Page 177 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

“Follow my breaths. In and out,” he continues.

I attempt to emulate his breathing, the adrenaline within me crashing down until there’s only a dark hole in my chest, a feeling of relief but also one of loss.

Another realization hits me.

There is only one thing that can fill the void within me—the one thing that might damn me for all eternity.

As I continue to struggle for breath, more sounds erupt in the morgue. The soldiers carry out a few caskets and debate which ones to take out next to fill their quota.

My eyes widen in fear. I should have realized when I saw so many bodies that they don’t carry them out as they die, rather when it’s comfortable for them. And if they don’t choose ours…

Their steps become closer until they stop next to ours.

I quickly summon energy from the pin to create an illusion over Mine and me so that if they open the lid, all they’ll see is a dead body.

“This one doesn’t smell as bad. I think we can stop for today,” one of the soldiers says, stopping just as he’s about to peek inside.

I borrow more energy and unleash the strongest, most foul smell I am able to—which is tricky in itself. I cannot create things out of thin air, but I can borrow already existent ones. And to pull this off, I borrow some of the stench from the overweight man from before and imbue it around us.

Mine squeezes my hand.

“It doesn’t smell? Is your nose all right? This one stinks the worst!” another soldier intones.

They don’t even bother to open up the lid, immediately sliding it closed and sealing it with a couple of nails—most likely they don’t want to smell that again.

They struggle to carry our casket to the back of a vehicle, after which they just carelessly dump it on top of others.

Some more chatter, and the vehicle is moving.

Since they will likely not check on us again, I clean up the air and replace it with fresh one.

Mine lets out a long breath.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” he mentions in a low voice.

“I can do a lot of things,” I huff. “I will have you know that what I may lack in spiritual energy I make up in creativity. There are some tricks that use less energy than others and that get the job done just as well,” I tell him, almost as if I feel compelled to explain myself.

I might not be the strongest, but I am still a level five. That is more than halfway to nine, which means I am well above average. If only I were higher, though… I wouldn’t have been put in this situation in the first place—the marriage conundrum,not the Anthropa debacle. I now see that what happened in Anthropa was my fault alone, and how can I regret it when I’ve gotten to meet Mine, who’s proven to be quite the loyal follower. Yes, that part I do not regret.

“Minnie?”

“Huh?”

“I asked you a question. Where do they take the dead bodies?”

I mull over the question for a moment.

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “I am not too familiar with how militias work, and every region does it differently.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see then. I just hope they won’t bury us. It will be hard enough to get out of this casket with the lid nailed shut.”

“Bury us?” I snort in disbelief, my voice muffled by the walls of the casket. “Too much effort for them. Did you see how lazy those soldiers are?”

“Then I certainly hope they won’t incinerate us,” he continues with a nervous edge to his tone.

I roll my eyes at his pessimism. “Why do you have to be so grim? I’m certain they’ll just?—”

Before I can finish, the vehicle comes to an abrupt halt, causing our bodies to jostle within the confines of our coffin-like prison.

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