“listen to me, I am going to get you to a doctor okay? But first we have to leave.” Zhao Bing whispered to the guard before knocking him out and adjusting the man better in his arms “Gabriel!”

  He called for the boy, good thing the boy had his head about him and had hid when he heard the commotion. Gabriel came out from his hiding spot as soon as he called, beckoning the boy closer he handed him the key card he had collected from the guard captain Ga On.

  “Blood!” the boy grasped pointing at his side

  “open the gates, hurry!” Zhao Bing told the boy

  Inspecting himself found the injuries he had sustained weren’t much, the injuries on his arm and abdomen from the first guard were just red bruises, the ones from the guards captain Ga On’s on the other hand were more serious, no surprise there considering his tier, his right ear had stopped bleeding but it will be a while before it grew back and he had gotten one more shot in the chaos of that last charge before he had subdued the man, he left the bullet inside to keep the bleeding minimal, his aether would slowly degrade the other man's aether heal the wound and push the bullet out in time.

  The sound of the gate opening pulled him from his inspection, just as he was about to adjust the way in which he would carry the guard, a presence appeared from deeper within Samsara, like a fire placed on a hill it was known to all, like an ancient beast awakened it flexed almost lazily and all cowered, birds and bats alike, insects of the night ran for cover and an unnatural silence reigned over the night. Then it looked to where Zhao Bing stood not with eyes he could see but still, he knew it, he sensed it, he was alone no longer. The sands moved all as one from the road and it's sides and formed a pyramid of sand that hovered above the tarred road that led to the gates of Samsara.

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  “Run!” Zhao Bing shouted all attempts at stealth forgotten.

  Zhao Bing hurriedly placed the guard up on his shoulder, he couldn’t afford the moment to think about the man’s wounds, focused on making it out before the construct made a move. He was glad Gabriel followed instructions in a crisis. Zhao Bing burst into the road outside the gate, double glad for the lack of cars. He made sure to stay directly behind Gabriel, It was easy for him to keep in pace with Gabriel, he was tempted to just pick the boy up and they would have been faster for it but he couldn't, they were still being pursued, more like still being watched but same difference, they hadn't escaped yet and he was sure the construct could still attack them from where it hovered and he had to be ready to intercept. The question of why it hadn't attacked already would later burden him but not now, now was for escaping.

  The dim light of the moon made it hard for Gabriel to see where he was placing his foot but he kept going, his heart pounding in his chest from exertion as well as fear but he ignored it, it wasn't very hard, he just had to focus on moving forward, was he still being pursued? He didn't know, was his uncle still behind him? He couldn't be sure. All that mattered was going forward as he had been told, anything that made his sixth tiered uncle to lose his cool like that wasn’t to be confronted at least not in enemy territory, he understood that much. Fortunately for Gabriel, it did not take long before they saw the first car pass him by, they kept going and soon came upon a road alive with traffic.

  …………………………………………………………

  "Where are you headed?" a man carrying another on his back while leading a boy through the streets was a strange sight for the cab driver but he had seen his fair share of strange things in his time as a night rider so he wasn’t fazed

  "I need to get to a hospital, is there any one nearby you can take us?" Zhao Bing asked the cab driver.

  "I know of one, just around the corner, get in,” said the driver.