We continue to walk in the void, until I begin to hear the sound of faint crying. I stop and check my surroundings, but nothing stands out. “Do you hear that?” I ask.
“I do,” Mr. Ferris answers succinctly. “Follow the sound, but don’t let your guard down.”
I do what he says and cautiously follow the sound, the sobbing getting louder as I progress. Eventually, I begin to see figures in the shadows—opaque blotches separate from everything else. My flames don’t displace their darkness, but once I get close enough, a spotlight shines down from above and what was once hidden becomes as clear as day. It’s a dumpster. I freeze at the sight of it and my body runs cold. I get it now. It’s all starting to make sense. The hatch of the dumpster opens by itself and two shadowy figures run onto the scene—one’s carrying a baby in a swaddle and another one’s shifting its ghastly neck from side to side as if in fear of being caught. The one with the baby quickly places it in the dumpster while the other motions for it to come closer. They both run off, disintegrating to wisps of smoke once they leave the presence of the spotlight. As the one who held the baby leaves, it looks my way, as if noticing me for the first time. It fades away, deteriorating into the shadows, and I feel a pang of overwhelming sadness and remorse. “Don’t lose heart, Aiden.” The spotlight vanishes, and the dumpster disappears.
“...Yeah.”
As I continue on in the darkness, I realize that I’m beginning to gain ground on another landmark, a shifting blob of darkness floating in the distance. Just when I’m starting to make things out, there’s a series of gunshots, and then, a scream. It’s my mom’s. She begins to plead incoherently, and then there’s another shot. My mother’s begging stops, and all I can hear is the same sobbing I’ve been hearing throughout the void.
Once I’m within arm’s reach of the floating puddle of darkness, it shifts directly in front of me and instantaneously reveals my parents’ lifeless bodies on the ground, their eyes staring at me without any sense of life behind them. “I...” The puddle begins to melt, slowly falling from its suspended state into long trails of goo. “I never w—” My mother’s hand reaches out for me from the void, but Mr. Ferris quickly pulls me back from her reach just as it closes.
“Aiden...” The portal disintegrates entirely, leaving nothing behind. Even the tar-like substance that it leaked is nowhere to be found.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t...I don’t know what happened.”
“You can’t lose focus. In this area of your subconscious, your demons run rampant. The darkness of this place wants to consume you, body and soul. Keep your wits about you. If you would have let her pull you in, who knows where you would have ended up? We can’t lose each other in a place like this.” He doesn’t explain why, but then again, he doesn’t have to. I can tell just from the tone of his voice—the darkness of this place—everything about it just screams bad news.
While we continue our walk, manifestation after manifestation arises. I saw Uncle Erwin taking me in. I saw my parents’ funeral. I saw how I was treated before I got here—painful memories of my past—and how it was when I first enrolled. The isolation. The bullying. The guilt. Everything. And then, just when I thought I felt like I’d seen enough, I saw a door, and behind it, I knew in my heart that was where the sobbing was coming from. The source of my pain.
“I...I think this is it,” I proclaim after we make it to the foot of the door. There’s a strange energy I can feel leaking from the cracks. I didn’t notice it at first, but now that I can feel it, I’m drawn to it. Drawn, but nervous about what’s on the other side.
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah.” I relinquish my flame, turn the handle, and walk inside. There’s a child in the corner of a dimly lit bedroom crying with his head resting against his knees—and of course, it’s none other than me. “So, this is what I have to defeat?” I ask as I come closer. I glance back at Mr. Ferris, but he doesn’t say a word. His gaze is fixated on my doppelganger while I slowly approach him. “This doesn’t seem right.”
“I didn’t do anything to deserve this,” the child says between sniffles. “Why can’t everyone just leave me alone?”
“Are you okay?” I ask. “Do you have a name?”
“Careful, Aiden,” Mr. Ferris warns.
“It’s not fair. I just want to be like everybody else,” the child continues on.
I’ve found something, but I don’t think it’s my fears. I’m not sure what this is, but the energy feels a bit different from when I first noticed it. Maybe it was the room itself and not the child? I venture closer and extend my hand to touch him, but his gaze snaps up from its bent position before I can make contact. “I knew you couldn’t resist.”
“Aiden!” A plethora of shadowy hands shoot out from the boy and quickly attempt to weave around me. I fend them off with my energy, but when I look behind me, I see Mr. Ferris getting sucked into the shadows by another set of hands that came from the door.
“Mr. Ferris!” The ground trembles and I fall on all fours. Mr. Ferris stretches his hand out for me to grab, but the shadows reach from the floor and bind my extremities. I release my energy and the shadows disintegrate, but I’m not quick enough. He’s almost completely sucked in, and he’s struggling against the hands to fight for whatever time he has left.
“Don’t worry about me, Aiden. I can fend for myself. Just win. I’ll find you!” he forces out right before his head is plunged into the darkness. “Win!”
Once Mr. Ferris is gone, the rumbling intensifies, and the room begins to fall apart.
