In Eden's Shadow

by Amanda Churi

  From within the thundercloud of human debris, stars of blue violently came into existence. Bodies of mystical, molten ice overtook the slaughterfest, mowing down all in their path to conquest. Freshly sharpened grapples effortlessly separated life from limb; without weapons or warning, the Encryptors could only hope to see the change in hue before it was too late.

  The charged atmosphere formed a thunderstorm of static within Flye’s spinning hair as she looked on. It caressed her shoulders and shadowed her already darkened face, heightening her senses—specifically her instinctual side. “Something isn’t right… They can destroy us just fine with their blasters. Why send down soldiers to…?” She stalled, slowly exhaling with a side-glance at Seek. “Duh…”

  Seek winced, knowing exactly what Flye did not put into words.

  “Rebel, it doesn’t matter!” Virgil snarled. “They’re exactly why we need to abandon this place! You’re our strongest warrior! You’re coming with me and getting Seek out of here!”

  Flye defiantly shook her head, unwinding her faithful scarf from her neck to reveal never-before-seen battle scars. Sick and corroded they were, like poison in her veins; they took the shape of gruff hands, outlining the hold a Haxor had taken on her long ago when she tried to protect her brother—a deep wound to her heart never repaired, not even aided in healing. “I may be the ‘Rebel,’ Prelude, but one thing’s for sure…” She touched the vial within her locks. “If I ever find even the slightest chance to kill those father fuckers, I take it.”

  The leader scoffed. “Fine then, throw away your life. Just remember the fleeting properties of your gift.” His face suddenly softened. “You only get one chance—I know it’s a lot to ask, but don’t be stupid.”

  His smidge of concern tickled Flye with choppy laughter as she wrapped her scarf around her face, forming a mummy-like mask. Her eyes shot a last, defiant gaze at Virgil through the small slit. “You know I can’t do that.”

  And then the bent assassin somersaulted from her lookout post into the minefields, bolting straight into the fray with stowed dagger in hand.

  “Suicidal maniac…” Virgil grumbled. “Forget her. We need to move before Gannon catches you and fast. Hide in your shackle!”

  Seek grabbed the corroded pincers. “R-right!”

  “I’ve got her, Virgil!”

  Seek’s already terrified heart took another leap as Merritt came crawling down from the spire of the tree. “My steps are unreadable! I’ll get her to safety!”

  He slammed his teeth together. “You loon! Absolutely NOT. I don’t trust you!”

  “Iie, nor anyone! But you’re shit out of options here, aren’t you?! Believe me, I can get her out!”

  A sour grimace crushed Virgil’s face—and then it vanished. Everything did.

  He was no longer there, only a repulsive mixture of reds and browns after an explosion of unbearable light. Frozen shrapnel brought the air to its knees, flying from the upturned earth and piercing whoever was unfortunate enough to fall within reach. In the forms of fuzzy, spinning silhouettes, Seek saw nearby comrades detonate—but she gave no thought to who as she was launched.

  The world blurred as she flew, grenade-like blinding flashes igniting through the burning trees. Her wind-whipped ears were deafened by the intensity of white noise ringing in her head. Holding her screams back was not an option, especially not when gravity reclaimed its rule and threw her into the midst of the battle between Elites and Encryptors.

  Seek rolled like a pin. Frantic Encryptors kicked her in their panic, tripping and nearly crushing her fragile body; by nothing more than luck, she made it out of the heart of battle and into the fiery forest.

  A hoarse moan of defeat bleated from her awe-stricken mouth. Spine livid with inflamed nerves, she lay there trying to breathe; at least her lungs could function, but her eyes, bones, nerves—nothing seemed to be cooperating.

  Scars from her recent horrors gouged deeper. Friends and allies were blown apart feet before her; their skin and clothes broke free in a molded layer by their explosive blood, leaving only a scattered skeleton; others were punctured by the hurricane of timbers and bone—some were severed into multiple pieces.

  It was a miracle that she was ignored, but her inner souls cried, urging her to stand and help save her comrades.

