What Following Brings

by S. E. Campbell

  But Yanmei hit Eden again, laughing excitedly with every blow. Her hits stung and filled her face with fire. She drew her hands up to protect herself, but that did little good. Just as Eden thought it was over, that she was about to go right back up to the other world, except this time to the great river, the growling stopped and Yanmei was ripped off of her. Her eyes shot open; she saw Yuri had hauled Yanmei away from her and threw her to the ground. He picked up the shard of glass on the ground, drew it above him, and slammed it into her stomach. Yanmei began to scream and writhe and steam black steam, and then a discus of light appeared above her as she was sucked upward, into the river where she belonged.

  “Yuri,” Eden said, staggering to her feet and then rushing over to him as he dropped the shard. “Yuri, are you okay?”

  “I am so sorry,” Yuri whispered as she tugged at his sleeve, desperate for his attention.

  “It’s okay,” Eden said, hugging him. “It’s not your fault.”

  “She came out of the shard of glass,” he said. “One second I was myself and the next…”

  When Eden thought of the shard of glass, she thought, Asag. She stepped away from Yuri and glanced down at the shard. Asag didn’t appear to be in it anymore, but she knew he would follow them and just wait for another opportunity to strike if she did not teach him a lesson now. She needed for him to be scared of her, so that when he thought of her, he would no longer dare follow.

  And she did not want to stop and wait to recover. She had to do this now. There were more evil people in the world, more than she had realized. Before her time in purgatory, she had not even believed people as evil as Yanmei and Donovan, Satan’s human right hand man, existed, but now she knew they did. True evil did exist, and Asag would try to pull of his stunt again and maybe succeed. But she would not let him. Or at least, not without a fight.

  “Are you ready?” Eden whispered, though she knew Asag might hear her anyway. She was still not willing to take any chances.

  “Eden, you’re going to do this?”

  “Are you ready, Yuri?” she repeated.

  “I told you I would follow you anywhere, didn’t I?” he said.

  She nodded, stepped forward, and began to arrange the mirrors like she had seen in an ancient Egyptian documentary back when she was alive. They used to light whole rooms using the refraction of a mirror. Well, that was what she was going to do now. When Asag came into the room, and wanted to flee into a mirror, she wanted to make sure he got an eyeful of the one being he feared most when he did. And then there was the holy water in her pocket.

  One thing was certain, Asag was never going to look at her as a weak foe again.

  ****

  The mirrors aligned so they faced each other and refracted one another. It had taken Eden and Yuri some time to do this, and during the entire procedure, Asag had not appeared. But she now knew the feeling she had in her heart, the feeling that somebody was watching her, was accurate. She had sensed Yuri and she had sensed Yanmei. Asag was here, spying from his throne like the coward he was. She had come to learn something about demons — they truly were cowards. They attacked only when they thought they had the upper hand and when their enemy’s back was turned.

  “Okay,” Yuri said, grasping holy water in his palm. “I think we’re all set, Eden.”

  “Yes, I think we are,” she said.

  And she couldn’t believe she stood with the intention of making a demon come to her.

  “Are you sure he’s with us?” Yuri asked.

  “I know he is.”

  She was so sure she stepped into the middle of the mirrors, her left arm extended with the picture facedown against her leg. In every mirror, she could see herself. She examined her thin, tall frame, her T-shirt which advertised soda, and a pair of denim pants with a black belt. As she turned around, surveying that every mirror reflected her, she nodded and then gritted her teeth. The time was now.

  “Asag, come out,” she said. “You want me, so here I am.”

  Nothing. There was just silence.

  “Eden, I don’t know if this will work,” Yuri said, sounding nervous. She ignored him.

  “So you aren’t coming out, huh?” She paused. “Oh, I get it. You’re scared of me, aren’t you? I, a human soul, am stronger than you. I should have known. I bet I’m going to hear roars when Satan finds out you were too much of a coward to face me.”

