who can see the ______?

“Ah, shit,” Shay hissed, running over and delivering a hard kick to Lucian’s torso. “Ey! Get up! Time to do that magic shit and scare off the rest of the vermin for us!”

“Give me—just a second, please…”

“Those knights aren’t gonna wait half a second before skewering us—no, they’re gonna skewer me first!”

For once, Zane agreed. Shay first, then Zane, then it was a 50/50 chance whether they considered Lucian a lost cause yet or not. Not that Zane wanted to stick around and find out what they thought of their golden boy now—Pearce sure as hell didn’t seem to have much confidence in him. Nor did Lucian seemed surprised by that.

“I got an idea,” Zane said. “I’ll climb onto the ceiling, you two hold onto me. We hang up there, jump down once they file in, and then make a run for it.”

Shay balked. “You really think you can pull that off?”

“Oh, barely a chance. But there’s no shame in making one little pathetic attempt for our lives?”

He opened his mouth to argue, but the footsteps provided a much more persuasive argument. A few desperate nods later, and Shay hung onto Lucian, who hung onto Zane. They had to leave Pearce behind, but if they got lucky, maybe it’d take the knights a while to unbind him.

Red energy flowed into Zane’s legs and hands as he scaled the cavern wall, climbing to the ceiling and digging his fingers in.

Rage couldn’t alter gravity, but it altered the strength of his grip—still, he could only hold on for a few minutes. Ideally a couple if he wanted the strength to run too.

But if it came down to it…

A few knights filtered in. Followed by more, and more, until nearly three dozen filled the tiny space. A few went to untie Pearce immediately.

“Sir! What happened to you?”

“Was it Vitam’s Rage? Or did the Avatar really…”

“Shhh! No baseless speculation on your post!”

“Sorry, sir. Yes, sir.”

The chatter of knights rattled against Zane’s skull—his fingers ached, and his grip slipped little by little as the knights idled around like they had nothing fucking better to do. They had what they wanted, didn’t they? Their leader. Their pride. Their hold over the continent.

Innocent creatures lives. Really, why would anyone care so much about a random Spark Queen? Shay said it over and over again. A pest, a monster, a nuisance to human lives, and since those came first, Pearce felt fully justified in culling the creature and blaming it on them as if they would’ve done the same. That was all anything amounted to in this world: curt judgments.

Zane weighed his options. He couldn’t outlast the knights. But, with enough momentum, there laid the chance that he might, just might—

He braced himself. With one great big swing, he threw Lucian off of him, the pair tumbling past the knights before Zane let go and dropped himself in the midst of them.

“Let go of that asshole,” Zane said, pushing aside knights and grabbing the back of Pearce’s collar before slamming him into the cavern wall. They hadn’t quite gotten through the restraints. But, with the amount of knights milling about, that hardly mattered.

Maybe they’d be all it took to take Zane out.

But he planned to put up a damn good fight along the way.

He knocked the swords out of their hands and kicked them to the floor. Fists charged with the red energy of Rage knocked out teeth and tore helmets off.

Sometimes he pulled back, if only to avoid pounding the life out of them. Still, the more knights he knocked down, more replaced them, with swords and muscle and energy Zane quickly expended.

But even if he didn’t make it out, Lucian did, the only one who needed to escape. Maybe Shay would grow a backbone and help him out, maybe he’d send him on his way alone.

Maybe—

A knight collapsed. Shay jumped the man and banged his helmet in a few times with his hammer for good measure.

Then a song began. Zane realized it then, the difference in carry and melody that changed a gentle hum to a crushing voice upon one’s heart. Where Pearce sought to dominate his targets, Lucian’s hymn carried the knights into a gentle slumber. More and more dropped to the ground, giving Zane a chance to catch his breath as Shay knocked the living daylights out of the rest.

Pearce squirmed against his bonds. Zane delivered a few more hits for good measure.

“You really thought we’d just run off?” Shay knocked another knight unconscious and stopped at Zane’s side. “Seriously. You’re a real selfish kid, aren’t ya? Even with the edgy act you can’t stop yourself from a good sacrifice.”

Lucian stopped humming. “But I thought I saw you trying to get away until I ran back…”

“Hey! I’ll sue you for libel!”

“It’s slander, not libel,” Zane said. A knight swung at him, leaving a welt on his cheek. He knocked the living daylights out of the armor-clad man in return. “Besides, not wrong if it’s believable.”

“Hey!”

Shay shook a fist, accidentally smacking the daylights out of the last knight. Lucian collapsed as Shay slumped over, leaving Zane to grab Pearce by the collar.

“So. Gonna tell us why you’re here?” He pursed his lips, glancing at the corpse of the Spark Queen. “Or why you’re harassing the local wildlife? Seriously, there’s no way you came here just over some damn bug.”

Pearce said nothing. Zane gripped the gag in case Vitam’s Calm decided to be smart and start singing again. Then again, losing a few front teeth might solve that problem too—

…

Then again, Lucian wouldn’t like that. Zane sucked in a breath, a whistle between his teeth. “C’mon. Just say something. I worked with you—the church’s a bastard and a half, but I know you’re not the kinda person to walk into Dwim territory unless there’s a ‘really good reason’.”

Which, Zane was at liberty to call bullshit on how important it was exactly, but first it had to be important to Pearce.

The man refused to meet Zane’s eyes for a time. Then, with quiet resignation: “Look at where we are. It’s nothing to do with the creature itself. But—it cannot be here. It cannot lead anyone here, for the safety of the continent.”

The murals.

“All I need to know then, thanks.” Zane gagged Pearce again. “All right guys, I know we’re tired, but I think it’s about time we take a little field trip.”

Whatever truth these paintings hid, Zane had a feeling—a strong itch in his gut telling him he had to see it all for himself. If they were to save Vitam, they’d better learn the god’s entire story.

Shay groaned. “Can’t you go look by yourself…?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind going back alone.”

“Okay, I’m getting up, sheesh!”