Godfire: The Split Soul-Chapter 174: Miracles Were for Fools and Priests

Rain cooled the side of Wang’s face, but the thought in his head moved with an unpleasant warmth. ’Yung Chin K.’

Wang’s smile deepened. "What did you become this time?" The words escaped him, followed by a cold breeze.

His boots scraped on the ground as he turned and entered the operations building, the door sliding shut behind him.

In the hallway, voices drifted from the closed doors as Wang walked by them, one after another.

"Did you guys think Team Alpha would survive after that distress call?"

"Maybe they will, so far as MJ was on their side."

"...nah, man. I don’t think so. Didn’t you see the speed at which the Bravo Team mobilized and dashed out of the gates?"

"...sure. I nearly forgot about that. Let’s pray they survive."

"Since Commander Merlin was part of the Bravo Team, I’m sure none of them will lose even a limb."

Wang slowed his steps near the half-open door, just enough to see the faces and hear the men lying on the beds in relaxed postures.

A young soldier with white hair waved in the air. "It will be a miracle if that kid—what’s his name?" He paused, thought for a while, then sighed. "Yung Chin K survives."

’Miracles? Huh!’ Wang thought, then moved a step away from the door. "Miracles were for fools and priests," he whispered, then resumed walking. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

As he moved past a transparent window, blessing the hallway with the moon’s rays, Kai’s face appeared in his mind. Then Gilgal Village. Bion City. And lastly, Elina’s face.

Back in the convoy, Nally’s MRAP was hit with heavy silence. Not because the soldiers had stopped wandering.

But because each of them had entered a stage where their imaginations had become worse than discussion.

Brann leaned his back against the steel wall, hands crossed on his chest, his eyes closed.

In his head, the memory of MJ running with both rifles flashed back with tremendous force, giving him the feeling of reliving the same instance over and over again.

When Kai moved with grief spinning through the memory, Brann’s eyes cracked open, his chest heaving as he fixed his gaze on the steel covering his head.

"I don’t care if any of you believe me or not." The words of confession escaped him as he shifted his gaze to the dull faces of the soldiers.

The chipped-tooth soldier looked back at him, then smiled.

"He may be a monster." Brann’s hazy chest began to calm. "He may be cursed. He may be something none of us has a name for." He swallowed hard.

"But if he hadn’t been there today, the Titanaboa would still be alive. And more of us would be dead."

Every soldier in the MRAP turned and glanced at him. Not to challenge. But to accept the unacceptable reality.

Nally broke free from the chain of thoughts living rent-free in her head, watched all of them, then slowly looked toward the narrow rear window.

There, the rain distorted the burning city light into smears of orange and white.

Ahead of them, the lead MRAP cut through the rain toward the headquarters, carrying Merlin and the silent boy whose name and presence sat at the center of the storm.

And behind the sealed steel, through the whispers, fear, and fragments of reports, Merlin sighed heavily.

Wet dust splashed at the tires of the MRAPs as they rolled to a stop in the parking lot of the headquarters.

Smoke trailed from beneath the vehicles and dashed to the road ahead, almost like whispering ghosts.

In the military hospital, sharp repeated beeps drilled into Jinx’s skull.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Her brows twitched as her eyes slowly opened. White light flooded her vision at once. It was so bright that it felt like someone had dragged the sun down and pressed it over her face.

The smell of antiseptic, alcohol, and metallic taste danced in circles and flew into her nostrils and lungs like holy air.

Jinx groaned, trying to shift herself. But at that moment, pain exploded through her ribs, shoulder, waist, and right leg all at once.

"Ahhh..." Her face crumpled as the scream escaped her like a dry, broken whisper.

Her eyes widened as the memory of Central City flashed back, embracing her waking heart and mind.

The glitching lights in the news building. The running civilians. The rain. The Titanaboa. The swords. The collapsing walls. And the deep darkness that swallowed her.

Jinx tried lifting her right arm, but noticed something tugging at the back of her hand.

When she shifted her gaze there, she saw a needle tapped into her skin, a transparent line leading to the fluid bag hanging beside her bed.

