by Josh Roberts
Lissy watched the terrifying beast lay crumpled in the trees like a garter snake kicked in the head by a child. Then she saw the moon begin to shine through the clouds. The sheets of rain thinned perceptibly, and the electricity that had previously filled the sky began to dissipate.
“Oh my—Lissy, I . . .” Neil couldn’t find the words. But as she turned to look at him, she realized he was staring right at the dragon, its head having landed beyond the tree line in the clearing only fifteen feet from them.
“Neil, can you . . . can you see it?”
“Yeah, I mean . . . I didn’t, and then you screamed and whatever was concealing it lifted.” His eyes followed the beast’s long neck back to its body, which was mostly obscured by the forest. “You did it.”
He ran to her and pulled her close. She felt like she could melt into him, just stay in his arms forever. Closing her eyes, Lissy allowed herself to enjoy his embrace, to let go of all she’d let come between them in the past and truly be with him. She didn’t know if she’d ever felt quite like she did, standing there, holding onto and being held by the person she loved more than any other.
Finally, after what felt like several minutes, she took a deep breath and opened her eyes.
29
August 16, 2008
David felt low as he shoved the Igloo cooler into the back of the Jeep. Mia had argued with him the entire hike down from the bluff about whether or not they should go home. In the end, he’d told her it was no longer up for debate. He hated it. But she didn’t seem to be thinking straight.
Dom handed him a box brimming with graham crackers and marshmallows, his eyes darting over to the girls waiting in lawn chairs around the fire. “Then she just started screamin’?” he asked, continuing their conversation. It turned out, the group hanging around near the lake had been able to hear it when Mia went ballistic on the cliff earlier that night. It shook them up almost as much as it did David, maybe Dom most of all.
“Yeah, it really freaked me out, you know? Not exactly how I envisioned giving her the ring was gonna go.” David sighed, tossing the box into the back. Dom nodded. They stood there, tired, confused, and, although neither wanted to admit it, afraid.
“Huh,” Dom finally broke the silence.
“What?”
Dom gestured past the girls to the lake’s edge. “This place is usually packed out this time of year. I mean . . . it’s weird, right?”
He was right. It seemed everyone else who’d been there the night before—even that morning—had already gone. David wondered if they’d all felt as weird about the lake as he did or if it was just random coincidence. He shivered, feeling like an ice-cold finger had just passed down his spine. He patted Dom’s shoulder, trying to set him at ease while attempting to conceal his own feelings of unrest.
“We just need to get outta here,” he said. “Let’s get the girls.”
They began walking toward the fire.
“Man, I can’t get away from this place soon enou—” Dom stopped mid-step and mid-sentence, eyes fixed on something ahead.
David didn’t see it at first. “What is it?” Then he caught on, taking it all in instantaneously. The sky was beginning to fill with electric tendrils of lightning. Hundreds of strikes all taking place at once exploded across an expanse that had been filled with stars only moments before. But the strangest part was there was no thunder, just the electricity overtaking the sky.
Dom spoke first. “Dave, what’s goin’ on?”
“I don’t know. But we’re not sticking around to find out.” He took off running, Dom keeping stride. The girls were shuffling now, all jumping to their feet.
Mia was trying to fold up her chair as David approached. “Leave them!” he shouted, just as Rashella and Ann began to scream and run toward the Jeep. But Mia wasn’t moving. Her eyes were locked on the lake, wide with horror.
“Run!” He pulled her arm, but she yanked away, walking toward the lake as David felt the first raindrops fall. He ran over and scooped her into his arms, charging toward the Jeep. She struggled at first but then gave up, saying, “Oh my—”
The trees whipped back and forth violently in a brutal wind that materialized out of nowhere. And then it came. All of the thunder that hadn’t accompanied the electric storm for the last two minutes sounded off like a barrage of cannons exploding around David’s head. Mia mumbled as she peered over his shoulder. “It’s incredible. It’s—” The thunder drowned out her words as the rain began to blast in horizontal sheets, ferociously slapping against David’s skin.
