Page 31 of Cerulean Truth
However, as I arrived at my favorite building, I found it cloaked in darkness and entirely abandoned. As if all the people from Antwerp had been lifted out of this specific area. I frowned, readying myself for unexpected danger.
Walking for a few blocks, I tried to familiarize myself with these new conditions, and by the time I turned the third block, the rest of the city was swallowed by the same all-encompassing darkness. Even though it was still early in the evening, there was an unnatural lack of light which made my skin crawl.
I translated lenses directly into my eyes, custom-made for Offensives, granting me clear night vision. Yet, as soon as they touched my eyes, I nearly scratched them out. “What the hell?” I muttered, letting out a less than dignified growl, followed by a string of expletives that would have made the devil blush.
Vigorously rubbing my eyes until the burning sensation gradually faded, I translated some bottled water to try to clean them out more thoroughly. However, when the water made contact with my eyes, it was like pouring burning oil over them. I roared like a wounded animal, ready to lash out at anyone daring to come near me.
I sucked in a sharp breath, the pain finally subsiding, only to be replaced by a surge of anger. Most of it directed at myself for failing to recognize sooner what I had stumbled into. It appeared that whoever was behind this, had translated a bubble around the city, effectively blocking any magus from using translation. And if translation was out, that meant portaling out was also off the table. It was a miracle portaling in hadn’t outright killed me.
Thinking fast, I decided first order of business would be to retrace the energy signature to the creator of the bubble. It was very likely the individual responsible for immersing an entire city in a magical bubble would either know where Maria was or at least possess the power to help me locate her, willingly or not.
Before I could even contemplate how to proceed without translation, I noticed a group of dark-hooded figures in the distance. They were moving slowly but purposefully toward me.
Well, it seemed my night had taken a turn for the better. Nothing like a good fight to lighten my mood. I cracked my neck from side to side, straightened my back, and took a fighting stance.
And so, I waited for them. Eagerly.
I didn’t know if their ominous hoods obscured their vision and slowed down their pace, but they took an awfully long time to reach me. My impatience began to set in. There I was, all ready for battle, while they strolled at a pace even an elderly person with a walker would deem sluggish.
I started tapping my foot…
Why did I have to wait for them anyway? There were fifteen of them, easy pickings even without translation. I decided I’d hold off executing them until after I’d questioned the lot on Maria’s whereabouts.
I took a deep breath through the nose and started running toward them, upping my speed. As I controllably summoned my rage to just beneath the surface, the wind whooshed past me, and by the time I reached the first hostile, a wide grin had already spread across my face. I was more than ready to unleash some damage.
My right fist connected with the first face it could find, sending whomever it belonged to crashing to the ground, limbs folding beneath them like a marionette whose strings had been cut. That was easy. The second one went down as I landed a powerful side kick to his torso.
By the time I took down the third one, it dawned on me that this wasn't much of a fight at all. It felt more like slicing through a warm apple pie with a Katana sword, encountering minimal resistance.
Only after seeing the fourth hostile sprawled on the ground did my head clear enough for me to take in the actual situation. The other hostiles weren’t attempting to fight back; they were simply standing there.
One even begged me to stop, tugging on my arm, pleading for me to lower it. My rage gradually faded, and it wasn’t until I recognized the voice as female, I snapped out of it completely.
“Stop doing that, James. I’m fine! You’re fine! No one is in any danger!” she exclaimed, urgency lacing her voice.
“Maria?” I frowned.
She took off the hood, and there she was, our Collective’s Leader, gazing at me like I killed her dog. Well…that wasn’t good.
“What the hell is going on here?” I snapped, feeling a twinge of betrayal.
“Well everything was fine untilyoudecided to go full on caveman and slaughtered these innocent people,” she retorted angrily.
I rolled my eyes at her dramatics. “I didn’t slaughter anyone, they’re just a little…bruised.”
A man emerged from beneath another hood and quickly healed my four victims in no time. Apparently, they travelled with a Healer, which I thought to be a smart move.
“Can’t believe you attacked us,” Maria muttered while helping the Healer fix up the three others.
“Well, why the f—Why are you all wearing hoods?”
Maria pointed to the sky. “You didn’t notice the bubble?”
My brow shot up. “The hoods protect you from it?”
She shook her head, slowly calming down. “It doesn’t do anything to help us translate but it does give us a somewhat more 'intimidating' appearance to the enemy.”
It didn’t.
