Timothy Eli and the Light Guard Trials

Sub-Chapter 8: A Sinner's Last Stand

Pete wrestled the uniform off of the unconscious guard as we waited impatiently. He dusted off the soot and put them on.

“They’re a little baggy,” Sai responded with a chuckle.

“Oh, okay,” Pete said inflating himself like a balloon. “How’s it now?”

I gave him a thumbs up as we all reconvened.

“No matter what, stick to the plan,” Pete said cautiously.

As he spoke I noticed a large vent on the wall. I hesitated before pulling out my map again. I tapped the map zooming in on the ventilation system and paused for second to take it all in.

“Pete take a look at this,” I replied calling him over.

He kneeled down with the lion style helmet of the Hannochs’ still on.

“Can you take that thing off?” I ordered annoyed. “That thing gives me the creeps.”

“Oh, sorry,” Pete replied apologetically taking the helmet off. “So…what’s up?”

“You see these vents they run throughout the whole base,” I pointed out as he nodded.

“So what, are you thinking of using them?” he replied with an inquisitive look.

“Yeah, Sai, Sam and I can you use them,” I replied. “It runs clear across the bridge but it still gives us the ability to keep an eye on you guys and give you support if you run into any trouble.”

Pete inspected the map nodding in agreement.

“I didn’t see that. Good idea,” he replied. “But, it has a couple of detours that’ll take you out of the way and you’ll temporarily lose us…but that’s actually a good thing, you see this check in, if you guys can take out the post center than we should be able to stroll to the bridge with no resistance. It practically saves us the trouble of having to hit it head on, which was probably going to be the hardest part of our plan.”

“Just doing my job,” I replied sarcastically.

“What job?” Eve replied.

“The Job of saving our butts, haven’t you been paying attention,” I replied flippantly.

“Hey, no bragging, it’s…I don’t know…lame?” Eve replied playfully bopping me in the head.

I smiled as they made their way to the door.

“I’ll see you guys on the other side,” Pete replied turning to leave.

He grabbed Eve and placed her hands behind her back. Jadon and Aurielle followed suit restraining Beth.

“We’re depending on you guys, don’t let us down,” Jadon replied as they disappeared out the door.

We nodded as we made our way over to the vent.  It was high up in the corner of the wall. I grabbed a nearby table and cautiously pushed it over trying my best not to make too much noise then climbed on top of it.

“Sam, you think you can use your light energy to get us in,” I replied looking down at him. “That is your elemental affinity, right?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like faith energy. It’s electricity. I can’t use it like a blow torch. Especially seeing as in this realm we can only control elements at about five percent of our normal capacity. I don’t know if I can do it,” he replied trying to power himself up.

He was right. Whenever he tried to get a steady torch it would just spark then send an electric current throughout his whole body. I grunted frustrated then inspected my utility pouches and backpack before I stumbled across a hunting knife.