“Don’t worry Sara; I’ll get to the bottom of this.” I reply and hang up.
“Nagi, I need you to help me out by telling Cheza to take Ryuji, Naia, and Natasha to the house and tell her to stay there with them. If you could help keep them safe, I’d appreciate it.” I ask of her.
“Sure Cole, but what’s going on?” Nagi inquires.
“Addie’s been kidnapped and I’m going to rescue her, but I’m afraid that the same people will go after anyone I care about. I’m not too worried about Cheza because she can protect herself, but the others are fair game.” I quickly reply.
(Master, I’ve located Addie)
“Where is she?”
(Head that way)
I hear this little ping in my head like sonar coming from the right.
“Thanks Nagi.” I say and take off at full speed in the direction of the ping.
Chapter 36: Nightmares Do Come True
Two minutes later, I’m across the campus, nearing the edge of the lake on the north-east side and the ping goes off rapidly. The ping suddenly swerves around behind me and I turn to see a hollowed out tree. I touch the hollowed tree and I’m a little surprised when my hand goes through it, causing a ripple in the tree. I engage my helmet and walk through the tree to find a concrete staircase leading down.
“Welcome Feros. You are earlier than I was expecting. Our messenger that delivered the ransom letter hasn’t even returned from your dorm yet. Your dear wife should be joining us shortly, if those two assholes can manage not to screw it up.” Ryan Ericson, the wizard vice president of the fight club, says as I walk down the steps. I’m not at all worried about Cheza; whoever they sent don’t stand a chance against her and Nagi.
“DADDY!” Addie calls out to me with tears in her eyes.
“Everything is going to be alright, sweetie.” I tell her reassuringly.
Addie’s standing next to Ryan as he holds a Beretta 92 9mm handgun to her right temple at the back of the room. I see Jessica standing near Ryan, looking at him with an expression of admiration on her face. There are roughly fifty enhanced supers armed with melee weapons in the room, twenty of which I recognize from the fight club; I don’t see any of the freshman or Jeremy here, but I spot David Bese, the senior captain, standing near the back of the room. I also see the wizard, wood elf, and snow elf from the incident in the café last week, and they all seem to be freshly enhanced. All the pieces just clicked into place; Jessica must’ve called those three to set the stage for my rescue after we ordered our drinks last week. Since rescuing people is not something Feros is known for, Ryan knows me on a different level than what is based on rumors, or the person pulling the strings does.
I’m contemplating my ability to get across the room before Ryan can pull the trigger… I could try port to the spot behind him, but he’s definitely within a range of one hundred meters; What good is it to reach the spot if I get cut in half in the process? Worst rescue ever.
“Surely you’ve realized that you cannot make it across this room before I can pull the trigger. With my enhancements, I can pull the trigger before you make it halfway. Oh, and don’t even think about porting; if you disappear, the first thing I’m doing is pulling the trigger.” Ryan says.
“So here’s what’s going to happen: You are going to get in that electrified cage made especially for you, and once you are securely inside the cage, I’ll let the girl go.” Ryan explains while gesturing to the Plexiglas cage to my right.
Seeing no other options, I trundle over to the cage and step inside. A vampire walks over and locks the cage.
“Alright, I’m in the cage; Let Adelaide go.” I tell him.
“Yes, but you are not secure!” Ryan exclaims.
“Electrificatus-way Ohercitus-cay.” Ryan says as his aura flares. My legs suddenly give out from beneath me as a strong electrical current passes through them.
“DADDY!” Addie screams.
“Let. Her. Go!” I grunt out.
“Yeah, about that… I’ve changed my mind.” Ryan smirks.
“NO!” I scream.
I look into Addie’s frightened ice blue eyes and watch helplessly as Ryan’s finger squeezes the trigger. Addie’s body collapses onto her left side as her permanently open eyes glaze over and the pool of blood beneath her head slowly expands.
“Daddy! Daddy. DADDY! Daddy… Daddy? DADDY!? Daddy. Daddy! Daddy? Daddy. Daddy! Daddy? DADDY! Daddy. Daddy? Daddy! Daddy. Daddy? DADDY! Daddy. Daddy!… I love you too, Daddy.” Memories of Addie’s voice echo through my head.
Tears roll down my face as I realize that I will never hear that voice again…
She will never call me daddy again…
I hear a demonic roar reverberating from deep within me. My Drive has nothing to do with it; just like it has nothing to do with the overwhelming urge that tells me that everyone in this room is going to die.
