by K R Leikvoll
I couldn't respond. The mere moment I thought about something other than hanging on for dear life, I slipped. My hand strength gave out completely as my muscles started to tear. I was flung straight at the mass of teeth. I let out another petrified scream as I braced myself. When the bottom of my foot was nearly an inch from the teeth, Kirin darted forward. The sound of metal cutting through the vines echoed around us. It stopped pulling and I was thrown to the ground. The jaws retreated into the earth, leaving the blue flower behind.
I gasped for air, but all I could do was reel from having the wind knocked out of me. There was no way my ribs weren't cracked.
"Why didn't you... why didn't you—" I couldn’t continue. My lungs were refusing to work. Instead of calling me more names, Kirin picked me up into his arms.
"Stop talking," he demanded and covered my mouth. He used his other hand to push on my various wounds. I bit into his palm out of pain when he pressed on my ribs. Something about being in his arms in such a vulnerable position embarrassed the hell out of me. I hurt. I hated him. I wanted to go home. I was so self-conscious I couldn’t help crying.
Kirin looked down at me with a stoic expression, making it hard to tell if he was being sympathetic or impatient. He removed his hand almost gently. Gradually, I was guided into an upright position. It hurt like fucking hell and only intensified my bawling. I was gasping for air again; the pain in my chest was so intense.
"You stupid asshole," I sobbed, burying my face in my hands. He opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by a loud crack of thunder above us.
"I need you to stand up," Kirin said with urgency. He grabbed me under my arms and lifted me to my feet. I almost fell back down. Before that could happen, Kirin shoved me hard back toward the river with no warning. I collided with the stone wall of the bridge and groaned in pain. What was with him and his abusive behavior?
A solid black mass tore open the sky plummeting to the ground, shattering it. The reverberations shook the ground like an earthquake. Trees fell down in masses all around us. The black object was surrounded by smoke. Well, smoke was the only word I had to describe it, but it appeared to be more of a liquid than gas. It spun in circles around the mass and exploded outward in a deafening eruption. The explosion blew Kirin back several feet. When it reached me, it was blocked by something. It was as though a nearly invisible veil was draped in front of me, defending me from the darkness. I could feel the ring humming against my finger.
From the shadows emerged a creature you’d only find in a nightmare. The monster had the legs of a ram with hooves bigger than my entire body. The torso and face were feline in shape, but far more grotesque. Its flesh looked like bloody, raw meat underneath the cloak of shadows. It all seemed to twist toward its head which housed three glowing red eyes. As disgusting as it looked, its arms were the most terrifying part. They were as long as its entire, massive body. They were fleshy down to the elbow and from its elbows extended two horns as long as elephant tusks. The monster let out a deep, bellowing roar so loud I thought my eardrums were going to burst.
I looked in terror at Kirin who stood several feet away and had no weapon out. Was he really going to fight that thing? I expected him to run or at least pull out a gun. Instead, he smiled so wide I could see the whites of his teeth.
"Cocky bastard! I'll rip out your spine!" he yelled, pointing a single finger at the monster. Kirin was one fourth of the creature's size; who was actually the cocky one? He didn't even have a weapon!
Kirin held out his hands reaching for the empty air in front of him. A black substance rose from the ground and floated into his grasp. My eyes were hit by a flash of silver from a strange blade. It had a base of onyx-colored bone and at the end hung a sinister, crescent shaped blade with carvings in the steel along the edges. It was a scythe summoned from the very shadows.
The demon let out another earth-shattering cry and charged forward. It slashed sideways straight at Kirin with its right arm, which he dodged with a simple step backward. Enraged, it swung its left arm in an uppercut. Kirin used his scythe to block the attack, but the force was so great it pushed him back another yard. I wasn’t convinced he could beat that monstrosity.
The beast roared and came back at him with its right horns. Almost faster than my eyes could track, Kirin dropped the scythe from his parry and swung it in a circle around his body. When the right horns came to impale him, he used the momentum to slash downward in a blow that chopped through the creature's entire limb.
