Chapter 34

Dane was close to the souls now, almost ten feet away from them. The sand stopped where he was, and only pitch-black rock stood between them and him. He was sure that just popping out of the sand and through the rock would do nothing but stir fear. Even as an intangible wraith, Dane felt cold to the core at the thought of those things above the surface. There was no telling how afraid others could be. No, he would need to get into their rocky escape in a way that wouldn't end with crossed blades.

He flew upward, finding that fewer souls were fighting above the surface in the area. Eventually, he broke to the surface. He kept most of his body under the sand, with just his eyes taking in everything. In the wide open, Dane saw Corrupted fight each other, throwing their tails and claws at each other. Beside him, a tiny cranny in the black, rocky ground led downward. It might have been a destroyed ruin, he assumed.

He ducked under the ground as a Corrupted Devil slammed into where he was, skewered by another of its kind. He shivered, waiting tensely for it to move away. It did. He moved quickly, phasing through the sand and rock to breach the gap's insides. He returned to his flesh after seeing no souls were near his path.

He fell on the sand with a groan, half from pain and half from the relief that releasing his Transformation brought. He got up, dusting the sand off of his graves. It was cold inside. His armor responded, warming up. It wasn't enough, but he could survive by the grace of a warm fire. He pulled his cloak around himself tighter, teeth chattering as he hunched down and moved downward through the sloped tunnel.

The roof was low enough to scrape against his bascinet, even with his back hunched, and the walls hugged him. The screeching of his metal plate with rock resounded through his helm and much of the dark tunnel. He was half tempted to transform and light the path ahead, but all of him protested.

His arms and right leg worked just fine, but his soul around those parts had been obliterated. He didn't know how he was even moving them. The Terror in his Nightmare hadn't been able to move its body due to the size of its soul, but maybe that was because it was in a body that wasn't its own. It felt like he was burning without warmth, and his skin crawled. It was all he could do to keep going.

Soon, he could hear the gnashing of teeth in the distance. The hand he had placed on the wall found nothing, and he knew he was in a broader space now. The bright souls of the humans were very close now, on the same level as him. They were staring right at him, perhaps because of the noise. He had reached the end of the tunnel and was hundreds of feet below the surface, much to his liking. He cleared his throat. "Hello!"

Garbled voices came from the dark, low and wary. One was soft, while the other was deep and hoarse. A woman and a man. He saw their figures stand warily on their toes, ready to dash to either side. Their hands were outstretched.

"I know this may seem suspicious, but I cannot understand what you said! It is my Flaw…so if you would be so kind as to watch closely as I summon a Memory before attacking me, you can rest assured that I am a human like you," he warned. He was wary, ready to force himself into metamorphosing at the slightest indication that they would attack.

The larger one of the two stepped closer and nodded. Dane summoned the Basket Blade in a flurry of sparks. The light lit up the small cavern. It was higher than the tunnel, but not by too much. It was a lot more spacious, though. He saw them in the flash, and they saw him as well.

The man was taller than him by a head. He wore reflective ringmail, almost like a mirror, and Dane could see himself in it. His head was laid bare, showing his face. With skin as dark as ebony, eyes of similar color, and buzzed short hair, he made for a handsome image. He wore a dozen eye-catching amulets and medallions around his neck. In his hands were a spear and a round shield.

The woman next to him was cloaked in blue. Though Dane and the other man were shivering, she was not. One might have expected a pale face to be rosy from the cold, but hers was just tense, not betraying any weakness to the cold. Her steely blue eyes fixed onto his sword, and her raised hands held a gladius in each.

The light snuffed out, and the darkness was dense. Suddenly, a light came again. The man had summoned a flambeau, holding it in the hand where the shield was.

Dane lifted his visor with his free hand, squinting through the light with prickled eyes. He walked closer slowly, sword pointed down. The woman grew tenser, shifting into a battle stance. The man stopped her, stretching his spear to bar her way.

He allowed Dane to come a lot closer. A fatal mistake, if he were someone with ill intentions, he thought, but he was warier now. Perhaps he had a reason for his confidence. When he was only five meters away from them, he stopped. "Don't be scared. I'll be speaking with you telepathically. This way, I'll be able to understand you."

He linked his mind to theirs, and he could feel all of them connected. He could choose to talk to them either alone or together, and so could they. The woman shifted, frowning, and the man looked at him wondrously.

He didn't even need to explain his enchantment before the conversation began. "...I've spoken like this with Awakened before. It's always a fun experience. I'm Flynn," said the black man.

She glanced at Flynn from the corner of her eye and then turned to Dane. "I am Jeanne."

"Heart's Bane, but you can call me Dane," he replied with a soft smile, glad to feel the warmth of the torch on his face.