Dawn Walker Novel Chapter 52: Between Hunger and Choice V

Chapter 52: 52: Between Hunger and Choice V

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He realized then that the transformation did not only change appearance. It changed hunger. It changed priorities. It turned n into sothing else.

And that sothing else was now standing between Lily and the kobols outside.

Sekht’s mind raced.

If Lily woke now and saw her guards like this, she would scream.

If she scread, the kobols would find them.

If the kobols found them, they would die.

And if Lily saw Sekht covered in blood with ghoul guards, she might not trust him enough to travel with him again.

Sekht’s jaw clenched.

"I will tell her the truth in the city."

Not here.

Not in purgatory.

Not while he was still learning what he was.

He turned to the guards, voice low, commanding.

"You two," he said. "You can still think. You can still listen."

The first guard’s jaw flexed.

"Yes," he rasped.

The second guard’s eyes flicked to Lily, then back to Sekht.

"What are we," he demanded, voice rough and frightened.

Sekht forced his voice steady.

"You are alive," he said again. "And you are strong enough to hold a line."

The cave mouth echoed with kobol voices now.

"Sll human!"

"Inside!"

"Break!"

TapTapTap!

The kobols were about to push into the narrow entrance.

Sekht made his decision.

He lifted Lily in his arms again.

"Hold the entrance," he told the guards.

The guards blinked, confused.

"You want us to... fight," the second guard said.

"Yes," Sekht said.

The first guard’s face twitched.

"And you," he rasped.

Sekht’s voice hardened.

"I take her to a safe place," he said. "You delay them."

The second guard’s expression twisted.

"You are leaving us," he accused.

Sekht’s eyes narrowed.

"I am using you," Sekht admitted bluntly. "Like purgatory uses everyone. But you have a better chance now than you had as bleeding n."

The guard flinched.

Sekht leaned closer, voice low and sharp.

"If you want to live," he said, "you fight. If you want to die, you can sit and cry about your face."

Bat Bat snorted.

"Cry face," it repeated, amused.

Sekht ignored the bat.

He looked at both guards.

"You do not look human anymore," he said, voice quieter. "If she sees you like this, she will fear you. She will fear ."

The first guard’s eyes flickered.

His voice ca out rough but honest.

"She might," he said.

Sekht nodded once.

"And I cannot afford that," Sekht said.

He did not explain further. He did not need to. The guards understood enough.

They stood.

Their bodies moved differently now. Faster. More fluid. Less pain. Their wounds still existed, but they looked less fatal. The blood they lost had been replaced by sothing else.

Hunger.

The first guard took his spear from the ground, grip tightening.

The second guard grabbed his sword again. His fingers looked longer, nails sharp enough to be weapons on their own.

They positioned themselves at the cave mouth.

Outside, kobol shapes appeared in the opening, eyes glowing.

KRAAAH!

The first kobol shoved forward, knife raised.

The first guard lunged and stabbed.

Shhk!

The kobol scread and fell, but two more replaced it instantly.

Sekht did not wait to watch the outco.

He turned and stepped deeper into the cave, away from the entrance, toward the darker back section where stone ford a natural pocket.

He focused inward. He touched the void connection.

The Void Land.

The gift from the Void Lord. His ergency.

Sekht whispered, voice low.

"Open."

The space in front of him shivered.

Whooom...

A thin tear appeared in the air, like darkness folding into itself. Not a portal of bright light. A doorway of void, swallowing sound. The edges rippled faintly.

Sekht stepped close enough to feel cold from it. The void slled like nothing.

He carried Lily through.

The mont he crossed the threshold, the world shifted.

The cave vanished.

Purgatory air vanished.

Sound beca muted, like the universe had put its hands over its ears.

He stood in a dark land of floating stone and calm emptiness. The void land was not a city. Not a room. It was a pocket of space shaped by void principles. The ground was solid but felt unreal under his feet, like standing on hardened shadow.

Dim purple-gray haze hovered in the distance. Far away, jagged floating rocks drifted slowly, suspended in endless quiet.

Bat Bat fluttered in after him, eyes wide.

"Wow," it whispered.

Sekht did not care about wonder.

He laid Lily down gently on the ground. The void land did not feel cold to her skin. It felt neutral, like a room that refused to choose temperature.

Lily’s breathing remained steady.

Sekht’s chest tightened with relief.

She was hidden now.

Safe, at least for a few minutes.

But the system’s earlier condition stabbed into his mind.

He could not stay here long. Ten minutes, maybe. Less, with his chaos energy still strained.

Sekht turned to Bat Bat.

"Stay with her," he ordered.

Bat Bat puffed up.

"I boss," it repeated.

"Guard," Sekht corrected.

Bat Bat nodded seriously.

"I guard Lily," it said.

Sekht hesitated, then spoke more quietly.

"If she wakes," he said, "do not let her leave the void land. Keep her calm."

Bat Bat blinked. "Calm," it repeated, then added proudly, "I pee calm."

Sekht’s jaw tightened.

"Do not pee on her," he hissed.

Bat Bat looked offended.

"I not pee Lily," it promised, then paused. "Maybe kobol."

Sekht did not have ti to argue with a bat’s moral logic. He turned back toward the portal.

The void land was a hiding place, not a solution.

He still had to survive outside. He still had to deal with kobols. He still had to deal with the guards he turned.

And he still had to deal with himself.

Sekht stepped back through the tear.

Whooom...

Sound returned instantly.

Clang!

Screams.

Kobol howls.

KRAAAH!

The guards were fighting at the narrow entrance.

The first guard had his spear buried in a kobol’s chest, lifting it off the ground like a pinned insect.

Shhk!