reasons as to why he couldn’t yet dispose of the Keywan, a cold, shrill voice came through the broken pane. Though it may have seemed normal to Elthas, a spirit, the sound was completely ethereal to Shinsou, and its pitch seemed to stab through the ghastly fog and pierce his eardrums. It was a strange sensation that he had never experienced before, and one Shinsou would have gladly never done so again out of choice.
“Ahhh, fuck!” He hissed, clasping his hands over his ears, wincing and finally crumpling to one knee. The flimsy, splintered floorboards below him creaked under the strain of his weight. “What the hell was that?!”
The agonising experience was, thankfully, short, although for Shinsou it seemed to go on for a painful eternity. The hooded figures outside, judging from Elthas’s expression, had somehow spotted the ghost as they had come into his sights but had yet to be alerted to Shinsou’s presence. Shinsou, likewise, was unaware of them, and was left wondering what things made such dreadful noises.
“Can you fight?” Elthas asked. “We might have to in a moment or two if it’s who I think it is.”
Shinsou moved up from one knee, nodding silently. He snaked his body away from the window towards a badly peeling wall on the right hand side, and pressed his back against the exposed stone. In tandem with a nod of acknowledgement to Elthas, motioning to his phantom ally that he was prepared for whatever was around the corner, Shinsou snapped his right hand out. Forks of black and purple electricity danced from his fingertips as the Telgradian prepared to manifest his Dark Lance on command.
Now, don’t make any sudden moves, Elthas. I can – what?
Shinsou couldn’t believe his ears.
“Shin…remember me to the last.”
For a moment, it was hard to know what to say, or to think. This strange entity who called himself Elthas had been in Shinsou’s life for about five minutes. Whilst he was thankful for the medical attention he had received, Shinsou barely knew this wandering soul and now, for the first time in many, many years, the Telgradian had to make a decision based on his conscience rather than his judgement.
I’ll tell him to hold back until we think this through. We can-
Elthas’s quick, phantom-esque footsteps didn’t even register a creak from those awful floorboards as he left the building before Shinsou had even finished his train of thought.
The door closed behind him.
The stupid son-of-a-bitch! What’s he thinking?!
Shinsou edged himself closer to the door, taking care not to be seen through the window by whatever it was that was out their waiting for them both. Were they Jal Shey?
No, I’d already be dead. So, what the hell are these things outside, and why did Elthas just walk off after giving me some weird “last testament” statement like that?
The icy tones of the otherworldly beings outside attacked Shinsou’s senses again. They made him cringe and cling to the wall even tighter as the voices seemed to grow closer and closer. He could hear their steps outside upon the dirt road, mixed with the rattling of metal and the sounds of weapons being readied.
Be ready to go, Shinsou.
The Telgradian could hear verbal exchanges outside over the pounding of his own heart. They weren’t particularly heated, at first, but after a short while he could hear the tension building in Elthas’s voice, and then there was full-on yelling.
In that moment he felt nothing but his labored breath erupting into the moist air, and his stomach churning.
All he could do, for now, was wait to strike if things went badly.
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