COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 20: The Art of War (Part 5/5)

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Sorry to keep you guys waiting on this one! A couple days is better than four months though, so progress!

Anyways, Cobs hit the 2k marker on votes huffing and puffing, but I'm still going to give it a celebratory update while I whip the rest of it into shape. Thank you all for the lovely votes and comments, as always~

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          "Are they there?" Truvius whispered, peering around the corner with confusion.

          Káel shushed him, bending low as he pressed himself against the wall to sneak up on his target. Truvius mimed him, still wearing a face of confusion as they approached a broken down hole in the wall.

          Phantom gave Káel a thumbs up and walked through the hole first, his silence lingering for a couple painful seconds as he skimmed the empty space. "There's nothing... "

          Káel looked at Truvius and nodded, receiving even more confusion from his friend. "Is someone the-"

          Káel shoved his hand over Truvius's mouth to silence him. "There could be, just wait."

          Truvius' face relaxed with a smile as he lightly nodded, patiently waiting for Káel to round the corner first and skim the empty room.

          With a flinch of surprise, Káel grounded his feet. The room was small, but it certainly wasn't empty as Phantom had said.

          Dancing in the middle of the darkened space was a halo of light, cast from the form of a single shimmering white butterfly.

          He looked around cautiously. It would be absurd to think the bug was someone's guardian, but all the same in it's soothing presence he felt watched. 

          Truvius came upon his side, a sigh dropping his shoulders. "Nothing."

          "Nothing?" Káel replied, eyeing his friend with a confused frown. A butterfly was easy to pass off any other day on Earth, but the way this one glowed with supernatural mojo had to be worth even a shred of attention. "Well what's that?"

          Truvius looked to where he was pointing, first frowning, then scanning Káel's gaze as if he thought it was a practical joke. "What's what?"

          His mouth twitched to reply, the words drying as a loud scraping scrabble whined from the hall behind them, a molve squeezing its fat body through one of the windows the only thing on the two boys minds as they tensed with fear.

          "Molve's in the building," Phantom said flatly. "Maybe stop admiring the floor."

          Káel stopped pointing, sealing his lips with confusion as he watched the butterfly drift into a wide crack in the ceiling. No one seemed to see it, but all the same it felt incredibly real to Káel. So bright it lit the escape route long after it fluttered out of sight, a glow so rich and welcoming it screamed only one thing.

          Follow me.

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          Vera grinned at their latest bunch of victims, the three glaring students feeding her smile as she rounded up their ribbons like trophies. 

          Without the flag to ground them, the molves had swept throughout the ruins like a pack of bloodthirsty dragons, ten ribbons already secured and more to likely come with twelve minutes on the clock.