by Amanda Churi
Laelia groaned, her body protesting in every way, but she pushed past their complaints. She took one last good look at Tah, wishing that she had noticed what that book had done to her before it came to this.
“I’m sorry…” Laelia apologized as she began to shuffle down the hall, her eyes one with Tah. “We’ll be back for you. I promise.”
“Come on!” Sybil urged, trying to make Laelia pick up the pace.
Laelia did, even though she felt terrible abandoning Tah for the second time in her miserable life. As quickly as her injured body let her, they moved farther down the hallway and left the territory of light, trying to gain every second they could over the enemy.
A mob of angry, vengeful voices began to wind down the halls and attack them from behind. Shaking, Laelia attempted to secure her grip on the gun once more, but her hand was much more unstable than previously—her body was running on reserves.
Sybil flew ahead of her, suddenly diving to the right to avoid an area of the wall that seemed to stick out much farther than usual. Sybil levitated there for a moment, flapping her wings and evaluating the strange occurrence with a faint sphere of purple light emanating from her eyes before suddenly gasping.
She turned to Laelia, motioning for her to hurry up with her emaciated arms. “In here!”
Panting, Laelia stumbled through the small gap in the wall before sharply spinning on her heels and raising her gun, pulling the trigger to make sure she struck anyone who was getting close. This time, however, no lightning answered her call. Terrified, Laelia continued to toggle the trigger, but the gun refused to function. “No, come on!” Laelia screamed in vain, knowing that without power to draw from, the artillery was useless. “Please work! Just one more time!”
“Laelia, stop!” Sybil demanded, settling on the frozen handle of what appeared to be a door. “Help me pull this!”
Laelia frantically turned to her, realizing what the object was and tossing her weapon to the floor, grabbing the frozen latch with her bare hands. Gathering what strength she could, she began tugging the disguised door to the left, trying to break the ice so that they could close it. Sybil tried to help, though her strength was nothing significant.
“Up ahead!” a faint voice came, Laelia whipping her head up in time to see a flock of soldiers shining of white and blue racing towards them, a shadow leading the band of enemies.
The sight of his red eyes empowered Laelia. With one more pull, the ice suddenly broke, and the door zoomed shut, locking in place and shaking the walls as it sealed them off from the Proxez.
Shaking in exhaustion, Laelia took a step back. Sybil flew away from the door, flying around Laelia’s body and looking at every pocket of air. Her rate of respiration increased, the small lerial whimpering in distress as she continued to fly circles around her friend, desperately searching for something that wasn’t there. “There’s no way out!”
“What?!” Laelia wondered with fright, looking around the room as well.
Sure enough, all that could be seen were empty crates and walls of compacted snow and ice. Hardly a speck of light took refuge in the tomb they sealed themselves in, the darkness only bringing their hopes of coming out alive further down into the chasm that would make their graves.
The door suddenly shook, both girls refocusing their attention on the bulging door. Each strike caused pieces of ice and snow to fall from both above and around them, but they could not break in.
Not yet, at least.
Sybil began to cry, falling from the air and hugging Laelia around the neck. “I’m-I’m sorry, Laelia,” she sobbed, nuzzling her beaten neck with her cold nose. “I’m sorry…”
Laelia held her close, her eyes burning from the intense cold. She had done nothing wrong… Neither of them had. Luck was just not looking out for them this time around.
Laelia watched as the walls around them continued to crumble bit by bit, keeping Sybil close at all times. She looked up, her heart skipping when she realized that even in this pit of depression, hope lay just beyond. The matter above their heads was hardly lighter in hue, but the word hardly was all that Laelia needed.
She looked down at the youngster in her arms. It wasn’t much, and it wasn’t great, but it was something.
She pulled away from Sybil, quickly crouching down and grabbing her gun, hastily tinkering with the infrastructure as she devised a plan. Her body was shaking, and her heart felt as though it was bleeding, but she couldn’t let herself be weak—weakness meant death for them both.
