The Dark Materials

by Amanda Churi

  Mabel was much more collected throughout the extensive research than I was. Whenever I managed to make the switch between mortal and demon, it would take a godsend to bring me back under control. Sometimes, I managed; other times, it took hours, and we ended up wasting the rest of the day trying to calm me down. While Mabel could not trigger her powers without mentally wanting to create a world war, bringing her emotions and vitals back to normal was as easy as snapping a finger. The biggest struggle for the both of us would be learning how to control ourselves, and with a war raging above and the Proxez keeping their heads low, I didn’t know if we would be ready when it came down to it.

  My head ached as I continued to ponder on the terrible game that we were playing. I really just didn’t know what to do… And I was starting to feel very discouraged…

  Mabel suddenly groaned above me, my eyes opening wide. I stared at the bottom of the mattress, watching the weight shift towards the metal ladder next to my face.

  If she knew I was still up, she would definitely give me a stern talking. While I never minded speaking to her, in fact, I loved to, I was in no mood to socialize; I just wanted to lie here and mope silently about what a complete and utter screw-up I was.

  Moving slowly so that I did not make noise, I lowered my hands and closed my eyes. I tried to control my heart and slow my breathing as my senses reached beyond my skin, picturing the room and evaluating what was happening without the use of my eyes.

  The pitter-patter of hands and feet slunk down beside my face before, with a light thud, they hit the floor. Mabel stood there, silent, most certainly looking my way to see if I was asleep. She sighed after a moment as she fell for my small gimmick, her footsteps fading into the distance; a soft click touched my ears, and weak beams of light filtered through my closed eyelids.

  I heard water run, and hesitantly, I opened one eye to reevaluate the situation. Mabel was standing in the small bathroom almost directly across from me—a bathroom with no door to separate the two spaces. It had one sink and an old mirror, along with a single bucket for when nature called.

  She stood at the sink, quiet. She cupped her hands under the small trickle of water running from the faucet head, bringing her hands up to refresh her face with the precious liquid. She had a red tint to her skin, her deep crimson eyes consumed by doubt and fright as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was mumbling to herself as she proceeded to scrub her face, grinding her knuckles into the three large scars across her cheek, whimpering when it did not disappear.

  For a while, I said nothing—minutes. She shut the water off when she finally convinced herself it was useless, staring at her reflection.

  “Where are you…?” she wondered aloud in a hushed, slurred voice. “You can’t be gone, Maeve… You just can’t be… I need you. Eero needs you—the whole world needs you…!” She took a deep breath, struggling to control herself as rage built behind her eyes. “Why are you letting Reeve get away with this?!”

  Her eyes began to glow, and I ditched my act almost immediately. I threw the blankets off and stood up, urgently making my way over to Mabel. She was so hateful towards her counterpart at that moment that she didn’t even know I was there—not until I appeared behind her in the mirror.

  She gasped when I diverged from the shadows, the light in her eyes faltering as she stared at me through the mirror. She swallowed, forcing herself to smile, but I didn’t buy it—I couldn’t after all that I had just heard.

  For a moment, neither of us spoke; we just stared ahead. Ever since her second half had come forth, Mabel only seemed to become more beautiful by the day. Me, on the other hand…

  My eyes no longer held an ounce of blue; my pupils were permanently gold with specks of silver, complete with a reflective layer in the back like that of a cat. My ears had sharpened and scaled over, resembling a semi-compressed paper fan, and every bone in my face was now visible. My black hair was no more, either—only the very ends retained their original pigment as my demons continued to weave down from my scalp and contaminate the rest of my original being. It didn’t look merely blonde either; it was so bright and slick that it looked like my hair was made out of liquid gold, having the same shimmer and gaudy appearance as my eyes.

  “Are you alright?” I asked upfront.

  She chuckled strenuously, directing her sight to her hands on the countertop. I followed her eyes, resting my hands on top of hers for reassurance.

