by Amanda Churi
I know that Calla secretly helped the Nobles, he thought to himself, specifically by protecting the higher ranks from time catching up with them…
His thoughts trailed away from him, Kevin quickly looking over his shoulder as his mind made a horrid connection.
The ones who had been protected remained because their existence was ensured through Calla’s magic which had been executed long ago and could not be reversed. He snapped his head back towards Desmond’s empty container, his breathing increasing as his chest tightened. Unable to believe the terrible thought which surfaced, he plunged his hands into the empty crate, frantically feeling around. The normal Nobles’ bodies would have vanished now that they had been vanquished and were eliminated from the future, but because of the spell, Desmond’s shouldn’t have.
As though on cue, Kevin’s hand stumbled across something in the very back corner of the crate, his shaking hand carefully locking around it as the object clattered against the thin metal. Catching his breath, Kevin hesitantly pulled the object towards him, holding it up in the air against the dusty stream of moonlight so that he could properly identify it.
His body froze. His heart smashed into his stomach, his legs forcing him to take a horrid step back as he lowered the object, his eyes broad with dread.
A bone.
“N-no,” Kevin stuttered, frantically shaking his head before quickly turning to the smashed window, racing over to the open air and bringing himself to a halt just before he could fall out of the rift and into the sea. The dark night encased his body, the silver moon swallowed in his terrified black eyes as he stared out at the forest in the far distance. The air chilled his body as it bashed his face, his long hair obscuring his view as he tried to see past the falling world around him. His grip tightened around Desmond’s remain with such pressure that there was a light crack in the aged bone. Regardless what he tried to tell himself, he could not drown the devastating fear which rose inside of him.
He didn’t know where he was or what he was doing, but the fact that there was still a piece of the devil left behind, even though his body was missing, told Kevin all that he needed to know.
Desmond, the man who had stood behind the most daunting antagonist ever, whose dream had been nothing short of complete and utter world domination, was still out there.
Ten
Night’s Core
The seven of us camped that night on the edge of the divide. It was the first real time the four of us had gotten the chance to rest since our arrival, and I don’t think any of us could have been more grateful for some much-needed shut-eye, along with the rare occasion of not needing to look over our shoulders every second now that we had Seek and Kaitlyn with us.
Aside from Kaitlyn’s brief threat, she had not been hostile from that point forth, though that wasn’t to say she was friendly. Seek and Kaitlyn agreed that we would resume our travels in the morning soon after we had crossed the rift, and I’ll tell you what, we literally collapsed the second they made the wonderful announcement.
I didn’t even attempt to stay awake; I was so drained in every possible way that I was just about done. Between no food, water, all of the blood I had lost, and the truth which had attacked me without mercy, I felt like nothing more than a corpse. Thankfully, because I was so exhausted, the horrible dreams I expected never came; my mind was too worn out to even bother giving me visions, focused on performing the most minimal tasks.
“Come on, guys,” Seek’s voice came gently. “It’s time to get up.”
Oh, for goodness sake, day couldn’t have come already! It felt like I had been out a few minutes tops.
I groaned in protest, rolling over onto my stomach so that I face-planted the earth. My body was so shaky it hardly felt like I could get to my feet, let alone continue on our long, tedious trek to get out of this wretched land. At this rate, we would make it to Aphrite in coffins.
I heard Mabel moan next to me, equally as anxious to resume our travels.
“Five more minutes,” Sybil mumbled tiredly.
“I have something that will cheer all of you up,” Seek tried again, a magical sound resembling chimes tickling my ear.
Reluctant, I opened my eyes, only imagining what could possibly raise our spirits at this point.
My pupils broadened when I saw what I did. Mabel, who had been lying beside me, gasped with shock, her head perking up like a puppy. Griffin also woke up, blinking the weariness from his eyes to see what the commotion was. Sybil looked so out of it that she appeared to be drunk, and Laelia just didn’t bother to get up at all.
