1141 Chapter 126- Talia – Soul Projecting Part 2 (VOLUME 6)
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Talia
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Finally, my flight through the blurry cosmos came to an end. I didn’t land, not really. I just sort of came to a stop and stood in front of the place that I had been intending to go. This was how it usually went when I traveled long distances. If I didn’t have a destination in mind, I would have had to walk the entire way. And that was fine when I was just exploring the forest around the castle. It was not good when you needed to travel hundreds of miles away.
The place that I was facing looked a lot like what Mr. Dolan had described. I could see the opening to the caves in the distance, mostly hidden behind a large boulder that had been pushed in front of it. I could tell that this wasn’t where the boulder had been before.
In my honest opinion, that man, Orson, was an idiot. It was blatantly obvious that this place had been used recently, and that the boulder had been moved at least fifty feet. The trail that it left on the ground was easy to see, and I just couldn’t imagine what they were thinking, if they were even thinking at all.
“I am here.” I said out loud, hoping that my body was responding to my soul. “I see where they moved the boulder to block the entrance. It was easy to see.” Of course, I wouldn’t be able to hear the others back at the castle. That would have been impossible. “I am going to go inside now, to see if they are still there.”
There was no need to hesitate or take things slow. I knew that there was almost no human in the world that could detect me. There were some though, that I knew for a fact, but they were rare. Like that Dr. Brown from California. She had seen me take the soul out of a corpse, and she had seen the soul. She had the gift of sight. I was sure that she would have been able to see me. However, there weren’t many that could do it.
The boulder was only partially blocking the opening to the cave, and even though I could have walked through the boulder, I didn’t like doing that. Instead, I moved in a way that would have allowed me to fit through the s.p.a.ce between the cave wall and the boulder. It was more comfortable for me that way. Mentally at least.
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The first thing that I noticed on the ground was hundreds of sets of footprints. The second thing that I noticed on the ground, was about six dead bodies that were scattered not far from the entrance. The blood had long since soaked into the ground, they had definitely been dead for a while.
“What the h.e.l.l?” I looked at the bodies in shock and disgust. “There are six dead bodies here at the cave entrance. They look like they were shot in the back as they were running away. Why would that man, Orson, do this to his own people? Does he have no respect for them at all?” My heart ached for these people. They might not deserve my pity, but they didn’t deserve to be shot in the back that way either. They had been running away from someone or something when they were killed.
I had to step past them, and even though I knew that the blood on the ground wouldn’t affect me, not usually, I made sure that I stepped around it. I had been on a soul projecting last year, when the Jaegan sent the vision to me. At that time, I had come back covered in blood and needed to be taken to the shower by Alexio. I hadn’t been able to stop screaming in fear at that time. I was in complete shock.
Yes, it was best to avoid the blood, just to be on the safe side. Stepping past the dead bodies and the blood, I walked further inside the caves. The place seemed to be deserted. There were no people, no furniture, no sign that they were using this place for anything at all. Aside from the footprints and the dead bodies, there was no sign of actual usage of the cave at all.
Still, I needed to keep looking. I had to see if they left anything behind. There had to be proof of something. This couldn’t all be for nothing.
“I am searching the rest of the cave now. I will make sure that I don’t miss anything. If there is something here, I will find it.” I was narrating what I was doing for the benefit of the others. At least I hoped that it was for their benefit. I didn’t know if they were able to hear me or not.
“The main part of the cave, the big open cavern past the entry tunnel, is completely empty. There is nothing here, not even a sc.r.a.p of paper or shred of clothing. I am going to follow the other tunnels now.” I told them and magically, I was able to see even in the dark. That was something that I always found to be helpful. Ever since Mr. Amadeus taught me this trick, I use it to light up the dark for me when I am on these excursions of mine.
There looked to be four tunnels that branched off from the main cavern. I started on the far left, planning to make my way to the right. The first tunnel led to a small rounded cavern that was barely big enough for me to turn around in, there was nothing and no one hiding in there.
Moving on toward the next tunnel in line, I saw that this one was longer with two branches on either side. The left branch ended in a dead end,, while the right one circled back around to the main cavern. It was the third tunnel that branched off from the main cavern.
There was only one tunnel left for me to search. I wasn’t going to hold my breath though. This place was not that big. Then again, how did they get so many people in here if it wasn’t that big? I knew that the DOE had hundreds if not thousands of members, how did they all fit in here?
