Inception {Dreamnotfound}

33 | Eventual Conclusion | 33

-George's POV-

The world feels numb.

Numb in the way that I know I can hear Sapnap asking me if I'm alright, but the question doesn't make sense if I repeat it again in my head. Numb in the way that I'm standing but can't exactly feel the floor, and I'm hurt but don't really feel it, but that doesn't make it any better or easier.

"M'fine," I tell Sapnap, despite knowing my slurred speech makes me sound anything but. He doesn't bother to ask about it though, nodding stiffly and backing away a little. It's shaky and blurry but I can stand on my own, everything slowly getting a little less bright and a little less fuzzy.

A few more minutes and I can think things through normally. It's not too bright anymore, if anything it's the opposite, the sun having been swallowed by the late evening roughly an hour ago now. Sapnap looks more relaxed now too, pushing his dark hair out of his eyes and smearing the spot of blood on his cheek in the process.

"Are you gonna collapse again if I leave you?" he asks cautiously, and I can tell that beneath his calmer composure, he's still quite agitated. Impatient, I suppose, looking desperate to be somewhere else. "Don't think so," I mumble, thankful that I at least have the self-control to sound coherent now.

"Just go look for Karl. I know you're desperate to."

Sapnap squirms uncomfortably, pretending to busy himself with checking our surroundings, which I know he did only seconds before. "Go left. Second door off that hallway," I tell him smugly, and Sapnap shots me a glare, but mumbles a thanks, nonetheless.

"Don't die on us," he mutters by means of goodbye, leaving in the direction I'd just said.

I decide I have no reason to stay in this room, resorting to also following my own directions elsewhere. For a moment I debate if I was right after all, the eery silence echoing through the hallway making me second guess myself. But suddenly, there's a pained yell in the direction of the second door, and I force myself to run as much as I can to cover the rest of the distance there.

When I enter the room, the first thing I realise is that there's more blood splattering it.

A lot more blood.

I notice Sapnap first, doubled over, clutching his chest as he yells a string of curses through gritted teeth. Beside him is Karl, shakily clutching that same shortsword with trembling white knuckles. He drives the duller edge of the blade forward, knocks another cloaked figure backwards.

They're relentless though, swinging again, this time with a knife in hand. It barely misses Karl's head, colliding with the wall behind and sending the weapon clattering across the floor instead.

Thankfully, Karl takes advantage of it, kicking his legs up and connecting with something beneath the cloak. I watch the figure stagger backwards, coughing violently with a hand clasped tightly over their stomach.

Karl's sword is covered in a thin layer of blood when he retracts it, evidently connecting with something beneath the cloak. Though the black fabric makes it almost impossible to tell what, unhelpful when trying to decide where to strike again. Karl seems to decide on a different spot, using the angle at which the person beneath struggles to stand to drive the tip of his sword into the column of their throat.

I watch the figure collapse, splattering even more red against grey as they fall. A steady pool of crimson pools from beneath the cloak, evident that the last strike was fatal. "Knew that stabbing them there would kill," Karl tries to spit, but he chokes on the word 'kill', tone falling short of venom. Made worse by the way his hand drifts to the exact spot on his own neck, traces the scar there.