by Amanda Churi
She curled her fingers under the rim of the lid. Her muscles locked as she set her jaw, preparing for the worst. My heart throbbed so loudly that it was the only white noise in existence, my right wrist growing uncomfortably warm, almost burning as I stared ahead, but my eyes could not part from what I was sure to be anything but good.
I held Mabel as close as humanly possible, ready to make a break for it.
The world slipped by frame by frame as Pinion removed the lid. The top was not even raised more than an inch before Pinion screamed like a child, time crashing upon us with full force and speeding up as Pinion dropped the box, hustling backward and sinking her nails into her face with such ferocity that she almost drew blood.
Sybil screamed, falling from Mabel’s arms as Mabel contributed her own cry of horror to the wails of enmity repopulating around us. I could not help but scream as well, throwing Mabel into my chest as her actions resembled a seizure. She nuzzled her face into my neck, her eyes wild and body heat spiking as she gripped my body with as much strength as she could muster, knowing nothing to exist besides me.
When the box was dropped, the entity was freed of its walls, and it rolled across the floor, landing at the beginning of the stage, facing us. Blood represented the trail that it made on its travels, the life that was left in her spilling out around her dark, broken hair. Her gray eyes that used to have more vibrancy than the lushest parts of the Earth were wide open and filled with not fear or pain, but happiness, which was perhaps what made it all the worse. Her jaw was hardly connected, scrapes and gashes stricken through her flesh, particularly around her throat, where her head had been severed from her body—and not cleanly.
Griffin immediately spun around, dropping to his knees and vomiting without restraint across the floor. Seek did not assist him, her white sheen killed as soon as she processed the sight. She bolted over to Flye, who could not stop wailing, grabbing her broken forehead with her thin fingers and pressing her thumbs into Flye’s skull, sparks of white light filtering through her skin and bone as Seek tried to get the insane woman under control before she lost all sense of reason.
“LAELIA!” Sybil shrieked with woe, scampering over to the head of her adoptive mother and grabbing her belittled, shattered cheeks in her claws, staring into her eyes that could see no longer. She could not stop sobbing and screaming, her pupils gushing with black tears as she pressed her fragile skull to Laelia’s, crumbling beyond return.
Griffin continued to vomit; his body would not allow him to stop as the excretions from both his mouth and eyes ran together, the blood of his best friend settling into his sundered heart and infecting his own veins, enjoying his agony, guilt, and grief that forever took a place amongst him.
“He said he had her!” Flye announced through the gaps in her sorrow, Seek pressing her fingers harder to her head, groaning the more that she had to fight Flye’s distraught mind.
“…He does,” Pinion grumbled, piecing herself back together bit by bit. “He’s got the rest of her.”
“Enough is enough!” Virgil snapped, glaring at his queen. “We cannot continue to hide and strike occasionally! We need to give those bastards every kick in the ass that we can land! If we don’t, they’re going to capture the prophets if it’s the last thing they do, and we can’t allow that!”
Pinion grunted in agreement, staring at Sybil as she continued to hug Laelia’s head, sobbing profusely with her large ears limp beside her.
“Eero…” Mabel whispered, pulling her face out of my neck and staring at me with red eyes. “Six… Down to two… What do we do now…?”
I swallowed, trying to decide on an appropriate answer, but I really couldn’t; I could only say the first thing that came to my mind. “We stay together… And we watch each other’s backs…”
Her face broke, the tears resuming their onslaught as her head collapsed into the crook of my neck once more.
Stroking the back of Mabel’s head for comfort, my focus wandered back to Sybil, whose sobs gradually began to slow down before they ceased at once. Surprised, she opened her eyes, staring into Laelia’s with a peculiar gaze.
An unnaturally low, quiet beep touched the air, Sybil’s ears going erect beside her head as I picked up on the frequency as well. I gasped, my muscles tensing and locking down around Mabel as Sybil screamed, trying to unhook her claws from Laelia’s locks. “RUN! EVERYBODY RUN! IT’S A—!”
