Luke Everhart
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Chapter 65 - Something Is Not Right
🕑 Added 2024-11-14 11:05:37 +0000 UTCNar adjusted Jul’s weight on his back. He did it gently, but Jul still muttered something in his ear.
He tried to hide his grimace. His arms had been sore after the first day of carrying her, and by now, two more days later, they were permanently numb from the moment he picked her up in the morning, to the moment he lay her down at night, and woke her up for her long watch.
[Constitution] wasn’t doing anything for him. His HP stayed at full, obviously, he did not expect to incur any actual damage. But he had expected the attribute to at least heal, or downright take away his pain and discomfort. Then again, [Constitution] never healed his tiredness either. Nor took away his pain, for that matter.
Wait, is that even something that can be healed? Tiredness?
He latched onto this and other such random and generally useless thoughts. Anything to distract him from his protesting arms and from Jul’s boiling, sweaty body, that was glued to his back.
Nar blew some air into his face, trying to get rid of the tickling drops of sweat that gathered at the tip of his nose.
Why is it so damn hot? he wondered.
Their path had, at long last, taken them away from the narrow corridors after the bridge. They now walked in the center of a much wider tunnel, about 50-feet wide. A curved groove cut through the tunnel, making a small depression that was 6-feet deep at its center. Above their heads, the low ceiling mirrored the floor, so it looked as though they were walking on a circular tunnel.
Nar welcomed the change of scenery, but he didn’t understand why it had to be so damned hot in there.
He cast a quick look behind him. The gaping darkness they left behind was a permanent tickle at the back of his neck. This was probably the widest corridor they'd been in so far, and he hated how exposed it made him feel. It was only marginally better than the massive, open voids they had traveled through at some point, after the tutorial.
“Are you alright?” Rel asked.
Nar pointed at the fading path behind them with his head.
“Yes, it gets on my nerves too. I prefer the narrower ones. More cover,” Rel said.
Nar nodded but left it at that.
Rel walked with them every day.
She had done so from the very start, even going as far as eating and sleeping with him and Jul. However, he still wasn't sure what to make of her.
The archer walked with a slight limp, and every so often, she covered her mouth to smother a fit of coughing. When she slept, she made a low wheezing sound.
It was obvious to Nar that she was sick. Her forehead was always clammy, and her skin was a sickly yellowish white. On the one time he had brushed his fingers against her hand, when sharing more crackers from his inventory with her, he had almost cried out in surprise at the raging temperature of her skin.
And yet, the alfin never complained. Despite what Tas had said, she insisted on fighting and neutralizing the poisoners.
Was it bravery? Pride? A need to prove her usefulness, or just the fear of allowing herself to succumb to her illness? Nar didn’t know what it was that drove her, but it impressed him.
One thing he did find extremely odd, was that Rel seemed to be avoiding her party members. She spoke with Tas, but it was always brief, to the point, and seldomly. It rebuffed the fervor that took Tas’ voice whenever he talked about her, and of getting her out and cured. And Wik? Nar had never seen her speak to him. Not even once.
The archer always hung back with Nar and Jul, and spoke a little with them. But that was rare too. Perhaps speaking sapped too much of her energy. Or it was painful…
“Say, Tas,” Tuk spoke up ahead of them. “I’ve been meaning to ask, but how did you guys get to such high levels? You’re much higher than all of us, especially Wik.”
“Yeah, good question. No mystery there, though,” Tas said. “We just started lower than you guys did.”
“Lower?”
“You guys started from the Upper Depths, right?”
“We’re not sure,” Kur pipped in. “All we know was that the bridge took us from the Upper Depths and into here, the Mid Levels.”
“Ah, so it was the Upper Depths then. There’s no missing the transition between the levels,” Tas said. “It's always a bridge. At least it was for the transition from the Lower Depths as well.”
“The Lower Depths,” Tuk said, savoring the word. “Crystal. I can’t imagine having to go through a whole other level. It took us almost four months just to get to that bridge.”
“Four months?” Tas asked. “How?”
“Well,” Kur said, slumping his shoulders. “We were stuck in the tutorial for about two months.”
“Two months!”
Rel shushed at him, but it fell on deaf ears.
“Kur, man,” Tas said, shaking his head. “That’s bad.”
“Sorry.”
Why are you apologizing? Nar thought.
He frowned at Tas’ back.
Sometimes, he felt like the guy was a bit harsh at Kur. Just because he knew more, and was a bit smarter, it didn’t excuse his behavior. And seeing Kur scratching his head in awkwardness, while Tas chastised him, made Nar want to yell at the guy to shut up.
Yet, he bit his tongue. The guy had been through a lot, and he was genuinely doing everything to help them as best as he could. To earn his place in the party, and his share of food. Nar just wished he did it better sometimes. Toned down the criticism a little.
His dad had always said that their Team Lead was a good one. An Unclean like them, he demanded a harsh rhythm, but his dad had always said the man was fair. He did right by his workers. He praised them openly, and chastised and criticized in private.
“That’s usually a sign of a good leader,” Bei said. “You improve in private, and you boast in public.”
And once his dad had taken the spot, he had maintained that practice.
