by Ted L C
Revelator arcs toward the man. The blade yanks a chunk of cloth from Diablo’s robe. His foot hurls itself into the figure’s chest.
A crack fills the cavern as a grunt seeps from the boy’s opponent.
“Do you think that will break me, boy?” a cackle pulses from the figure’s revealed chapped lips. “Are you mo—”
A series of mahogany appendages plants a syringe into Diablo’s nape.
“No,” Alyssa’s breaths beat against Diablo’s ear at a rapid pace. “But your lack of attention will—”
“Good job, Alyssa—” Derek lifts a thumb from his fist.
“Tell me, Diablo,” her arms tug his body, yanking his face centimeters from hers. “What did you tell me before you broke my fingers in Thede?”
“W-what—”
“You speak English still. Right?”
“Ww-what—”
“I can’t understand you,” Alyssa mashes a palm against the man’s neck. A glossy substance seeps from her skin. “All I hear is a bitch speaking.”
“What will break—”
“First, your spirit—or your mind?” a series of scenes stream within the girl’s head of Diablo clamping a myriad of tools into her grip.
Alyssandra shifts her gaze toward the boy while taking a step toward the entrance. “Focus on the rock bending foe, Derek.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Derek’s voice echoes as a searing sensation fill Alyssa’s body. Vibrations surge through the boy’s arm. An obsidian aura sprouting tendrils over Alyssandra’s figure paints itself within his mind.
A snap comes from Diablo’s fingers. A spark manifests and vanishes.
“Why can’t I conjure any flames?” the fire lord’s pupils deflate like a popped balloon.
“He is the one responsible for the earthquake. They don’t happen around these areas this time of the year unless provoked. Now hunt!
“Now for you, Diablo. I’ve been waiting decades for this moment,” Alyssa’s lips paint a thin line across her face. Her eyelids collapse.
A beast emerges from a floating violet whirlpool. It’s four limbs heave the creature at Diablo.
With its two front legs, the beast pins the man’s arms against the rock. The beast’s maw lunges its teeth into the fire manipulator.
Like paper, skin tears from his neck, exposing his windpipe along with a geyser of crimson juices.
His wails, followed by a symphony of wheezes, echo throughout the desolate arena. The monster plunges its chompers, this time stealing the man’s nose within its crunch.
“It appears your spirit went first,” Alyssandra kneels. Her atom-sized pupils follow the numerous directions his body twitches. “Exceptional what people can see under stress.”
Her dagger grinds the cloak’s fabrics throughout its chest portion. The weapon’s teeth hover above Diablo’s abs—
“H—hel—” the beast digs its jaws into his shoulder and swivels its maw.
Digging past the surface of the skin, she etches lines.
His screams intensify; her blade shifts backward. A drawing of a chrysanthemum outlined with crimson fluid appears over the man’s stomach.
She lifts the knife, jams it through his neck and withdraws. Plants it into the right side of the chest—pulls back. Digs it into one of the eyes—retreats. Alyssa snatches the eyeball from her dagger, forces his jaw open, and burrows the ball into his mouth.
Forcing the jaw shut, her fingers clasp. His jerks lesson. The vision within the other eye darkens. The body’s movements diminish.
She mashes two fingertips into his neck.
One pulse—zero.
“Parasyte,” she fires saliva from her mouth on the corpse.
Jerking herself to the side, her body transforms into a blur. Making its way toward Derek.
He twists his hips in the opposite direction. His legs carry him quickly across the tallus engraved terrain.
“Derek, wait!” her smile dissipates and pupils expand.
The ground trembles; violent like the feeling during intense turbulence in a plane. The quakes hurl her body downward.
The rocks under Derek’s feet collapse, yanking his body into a pit of darkness.
“Shit!” Alyssa erects herself. It thrusts her at max speeds to the cliffside.
She leaps into the void.
* * *
Ail
Derek’s eyes shifts toward a peach loincloth.
Afterward, to two girls who hover their hands over a box. Lukewarm whiffs emanate a weak light oozing from the vented surfaces.