“Laelia…?” Sybil asked in confusion as the Proxez continued to beat at the door, watching Laelia insanely push and pull several clips and valves attached to the weaponry. “What are you doing?”
“Getting you out of here,” Laelia grumbled. She looked down at the golden bracelet on her wrist, her weakened eyes focusing on the purple-black nightmares swirling within. Flye said that it had great power… She just hoped that it was enough.
Grunting, Laelia tore her bracelet off of her wrist, placing it in an empty clip and pushing it back into the gun with a powerful clunk.
“Wait, what?” Sybil exclaimed, fluttering down and floating in front of Laelia. “What do you mean me? What about you?”
Laelia sighed, her shoulders drooping as she brought her eyes to Sybil. She said nothing, but she didn’t have to.
Sybil inhaled all of the air that her body could handle. “No!” Sybil screeched. “No, no, NO!” She flew towards Laelia, squeezing her around the neck as tightly as she could. “You’re coming with me!”
“No, I’m not,” Laelia said gently, hardly able to speak. “I can’t leave; there is no way out for me. But you…” She looked up at the ceiling. “You can do it. I know you can.”
“…Laelia, please…”
“Get back to the Encryption,” Laelia instructed her, rolling over Sybil’s words before she could be overtaken by emotion. “Head to where we came in; someone will hopefully be there given the circumstances. You tell them what happened, and you… You get that video chip to them, ok? No matter what, you make it back.”
She grabbed Sybil with one hand, holding her close for one last hug. The young lerial was trembling uncontrollably, her eyes flickering with faltering light as she digested what was being asked of her. “You stay strong, Sybil… Do it for me, ok…?”
Sybil nodded with an intense sniffle. “Of course, Laelia… I love you…”
Laelia sighed weakly; those were words that had never been said to her…
“And I, you,” she croaked, pushing Sybil away.
Her arms convulsing, she raised the gun, aiming at what appeared to be the weakest part of the roof. You have to do it… You have to.
Closing her eyes, she pulled the trigger.
In the form of scalding black mist, her nightmares were released from their confinements and propelled towards the roof. Like a bomb, the ceiling exploded. Hunks of solid snow fell around them, an ominous, ghostly laughter birthed in the caverns as the violent, black magic singed the ice and crystals a dark black, melting many upon contact. Crystalized condensation and heat-laden steam intertwined as the barrier between the outside world and the fortress broke, the force of impact causing the roof to give in completely, along with the walls as they came tumbling down.
“GO!” Laelia screamed as the ice fell on top of her, pinning her to the floor and knocking what little strength she had left out of her. It crushed her—almost buried her alive. Her bones splintered, and her organs were smashed, blood filling her lungs as she stared up through the chunks of falling snow, quickly losing consciousness.
Crying but listening, Sybil flapped her arms as fast as she could, dodging the rain of debris and gaining the height necessary to flee the empire before it was too late. Laelia could hear her sobs and feel her breaking heart, but as she lay there, pinned beneath the layers of matter as her body numbed, she smiled—not only at the sight of Sybil escaping but upon realizing that she too was now free.
She forced he
r eyes to stay open as the walls continued to break around her, waiting for the moment that those beyond the door would storm her for the last time. Unable to move beneath the items that quickly sucked the life from her body, she let her head go limp, grinning wide as the sounds around her decreased in volume: the screams, the wind, the curses…
Inside, she was at peace after sixteen long years…
She finally allowed herself to cry, knowing that fighting the tears did not matter at this point.
The walls fell to their foundation, the door hitting the earth as a wave of feet immediately raced towards her.
Yet she still did not close her eyes, her heart racing as she prepared for her long awaited journey.
Typo was the sole warrior to confront her, the Elites throwing their grapples up onto what parts of the roof were still intact, climbing their chains in an effort to pursue the lerial.
But Laelia knew they couldn’t catch her. With Sybil’s quick reactions and head start, along with her body now fueled with a vengeance for Laelia’s life, nothing would stop her.
