Then the object exploded. Electricity burst out of the object. A chain of lightning connected the nearest five Abominations, all of which were standing at the entrance of the cave. The remaining seven turned and charged out of the cave. The Abominations however, ran straight into the still flashing electricity, shocking themselves and over fell one by one, like flies attracted to a bug zapper.
A figure stepped into the entrance of the cave. A round figure. Big bushy beard. Tanned skin.
It was Gennady.
The Dwarf glanced at me. At the Light spell floating by my side. Then he pointed.
"Hah, I knew you—"
He was cut off by the snare that bound his arms and legs. I sent the spell the instant my shock wore off, and he was now rolling on the ground cursing.
"What in the Hell, woman, why did you have to go and do that!"
"You—" I sputtered, pointing at him while grabbing my hood so it does not somehow fall off the side of my face, "You saw!" I raised my blade threateningly.
"Yes I saw!" the Dwarf yelled, struggling in his bindings. "And I also saw you kill those damned Crawlers out there with your magic!"
"But…" How? The question came out unsaid, as I merely mouthed the words. I made sure there was no one nearby; he could not have possibly seen it, unless he was hiding behind a rock. In which case, he had to have been trailing behind me the entire time. "When did you start following me? Why?" I asked, as he continued squirming on the floor.
"Follow you? I only just caught up!" Gennady exclaimed, rolling over to his stomach, trying to stand up as the magical chains wrapped around him from his legs to his chest. "I knew you were going to try and steal my job, like you did with the Chimera! I had the receptionist inform me if you came back and started asking questions about Abominations."
"So you did stalk me!"
"What? No!" Gennady shouted. "Are ye daft, lassie? I barely even woke up a few hours ago!"
I felt my mind spin for a moment; I was processing what the Dwarf had said, trying to understand how this all made sense. It took me all night and all morning to even get here! How did he…
Then it clicked. A memory of the first time I saw Gennady resurfaced— he was driving some sort of bike. A bike that sent up plumes of white smoke…
I remembered the smoke from earlier; the small white plume rising up in the distance, that I dismissed because of its distance from me. I immediately cursed myself for how sloppy I had been throughout this entire mission. Revealing myself to Felix was fine because I was left with no other choice. But this? This should not have happened, and it was entirely my fault I was found out.
I took a step forward. "I’m sorry it had to come to this, Gennady," I said the words dangerously.
A bead of sweat formed on the man’s forehead. "W-what are you talking about?"
"It was my fault, it really was. But I have to protect myself."
"Are you even listening to me? What are ye on about?!"
"It was—"
The Dwarf cut me off.
"Sacred piss, can you stop yapping for a second and listen?" Gennady screamed, and I paused. He managed to roll over to his back, craning his neck up to face me as he sighed. "I’m not going to tell anyone about this. If I did, I would have immediately gone back after seeing you kill those Crawlers rather than come up here myself!"
"I…" I hesitated. "You won’t?" I asked, lowering my dagger but still not releasing my spell.
"Yes, I won’t!" Gennady nearly screamed his head off.
"And how can I know that you won’t?"
"Because I can do magic myself! It’ll be like turning myself in, you fool!"
Gennady could not raise his arms, per se, but he was able to move his fingers. A small spell circle formed on his fingertips, before a small ball of light winked into existence.
"See?" he said. "Now let me go!"
I stared at the circle filled with a simple pattern glowing faintly at his hand, and then felt the magic coming off from the weak light spell. I chewed my bottom lip, wrestling with my indecision, before finally releasing the magical bindings from him.
Gennady could have been a Dark Crusader, but he would not know who I was, which was what ultimately made me choose to free him; I was still wary of him, but I could at least ask questions while he was standing on his own two feet.
"Finally, took you long enough." He stood up, rubbing at his arms and legs.
"Sorry about that. I was just being cautious," I said.
"Well remind me not to get on your bad side if that’s you ‘just being cautious’. Goddess grace us, what were you even planning on doing to me?" the Dwarf asked.
"Oh, um…nothing?" I mumbled out a reply.
He looked at me blankly. "You were going to kill me, weren’t you?"
"...no," I said, lying.
"What kind of a damned fool are you? Who murders someone just because they see you cast a bit of magic? You could’ve bribed me or threatened me, but you went straight to trying to kill me!" Gennady pointed accusingly at me.
"You could’ve told someone regardless!" I argued, trying to defend my actions. Or intentions. I scowled underneath my mask, folding my arms. "How am I supposed to believe anyone’s going to walk away after seeing this"— I gestured at my floating ball of light— "and keep quiet about it?"
"What are they going to do? Go to the Church and call for some Inquisitors?" Gennady snorted, shaking his head. He stopped when he saw my expression— or lack of