As he cut the monster's flesh, I saw a shadowy echo of the blade trailing closely behind it. The scythe’s blade appeared to pass completely through the flesh as though it was a ghost. The shadows followed the blade's movements by seconds, slicing the arm. Blood exploded everywhere in a disgusting black rain resulting in the right arm falling off. Kirin continued from the slash downward into a diagonal strike to the left leg. Again, the shadowy blade severed the limb for him. Kirin hopped onto the creature's last arm with grace. He held the scythe by the very base and put it to the monster's neck. The blade curved around its throat.
"Die you filthy cunt!" he yelled, dragging the blade across its neck. Two seconds later, the shadows severed its massive head. In another burst of black blood, the creature crumpled to the ground, defeated.
I couldn't believe my eyes. He made it look easy! I almost wanted to cheer for him. The invisible veil surrounding me shimmered, then went away. Did that mean it was safe? I glimpsed down at my right hand.
It was shaking uncontrollably and had grown numb. My middle finger was covered in blood from welts beneath the ring. My hand reluctantly lifted itself into the air like it had a mind of its own. I tried to consciously pull it back, but I couldn't. I tried to force it down with my left arm; in response, an invisible force made it impossible for me to move. I looked to Kirin, but the shadows forming around the corpse of the monster behind him made my heart drop. They conjoined into a bolt of darkness that was headed straight for me.
I couldn't move; my arm had me rooted in place. All I could do was stare in fear as it came at me like the face of death. The shadows arced into a jagged line and struck my palm. I flinched and shut my eyes, waiting for pain. Instead, a cool, misty sensation glided across my skin. When I opened my eyes hesitantly, the shadows hovered over my hand… and then were absorbed into my body.
"What are you doing?" I heard Kirin's voice question, but it sounded different. Panicked.
I was overcome with euphoria. It crashed over me like a wave causing me to fall backward. It was the most satisfying rush I had ever experienced; I was being embraced by a strange nirvana. Kirin caught me midair and gripped my arms.
"What did you just do?!" he yelled at me. He pulled me to his face and looked into my eyes desperately. I was fine; why was he freaking out? Take a chill pill, I thought numbly.
That was until a pain blossomed down my spine and into my gut. Warm and sharp. It felt as though I had been impaled through my lower back. It was worse than any cramp or stomach pain I had ever been subjected to. No matter how hard I tried to ask Kirin who had stabbed me, the words refused to leave my lips. I choked on a confused groan of torment before surrendering to the void of unconsciousness.
As I drifted through the darkness, I found a star of white light. It was warm, filling my mind with sweet nothings. I swam through the emptiness and reached out to touch it. It fit in my grasp like a tiny stone, glowing brightly between the cracks of my fingertips. I was compelled to crush it like it was made of sand, so I did. The light erupted from my palm. A thick beam of white shot into the darkness in a line that went on for eternity. It continued onward and lined a half sphere around me. Strange...
Out of the nothingness, an entire valley appeared. I was standing in the center of it, under a small domed structure. There were four pillars holding a giant roof made of clear crystals that dangled dangerously above my head. I looked out into the valley. The ground was made of endless white sand. Before I could walk out, I was greeted by a cloud of shado
ws. They were darker than I could comprehend.
They amassed themselves into the form of a humanoid. Only his head and shoulders seemed to be physical while the rest of his form hung in darkness. This ethereal being peered down at me and I felt I was in the presence of a god.
His face resembled a skull without being grotesque. His bone structure was sharp, covered with flawless marble skin. The being's eyes were sunk in and petrifying. They glowed the color of blood with black instead of white surrounding his cornea. His hair was as dark as the shadows he was a part of.
“Curious,” the being said to me.