An explosion of gas, blood, and bone interrupted Sybil’s warning as Laelia’s head blew up into a million pieces, the force of the bomb throwing us across the stage, only to be caught by the iron rails. A sky-high mushroom of green gas shot out from the center of Laelia’s decimated skull, overtaking the base at alarming rates. Screams became all the more urgent as the toxins spread like that of a conscious plague, the horrified Encryptors pushing and shoving, many splitting into their own small arcs, desperate to get away.
My skin began to sizzle as I suffered the brunt of the attack, lying there as my body stiffened, recognizing the gas to be the same one that had been used on Kaitlyn’s initial attack against us.
Mabel released herself from my chest, inflating her cheeks as the sickly gas floated around us, her terrified eyes locking with mine. Grunting urgently and refusing to use her precious air supply, she hurled me up from the ground, her muffled voice urging me to cooperate.
“It’s… An attack!” Virgil declared through a heavy cough, hardly able to stand.
“EVACUATE THE REBELS!” Pinion ordered, shakily rising and whisking Sybil up from the floor, who was both unconscious and pierced with shards of marrow. “ONLY SAVE THOSE WHO YOU CAN!”
“Oh no, Kaitlyn!” Seek shrieked. Seek pulled Flye up from the ground as her body convulsed violently, giving no regard to her distraught state as she snatched Griffin up as well, who looked as good as dead. “Come on! We need to go to the infirmary!”
“Find… The higher-ups!” Virgil gagged, his body beginning to curl up as the gas took over. “Get together the ones who can navigate the trackers… And head out of Aphrite!”
“You’re getting out too!” Pinion assured him. Her eyes lit up, and from the air, a ball of green light formed around Pinion’s face, serving as a force field to protect her from the gas. She tucked Sybil into her breasts, scooping Virgil into her arms as his nervous system began to shut down.
He laughed, nearly unconscious. “Can the lerial and I switch places?”
Pinion’s eyes narrowed. “You pig.”
“GET ALL THAT YOU CAN!”
My poisoned spine cringed, my eyes flying up as the white tiles above our heads shattered, plunging us into darkness as Haxors with closed visors and hardened Elites repelled from the ceiling right into the center of the base.
“USE YOUR OWN JURISDICTION!” Pinion rasped, darting off down the stairs. “DO WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET YOURSELF OUT!”
Seek nodded frantically, her feet spinning as she ran after Pinion, tugging Flye and Griffin with her. “Come on you guys! RUN!”
Mabel gave me another tug, urging me in the direction of the stairs. I looked at her, nodding and squeezing her hand as tightly as I could before bolting off of the stage with her and into the gloom, not having the slightest clue where to go, how to get out, or who to follow as light became a thing of the past.
“DON’T LET THE PROPHETS ESCAPE!” a cynical voice bellowed from above. I snapped my eyes above me once more, the tone igniting my blood as my golden eyes came alight, searching for him.
Perched on one of the metal platforms high above, he stared down at us with his blood-thirsty eyes as he overlooked the battle. His shining, dastardly pupils met mine for a fraction of a second, but he made no advance; he just smirked, knowing very well that the Encryption was nothing but penned cattle waiting to be taken to the slaughter house.
I wanted to scream; I wanted to initiate battle and tear his soul to shreds, but I knew I needed to conserve my valuable oxygen and strength, focusing on outwitting the enemy instead o
f fighting. I was already light-headed as it was, and I couldn’t risk taking a breath until we managed to gain some ground on the gas.
The descending Proxez were merely silhouettes; the circuitry in the ceiling was torn to shreds, the sparks of electricity from the broken wires acting as slow strobe lights, leaving us unable to properly evaluate the pathing of the enemy.
Mabel and I pushed and shoved, mowing down many of our allies as we desperately tried to escape. My feet traveled at Mabel’s discretion, but my illuminated eyes that shed a cone of light into this dark world could not stop looking for Pinion or Seek as my ears were bombarded with the devastating cries of all. Even with the green hue of Puteulanus and the souls belonging to Seek, the gas was too thick, smothering everything that lay beyond arm’s reach. Where were they?! We needed them if we wanted to get out!
