by Jarod Meyer
Kavin grabbed him, and said, “Be silent. Whatever you see is not real.”
“Over there I see my wife, and child. They were taken from me long ago for my misdeeds. It is the creature. It knows what you dread, and he can exploit this. You must maintain your focus,” Kavin said, grabbing him and dragging him onward.
Shou followed, his eyes pressed tight, his hands guiding him along the path, like he was trying not to look at something. William looked back. The boy was gone, now replaced by a second figure. It was a woman. He’d taken her life on orders from his superiors. She was an innocent bystander, not a hostile. He had been duty-bound to protect her, and instead… William regretted nothing more than taking her life. She stood there, watching him as the boy walked back out of the shadows, smiling at him. Their features looked so real.
William felt his stomach turn, and he bent over. A hot flash flooded him, and then shortly after his body heaved. Nothing came out. This was simply muscle memory from his human body. He shook his head to get the images out, and then turned, looking forward and into the coming darkness.
He reached out with his Aura, but couldn’t feel the two figures, a small semblance of peace returning. The path widened again and they came to a large, triangular corridor. Whatever creature walked these corridors was certainly not small.
They followed this long stretch for many minutes, and as they did a faint glow appeared. Soon, William no longer needed to sustain his own light. He let his arm relax, and the orange light took over the darkness. The dull throbbing in his lower back spread to most of his core. It felt as if his bones ached, and he could see Shou rubbing his joints as if he was feeling it as well. Kavin and Leo seemed perfectly fine.
“Leo, are you feeling this?” William asked. Leo shook his head.
“No I do not feel pain anymore. It is a part of my gift, but also a curse. Nor can I feel pleasure,” he said, sadly.
“I’m sorry to hear that, but I admit you have an advantage here. You may have to be our eyes and ears. If this creature can’t cause you pain, then you will be the greatest asset when facing it directly,” William said, watching the woman and boy that haunted him out of the corner of his eye.
“Are you fools ready for the heat?” Kavin interrupted.
They stopped as they reached a portal to the next area of the labyrinth.
“Right of the fire,” William said aloud, as he looked out into what looked to be an active volcano.
They stood on a cliff, the perfectly formed rock walls creating a crevice filled with super-heated stone. It flowed like a river, huge flames exploding from the magma. People scream and flailed about, their bodies trapped in the current of liquid rock. Their arms moved like bird’s wings, reaching and whipping about in search for some relief to the pain. William shuddered.
“These are souls of the damned, being twisted into demons,” Shou said, taking not of the terror on William’s face.
Screw this place.
“I had to clamber around the edge last time,” Kavin said, pointing to a ledge that traversed the gap, “but I thought we might a...”
“Let me guess. Fly you over?” William finished for him. He hoisted Kavin on his back, and gripped Leo and Shou by their collars, before bursting into the air.
“I always wanted to fly,” Kavin hooted, like a little boy.
William didn’t share his enthusiasm, but if they were going to their doom he supposed he would let the old man have his fun.
It quickly grew hot. William’s armor turned light orange, as if the metal was alive. There was pain, but William had felt these effects before, at the peak of Mount Olympus, in the heat of the Greige forge. To this day, nothing bothered him nearly as much. He was grateful for this gift, as he would need it in the fight to come.
While Leo and Kavin were perfectly calm, Shou, however, was writhing in pain. William made it fast, and they crossed the furnace in moments. Another triangle-shaped corridor was carved into the rock on the other side. They landed gently, and Shou took off like a rocket into the cold, dark passageway, blowing on his smoking hands. The others were smoking as well. William couldn’t believe that Kavin, who had no special resistances to pain, endured it.
William felt weary, like a weight had been placed upon his shoulders. His aches still throbbed, but a burning sensation tore into his muscles, seizing them into painful cramps. The pain increased with each step forward.
“Now the cold,” Kavin said.
