From the mouth of the cave, she scanned the treetops, looking for any sign of the departed hero’s whereabouts.
There. He has to be there.
In the distance, she spotted the cloud of fog that had descended over her uncle’s village and the surrounding area. Wasting no time, she began her descent from the waterfall, observant of any potential threats.
As she neared the demonic fog, she treaded with even more discretion.
The forest was still; absent of the birds’ songs or the rustle of the leaves from the flowing wind. Her crossbow guided her as she walked, primed to fire at anything that proved itself a potential threat. Only as she walked deeper into the fogged forest did she manage to hear the faintest of calls. At first, it was no larger than a whisper, subtle to her ears, but as she grew closer to the source, the distinct calls grew more audible.
“Huh?” A twig broke not too far from where she stood. She quickly swiveled her body, directing her crossbow in the direction of the sudden sound.
“Who’s there?” Her breaths raced as she steadily strummed her fingers along the grip of her bow. “I heard you!” She remained still, waiting for an answer, but no one replied. “Hello?” she called out nervously as she gripped her bow tighter, her finger weighing heavily on the trigger. With her eyes looking down her sights, she approached the site of the foreign sound at a snail’s pace. Marona’s heartbeat boomed in her ears. Her face tinged with adrenaline as she found it within herself to speak once more. “E-Emil?” She pressed on further until she stood directly where the sound originated.
With her bow leading the way, she scanned her surroundings, searching for any sign of life.
“Ma-rona, is that...you?” a frail voice echoed from the mist. Marona turned and peered deep into the haze. “Marona, it’s me!”
Uncle? She cautiously walked into the fog, unsure of what to believe. “Where are you?” she asked as she waved the bow around in fear of ambush. “I can’t see anything in this fog.”
“Marona, just follow my voice.”
“Are you hurt?” Marona called out into the mist.
“My legs are, but I’ll live. I can’t make it too far on my own.”
“Okay, stay put. I’m coming for you,” Marona said as she scoped out her surroundings through the sights of her bow. There’s no way that he is alive. Emil said he saw him die with his own eyes. For some time she traveled until she saw a lame man in the distance hugging the forest floor.
“Ma-Marona...over here!” her uncle weakly cried out.
“Uncle!” Lowering her weapon, she ran closer to the grounded man. “Uncle! I can’t believe it’s you!” Her already clouded vision grew worse from the water welling in her eyes. “I-I thought you were dead!”
The specter that resembled her uncle reached out to her with an outstretched arm, beckoning her to come to its aid. As Marona came closer, the specter shifted its hidden arm into a blade, ready to incapacitate her at a moment’s notice.
Before she was in striking distance, a figure dove in from the sky and shattered the specter, dispersing its shards throughout the area.
From the cloud of smoke, a man emerged. He wore all black, his complexion only a few shades lighter. His clothing was frayed as if he had seen many hard times, and the gold cross that hung from his wrist closely resembled the color of his short, fine hair. Faint traces of black and purple energy crackled around him as he stood with a quiet, strong stature.
“Are you the one who bears light?”
Chapter 10: Stained
“Like hell, I’ll submit to you!” Emil yelled as he stood, attempting to slice through the beast that lunged towards him. Before his blade connected, the specter vanished. Emil flinched at the after-image that still traveled in the specter’s original path. He shielded himself with his sword as the image phased through him. Another illusion! Momentarily distracted, he left himself open to the beast’s true attack. Charging in at full speed, the specter lashed at Emil. The crystal scythe met his blade, halting the blow but knocking him off balance.
Damn it!
Before he could recover, another specter charged at him from his left side, connecting with a slice against his exposed ribs. Following up, the other specter launched him across the forest with a swift kick from its hind legs.
