Vagabonding.1 [COMPLETE]

24. Black Wednesday

By the time I had lost sight of Surge in the crowd, I was overcome by people towering over me. Everything became a mass of humans pressing way too tightly to one another, as if the pressure alone can bind us all into a singular creation. It was too much for my senses, my body was already starting to ache as the spasticity took hold of my muscles.

I could feel myself slightly shift and mold in the environment, I could feel the tingling in my face and tongue, my vision fading in and out, my hair constantly growing or shrinking back to being short.

Luckily the crowd cleared enough as I pardoned my way through, getting the occasional stare or two along the way as I did my best to cover my possibly misconfigured face. Without noticing it too much, I was shape shifting against my will as I brushed past people. Above our heads, the sound of thunder began to come in constant spurts, the force of which caused the floor to vibrate from the intensity.

As I neared the stage, I quickly ate Eric's spare hair from my pocket and shoved towards the area when I was stopped by a guard near the stairs.

They were covered from head to toe in breathtaking silver armor that seemed both lightweight yet durable, their face covered mostly by an iron helmet that appeared freshly polished. The armor had a good amount of scratches and dents on it but was still in decent condition.

That's inconvenient, I thought, metal won't stop bullets.

"What business do you have?" The woman asked roughly.

"There's important news," I said to her loudly over the shouts of the crowd, "I have to tell the captain the news, of course! Can't you let me through?"

"No."

"...Why not?"

"No one passes, it can wait until after the ceremony," She stated, "Captain's orders."

I leaned in close and tried to lower my shouting so only she would hear, "The news is that there are people in this crowd that are shape shifters, I need to speak to the person in charge!"

Her body tensed slightly before straightening up even more than she already was. The guard motioned to me before leaning in, the helmet brushing past my ear.

"How do you know?" She asked harshly, "Claims like that can get a man killed like that, Eric."

"I was tied in the bathroom for hours by them!" I said in mock anger—and, to be fair, just thinking about being gagged and left alone in a bathroom for a few hours really did place me in a bad mood. "They came in to the station, shifted to be a girl and stole my uniform... this isn't a game, let me through or I'll force my way through!"

Seemingly hesitant, she faltered before speaking again, "This isn't a joke, is it?"

"Far from it, you have no idea just how much I wish it was by now," I replied before shaking my head. "Now, are you going to let me through or not? This is important information, right?"

She seemed to be confused before she lowered her head in a balance of a bow and shame, "Yes. Yes, you're right, but I was given specific instructions to stop anyone from entering the ritual. I would get a mark that would mess up my paycheck, you know that better than anyone here. I didn't think I had to spell that out for you, especially since you've been recently placed for office duties."

"Wait, this is a ritual?" I asked as my eyes darted to the empty stage.

"Stupid, I told you about it yesterday, remember?" she stated in a slightly hurt tone as she shoved my shoulder, "If you're not going to listen when I talk, then I'm not going to bother explaining it again."