So you're gonna help!?
"What does it look like, kid?"
The bounders all began picking up their equipment, strapping it to their waists or backs. Garius stood idly now down from the wall, watching as they prepared to go "devil hunting". Confused at why everyone was so overjoyed at the thought of killing a devil, Garius popped a question.
Why does everyone here seem so pumped to be going to fight a devil? Don't they know they could die?
Baron's face looked confused as if Garius was speaking another language, and he was trying to decipher it. Still, before he could respond, Marxist answered it for him.
"Take a look around this room kid tell me what do you see, and don't give me the strong warrior sh*t tell me what you actually see."
I see a room filled with what looks like the scum of the earth, all of these men and women in here look like they've been born and will die in the mud I mean if we're being honest here you don't look so well yourself. Under all the surface dirt, though, I can see people with what seems like a hole in their heart that they want to seal or fill with something.
Marxist placed his hand on Garius' shoulder, whispering gently.
"There's your answer; they do it because they have nothing else. What more is there in life to them than this?"
Garius smiled, realizing that how the bounders in the room lived was the same as how he had been all 18 years of his pitiful life. Still, he had been given an opportunity and wasn't willing to give up.
"OKAY, we're all set now, all that's left is to make our way to the guild, so if you don't mind, Baron, the crystal?"
Baron removed the crystal from the pocket of his jacket and passed it to Marx, letting him tinker with it.
What are you doing? Why are you playing with Sir Heathrow's crystal?
"I'm not playing with his Crystal kid, I'm working on figuring out where exactly the dent for your entry was."
Dent? Sorry, I don't understand why you are looking for a dent on his crystal.
"Yep that's exactly what I'm look for and also don't give me that look you look like a camel, the reason is because these crystals happen to actually have their own data collection system that tracks where and when they came from a spot, and you can track it by looking for the latest or least deep dent in the crystal. It's neat if you ask me and… FOUND IT!"
Awesome. Now that you've found it, we'll save them, right?
"That's exactly right, but who's we? You, my new friend, have to stay here. Your injuries still haven't healed. We just can't let you come with us. We can't guarantee your life normally, since we're gonna face such a tremendous opponent."
Garius's body language began to fade, showing himself as nothing more than a husk of how he was just moments ago. It was the realization that he wasn't strong enough to save his friend, just like before.
No.
"Did you say something, Garius? If you did, it'll have to wait, cause we have to go."
Suddenly, a gate emerged from the wall that seemingly led straight back to the metallic terrain from which Garius had been running. One by one, the men and women walked through. Garius just stood and watched, by his count, there must have been around 50, maybe 60, bounders that walked through until it was just him left.
No, not again. I'm not gonna let it be like this. I'm not a coward.
Garius balled his fist and, alone in the room with the Gate slowly closing up, made a dash, jumped through, seemingly undetected by the others, and slipped into the forest.
"Marx, I feel bad leaving the kid. Are you sure that was the right call? He probably knows all of the terrain around here, so he would have been a help."
"It wasn't an easy decision to make that's for sure, I see a lot of myself in that kid I'm sure you do too, he reminds me of us back when we were his age dreaming of brighter futures, how long has it been since I've seen such determination in someone's face. He'll be fine, but we're already dead for us."
"Hey GUYS, you hear Marx reminiscing on the past, what a wuss, JUST SHUT IT AND MOVE FORWARD I'M ITCHING FOR A FIGHT."
"Oh, will you all shut it too? All right, that's enough reminiscing. Let's move. I can see the roof of the Guild from here.
-Garius-
You know I've done some pretty stupid stuff in my life but this takes the cake, F*CK my side it's killing me. I'll be fine. I just need to make it to the Guild before they do. I CAN DO THIS!
Garius, clenching his side, ran through the forest of time as quickly as he could. He ran past dead corpses, animals, greenery, and more until he found tracks from what seemed like a group, but not the bandits.
Followers.
Garius slowly and carefully tracked the tracks until he reached the back entrance of the Guild, but not the one that he had initially been left from, a seemingly new one. He walked through the entrance only to enter the room and see it packed to the brim with people.
What the? Why are there so many people down here, and why are there cages? Were you guys the people trapped in the Guild when it was transported? Has anyone seen Sir Heathrow?
"Heathrow? Transport? I'm sorry, Sir, what might you be talking about?"
Confused, Garius really took a moment to scout out the room he was in, and it clicked.
Is this a testing facility?
The faces of the people grew weary, and they backed up, letting Garius see that they were actually caged and that the room wasn't crammed, it was enormous, and they were just standing in front of his eye line.
Holy sh*t it is, this is what Mikalo warned me about, huh looks like he wasn't lying.
As Garius spoke to himself, one of the people within the crowd spoke out.
"What's going on here? Will you be running the tests today, or will Mr. Paul be coming back down to handle it?"
No. Mr. Paul will not be coming down, and you all have completed your testing, I've decided I'm getting you guys out of here.