William wasn’t eager to find out what he meant. They turned into a circular room. Water sat at a level plane with the walkway. He couldn’t immediately tell how deep it was, nor could he see another exit.
“This is a dead end. Has your memory failed you, Kavin?” Leo asked.
“Of course not, stupid boy, we have to swim,” the old man replied, tipping over into the black water with a splash.
William didn’t want to fall behind, and he dove in head first.
His projected armor didn’t drag him down, and water was merely air packed tighter together. He flew through it with ease not even needing to move his arms or legs. Not a moment passed however, and he was lost in complete darkness. Kavin was nowhere in sight. He felt the slight tremble in the water as two more bodies broke the surface. He looked back to see the shadowy figures of Leo and Shou above him.
The light from his hand simply wouldn’t cut through this murky liquid, and he let his aura surround his entire body, exuding light from all sides. It didn’t reach far, but William could now see the shape of the tunnel. Once his two companions caught up they went down together.
The tunnel led down quite a ways before leveling out. William was finally able to make out Kavin ahead. He had grown considerably. Not quite to the size he saw earlier that day, but large enough to notice massive arms propelling him through the liquid.
William began to feel the lack of oxygen in his muscles, and tried to focus on not worrying about air. However a surge of energy jolted his body. He looked to his side, where Leo continued on unimpeded. He met Shou’s wide-eyed gaze in the lit water. The samurai jerked and twitched, just like him.
William pointed to his head, as if to say “It is all in your mind”, and then swam forward. He tried taking his own advice, but he could feel something tugging at his mind, and torturing his body.
Just when he thought he had a grip on the pain he felt hands around him. He looked from side to side, and there were at least ten pairs of hands all tugging at his armor. The dark grey light fell upon their ghostly faces, and he realized that he was seeing every person that he’d ever hurt countless soldiers that he killed in battle, along with nameless boys he fought bare knuckle in the streets. His former life came flooding back to haunt him.
He lost sight of his new friends, and in the darkness he could only hope that they were not falling victim to assaults from within their own minds as well. Karma was making these illusions, but his mind made them real, and he could feel them weighing him down. Soon there wasn’t a thing he could do. His entire body was wrapped in their tangled web of limbs, and he felt as his body hit the bottom of the underwater passage.
He couldn’t get free, and the anxiety of being underwater was getting to him. Claustrophobia from the weight of the bodies began to drive him mad. He struggled with all his might to free himself, but the illusions were stronger.
Or were they? They were in his mind. Were they not? William thought back to the firefly Meredox used to train him. Was he moving, or was the world moving around him? Just then everything stopped. All the writhing and the struggling, and his arm came forth from the cloud of limbs. They grasped at him, but he untangled them one by one, and swam free.
Though the pain endured, the water-filled tunnel began to curve back up, and William powered through to catch up with Kavin. Not a second after his head broke the surface of the water he was hit with pain so intense that he couldn’t focus on seeing, much less projecting or swimming.
He clutched at his head. It felt like someone wa
s trying to rip it open. Strong hands suddenly yanked him from the water. He only heard Shou’s cries and shuffling feet.
William writhed in pain, like one hundred little demons stabbed him over and over again. He tried to think, and when he was finally able to maintain a coherent thought his mind went to one thing and one thing only, Angelica’s soft, smiling face. He didn’t immediately know why. After all, she’d caused him more pain than this by simply leaving without saying a word.
He imagined her soft lips and began to feel the pain subside, but then heard a far off voice. “Get up.”
His eyes snapped open. He could hear and see once more. William flexed his entire body, gritting his teeth so hard he thought they would break, finally forcing his way up to his knee, and then up on two legs again.
He growled, breathing through the torment. Kavin grabbed Leo, and pointed in a direction. Then he picked Shou up off the floor. He was still in his huge form, now standing easily seven feet tall. His eyes were filled with a combination of pain and excitement. William could only imagine how long he’d been waiting to take his revenge on the beast. It seemed nothing would stop him.