  In the mirror in front of her, Eden saw Asag’s disgusting, putrid face. His tongue lolled out and his eyeballs bulged. All of his many fists balled and a low, deep growl filled the room. It was inhuman but also like no animal’s growl she’d ever heard, and she had to admit she was scared. More scared of Asag than she was of any zombies or any other creatures. This was true fear.

  “Finally decided to show yourself, have you?” she said. “You big, ugly, weak coward. It’s a wonder Satan managed to get the gates closed at all, with followers like you.”

  “Eden,” Yuri said in warning then took a step forward. She held up her hand to him, and he stopped.

  The room around her began to shake and rumble with Asag’s rage, but she ignored it. All of Asag’s fists unclenched at once and his arms extended toward the sky. He opened his disgusting mouth wide until she could see the slimy back of his throat and tilted his head back and upward, toward the ceiling. He let out an inhuman roar far louder than the last. It was so loud she screamed and almost dropped the picture on the ground.

  Asag continued to howl and the necklace around Eden’s neck began to glow white. She knew it was protecting her from the worst of the attack then. As the pain grew and throbbed with Asag’s voice, she suddenly felt somebody standing behind her, wrapping their arms around her waist. It was Yuri. She could tell he was in pain because he tugged at his clothes, but yet, he still managed to steady her.

  Finally, Asag stopped growling and glared at her, his pupil-less eyes rolling in their sockets.

  “I? Weak?” His voice sounded even deeper and more menacing than before. “How dare you? Before I bring you to my lord, I am going to torture your little friend right in front of you. I will dig my fingers into his eyes, and when he reincarnates, I will do it to him all over again. You do not know what kind of powers I have.”

  “Then why don’t you come here and show me just what you can do,” Eden said, fear filling her. If she failed, then she would attempt to stall and get Yuri to run. She couldn’t let him get hurt because of her.

  There was the sound of thudding upon the ground, and Asag took one step toward her and the ground below her shook. He took another step and then hastened his movements, all of his arms extended toward her at the same time. His fangs were also bared and dripping with saliva and something red, though she did not know what bled in this world that he could have eaten. His breath came out in hungry, desperate hisses.

  Asag reached the mirror and inserted his hand inside. It became like a layer of fine gel and he broke through easily and passed through to the other side. His body began to change. She saw his ugly, fanged face become smaller and attractive. His pupil-less eyes became dark brown and he grew brown hair on his head. In his naked human form, he was thin enough to pass through the mirror. He then drew his hips out and then his legs. With a snarl and a still inhuman growl, he climbed to his feet and then leered at her. His eyes changed from dark brown to black, and then he let out another inhuman shriek which caused the shack to shiver.

  Then his body began to extend upward, toward the sky. Arms ripped through his sides, though no blood splattered, and he began to grow again, larger and larger until his head brushed the top of the ceiling. His face and skin became ugly and his pupils disappeared. Yellowing fangs popped out of his gums, replacing his perfect teeth that had been there before.

  He spun toward her and somehow, even without pupils, he gazed straight into her eyes.

  “Who’s weak now?” Asag asked his voice deep and booming.

  “Why don’t we ask God?” she said, and then she showed Asag the pic
ture.

  She expected a reaction, but she did not expect one as big as she got. With a screech of despair, Asag reached up, grabbed at his pupil-less eyeballs, and began to claw at them with all eight of his hands. It was hands upon hands upon hands. Once more, the sounds he made caused shivers of fear to fill her.

  With a growl of rage, Asag moved to head toward the mirror. Eden bent down and positioned the picture so there would be a distant but distinct view of it in every mirror in the room. If Asag wanted to take the cowardly way out, then he was going to have to do it while climbing through the face of the divine being that caused him the most fear.

  “Stop it,” Asag said, continuing to hold onto his face.

  He smacked the picture in her arms out of her grip, causing it to hit the floor. Surprisingly, it did not break as she had expected it would, but it was far beyond her reach now. Uh-oh. With a growl and a snarl, Asag uncovered his eyes. Asag grabbed her around her waist and hurled her to the ground where she yelped and skidded. Pain filled her soul as she rolled.