’Military hospital?’ The thought lanced through her head as she shifted her gaze from the fluid to the design on the walls.

While turning her neck, she hissed as pain lanced through the back of it.

At the left side of the bed, Cassy sat in a foamy chair, her head lowered, her body folded awkwardly against the bedrail.

One arm rested near Jinx’s hip, while the other hung limply beside the chair, almost as if she was fed up with her own arms.

"Cassy..." Soft wind flew from Jinx as she mentioned the name.

Cassy stirred, her head jolting up, eyes blinking widely. For a second, she looked lost, then shook her head, focusing on the woman who had been pronounced in a coma.

"Jinx?" Cassy shot up so fast that the legs of the chair scraped the floor. "JINX!" Her voice cracked with relief as she grabbed the bedrail with both hands and bent forward.

Fresh tears sprang out of her eyes. "Oh, my God. Oh my God. You’re awake."

Jinx stared at her for a few seconds, trying to read the room through the haze of pain stubbornly dancing in her bones.

Machines stood to her right, blinking steadily. A monitor displayed lines that danced too neatly to belong to the body she felt trapped in.

"What..." Jinx swallowed, her throat burning. "What happened to me?"

Cassy laughed and cried at the same time, scrubbing her face with both palms. "What happened to you?"

Disbelief flooded her tone as she repeated Jinx’s statement.

"You fought a giant monster with two swords like you had gone mad. That’s what happened to you."

Jinx’s eyes closed as the words landed in her ears like poisoned daggers.

Bits of the fight replayed in the darkness beneath her eyelids. The slipping road beneath her feet. The weight of the two swords. The black blood. And the feeling of her own body flying after the tail whipped her.

Her lashes trembled slightly as her eyes cracked open. "How long?"

"Almost two months."

Jinx’s lashes stopped, her stillness taking charge of her vision. "Two months?"

Cassy nodded quickly, not smiling. "They said you had multiple fractures, deep tissue damage, internal bleeding, and you— you know what? Forget all that. The point is you’re still alive."

Cassy’s voice wavered. "You idiot."

A weak smile tried to form on Jinx’s lips, but the pain crushed it before it could reawaken. "You didn’t go home? You stayed because... because of me?"

Cassy gave her a look filled with hurt and a little bit of anger. "How was I supposed to go home?" she asked. "You were carried in like a corpse, Jinx."

Jinx inhaled slowly, but even that small inhale was like pushing sharp kitchen knives through her nostrils. "Sorry."

Cassy’s face softened. "Don’t do that." She exhaled sharply, then sat carefully on the edge of the chair, still holding the bedrail. "Just lie there and recover."

’Recover?’ The word lanced through Jinx’s thoughts, carrying the same last peaceful aroma she had inhaled at Lena’s Estate.

Her brows drew together as Lena’s smiling face lanced through her head. "Where’s my phone?"

Cassy hesitated, her expression changing in an instant.

"Cassy." Jinx’s dry tongue moved over her lips as she mentioned the name.

"It got damaged," Cassy quietly stated. "Your bag too. Most of your things were either smashed or soaked. I only managed to hold onto one of your ID cards, and later got the smashed phone."

Jinx blinked, tilting her gaze from her and stopping at the ceiling for a second. Her eyes closed as frustration lanced through her spine, then cracked open again.

"I need to call someone. Hand me your phone." Jinx turned a sharp gaze toward Cassy, her own hand trying so hard to lift.

Cassy looked toward the room’s closed door, then back at her. "The city is still unstable, so the networks won’t allow any call to go through."

"Unstable, how?"

"There were more attacks after they brought you in." Cassy’s voice lowered. "Flying creatures appeared from nowhere. Buildings collapsed at an enormous speed."

She paused, then inhaled once. "Parts of Central City are now sealed off. The military has even taken over almost everything. The emergency levels keep changing every passing minute."

Jinx’s breath caught as Kai’s face lanced through her head. Then Lena, Pablo, and Black followed. The pull of thought was so intense that her fingers twitched against the sheets.

"Did Lena call again?" Jinx turned a saddened expression to Cassy. "Or Kai? Did anyone ask for me?"