  Seek screamed, trying to summon any strength that had not yet fled. Flailing in a sea of pumping adrenaline, her shoulders convulsed, and she managed to shimmy her back up against a toppled trunk, heaving for air as her body caught inner fire. Such lingering pain… So pronounced and deep—

  She inhaled with horror—then screeched at the cuts carving up her body. Desperation overcame her; she threw her hands out, tearing up leaves, soil, anything that could sop up her blood. She slammed mud into her face and ran it through her hair, filling her wounds with dirt and grinding it into her veins. And as her hands worked tirelessly to protect herself, her eyes were stuck on those either dying or dead.

  “Seek!”

  The sound of her name startled her. The thin hairs on her sickly arms rose; the souls within her skin pushed up and out as a warning, but her beaten legs kept her a cripple.

  “SEEK!”

  Her readied ears found the source, bringing her sight to a filthy face as an unexpected ally came crawling up to her, lost in a fit of coughing.

  “Sybil! Are you ok?!”

  The young demon nodded uncontrollably while getting to shaky legs. “Y-yeah! But forget me! You need to hide!”

  Seek’s heart crashed through her ribs. Horrified, she could only squeeze out one word—one question: “Why?”

  A world of death came tumbling down, mixed with an unmatchable darkness as the entirety of Seek’s vision was consumed. She screamed, never seeing it launched, but knowing all too well what was happening as her eyes fell prey to corrosion. Her hands instinctively shielded them from further harm, but the evil was already spreading; it made her sick to her non-existent stomach and brought on an instant fever, but there was nothing she could see nor do about it—just scream and cry as night stormed through day.

  “Stay away from her!” Sybil’s voice was so quiet in comparison to Seek’s suffering that it was the faintest of echoes; Seek did not even have the capacity to consider what was happening to her ally as her body curled into itself, painfully bringing her head into her knees while her fingers transitioned into claws, ripping through her thin hair. There were snarls, gurgles, screams, laughs, screeches, all burrowing through her head without mercy… But there were no images, no pictures to go with it, making her drill her head deeper into her legs as she tried to find the enemies both inside and out.

  “S-STOP! Leave me alone! Leave me—!”

  Her breath was taken; her spine arched back, blind eyes open to the world. She saw nothing, but she knew it wanted to take her, whatever it may have been. It existed inside her, and pulling from a bag, random scenes, memories that she had no recollection of were painfully projected in her brain.

  All surrounding noise was filtered out. Images gained strength and then dimmed, choppily strung together. Even though the scene was foreign, her skin crawled upon immersion. She immediately identified that she did not belong there, that her eyes had never seen this firsthand, but it was painstakingly familiar.

  A beautiful street she stood on—not in terms of architecture, for that was the pits, but the environment. Hues that she had never witnessed apart from dyes bloomed around her; greens sprouted from naturally warm, swaying trees, and earth moved with the gentle shove of a toe. Wood was the main component of the settlements as opposed to concrete, and there was a different light in the eyes of the people—a different facial structure. For one, they did not all seem like twins, triplets—whatever the correct term for thousands would have been. Some faces were long and narrow, others pudgy, and natural smiles, laughter filled the air. They frolicked with carefree gaits, hands locked and sometimes lips, each dressed in loose clothing that allowed the ball in the sky to seep
through them.

  Although there were many things to stop her dead in the middle of that bustling street, that was what did it. She could physically see the rays shining down, reach out and touch them, capturing the difference that light and dark were supposed to wield—and it was so beautiful that she could not even look directly at it.

  “The… Sun? That’s the sun—?”

  Her body suddenly flew down the street. The merchant stands and houses blurred; the people were but streaks of colors, and when the vision finally resituated itself, she was face-to-face with Death.

  Someone she felt that she knew was sprawled out dead in front of her with a hole blown through his neck by a man in armor that bore a suspicious resemblance to the Haxors. The blood was hypnotic as it crept toward her, fueling her anger for some unknown reason—and without thinking, she charged the soldier, only to be stopped by her own mortal wound taken right through the abdomen.