Seek kneeled on the ground in front of us, her torn dress spread around her thin body like a sheet, while Kaitlyn stood protectively behind her. The white light encasing Seek’s body had dulled to a soft glow, her ivory-gray eyes shimmering with hope just like they had when I first met her. She did not look at us, holding her arms out from her body and letting her hands hover above the frozen. She took a deep breath, the sound of wind chimes fluttering through the air as her palms intensified with a white light that she directed at the ground.
There was a light crack, the shards of ice rampant through the soil quickly melting away and causing the ground to slope inward, filling with grim, gray water. Seek then lowered her lustrous hands into the small puddle, rays of white light briefly shooting through the polluted liquid before she pulled up her dripping hands, revealing a puddle of clear, fresh water.
“Drink up!” she giggled innocently.
Before I could even move, Mabel dove over me, her lower body crushing mine as she plummeted her hands into the pool of water, scooping and slurping it up as fast as she could.
“Hey, save some!” I exclaimed in a scratchy voice. Strenuously, I pulled myself out from under her and crawled over to the puddle myself. I cupped my hands and dipped them in the water, bringing the precious liquid up to my lips and drinking as fast as I could to spare my organs of their dehydration.
Sybil cocked her head to the side in bewilderment, slowly crawling towards the puddle. She kneeled there, hesitantly dipping a single claw in the liquid. “What’s this?”
“Water,” Seek answered with an innocent smile. “Pure water.”
Carefully, Sybil lifted her claw to her mouth, licking the moisture off of it with her sharp black tongue before smacking her lips in contemplation. She shrugged passively. “It doesn’t taste like blood.”
“You’ll get some when we get to base,” Kaitlyn informed her. “Prelude has plenty to spare.”
Griffin hung back for a moment, turning his eyes to Laelia, who was sprawled across the earth, still unconscious. “Laelia, wake up,” he said lightly as he rested his hand on her back, trying not to spook her.
She groaned in protest, weakly raising her head. Her short hair was knotted in large clumps, the roots looking dark blonde instead of light. Two large black bags took refuge under her dull green eyes, altering her appearance that much more. She truly looked out of it, her head slightly swaying as she struggled to clear her mind. “What…?” she moaned.
“Water,” Griffin exclaimed heartily with a grin.
She huffed in disgust, her face hitting the ground once more. She waved him away. “I don’t want any.”
I looked at her, stunned. “How are you not thirsty?”
“I don’t know,” she griped in annoyance, rolling to her side and glaring at me. “Just drink and shut up, would you?”
I wanted to say something, though I didn’t. I was too weakened to care; if she didn’t want any, fine, I wasn’t going to push her. More for us!
“Come on, you need to drink,” Griffin pressed, touching her back again.
Laelia smacked him away. “I said no,” she growled. “Leave me alone.”
Griffin frowned in distress, though in the end, the thirst he wanted to quench became too strong to resist, causing him to pull away from his friend and refuel his energy with us.
We drank until the puddle ran dry, and we were almost slurping mud; it
wasn’t too much, but it would do for now.
“Eat these,” Kaitlyn instructed bluntly, reaching into her pocket and passing a small, squishy red cube to Griffin, Mabel, and me.
“What’s this?” I asked curiously. “Taffy?”
“It’s a meal cube; it fills you up and gives you all the nutrients you need for a day,” Seek replied. “Food is scarce, so this is what we receive on our quests.”
Mabel whistled. “That’s nuts.”
“It’s life,” Kaitlyn griped tiredly. “Go on, eat it.”
I didn’t even bother to consider the possible risks of accepting “candy from strangers,” immediately popping the small cube in my mouth. My taste buds went off the wall as soon as it touched my tongue; I couldn’t quite explain what it tasted like—sweet, juicy, a hint of tart… Pure indulgence so rich that I could feel the strength flooding back through me like electricity.
“That stuff is amazing!” Mabel squeaked enthusiastically, staring down at her tongue in mystification as she absorbed the taste.
Seek chuckled. “Glad you think so. You’ll get real food when we get where we’re going. I only have one ration left, and I’m holding onto it for your friend.” She looked at Laelia, her mouth twisting in dissatisfaction as Laelia fell into unconsciousness once more. “Assuming she wants it.”