A clawed, armored hand reached out and stroked my cheek with a single finger. It ran down my jawline to my chin. I couldn't will myself to look away from his eyes. I was caught in the gravity of his energy and I couldn't escape it. After infinity, he glanced outside of the dome. As if he was being beckoned by the universe, he stole a final glimpse of me before turning entirely to smoke and evaporating. The sphere was dissolving…
Chapter Four
It was surprising to wake up to loud voices when I had drifted so far into nothingness. They sounded familiar to me at least. My eyes were so heavy I couldn't open them. My body was so stiff I couldn't move. Ouch, ouch, ouch. My ribs were nowhere near as painful as the pain I was feeling in my—
"Will she live?" I heard a voice say. Kirin's voice, my brain registered.
"She should recover fully from her injuries," a female voice whispered, "but this isn't good. It was her womb. Her body rejected it."
What the fuck was she saying? I was too terrified to dare open my eyes.
"What does that mean?!" I heard Kirin yell furiously. At least he shared my ignorance. The sound of heavy objects being thrown a moment later nearly startled me out of the bed I felt myself lying in.
"Your guess is as good as mine," the female voice replied steadily. "She is different from the others. She barely looks like Eve at all. If what you say is true about the demon’s essence entering her—"
"I don't like what you are insinuating, Alex. She’s wearing the ring. This is not a ploy from them," Kirin responded. "Her uselessness up until this point proves that she’s not affiliated with anyone. I witnessed the ring’s power before she…"
Dead silence for forever. A damp cloth brushed my forehead lightly in the stillness. He must have been fuming silently the whole time because I was assaulted by the sound of breaking objects again.
"Kirin, we will figure this out. She's safe, and that's what matters. In the meantime, you need to sacrifice. You're acting like a—" the female's voice was saying. The room reverberated as a heavy door was slammed.
Cautiously, I reached down to my stomach. My fingers ran lightly against bandages covering me like the world's most secure underwear. I groaned from the moderate, pounding pain. Did anyone in that place have an Oxy?
"Shh, shh, shh," the female's voice cooed. I felt her hand brush my face with a cloth again. Finally, I was able to bring myself to open my eyes.
Two brilliant orbs of green stared back at me. There hadn't been much vibrant green up until then so they came across as foreign. She looked very familiar and I couldn't begin to say why. She had a beautiful, symmetrical face, only it was hidden under deeply tanned skin and stress lines. Around her was a cascade of fire—hair so rich with red, I doubt any dye could mimic it.
"Welcome home, Divinus," she whispered. She smoothed my hair back from my forehead and kissed me. Weird.
"Tell me the good news, doc. Can I still have sex?" I asked deliriously. She didn't laugh.
"Physically, yes. But the Divinus does not take lovers," she replied seriously, without wavering. "I am Alexandra Ash. Do not hesitate to call upon me. For now, just rest. I will find you something to eat in this forsaken Maundrell castle."
She shut the door softly on her way out of the room I was in.
Without her presence, it seemed gloomy. The walls were made of stone and seemed to retain the dampness from outside. There was a singular window on the wall to my left that had been covered with heavy emerald-colored drapes. It was as though they had tried as hard as they could to block out any natural lighting for some reason. I was curled up in a moderate-sized bed. There were sheets drenched in blood scrunched at the bottom. The coppery smell was enough to make anyone a little nauseated.
The rest of the room was completely littered with the damage of Kirin's temper tantrum. Books with thick pages were thrown against walls. A decorative pillar had been knocked to the ground and shattered. A metal vase had been torn in half and was on separate sides of the room.
I waited forever for Alexandra to return, but she never did. After some time, a faint commotion began to stir from outside the window and the hallway. People were yelling about something. A flash of the monster that attacked me and Kirin assaulted my mind. What if something serious was going on? Adrenaline pulled me painfully to my feet. Once standing, I was a bit stronger. The ring buzzed softly against my finger. Though my skin was still scarred from the ring, it didn't hurt as much. I wasn't really sure what was happening, but I was able to walk. As much as I didn’t want to leave in the thin robes I was dressed in, it would have to do. Better safe than dead.
I opened the heavy wooden door as quietly as I could. The hallway was formed by more stone walls, but they were covered in green and silver banners. All of them carried the same symbol: three interconnecting circles looped through a triangle. Odd. The vaulted ceiling was so elevated it was at least another story taller than where I would have expected it to be. There was a strip of black carpet that lined the various stone paths on the floor.
