An Ocean of Others (Dance of the Sibling Suns Book 1) by Joshua Scott Edwards

Author:Joshua Scott Edwards [Edwards, Joshua Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Archefire Publishing LLC
Published: 2022-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter fifteen

Mental War

The three of us arrived in a seedy part of the Artisans District well after the somber chime of dusk. An occasional pair of guards patrolled the cramped streets, casually conversing. Their torchlight announced their arrival like a herald and sent pickpockets scurrying like rats. So long as they took their time meandering around the district, they would never find any crime; it would hover at the periphery of their vision. After all, this wasn’t the Old District, where crime found you like an old acquaintance whom you disliked, but who always seemed eager to make up for lost time. The distant cracks of flintlock pistols made sure most steered clear from this part of the city; no one sane wanted to be caught in this area after dark. But those confined to our destination were not sane.

And when did what we want ever matter?

In a desolate plaza, a shallow staircase led up to a boxy, behemoth structure. Grimy limestone bricks and mortar, piled one upon the other, jutted toward the dark heavens as though the building were trying to claw its way free from the city. On the dim frontal exterior, a hanging wooden sign swung in some ethereal breeze. Liwokin Mental Ward, it read, though the last letter and most of the city’s name had been scratched out to near illegibility. Where the stone met shale at the lid of the building, a greasy black mold crept down like weeping blood. Dirt streaks marred the entire surface. Chunks of stone here and there had eroded away entirely. From barred windows on the second and third stories drifted the dull moans of dazed patients, crying out wordlessly in their medicated misery.

If someone were to become a Benefactor here… I shuddered at the thought.

We climbed the stairs to the entrance, where torchlight cut through the grainy shadow to reveal a rusted double-door with equally rusted hinges. I pushed hard and the door gave a loud wail; its echoes filled an empty lobby. Once inside, the door began to close on its own, struggling against its own hinges, which screamed like one of the patients of the ward. The piercing sound grew louder and higher pitched, digging into my skull. I slammed the door shut and the thump reverberated down the long, barren halls.

A lone receptionist’s desk sat unattended with no one there to greet us. Garret vaulted over the desk and began rifling through the drawers.

“Listen,” Sentyx said, and Garret looked up, tilted his head, then slammed the desk shut. He vaulted back across the desk to rejoin us just as clicking footsteps began descending from the second floor. A woman’s voice followed, muttering to herself. She appeared, clothed in stained white, with a rumpled brown cap on her head. She brushed the creases from the front of her dress as she reached ground level, quickly made her way behind the desk, and flopped ignominiously into the chair, grumbling all the while.

“Which one of you’s getting checked in?” the nurse said.

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