Tas, however, didn’t seem to be aware of the rule. He bashed Kur every time he found yet another thing that Kur had done wrong. And not just him, but Gad too. He constantly criticized her tanking, whether it was her positioning, the way she used her shield, or the way she used her skills. And the same for all the others. One time he asked Mul if he had any [Sight], because he kept hitting different spots on the guardian, instead of focusing on just one of them. He could have just pointed out that he would be more effective if he focused on one spot only, and preserved his energy and waited for the right opportunities to strike the fast, frenzied soldier instead.
While there was no denying that he was right in that he was helping them all improve tremendously, the way he did it was starting to grate on Nar’s nerves. And he wasn’t the only one.
Everyone’s attitudes were taking a jump into the pile. When Tuk now mocked Mul, it was actually hurtful, and the lengos had started to simply shut off and not speak at all, for long periods of time. Cen hated it, and they had even gotten into an argument over it.
“It’s not funny, Tuk! Lay off!”
“It’s just a joke. Crystal. You lengos have no sense of humor!”
Nar had stared at him. Tuk had passed a hand over his hair, huffing and tutting at the twins, as if they were the ones at fault. But Nar happened to have his [Sight] on, and caught the slight tremor of Tuk’s hand as it combed through his dense hair.
They all envied Tuk for how easily he fell asleep. It didn’t matter what they had just faced. Sentry, cannibal army, shredded bodies. He gagged and retched, but he was always out as soon as his head hit the [Climber’s Shirt] pillow. Now, before falling asleep, Nar always noticed Tuk still sitting up against the wall, staring off into the nothing, playing with a ring in his fingers. And when Nar woke up, Tuk would be in the same position, and he could never tell if the ring tosser had slept or not.
Nar was pretty much certain he knew what was bothering him, but every time he tried to approach Tuk to talk to him, Tas would be there to stop him.
“Nar, come on, stay back there. You're our secondary tank. And don’t move too fast, or you’ll wake up Jul. She really needs her sleep!”
And during the night, when they stopped for a break… “Nar, eat up and go to sleep. Everything depends on you.”
And no one would say anything. Kur would just glare at him, as if to tell him to just go sleep, and get on with his part.
Thinking about it turned his frown at Tas’ back, into full on glaring.
That guy is going too far, and Kur needs to wake the fuck up. I’m going to talk to him tonight, and no one’s going to stop me.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized how wrong things had become over the past few days. He couldn’t remember the last time he had spoken to Tuk, or Cen or Mul. Or even Gad for that matter. Viy wasn’t surprising, she always kept to herself.
And speaking off, a clear laughter rang up from the front of the group, making Nar twist his lips. Wik must have told her another joke. Another one, in an endless stream of them, and Viy laughed at each and every of them.
Fair enough, he was happy that the spear woman seemed to be recovering. Also, he couldn’t deny that what Wik had to teach her was valuable, even enviable. He wished he had a higher leveled Climber sword user to show him what to actually do with his weapon, instead of him just waving it around, and hoping he was at least somewhat correct. But, damn! That didn’t mean that Mul had to be replaced by Wik, and pushed back and out of fights.
Crystal! That was another thing! At this stage, only Rel, Tas, Wik, Viy and, in a small way, Gad, were doing any fighting. He had welcomed the respite at first. Welcomed the thought of getting an easy Climb out of this deal of saving Tas and the other two.
But now, something didn’t feel right.
He didn’t like how Cen walked, staring at her feet, and lifelessly holding on to Mul’s hand. He didn't like how Mul never quipped back at Tuk or fought back against any of Tas’ decisions. He didn’t like watching Tuk slide into Viy territory, nor the way he only talked and laughed with Tas now. He didn’t like how quiet Gad had become, always watching Viy like a frightened mother, and forgetting about the rest of them. He so did not like how tired Jul was, and how she hadn’t had a single night of sleep in three days.
And Kur… Crystal.
He hated the way his party leader stared adoringly at Tas. He drank from his every word, nodding and smiling at his every command.
The more he thought about these things, the angrier he got, and the more aware he felt.
Why had they allowed Tas to take over their party so easily? Was it just his higher level? The things he knew?
Actually, were they even learning anything new from the zeibar anymore?
He had taught them how to better fight the soldier guardians, but that had just been that, their weak spot. He helped them fight and with tactics, but nothing that Kur couldn’t do. In fact, it felt like Tas did more micro-managing during the fighting than Kur’s crucial battle changing orders. They didn’t need Tas. His inputs were just repetitions now.
He had fixed Gad’s shield use and positioning on day one, as Gad wasn’t someone who needed to be told something twice… The guy was just nitpicking at her now! And was Wik even teaching Viy anything new anymore?
Something’s not right here.
He watched Cen drag her feet on the floor, barely lifting them.
Something’s really wrong. How did I not notice it? How did Kur, or Gad, not notice this?
He almost missed it.
In the depths of his mind, in a subconscious part that was still paying attention while these thoughts and realizations came crashing down on him, as booming and quaking as the trash on pile Drop, that small part of his mind perked up.
Nar stopped.
What was that?
