Chapter 1 - Divine Apostasy Book 3

Chapter 1

The screams grew louder as Ruwen made his way up the dungeon’s tunnel. As he approached the main cavern agonized moans joined the terrified sounds, and he slowed, wary of an ambush.

Ten feet into the cavern, Slib’s bodyguard, House Captian Juva, lay on the stone floor. In two pieces. He had been ripped in half at the waist, but Ruwen didn’t see any blood.

The moans were coming from Juva, and Ruwen stopped in shock that the man could make any sound at all. An injury like that should have killed him instantly.

Juva turned his head and looked at Ruwen. “It hurts.”

Ruwen gasped.

The Naktos Assassin that Ruwen’s dungeon, Fractal, had given him, stepped up next to Ruwen. The assassin’s eyes were dull and void of any intelligence. Ruwen figured that had something to do with the assassin already being dead when Ruwen had given it to Fractal in the Material Realm.

“Help me,” Juva said and used his arm to pull his top half toward Ruwen.

“Uru save me, how is he still alive?” Hamma asked as she moved forward.

Ruwen held out his arm and stopped her. “It could be a trap. We don’t have Keen Senses or Detect Harm to warn us here.”

Hamma nodded and stopped.

“It looks like the guilt of ambushing us has really torn him up,” Sift said.

“Sift!” Hamma said.

“What? That guy put a crossbow bolt in my heart,” Sift said. “You die like you live.”

“Except he doesn’t look dead,” Lylan said.

“Please, help Slib,” Juva said as he pulled himself another few inches toward them and then pointed to somewhere Ruwen couldn’t see.

The sight sickened Ruwen, but he realized the screaming had stopped. He didn’t want to risk any of his friends, so he turned to the assassin.

“Do you have a name?” Ruwen asked the dead assassin.

The figure just stared at him with eyes glazed and unfocused.

“Your name is now Nak. Carefully check the cavern outside the tunnel for a trap,” Ruwen said.

Nak turned without responding and leaped forward, landing just inside the end of the tunnel. Nak climbed the twenty-foot wall and eased his head into the cavern. He looked up and to both sides and then dropped to the ground.

“Safe,” Nak said.

Juva had pulled the top part of his body almost to the tunnel entrance. Ruwen strode forward and grabbed Juva’s outstretched arms and pulled him into the tunnel.

Hamma knelt next to Juva. “What happened?”

“Creature in the cavern. My swords didn’t damage it all. Please check on Slib,” Juva said, his face twisted in agony.

“How can this guy be alive?” Sift asked from beside him.

Ruwen looked at his friend and noticed what looked like wisps of smoke between them. The fine threads of light drifted from Ruwen toward Sift.

“Hey, stop stealing my Spirit!” Ruwen said as he waved his hand through the air between them, but his hand passed through the traces of Spirit and didn’t affect them at all.

Ruwen took a few steps away from Sift, and the webs of Spirit disappeared between them.

Sift pulled up his shirt, and Ruwen could see Sift’s center now had a faint glow.

“I’ve never actually seen my sifting happen before,” Sift said.

Ruwen pointed at Sift. “You stay away from me.”

Sift dropped his shirt. “Maybe.”

“Slib, please,” Juva gasped.

Ruwen looked down at the injured bodyguard. He had mixed feelings about helping the man. Not only had Juva tried to kill Ruwen, multiple times, but Juva and Slib had run away from the group at the first opportunity.

“Sift, why don’t you and Lylan scout the cavern,” Ruwen said.

Sift nodded, and he and Lylan left the tunnel. Ruwen followed them but paused before entering the cavern. Nak hadn’t moved and stared dully at Ruwen.

“Watch my back,” Ruwen said. “Actually, let me be more clear. Watch for danger and warn me if you see something. Understand?”

Nak nodded, and Ruwen glanced around the corner of the entrance. When he looked right, a large creature sat a hundred feet away. It had hunched over something, probably Slib, and its focus seemed concentrated there.

Ruwen strode to the bottom half of Juva’s body, grabbed a foot, and dragged the partial body into the tunnel. Not knowing what else to do, he brought it to Hamma.

Hamma looked up at Ruwen. “No organs are hanging out, no blood, nothing. It’s like he’s made of grey clay.”

Ruwen looked at Juva. “What does it feel like?”

Juva had his eyes squeezed shut, and he didn’t open them. “Like I’ve been ripped in half.”

“I don’t know what to do for him?” Hamma said.

Ruwen tried to squeeze his bottom lip, but his face wraps got in the way. He bit his lip instead as he stared at Juva’s two halves. It appeared that death didn’t come easy in the Spirit Realm, but pain did. Ruwen knelt, grabbed Juva’s belt, and pulled the bottom half toward Juva’s torso. Hamma, seeing what Ruwen wanted to do, helped.

When the two pieces touched, nothing appeared to happen, but Juva’s eyes opened.

“What happened? I feel a little better,” Juva said.

Ruwen ignored the man and stared at the seam where the two halves met. In some places, the grey skin and clothes matched well. While in other areas, inch-wide gaps were visible. Ruwen studied the seam.

“Are the two sides melting back together?” Ruwen asked.

Hamma leaned down. “It’s really slow, but the gaps are filling.”

Ruwen leaned back, sitting on his feet, and thought about the repercussions of that fact. While there might be ways to die here, previously fatal wounds didn’t appear to be one of them. At least not to the body. Maybe other things might be lethal, like losing your head or having it smashed into a pulp. He stared down at his chest, and the Spirit his clothes hid. Maybe dying required something to happen to your Spirit.

Sift entered the tunnel, and Ruwen stood as Sift approached. Lylan stayed at the entrance next to Nak, both of them scanning the cavern.

“Hamma, you really are a good healer,” Sift said, looking down at Juva, who now appeared whole.

Hamma shook her head. “I didn’t do anything. He’s still in two pieces. My guess is it will be an hour before he’s able to walk.”

“Well?” Ruwen asked.

“There’s an easy way and a hard way,” Sift said.

“What’s the difference?”

“If you want to help the screamer or not.”

“Is Slib still alive?”

Sift shrugged and nodded at Juva. “I am not sure how to tell here.”

“And the easy way?” Ruwen asked.

Sift looked at Ruwen. “There is nothing between us and the exit.”

Ruwen sighed. Slib had been someone Ruwen had spent years hating. But Ruwen had changed immensely since his Ascendancy. Slib didn’t matter anymore. Ruwen’s problems were thousands of times greater than a school bully. Like Sift said, you died like you lived. And Slib had been a horrible person. He deserved to reap what he’d sown.

Ruwen looked down at House Captain Juva. The man locked gazes with Ruwen but didn’t speak.

“If you were in my boots, what would you do?” Ruwen asked Juva.

Juva squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds and then looked at Ruwen again. “I’d leave you.”

Ruwen nodded. “I know.”

He glanced at Hamma, but she remained quiet, waiting to see what he would do. And he knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to leave them both here. To suffer and die like they had left Sift to die on the street in Deepwell. They deserved it.

Ruwen also knew as a Champion his power would grow far beyond what was normal. He could already feel it like he stood on the brink of something vast and terrifying. And how a person wielded power said a lot about them. Maybe even defined them.

And he didn’t want to be the type of person that left people to die.

Ruwen sighed and looked at Sift. “Maybe this time will be different?”

Sift raised his hand and signaled in Shade Speak. Told. You. Hard.

Ruwen thought Sift had signaled him but then he saw Lylan respond.

What? He. Idiot. Lylan signed back to Sift.

Ruwen and Sift both signaled back at the same time. And for once, their responses matched.

Agreed.