“She will,” Griffin assured her. “She’s just in a mood.”
Seek didn’t reply. Taking a deep breath and closing the matter, she stood up, pressing her hands to her back and stretching. “Come on,” she told us. “We need to get you guys to Aphrite.”
We moaned in unison; even Laelia joined in to contribute her opinion.
Kaitlyn sighed, pressing a hand to her face. “Look, I know the last thing you all want to do is travel more,” she reasoned with a hard edge to her voice, “but if we don’t get you within the safety of the base, you won’t make it out here much longer; I’m already surprised you made it this far as it is. Let’s not try to push that luck anymore, ok?”
As reluctant as I was to travel, I knew it was best to stay with them; after all, we saw what happened as a result of being so careless. They knew this place; we didn’t.
I stared at Kaitlyn for a moment before standing up and facing my allies, smiling to show I was with them. The others followed my lead as well, Laelia being the exception; Griffin had to drag her to her feet, the spoiled child thrashing in protest. “Let me sleep!” she screamed. “I want to sleep!”
“You can sleep once we get where they’re taking us,” Griffin promised.
Laelia flashed her green eyes to his angrily, scoffing as she pulled herself out of his grasp. “You suck.”
Griffin ignored her; even Sybil looked taken aback by her hostility, settling on Griffin’s shoulder instead for the long trek ahead. At times like this, talking to Laelia was useless. She had to burn off her steam on her own, and none of us could help her episode go by faster.
“So how far is Aphrite from here?” I asked curiously.
Kaitlyn was the one to pull us out, motioning us onward. “Not even a half-hour by walking,” she answered as she began to walk away from the rift, Seek in tow while we took up the rear; Mabel was at my side, Griffin was behind us, and Laelia dragged on at the back, mumbling every curse word in her vocabulary.
“So, I have a question,” Kaitlyn said, stretching her well-built arms across her chest and swinging them to relax her muscles. “I can tell that you are a naïve group of Players, but mind telling me what in the world made you take a lerial out of the forest? You’re just asking for trouble.”
“Hey!” Sybil objected. “They didn’t take me on purpose; I accidentally stowed away in their bag.”
Kaitlyn scoffed in amusement. “How do you accidentally stow away?” she retorted, casting Sybil a smug glance over her shoulder.
Sybil’s black, slimy skin began to crust as her heat within rose out of anger. “A light blinded me,” she snarled. “I ran into the bag to get away from it, and I guess I fell asleep.”
“You know who else should sleep?” Laelia announced loudly. “Me!”
“Shut up, you spoiled girl,” Kaitlyn huffed, rolling her eyes before looking back ahead of her.
Good to know I wasn’t the only one who thought that.
“Says the girl who had the beautiful bow!” Laelia snapped back.
Kaitlyn came to a drastic halt, her body trembling as she struggled to restrain herself. Seek sighed, shaking her head in defeat and taking a step back as Kaitlyn slowly turned around, her eyes narrowed at Laelia.
“Do you know,” Kaitlyn began slowly, stalking past us and pointing accusingly at Laelia, though the child stood her ground, “what that bow cost me?”
“A hundred denarii?” Laelia rounded slyly.
Kaitlyn snorted heatedly like a bull, forcefully poking Laelia’s breastplate and locking eyes. “That bow cost me the lives of my friends,” she told her gruffly. “We went on a mission to raid a factory of the Proxez, and in doing so, yes, I got one of the best weapons in existence, but I lost over a dozen valiant and brave soldiers in the process.” She scanned Laelia from top to bottom with enraged eyes, scoffing when she made her way back to her face. “Soldiers that were far more worthy and appreciative than you are, when they had far less.”
Laelia set her jaw, grabbing Kaitlyn’s large hand and shoving it away. Kaitlyn refused to move, Laelia inching so close that their noses touched.
“You think I haven’t fought in war?” she demanded.
“You don’t act like it,” Kaitlyn hissed bitterly.
