Threads of the Soul

Chapter 430 - 430: The Long Walk

Corvus glared at the blank wall for a few seconds before clicking his tongue in annoyance. He turned on his heels and began to march down the corridor, taking the golden bracer from Astra as she held it out to him.It let out a soft click as he slotted it onto his forearm before resizing itself to fit him perfectly. Focusing entirely on the bracer, he fiddled with it absentmindedly as he walked, completely ignoring the other people in the infinite motel corridor alongside him.

"Where the hell do you think you are going?"

Xander, the gun toting American, staggered to his feet with his hand still firmly pressed against the stab wound on his side. His face twisted with pain and anger as he stared at Corvus' back with an incredulous expression.

"Home." Corvus answered matter-of-factly, causing a few of the others to glance at each other in confusion and panic. Astra patted Woe on the shoulder, ushering him along as they started to leave together.

The American scowled deeper, shouting louder as Corvus didn't bother to stop to argue.

"And you are just going to leave the rest of us here to die?! Is that the famous mercy of the so-called 'Lord of Death'?"

"I don't control your legs."

Xander blinked softly, taking a moment to understand the monotone answer, mostly because his ego was reeling from the fact he wasn't getting the attention and respect he deserved. When everyone else, bar his singular living companion, scrambled to their feet and hurried after Corvus, Xander's face turned completely beet red.

Even the Russian glanced at him with an annoyed look, before shaking his head and strolling after Corvus with his companions.

"Sir..." The American's subordinate, a large man with deep black skin that occasionally shimmered with rainbow hues like oil on the surface of a lake, spoke up softly. His slick and velveteen voice irritating Xander to an even higher degree as he tried his best to keep his boss calm.

"Do you think we should follow them too? I mean... It was one of those little creature's that brought us here and he seems to know how to get out so... Unless, of course, you know how Mister President."

Xander grit his teeth, grinding them back and forth as he tried to keep his composure. No matter how right his subordinate was, he would never admit that. Admitting he was wrong was basically the same as showing weakness.

Even when he was wrong, he was right. People simply got what he said wrong. It was always their fault.

"Of course we should you dolt. I was merely trying to make sure our navigator knew where he was going. Naturally I would lead myself, but sometimes a little delegation is needed. Can't do everything myself after all."

The American President puffed out his chest and held his head high as he strolled after the rest of them, slightly speeding up his steps so that he didn't get left behind. He was far too dignified to run like some kind of desperate peasant.

Running was for people who needed to catch the bus, and he had never even seen a bus before. That's how important he was. Just ignore the fact he ran to leave the meeting, that was different and therefore didn't count.

The group of battered and bruised leaders, the same people who had sat so proudly around that table in an event they had called in their heads 'The Meeting of Gods', walked down the endless corridor in miserable silence.

Their heads were hung in shame and exhaustion, the only sound being the scuffing of their feet, the muffled groans of pain and the slightly disgusting sound of bones snapping back together as their advanced healing took over.

Once the snapping of bones died down, soft mutters of dissent and annoyance took over. Prevalent mostly between the weaker leaders and American. After nearly half an hour, the American began to become restless. He was growing more and more annoyed the longer he stared at the back of the cloaked man.

He could occasionally see his woman, the one who had trapped them here, lean down and whisper into the ear of the young boy they brought along with them. Just who was this kid? Their son? No... She looked far too young to have a son that old.

Muttering and grumbling to himself, he pushed his way to the front of the pack. Shoving people out of his way and barging past them, he stormed over to Corvus as he began to yell.

"This is ridiculous! You are walking us in circles you moron. Just give that to me and follow the real leader instead of some pathetic idiot who can't even show his fa-"

His rant was cut off as he let out a sharp yelp, yanking his hand away from Astra's shoulder as his palm sizzled softly. A black spot lingering on his hand where the small sparks of lightning had struck him.

He glared at Astra, who simply narrowed her eyes at him in one of her patented death stares.

"It's rude to touch people without permission, you know."

"You fucking bitch... You attacked me! You all saw that, she attacked me! You're lucky that I don't take this as a declaration of war! I should-"

"ENOUGH!"

Corvus' voice echoed through the corridor as he finally lowered his arm and turned to the crowd. The American President was once more red with simmering rage, his teeth grinding loud enough for everyone to hear it as his hand twitched on the gun at his waist.

Uncaring for his attitude, Corvus glanced over the crowd of leader and subordinates, before leaning over to a door and pulling it open.

"We are here."

He waited for them to move, but no one did. They all simply shuffled from foot to foot, exchanging worried looks and not daring to look him in the eye. When he looked at the American, the ridiculous egotistical man simply scoffed and raised his nose, as if to say he was never going to fall for a trick as simple as that.

Corvus groaned in response, rolling his eyes beneath the hood as he stepped through the doorway and disappeared into the world on the other side.

Astra narrowed her eyes at Xander again, raising a hand that sparked with electricity, before leading Woe through the gap. Like lost little puppies, the others were quick to follow, not wanting to be left alone in this endless motel and be separated from the one person that seemed to understand where they were going.

However, as they stepped through the doorway, that feeling became all the more complex and muddled, as they followed Corvus into a world that was most definitely not earth.

They were in the middle of a field of blue grass, trees made of stone sprouted across the meadow and birds that resembled nothing that could be found on earth, even after the evolution, flew across the skies. Skies, that upon further inspection, held two separate suns as well as a moon that was literally crescent shaped.

It looked as if something had punched a hole through the moon, leaving it with the odd shape only seen in fairy tales. Some were half expecting it to have a face and sunglasses.

Worst of all, as the last of them stepped through the doorway, which on this side appeared as nothing more than a shattered breach in space, it quickly snapped shut. Their way back had disappeared, and they were stranded on an alien planet.

Naturally, panic quickly set in. A few dropped to their knees in depression, thinking themselves completely lost for life. The American's simmering anger finally boiled over as he erupted once more, seizing holds of their panic in a bid for power.

Raising his voice, he began to pace around. "Great. Just Great. We all trusted you, put our lives in your hands, all because you were so confident to guide us home. But this doesn't look like home to me.

Unless of course, you are an alien just like them and this is your way of luring us into your trap. In fact... How do we know that this wasn't your plan all along? You and the big guy seemed pretty chummy before he conveniently died from your girlfriend.

How do we know you don't have some freaky alien head underneath that hood? We don't know anything about you!"

The gathered crowd listened on intently, their panic dying down as they gained a new focus. One by one, their anger grew and quickly became directed towards Corvus. Demands for his identity and for him to make up for what he had done quickly arouse, all of them conducted by the words of the American.

Corvus listened to them all silently, before chuckling softly. A reaction that confused those who were anger, and only stirred their discontent further. He pulled the bracer from his wrist and shrugged.

"You know what... You're right. It's time we were nothing but truthful. Why don't I let someone else take a look instead."

He tossed the bracer, but when the American reached out to grab it, he found it sailing clear over his head and out of his reach. Like a bridesmaid desperate for the bouquet, he whirled around to find where it landed, only to see it resting in the hands of a man with light blue skin and golden horns curling from his forehead.