Still running, he saw the others already climbing into the Jeep, yelling at him to hurry as he had the keys in his pocket. He was moving slowly, pushing as hard as he could, but quickly losing strength while supporting Mia’s weight on top of his own. An explosion of sound from behind him almost caused him to lose his footing. It started like the low rumble of a semi-truck engaging its engine break, but gradually it grew into the deafening roar of a thousand wild animals. Mia screamed and watched overhead as if seeing something fly by. But David saw nothing, and the others still only looked at him.
Out of nowhere, the Jeep’s side imploded as if it had been hit by a giant, invisible sledgehammer. Upon impact, the vehicle launched off the ground, landed forty feet from its original location, and rolled fifteen more before landing on its passenger side. David involuntarily froze. Were they dead? What had just hit them?
He searched the skies aside from the storm. But he could feel it. Whatever was happening, it wasn’t over yet.
“Put me down!” Mia was shouting, punching his chest.
“I can’t just—”
“They could be dying,” she said, barely audible over the raging storm. He knew she was right.
Begrudgingly, he stood her gently in the grass and shouted, “Stay close!” then turned and ran toward the toppled Jeep, looking to the sky as he moved.
When he reached the vehicle, he could hear movement inside. Dom was grunting loudly and one—or both—of the girls were whimpering. David pulled himself up by the driver-side axle and shimmied his way onto the side of the Jeep. The roof was caved, leaving a window of only a few inches for him to peer through, which made it almost impossible for him to see inside in the dark of the storm. “You guys okay?”
“David!” Ann shouted.
“Is it gone?” Rashella followed.
He looked around in the sky, not sure what he was looking for. “I don’t see anything,” he replied. “But I don’t think it’s gone. Come on, we’ve gotta get you all out of the—”
“I’m pinned!” Dom cut in.
“His leg’s under the dash,” Ann added frantically.
“Dang it,” David said, racking his brain to come up with a plan. “Okay, girls, I need you out. We’re gonna have to flip it back on its wheels.”
“What hit us?” Rashella yelled, beginning to lose it.
“Doesn’t matter. We have to get out of here.”
Mia screamed behind him.
Driven by instinct and instinct alone, David threw himself off the Jeep, landing hard on the ground and running in the direction he’d heard the scream. But the night had become so dark and the storm so thick, he could barely make out anything. So he ran harder. He had to find her.
Finally, he saw her, standing motionless in the rain, screaming at the sky as she had earlier that evening. Just as he was about to reach her, something slammed into his chest, something big.
David felt his rib cage crunch, then he was in the air, careening toward the tree line, lightning flashing and wind rushing loudly past him. His body crashed into the ground first, then the inertia whipped his head back mercilessly. His ear hammered into the ground and, no matter how hard he fought to stay, the blackness was overtaking him.
As David lost consciousness, he could barely make out Mia entering the mouth of a path they’d walked earlier that night to Pine Bluff.
30
August 30, 2019
“Neil, I—”
Her eyes were locked on the forest behind him. Where the dragon had been only seconds before, there now remained only flattened trees. “It’s gone.” Fear beyond comprehension permeated her entire being.
Releasing Lissy from his embrace, Neil turned, facing the forest. “Where did it go? I can’t—”
“Duck!” Lissy grabbed Neil by the shoulders and pulled him down with her into a low crouch. As the dragon blasted overhead, her legs buckled and she collapsed onto the wet earth. Lightning adorned the sky again as it disappeared, then reappeared, seemingly jumping from lightning bolt to lightning bolt. It was happening just as it had before, and just like it had in her visions. How foolish of her to think that denying the being one single time would be enough to dispose of it permanently. But the truth of the matter was that her defiance had affected the Imugi; it had even hurt it.
Sitting there, crumpled on the ground, Neil at her side, she realized that how she responded now would delineate exactly how she would live the rest of her life, whether for minutes or years.
She began to stand.
