by C. J. Lloyd
Pulled along by this strange calling, she walked through the emptiness. Her heart thrashed with excitement, filled with butterflies. She hated the feeling; it made her skin crawl because why was she excited in a place like this?
Shapes and forms came to life all around her as the tunnel—a dripping corridor with a smooth pathway—set her heart at ease. She focused on controlling her breathing. The drips and hissing all around gave the impression she was being watched.
Boom, boom, boom. It was like the sound of an enormous heart beating all around her. It must be massive, she thought. The heart of the beast. Were its insides made up like a place, a cave? There were no inner workings, no vessels or flesh, no lungs. Just a walkway.
Jennifer squinted as she walked on with one hand out in front of her. She leaned forward into the darkness. A glint of light sparked up ahead. Her pace quickened and so did her breathing. An arc of brilliant gold shined in the darkness, widening with each step until she came to a space of brilliance.
She shivered with a sense of awe as joy and something close to horror overtook her. She couldn’t stop blinking, and her mouth went slack. The sight before her? Was it real?
When she spoke, her voice trailed as if carried away by an unknown breeze “Elric?”
A boy sat in a corner, torn clothing clinging to what was left of him. His hair hung long and messy over his face. A little scruff dotted his chin, but his sunken eyes and bony cheeks stole her focus. Was this emaciated, broken, bruised boy really Elric?
Spiked black chains dug into his wrists, which were raw and purple. The blood had since dried and healed, only to be ripped open again. As tears rolled down her face, a glistening river cascaded down his beaten chin.
“I–I never thought I’d see you again,” he whispered, his voice hoarse and dry as if dehydration had run its course ages ago.
She took a step and hesitated.
This was a trap. It had to be something the darkness dreamed up to steal her focus. Or was this what the light wanted her to find? “This is a trick, isn’t it? It has to be because—”
“I’m sorry, Jen.” He began sobbing. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save your parents. I’m sorry I turned my back on you . . . on everyone and everything. I just couldn’t go on after I lost everyone. Then finding out about my mom, and then my dad dying …”
She stepped closer and dropped at his feet. She caressed the tangled strands from his face, her dark-brown skin against his cheek making Elric look paler and ghostly.
He was no longer the goofy boy who loved comics, the boy who had a heart of gold and wanted to do anything to save the world. He had become enslaved by his own darkness, ruled by hatred, and the entity that thrived within him.
She cupped his face and started kissing him. She couldn’t stop. It was him. It was him! The boy who helped her bring the suitcase inside her house when she first moved to Lexington. The boy who couldn’t stop sweating around her. The boy who always walked her home after school. The boy who always accompanied her to those awful fancy parties for the rich. The boy she hated herself for waiting so long to tell him she loved him.
“I found you.” She sobbed, laying her head on his bony shoulders.
He shook his head and nudged her away. “Jen, please don’t be another nightmare. I can’t … I can’t take any more.”
She shook her head and wrapped her arms around him. “Elric, it’s me. It’s me.”
A sinister chuckle echoed from behind them. Jennifer turned, feeling the darkness creeping over to the light.
“I should’ve killed him so long ago,” the demonic Elric growled as he stepped out of the blackness. “I can’t believe you’re here in my inner world.”
Her lips pulled into a snarl. “I’ll kill you for doing this to him. How can a Deva do this to their host?”
“Jen.” Her Elric pulled her away.
“No.” Light flowed from around her, blossoming over the boy who remained too weak to move. “Let him go.”
“Make me.”
Spirit formed in her hand as she slashed away at him. The other Elric dodged, bobbed, and maneuvered around her. She wasn’t as fast as she was before. Something wasn’t right. He grabbed her by the arm, snapped it, kneed her in the gut with so much force it took her off her feet, then slung her down beside the real Elric.
She groaned as Elric wrapped his arms around her.
“Please, stop this!” he begged. “We don’t have to keep doing this. Jen’s back. We can stop now; we can have peace.”
We? Did she really hear that? She groaned and looked up at Elric as the inhuman version of him stepped forward. Isn’t it his Deva?
“Peace? Are you kidding me? Do you know what I did out there in the real world?” The inhuman being started laughing. “You killed thousands of people out there. We killed thousands of people.”
Jennifer could feel the small frame trembling around her. She looked up at him to see his eyes red with tears.
Elric smiled, gently caressing a thin finger over her supple cheeks. “Hey, you okay?”
She nodded. “Elric, is that not your Deva?”
He swallowed and looked up at the being that stepped toward them. Claws long and curved, blackened scales covering every inch of his body, and a thin whip-like tail studded with spikes flailed wildly. His wings were like the dragon’s, spikes lining the edges, terrifying and powerful.
Elric shook his head. “No, he’s … me. He’s my hatred, my rage, my sorrow, all the darkest parts of me that I gave life to when I turned my back on this world and everyone in it.”
Jennifer gripped him tighter. “How is that possible?”
“I really don’t know. I think it has a lot to do with Erebus, my Deva. Regardless, he exists because of me.” Elric rose to his feet, his knees knocking and swaying like a leaf about to be torn from a branch in a hurricane. “I said stop.”