Laelia chuckled, hardly believing the words she heard. “I was kidnapped from my home,” she forced herself to say through clenched teeth, real, sincere emotions coming forth. “I was thrown into a terrible, terrible war, and I fought hundreds of soldiers for my existence. We’ve borne scars, lost limbs, been tortured mentally and physically, and have seen Hell with our own eyes. Don’t you ever tell me that I, or any of us, have not suffered and that we are not worth anything! We are NOT mistakes!”
Kaitlyn actually looked surprised by the tongue lashing Laelia had come back with. Her words stunned me as well, but they made me faintly smile. We—she said we, not her.
Closing the argument, Kaitlyn stepped back, staring Laelia’s way with eyes that now saw something different. Cautious, she looked at Mabel, Griffin, and me, the same spark of realization crossing her face.
“Seek…?” Kaitlyn spoke up quietly, looking back towards the spiritual girl who had looked on at the rivalry in silence. “They’re not…?”
Seek smiled, shaking her head. “That’s why I told you to wait at Pikë when I sensed something strange,” she continued. “I didn’t know who they were, but…” Her voice trailed off. She looked back at Mabel and me, smiling graciously. “I could tell they were different. I don’t think any of them have been touched by the Lord.”
“But… How?” Kaitlyn wondered. “At their age, that’s impossible…”
Seek shrugged. “Apparently not.”
Sybil crept forward on Griffin’s shoulder, leaning down to stare at his face with wide, puzzled eyes before focusing on Laelia. “Not touched by the Lord?” she squeaked painfully. “Y-you lied?”
My heart nearly exploded. Oh no…
“Sybil,” Mabel tried, keeping her voice light in an attempt to calm her.
“You can’t be Glitches if the Lord does not have your data!” Sybil cried with fright, her body straightening and ears becoming erect as her tail lashed against Griffin’s shirt. “What are you?!”
Seek snapped her broad eyes towards the lerial as a vicious hiss rose in her throat. Before any of us could tell what was happening, Seek sprinted over to Griffin, pulling her glowing fist back and slamming it as hard as she possibly could against Sybil’s skull—a punch so powerful that a pulse of white light was released from Seek’s bony knuckles, rushing across Sybil’s head and making her skull flash like an x-ray.
Sybil’s undivided attention on kill
ing us was brought to a close as soon as she was struck, the force of the trauma knocking her clear off of Griffin’s shoulder and onto the ground face first, silencing her threats altogether.
“Sybil!” Laelia screeched, dropping to her knees and hurriedly rolling Sybil onto her back so that her closed eyes faced Laelia. She was still breathing, though her body twitched painfully from the intense blow she had taken as she drifted off. Panting uncontrollably, Laelia scooped her tiny body into her hands, pressing her protectively against her chest and glaring at Seek, whose face was hard as stone.
“That will keep her calm for a bit,” Seek said flatly.
“Are you serious?!” Laelia cried in protest. “You nearly killed her! You guys are crazy! Why should we go with you?!”
“Because if you don’t, you’ll be hunted down and slaughtered!” she exclaimed fervently. “Lerials are trained to eliminate Glitches—maybe she spared you for the time being, but an unidentified presence in the midst of such a deadly creature will cause them to attack, no matter what; it’s how they are programmed. I had to knock her out to prevent her from attacking you! Be grateful!”
“Grateful for what?!” Laelia rounded. “That you all kidnapped us in the first place? That you tried to kill us?!”
“Only because we thought that the both of you had kidnapped Eero and Mabel!” Seek raged.
Laelia huffed in disbelief. “If anything, I would want them to be kidnapped from us!”
My pupils went vertical. Did I have an excuse to slug her yet or no?
“Well, guess what?” Seek snarled, placing her hands on her hips. “They aren't going anywhere, so just shut up and mope over your pet like the brat that you are!”
Laelia scowled, saying nothing as she held Sybil closer.
“So… You’re not Players,” Kaitlyn began skeptically, “and furthermore, not Glitches of either blood line. What are you guys…?”