And Typo knew that too, growling and snapping his fangs like an animal as he leaned in close to Laelia, his hand crushing her windpipe. “Any last words, bitch?”
Laelia snickered through her mouthful of blood, knowing exactly how she wanted to leave this world—not begging for mercy or fighting the inevitable, but being herself right up until the end.
“Yeah,” she rasped, her lips curling into a devious grin. “Just wanted to ask you one thing, actually.”
Typo listened, his hostility slightly retreating in surprise due to her complacent view on death.
“What took you so long?”
Thirty-three
Accelerate
“Come on, Daisy! Ya gotta hang in there!”
Daisy groaned in dejection as Cecil continued to carry her through the forest leading to Phantome, pursuing her father as a figure of night.
He bound through the crystallized brush and destroyed the withered leaves beneath his feet, the branches of the hibernating trees holding their arms high above the duo to shield them from the all-seeing eyes. The rate of snowfall picked up the farther they ran, transitioning from a gentle flurry to an aggressive downfall of heavy, wet flakes, which tried to slow their advance.
She was struggling to breathe. Her blood festered with the landscape of Hell, and the nerves across every inch of her body screamed; her organs were crying, and her bones were assaulted by the frantic emotions racing within, each and every symptom eating away at her very life.
Cecil cast a cautious glance at Daisy, who was cradled in his arms with her face nuzzled in his sculpted chest. Her head was bobbing as she struggled to hold on, even under the influence of Cecil’s magic. He wasn’t worried about her; he was downright terrified.
The snowfall strengthened, as did the winds, which inevitably began to slow Cecil’s trek. He kept his head down as he forced himself on, shielding his apprentice to the best of his ability. Before long, he was powering through a blizzard, the snowfall accumulating around his feet until he stood in several inches of soft, moist, and evil flakes.
The hair on Cecil’s arms bristled, and it was not from his falling body temperature. Darkness slowly congregated on his pores, attempting to sink into his bloodstream and steal what little bit of virtue his lost soul retained. He hissed, his green eyes flashing briefly in the hollering tempest as he took a mental shot of his surroundings, trying to find the source of his unrest.
Several figures emanating a blue hue suddenly became clear to him in the darkness. He stopped running almost immediately, sliding a short distance in the snow before morphing into a statue. Puzzled by the sudden change of position, Daisy struggled to raise her head, looking out from the wall of his arms. “What is—?”Cecil immediately jolted her body, urging her to shut up.
Neither moved. Cecil stuck his neck out from his body, staring through winter’s profuse tears and searching for what was up ahead.
The blue, ominous figures moved once more, Cecil taking action without a second thought.
His eyes flaring with blue energy, he secured his grip on the child and sprung into the trees like an assassin, landing evenly on a branch high above. His breathing was heavy, and his muscles were stiff, the exile keeping a rigid posture at all times.
Daisy wearily rolled her head to the side, noticing the same odd beings that he did. The gentle pulse of blue from Cecil’s eyes overtook Daisy as well, making them one with the air, and stealthily, Cecil leaped from branch to branch, hardly even touching the winterized timbers with his toes.
Before they were too close, Cecil picked his ideal location. He crouched down on the arm of a hemlock with Daisy at his knee, adjusting his feet so that he was in a firm, stable stance. His eyes narrowed, as did Daisy’s when she took note of what was below her.
Possibly twenty feet away, an ancient oak resided. The bark was broken, and the trunk split in two at the base, revealing a wide, gaping hole. A torrent of hail, snow, and freezing rain was spinning around the trunk, spreading throughout the forest and flying up into the clouds, filling their vapors with the conjured elements created directly by the fiend who decided to finally follow the darkest dreams residing in the abyss where her heart should have been.
Reeve stood proudly outside of her tree, her braid thrashing in the wind and ice dress blowing around her as the sheets clashed with one another, resembling untuned wind chimes. The skull on her face had been painted black, and she attached the talons of a hawk to her fingernails, creating the illusion of claws. Her pale lips were pursed and tense, and her eyes glew a piercing neon blue as she overlooked her gathered army.