The barely clothed stranger pours a clear liquid into a gash running across Alyssa’s thigh. She bats it with a cloth coated with brown stripes.
“Yo,” the boy’s arms jacks his body
Alyssa jumps from the mysterious person’s embrace and dashes at the boy. Heaving her palms into him, she flattens her cheek against his. “I thought you were never going to come back!”
“How long was I out?”
“My phone was sucked dry of juice,” her gaze approaches the scraggly hair covering his chin.
“Therefore, there’s no way to track time,” Alyssa’s fingers weave into the girl to her sides purple locks. “Neither does this girl. It must’ve been a long time, though.
“You should take a gander at your face. There’s a Schnauzer glued to it.”
“It looks like a ball of pubic hair was glued to my face—Alyssa—” his eyes sink from the reflective marble stalactite. They move to the stranger’s mold-coated cloth shrouding her chest. “W-who is this girl, anyway?”
“She wouldn’t say—”
“Now you two awake. I give my introduction,” the girl kneels and mashes her forehead into the dimmed stone. “I experiment—six two nine experiment. In 2227, man called Artemis create me in Geneva laboratory in Switzerland on Earth.
“Former masters never named me. He, they only called me, ‘you’, ‘girl’, or ‘six two nine’. I able to manipulate density. Myself and anything else body comes in contact with fly, or to fall to ground—
“Please. Give me command, new masters.”
“What?” Derek arcs an eyebrow.
“Give me command. Please!”
“I don’t believe in enslaving people. You’re taking away their potential to make a difference in the world. As wasting said person’s life,” he rests a palm against the top of her head. Quivers surge throughout 629’s back. “Will you tell us about your former master—”
“He was cruel man, filled with hatred and lust,” the girl’s eye redden. The walls echoes a symphony of sniffles. “He never care me. Only he want pleasure and destruction. If I did not destroy village in northeastern island, he threatened to detonate my insides. He use a sensitive explosive liquid he inject into me.”
Steam exhausts from Alyssa’s nostrils. Veins expel from the skin encasing her hand. Her tattoo shimmies in every direction.
“You all right—” Derek brushes his chin.
“It come on me!” the girl lifts her bloodied face as a line creeps between her cheeks. “I have what my creators call ‘adoptive muscle memory’.”
“What’s adoptive muscle memory—” an almond fragrance circulates through Derek’s nostrils. Alyssa and Experiment’s bodies transform into blurs.
“Tt-the skill to mock an opponent’s action after seeing it,” the violet circles underneath Alyssa’s eyes darken. “For instance, if I were to perform three backflips and do a kick while spinning my body. She could mimic it instantly. Instead of spending days, months, e-even years perfecting the craft.”
“I not even know how to explain it,” the girl arcs her upper body forward to Alyssa. The stench of rotting paper and wood bursts into Alyssandra’s face.
“Can she mimic element-based abilities?” Derek’s arms lace each other.
“No,” Alyssa’s deflated pupils migrate toward Derek. “Only physical stunts, martial arts—anything to do with body movement.”
A stick figure forms within the boy�
�s thoughts; surrounded by a bleached backdrop. It does a series of flips while taking out other figures that appear in the frame.
“If you’re able to do that,” the graphics erase themselves from Derek’s mind. “How come you let yourself be bound to someone like that bitch we iced a while back—”
“That I iced—” a vermilion hue consumes Alyssa’s eyes.
“Master Diablo is how he wanted me to properly address him. I said he injected me with the liquid if I disobeyed any commands, even said his name wrong, he would shut me off. In the beginning, he made me repeat his name 160 until I said it right—”
Is she adaptive to speech patterns, also? The lass’ tattoo hushes as the NanoLites transitions into a rose vine.
“I didn’t learn how to properly speak until I found a tablet that belonged to a teacher in the village I burned down. It took me two years, but I learned how to speak common English and Chinese and Japanese. Listening to former master and his companions also taught me how to speak. Now he is dead; I am yours.”