  She faintly smiled, rotating her wrists and roping her fingers with mine, which had become thinner throughout my evolution. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… Got a bit angry there.”

  “I noticed.”

  Her smile widened, but the edges of her lips creased unnaturally. “We’ve changed a lot since this journey first began, haven’t we? Almost seems like I have known you forever…”

  I grinned, tightening my hold. “Well, according to the vision, Miss Prophet, you knew me long before we met. Perhaps it has been forever.”

  She scoffed humorously. “No… But ever since that day…” Her voice escaped her in an airy, whimsical breath. She pulled her hands away, turning around so that we stood face to face. “The first time I saw you in my vision,” she began again, “I didn’t know who you were, what was happening, or why I saw you…” She took a step closer, both of our bodies touching. “But I knew we were going to be together… Not necessarily romantically, but somehow, somewhere, our destinies would intertwine.”

  I didn’t exactly know what to say, so I let her continue to speak, feeling my heart quiver. It didn’t matter what we had gone through or how much we had changed; she still saw through my appearance and refused to let go of what she knew was there.

  “I-I’m so mad…” she went on to say, her voice crumbling as tears tugged at the corners of her eyes, “because I can almost feel a small tear forming between us… I don’t want to ruin this—to ruin us, or do more damage than I’ve done already.”

  “What?” I said, aghast. “Mabel, you—”

  “It’s my fault we’re in this mess, Eero!” she yelled. “I didn’t focus hard enough—react fast enough. Maeve was destroyed because of me; this world fell because I didn’t do what I was supposed to!”

  “Hey,” I purred gently. “You said it yourself—all of us are to blame, not just one. Besides, Maeve isn’t destroyed; half of her is still in you.”

  “But the other half isn’t,” she argued stubbornly. “If she were still around, she would have found me again by now. I’ll never be able to succeed without her.” She pulled back, wiping her nose with her sleeve. “I should have stayed behind; I’m the Receiver. It was my job to save the world, and… And I didn’t. I could have fought Reeve; I could have destroyed her before any of this happened!”

  “We don’t even know when she took over,” I told her softly, but in a stern, confident tone. “You might have been long dead by then.”

  “No,” she protested. “It was my job to end her, and I failed.”

  “Mabel…”

  “NO!” she repeated, her volume quickly rising. Frustrated, she shoved me in the chest, causing me to totter back a few inches. I easily kept my balance and remained composed, but Mabel was losing it. Her eyes were swarming with starved, neglected flames that were trying to break loose and feed off of anything that they could. “Stop trying to act like I didn’t do anything! Just yell at me! Call me useless, and get it over with!”

  Screaming, she spun on her heels, lashing out at the mirror with her fist. She bashed the glass as hard as she could, her knuckles shattering the surface and the sharp shards slicing her skin. The remains of the mirror fell both in and around the sink like a rainstorm, making it hazardous to venture one step in any direction.

  I did not move, my eyes wide as I stared at Mabel’s heaving back. Her hair was matted with sweat, her torn knuckles pushed up against the metal bracket of the ruined mirror. Blood raced down her fingers and wrist, dripping into the littered sink and turning it red.

  The
smell of fresh flesh and young blood hit me like a tsunami. The natural, luscious scent of plasma wafted through the air and landed on my tongue; my eyes honed in on the gashes, watching with temptation as her vessels pumped blood through the crevices in her skin. Her veins throbbed and bled, her heartbeat slapping my ears as it fell in sync with the pulse of her capillaries.

  I could hardly breathe; the scent and sight were overpowering.

  Mabel heaved a deep sigh, reeling in her aggression that briefly overstepped its boundaries. Trembling, she retracted her fist, standing straight and staring at the damage. “Just one more scar,” she huffed painfully. “What’s another one gonna do, right?”

  I refused to reply. My stomach churned, roaring like a lion closing in on its kill. I could feel my mind fogging up and my predator-like instincts kicking in, and immediately, I took a step back in an attempt to distance myself from her. The temptation was awful; my heart and gut were separating from my body, each urging me to follow through with their own desires.