“You...” I growl and turn to face the child and see him in the same position as before, only now, he has a malevolent grin spread unnaturally across his face. The floor begins to separate, and the walls begin to crack, filling this space with the same darkness that permeates this place. The child stands and raises his arms at each side, still smiling, still not saying a word. He tilts his head back as the darkness enters his body through his hands. “So, it was you.”
“It’s always been me, Aiden, and my question still stands. Do you really think you can beat me?”
A strong gust swoops into the room and the roof begins to peel back, revealing a canopy of wilted trees and a full moon hanging in the night sky. I shield my head from the falling debris as the room continues to deteriorate. Piece by piece, the forest I’d see when I was dreaming begins to set in. I can attack him now, but I need to be sure that Mr. Ferris is safe.
“Where’s Mr. Ferris?”
“You have bigger things to worry about other than that useless teacher.” His body begins to morph, growing more rigid and perverse with every passing moment until whatever features we once shared are completely gone.
Now, he resembles someone else—the demon who haunts me in my dreams—Von.
I activate my powers, and a flash of numbness streaks throughout my body. I recover without missing a beat, but the dilemma’s still on the forefront of my mind. I’d built up my spirit training with Mr. Ferris, but being here increases the rate that it depletes. Opening the portal took a chunk, and I’d been wandering for a while. Going into this room took a bit too. The deeper I go, the faster I burn out.
I should be fine if this fight doesn’t drag out, but I have to get it over with as soon as possible. The longer I fight, the less effective I’ll be. But honestly, that doesn’t matter. Losing isn’t an option, because if I do, Mr. Ferris and I will be stuck here, and we’ll die.
Chapter 10
Before the room’s fully molted, Von stomps his feet and a trail of hands shoot up from the ground. I quickly hop back, putting distance between me and the hands, but I notice mid-jump that simply evading them isn’t enough. I discharge my energy, incinerating the hands and the apparition laughs, revealing that same set of serrated teeth that I’ve come to hate. “You’re—”
“Your worst nightmare? Why, yes, in a way, I am.” A string of drool drops from his mouth, and I cringe. The ground hisses from the acidity of his spit, and
he wipes the remainder with his wrist.
“Funny—I was going to say disgusting, and I’m not even talking about your face. It’s everything.”
“Interesting outlook, considering that I’m you.”
“No, you’re a part of me, and one that I’m trying to get rid of. Big difference!” I push off the ground and run towards Von at full speed, my energy building as I travel. “Flash Touch!” My dark flame bursts from my palm once I make contact with his chest, engulfing him in a flow of energy that shreds the ground and lays waste to the neighboring trees. Before feeding my attack any more energy, I notice that he didn’t flinch—not even a little bit. I call off the flames and step back just as his fist pierces through the remnants of my energy. He takes a swing at me, and I weave under his attack to deliver a hook of my own, my hand set ablaze. Von’s face cuts to the side from the impact, spilling more of his acidic spit onto the ground. He felt that one for sure. I can do this.
Von twists his neck, and his tongue lashes out at me. I swipe my hand in front of me, leaving a trail of dark flames that shadow the path of my hand as I step back, but it zips through, revealing a dark red stinger that emerged from the end of his elongated tongue. I dodge its attempt on my life, but it attacks repeatedly, following me as I step back.
Von laughs in the distance, but I don’t let it detract from my focus. It’s going to be different this time. I can keep up with his movements because of Mr. Ferris’s training, plus I realized something. He’s weaker now.
Every time we fought; it was always a dream. A dream constructed by my fears. I was able to move and react, but it was ultimately still a dream. I’m as aware here as I am when I’m awake. I can react better, think better... It was always at his time and place when we fought—I was always thrown into random scenarios set up to fail. I’m here now because I want to be. This isn’t a dream, so whether I win or lose is entirely up to me.
I continue to bob and weave, dodging his stinger as I search for an opening in his attack pattern. When the opportunity finally presents itself, I grab it and ignite my hands while trying to rip it in two, only to see a balled mass travel up the length of his tongue. It squeezes past my grips, and the stinger extends. morphing into a horizontal blade.
It swipes at my face, and I dodge it, but it nicks me on my shoulder before I can move completely out of the way. When it strikes again, I go to move, but my vision is replaced with something else entirely—my mother’s lifeless eyes piercing into my soul. I shrug off the thought just as Von’s blade slices at my jugular. I dodge it, but barely. The blade instead cuts across my cheek, and I retaliate with enough energy to completely disintegrate the slimy muscle in full.
“Aiden, let’s go back to the car, now.”
What?
I blink and I find myself being escorted away from the burial ground of my parents by my Uncle Erwin. My eyes begin to cloud with tears, and the tension I felt moments before feels like it was nothing but a distant memory. “Hurry, Aiden, or else the storm will catch us...come on,” he eggs me on. I want to follow him, but my feet remain planted.
Something isn’t right. How did I get here? I was doing something before this—
I snap back to reality once I feel something strange grabbing at my back—hands.
I turn and release my energy, disintegrating the throng of disfigured hands reaching for me from the ground. I then run into the forest, battling the echoes of the memories that he somehow managed to bring to the surface until I eventually find solace behind the wide base of a tree.