Neil looked frantic. “Lissy, what are you doing?”
“I was wrong,” she said, standing as tall as she could, her frame feeling fragile. “I was convinced the Imugi would save me. I thought it could take away the pain and the fear I’ve carried for so long.” Neil stood beside her as she watched the beast in the sky. It looked like the lightning was clustering around it now. She couldn’t tell if the Imugi was drawing strength from the lightening or the storm was drawing from the Imugi; nevertheless, it was fully alive once again. “But when you said my name,” she said, still looking up, “I heard you. I heard you over all the lies, over the voice that’s been telling me all my life that if I make one misstep, the few people I have left will be ripped away just like Mia and my dad. But you superseded that. You broke through. I realized I don’t want to breathe my last breath knowing that I chose defeat. If I die today, it will be fighting for the people I love.” She let her eyes drop from the electric skies to meet his. “Fighting for you, Neil.”
Thunder crashed and lightning struck a tree a few feet away from the couple. The fir burst into flames, casting an orange glow on the plateau.
“Lissy!” Neil instinctively grabbed her hand, attempting to run, but she let go.
“I’m staying.”
“Lissy, it’ll kill you.”
“Maybe. But what if . . . what if Yunjin was right? What if I’ve been so focused on a charade that I’m not seeing what lies beyond it?”
Suddenly, the Imugi landed between them and the forest, where the fire was now spreading from the first tree to several more, though the trees were still wet from the rain that had only just subsided. It walked around Lissy and Neil, massive sparks shooting from beneath its scales, threatening to burn any exposed skin nearby.
“So . . . you think you are strong now?” The dragon spread its wings wide, swiping rapidly over their heads with one of them. Even in Lissy’s weakened state, she ducked it easily. It was obviously putting on a show rather than actually attempting to hurt them. Lissy opened her mouth to respond, but the enormous dragon leapt twenty feet high into the air, landing a yard in front of them, its huge eyes staring hard into Lissy’s. “Do you know who I am, Elisabeth Oullette?” it bellowed. The creature’s usage of her full name struck a chord of anxiousness within her. Her head began to rage again, and panic was attempting to overwhelm her. However, she was wise to its deception now. Was this all part of the Imugi’s game? To break her? She wondered again why it hadn’t killed her when it had the chance.
“Leave her alone!” Neil tried to defend her. But the Imugi spoke over him without effort, its voice booming as the electrical storm shocked the sky over the orange glow of the flaming forest.
“I have more power than you can possibly conceive of. You think you understand what’s happening here?” It laughed maniacally. Lissy had to fight to remain standing as the ground rumbled below them. The dragon snarled, snapping its words at her like the crack of a whip. “You’ve stepped into a war!”
She flinched, unable to deny that, standing there, face-to-face with that monstrous demon, she was petrified. She could barely breathe, let alone find the strength to look past it to some unseen savior.
She tried to speak, to regain the confidence she’d felt only a minute before. “I-You can’t—”
“Do you want to see what Mia saw just before she died? Do you want to know why she left you?”
Lissy knew it was a trick. The beast was throwing her off balance, attempting to make her forget everything she’d just come to understand. It was using Mia to get in her head. But she’d waited so many years to find out what happened to her sister. Her insides felt like they’d been torn in half. Mia was the strongest person she’d ever known, but the evil had overtaken her, yet it hadn’t overpowered Lissy. Had Mia given herself up like Lissy was so close to doing? Had the fear of being alone deceived her too?
“What could you show—”
Neil interrupted her, “Lissy don’t! It’s a trick.” He was right. She looked into his pleading eyes. But she needed to know what Mia knew, all of it. She needed to understand.
“I’m sorry.”
The dragon walked across the clearing to the edge of the cliff, its claws tilling up the soil as it moved. “Come here,” he commanded. And she obeyed.
The storm blazed over the lake, its reflection causing the water to look as though electricity pulsed beneath it and through it.
“What am I looking at?” Lissy asked.