“I don’t want an affiliation with anything or anyone that was under Diablo’s control,” the scene of Alyssa plunging her dagger into Diablo forms inside of her mind. “It would be like catching an S.T.I. from him.”
“As I said, I don’t believe in owning people. It’s wrong. It ruins the person’s potential. You’re holding them back from doing what they want with their lives,” Derek’s gaze migrates to Alyssa. “I want to know; what is your grudge against Diablo?”
“Whatever could you be talking about?” a curved stroke slinks across the girl’s face.
“The comment you made.
“A few seconds ago, your breathing and clenched fists. Moreover, the fact you had a psychopathic smile when you stabbed Diablo. When you stabbed him multiple times after he was dead. It’s like his murder was your greatest achievement.”
“There are some events that can be unburied, Derek,” veins bulge from the surface of Alyssa’s arm. “This isn’t a memory you want to pass through the roadblock of my mind—”
“You told me to tell you when something is on my mind,” Derek pulls his neck backward and glues his chest to hers. “What happened to you?”
“After two suicide attempts,” Alyssa disconnects her sports bra from the boy. “I’ve learned the past is something we need to forget about—the present is what we need to focus on. However, to keep the future in mind and let it motivate you toward where you want to go.”
The fingers encasing her fist liberate themselves. She eases her back against the rock wall. Eyes trail the droplets cascading throughout clusters of stalactites. Upon clobbering tiny stalagmites, they sculpt a myriad of shapes.
“The northeastern island used to house a lush rainforest. The most fascinating place that I’ve ever laid eyes upon. There were numerous small villages spread throughout the island. They form a shape consisting of three equilateral triangles if you look at the map close enough.
“They say it signified the three stages—life, d—fatality, and reincarnation. It used to be my dream to live there. In fact, I dreamed about it every day. I imagined myself lying in the meadows. Sniffing the vanilla-scented Trico flowers.
“For some reason, Diablo was set on destroying the island. whirlpool with 629, Diablo threatened to cut off a finger or toe for every person I didn’t execute. If it exceeded twenty, he would put a brand with the mark of insanity on a part of my body.
“During the genocide, he watched me spare four children, then cut off my fingers in front of them. Afterward, he smoldered the little tikes alive. I wish I had the Warden or Daisy’s blood so Diablo could come back to life. I’d just love to take his life again. Also, again. And again. Until I pass on from sleep deprivation.”
“Former master would burn the buildings and forestry as the girl and I were the troopers,” 629 waves a finger underneath a droplet sinking from the ceiling. “The masters of combat in each village were the source of ninety percent of the skills I’ve learned.”
“You don’t feel remorse,” NanoLites rushes toward Alyssa’s hand. They mold into a dagger with a stag head at the base of the weapon. “I see it in your pathetic maroon eyes.”
“I can’t feel remorse,” she holds both palms forward, presenting canvas’ of scars. “When created, Artemis did not give me the emotional parts of the brain normal humans or HESTEKS possesses. Therefore, I cannot feel any emotions, other than servitude.”
“Servitude isn’t an emotion,” Alyssa’s legs jacks her body upward. They drag her toward the girl.
“Wait. Wait. Ww-wait!,” Derek’s body bursts into ashes as he appears between the two. “You only know how to serve?”
“Yes, Master,” the girl’s legs collapse, yanking her body into the ground. “Please. Let me be yours. Otherwise, my life will be meaningless.”
“Fine,” the boy’s palm naps on her head. “You are now mine.”
“Thank you, master. What do you want me to call you?”
“Call me, Ra.”
“Thank you, Master Ra. What is my first command?”
“Not a wise move, Derek,” Alyssa’s visible teeth chafe each other.
“Carry us to the northern section of the island—”
“Of course, Master Ra,” she weaves her fingers into Derek’s. “The trip will take approximately one and a half hours.”
“You comin’, Alyssa?” the boy’s other hand extends.
“I hope you understand, she’s dead if there are any tricks, Derek,” Alyssa digs her appendages into his hand. “Nothing you do will be able to stop me from using my Final Offer on her.”
