The Binding Vow of Lazarus

Chapter 5

“We’ll meet up in the morning,” Suguru said quietly, breaking the silence, "We need to figure out a new plan.”

Satoru nodded, though his mind was already turning over different possibilities. Shoko gave them both a weary smile, her frustration evident.

“Yeah, tomorrow morning,” she agreed, “Let’s get some rest.”

They reached the point where their paths diverged, Suguru turning towards the boys’ dorms while Shoko headed in the direction of the girls’ quarters. Suguru paused, glancing back at Satoru as if expecting him to follow.

“You coming?” he asked, his voice tinged with curiosity.

Satoru hesitated, a small hint of guilt twisting in his stomach. He had to lie to them, but he consoled himself with the fact that it was only a partial lie. There wasn’t a way to get past that checkpoint barrier, at least not by conventional means. But Satoru Gojo wasn’t one to be stopped by conventions.

“You go on ahead,” Satoru replied, trying to keep his tone casual, “I’ll catch up in a bit.”

Suguru gave him a long look, a flicker of suspicion in his dark eyes, but he didn’t press the issue. He shrugged, muttering a simple “Alright,” before continuing on his way. Satoru watched him disappear into the distance, waiting until he was sure Suguru was out of sight.

Then, with a determined set to his jaw, Satoru turned back toward the headquarters building. His pace quickened as he made his way through the darkened campus, the imposing structure looming ahead of him. He needed to know what the higher-ups were hiding. What had driven the school to assign a child handlers and lock away her technique with a complicated binding vow?

When he reached the entrance once again, Satoru hesitated for only a moment. The barriers were formidable, designed to keep out even the most skilled sorcerers, but he already knew another way in. Focusing his mind he honed in on one of the permanent teleportation circles that he knew was inside, beyond the checkpoint barrier. He had memorized its location as an adult, but it was a place he'd rarely visited. With a soft exhale, he activated his technique and his body dissolved into the fabric of space before reappearing within the building.

Satoru landed lightly on his feet. The interior of the headquarters was eerily silent around him. The air was thick with cursed energy, oppressive and suffocating as the techniques of the sorcerers hidden away within the building pulsed like living entities. He could feel the pressure of it on his skin, but he pushed it aside and instead focused on masking his own presence as much as possible.

Satoru slipped off his sunglasses letting the six-eyes take in the surroundings. The cursed energy flowed like a river, twisting and turning through the corridors and rooms, but that wasn’t what he was looking for. He focused and let his mind attune to something subtler, something gentler. He could send it, though it was being swallowed by the curses. That same energy he had felt from the silver chain and the ritual that has sent him back. It was soft, almost delicate, a stark contrast to the darker energy surrounding him.

He'd already guessed where it would take him, but he still followed it through the labyrinthine halls, tracing it through to follow her path. The cursed energy seemed to retreat from the softer presence, as if repelled by it. It guided him towards one of the ritual rooms. The very same one he'd visited before going back. Satoru approached quietly, peering through the gap.

The air inside was thick with incense, curling tendrils of smoke rising from silver censers hanging on long silver chains from the ceiling. The room was dimly lit only by the flickering light of countless candles casting elongated shadows that seemed to sway and stretch along the stone walls. The scent of burning herbs and charred wood clung to the heavy atmosphere as if the walls themselves had absorbed the essence of centuries of such rituals. The silence was suffocating, broken only by the occasional hiss of smoldering ash and the soft scrape of sandaled footfalls against the cold stone floor.