  “Yuri, run,” she said. “Get out of here.”

  But Yuri stayed, holy water clenched in his fists. Asag began to thunder toward her, arms extended and shaking with rage. Yuri uncapped the holy water and glared at Asag threateningly.

  “You get away from her,” Yuri said.

  Asag whirled around and gave a deep evil laugh. Yuri sprayed him with the holy water; Yuri then turned and seized the picture of God, shoving it straight into Asag’s face. Within moments, Asag’s screams filled up the room as the holy water caused his skin to melt like putty. She, unable to bear the scene, turned her face away. With a screech, Asag panted and began to stumble around the room, feeling around with his many arms. His eyes were gone.

  When he attempted to climb through a mirror, he shattered it instead, unable to fit inside of it. He let out another shriek and charged in Eden’s general direction, breaking two more mirrors when they fell due to his thundering feet. She stood up with her back against the wall, more afraid of his accidental wrath than his intended one. In his pain, his eight arms flayed wildly, his claws as dangerous as knives.

  “Where are you?” Asag said, throwing his hands up in the air as spit flew from his mouth. “Where are you?”

  He let out a scream of frustration.

  To her surprise, Yuri came up behind him and kicked him square in the back. The demon turned and flailed his arms again, but Yuri was too quick and scampered away.

  “You cannot kill me,” Asag said. “I am a demon. I am far more powerful than you.”

  “We don’t need to kill you,” Yuri said.

  Once again, Asag charged, but this time he went after Yuri instead. Yuri stepped away easily and both of them let out cries of shock as Asag leapt through the wall and into the city. The moment the citizens outside spotted a demon, screams began as people ran away. Until recently, Demon cities belonged only to the evil souls and not true demons, so the sight frightened even them. Asag whirled around, charged back toward the house, and only managed to destroy another wall. Eden looked up, heard the house groan, and saw it was in deep danger of falling. She spied the picture on the floor, grabbed it, and then she and Yuri left the house just as Asag crashed through another part of the wall, causing wood to splinter and then collapse.

  As Asag charged around the house and howled, “Where are you?” again, the house moaned a final time and then the rafters collapsed inward. Wood, dirt, and pieces of stone caused a cloud in the air. Even all the weight from the collapsed building could not kill a demon. Eden could hear him shuffling beneath the piles of wood and heard him scream in pain. He then pulled himself out of the wreckage, breathing heavily. As people continued to scream around him, his many arms, now cut, extended toward the sky.

  “Where are they?” he cried.

  Both Eden and Yuri remained silent as Asag stumbled away, down the street. He disappeared from their view and let out an angry scream.

  “You think that did the job?” Yuri asked.

  “For now,” she said. “But there will only be one way to stop him for good. I have to open the gates of heaven again.”

  Yuri nodded and hugged her. She hugged him back so hard, had she been alive, she was certain it would have caused her arms to hurt.

  “Thank you for not leaving me,” she said. “Thanks for coming to my rescue in Asag’s prison and thanks for not running now, even when I asked you to.”

  “You are a pain in the butt,” Yuri said, looking into her eyes.

  She grimaced and then he smirked.

  “But you’re my pain in the butt,” he said. “Come here.”

  And then he kissed her, and she sighed, shut her eyes, and tangled her fingers in his hair.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Eden and Yuri walked together in the desert. Darkness surrounded them, but they had lanterns to keep the Raiders at bay. That did not stop the mist, though, from hovering around them, a giant, thick cloud. The two of them continued to hold hands as they had for the last who knew how many miles they had walked. To Eden, it felt like she had done an eternity of walking.

  “And that’s why I saw your mom,” she said. “That’s also why I knew your backstory and couldn’t focus the day I met you. Pretty crazy, huh?”

  “Yeah, it is.” Yuri frowned at the ground. “A couple of years ago I would have called you insane, but now…”

  “Tell me about it,” she said. “I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but I was once an average, ordinary high school student.”

