CHAPTER 486: A TRUTH TOO HARD TO HANDLE (TW-GORE)

Kellen blinked several times, trying to figure out if what he was seeing was actually true. Was it really a core? Or was it a fake, an illusion from the toxins in the air. Gwen seemed to be wondering the same question, before she just shrugged.

"We won’t know till we get close to it, right?" She said, and Kellen hesitated. She was right, of course she was right in this circumstance, but he just...

"Let’s take a moment to gather our breath. We have plenty of time before we need to head back for safety reasons. We can observe the area a bit longer, and then we can make a move." Kellen suggested and Bree and Gwen nodded.

"Of course Kellen." Gwen agreed easily. "You’re the expert here. I was just suggesting it." She said with a shrug. They remained silent as Kellen documented what he observed. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and then 15 minutes passed without anything happening and Kellen decided that it was time.

They had to go investigate the outer edge of the clearing. Kellen needed to know if that was the core, if the rest of the outer edge was as ’safe’ as this side was, and many other things that he needed to record.

So, they marked the tree on their side, and then began to move. They went the full way around, starting as far away from the ’core’ as possible because Kellen was a cautious person and didn’t trust anything. Bree and Gwen didn’t ask any questions about his motives, and instead asked questions about the reason he was going the way he was, what he was marking down, those kinds of things.

Learning, observing. Kellen was proud that even in this situation they were still wanting to learn. Grow.

Kellen made sure that he explained the reasons behind what he was doing and why he was doing it the way that he was. They even walked past the ’core’ without investigating it because he wanted to make sure the space between where they had come in and where the core was was safe. Gwen and Bree appreciated Kellen’s insights, and listened with curious ears, even as their gaze was slightly dazed by the poison in their system.

When they got back to their marked tree with information and not a single vibration from the ground around them, Kellen turned towards the core.

This was something he had been working towards the whole time he’d been in the gate, but now that it was so fucking close, he was worried that it was all a trap.

That the real core was somewhere else. Underground, maybe? It was a worrying thought, and something that Kellen hated that he’d even thought up as a possibility. But, he couldn’t lie to himself. As much as this gate was a true fucking nightmare, it hadn’t actually been that difficult.

What was a little bit of poison in the grand scheme of things? He’d literally watched monsters stampede before during a mating season. This was fucking nothing. Too easy.

Kellen’s gut feeling was mostly gone, but that didn’t mean it was gone completely. He knew that there had to be some kind of catch with this fucking core. He just knew it.

Kellen told the girls his fear, not wanting to keep them in the dark about his worries. When he told them, Bree looked ill. Like the nightmare she thought was almost over had morphed again. Her already pale skin went whiter, and she sat down, taking a moment for herself.

Gwen, however, seemed calm. Composed. Collected.

"I had a feeling this wasn’t over." She said in a calm way that reminded Kellen of his Dad. Their Dad. The reminder, the bite of it, made Kellen’s chest tighten. "I’m the Esper. I’m the one who is stronger, and has these powers for a reason. Bree can’t handle it. That’s fine, and she’s been holding us up this whole time. I can do it. It’s my job to risk myself, and honestly, I’m not even that scared. I thought that I was going to die, so this is nothing in comparison." Gwen told him with a calm that Kellen didn’t want his little sister to have.

His gut twisted, and he felt sick in a different way than Bree. His sister being so calm about this, like it was her duty? Kellen had never questioned that mentality before. Had never questioned what it cost Espers to think that way, or even Field Guides. The only group of people who were allowed to worry about the cost in some way were the ’pampered’ Guides, and most civilians.

Kellen had never questioned this before. Never asked about it, had even scoffed at the Guides who had been at home, easy, relaxed. He’d never considered it viable for him before, had never considered why Espers were so possessive and protective of Guides because he’d been a half Esper his whole life.

A Field Guide. A Guide who hadn’t fit the label from birth. Who had received looks of pity when he’d awakened as a Guide and not an Esper. He’d made it work, figured out who he was in the face of it, but now he was face to face with it as he looked into his sister’s gaze as she declared she was the Esper, and it was her duty.

Kellen wanted to throw up.

She was just like him.

He didn’t want her to think this way. His whole world was being flipped on its head in this one damn moment and Kellen was scrambling to pretend that everything was fine. He was okay.