“I stopped taking orders from you a long time ago. You know, once I kill you and her, Erebus and I are going to be running things forever.”
Jennifer stood by his side, gently intertwining her fingers with his. Her light flowed from her fingertips into him. Elric took a massive breath as the light filled him. The energy nourished his body as his wounds healed, the scars faded, and the life he once lost returned to him.
Jennifer’s fingers tightened around his, and he did the same with strength.
“It’s been a while since I held your hand,” he said, looking down at the joined limbs.
“It has. It’s been a while for a lot of things,” she said, laying her head on his shoulder.
“Touching, but pointless.” A scythe formed in the sinister version of Elric’s hands. “Erebus, back me up, please.”
All of the blackness behind him formed into a massive dragon and roared with enough force to bring Jennifer to her knees.
Elric pulled her up, unflinching. She looked him over to see his dark-brown eyes, soft and filled with hope again.
“Elric,” Jennifer said, looking down at his right hand. In his grasp was Spirit, blazing brighter than ever. “I didn’t know you could wield Spirit.”
“Me either.” He looked down and swung the sword.
“Enough of this. You had your chance to live and thrive. You sucked and offered me the chance to live. I made a life for us. I made a new world for us to rule,” the demonic Elric said.
Elric shouted, “No! All you want to do is destroy everything. You want to fill it with hatred and make everyone around you suffer like we did. But we don’t have to suffer anymore. Turn from Erebus and come back to me. We’ll take responsibility together. Okay?”
The inhuman version snickered. “I’ll die before I go back to you.”
“Don’t worry. It won’t come to that. I promise,” Elric said, his voice softening.
The creature raced to him. Elric shoved Jen out of the way, turned and cut the chains away with one slash. He ducked as the scythe came within inches of him and turned just in time to bury Spirit into the belly o
f his inhuman self.
Erebus roared, “No! No! I refuse to be controlled by anyone less.”
A massive, clawed hand came down to smash them all to bits. Jennifer stepped in the way as the golden light formed from her, burning through the flesh of the beast. The light formed four massive nails. Jennifer grabbed the chains that the darkness once used to keep Elric enslaved and turned them gold. They lengthened and wrapped around the jaw and torso of Elric’s Deva and pulled it down to the ground. Light spread over everything revealing a space free of corruption.
The nails smashed into the talons and claws of the Deva, and another one formed, smashing clean through the jaw of its snout. It struggled and growled as smoke seeped from its maw. Jennifer turned to see Elric crouching over the inhuman being, which slowly transformed into himself. They were identical, except for the anger in the eyes of the latter and the soft, hopeful eyes of the other.
Elric held his fallen version close as if he were holding a bruised and hurt child. Jennifer was lost, but she went over and knelt with him, holding him close. “Now what?”
“I won’t go back,” his fallen version cried bitterly. “Don’t you get it? You’re not strong enough. You’re too weak. We don’t even have all of Erebus’s powers to do anything. Don’t you get it? Without me, Jen could die, for real next time. You need me, Elric. Please. We can’t. We can’t go through that again. We can’t go through that pain again.”
Black tears rolled from the eyes of the being. Elric nodded, combing the hair of the version that began to crumble into the light. “I promise, we’re going to make things better. The both of us.”
“Elric, you can’t let that thing back inside you. It’ll—”
“We can’t survive without each other, and I won’t allow him to be chained down like I was. I’ve done a lot of thinking, a lot of growing in this place, watching from his eyes. Hate can only be balanced by love. You know that better than anyone.”
She swallowed and nodded. “What about the real world? Out there, they plan on killing you.”
Elric looked down and watched the fallen version of himself crumble into particles that flowed back within him. His body changed, becoming more toned and taller. “I have to carry everything. Whatever he did, is my responsibility.”
“That’s right, Elric Blake,” a thundering voice boomed out from the light.
Jennifer looked over to see a silhouette. It looked so far away but spoke as if it was right in front of them. She recognized the voice. It was the light.
“Who are you?” Elric asked.
“The light,” Jennifer answered. “My light.”
“All of your light,” the being replied. “Elric, you have committed terrible atrocities. You have brought pain and suffering upon millions with the powers bestowed to you. You allowed your emotions, your feelings, to run wild, thus leading to the rampage and corruption of your very soul.”
“Take it easy on him!” Jennifer shouted.
Elric threw his hand out. “No, Jen. He’s right.”
“Your punishment will be whatever comes next for you that the world deems necessary. But if you are given life, you are to walk in a world that will hate all that you are. They will scorn you for every breath you take. And in return, you are to live side by side with them, with humility, with selflessness, and above all with love.”
Elric lowered his head. “I understand and accept whatever punishment comes my way.”
Jennifer turned to the Deva chained down by the massive spikes, growling in frustration. “What about him?”
“Erebus will be Elric’s responsibility, and it looks like you have used some of your own spirit to help keep the darkness in line. But know this, by doing so, you take away a lot of your own power to wield the light and have limited yourself.”
Jennifer nodded with understanding. She’d rather lose a portion of her power if it meant allowing Elric to live a better life. “I understand, and I’m fine with that.”
