(TPOR) Chapter 124: The Engine Room (Patreon)

Zed was walking down a white and serene hallway. Beside him, Oliver followed in silence. He spared Zed a glance every now and again but said nothing. Whatever worried him, he did his best to keep it behind sealed lips. Their inquisition with Daniel had gone as smoothly as could be expected. Aside the hiccups where it had seemed like Zed was going to try his mettle against a Rukh rank mage one more time, the rest had gone without any problems.

Oliver was surprised to find himself relieved when Daniel confirmed that Zed was not a blood mage. Apparently, he had none of the affinity for blood magic. But Oliver’s relief wasn’t complete. He knew what Daniel had said but he’d also heard the story of what had happened between Zed and Abed from Ash. In her narration, Zed had met all the characteristics of blood madness. And there were only two ways to get blood madness. One was a specific ritual designed to harness the power of blood magic, from what he had heard, which takes a good while to set up. The other was to be a blood mage.

Oliver was not convinced that Zed had gotten the time to set up a complex ritual of blood magic. But as much as it bothered him, something else bothered him more.

The hallway they walked curved and they followed its path easily. Zed strolled with the casual abandon of a man walking in his home. If Oliver didn’t know better, he would say Zed was comfortable here. From Zed’s hand, the axe Oliver believed he had gotten from using his only spellform on Abed swung carelessly. While he held it, Oliver could feel the effect of the ranked weapon on Zed’s aura. He felt more like a mage determined to crush his enemies underfoot.

When he had met Zed all those months ago, Zed’s aura had been off, strange. Zed had been a category one Beta mage but is aura had felt scattered, as if patched together from different other auras. It had felt like a chimera. Ivan always said a mage’s aura was very much like a reflection of a mage’s mind. No matter how strong an aura was, a mage with a weak will had little to no control over it. It might not be as visible to those weaker than the mage, but their peers and those that were stronger would see it like a bloodstain on white cloth.

The one thing that had remained consistent in Zed’s aura from day one, however, had been its weight. It had always been heavier than the average mage’s aura. At category one it had felt almost as heavy as Ash’s. It had been concentrated, almost pure. It had the same weight to it now, but something was off about it. If he was to explain it, he would say it felt incomplete. The dissonance it had possessed once upon a time was mostly gone. It felt like a more natural aura now and Oliver attributed that to Zed having gotten his memories back.

“Does it jiggle when I walk?”

Oliver started at Zed’s words.

“What?” he asked, confused only to realize he’d fallen a step or two behind Zed.

“It’s nothing serious,” Zed said. “I was just wondering if the pants make me look fat.”

Oliver’s brows narrowed in confusion. “What’s happening here?”

Zed shrugged. “Just two bros walking down a hallway,” he said innocently.

Olive shook his head and continued forward. When he passed Zed, Zed followed after him until they walking side by side once more.

“So what’s next for you?” Oliver asked as they walked, taking a left turn. Zed led their journey. The hallway continued to curve as another path showed up on their right, making a T-junction.

Zed took it without hesitation.

“Well,” he said. “The VHF are gathering red heads so I was thinking I’d follow these guys to their headquarters and see what that’s about.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Not really. If I’m being honest, there’s nothing left for me here. It was fun while it lasted but…” Zed shook his head as his words trailed off. “Who am I kidding, it was horrible while it lasted. I will miss Cindy, though. Who’ll style my hair when I’m gone.”

“I’m guessing you will,” Oliver said. “Or someone else will.”

Zed snorted in amusement. “Poor Ollie. You have to understand that there’s nothing like the bond between a man and his hair stylist. It’s so strong that the man could watch the world burn if it meant protecting their stylist.”

Oliver stared at Zed in confusion. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was going on about. Besides, his once long hair was quite short now. It needed a trim here and there to even out the edges. It was easy to tell he’d lost most of its length to fire. Oliver could still see the black signs of burn marks at the edges of the auburn strands.

Zed paused at another intersection and Oliver almost ran into him.

“Hey, you,” Zed called out cheerily. He waved at the new pathway before going into it.

Oliver followed after him.

He turned the corner and stopped in his tracks. A few paces ahead of them a woman stood with a man. The man had a Mexican, perhaps Hispanic look to him. He was easily Oliver’s height, maybe taller by an inch. His skin was slightly bronze from time under the sun and he had a face that was accustomed to smiling. He looked no older than Oliver. But the lady was the reason he had paused.

She had a deepest black hair Oliver had ever seen and she wore it up in a ponytail. From the distance he couldn’t see her eyes and couldn’t bring himself to care to. She had the easy look of someone whose beauty was a gift from their genes. She wouldn’t make it on the cover of model magazines with the absence of make up. Still, her beauty was no less enthralling. Like the man standing beside her, she wore combat pants and a deep grey shirt with long sleeves.

She watched Zed with a frown as he approached her.

Zed gestured at his hair as he approached her.

“I like what you did with the hair,” he said. “I’ve just got one question, though. Do you hold it up like that when you’re in the armor or does the helmet have enough space for you to let it flow?”

“I let it flow,” she answered easily. “But the helmet kind of twists it up for me, if that makes sense.”

Zed tapped a thoughtful finger to his jaw. “Not really, but I’ll take it.”

Oliver’s steps had regained some level of consciousness and he made his way to Zed and his new companions.

“Ah, where are my manners,” Zed said excitedly, turning to Oliver. “This is my good friend Andre, but everyone calls him Oliver because he refuses to answer to Andre. My guess is that he doesn’t like the name.” He turned back to the lady and the man. “Andre meet Jessica and her step brother Cabuella.”