William grabbed Leo for support. Leo squeezed his shoulder with a concerned look on his face, but William waved him away. Then, as if he was an infant learning to walk, he put one foot in front of the other.
“Not far now, through here. Prepare yourselves!” Kavin said, though it seemed muddled from the pain in William’s head.
Leopoldo drew Shou’s sword, and put it into the man’s hand. It immediately fell to the floor, and Kavin picked it back up again, and stuffed it into his hand once more. He clenched a great fist around it, and shook Shou, saying something directly into his ear. William couldn’t hear what he said. Leo drew his curved, bone sword, while Kavin simply moved forward, supporting Shou.
They passed under a massive, curved archway, the space beyond shrouded by darkness. To make matters worse, a stench, like rotting food, filled the air. The air was humid, and thick, and the stench clung to his nostrils.
Fear gripped William as he came to a realization.
We are in the kill zone. We are completely useless. If the creature was close, he would squash them, and they were nearly powerless to stop it. No wonder Karma conquered so many.
William felt doubt and fear. Shou could barely stand, and though Leo wasn’t affected by the pain he wasn’t strong enough to defeat this creature on his own.
William grasped Leo by the arm and whispered, “What can you hear? What can you see?”
Leo shook his head, indicating that there wasn’t anything around them. William held up his hand, and focused as hard as he could on projecting light. Kavin grabbed his hand, and he could make out the large figure shaking his head, but William was stubborn, and desperate, and with a jerk, he freed his hand from the man’s grasp, a light bursting forth from his fingertips.
The reaction was almost instant. Light sprayed the walls, revealing a huge dome shaped room. Piles of bones, and massive skeletons littered the floor. Gooey sacks hung from the walls and ceilings, but there was only a moment to take this all in for a shrill sound filled the air, and William clasped his hands over his ears. It felt like his eardrums exploded, and the pain didn’t let up. It only seemed to worsen. He was now blind and deaf, the taint of putrid rot poisoning his senses.
William struggled against unstoppable forces. He had to at least see something. He strained and light burst from his hand again, just in time to see figures running at the group from all sides. The light hit them, revealing the twisted remains of humans. Some still had rotten flesh clinging to their bones, while others were only skeletons. Some wore armor that looked ancient, while a few wore modern looking clothes.
William blasted wildly into the oncoming wave of corpses, but the energy went right through them. The others in his group took defensive stances, except for Kavin, who stared deep into the darkness. William drew Gungnir, and swung it as the creatures crashed into him, but they exploded like gas. More tricks of the mind. They looked so real, their already fragile minds struggling to distinguish reality from illusion. Leopoldo and Shou yelled, whipping their blades around with sheer abandon.
Kavin kept his calm, and waited. The group yelled and tried to reorganize, but a massive object crashed into them. It hit William and sent him skidding across the floor, his light going out instantly.
Darkness and pain washed over him. Leopoldo bellowed in defiance, but it was a hopeless noise. William got to his knees, and gave a cry of his own, hurling energy balls in every direction. They exploded around the room, but he could still not see his group. In his carelessness he chanced hitting them too.
His mind was telling him to retreat. His disadvantage was too great.
“Get up. Fight. Fight, William,” the far off voice said, once again.
“I can’t,” William shouted with all his might. He could hear screams, and roars in the darkness. Karma was probably ripping his friends to pieces.
William considered if this is why they called this beast Karma. All a person’s misdeeds, all the bad things they have done, are turned into pain, all paid back on them one hundred fold. This was just bad karma, and for William this was a long time coming. It seemed one life of loneliness and sorrow wasn’t enough pain to endure. Now, he had to see his second chance at life stripped away by this evil creature.
The voice didn’t let up. William couldn’t decide if it was his mind or not, but it spoke to him again. “Your anger can save you. Fight. Fight,” it said again.
William learned to stifle his rage in Archonia, to be disciplined, but he was no longer in Archonia. His rage had already shown itself many times in this world, and saved him.