  The blow, while it pained her greatly, did not bear the same agony as injuries prior, but she could tell almost instantly that it would be her downfall. Hell broke its chains, and the small town that she had so briefly been a part of fell into disarray. A woman with a tint of the Devil kneeled next to her and the young man that Seek had tried to avenge; he was already gone, and Seek’s own thread was tethered, but she managed to glance back down the street.

  And she found something quite peculiar, someone hiding, traumatized forever at the sight. She knew him too—not from these memories, but from closely evaluating her own. “E-Eero…?”

  “SEEK!”

  She felt someone roughly grab her numb body as the memories flickered and gave out, sending her back into a mentally darkened spiral. Their voices remained barred by the destructive magic flooding her system. Nipping air flowed beneath her shattered self; the hold they had on her was crushing.

  “Is she alright?!”

  “I don’t know! Typo hit her right in the head!”

  The cynical laughter that came next, she recognized loud and clear. “So much for your prized Seeker of Light. Couldn’t even withstand an itsy-bitsy spell, could she?”

  “SHUT UP!”

  “This is your friend, you say?” The voice rang no bells, but Seek’s head sure was jolted when they gave her a little bounce.

  “Yes! Can you help her?!”

  “Of course. Impounding troublemakers is my specialty.”

  A large, gnarly hand wrapped around Seek’s temples, applying a pressure so crushing that her blindness lapsed.

  A skeleton was her nurturer. One with purple eyes, rotting, dusty bones, and an open jaw turned down at her face.

  Seek thrashed however possible. She whipped her arms, rocking back and forth in a futile attempt to free herself. She screamed to the point that her vocal cords felt like they were about to snap, all while the force pushing on her skull increased.

  Weightlessness surged across her body, leaving her conscience floating in bewilderment. She was aloft by nothingness in an immaterial world, slowly looking to and fro at the regiment of heavenly souls that levitated around her. Each held their holy arms out beside them as beings of starlight, fire, and fog, clutching their neighbors as they formed rings around her.

  Yet she knew none of their names despite knowing them nearly her whole life.

  One who looked far more elaborate and empowered than the rest made the circle slightly bulge inward. They raised a shimmering hand and reached out to Seek with a single finger in a disciplinary fashion. No words were spoken, but in their fluid, ever-moving face, she sensed the disappointment, the irritation. They could have said any word in the world, and none would have terrified her as much as their silence.

  With the frustrated swipe of a hand, the soul disposed of Seek, and she violently awoke to the real world.

  The lanky skeleton who freed her set her down at his feet with one arm. In the other hand, a circulating sphere of black, internal destruction spun. Without batting an eye, he plunged the ball into his swirling chest of violet energy, tucking it away for good.

  “W-what?” The child had no true thoughts nor answers as she gazed upon the demon.

  The skeleton blatantly ignored her and kept his face ahead. Shaken from all that she had seen within the short span of time, Seek followed their gaze and proceeded to freeze once more.

  Neither the Elites nor ships had lessened the ferocity of their attacks, but amongst the battlefield, she saw her archenemy engaged in a full-out war with one whom she had assumed abandoned them.

  The lightning-born fire wrapping around the forest only added to Mabel’s already astounding power. The Receiver’s crimson eyes clashed justly with Typo’s of stolen blood, and the force of her inflamed swings carried on a blinding sword was so horrific that Typo had to remain on the defensive. Being half-phantom, he had the advantage of being quick on his feet, able to deform when necessary and teleport to a safe location, but even his origins could not give him his usual leverage. Her flames followed him like hungry hounds, unnaturally twisting and chasing him across the burning earth from multiple directions, trying to bite anywhere possible. Mabel was the source of their power, creating a swarming, howling pack that spun around her before breaking off into assault waves. They were the real threats, and Typo had to focus on killing them before he could even look in Mabel’s direction. A single strike from a shadow ball was enough to disperse one flaring hound, but then another was already bearing their jaws—and another, and another, all as Mabel stood in the center of her minions, directing them forth with her holy blade.

