They were far. Further than the ones who were coming right no.
But that also didn't mean they won't be reaching this place soon.
Best case scenario, they had to pray the guards won't look their direction upon reaching this turn, and they manage to stealthily go along the original corridor they were going through, and reach a turn.
Of course that was impossible.
They have to have a new plan right now.
"What happened?" Rera asked after looking at Irwiz's expression turn grim.
"There are people coming this way also" Irwiz dragged his words as he spoke. He was undoubtedly feeling pressure from the situation.
"What?!" Rera barely kept her voice in. Here they were, worrying about hiding from two people, and someone else was coming?
Instinctively, Irwiz felt the strings of fate tugging at him. Was this the cause of his misfortune?
A measly 10 fate points have gotten him sandwiched?
Irwiz didn't know the answer, but he felt it was right.
Just now, he wanted to borrow another 10 fate points to gauge their strengths, but turns out, it would be a very bad idea.
Perhaps another group will come. Although it was unlikely, Irwiz very much felt that it was entirely possible.
Thus, he had to do this without any additional help.
Soon, he had made his decision.
But first, he needed to ask a few questions.
'Where is the easiest place to exit this place for me? What obstacles are there in me escaping?'
[15 fate points used.]
[The nearest exit is 300 meters from you. You have to keep on going the corridor you were on, turn left, and then turn right at the next intersection.]
[The exit is currently unblocked and not guarded by anyone.]
'By now, I have borrowed a total of 25 fate points... I must be quick now. 300 meters can be ran in just a few minutes if I run with all my might.' As Irwiz repeated the plan inside his mind, he put his hand on the ground.
As he did so, webs of white string started to extend from his hand, starting to cover the ground, the stone walls, and the lanterns. Some even seemed to want to extend towards the air, yet falling weakly.
At the same time, it seemed to falter and wiggle a bit when it covered the lantern.
Although the process seemed slow, the web of string was continuously emitted from Irwiz's hand, soon covering the entire area.
"Ir-Irwiz? What is this?" beside him, the scared voice of Rera rang out. Her whole body was shaking as she held hold of Irwiz's right arm.
However, as she looked into Irwiz's eyes, she seemed to see something terrifying. A ruthless coldness that struck her deep in the soul, making her incredibly afraid.
She let go of Irwiz's arm, and repeated the question.
"Irwiz, w-what is happening?" she sounded like a scared rabbit, who was in front of a fearsome wolf.
She felt like something was enveloping the ground around Irwiz. However, her eyes saw nothing.
Unfortunately, the web of strings was invisible for her eyes.
"It's my ability Rera, it will save us" Irwiz replied only after the web covered most of the ground.
"What ability? What should we do?" her eyes seemed to regain some light of hope, but it didn't dispel the fear. Instead, it just intensified it, considering how emotionless Irwiz sounded then.
In response, Irwiz held her hand, and replied "Don't worry." However, his voice was still cold and emotionless as what Rera heard last time.
Rera wanted to take back her hand, but her body defied her mind. It was like something was gluing her hand to Irwiz's.
Then, she heard his voice.
"Look into my eyes Rera." This time, his voice was somehow soothing.
No, it couldn't be said as soothing. It felt more like numbing, like an anesthesia. Just like her will was getting eroded by his words.
At the moment, something inside her mind was screaming, screaming for her to not look at Irwiz. Yet, Rera couldn't resist at all.
In the end, she looked into it.
What she saw!
What she saw...
What she...
What...
...
Rera's eyes slowly turned dull, like it was lifeless, just like a doll. The surrounding seemed to become quiet, filled only with the faint breathing of Rera, along with the distant yet approaching footsteps.
The silence was broken by Irwiz.
"Now bite your arm hard." Irwiz commanded.
Inside his mind, the plan was clear.
After Irwiz's words, Rera gradually pulled her hand upwards towards her mouth. Just as she was going to bite, she stopped mid process when biting.
Droplets of pristine tear fell from her eyes.
Then, she bit down on her hand. It didn't seem like she lowered the biting force, as drops of blood immediately started falling from her dirty pale skin.
Irwiz didn't dilly dally as he brought out the book he found, and opened the last page, letting Rera's blood flow straight into the back cover.
A few moments after, the blood mist had appeared from the back cover.
Seeing it slowly approach Rera's forehead, Irwiz commanded once more.
"Now, carry this book and run towards there"
After Rera heard Irwiz's words, she didn't waste a single moment. She immediately grabbed the book and held it to her chest tight and started running.
She didn't care about making noise, nor about the danger of the guards hearing her rushed footsteps.
Indeed, she left immediately, away from both of the guards' direction, the one where Irwiz had pointed to.
As Irwiz saw the figure of a young girl, one with long grayish black hair, paired with pale skin and tattered clothes, he muttered inside his mind.
'Sorry Rera'
It didn't take a long time before Irwiz heard something. Perhaps 5 seconds? 10 seconds?
A gnarly ear wretching scream of a girl came from the direction Rera ran to.
Now, all that Irwiz needed to do was make sure he stayed hidden. As long as his ability worked, it shouldn't be hard.
Right now, Irwiz was standing right next to a stone wall, his back glued to it.
Many webs of strings had covered his body loosely - they spread like a spider's pattern. And although there were big gaps between them, the strings had covered all of Irwiz's body.
Then, Irwiz halt his breathing and listened closely.
The footsteps that had been distinct and rhythmic had now become closer, and rushed.
There were also loud sounds of humans talking.
"Who's there?!"
"Show yourself!" the sounds came from the two other tunnels. It was especially loud as it reverberated between the stone walls of the corridor.
It took maybe about 10 seconds before they had become very close.
At the moment, Irwiz looked around.
He first saw two robed men run into where Irwiz and Rera was staying at, meaning - they were right next to Irwiz now.
One of the two, who was carrying a knife in his arms, questioned the man.
"Where did that noise come from?!" he had short hair, and a messy big beard. A middle aged man who had a bit of a belly protruding from the robes.
The man looked and sounded very average.
"It was this way." The other man who held a revolver replied to him. For this person, he was covering his head with the robe and stood facing away from where Irwiz was at the wall.
Thus, Irwiz wasn't able to look at him much. Not that he wanted to anyways. He didn't even move his body, not even breathing.
However, his body was still there, albeit covered by the strings.
Yet, somehow, both of the men seemed to ignore Irwiz's presence.
Right after exchanging words, they immediately ran off to the direction Rera had run to.
After around 20 seconds, two other robed men had come from the other direction. This time, they didn't even stop to exchange words as they immediately ran towards the same tunnel the two other guards had ran to.
Then, Irwiz waited for 5 more seconds.
Afterwards, he immediately turned left around the corner, and ran off along the original path.