7

I don't have a plan.

It's pretty stupid, honestly.

I have absolutely no defense against two fully grown Gloom Dwellers - much less one that seems capable of reason and communication. I should just have stayed hidden and left the whole class of exorcists in training to deal with what was supposed to be their job anyway.

But here I am.

Walking away from the protection of the group to give Flynn and Amelia a chance to free everyone and escape.

I'm scrambling desperately for some kind of answer.

Some way to not die.

But I'm not a quick thinker or a clever tactician, I don't have any hidden skills I've been keeping from my fellow students, and I'm not paranoid enough to set up things in advance.

I can't think of anything.

Other than buying time.

That's all.

Buy time.

And...then what?

There's really no 'then what'.

There's barely a 'buy time', because I don't know this island, and I can only bluff so long that I know where I'm going.

I still take them as far away as I can.

"...What are you waiting for?" The humanoid asks. His eyes glimmer dangerously as he waits.

My back is exposed.

The two creatures are at the ready.

They could strike me dead at any moment.

I feel an almost sickening sensation roll down my spine.

I turn around slowly, trying to pretend as if I'm confident and collected. "What am I waiting for? My fellow students to have gotten far enough away from where you found them that you won't know where they are anymore."

I have to admit...it's strange.

Watching my life flash before my eyes...

Everything I've experienced. All my childhood in isolation and sadness. All my classes and lectures on being an exorcist and nothing else.

And now, standing here and facing death at the hands of my natural enemy.

Oh well.

My life wasn't ever worth anything anyway.

"How insolent." The humanoid says, voice dripping with contempt. "If you wanted to be eaten first you could have asked without all this time wasting."

He takes a step closer, and I stumble backward a step.

Not from any conscious thought - my feet just instinctively moved to keep distance between myself and something threatening.

I feel like an ant confronted with an elephant.

There's nothing I can do.

Nothing I can think of that would possibly help.

I've bought as much time as I can.

I've exhausted the only option I could think of.

...I really wish I were asleep right now.

The spidergloom hovers around the man, shifting anxiously side to side, as if uncertain what to do.

The human-like one reaches out a hand, and then the thick, sticky webbing extends from his fingertips, rushing forth straight towards my body.

I curl inwards instinctively and raise a hand as if to shield myself.

As if that would somehow magically save me.

I expect to feel...something.

Sticky webbing, energy draining, some kind of stabbing sensation.

I don't feel anything.

I hear a grunt of...what might be surprise, before I open eyes I hadn't realized I'd closed.

My eyes open and fall on a sight I've seen all my life: The Gloom.

Thick, dense, gooey, and sticky...it swirls around me, pulsing and quiet.

I get the feeling it's waiting on something.

But what?

The man stares at me in total confusion, but it doesn't take long for his face to turn to anger.

His features twist, and he curls his fingers, the Gloom that hovers near my hand trembles.

"What-" The humanoid grits his teeth. "What is this?!"

I stare at my hand, where the Gloom has suddenly responded to me.

What...

What is this?

I have spirit powers?

I?

Me?

Caden McLaren?

Who didn't pass a single lesson and didn't bother learning anything because I never intended to leave the basement of the Order headquarters?

This is crazy.

But I want to live, and it's all I've got.

I don't understand it.

But if it gives me a chance not to die...

I don't need to understand it.

I only have to think about it and the Gloom in front of me swirls and knits itself into a shield.

"What are you?" The man snaps at me. "What kind of trick is this?"

The spidergloom shoots a web of Gloom at me.

It also freezes, reshapes itself into a shield, and bashes the spidergloom.

"Don't you know exorcists have special abilities?" I ask.

Apparently I am one of those.

Somehow.

Despite my tainted blood.

"Don't insult me!" The 'man' snarls. "What are you?!"

His anger and frustration echo all throughout his form. The Gloom around his feet flicker and rise up in rage, coiling up like snakes.

For a moment, I hesitate.

But if this Gloom reacts to my own power...

Then maybe it'll do what I want.

I stare down at it and focus on forming a spike of Gloom.

A tendril of Gloom leaps into action, launching straight into the humanoid creature.

The Gloom Dweller cries out and lurches back in shock, gripping at his torso.

Black ooze seeps over his fingers and he coughs. "What are you?!"

He can ask me that as many times as he wants.

I still don't have an answer for him.

But I do have a weapon.

The same Gloom they use, as much as they use against me, I can turn right back on them.

He makes a wild grasp at the air, and a number of threads of Gloom shoot at me.

I hold up my hand, and sure enough it all stops again.

The threads meant to catch me become a rain of deadly needles on the spidergloom.

He lets out an unholy screech and wails.

That must mean he feels pain.

It's the first real clue I've gained about them in years of schooling with them.

He screams with every needle the Gloom I've stolen from him delivers. "Master!"

The human-like one reaches out for a moment to try to help the spidergloom. His gestures do nothing.

With an angry glare, he apparently decides not to take any more chances, and skitters off into the darkness with alarming speed.

It's gone.

And the spidergloom...

...It's dead.

All that remains is a husk of the spider thing on the ground, motionless and empty.

Which just leaves the one remaining humanoid Gloom Dweller who ran away.

I'm alone now, except for the corpse of a Gloom Dweller, and...a mountain of questions.

...I need to find my classmates.