Dark Faïz (Book 2) [Completed]

Chapters 8-4

The man pointed his sword at each of us, in turn, and stopped on me. A flash suddenly passed through his little hazel eyes, then his arm lifted behind his head to gain momentum. The scene unfolded at full speed. Without understanding what was going on, William threw himself at me, which made me fall to the floor. My head hit the floor hard. Paralyzed, I dared not move under the weight of his body. Raising my face, I saw the sword buried in the wall, just behind me.

"Are you crazy!" Ray yelled, mad with anger. "You could have killed her!"

He advanced threateningly towards the shaman, fists clenched, ready to fight. As for my two friends, they rushed towards me, their eyes wide.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Lexy hastened to ask me, distraught.

William helped me get up before suddenly grabbing the sword, still stuck in the wall.

"I...I'm okay. It's going to be okay."

"You will regret that gesture," said William in a voice filled with rage. "How can you be so crazy as to try to take it out on just one of us?"

"I finally got the desired effect," said Issei, satisfied, without considering William's threats.

"Will, wait," I tried to stop him.

I managed to catch him as best I could and grabbed his arm before he threw himself at the man.

"Look at me, Will! Look at me!" I shouted, holding his face in my hands to force him to look away from Issei.

His jerky breathing gradually subsided when he finally met my gaze.

"If he wanted to kill me, he would have done it! Look at those swords behind him. We have to trust him. We have no choice."

William shook his head vigorously to regain his senses. I put my hand on his chest, which threatened to explode under the violent pressure of his heartbeat.

"Okay," he finally said, his jaw clenched. "But I'm keeping that with me."

He gestured at the sword in his hand and then sent a dark gaze at the shaman. It was the first time I'd seen him in such a state of rage. Obviously, a dark part lived in him, too. At that moment, Issei clapped his hands to get our attention again and said,

"All right! The break is over. Can we continue?"

Our concentration gradually returned to the room and we were again ready to listen to the shaman, but this time, with all our senses alert.

"You finally understand what I mean," said Issei with a smile on the lips. "The danger is avoided thanks to the mechanisms that our brain puts in place to analyze the images that reach it. All this with an anticipation of about three hundred thousandths of a second. Zoe, you owe your survival only to your friend's reflex gestures. If you had been alone, the sword would have pierced you."

William stepped forward with a low growl, but I stopped him immediately.

"You won't have a thousandth of a second in front of your fears," insisted the shaman. "You must get rid of them. Otherwise, they will cause your loss."

"And how do we achieve that?" Ray asked, impatient to get answers.

"The eyes house the retina, the cells of which—"

"I can't take it anymore!" whispered Lexy, annoyed. "It's just a bunch of bullshit."

"...of the thalamus, that is to say, everything that reveals our consciousness," continued the shaman.

"Shut up!" Asarys articulated between her teeth. "We aren't here to have fun or relax."

"We can't wait for the practice. I am completely lost and unable to assimilate more information."

Asarys turned to Lexy, frowning.

"Practice? I should point out that Zoe almost got killed just now, right before our eyes. I think we've had enough of practice!"

"Is there a problem?" asked Issei. "Are you bothered to understand how our brain works and how our energies work?"

"No, no," Lexy said sarcastically. "Hearing all this is fine, but..."

She paused to send a dark glance to Asarys, which was immediately returned by Asarys, then resumed.

"Positive actions. Conscious and unconscious. Nerve cells. The cerebral tonsil. Just tell us where we can find the ruby. We get it, and we get out! Farewell Eros."

At that moment, I held my breath. William stared at my friend, taken aback, while Ray tried to pull his hair out at the root. I grabbed Lexy by the shoulders.

"It's more complicated than that, so don't give up now! I need you."

She sighed before nodding, then regained control of herself.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking down.

"I know," I replied in a comforting voice.

I scanned the room for Issei. He wasn't far from his collection of swords. Looking at it in more detail, I saw his hand move to another relief sculpture and gently wiggle it. I turned to my friends, arms wide open to push them against the wall behind us.

"Watch out!" I shouted before stumbling into Asarys.

The ground started to shake. I managed to get up with the help of William.

"An earthquake!" cried Lexy, panicked.

We all leaned against the wall to shelter.

"Issei? What the hell are you doing?" yelled William, whose voice was lost in the crashing noise of the exploding walls and floor all around us.

The candles on the ceiling suddenly went out and the roof of the building collapsed, allowing daylight to penetrate.