Uncountable Returned stood around her, their heads held high and wrists glowing as they stared at their leader with starved eyes. The black veins had almost completely overtaken all; the only place now free of such markings was the area around their eyes and noses, but it wouldn’t be too long before they suffered Sam’s fate—the fate that each of them would fall to when they were finally pushed to the breaking point, becoming one with the earth once more.
A man stood at Reeve’s side. He was suited up in slick black armor, his shoulder plates pointing up and making his size all the more intimidating. A plate of red glass covered his face as he twirled a white rapier in his metallic hands, looking to the spirit beside him with eyes completely hidden by evil.
Daisy was hardly able to hold back her gasp of shock. Standing on the opposite side of Reeve was Tah. She wore the same clothes that she did the day of the Noble War; they had neither been cleaned of blood nor resewn, serving as a constant reminder of her past. A set of chains and grapples was wrapped around her waist, Tah’s gray eyes zoning out as her face remained straight, knowing that there was nothing that she could do at this point to stop them.
A man of ice stepped out from the tree, several coils of chains held in one of his gruff hands as he moved to stand behind his queen. The Elite whispered something into her ear, and Reeve smirked, giving him a solid nod as he took a step back, remaining patient for what was to come.
Reeve raised her ice-borne hand, catching the attention of her people, who were already quiet to begin with—all that they could focus on was getting the revenge that they oh-so desired.
“My fellow Returned!” Reeve announced loudly so that she could be heard over the deafening wind—a storm that she did not even attempt to reel back in for her speech, wanting it to have as much time to spread as possible. “You have seen what the corrupt have caused with your own eyes! You have seen your loved ones falling, and you have fought with your backs against the wall until now, but alas, it is time that we abandon our masks and show them just who they were messing with!
“Kevin de Vaux was not chosen by God; he was selected by the Devil to be the pawn who would destroy this world, taking out one mortal at a time, and eventually, any who did not bow to him! His plagued heart and dastardly powers have spread; Phantome is collapsing… Falling right through
the soil, and in time, it will not only be Phantome that his atrocious fist touches, but all of the kingdoms and fiefdoms and villages about the globe!
“We have to end his reign before his corruption gains more traction; we have to murder and pillage without mercy. Any who defend the king, you slaughter! Any who stand in your way, you crush! Any who do not bow to our will, you eliminate! Those who defy the power that we hold, question our morals and try to oppose us… They cannot exist.” She took a deep breath, looking down as her eyes transitioned from a bright blue sky to the darkest indigo night.
“I believe that you have come to realize that this is a fight for our survival. Those related to you, your families that you were wrongfully separated from, we can take them back—spare them of the king and queen’s wrath, but only them… First, we take Phantome. We secure those loyal to us, and afterward, we must move on. Those outside of our fiefdom will not see you as loving, returned family members; they will see you as heinous creatures of witchcraft, and it will be us against them.”
Reeve continued on with her monologue, the crowd remaining attentive to each of her words and absorbing them like a sponge. Daisy could see below their hardened surfaces; she knew that they were terrified for themselves and their loved ones—so scared that they would do whatever was necessary to stay on Earth for as long as possible, having those who made them whole right beside them.
And they believed that what they were doing was the only way out—one of the scariest thoughts that one could possibly have.
As Reeve’s speech intensified in pride and righteousness, Tah’s dispersed attention suddenly rebound at full force. Her neck hardened, her jaw slightly dropping as she allowed all of her senses to expand as far as they could go. Very slow and hesitant, she looked over her shoulder, her lungs refusing to grow as her large gray eyes settled directly on Daisy.
Daisy slightly leaned back into Cecil, who seemed to be oblivious to the Deceiver. She looked quickly at his eyes, which continued to push an ocean out from their sockets, and then back to her own body, realizing that both of them were still in their phantomic state. Her heart trembling, she looked back at Tah, whose eyes had not drifted. The way that she looked in their direction… She knew that they were there.