“That’s just it, Elisabeth. You’re not looking. None of you are.” Neil approached hesitantly, standing beside Lissy and looking out over the lake below.
“What does this have to do with Mia?” Lissy challenged.
“Mia opened her eyes,” the Imugi said, her sister’s name sounding harsh on its reptilian lips, “She saw the truth. Now look beyond the obvious to the reality that lies beneath. Look with your spirit, not your mind.” She couldn’t help but correlate this creature’s words to those of Yunjin. She’d said to look beyond the fear. Is that what the Imugi wanted too? Was it showing her the Mireu?
Lissy was beginning to believe the creature. Beginning to believe that Mia had actually seen something that night, something that made her submit to the beast without hesitation. But what?
With that in mind, she took a calming breath and looked out at the lake again. Forcing her mind to quiet, she ignored the lightning, the wind, the sound of the electrical current running through the mammoth beast beside her. The burning of the forest behind her even began to fade from her consciousness as she started to sync into a sense of true reality that she’d never experienced before. Closing her eyes, she held her breath for just a second before releasing the air and opening her eyes again. Her legs almost gave out when she saw it.
The lake was surrounded by winged, serpent-like creatures. Imugis.
There was no denying what she was looking at: an army of evil. She counted seven dragons, ranging in size from half of the beast standing next to her, all the way up to slightly bigger. Her heart pounded, sending jolts of pain up to her skull. There was no way she could win. It was insanity to take on one of them, but eight dragons? Falling to her knees, she asked, “Mia fought back too, didn’t she?”
The dragon spoke quieter now, no longer feeling the need to assert its dominance. “She did just as you did, delayed the inevitable.”
“Then you showed her—”
“The truth. This war is already over. You’ve lost.”
She watched in silence for minutes, not able to fully comprehend all that she was seeing. Several of the beasts lounged in the marshy grass at the water’s edge. Others spread their wings and took short flights over or around the end of the lake. The rest walked around the pool as if anticipating something. Lissy wondered if they were waiting on her to make a decision—give in, or fight.
Neil made a short hum sound like he was trying to form a word but couldn’t b
ring it to fruition.
“Very good,” the Imugi said. “It is rare for someone to see the world that exists around them. And for both of you to see, that is truly impressive.” The Imugi turned to Lissy. “Now you see why there is no fighting back. You are already defeated; you always have been. It’s merely a matter of accepting it.”
She could only think of one word to say, the solitary question that consumed her mind: “Why?” She turned to meet the beast’s gaze. “Why Diamond Lake? Why not Erie or Michigan? Why our town?” Tears streamed down her face as she found herself overcome with emotion.
“Oh, Elisabeth, you don’t understand. We are everywhere. What you see is only a small portion of our numbers. We reside in cities and forests around the world. Our multitudes would astound you.”
Lissy’s worldview was beginning to crumble. What she thought she’d learned about her power to somehow defeat the Imugi shuddered in the shadow of the reality she was now met with. She couldn’t defeat the eight beasts at Diamond Lake, let alone an entire world of them.
To her surprise, it was Neil who responded. “Then what? Lissy sacrifices her soul to you and . . . what? You all just leave? You’re a liar.” The word liar was laced with venom. Neil was enraged. Fear climbed in Lissy’s gut at his defiance. Why would he protest the beast of whom they had already entered into a losing battle with? The answer surfaced as quickly as the question. He didn’t want to lose her and would do anything to prevent it, including spitting in the face of the mythological demon standing beside them.
“I have spoken no lies!” the Imugi roared, stamping a foot in front of Neil. The ground shook, bringing Neil to his knees as well. The dragon loomed over them both now. “The sacrifice does not lead to our withdrawal. It is the only way for Miss Oullette’s spirit to live on.”
There was no threat in the beast’s tone, only a promise: If she didn’t submit to its authority, she would die. If she did submit, her spirit would live on. Is that what happened to Mia? Was Mia’s spirit still out there somewhere?