  F-fight…! I told myself, biting my lip and hoping that my body would obey.

  The crackle of glass under my feet alerted Mabel to my movement. She looked over her shoulder and surveyed me from top to bottom, her eyes flickering with confusion. “Eero…?” she asked, picking up on the fact that something wasn’t right.

  Listening to my name roll off of her lips… Her sluggish speech filled with caution and fright… It was irresistible.

  NOW!

  My feet left the ground, and before Mabel could fully understand what happened, I slammed her into the sink, bending her back over the counter and throwing her head against the stone. She squealed with horror, my hips pinning her against the concrete as my hands grabbed the cheeks of her face, forcing her to look at me. Her body shook uncontrollably as my sharp nails caressed her skin, my eyes suddenly lighting up and peering into the depths of her heart, gorging on the angst that dominated her being.

  “E-Eero!” she squeaked as I slowly tilted my head, loudly cracking my neck. A growl was born in my vocal cords—a deep, deceptive rumble that echoed my thirst. I licked my lips, my gums parting as the teeth of a monster hid those that I was born with. My ears fanned out and vibrated, a reptile hiss seeping from my teeth. I tightened my grip on her face, squeezing with such force that she winced in pain. The blood from her hand was very accessible, but the strongest veins in her throat called to me much more.

  I laughed heinously as she began to struggle, the blood from my fangs flying over her body. “Stay still… And this will be much easier!”

  Her jaw dropped in disbelief. “Eero! Stop it!” she screamed. “This isn’t you!”

  I continued to laugh, maneuvering one hand over to her exposed throat. “Oh, you amuse me; you amuse us!” I chortled, snapping my teeth a mere centimeter from her face.

  “I’m warning you… GET BACK!”

  I snickered. “Or what? What do you think—?”

  I didn’t get to finish before a terrible sensation ran through my body, my insides screaming as a jolt of electricity coursed through my gut and down my legs, making me sick to my stomach. My threatening façade shattered as a moan of agony escaped my lips, my legs trembling and my groin blowing up in an inferno of pain. I wanted to curl up into a fetal position and cry, and I would have—if Mabel’s knee wasn’t still lodged in my crotch.

  Mabel threw her fist forward and decked me right in the side of the face, the force behind her punch throwing my neck to the side and taking my body with it. My legs gave out, bringing me down into the sea of glass as the current turned against me and sliced any skin that was within reach.

  I groaned miserably, clutching my gut and trying to hold my nausea back as my blood began to coat the floor. In a snap, my temporary strength was gone; my mortal body was my home once more, along with my mind that was quickly trying to sort out what on Earth came over me.

  “You know, I think it’s funny how villains always feel the need to give a monologue before they kill someone,” Mabel snarled, her scorching red eyes directed at me. “If they just finished the job without spilling all of the beans, their success rate would be much higher.”

  I focused on her through my squinted eyes, my broken body registering only a single word from her mouth. “Villain…?” I repeated horrifically.

  Mabel shook her head, scoffing as she forced herself to look away. “I love you, Eero,” she admitted frailly, covering her battered fist before I went haywire again. “But lately, I don’t like you…”

  Her words brought sunlight to my veins. She… She said she loved me…

  But the chill which came afterward killed me.

  Ashamed, I looked down at my punctured arms, frowning. I had to get myself under control… If I didn’t, not only would I become the person who I feared the most, but I would also lose the only one left who really cared about me…

  And I wouldn’t be able to get her back.

  ***

  “I knew this would happen!” Seek screamed as she stared at Eero and Mabel, watching the fire mage retreat from the battle and crawl into her pit of nightmares. “Pinion is crazy! She should know that Eero can’t survive solely off of blood!”

  “Will you put that stupid contraption away?!” Kaitlyn snapped, chucking a pillow at Seek’s head. Seek tottered forward as the pillow made a direct hit; her shaken body instinctively caused her hands to twist as she finished stumbling, and just like that, the image was ripped from their room and sucked back into the iridescent cube that Seek possessed.

