Lillene
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Chapter 708 - Betrayal
🕑 Added 2023-04-20 02:40:36 +0000 UTCEnjoy!
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The lights near Serenity were still on when the biplanes were all damaged and unflyable. Serenity deactivated the ritual at the camp that watched the base as Rissa stepped out of the tunnel into the field; however much he wanted to continue to see what was happening in the areas he couldn’t directory observe, he was supposed to be underground, so he couldn’t afford to be seen.
He walked into his tent, then shifted to his Sovereign form; there were plenty of shadows in the tent to hide in and it was comfortable for him. It didn’t hurt that most of the others preferred to stay outside the tent as long as they didn’t need to hide from a biplane and the weather was nice.
It was really early morning now, probably around 4 AM or so; there were still more than two hours of darkness left, but not significantly more. The entire group had been up all night, so everyone except Legion headed into the tent to catch what sleep they would. Legion would keep an eye out while the others slept, in case they needed to get up and fight. She’d wake someone else in a few hours, then catch some sleep herself.
They hadn’t set up the lure to draw anyone out of the base yet. Destroying the planes the same night as the communication orb was the first step, and they’d planned to leave a clue to “how” it was done, but with Serenity trapped inside the base, they were going to wait a bit longer. When he got out, he could leave the clue behind.
It was another hour before the commander returned to his room. In that time, Serenity had found a far better hiding place - under the commander’s bed. It wasn’t optimal for getting out quickly, but it meant he was in far less danger of being found. After all, darkness under a bed was common.
The lights dimmed a few minutes after the commander arrived and flopped into his bed. Serenity waited until he was certain the man was asleep, then slipped into the once again dim hallway. He made it halfway across the base over the next hour, slipping from shadow to shadow when there was no one to see.
Then the lights came on.
Serenity was caught between patches of shadow in the now well-lit hallway, but he remembered the area; there was a small natural cave not too far back that he could hide in; no one went in there. There were a lot of small nooks and crannies like that in the base, enough that Serenity wondered what the place had once been. It wasn’t set up like a mine or natural cave, but it wasn’t laid out logically for anything manmade either.
Serenity didn’t have time to think about that; instead, he hurried out of the light as quickly as he could.
“...swore I saw something.” The words followed Serenity into the cave.
“What, do you think the saboteur’s here? Nonsense, whoever it was is long gone.” The second voice sounded dismissive, like he didn’t really care.
“No.” The first voice sounded puzzled. “There aren’t ghosts here, are there?”
The second voice chuckled. “Amith’s been complaining about spirits in the central kitchen for months. I keep telling her it’s just mice, but…” The voice faded as the two men walked away. Serenity relaxed as they left; that was far closer than he liked.
The lights were the first warning of trouble; the mention of a saboteur was the second. The third came when people started running through the tunnel outside Serenity’s hiding spot. The fourth was a conversation between two people who ducked into the dark area to talk. Given the content of the conversation, Serenity had to assume they were there for the same reason he was: so they wouldn’t be noticed.
“... in here.” A woman’s voice was the first warning Serenity had. She was just over five feet tall, slim, and not particularly muscular with short hair, but that was all Serenity could make out about her.
“...sure?” A man followed her in. He was a couple of inches taller but otherwise fairly similar as far as Serenity could tell with Eyeless Sight. Neither of them controlled their auras, so Serenity could tell that they were both Tier Three.
“Not much choice. Not much time, either.” The woman seemed to look around the room but gave no sign that she saw Serenity. “We don’t have a way out anymore. Worse, we’re no longer valuable. I don’t trust the Viper.”
The man sighed. “I do, but not in the good way. He’ll do whatever’s best for the Viper. I knew this assignment was trouble.”
“Should’ve turned it down,” the woman grumbled. “I thought it’d be quick and we’ve been stuck here for more than a year with nothing to show for it.”
The man grunted and waved a hand the woman almost certainly couldn’t see. “Doesn’t matter now. Now we have to survive the Viper. Do you have a way out?”
“Hah. Not with everyone chasing some saboteur the Viper thinks snuck into his bedroom after destroying the biplanes. Even the hard exits are blocked and I’m no wilderness sneakthief to be able to find a new one then survive without people.” The woman shook her head; she didn’t seem to care that her companion couldn’t see it. “No, I have something better.”
The Viper had to be the base’s commander, didn’t it? The odds of there being another “saboteur” that snuck into someone’s bedroom that night seemed low, unless it was someone who took advantage of the confusion Serenity could hear coming from the hallway. That was unlikely because the alarm couldn’t have happened very long ago.
“What could be better than a way out?” The man sounded doubtful.
The woman grinned widely and bared her teeth. Serenity could see it, but her companion couldn’t. “I know what the Viper’s planning. You see…” she leaned towards the man and pulled a knife off her belt. “I helped set it up.”
The man just stood there; he clearly had no idea what was going to happen next. He even seemed to perk up a little. “So you know how to protect us?”