The fourth and final tunnel was longer and led much further in. I followed it for at least fifty feet before it branched out into a larger opening than the original cavern. This part of the cave was huge and, for lack of a better word, cavernous. The place would have had no problem fitting at least a thousand people. There were natural formations all around that made for seats as well. It was quite the amazing find, but not the most comfortable.
I searched the entire cavern that I was in now, there were only two other tunnels that led off of this s.p.a.ce. And there was evidence that the others had been here as well. For one thing, I saw two more dead bodies. That man must have shot them here before the others started to run away from him. They had run from here through the tunnels toward the opening, but they hadn’t made it in time. He had got to them, and he had killed them all.
“Eight total dead so far. There is blood all over this room as well. Whatever happened, the man went crazy. He is clearly not in his right mind.” I told the others back at the castle. “He kills people without thinking about it, that is a dangerous man.”
I knew that I needed to check the two tunnels that led off this cavern, but I needed to check every detail here as well. I needed to make sure that I didn’t miss anything at all. I looked at the ground, the ceiling of the cave, the walls, everything, but there was nothing to see.
The first tunnel that I checked, also to the left, ended in a small area like the other one that I had found. It was another dead end, but they had used it for their latrine. For however long they had been here, the people had p.i.s.sed and s.h.i.+t in this tiny little area. I was immensely happy that I could block my senses when I was just my soul. Otherwise, with my heightened wolf senses, I might have vomited when the stench hit me. As it was, I shut off my second shot of smell the moment that the smell became noticeable.
The other tunnel that led off from this area was short and opened into a moderate sized s.p.a.ce. This was the first piece of furniture that I had seen in here. That and a battery powered light that was almost dead laying on its side. This area had been set up to look much like an office. There was a map on the wall and a desk in the middle of the ‘room’.
I walked toward the desk, but there were no papers there. They hadn’t been here long enough for that. Walking to the cave wall where there was a map, I saw that there was a red dot that clearly marked Colorado Springs. And all around it, there were stab and slash marks. Written above the red dot and slashes were red letters that were written in a very unstable hand. ‘SOON’ was written in what looked like blood. It wasn’t the red of the marker that had dotted the city, this was blood that the deranged Orson had gotten from the men that he had killed.
The sight of the map on the wall made my blood run cold. Seeing it made me feel like the man was still here in this cave, his knife and gun still in hand. And I could imagine that he was snarling and frothing at the mouth. He would look feral, rabid, and very crazy. He would have pale and sallow skin, wiry hair, and just the sight of him would scare little children. I could see it all clearly in my mind’s eye, even though he wasn’t here. He was that crazy, and he was after my people, my family, my city.
“We need to stop him, Mom. We can’t let him do whatever it is that he is planning.”
I knew that my time here in the cave was done. I needed to go home. I had to get out of there and back to my body. I closed my eyes again and reached out ethereally. I reached for my body and sensed it in the distance. No matter how far away from my body I would travel, I could always find home because the body calls for the soul.
Feeling that strong connection to my body, I let it pull me back like a rubber band snapping into place. Traveling home was always quicker than going somewhere else. It was almost instantaneous. I barely needed to see any of those dizzying blurs that always seemed so disconcerting when traveling to a different location. This was like just waking up from a dream, it was that fast.
“Talia?” I heard Alexio call out to me as I opened my eyes.
“I am back, Lex. There is nothing to worry about.” The relief was clear in his eyes when he heard me speak. “Were you all able to hear me? Did you hear about what I found?” I asked as Rudy helped me into a sitting position.
I could tell already, judging by the looks on their faces. They had all heard what I said. They all seemed to be somber and worried. They knew what was happening already. Still, Mom answered me.
“We heard.” Her voice was thick and filled with worry. “That man is unstable. I don’t know why he is the way that he is, but I have a hard time believing that it is just because of us. I mean, how could all of this come about just because we’re not human? How could this set him off so much? How?” I knew how she felt. I was the one that had been there, I was the one that had seen what he had done. I knew for myself that he was insane and that he was after us.
Mom knew it too though. She was the one that had been dealing with this man since he started to threaten us last year. He was the reason for everything that was happening. If only he had let it go, if he hadn’t threatened us after the Jaegan incident, then we would all be fine. No, he was definitely unstable and needed to be dealt with.
“Mom?” I called out to her, hoping to settle her nerves a little.
“Yes, sweetheart?” She gave me a smile and tried to hide what she was really thinking. Those that weren’t used to her expressions might have been fooled, but I wasn’t.
“We will get him. I know that we will. We won’t let him hurt anyone else. I will help you. We will all help you.” I made the solemn promise to her, knowing that I needed to follow through with it no matter what.