“Good. You will be tied together until those shackles are broken. You will be a piece of him, and he a piece of you.”
She felt her chest, and Elric did the same.
He smiled. “You feel that?”
She nodded, feeling the fluttering of his spirit. “Yeah, that’s us.”
She buried her face into his chest and wrapped her arms around him.
“Now go, and I will be with you,” the light spoke.
The being of light raised its arms, and with a thunderous clap, everything went black. Jennifer opened her eyes, the salty wind whistling all around her as her hair twirled wildly. She was falling. She looked over to see an unconscious Elric.
She felt a flap behind her and realized she still had her wings. She glided toward him and wrapped her arms around him. The wings opened as they safely descended below, and she laid him down.
She leaned over, kissing him, hoping that would wake him up.
Elric opened his eyes.
“Hey,” he said softly.
“Hey.”
He went to sit up but yelped loudly, holding his sides. “Maybe a few broken bones, but could be better than the alternative.”
She looked down as a tear fell on his nose and rolled down the cracks of lips. A warm smile came over her face, and her head collapsed on his stomach. She looked up to the cloudless Maine sky where stars glittered, and the moon shined down on them. The air remained quiet and damp. They were miles from the gunfire and battle cries of monsters.
“I’ve missed this,” Jennifer whispered as the exhaustion of the battle finally overtook her.
Chapter 32
Tartarus
Elric awakened on a bed surrounded by strange sounds. His eyes struggled to open fully. His entire body ached.
He went to wipe his face, but his arm was immoveable. His entire body was. He shifted his neck down to see he was strapped to a metal table, electrical currents running through his entire body. He immediately thought of Area Zero and Colonel Cloud.
“I wouldn’t try to do that. Doctors say it’s broken.”
He swallowed hard and turned over to see Violet sitting in a chair. She stood and leaned over him, her eyes burning with anger.
He couldn’t feel her emotions or even her powers anymore. He couldn’t feel anything like he used to. “In fact, all of your wounds are pretty bad, you and Jen’s. What happened to you guys out there?”
Elric remained silent, thinking back at what happened. The battle with himself, Erebus, the light. But what could he say to Violet after everything he had done to them, to her? He didn’t deserve to speak to them and didn’t deserve to be in the same room as them.
Elric sniffled and looked up at the bright lights above. Thoughts of the horrible things he had done raced through his mind. He was afraid now; his powers seemed to be gone, and at the moment, he was literally human with no one and nothing to protect him. Not that he wanted to be protected.
“Do they know what they want to do with me yet?” he rasped.
A bright purple light filled the room. Violet punched him in the face, nearly knocking him off of the steel table. He spat blood as his jaw cracked. It was definitely broken. Blood trickled from his lips.
“Death penalty from the way it sounds,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “But they’re afraid . . . to be honest. They don’t know what to do. But they’ve got this thing.” She tapped a massive machine. “A generator of some sort. From the data they pulled from Area Zero before it was destroyed by you, they discovered that electricity can weaken you if your powers are at a low level.” She sniffled.
“I think you deserve the death penalty,” she spoke telepathically.
“V, I’m sorry. I… I—”
She nodded. “It’s been so long since I felt you, Elric, the real you. I hate myself for missing you because of the horrible things you’ve done. But Jen told me everything that happened in your inner world. So, I understand. Still, I’ll never, ever, forgive you.”
Elric nodded. He thou
ght about what the light said and shouldered her pain and hatred. He fought back tears of anguish, knowing he was alone in the world, knowing that the people who loved him most probably hated him more than anyone else.
She pulled back, wiping her face and sniffling and began heading to the door.
“What about Rai and Enzo?” Elric called to her. “Are they—”
“They’re on the run. Once we brought you in, they disappeared. But every country in the world is looking for them now, so I’m sure it won’t be long.”
He closed his eyes, thinking about those two. He’d destroyed their lives. They would never be able to have a normal life if they decided to try. No thanks to him. “What about the others, Eden, Terra, Sasha …?”
She shook her head. “Fine. They’re all fine. No thanks to you.”
He deserved that. He deserved everything else that was coming too. A group of soldiers and men in suits came into the lab. Samantha was with them. They brushed by Violet and surrounded the table.
“And Jen? What about Jen?” he cried out desperately.
“She loves you, Elric. She’s the only one left that does,” Violet said loud enough so everyone could hear.
Elric nodded as they surrounded him. All he could do was move his eyes, searching them as they looked down on him. Every one of them looked like they wanted to beat him to death. Elric watched Violet walk back over. There was a hint of concern on her face. That made him feel better.
A man wearing a suit nodded to Violet. His face had deep wrinkles with crow’s feet seeping into his dark-brown eyes. Elric could tell he smoked a lot or used to. It looked like the man had whiskers.
The man said, “Ms. Cavers, what you and your friends did was nothing short of saving the world. The president would love to thank you at the White House. Hush-hush, of course.”
“‘Hush-hush?’” she repeated sarcastically.
Samantha turned. “Things are changing fast, Violet. After what Elric and the others have done, that alliance is only going to last so long, and the big nations want to know where the Titans are.”