  “S-Seek…”

  The pathetically weak voice captured Seek’s attention, and the child of light immediately reached out to the collapsed lerial inches from her. “Sybil! What happened?!”

  Sybil chuckled to lighten her own situation, trying to forget about her outpouring guts and missing ear. “Ha… Typo doesn’t play nice with other demons…”

  “Of course not! Why did you take him on?! He could have killed you!”

  Sybil frowned, letting her heavy neck slack. “Because… He would have killed you…”

  Seek’s chest pinched; she could not voice the debt that she would forever owe. Instead, she placed her trembling palm over Sybil’s open belly and hushed her, hoping comfort would carry her either through the pain or into death.

  “What, she already picked a fight?”

  The mutated voice cut into Seek’s ears. Her weakened focus diverted yet again to the battle arena—or rather, who entered it, still holding the same undesirable form that he took on during the Proxez’s raid.

  Eero…

  “Ah, you finally decided to stick your nose up onto Earth, did you?” the skeleton ridiculed.

  An odd creature of string and yarn riding on Eero’s shoulders chose to answer. “Yesss! It is even more chaotic than when I left! So wooonderfully gory!”

  Eero huffed. “Looks like they’re still slapping each other around.” He stopped at the skeleton’s side and glanced down at Seek with golden, overshadowed eyes. “For fuck’s sake, I thought Heaven was taking a hiatus. Why am I seeing more halos than ever?”

  His comment made Seek’s remaining strength shrivel away, just like the ferocity of his tone and his clearly changed heart. In her fatigue, Seek desperately attempted to look within him for any sign of Eero’s original soul, but all that she could find was an overpowering dictator and nailed prisoners.

  Eero lost interest in Seek as quickly as it had come, his large neck finding the battle between light and dark flames. “Korbu, should I interfere?”

  The skeleton shrugged. “Mabel told me to watch over the anorexic kid.”

  “It looks like they’re having fun! We should join in!” With a graceful leap, the puppet found the bloody earth and skipped into the ring of fire, plucking a needle from their neck. “Yoohooo! My turn!”

  The odd intrusion startled both fighters and interrupted their summonings. Faces crossed and scrunched, unsure how to react to the creature that pirouetted between
their battle. Dumbfounded, Typo glanced back at the spectators.

  His eyes locked directly onto Eero, who looked like he could care less about the whole situation that he was currently stuck in. Typo’s reaction was the exact opposite. His startled being flared up, and he wailed in fury, throwing open his arms and expelling a steaming ellipsis of toxic gas that extinguished Mabel’s flames and forced her to drop.

  He took that opportunity to turn tail, sprinting away with resentment digging into his face. His boots smashed uncountable bodies as he dove toward the deadly beams of lightning, a sharp whistle emanating from his retreating figure. All near Elites paused before suddenly following him in the retreat, but Typo did not take to the skies right away, reaching into the mound of bodies and throwing two unidentifiable Encryptors over his shoulders.

  No one chased them; aside from those around Seek, there was hardly anyone left to give pursuit. The survivors only watched, openly sacrificing two more to the demon as he leaped into the air with their limp bodies, propelling toward a far-off airship with two fuel chambers of nightmares shooting him up by his heels.

  Elites across the board fled after him, creating ice pillars under their feet and launching toward the aircraft until they were close enough to throw out their chains and secure themselves to the bottoms of the ships. As quickly as they came, they fled back into the clouds. Attacks on all fronts ceased with a hush, the only sounds left being the lively crackle of the forest fire overlaid with the moans of the injured and dying.

  “HAHA!” the puppet boasted. “Ohhh yeah! Been sooo long since a good blood bath! Run now! There’s much more to come!”

  “Sage,” Eero spat. “Put a cork in it.”

  Sage did obey, but the comment didn’t lower their smile—it only inspired an upbeat whistle as they waltzed on back like someone coming home from a hard day’s work.

  Where to start was the question on Seek’s mind. To get answers from the new arrivals? An explanation about where they went and what took them so long? To help Sybil? To check for survivors—total the body count? It was all too much at once, so Seek just lay there.