Chapter 46: The Mine
- Location
- Washington
Thinking on it, you realize that perhaps you should take heed of Orphiel's warning. You don't want to believe it, but you can't pretend it didn't happen and ignore it. Still, you doubt that Sierra or any of your friends would want to harm you. But, you have one option in order to determine if you are in danger. Sierra and Lucas may not like it, but if you explain things to them they'll probably understand.Dice Rolls said:
"Alright guys, listen up. I've got to tell you something." You look to each of them as they look at you expectantly. Right, moment of truth. "So remember how I said I just woke up with my ability to use magic?"
"Yeah?" They both replied simultaneously.
"Well, uh, before I woke up I had this... dream." You weren't really sure how to explain this to them, frankly it sounded crazy even to you, but you have to do your best. "In it I was giving this power from this thing that called itself 'Orphiel' and-"
"The heck kind of name is 'Orphiel'?" Lucas interrupts, but soon shuts his mouth when you lower a glare int his direction.
"'Orphiel' is another name for Phanuel."
You and Lucas both blink, turning your heads to Sierra's direction, who stood holding her chin as she looked upward in thought.
"Phanuel is an archangel," she explained. "One of the four that stand before God, alongside the angels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel. His name means 'the face of God', and he is the archangel of repentance and hope." She finally looked down, looking at the expressions one both your face and Lucas' as the two of you stare at her in silent awe and confusion. "What?"
"How do you know all that?" Lucas asks.
"I was raised Catholic." She shrugged as she buried her hands into the pockets of her ruined jeans. "My parents are super-religious and sort of hammered in pretty much any information related to our faith into my head since I was old enough to learn." She gives Lucas a questioning look. "Is that weird?"
"No, no, it's cool." Lucas replied, giving her a smile. "Just didn't think you were the religious type is all."
"Guys, hate to interrupt, but mind if I continue?" You chime in. The two of them look to you, Lucas giving you an apologetic look while Sierra mouthed a silent "sorry" to you. You clear your throat and continue, "So, this being gave me this power. Then I woke up. At first I just thought they were dreams, but it, Orphiel, it came to me just a few moments ago and... then I knew it was real." You take a deep breathe, preparing yourself to continue. "It gave me a warning, and now I want to cast a spell to detect ill intent and where it's coming from."
You hope that was enough to convince them. You really hope they won't try an ask what exactly it was that Orphiel said to you. You look to Sierra, eyeing her stoic expression, thinking to yourself that you there was no way she'd do anything to hurt you. But if you were to tell them what happened with Orphiel... what would she say? What would Lucas say? If she cared about you, she'd tell the truth. But if the truth is what Orphiel claimed it to be, would she even say it?
"Alright, so, let me get this straight," You are snapped back to reality as Lucas speak up. "You got touched by angel, turned into the Merlin, then later they showed up to you, gave a vague warning and peaced out. And now you want to use your hocus pocus to follow up on said vague warning. Is that about right?"
"Err... yeah?"
He blinks a couple times, giving you a half-smile as he folds his arms. "You know... If you said that to literally anybody else, you'd probably be told you were crazy." You grimaced somewhat at that, to which Lucas chuckles a little. "Whatever man. I trust you enough to believe you. I mean, I've seen some shit today so whatever."
"Same here." Sierra nods. "If you think it will help make sure we aren't in danger, then I say go ahead and do it. Just be careful, Medea."
You smile at the two of them. "Thanks, guys." You say. "It means a lot that you trust me."
"Medea, you've been my best friend since middle school. After all we've been through together, how could I not trust you?" Sierra reasoned.
You frown slightly at that. As you recall she didn't trust you enough to tell you what was wrong back when this all started going down, and you had to practically force her to tell you what was wrong back in the old man's cabin. You suppose it she did it to try and protect you, but it still seems like there was a lack of trust then. Of course, it doesn't matter now. What's past is past. You don't have to bring it up to her and start a whole bunch of drama while you're all in danger.
"Anyway, I'm going to do another ritual to ensure this spell works." You explain.
"Are you going to take your shirt off again?" Lucas inquires, eyebrow raised.
You turn to stare at him, giving him a blank look as you stared at him in silence for a few second before commenting with a blunt "No."
He clicks his tongue, a look of disappointment graces his features. "Dammit..."