“Hm? You don’t want to play anymore, Aiden? What a shame.” My head throbs with a pulse of pain as I press my fingers against my skull. I need to stay calm. I need to focus. If I lose control, my energy will leak out quicker, and I’ll be useless. I take a series of deep breaths while taking a moment to recover. Making contact with my fear’s personification of Von doesn’t seem to do anything, but when he damages me, it’s like a part of him infects me. Could it be an effect of that acid he produced? Is it some kind of poison? I don’t even think those memories are real...but they feel real. Real enough to get lost in if I let them take over. “You can’t hide from me, Aiden. I can sense you. Your energy reeks.” I peek out from behind the tree and Von walks slowly my way. He extends his hand to the side, and each of his fingernails sharpen to a point. “Disgusting, foul energy.” He swipes at a tree in front of him and his nails cut cleanly across, causing it to buckle and fall not far from where I am. He’s strong, but I don’t think he has strength in the same tier as Von. Him mimicking Von’s powers was part of the nightmares. If that wasn’t the case, he would have been more aggressive from the start. “Running won’t do you any good.” He cuts down another tree, and I sprint away, our eyes meeting as I look over my shoulder. He points his middle and index finger my way, and dark electricity beings to gather at the tip. “Just give up.” A dark spire of energy forms, and I slide across the earth, coming to a stop to turn and face it. He’s going to fire that thing, and I don’t know what it can do. “Roll over and die.” The ground quakes as he fires, and I send out a projectile of my own. I fall to one knee after launching the attack, the tug of my dwindling energy becoming more apparent. I can still fight, but the accelerated loss of energy is starting to catch up to me. Our blasts collide, and the ensuing shockwave kicks up a mass of dust and debris that causes me to shield my eyes. “Tired already?” Von storms through the haze with demonic, black wings propelling him forward. He extends his hand towards me, and I see that it’s been crafted into a lance. “Delirium Drive!” I try my best to avoid his attack, but the best I can manage is avoiding a blow to my vitals. His lance pierces into my shoulder, and I feel it sprout barbs and root itself into my flesh. He carries me through the forest, ramming me through trees, and I begin to hear whispers and murmurs slipping by me in the wind. “Come on, Aiden! Why don’t you give me a good show?” He twists the lance, and my vision distorts from the pain while bark and other forestry scrape across my body.
“You’ve disappointed me, son.”
“He should have never come here.”
“Can’t you do anything right?”
“I told you he was weird.”
“Freak!”
“Losing his parents like that? I don’t think he’ll ever be the same. Wasn’t he a foster child before that?”
“I heard his parents left him in a dumpster. Oh, crap. I think he heard me.”
“Is it true that he killed his foster parents? Shouldn’t he be in jail or something?”
“Come on, Gabby, I think it’s time for us to go.”
Von stops his flight and presses me against a tree and groans at my distress. In a way, it acts like a smelling salt, keeping me from passing out from the mental and physical onslaught I’d just endured. “Looks like you’re running on empty,” he says with a confident smirk. “But there’s more fun to be had. You’re strong, but your will is weakening.”
More and more of my fear’s distorted memories begin to flood my mind. Just fighting through them to stay present is taking a lot out of me, and my body’s only getting more damaged as the fight goes on.
Crap...at this rate, I’ll...
He presses deeper into my shoulder, and his roots spread farther into my body. I feel myself slowly slipping away, but I hear someone’s voice in the distance, cutting through the flurry of vile visions and twisted whispers.
“Hey! Come on, Aiden. Are you really gonna let this scrub beat you?”
Summer? Why am I—? It doesn’t matter. She’s right. I can’t let him beat me. I have to win so that I can rescue Mr. Ferris and get out of here...
I didn’t want to use this move unless I had to, but it looks like I don’t have a choice. I haven’t perfected it yet, and if it backfires, I’ll lose for sure. Mr. Ferris warned me about what would happen if I depleted my spirit while I’m here, but I don’t have any other options at this point.
I gather my remaining energy and push through the pain, clearing just e
nough mental space to activate my new technique. “Just give in already!”
“No!” I yell. “I can’t die here! FLUX FORM!” I scream at the top of my lungs and the ground begins to tremble. An influx of energy courses over my body, lining me with a thin aura of my flames. I grab Von’s throat with my uninjured arm, forcing the wider portion of his lance deeper into my wound. The energy from my body siphons into my palm, and I discharge it, depleting my resources in a last-ditch effort to kill him.
He musters up the strength to stab me in the gut with his other hand, but I push harder. Every fiber of my being starts to burn, but I continue to push, holding on to my will to survive. His body starts to corrode from within my grasp, and I force out another burst of energy, fully incinerating him.
His remains twinkle like stars in the night sky as they slowly float upwards into the atmosphere.
“It’s over,” I gasp. I did it.
I fall to my knees and grip my shoulder, watching the spectacle while a calming, warm sensation washes over me.
“You can’t get rid of me,” his voice whispers. “I’ll always be a part of you, Aiden. For better or for worse. Don’t you remember what Mom said?”
What did she say? I fall forward, my face kissing the ground as I bleed out. I don’t remember.
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