A man in dirty, metal armor rushed past almost knocking me down. Another smaller man in brown robes carrying scrolls struggled to keep up behind him. He was running so fast that he dropped several of them on the ground, but he didn't stop to get them. Armor?
Down the massive hallway, a crowd of more people in peculiar wear had congregated blocking both directions. All were pounding on a door bigger than the other doors I had seen so far. As I approached the crowd, I could hear many crying out, "Dead! Dead! Dead!"
The door opened steadily and Alexandra's face poked out of the tiny gap.
"Does someone want to send the messenger in please?" she hollered over the crowd, clearly irate. "You can keep yelling 'dead' or you can tell us what's going on!"
Several people still continued to murmur, "He's dead... he's dead... he's dead."
The man that had almost knocked me over was approaching the crowd from the other end of the hallway. His face was covered in dirt. I even spied blood tangled in his beard. He looked like he could use a drink and a shower.
She saw me and the man and beckoned us to the door. The crowd parted just enough for us to squeeze through. Alexandra slammed the door behind us, keeping the crowd outside. She then grabbed me sternly, but without force.
"You should be asleep, not wandering the halls. Even here, it's not safe for you to be out walking around," she scolded. I was barely paying attention. My heart was pounding in my chest so hard it hurt.
We were in what appeared to be a formal dining hall, but in a peculiar state. A heavy table that could seat twenty people was shoved up against the west wall. The chairs were stacked up, except a few spread out in random places. A huge banner slightly more complex hung on the far wall. Some candles lit the room up minimally from a rustic chandelier.
Then I noticed something else…
My eyes followed a thick trail of dark liquid to the center of the room. Blood. So much the smell instantly flooded my nose. It was beyond the smell of metal; it smelled like death. I followed the trail to a mass of three bodies. All of the corpses were female and nude. Two bodies looked as though their throats, wrists and thighs had been torn at. The third body was in several pieces. Both arms had been ripped off... and the head. Pale white bones protruded from the dismembered sources. All were stacked in a discarded pile. Opposite the bodies sat Kirin with his head in his hands.
I wanted to scream, but I didn't have the strength. My first reaction was to vomit; my stomach heaved with pain. I hadn’t eaten any food, so I gagged painfully on the air. Did he kill those women? Did Kirin do that? It was more disturbing to me than the monsters I had seen in the past few days. Their bodies were so broken. I don't think horror movies were preparation enough for seeing mangled corpses in person.
"What is she doing in here? Get her out!" Kirin yelled through his hands. Alexandra glanced at me with a worried expression on her face. I didn't think I was meant to see that based on their reaction. As I turned to leave of my own choosing, the stranger put his hand on my shoulder. I peered at him, still in shock. It only took me a moment to rip myself out of his unwarranted grasp.
"The girl's presence does not matter. This is more important than anything you have going on, my King," he said, irritated as he pointed at the corpses. Kirin looked up at us, absolutely livid. I let out a small gasp of disgust. His face, neck and torso were drenched in blood. It coated the loose black tunic he was wearing. His eyes glowed the color of deep wine, slicing me with their gaze. I could have sworn his eyes were light gray, not dark red.
"Speak before you infuriate me. Who is dead?" Kirin said, forcing his gaze from me and looking to the man. The man glanced at Alexandra, who sighed in agitation. She exited the room through a door to the right unconnected to the main hall. The man grabbed a chair and pulled it up a safe distance from the bodies... and from Kirin.
Alexandra returned quickly with two men that looked like servants and a large drinking horn. She thrust it into the armored man’s hands, spilling some of the liquid in the process. It looked like red wine. Alexandra gave me another worried stare but moved to Kirin's side across the room. The two men grabbed the bodies and their pieces, keeping their heads down the whole time. I tried to focus on the armored man (the least menacing thing in the room to me) while they pulled the victims through the far doorway.