When Emil finally stopped traveling, his body was up against the base of a tree, mangled from skidding across the terrain. He tried to move, but his body wouldn’t respond. The paved trench carved out from his body was drizzled with his own blood. Emil struggled to keep his eyes open, knowing he would be gone if he were to close them even for a second. In the distance, he saw the silhouette of a woman walking between two specters, approaching slowly. As they neared him, Emil tried to lift his body once more, but a jolt of pain froze him in place. Stay put, would you. I just want to talk. Against his will, his body fell numb in obedience to the voice that echoed inside his head. There, perfect. Now sit tight. Emil struggled to move but between the pain and the woman’s apparent control, his efforts were useless.
“Ah! There you are, Emil. Comfy?” Her crystal-like dress swayed as she walked closer to the wounded hero. It was both form fitting and mesmerizing. The silver shimmer that it gave off matched the complexion of her pale face and sleek features. “It’s amazing how you haven’t gone under yet, considering what’s in your system. That’s quite the feat, if I do say so myself.”
She looked to him for a response but Emil remained silent as he lay against the base of the tree, resisting the unknown substance that coursed through his veins.
“Oh, the strong, silent type, huh?” she said mockingly as she came closer. “Are you even conscious...? Good. It’ll be easier that way. Like I said, I just want to talk a little, and maybe do a little remodeling on the inside. From what I saw, you and the king have a little bad blood between each other, but don’t worry. I can fix that, he’d like that, you know?”
The mysterious lady raised her right hand and examined her pointer finger as it extended and formed into a crystallized single point. Emil groggily raised his head and watched as she moved closer, while he tried his best to muster up his remaining strength.
“The king said you were dangerous, but from the fight you put up, I don’t see much of a threat. And even if you are, after I’m done with you, you’ll be anything but that.” She attempted to touch him, but as her finger drew near, a jolt of energy ran through her body, causing her to pull back. The two beasts beside her began to growl at the hero as he lay dormant, eager to defend the one who struck their keeper.
“Down boys,” she said as she shook her hand to ward off the sting. “That was cute, but you’re going to need a lot more than that to deal with a girl like me.” She snapped her fingers and the beasts that surrounded her vanished into the mist. “You were a fool to come back here, you know. We knew you’d come. He predicted it, himself. And for what? To die in the same spot as those mongrels that took you in?” she said mockingly.
The words that sprang forth from her black lips struck him cold in his center. Emil’s eyes glossed over as he felt the void grow, consuming his aching heart. As he lay dormant, thoughts of Grace, Taeo, and Serenity swarmed in his head. The brighter times. The times he wished would never end.
“The redhead squealed like a pig when I gutted her. Her mother did, too. The boy...the boy was a quiet one. But I thought to myself, what more can you say when you’re being torn limb from limb?” She snickered as she paced around Emil. “Oh, but don’t hate me too much for it. You can thank Beth for all of that. Couldn’t have done it without her. Grace had a really good taste in friends. I’m impressed.”
From the top of his lungs, Emil screamed with murderous intent as he tried restoring feeling to his body, but no matter how hard he tried, his limbs never moved.
“The original plan was to have you reformed...alter a memory here, remove a moment there. You wouldn’t feel a thing. We’d all be one big happy family. But after you decided to kill Hugo, I couldn�
��t just let you forget about what you’ve done. Oh no, that would have been too merciful, so I decided to do things a bit differently. You killed one of ours, so I killed all of yours. You should have seen the looks on their faces. Pathetic.”
Still consumed by his rage, Emil’s screams continued as if they were the key to breaking the chains that bound him. The mysterious lady smiled at the sight of his torment. She bent down, positioning herself right in his face as he continued to yell.
“Oh, what’s that? You want to see? Sure. I thought you’d never ask,” she said as she rose to her feet and slowly descended her elongated finger onto Emil’s head. In a final act of desperation, Emil lethargically thrashed his head in an attempt to delay the inevitable, but even that was thwarted by her free hand that clenched his chin.
“Shhhhh,” she whispered as her elongated finger pressed against the center of his forehead, eventually piercing through. From the tip, streaks of silver transfused from her body into his flesh. As he yelled in pain, the streams of chrome dispersed in scattered directions, slowly traversing his face. The lady stood silently as he cried out in agony, delighted with the harvest of her labor. Eager to taunt the hero, she momentarily stopped the images from streaming through his mind. The screaming stopped, and Emil’s head hung loosely from his neck, resting in her clutches.