Sierra's swings her arm in his direction without looking, her hand impacting his gut with a dull 'thump'. Lucas gasps, bending over as his arms quickly cover his belly on reflex. "Pig..." Sierra groans out in annoyance.
"Oh, like you are one to judge..." Lucas wheezed before Sierra punched him in the shoulder. "Ow! The hell, Sierra?!"
"Lucas Abernathy..." She growled through gritted teeth. "Shut. The FUCK. Up."
You sighed and rolled your eyes at the two of them. If you weren't in a life or death situation you'd allow them to continue their antics, but now is not the time. You better get this over with. You hold out your hand, closing your eyes as you do so. You breathe in and out, focusing the power through you. You picture the spell in your mind's eye, imagining what you hoped to accomplished. But it might not be enough, you must ensure this spell will work. There was one way you could do that...
"Michael..." You whisper. "O Archangel of protection, mercy, and justice... Locate and show those that would seek to harm me."
The power courses through you, channeling to the palm of your hand. You see a light emanating from where your hand would be behind you closed eyes. It shines for but a moment before fading gradually until darkness. The sense of power slowly seeps away, the energies retreating back into your body from whence you called it from. Slowly you open you eyes once more...
"Did... it work?" Lucas asks, looking at you a bit worried.
You don't reply just yet, focusing your mind and... you feel... something. It is hard to describe, but you feel a sense of danger. Like your body's natural unconscious ability to detect danger, but turned up to eleven to detect danger that a moment ago it didn't register before. You knew you were in danger, but you also knew you were not in any immediate danger. The danger felt close, but how close you could not say.
"I... think so." You say, unsure. "I get a sense of danger, but I'm not picking up a source of that danger. Just that we are in danger. But, uh, not right away?"
"That's..." Sierra looks at you with an expressive that says she is trying to find the best way to describe her disappointment without hurting your feelings. "Not... very helpful...."
"Sorry..." You mutter apologetically, looking to the ground downcast. "I don't understand how this magic shit works. It isn't like Orphiel gave me a 'Magic For Dummies' book or anything..."
"Definitely should have hooked you up with that wisdom Solomon got as well." Sierra commented. "Probably would be helpful on understanding how it works."
"Maybe just a bit." Lucas nods in agreement. "Although hopefully it involves less chopping babies in half."
"He never chopped a baby in half..." Sierra muttered a correction to her male companion.
"So what now, Medea the White?" Lucas ask, smirking at his little joke.
You shrug. "Get moving, I guess."
You turn from them, facing towards the unblock tunnel of the mine, walking towards it. You had no idea where it would go but you didn't have much in the way of options.
"What if we run into a monster?" Lucas calls to you as you are putting some distance between you and them.
"Then we're fucked. Best not dawdle." Sierra replied, quickly joining your side, soon followed by Lucas as he runs up next to you as well.
The tunnel was pretty straightforward, with no real deviations that could be seen. You walk along the old derelict tracks that had rusted over, keeping an eye on your footing to avoid tripping. You gagged a little as you walked through the tunnel as a foul stench of mildew emanates off the wet stone walls of the mine tunnel. As you walked through the tunnel it seemed to get smaller, as if the tunnel was shrinking. Rocks, stalagmites, and stalactites that had formed over an untold amount of decades appearing in greater frequency as you moved forward through the abandoned mine, forcing Lucas and Sierra to line up behind you just keep going. Eventually you reached the end of the tunnel, happening upon a small chamber.
The chamber was floor, as water was mere inches away from your feet as it pooled up on the ground. You couldn't tell how deep the water was as it was dark and murky. Looking around you saw two paths, one directly ahead of you and the other to the left. You looked over your shoulder to your friends as they lined up behind you, trying to look over you to see into the chamber. Lucas seemed to struggle to peer past you and Sierra, despite his height as he was forced to crouch down somewhat to avoid smacking his head. Sierra, peered at the water nervously, her stare never wavering from it as you notice her hands balling into fists. Briefly you wonder what could make her react this way, but you probably figured she was just worried about how deep it might be. You once heard that cave rivers were practically death traps, so if this pool of water was anywhere as deep you could be in real trouble.
Still, you need to keep moving and decided to...
[ ] Keep going forward.
[ ] Go down the tunnel to you left.
[ ] Go back.
-[ ] Go up the ladder.
-[ ] Go through the blocked tunnel
[ ] Cast a spell - Write In (Secondary action may be taken)
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