All the anger he had been bottling up unleashed in a tidal wave. Angelica hurting him, his fellow soldiers berating him, the people of Archonia mocking him, and last but not least, Vanity’s snide little face cackling at him.
His mind was suddenly free from the pain, and his Aura shot out across the room. He could feel everything, including a massive creature moving much too quickly for its size somewhere to his left. It was Karma, and there was a smaller aura on top of it. William could feel Leopoldo struggling with all his might to damage the beast. Kavin reached his full size, and was a hulking mass of muscle. Unlike him, they could see, and actively battled the creature. Shou lay prone on the ground, and William could feel his agony.
Only after his quick assessment of the room did William realize that he was yelling with all his might. His vocal chords strained, his rage exploding like an atom bomb. The energy pulsing away from his body lifted him into the air, sucking in many small bone fragments and other nearby loose particles as if he had his own gravitational pull.
He no longer needed his eyes; he could feel everything in the room. He continued to yell as the suction from his energy continued to build. It ceased, the room momentarily falling silent. The repulse of energy was incredible. It sent a shockwave across the area that blew every loose object violently against the walls. The beast hit the wall, a large crack snaking up the stone.
William’s energy surrounded his body like a flame, pulsing rhythmically. Karma’s pain was still there in the back of his mind, but it had lost its hold on him. William bellowed, his own battle cry drowning out Karma’s shrill screeching.
He could see the beast clearly now. What had first simply been a hulking mass in his mind gained shape. It had six, long thick legs with multiple segments, which came to points. Its elongated neck thrashed about sporadically, flailing a large bulbous head covered in spikes and barbs.
Not only was this creature armed with an arsenal of mind invading weapons, but it was equipped with spikes and razor sharp teeth as well.
His friends were fighting admirably, but they were losing. Kavin took a mighty blow from the beast, and skidded across the ground, kicking up bones and dust. He must have done some damage to it however because one of its legs was bent, and it hobbled on five. Its neck twisted, and caught
Leopoldo in its mouth. He watched as his friend slid into the horrible, tooth-filled gaping hole. Leo’s sword remained lodged into the creatures back, but it hadn’t even noticed.
William’s energy erupted from his chest in a beam of fiery grey light that broadsided the creature, knocking it off its feet. The screeching noise filled the air again.
William was still enraged, and drew his sword, shooting through the air all in one fluid motion. Before the creature could recover Gungnir formed into a war hammer, and with a mighty swing, drove it down against the creature’s head with a satisfying crunch.
The beast wailed in pain, one of the large legs catching William from behind, sending him careening off course. He hit the far wall, and pushed off like a swimmer on the turn shooting back towards the monster. This time Gungnir took the form of a spear, and when it struck it plunged into Karma clear up to his hands, knocking it over on its side.
A positive turn of events, but the creature’s hold over William’s mind hadn’t let up, and his rage was subsiding. Pain flooded back into his muscles, and joints, crippling him. He fell off Karma, and stumbled backward. He yelled, and fired energy blasts at the creature, taking small chunks out of its hide, but its sheer size was overwhelming, and his attacks were not doing enough damage.
The pain intensified as Karma turned its focus solely on William’s mind. It loomed over him, ready to devour his soul.
Wisps of light emanated from his fingertips as his projections began to fail him. William’s body gave in and he sank to the floor again, too heavily burdened by pain. He began to feel sleepy, every fiber of his being growing weaker.
The creature’s massive gaping mouth hovered right in front of his face. He could feel it’s hot breath against his face, the stench of rot singing his nostrils.
Before William fell over, a large solid fist collided with the beast’s head. Kavin was still fighting, despite his many. Karma turned its long neck, snapping at Kavin, and he countered with two great arms around its neck. He held it down with all his strength. It was weakened and vulnerable. Kavin had it momentarily trapped, but William had no strength to fight anymore.