Chapter 4: Passing

Seytham

"Mr Tethus, I'm beyond grateful for what you did for me back there, but you didn't need to save me." The man, who called himself Luth, said as I slung his arm over my shoulder and helped him run. We had left hastily from the scene, Tethus leading us through alleyways and behind buildings to the capital's gates. Vena ran ahead of us, whip in hand, as she kept her steely gaze ahead, in anticipation for other soldiers. Me and Luth were the slowest, partly because of his broken arm inhibiting how fast I could've run with him, but also cause of the old man stopping us usually to avoid the sight of guardsmen. 

"We have to get out of the capital before word gets out and they send guards with Sikos or, even worse, that monster." Tethus grumbled as he kick down a fence between an alleyway and signaled us to follow him. I caught the glimpse of Vena flinching at the thought of the king's right hand catching us, seemingly moving faster. We'd reached the center of Talisia, a bubbling water fountain surrounded a bronze statue of Fe-ral standing at the heart of the city where the former king's once did. Its sculptor was somehow able to capture both his sadistic and selfish smirk and merciless eyes, the sight of it made me sick to my stomach. Tethus and Vena slowed down their pace as yells could be heard throughout the streets, commanders shouting orders and the footsteps of dozens of soldiers ringing throughout the blocks. Luth's grunting and panting made me unable to fully hear what was going on, while Vena turned to looked at us before speaking up "Tethus, this isn't good, we're about to be swarmed by them. I don't got a Sikos ability and that guy's injured, what do we do?" 

Tethus frowned as he looked back and forth between the roundabout, the fountain circled a crossroads with soldiers starting to fill them up, meaning we were going to be boxed in. "Luth, Seytham, if you have any blessed weapons or Sikos, get them ready. We'll have to cut a path through them before their heavy hitters get here." He said as he whipped out his blade out of his sheath. Vena had a scowl on her face at the news of that but straightened out her whip, a green glow and a hissing sound emanating from it. I let go of Luth's arm after he assured me he'd be able to fight as i got ready for the incoming wave of soldiers. 

The road that lead back to the market was the first we heard commotion from. In our sights was atleast 4 dozen armed soldiers lead by a commander dressed in armor marked with green stripes, showing his status as a Sikos user. They stopped their march a few meters ahead of us before the commander stepped up and demanded us to give up. I looked to my right to see Vena's nervous expression as she readied her whip, with Luth next to her clutching his still fractured elbow. Tethus met the gaze of the commander's helmet with his own unrelenting one, before looking back at all 3 of us, giving us a nod of permission. The nod didn't go unnoticed by the commander and he raised his arm to prompt every soldier to draw their weapons. Tethus took a greater inhale this time, readying himself for another screech, while the commander's own blade began glowing a light blue hue as ice slightly formed around it. He slowly opened his palm, causing all of the guards to rush towards us. 

Tethus let out his accumulated screech after the 3 of us covered our ears. The sonic wave of the yell impacted all the rushing soldiers, sending a good chunk of them flying away and many others to collapse. The commander in question was kneeling at the impact of the scream but stayed where he was, digging his weapon into the ground to avoid being flung away. When Tethus stopped and dropped to one knee panting and fatigued, the commander stood back up and ran at him with his sword raised, intending to behead Tethus. Before Vena and Luth could act, I moved forward and struck his head with a partially transformed arm, sending him flying back into a stone wall, leaving his imprint upon it as he body laid motionless. The remaining soldiers groaned as they got back up from Tethus' attack, shaking their heads and picking up their weapons once more before setting their sights upon us. 

I took my chance to use my Sikos and fully transform. Hunching over, i felt my spine and abdomen morphing, widening and becoming longer as my skin took on a dark green hue. My arms grew in thickness and my fingers joined together into webbing between them. My neck and face tensing as my body turned rough and scaly with my jaw elongating and teeth sharpening into glistening serrated rows. Pupils became black slits and eyes turned yellow as I let out an animalistic growl into the night sky, my jaw fully unhinging. The soldiers that remained standing stared in shock. Tethus and Luth also had expressions of surprise, while Vena, who had grown accustomed to my Sikos transformation, stood by unbothered. I set my sights on the remaining guards infront of us before leaping forward and biting down on 4 of them. 

I always despised killing. The thought of ending the life of soldiers doing their jobs and feeding their families struck me sympathetically. My main reason of joining was to spare my village from a life of mining Curoz for the rest of their lives. However, all regards of leniency left my mind whenever I transformed. My thoughts went back to the training all new insurrection members receive regarding Sikos, of Hissan's words explaining how your ability can affect your personality and mindset. As the blood of the dead militants spilled from my mouth and ran down my neck, I thought of how I wanted to gag and vomit but my body refused me to. If anything, I wanted more. I set my sights on the remaining 10 soldiers to the right of me, all of them scrambling back in fear, some dropping their weapons, as I licked my teeth and prepared for another lunge at them. 

My knees buckled as I stopped and stumbled. I frantically turned to look around. I caught the scent of something, it's stench almost suffocating me, the smell of blood and death coming from it was overwhelming. This stink could only be one thing,"Tethus! Vena! Luth! We need to leave now! It's here!" I desperately yelled in a raspy voice. They all stared at me in disbelief before the ground started shaking. Everyone present, including the soldiers from a moment prior, were frozen in place. Every second our feet shook as it we felt it  getting closer. My eyes turned to the street leading to the palace, as a massive armored hand gripped the side of the closest building.