* * *
“We are here Master Ra,” 629’s frail voice echoes through a desolate seaboard. “What is my next command?”
“This isn’t the northern section of the island,” Alyssa’s eyes dart toward the ivory capped mountains behind them. “This is the east—beside New Cairo.”
“Girl,” Derek’s knees arc, placing him at eye level the experiment. “Is that true?”
“In Alexander’s name—” the infinite sheet of water ahead of them reflects from the girl’s eyes. “I am so sorry—master. I have not used my abilities n-nor traveled through the island in a l-long time—”
“Water spout incoming!” Alyssa’s voice suppresses the distant thunderous waves. “Get down and swallow an Aquatic Crystal!”
Derek glues his chest against the light brown dust. Alyssa jams a blue crystal into the boy’s tongue. Massive roots clench the three’s bodies.
A cyclone materializes over the body of two Football fields past the coast. A mixture of moistened sand, rocks, and bits of water whip the duos’ skin.
Gales sweep the shores.
A cluster of stone pillars erupts as Alyssandra’s palms burrow into the sand. Crimson fluid and beige dust slap her cheeks while her eyelids tighten.
“What are you doing?” Derek’s roar fights through the winds.
“I told you—” a pebble scrapes across the girl’s cheek. “This bitch crossed us. I’m using my Final Offer—”
“She’s gone!” Derek shifts his eyes toward a pair of loose roots.
As the water spout dissipates. A figure materializes within the eye of the storm.
“Fujin!” Alyssa’s fingers dig themselves deeper into the light brown ash.
“Foo-ling?” the boy’s eyes narrow as the particles batting against them subsides.
“Program!” an emerald hue consumes Alyssandra’s eyes.
A cloud of orange specs fills the skies.
A musty scent vents through Derek’s nostrils. His eyelids collapse.
* * *
“Are you alive?” a voice murmurs.
A migraine blooms inside of Derek’s skull as Alyssa’s malachite gaze appears. Two suns remain half-visible within the horizon, as the skies appear red. She grips two fingers against the boy’s cheeks as an upward arcing thin line forms between her dimples.
“How did I pass out? What did I miss—”
“OK. There’s six, two, nine. What does that explain?”
“It explains everything. Did you not see the spores before you passed out?”
“Spores?”
“A haploid reproductive cell which gives rise to a Gametophyte.”
“Gameophobes?”
“Sekhemet,” Alyssa’s fingers drag Derek’s face into the dust. “Just know, it was conjured from one of the Seven Pillars of Life. The spores knocked you and her out. Fujin flew off like the bitch he has always been.”
The lad’s arms jack his body upward. He shifts his legs toward 629.
“Rise and shine, cunt!” the Revelator materializes in Derek’s palm as the tip of the weapon’s forks kisses the experiment’s collar. Her eyelids flutter as her purple gaze reflects off the sword’s chrome surface.
“What is it, mm-Master?” clear beads slide across her face. “Did I do something to displease you?”
“You protected that man and tried to take me to the next life,” crimson fluid oozes from her neck and rolls from the tip of the blade. “Tell me where he went.”
“I am so sorry,” the sand under the three rises as Derek’s feet begin to float. She spreads her arms, tearing through the roots like they’re leaves. “This time I will make sure I do my command correctly.”
A curled grin creeps across the experiment’s face as Alyssa’s feet lose contact with the ground. “Try and create heat and the sand will turn to glass. If you both were to fall, the glass will cut your girlfriend open.”
Derek combusts into ashes.
He appears beside her. The Revelator transforms into a silhouette of black specs as its maw dashes into 629’s ribs.
Density manipulation—right.
A porcupine erupting pins from its back materializes in Derek’s mind.
The spikes rise toward the clouds as they separate from the SAP.
“Use your head—” Alyssa’s tongue inches behind her teeth.
“I love my masters.” 629 says. “I love my masters. I love my masters. I even have the talent to silence the usurper! I am getting bored of watching the two of you float. I’d rather be watching grass grow—”