Threads of the Soul

Chapter 444 - 444: Nightmare Realm

A low groan left Astra's lips as she was placed down on a wooden bench. As soon as she stepped through the portal, the threads had stopped working and Yuan had taken over carrying her paralyzed body.Not even her mouth was wanting to work, meaning that all the things she wanted to scream at that idiot could only die in her throat.

It was surprising that there even was a bench here but looking around, with only her eyes as she couldn't turn her head, it seemed that this interdimensional travel realm had taken the form of a shopping mall, one that was completely empty of people yet still had fully stocked shelves and bright signs promoting sales of 'up to' 90% off!

They were never actually 90% off though.

It even had the mind numbing music playing in the background from god knows where. That music was like a curse in her mind, bringing back so many horrific memories of her high school days working retail part time. Honestly... she would rather fight a thousand of those bugs before she had to face down a screaming Karen with nothing but a courteous smile.

If she had control of her body, she would be shuddering in disgust and already starting to flee this place. Instead, all she could do was let out a muffled grunt, as she failed to form the words of a real sentence.

Yuan sat beside her, having returned back to his human form, and frowned deeply in confusion. He strained his ears as she muttered again, trying his absolute best to understand what she was saying.

"Croak? Like a frog? Or is it... Boat? Slope? I'm sorry, it is uh... Your accent." He laughed softly, trying to relieve her growing annoyance. Another voice sounded from behind as Woe strode over.

"Smoke. She's saying smoke."

He bowed his head slightly, as if to apologise for what he was about to do, before he started to rummage around in her pockets. Eventually producing a make shift pack of cigarettes that had a golden sheen to the plant wrapping. On the side of the packet, there was a cartoonish doodle of a doctor puffing away at one, with a smoke cloud speech bubble that read 'Good as Gold!'. That was the name of the brand.

Woe took one out and gently placed it in her lips, having to move her jaw so that she was properly holding it and it didn't fall out.

A spark appeared at the end of the cigarette as it lit itself before Astra breathed in deeply. She filled her lungs with it, before exhaling a cloud of pure white smoke that had glittery hints of gold mixed in.

The American looked over, resting his hands on his guns, with an irritated and disapproving frown on his face. Looking at her like she was a pregnant mother downing a bottle of beer.

"Really?" He said without bothering to hide his disdain, "You're gonna smoke now? And right in the kids face? I mean how old is he, 13?"

"16." Woe quickly corrected, shooting him an icy glare that made Astra proud.

Xander lifted his hands in surrender, "Sorry. 16. Still not close enough to 21 for that kind of junk."

Astra took another long drag before puffing it out alongside another low groan, her lips finally able to move enough to form a proper sentence. The cigarette bobbing in her lips as she said with equal disdain and annoyance,

"It's medicinal you jackass."

"Yeah... Heard that one before." Xander scoffed, before strolling away to check on the other survivors. Astra would have shaken her head, but her mouth was all she could move at the moment.

These cigarettes were their latest version crafted from a few different healing herbs they had discovered, wrapped in a few strands of the classic golden grass. It wasn't enough to purge her system of the venom in just a few puffs, but it could at least speed up the process while reducing some of the symptoms.

Plus, they tasted surprisingly good. Liquid versions, either styled after consumable potions from many video games or as injections, were also available. But they could be broken or had issues with application.

Sometimes you couldn't swallow, or your skin was too tough to pierce with the needle. But everyone could breathe, so everyone could smoke.

At that moment, the gateway to the real world - which had taken the form of a derelict photo booth - flashed once again.

The Russian Captain staggered through the curtain, followed by a plume of dirt that drifted gently through the air, before the breach in space and time finally closed once more.

The Captain straightened his coat as he took in the concerned gazes cast in his direction. People made no attempt at hiding the fact that they were looking over his shoulder, wondering where Corvus was as if he couldn't compare to the hooded man.

He seemed to pause for a moment before his face sunk into a convincingly saddened expression. He slowly took off his coat, folding it up before placing his hat on top.

"I am afraid our comrade couldn't make it. He held up the heavens as long as he could, but the venom had weakened him too much. He was... crushed before my very eyes."

A chorus of gasps erupted through those that remained, while Woe's head immediately snapped towards Astra. But while he was staring at her with fear and worry filling his young eyes, she wasn't looking at him.

Instead she was glaring at the Captain with narrowed eyes. Woe gulped softly, placing his hand over hers as he whispered softly.

"He was... Is he really..."

Astra finally glanced at him, but there wasn't any comfort in her eyes, nor was there sadness. She had eyes filled with suspicion and a hint of anger. Yet, strangely, Woe found that more comforting than any half hearted attempt to make him feel better.

"Ssh, Don't. Not here. Not yet. I'll tell you later."

She spoke so matter-of-factly, her tone cold and emotionless. However, he found himself trusting her words. A tiny ember sparked in his heart, as he wondered why she was speaking like this. It was almost as if... she didn't believe a thing he was saying.

And if the Captain was lying that meant that Lord Corvus... That his brother might still be alive!

Woe did his best to hide his excitement behind a mask of sorrow, eventually having to resort to covering his mouth with his hands as if he was holding back tears when in reality he was hiding the smile tugging at his lips.

Astra, on the other hand, was taking no effort to hide her cold expression. It didn't really look all that different to anyone else, who only ever saw her as a permanent scowl.

They could not see her smiles or her tears, her joy or her sorrow. They just saw cold anger, no matter what she was feeling or actually expressing. One of the very few people who could see such things, was not here. All because of that man. She was absolutely certain of it.

"But, we can't spend too long mourning the dead," The Captain continued with his little speech, "Although he was a great man and a wonderful comrade. It is time that we, as my American friend would say, do the rolling of the sleeves as we keep calm and carry on. Yes?"

She glared daggers at him as he slowly rolled up the sleeves of his collared shirt, showing off his muscular and toned forearms as the rolled sleeves stopped just above the elbow. A hint of a runic tattoo poked out from underneath one of the sleeves, a sight that wasn't too odd. They all had tattoos with runic symbols.

However these runes didn't look like the type used for Requitals. Those runes looked like what she had seen in history books, belonging to the carvings of Vikings.

"Actually, It's her people that are famous for the 'Carry on' thing." Xander corrected, pointing over to the scowling Astra. The Captain laughed softly, opening his mouth to speak but before he could continue Astra quickly spoke up.

"Yes, and seeing as I have the cuff that will get us out of here and the only person other than myself who could read it is dead, I think we need to take some time to rest and recover. We have wounds to take care of, energy to regain and venom to flush from our systems."

As much as she hated the idea of staying here, Astra knew one thing. If Corvus was alive, which he most definitely was, then he was going to need some time to figure things out. She also knew that time could be strange in these in-between realms.

She had lost nearly a year of her life to one of them, so the more time they could waste in here the more time Corvus had to get his shit together and show this 'captain' who the real dead man was. Plus she really did need time to get her body functioning.

Being the only one who could read it was just a convenient excuse. If she milked the paralysis act for long enough then maybe...

"Actually," The Captain said with a smug smile as he gestured to his sub-ordinate, "I happen to have someone who can read the runes too. So don't worry, we can be out of here very soon."

Shit. Whatever that idiot of hers was doing, better be worth it.