The man and woman stared at Zed in confusion. It was enough to tell Oliver everything he needed to know. He reached his hand out to the woman.

“My name is Oliver,” he said as she shook it. “May I have yours?”

“Ronda,” she answered.

Zed gasped beside Oliver. “And here I thought you trusted me.”

Oliver nodded along with his words. Turning to the man, he offered him his now free hand. “And you are?”

“Cabuella,” the man said.

Zed’s jaw dropped. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, but everyone just calls me Kid.”

“You’re the guy with the utility belt,” Zed said with a touch of excitement. “Can I get one?”

“No,” Ronda said. “It comes only with the armor.”

“You do know it’s not really a utility belt, right?” Kid said. “Not like batman’s in the comics.”

Zed shrugged. “Yup, but it’s the next best thing. When I was a kid I always wanted a cape, like the marvel wizard. The kind that has a mind of its own and all that.”

“Uhhh… what does that have to do with the utility belt?” Kid asked.

“What utility belt?”

“We were just talking about a utility belt.”

“Oh, that utility belt.” Zed dismissed the subject with a casual gesture. “I’m over it. Do you guys have capes, though. What I would give for a good cape.”

Ronda turned to Oliver.

“Yes,” Oliver said before she could speak. “He’s always like this. I’ve learned it’s a good sign when you have no idea what he’s talking about.”

Zed turned to him with a satisfied smirk. “Jokes on you. You always know what I’m talking about.”

“That’s because I speak Zed now,” Oliver said. “On to more important matters,” he continued, turning to Ronda. “Any update on the conversation with my sister and her map?”

“You’ll have to talk with our captain. And since Ven is…” Ronda frowned. “Daniel’s our captain for now. Until there’s an update from HQ. Talk to him.”

“Do I also talk to him about getting a lift from you guys?” Zed asked.

“Where you headed?” Kid asked.

Zed’s response was an easy shrug. “Where you headed?”

Kid turned to Oliver.

“What?” Oliver asked.

“Why’s he asking me the same question I’m asking him?”

“How am I supposed to know? It’s not like I speak Ze—god damnit.” Oliver sighed and looked at Zed. He raised a warning finger at him. “This is not going to be a thing.”

Zed took Oliver’s hand in both of his and lowered it. “Sorry to break it to you, Ollie, but it’s already a thing. Just tell the nice man what he wants to know.”

Oliver turned back to Kid, knowing that arguing would simply be a waste of time.

“He’s asking because he intends on following you guys,” he said.

“You want to join the VHF?” Ronda asked Zed, skeptical.

“If I say no, do I get a ride?”

“No.”

“Then yes. It would be an honor to be one of you guys.”

Ronda turned to Oliver. “Is that a no or a yes?”

Oliver shook his head. “No, this is not happening. Nope. Not at all.”

Beside him Zed started chuckling.

“So he’s not serious?” Ronda asked.

“No, I am not going along with this,” he turned and started walking away from them. “I’m not going to play Zed whisperer.”

“But you do it so well,” Zed called after him. “Don’t be like that. Is it because of the name. Alright, I promise I’ll stop telling people your name is Andre.”

Zed hurried after Oliver as he spoke.

“Just how many people have you been giving false names to?” Oliver asked. “I don’t even look like an Andre.”

“And I don’t look like a priest but there we have it.”

“What does that even mean?”

Zed sighed. “You know this interpreter thing isn’t going to work if you don’t understand the things I say. Are we going to have to have a talk about this?”

“Zed.”

“Yes, Ollie.”

“I am not your interpreter.”

……………………………….

Ronda watched Zed and Oliver go. They stopped at the intersection to the hallway that led to the engine room exchanging a few words. After a while, Zed pointed right, said something she didn’t catch, then headed left. Oliver followed in exasperation.

“So that was an odd conversation,” Kid said from beside her.

“An odd conversation from an odd man,” she agreed. “He didn’t even finish what he was asking.”

“Does it matter? If he decides to come with us to HQ, Daniel won’t turn him down. We still get rewards for finding red heads. It doesn’t matter if they join or not.”

“Yeah,” Ronda agreed. “But for now, I’m more concerned with why he’s going to the engine room.”

“Wait, that’s the way to the engine room?” Kid asked, confused. He turned to look behind him. “Then where does that lead?”

Ronda looked behind him. The hallway stretched further down before splitting into two paths. None of them led to the engine room. So she looked up at Kid.

“You didn’t memorize the blueprints for the aircraft as we were instructed to, did you?”

Kid did his best not to make eye contact.

…………………………..

“Well, that’s a bust,” Zed muttered.

“Engine room,” Oliver read. They were both infront of a door with a caution sign in front of it. Just beneath the sign was another warning. He read it generously. “Keep out.”

“Yeah,” Zed said.

“So what are we doing at the engine room? Don’t tell me you’re planning on sabotaging the place.”

“What? Of course not. I was looking for something to eat.”

“I thought you knew where you were going?”

“How am I supposed to know where I’m going, Ollie? I just woke up.”

“But you looked so confident. You didn’t even hesitate.”

“I’m always confident, Ollie. You of all people should know that by now. Anyway,” Zed turned around and started walking again, “let’s get back. This is clearly not the way.”

His steps were confident, his strides purposeful. It was all the red flag Oliver needed to take the lead as Zed marched on.

“There’s no way I’m letting you get us lost.”

“We’re not lost, Ollie,” Zed said, allowing Oliver take the lead. “We’er clearly at the engine room.”