  “I wouldn’t call you average,” Yuri said.

  “Yuri,” she said, grinning at her hands.

  “Probably below average.” Yuri shrugged. “Maybe a little less.”

  With a gasp, she stared at him. He chuckled at her expression, whipped her around so they were facing each other, and he hugged her.

  “I’m just kidding,” Yuri said into her hair. “You’re above average. Definitely above average. In fact, you’re the most amazing girl I’ve ever met.”

  She put her arms around his neck and buried her nose into his shoulder. Before this, Eden hadn’t realized souls had a scent. She hadn’t spent much time getting up close and personal with anyone. But souls did have a smell and Yuri’s was amazing. It was sweet but still masculine. Spicy. She couldn’t name what it was, but it was better than any cologne she had ever smelled before. And she had lived through middle school, where some boys had taken to drowning themselves in cologne before coming to class.

  As she released Yuri and began to walk again, she noted he lagged behind her. She glanced at him, eyebrow raised.

  “You okay, Yuri?” she asked.

  “It was just, why did God choose me for this?” Yuri said. “You, I can definitely understand. There is something about you. Something special. But me? I’ve been a bad person for a long time. I was angry and hurt — still am. I am not good enough for this.”

  “First off, you aren’t a bad person. Secondly, I ask the same thing about myself, Yuri,” she said. “But I think the honest truth is I don’t think He expected perfect. You don’t have to be perfect to love someone a lot. I wasn’t. I hurt my own mom badly, but I loved her and still do. The same thing must be true for you, right? Your feelings for your mother are strong and real, and that is all that matters.”

  He grew silent but picked up his pace. Since he was deep in thought, she allowed him his silence.

  ****

  Outside of Asag’s prison a hill away, she saw a couple of glowing lanterns around what appeared to be some sort of cloth tent. Eden gasped and knew exactly who the lanterns belonged to. They belonged to Adanna, Aaron, and maybe Jared. They were probably making camp. It didn’t surprise her they had moved positions. Asag had been storming in and out of his prison.

  “Think that’s your friends?” Yuri asked.

  “I know that’s them,” she said. “I can feel it.”

  With a grin, she started to sprint down the hill as fast as her legs could carry her
. Yuri ran beside her and she saw he too grinned. Imagine. Yuri smiling. Feeling her heart glow with love and excitement, she faced the lights again and watched the cloth tent loom closer and closer. A figure appeared, dark and tall, and then two others came too.

  Eden grew closer and closer, happier and happier, until she could see Adanna’s tall, thin frame as well as Aaron’s broad grin. At their side, Jared had his arms crossed over his chest and a worried frown appeared on his face. Eden reached the three of them, catapulted herself into Adanna, and the two of them rolled and sprawled on the ground in a pile. Behind them, Yuri chuckled.

  “Eden,” Aaron said. “We were so certain the demon got you.”

  Adanna nodded below her. With a laugh, Eden sat up, stood, and then grabbed Adanna’s arm and pulled her to her feet. She whirled around and beamed.

  “He did get us,” she said.

  “What happened?” Aaron asked. And then he tossed a suspicious look at Yuri. “He didn’t do something to you, did he?”

  “It’s a long story,” Eden said.

  “You can’t do that to us, Eden,” Aaron said. “We have been waiting a long time to see you.”

  “I’ve got an idea,” Eden said, smile broadening. “I have a good feeling my two remaining souls are back on Horace, and I think somebody wants to find her sister. Why don’t we walk and talk at the same time?”

  Adanna’s eyes glistened as she nodded.

  “But what are we going to do about the major and his idiot general friend?” Aaron pointed at Major Jared and then Yuri, and Jared whipped out his sword. It glistened in the light of the lamps. Instead of falling back, Aaron held up his fists as if expecting to best a sword with a punch.

  “That’s enough,” Yuri said. “I’m going with Eden to help her, Jared. Let’s not add casualties to the list.”

  “What?” Aaron said dumbly.