For Saint Germain to appear out of nowhere and speak nonsense was nothing out of the ordinary and the Dungeon Raiders were already on the know about his circumstances more or less thanks to Uriel’s investigation.
"Shut up, Ponce. You speak out of your ass, but never actually say anything. We’re going back inside the dungeon and that’s it." Nika grunted. A throbbing vein popping in her head made her realize she was actually angry and now she really understood what Uriel went through all the ti he decided objectives. Now that he was always moody didn’t surprise her, if anything, she wondered how did Uriel managed the pressure, but then Walter spoke adding fuel to the fire that was Nika’s mood.
"Ponce as in Ponce de Leon? The Spanish conquistador who looked for the fountain of youth? If you’re here, then it ans you were successful."
"More or less," Saint Germain dodged the subject then insisted. "you may not believe , but my intentions are good."
"What is that thing Uriel always say?" Nika tapped her lips trying to rember, then Luna replied before she could find the words.
"Hell is paved with people with good intentions." Luna’s monotone gave Nika a new perspective on the subject of being a leader. The answer to her problem was almost literally under her nose yet she failed to see it until Luna spoke. Sure, taking decisions was difficult, but doing so with the help of trusted allies who also happened to be the most competent people Nika ever t made her understand one thing: ’True power is being capable of making decisions while doing none of the work’
"Luna, do you think this guy can be trusted?"
"Yes." She replied imdiately, but Walter butted in again.
"Absolutely not! If he really is who he says he is, then he’s a liar and a scamr!" Walter shouted in anger.
"Just because I sold you one fake philosopher’s stone two hundred years ago to finance my research, now I’m suddenly a scamr."
"Huh, that is exactly what a scamr is and second, how did he manage to pull that off if you never t before?" dusa asked.
"It’s quite simple, really. Back then, the fastest way to travel was by ship and they were not fast at all." Walter shrugged.
"We conducted our business through mail. I figured that in the ti it took for the philosopher’s stone reached its destination I would be able to change my cover persona and move on to the next target." Saint Germain’s shaless attitude should have enraged Walter even further, but then Walter actually replied more calmly.
"Joke’s on you, that flux orb you sent turned out to be the founding stone in my research. Finding cryptids outside dungeons was difficult and due to the atmosphere not possessing enough flux energy, I never encountered one until you sold that." Walter admitted.
"Enough chit chat. What is it you want from us?" Nika glared at the restrained angel with sharp eyes.
"Nothing."
"You ca all the way for nothing?" Nika tilted her head in confusion.
"He does want sothing, just not from us." Luna calmly explained.
"Clever child." Saint Germain complinted her, but Luna not liking being called a child was an understatent. She didn’t yell or shout profanities at him, she didn’t call him nas. She just sent a lightning fast jab at his nose that cause the angel to bleed blue blood before without Saint Germain even noticing it.
"She really doesn’t like being called a child." dusa chuckled.
"I was... uhm... conducting an experint," Luna said as she crouched and passed her finger through the ground where so of the blood had spilled. "I’m not sure yet of the exact reason why, but gods’ blood is also blue. This could be explained by the presence of cobalt, which draws and holds oxygent about twenty five tis better than iron which in should overpower red cells."
"I think you ntioned this before, but I fail to understand what does it have to do with anything." dusa tilted her head the other way in so more confusion.
"Think of the human body as a machine that runs on energy, what is our energy source?"
"Food!" dusa replied almost too excited.
"Wrong, it is oxygen. We burn oxygen inside our bodies in order to move, now think of beings with blue blood as machines running in the sa fuel but with much more efficiency. They can move faster, have more stamina and many other advantages."
"Then why aren’t all humans like that. Shouldn’t the rest of us have evolved the sa way?"
"Yes, convergent evolution is a thing. Many animals evolve similar traits under similar circumstances even if they’re from different families. Unfortunately, there is a drawback. There is an animal that also has blue blood, it’s called an octopus."
