YP – B3: QtnoWLM – Chapter 19 (Chapter 116)

178 Days Until Horror And the Uncertain End   

Zeydar huffed to himself, trying to keep his breathing as stable as Heia and Evester and failing. Heia once more shot him a glare telling him to be quiet, but then caught herself before looking away. Zeydar knew that he was a weak link in the group, especially with his lack of ability. She knew it too, which was why she couldn’t reprimand him. They had to try, and he just needed to try harder. Even if his head was spinning.

“Do you feel anything?” Evester asked once more as they got closer. This time Zeydar had an answer.

“Yes.” Zeydar tried not to alert the mages that they were approaching. There were too many of them for it to be a consequence. “Mages everywhere.”

After the talks had started and more teams had gotten in, it had been clear that it was Circles and Stars paying X’s to kidnap people. What for, they were not sure. Where they were being held? No one knew. As Evester, Heia, and Evester tried to sneak around the city, masking themselves in shadows, they headed to find a location to wait out the signal and destruction of the city. 

The destruction no one was certain was coming. Not when All three groups were in on the operation.

Heia had hope that the X army would respond, and that the Mages would destroy any trace, to protect themselves. She didn’t want it to become an international issue. Not when they had to make sure the world survived. Even if it infuriated her to admit, Zeydar figured. The issue was getting true incriminating evidence. And with the radio silence Zeydar was not sure where Evester planned to take them. 

Slipping past a door the three moved into a building, hoping it could be where they could wait out the remainder of the day, instead to find a gutted store room filled. Filled in a way that made Zeydar do a double take. Before Heia could make a sound, Evester grabbed her and pulled her behind a cabinet. Zeydar cast a spell around them and breathed out a hiss.

The room was filled with bodies of children, children who were kept in cages for some purpose. They were not being properly fed, from the looks of it, not that Zeydar was sure anyone could be out this far. It meant that their stores were more filled than they were expecting. Their supplies would be adequately replenished, but…

“What is this?” Heia forced Evester off of her, voicing Zeydar’s own question.

“Holding cells?” Evester suggested.

“We need to go.” Zeydar was not sure how long they could stay in that room without being noticed. The longer they were there, the more likely he’d panic and he could not panic. If he panicked, everything could fail.

“Where? We need to—“

“Heia.” Zeydar shot her a glare. “We can not help them. Not right now. Not today. We can not compromise the mission right now.”

“I know that but we need to make sure they are okay.”

“They are fine.” Zeydar wasn’t sure it were the case, but he did know he needed them to leave. He could feel his control slipping. “Lets find a safe place to wait this out and then we can figure out what to do from there.” 

“Let’s.” Evester got back to his feet. After a moment Heia did as well and they walked back from where they had come, sneaking past X’s who entered after them. As the door to the building shut, Zeydar could hear the screams echoing, reverberating in his mind like the screams he’d heard before.

He agreed with Heia. They needed to save the children. Just not yet. He couldn’t do it yet.

Hands open and shut, Zeydar focused on the magic he could feel, the better control he had now. It was thicker, easier to maneuver. He could change much for them. He would change much for them. Just, he needed to do it when they were supposed to. Save them when they had others coming. He couldn’t keep them alive in the wilderness, and his mind was too… He had to keep his team alive for the night.

“At least we have our evidence.” Evester sighed.

“Now we have to use it.” Heia agreed.

And the world had to listen.

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