Serenity was very interested now. The base commander had a plan that his own people needed protection from? He couldn’t assume that what he was hearing was true, given the woman’s clear deception, but assuming it wasn’t true was a good way to end up with an avoidable problem. Serenity slipped over to the entrance to the crevice; he blocked some of the light coming in, but that would only matter if someone was watching and neither of them was.
The woman set her hand on the man’s shoulder. He probably assumed it was a gesture of camaraderie, but Serenity knew better. The knife made it obvious; she was anchoring him in place. The fact that she wasn’t using force didn’t matter; she would know if he moved.
“Well,” the woman started before she reached up with the hand holding the knife and slashed the man’s throat. It cut through his windpipe but she had to wrench it out of his spine. Serenity was a little shocked; he hadn’t expected her to use so much force. “I know how to protect myself. The fact that it requires your life is unfortunate; you were one of the nicer ones. Still, I know you liked me; I hope it helps to know that you’re going to save my life. Yours was forfeit anyway.”
That was a terrible justification. Serenity tried to change the bad things he knew about, not take advantage of them. This was worse than that; she was actively using the excuse "something bad might happen to you so I'm going to kill you first."
The woman’s tone shifted to something a little less serious. “You also helped me finally advance my Path. I thought the attacks from the flyer would work but they didn’t, no matter what Viper said. Not after the first one. They should have still been surprises!”
Serenity had thought he’d feel bad about killing her, but he really didn’t. Not after what she’d done then said about it.
He couldn’t decide what to do. Should he follow her, kill her, or attempt to absorb her? None of the options were good.
Following her would be difficult. It was brightly lit outside in the corridor and he moved slower than a normal walking pace. While that would probably be useful in terms of finding out what she was talking about, he probably couldn’t do it even if it didn’t risk getting him caught. Following her in another form wasn’t a good option either; while he could keep up, he couldn’t disguise himself well enough.
On second thought, he probably could disguise himself well enough if he killed her by absorbing her. That was disgusting, however; he didn’t like the feeling of temporarily being another person, and the idea of being someone who was happy that sneakily killing “one of the nicer ones” advanced her Path made his skin crawl. He didn’t even have skin right now!
Killing her wouldn’t help anything. He wouldn’t learn anything and so far, all he’d seen her do was kill an enemy. The fact that her betrayal disgusted him didn’t have any bearing on the matter. It wouldn’t help anything.
No, maybe it did matter. What was that hoary old quote, something about the way evil won? Serenity didn’t entirely believe it, especially since he’d been called evil himself, but that didn’t mean letting her go was the right answer.
However much the idea of absorbing her bothered Serenity, he couldn’t dismiss the advantages. He’d have a chance to look through her memories and find out what she was talking about; that was definitely the biggest advantage. A close second was the fact that he’d probably be able to temporarily steal her appearance; he might be able to hurry out of the base. He only needed to get near an exit and be in shadows; even a small crack would work, he didn’t need something as big as a human would.
The fact that he’d be removing murderous scum from the universe didn’t hurt. Maybe she was a nice person to her family, but she’d just proven she was scum to anyone else.
However much he didn’t want to see her thoughts and opinions, the advantages were hard to dismiss.
Serenity was frozen in indecision until the woman muttered something and a tiny wave of spell residue emanated from the woman. “That’s better. Hate the feel of blood on my face. Now, let’s see. I need your heart. Intact, of course. I’ll have to be careful.”
She knelt down next to the dead body and Serenity made his move. He didn’t know what she was going to do next, but whatever it was, he didn’t want to see it. That was enough of a reason to move forward with the action that made the most sense, however much it disgusted him.
There was no fight. Amily Sen Keraeth was completely surprised and far lower tier than Serenity was; she had neither the awareness nor the power to fight back. Serenity watched her life slip by as her soul moved on to the River and was grateful that he didn’t have to remember most of her life later. He didn’t remember what he sent on, but he definitely remembered horrified fascination and disgust; whatever he’d chosen not to remember must have been bad.
The few memories he did keep were all accompanied with a constant awareness of how to kill everyone around her and what the benefits and drawbacks of doing it were. As far as he could tell, she didn’t take pleasure in killing; it was simply her first solution to any problem, unless the consequences were too high.
In the Empire, they usually were. That was apparently why she’d followed the Viper when he left. She hadn’t really cared why he left, simply that he promised her a Path to power and fewer restrictions. She liked the idea of being able to use the obvious solution and simply get rid of inconvenient people.
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Author's Note: Yes, Amily had a Skill that cleans blood off of herself. I don't think I need to say too much more about her Paths, do I?
Comments
Got it, thanks! Yeah, it's been a long day.
Skchoad
Glad you're ok, and thank you for the efforts to post as often as you do. There is a sentence that looks like it cut off. I know you pushed hard for this update tonight. "That was a terrible justification. Serenity"