"I’ve seen them! I once saw one of them sink a ship!" Nika shouted as she finally heard sothing she could understand, but Luna shook her head in reply.
"No, what you saw was likely a cryptid. The octopus is just a small animal that’s capable of many incredible feats for an animal, but the most remarkable is their intelligence. They can open containers and escape from almost any enclosure. However, their life spans are incredibly short compared to similar creatures. You see, using more oxygen also ans aging faster. And that is why I think we can trust him."
Silence was made in the surface of the cryptid island as everyone pondered Luna’s words. Nika attempted to make sense of it, dusa was still lost in the analogy with machinery and her mind drifted into the possibility of altering a human’s body with technology to make the most of blue blood without the drawbacks. Unbeknownst to dusa, such like of thought was precisely what caused Walter’s obsession with the fountain of youth. Among those present, there was one who was silent not because he was thinking, but because he was focusing his trait on the drops of blue blood on Luna’s finger.
Sam’s eyes glead in a gold light as he inspected the cells. Looking at the microscopic level of things was always entertaining for him, but at the sa ti it was also very confusing. Even the most still object was always filled with life and chaos. Even when nothing was happening, everything was happening at the microscopic level everywhere. Such thoughts allowed him to finally understand sothing.
"He’s dying." Sam declared.
"Nah, I’m not pressing that hard." Nika said, though she released so pressure from the shadow bindings on the prisoner.
"Not like that, he’s dying of old age."
"You are correct, and it’s not just . Any creature that has yet to reach the divine level will age and die in a short span."
"It’s just as I thought. That is what happened to Atsa, he was incredibly powerful, but his mind had fallen to senile dentia. It was strange at first, to think that soone who lived for so long could be senile, but then it hit . All hunters that develop wings have the sa issue." Luna looked at Sam, who proceeded to bite his thick holy rank skin to draw so blood. On the outside it just looked dark, but after a close up with his trait Sam understood that the sa thing was happening to him.
"I’m dying too!" Sam’s face paled at the realization.
"Yes, but thankfully, we can revert our age by hibernating. At first sleeping a full night is enough, but the more energy you spend and the older you beco, the more ti you have to hibernate to recover. That is why I looked for the fountain of youth in the first place, because I was too reckless with my power. Now I second guess myself every ti before I even use a skill, let alone use my wings which are very costly in terms of flux energy. There is also another solution..."
"To let a human kill you, which will turn their blood blue. But that would be against your purpose which is to live forever." Luna interrupted him, but instead of being annoyed Saint Germain just bobbed his head.
"Let get this straight. You’re saying this guy went on a rant about saving the world, but it was all a lie and he just wants to save himself. But he doesn’t want anything from us, then what in the hell does he want!?" Nika started composed, then rose the volu and pitch of her voice until she was almost yelling by the ti she finished speaking.
"He wants the others that are like him. He wants to gather Michael, Raphael, Ika, Sam and Uriel. There must be sothing special about angels that allows them to survive in the shadowlands."
"Too bad Michael and Ika are dead."
"Ika is dead!? Why did no one tell ?" dusa’s jaw almost hit the ground. Ika may have chosen to side with Sam, but she knew it in her heart that she wasn’t a bad person. All Ika wanted was to be with her boyfriend, but had to kill him instead because Uriel refused to do it.
"The gods made an example out of her... I don’t want to speak about it." Was all Sam said.
"Well then, there’s nothing else to decide anymore. Let’s go back inside Winnie. I’ve been waiting to have my family reunited for the longest ti and now It’s finally happening." Walter extended his hand towards dusa, but a brief crimson glimr coming from her eyes was all he received in reply.
"We need to get back at at them... I don’t care if we have to go to the shadowlands and drag Uriel’s ass back here. If that what it takes for us to be able to kill the gods, then..." dusa clenched her fists so hard that blood ca off her hands, but she didn’t stop.
Reviews
All reviews (0)