“Did you see it, Emil? Did you feel the blood scatter across your skin as you dove in deeper? Did you revel in their screams?” she said as she tilted his head up to her. “You don’t have to answer just yet. I know you did, because I did.” A grunt of disappointment aired from her lungs as she witnessed Emil’s eyes roll to the back of his head from her mind-bending torture. “Oh, no, no, no, Mr. Emil. You can’t pass out just yet. The fun has only just begun. Are you listening in there? It’s not going to stop until you beg me to take away your memories. Then, with my permission, I’ll allow you to forget. Now, where were we?”
Emil’s screams resumed as she pressed her finger against his skull. Almost instantly, his vision clouded over and was replaced with Silvia’s vengeful rampage.
It was Grace first. The three of them were running, presumably after the first few hours of the fire when the mysterious Abnormal confronted them with a backup squadron.
“Lady Silvia, are these the ones we are after?”
“Yes...”
Grace shakily raised a knife as Silvia stood before them. Without any trace of emotion, the female member of Legion impaled Grace through her chest with a spire of crystal she shot from her palm.
“No!” Serenity yelled as she witnessed her mother’s collapse to the forest floor.
“Run!” Grace cried as she clutched her abdomen and crawled towards the knife that had fallen amongst the leaves. Serenity grabbed Taeo’s hand and ran in the opposite direction of their fallen mother. The sobs of her dying mother echoed through the forest as she prayed for the safety of her children. “Emil! Help us!” As Serenity ran through the forest, she turned back to see her mother pressed against the ground by the heel of the crystal maiden. “RU—”
The dull chop of the blade echoed in the wind and the voice of their mother was no more. Taeo tried to look back, but Serenity instructed him to look forward; to be her eyes. She had become blinded by her own tears.
As they ran, a stream of vapor passed, materializing before them. Serenity and Taeo stopped as the woman slowly crept closer.
“You...”
The specter plunged her hand through Serenity’s stomach and forcefully ripped her hand out.
Unable to speak, Serenity fell to her knees where she was then left to bleed out among the foliage.
“E-Emil...”
Taeo ran from his wounded sister but Silvia paid him no mind. Instead, she simply snapped her fingers, summoning two crystal beasts whom effortlessly chased him down and ultimately ravaged his body.
“Had enough yet?” Silvia’s voice snapped him back to the realities of the waking world. A blur of what was supposed to be Silvia stood before him in his hazy sights, contrasting the shades of white casted by his skewed vision. Like an apparition, she faded in and out, mimicking Emil’s state of consciousness as he tried to stay awake. Though he was stationary, he felt his soul drifting, slowly pulling away from his body that lay against the tree. “You know, you’re just making it harder for yourself, hun. The quicker you submit to me, the quicker you can start your new life with us.”
“I’ll...kill...you,” Emil said through gritted teeth.
She laughed with amusement at his proposal. “I highly doubt you’ll do anything of that sort. Besides, how can you kill me if your brain is turned into mush? Now, shall we continue our trip down memory lane? I didn’t just kill them, you know. There were a few stragglers near Nerai, and well, let’s just say that I enjoyed hunting them.” Once more, she pressed her finger to Emil’s skull, releasing the silver substance into his veins. “This time, I’m going to make it y—”
A slew of arrows zoomed towards Silvia. The first of the three nicked her shoulder before she encased her exposed flesh in a crystal shell. She jumped back, wary of the unforeseen encounter and summoned her two crystal guardians to her aid. From the mist, Marona appeared next to him, clutching onto a dark figure with one arm and wielding her bow in another.
“Emil!” she cried as she rushed to his side while her newfound ally remained on guard.
“Ma-rona?” Emil whispered faintly.
“Yeah, it’s me...and I brought help,” she said and looked back at the solemn warrior. “Can you move?” Marona asked after returning her attention to Emil.
