Ascension of the elder

Chapter 80: Second guessing

"That's it let's head home."

Kyle reactivated his 'illusion' before leading the way to where 'shadow hand' and the kids were waiting. After meeting up they headed out of the zone while avoiding the roving guard patrols but it wasn't like this was difficult even with a group as large as theirs had become because stupidly the guard teams were walking around with lanterns showing their locations.

After they had returned to the slum district Kyle called a halt and had everyone circle around him as he needed to organise what to do.

"Okay how many of you know where you parents are?"

With this all but five had put up their hands Theo amongst them while Chad didn't raise his hand. Seeing that the problem would be smaller than he originally feared Kyle thought for a moment before he spoke to Ash.

"Did we get any gold from the warehouse?"

"Yes sir around 1000 pieces."

"Good give each of the children returning to their parents 20 pieces. Kids you can't tell anyone about us just say you were saved by a group called the 'shadow hand' can you do that?"

All the children assented when they heard Kyle's question so he quickly divided the gold and gave the kids their shares. While this was going on a couple of the kids who didn't know where their parents were began to become nervous, finally one of them couldn't hold it anymore and asked.

"Excuse me sir what will happen to me?"

Hearing this the others perked up their ears as they wanted to know their fate as well. As orphans they had been abused and seen the worst and this was the first time someone had extended a hand to help them. While Chad had his sister and wasn't in as bad a condition as the others he had seen things so he feared for them as well. Kyle looked towards them with his face still concealed but spoke with a reassuring voice.

"Don't worry you'll come with us and we'll take care of you until you're old enough to choose what you want to do for yourselves."

The kids thought about this but it couldn't be much worse than they had already suffered so they would give it a shot and if the worst comes to pass they could always run. Finally the dividing of the coins was completed and Kyle wanted to get home.

"Okay One you and your men get these kids home, everyone else let's get back we need to stop worrying everyone."

They began to rush back with the 'death watch' carrying the other kids while Kyle ran in his larger form while they stuck to the shadows and alleys. Reaching the estate Kyle felt he could let his 'illusion' drop. The kids who saw this were amazed while Chad was awestruck. While Chad wanted to rush over and talk to Kyle he was stopped by Ash who was still watching Kyle with worry creasing his brow still.

They weren't stopped once the guards saw Kyle leading them and they made it back to the mansion just as One and his men caught up to them. On entering the mansion they were surprised to see the rest of the household was still up and waiting for them.

Seeing they had returned everyone began to cheer and laugh while Kyle just shrunk away from this life and light and managed to slink away in the direction of the infirmary as he wanted to check on Elena before he turned in. Once the adrenaline and combat high he had during the combat and the subsequent escape had passed, he began to think about his actions and if he could have done anything different. The truth was he believed he had done what was necessary one to introduce the world to 'shadow hand' as some kind of bogey man and two to try and prevent the same thing happening again at least in his family's area of control.

Reaching the infirmary a tired Kyle moved towards Elena to check her condition but was accosted by the guardsman and his wife.

"Sir how's my boy if he okay?" The guardsman asked while his wife was close on his heels with fear and expectation on her face.

"He's fine they should be here in a minute or two I just wanted to check on Elena before they got here."

Hearing Kyle's response the guardsman and his wife hugged and began to cry. Kyle decided not to intrude and quickly inspected Elena before he left. She was fine although it appeared she wouldn't wake up until later tomorrow now.

Kyle left once he was satisfied and took a more roundabout route to the second floor and his bedroom. He couldn't explain why but he wanted to be alone for the moment so he could properly dissect what he had done. In this current life and his past he had never killed anyone and he had never been in any form of military so he didn't have the training to deal with something like this. Plus the actions he took with the torture and desecration to get information and to make a point respectively weighed heavily on his sensibilities.

Children in this world are taught early they need to do whatever is necessary as such the cost of a life is low but this memory and attitude was at odds with Kyle's feelings and it created a sense of discord within him.

Once he reached his bedroom Kyle cultivated for a little while so he could calm down a little. For others cultivation is some strange mystic practice which requires the correct mindset to progress or to even begin, but for Kyle it was merely a process of storing and using energy even if there were still some mystical parts to it. By focusing on this process Kyle was able to drop his thoughts and fears for a while and solely directed his attention to this.

After a little while Kyle came out from his cultivation before showering and brushing his teeth so he could go to bed. Even though he hadn't eaten this evening he didn't feel hungry and even the thought of food made him feel nauseous.

Lying on his back Kyle closed his eyes and unlike other days he didn't try to plan the next day or what objectives he wished to achieve. Instead when he closed his eyes he began to see the faces off the men he had killed that night.

The faces where screaming at him and gradually they began to surround him. Two figures stepped out and began to move slowly towards him. The first had an open wound in his chest with blood continuously flowing out from it, the figures face was covered by a towel dripping with water. This figure didn't speak but instead it made chocking and sputtering sounds while it occasionally twitched and shuddered.

The other figure was more far more gruesome, it was the boss of the gang and like the other figure it had a wound in its chest but rather than having a towel over its face instead the stomach was sliced open. The intestines and other organs had spilled out and were being dragged behind it as it approached.

As the crowd of figures approached Kyle began to be scared and crouched down before a murmur was heard. Gradually it grew louder and he began to hear words being spoken.

"Join us, join us." They repeated over and over until Kyle wanted nothing more than to scream but nothing he did could produce any noise.

As they approached the faces of the crowd began to change, he saw the faces of those in his household and his parents, people he had noticed as he walked through the city and others he didn't know but somehow felt familiar. The faces changed constantly but they always marched forward getting closer and closer while diminishing the area around him to nothing but darkness.

The figures were finally within reach of him and one of their cold dead hands finally gripped his shoulder. Finally Kyle screamed out only to find a terrified Miranda retreating from him with a tray in her hands. Kyle sat up as it appeared it was only a dream but it showed that as calm as he usually was this was just too much to deal with in a short space of time. He put his head in his hands and tried to calm down. As he was still breathing heavily he was surprisingly embraced by a warm and comforting feeling.

Miranda had got over her initial shock at Kyle's scream and seeing him in distress did the only thing she could think of which was to hug him like her mother did for her. Kyle was a little embarrassed being comforted by someone he could only see as a child but he was thankful never the less.

"Thank you Miranda I'm fine now." Kyle said looking at Miranda who was bright red but who also had bloodshot eyes. It looked as though seeing Kyle in pain had caused her a great deal of pain herself.

"Yes sir, I brought some soup if you would like. I'll leave it over here for you if you want it." Saying her piece she retreated from the room leaving Kyle with his thoughts.

"I no good at this."