The first wave of Proxez reached the ground as another surge repelled down into our broken sanctuary, many snatching the first person within eyesight who could not put up a fight, weak and sluggish from the captivating gas. As soon as they captured one, they shot back up towards the ceiling with their prey, switching places with another who had free hands, eager to acquire their own captive.
What felt like a thousand pounds came down on my back, the weight of a falling Haxor throwing me stomach-first onto the skin-slicing floor. I released a sharp grunt as Mabel’s hand was torn from mine, rotating my head to look at my assailant as he held me to the ground with a foot, grabbing a steel coil from his side and throwing it around my neck, yanking it back to cut off my airway.
I gagged, but I forced myself to not draw air, summoning strength from my fledglings instead. My pupils narrowed, a furious growl rising within me as my fangs elongated and my strength grew before I spun onto my back, wrapping my legs around the neck of the Haxor and bringing him to the floor.
Mabel screamed with vengeance, scampering up from the ground and tackling the Haxor, grabbing Miho and slamming the butt of the hilt into his visor, breaking the barrier between us. Fueled by rage, she plunged the blade into his face while baring her teeth, stabbing him over and over again, any and all sympathy gone.
The coil around my neck was tugged back, a puff of air exiting my lungs as another enemy pried me away from Mabel, attempting to capture me. I could not call for her; my neck was constricted to such a point that I physically could not speak, only thrash as another Proxez lassoed me like a dog catcher, both now pulling on me as I twisted and squirmed, snapping my teeth and clawing at my bondage like an animal.
Mabel looked up just in time to see what was happening; her face fell with dread, but she didn’t move.
I continued to choke as a third coil captured me, ensuring no escape. Why wasn’t she coming?! Why wasn’t she helping?! Why wasn’t she—?!
And then, as a Haxor descended from the roof and landed beside her, giving Mabel the gift of her own make-shift shackle, it occurred to me that she couldn’t.
The gas. It was rendering her powerless.
“Ma-abel!” I choked pleadingly, my golden eyes coming to dawn like an uncontrollable fire as I felt her permanently slipping away from me, several Proxez securing her with coils and pulling her in the opposite direction.
This couldn’t be happening…! We couldn’t fall to their hands! They would kill us! They would win the war by default!
I was a madman, refusing to give in as my demonic strength took control, every level of desperation and need in my body breaking its threshold. The air around me steamed with golden light as the demons took over, but in a revolutionary way. There was a widening, gurgling hole in my chest as Mabel’s connection to me grew ever fainter. They recognized my love and compassion for her—the fact that we were a part of each other under the authority of some force far beyond our comprehension and that we could not be separated by Death…
They knew that if we were, they were done for too because that would be the final chisel in my tombstone—I physically would not go on.
The gas claimed her, Mabel’s body becoming a statue as her wide eyes focused on me, involuntarily allowing the Proxez to do what they pleased.
She was strong for so long… She forced herself to be.
But after struggling, pushing, and fighting what was happening around her for months, she finally fell, the darkness suffocating her, blocking out every ray of light, and destroying every molecule of air that could reach her.
And I didn’t know if I could save her.
I closed my eyes and focused. I knew of only one thing left to do, and I did not care about the future consequences—I only cared about her… Hopefully, she could survive without me, but I knew that I couldn’t without her…
I wouldn’t.
***
“Don’t let him do this! He’s not calculating the consequences correctly!”
“They’re coming on too strongly! I can’t keep them back!”
In the furthest recesses of the subconscious, a land of nothing but mystery, hell was reigning over the mind. In a seemingly empty space, one whose main element was darkness, a boy made of white light floated in the heart of the universe, suspended by a magical force. His head was lowered, and his arms were at his side, one leg in front of the other with his toes pointed down as he levitated in the realm of the unknown. He gave off a beautiful, innocent white hue—
From the front. On the back of his bare body, the menacing aura of gold had breached his human shell, cracks racing from his back to his chest as his form became weaker, the being restrained within him for so long recognizing his submission and using it to his advantage.