  “Hey!” Seek yelled, spinning around to face off with her guardian, who was lying on the top bunk and shooting a disgusted glare Seek’s way. “Knock it off, would you?”

  “Not until you let me get some sleep!” Kaitlyn exclaimed bitterly. “Put that damn box away and get to bed!”

  Seek was stupefied. “Did you not see what just happened?”

  “If the definition of see is looking at something through dried up, crusted, sleep deprived eyes, then yes, I did.”

  Seek rolled her eyes, dragging her worn feet over to the large metal door. Talking to Kaitlyn right now was useless.

  “Where are you going?” Kaitlyn asked, rubbing her eyes to get a better look at Seek as she pressed her hand to the door, waiting to gain access to the elaborate halls of the base.

  “To talk to Pinion,” Seek replied bluntly.

  “At this hour?”

  The doors parted. Seek looked over her shoulder one last time. “She isn’t asleep; I can feel her disturbed soul. She’s fretting over her next move.”

  Kaitlyn cocked her head to the side, a frown settling on her face. Seek was the strangest person she had ever met. Her past did not properly connect with her outlook on life or her selflessness that was more vast than a hundred people put together. Kaitlyn had a rough past, they all did, but never could she have Seek’s sympathy. “…You’re not going to wait much longer, are you…?”

  “No,” Seek agreed. “It’s time that my duties be fulfilled.”

  “Duties that you took on yourself,” Kaitlyn argued. “How much longer do you think you can evade Typo, especially when you begin the process?! He will drag you to that palace and put all of your thoughts to bed… Permanently. You are public enemy number one.”

  Seek chuckled under her breath. “Believe me, I’m sure the prophets took my place.” She exhaled, stepping out into the hallway. “I’m all alone now, anyway… You can’t protect me anymore. We knew this time would come…”

  “Seek!”

  The doors closed behind her, muffling Kaitlyn’s voice and destroying further protests. Seek closed her eyes, shaking her head as she began to travel the dark tunnels. Her body was the only light source this late, the innocent white hue of her skin illuminating the black corridors.

  Screams echoed in her head as she placed one bare foot in front of the other; the shackle around her neck burned, the souls swarming within her skin and heart looking at her with fearful eyes. They knew what she was doin
g, and while they did not like it, they understood from the moment they were infused with her body that such would eventually be their fate.

  Her thin skin prickled with memories, her scalp itching as they tried to claw their way into her brain.

  A pair of frightening white eyes managed to break the mental wall that she tried to build—eyes that pressed down on her with hunger the moment that they saw her skin glowing with the aura of serenity, an army of nightmares in pursuit as they tried to reclaim the ground that Seek took away from them.

  She unknowingly did it, but the moment Destiny tapped her shoulder and selected her as the cursed child, she knew there was no way out. Years had gone by since that fateful day—years of waiting until the right time to initiate her plans; years of patience and longing… A heart crying to be freed… And now, it was upon her, and she was ready.

  Seek came to a halt at the large and foreboding doors fortifying Pinion’s territory. They loomed at twice the height of Seek and were not metal like most. Pinion’s doors were made up of layers upon layers of stained glass that consisted of every color imaginable. It was one of the few beauties that Seek could recall existing in such a dark world, but the sight pained her; it almost seemed like everything that Pinion owned kept her chained down.

  Clutching the magical box tighter with one hand, Seek raised her fist, preparing to knock until she heard voices and stopped herself. Intrigued, she leaned closer, wondering who else could possibly have something to say to their queen at this hour.

  “I don’t know if it’s such a good idea,” Pinion’s quaint voice echoed through the door—one so hushed that Seek had to press her ear against the door to make sure she got every word. “There are risks.”

  “Ey, Pinion, please! He is a fine lad, really, but he cannot properly compute all of the knowledge behind mechanics and technology. He comes from far too different of an era. Doing such will aid him in—”