Emil strained to move his body but his efforts were null. “Not on my own. She has...some kind of poison laced with her crystals.”
“Omari!” Marona cried.
“Yeah, I heard. Just make sure he gets the chance to recover,” Omari calmly responded.
“Right.” Marona hoisted Emil to his feet. “But shouldn’t we just run? We’re outnumbered and Emil is hurt.”
Omari’s face flashed with a look of concern but before he had a chance to respond to Marona, two beasts materialized.
They dashed towards him at full speed with the intent to kill. “Spare the boy, kill the other two!” Silvia commanded from the foreground as she tended to her wound left by Marona’s arrow.
Damn it! I can’t let them get too close! Omari thought to himself.
Emil and Marona’s new ally charged towards the beasts head on, unwavering against the odds, determined to be the victor. Once he was within striking range, a specter swung at him, but Omari teleported before being struck and materialized in the air, directly above the specter’s head. From above, Omari plunged through the beast’s neck with a retractable blade hidden in his gauntlet.
The beast fell forward with a cry of agony and skid across the ground. Before the first beast shattered and disintegrated back into the mist, Omari had taken out the other with lightning-fast precision by warping and attacking in the same manner.
He’s fast...maybe even faster than Emil, Marona thought as she watched from a distance with Emil tethering on her shoulder.
“Marona!” Omari called out. “Where is she, the leader?”
Marona’s eyes widened at the thought of the deviant’s absence. She quickly scanned over the foggy landscape but saw no traces of their foe. Emil hung silently from her arm, gripping his sword in preparation of the surprise attack. “I-I don’t see her! She disappeared!”
“No...she’s still here. I can feel her,” Emil faintly whispered. The fog around the battlefield thickened, inhibiting their vision even further.
“Omari,” Marona said as she coughed, “w-we have to regroup.”
“Look out!” Omari yelled as he pointed to the sky. A hail of pointed crystal shards rained down from above—too many to avoid on foot. With a flash, Omari warped to the location of the incoming shards and then transported again after grabbing both Marona and Emil.
From the dark void created by Omari’s warp, Omari, Marona, and
Emil emerged outside of the mist, surrounded by the green of the forest.
“We should be safe here...gah!” Omari fell to one knee, balancing himself with his palms that pressed the ground. Protruding from the leg of the newly found ally was a crystal spire lodged deeply in the center of his calf. Wasting no time, he grabbed the spire and dislodged it, tossing it to the ground where it then disintegrated with the coming breeze.
“Are you ok?” Marona asked as she bent forward to aid him, but she was impeded by Emil who still hung on her shoulder.
“I should be fine. I think I removed it in time,” Omari said as he shakily stood to his feet. “I can still move despite the pain.”
“Where are we, anyway?” Emil asked with more vitality than he had moments before.
“I’m not sure. That woman’s power—”
“Silvia,” Emil said coldly.
“Yes, Silvia’s mist interfered with my sense of direction, ruling out long distance warping. This area is around where I first found your friend. In addition to inhibiting our powers, the mist also seems to amplify the effects of hers...”
“Hm, that sounds about right. I’m already starting to get some feeling back.” Emil released his grip on Marona, standing on his own for the first time in what seemed like ages.
“Just don’t overdo it. You’re still far from fully recovered,” Omari commented.
“Yeah, I know, but we’re going to need all the help we can get,” Emil said as he cradled his ribs with his free hand.
“As soon as I get my bearings back, we should be able to make it to a safer spot. Until then, we travel by foot.”
“Come on, Emil.” Marona coughed again and a thin film of red blood sloshed to the ground. “I-I’ll help you move.” She fell forward, collapsing into Emil’s arms, almost causing him to fall.
“Marona!”
“It’s the mist. While it seems it only slows us down, to regular humans the effects are more devastating,” Omari said as he scanned the area.
The Last Light Series Omnibus One: - The Dreamer and the Deceiver - All Things Eternal - Ode to the King: A Superhero Epic Fantasy Collection (The Last Light Collection Book 1) Page 6