"Uh, well, while I agree that Bree can’t really help, it has more to do with the fact that her pool is mostly empty, and she’s running on fumes. It would be best if either you or I did it, Gwen." Kellen told her and Gwen gave him a little smirk.

"Mmhmm. And it should be me. You can still tell me what to do, but we need to touch that thing to get out of here, don’t we? Do we need to destroy it?" She asked and Kellen shook his head.

"Destroying it would be the worst thing to do since we have no flying types with us, and it’s like four days to get back to the gate we entered from. Plus, we can’t have anything that isn’t human touch it. It doesn’t work." Kellen told her and Gwen perked up.

"Has to be human to work?" She asked, confused and Kellen nodded.

"Through a sock or glove would work, but shoes are too thick and when you touch it with sticks or rocks it does nothing. Has to be...a foreign entity." Kellen told her and Bree and Gwen stared at him. That wasn’t in the books they had studied. He knew that.

It was a front line secret. Told to them only once they were sure they wanted to be there. Gwen and Bree didn’t have much of a choice in the matter right now, and Kellen didn’t care. They should know, especially since Gwen was getting more and more convinced that she wanted to ’help’. As an Esper would.

"Okay. Sock sounds...interesting. Do people touch them with their feet?" She asked, curious and Kellen chuckled.

"Well, that was found out by accident and since most considered it so ridiculous to be touching anything with your feet during a Boss battle...yeah. It happens more often now." Kellen told them and watched as her eyes lit up.

"Oh, I’m so doing that then. I can just turn and run quickly away." Gwen said and a shifting in Kellen’s gut had him worrying.

"Uh, maybe. Or you could use your hand? That way you’re not leaving behind a shoe. We don’t know what could happen if we touch it, and I’m not even sure if we should-"

"-We need to get out of here, Kellen." Gwen cut him off. "We need to get out of here. The sooner, the better. I know Bree and I are doing okay, but there are others that aren’t. We’re missing people, and they might even still be alive. Each second, each minute that ticks by is a chance that they don’t make it. I know you want this to be perfect, but it’s not going to be perfect." Gwen’s words cut him, and Kellen realised he’d been slowly going down into a panicking spiral.

He was right to worry, but he was letting it consume him. She was right.

Kellen closed his eyes for a moment, steadying himself, before he nodded and opened his eyes.

"If you are touching it, you’re tied to us the whole time, we’re taking five minutes to observe it alone before you touch it and then we are running back to this spot here." Kellen told her and she nodded.

Bree got to her feet, nodding as well. Kellen swallowed, before he sighed and just...moved towards the ’core’. Now on their second pass of it, Kellen could actually feel the pull, the alienness of the core, and knew that it had to be the real deal. There were times when cores were faked by gates, but they were never able to recreate this feeling that was like fingers under his skin.

He hadn’t noticed it the first time since he’d been so focused on making sure everything was ’normal’ around them, but now?

He didn’t even need to observe it for five minutes. It was the core. He was still worried that there was something else that was supposed to happen, another cruel moment but he wasn’t sure what it was.

Gwen waited, Bree holding onto her rope that was between her and Gwen, while Kellen stood on her other side doing the exact same thing. Gwen had given Kellen her shoe, and Kellen had shoved it into a pocket on his pants. His pockets were big enough to do that, and the two Guides held their breath as Gwen approached.

Kellen didn’t get the halting, gut wrenching pain until it was too late.

The warnings began blaring in his stomach, in his head, everywhere as Kellen watched helplessly as Gwen’s socked left foot touched the core, and then her piercing scream filled the air.

He yanked her back, hoping he got her in time but fuck, it was by the skin of his teeth. Kellen watched, horror filling him as something, a poison, a toxin, a microbe began to eat Gwen’s flesh away from her bone.

Bree let out a horrified gasp as Kellen felt the warm feeling of knowing that she had touched the core, and the gate to leave was open again. It was a twisted feeling to know that his sister might be the cost of it all.

Kellen tossed Gwen into Bree’s arms, yanking off his bag and reaching for the one fucking item he never, ever wanted to use. Ever.

Bree’s eyes were pouring tears as she held the screaming Gwen in her arms, as pale as a ghost as Kellen pulled out the bone saw.