“Gah!” another being exclaimed in distress, flying around the boy in the midst of the darkness as she raced over to the crumbling wall surrounding them, desperately trying to reattach the fallen chunks. Her long white hair floated around her, her shimmering hands grabbing the cage of purple, electrified neurons and trying to keep them intact as the golden demons beyond wailed with hunger, whipping their arms through the gaps in the close net and trying to whittle away at the thick axons.
Frightened, she sharply turned her head to catch a glimpse of the other mobile spirit in the vicinity, her green eyes bustling in fear. “Ryze! They won’t let up!”
“You think I don’t know that?!” he replied, straining himself as he pushed his own body up against a collapsing wall, trying to keep the contents from caving in. “God, why is he doing this?! Why is he letting the strongest fledglings devour the weaker ones?! Is he stupid? He’s going to kill us all at this point!”
Aponi whimpered, turning back to face her own lot of demons, absorbing their starved, vengeful faces as she struggled to retain the barriers before his mind gave way. They were demons belonging to all classifications, some amusing to look at, others terrifying. The smallest imps were trying to squeeze their way between the neurons, and the largest, towering demons were using their brutal strength instead, wishing to let them all flood the core and revel in their long-awaited slaughterfest.
“Please, get back!” Aponi pleaded. “Do you not have a heart?! Any conscience of what this will mean?!”
“BACK OFF, WIMP!” a colossal demon commanded, taking a hefty swing at the neurons and nearly breaking several at once with his brute strength.
“Ryze, I need help!”
“I-I can’t!” he screeched, hardly restraining his own wall.
“Hm. Acting like idiots as usual.”
Surprised, both Ryze and Aponi looked away from their current ordeal, hardly believing who had joined them.
Floating before Eero, her face straight and vibrant emerald eyes beaming, she crossed her arms, trying to evaluate the situation from all angles. “I don’t think fighting his will is worth it,” she mused contently. “If he wants to destroy himself, let him do it.”
“Laelia!” Ryze scolded, keeping his eyes on her while continuing to use his strength against the oppressors outside, who refused to let up. “He’s not thinking clearly!”
“Contrary,” she argued, listen
ing to Aponi shriek as a miniature imp weaseled its way in, nibbling with gluttony on Eero’s soul as it further destroyed the last protective layer of the core. “I don’t think the idiot has ever been more clairvoyant.”
“HOW?!” Ryze yelled madly. “IF HIS SOUL IS CONSUMED, WE GO WITH HIM! And what makes you think the core demon will manage to control all of these bastards, huh?! They haven’t held up for more than a few hours in the history of Essences!”
“Since when did you grow a brain?” Laelia wondered calmly.
“Spend a few months with demons; you learn a lot of crap you never wanted to know!”
Laelia shrugged. “I guess.” She shifted her focus back to Eero, several imps now nibbling at his entirety. She lowered herself into a crouch, looking up at his dazed blue eyes that were passive at the thought of finally being eaten. He really was ready for this… He didn’t care any longer.
Laelia couldn’t help but snarl, in one word, pissed. “Listen, I know that I’ve never liked you and vice versa, but…” She scoffed, shaking her head. “Even I know you’re not this pathetic. Letting yourself become demon-chow. What a way to go.”
“LAELIA, SHUT UP AND HELP US!” Ryze begged, on the verge of giving out.
“PLEASE!” Aponi added, crying as reality came crashing upon her.
Laelia did not react to their pleas, only paying attention to Eero. “You were always a bit squeamish in my eyes,” she continued on, “but even so… You never gave up on me, even when I could downright care less if you dropped dead.” She plunged her hands into Eero’s soul, curling her fingers and taking a deep breath. “Guess it’s time for me to return the favor of you carrying me to safety out of the pub that night, huh?”
“Laelia?!” Aponi squealed. “What are you doing?!”
“Letting him get what he wants.” She turned her piercing eyes to her allies, who could not be more frightened by what she was doing. “NOW!”
In one vicious tug, Laelia pulled back, ripping the remains of Eero’s fractured soul from that of the core demon. Like glue, some pieces refused to part, but others came off in clean sheets. What she obtained from the first pull was what she took, turning tail immediately as the demons beyond the walls of the subconscious became so fueled by their naked target that they surged with strength, racing forward and breaking the walls to smithereens.