“You’re dead… You’re all dead… Slow, agonizing, and fearful… that is how you are all going to DIE!” I scream and slam my blackened left hand into the ground.
The cage evaporates around me. The fluorescent lights in the ceiling explode in a wave from my position to the back of the room. Tendrils that behave in a snake-like manner, but look like black vector arrows, shred my bandages and seep out of the holes in my left arm.
Screams of terror erupt in the room as the tendrils quickly slither forward, disconnected from my arm. Everyone scrambles to get as far away from me as possible, but considering that I’m blocking the only exit, there is no escape. I expect that these tendrils might cause everyone to evaporate, like what happened with the Templars in the park, but what they actually do is far more terrifying… and far more satisfying. Each tendril that makes contact with one of the enhanced supers causes their skin to disintegrate while leaving them alive. It’s like my blood knows exactly what I was planning on doing to each and every one of them, and has decided to expedite the process for me.
I revel in my victim’s agony as I get blindsided from the left by a partially transformed David. He slams me into the wall and starts tearing the shit out of my torso with his paws, basically turning it to mush, but I can barely feel it; my body is completely numb. I backhand David with my left hand, forcing him to drop me. After delivering a left uppercut to his jaw, I slip around behind him and get him in an armlock. I grab his left paw with my left arm, wrench it back, place my right knee between his shoulder blades, and rip his left paw off. As he howls in pain, I swing the massive clawed-paw at his stomach, effectively eviscerating him. One of my ‘snakes’ attacks David as his body hits the ground, and flays him.
I slowly walk over to where Ryan and Jessica are holding each other and cowering in the corner beneath the only remaining fluorescent light, surrounded by my ‘snakes’ that are reared back and coiled, daring Ryan and Jessica to move.
(They’ve been shown fear… now show them anguish)
I disengage my helmet and wait for the minute that it takes for all of the screams to die out from blood loss, just staring at Ryan and Jessica. I see a glint on the ground about five feet away. I walk over and pick up the Beretta 92F that has ten rounds remaining in the magazine; four of the five spent rounds had been fired into the floor, presumably in an attempt to shoot the ‘snakes’. As for the other one…
I walk back to Jessica and Ryan, grab Jessica by her hair, and drag her away. Ryan tries to follow after her, but the ‘snakes’ keep him in place. I place Jessica on her knees about six feet away, facing her towards Ryan.
“Go ahead. Lie to her. Tell her that everything is going to be fine.” I order Ryan. “Look into her eyes… as I pull the trigger.”
The bullet travels through Jessica’s brain and splatters gore across Ryan’s face. Ryan winces as tears form in his eyes; his emotional anguish is incredibly satisfying.
“I’ll make a deal with you. If you tell me who has been backing you and where you got these extra forces, I will make your death quick and painless.” I offer to Ryan. He stares at me
defiantly in response.
“Let me clarify. I consider the deaths that everyone in this room got, to be quick. Usually, I take a much more hands on approach when flaying my enemies.” I smile devilishly at him.
In a room full of blood; surrounded by dead bodies; after splattering his girlfriend’s brains all over his face; yeah, ‘devilish’ fits. Ryan’s defiant face starts to break.
“Usually, I go through, strip by strip, peeling the flesh from my enemies. And I presume you’ve heard the story about how I dripped some of my blood into a snow elf’s mouth and used that blood to make his stomach burst outward. Those pale in comparison to what I have planned for you… provided that you don’t cooperate.” I add with my devilish grin.
“HORUS! It was Horus! He was providing the drug for the enhancements and he had the extra forces brought in by his assistant, who goes to the university, for this plot! He was the one that ordered me to kill the girl regardless!” Ryan spills almost faster than I can keep up.
“Who was this assistant?” I inquire.
“It was a chick with purple hair, eyes, wings, and tail! I didn’t catch her name!” Ryan scrambles to answer. Naia…
“Thank you for your cooperation.” I tell him.
I let my ‘snakes’ evaporate as I walk past them to get to Ryan’s quivering form. I hover over him for a moment before I spear my left hand into his mouth. While supporting his head up with my right hand, I forcefully wrench my left hand down and snap his jaw. Ryan starts howling as the bottom portion of his mouth dangles from his skull
“Are you referring to how I said I’d give you a quick and painless death?” I ask with a devilish smile in response to his screaming.
“I changed my mind.”
I pierce Ryan’s abdomen with my left hand, grab a handful of his small intestines and pull them out. That handful goes into Ryan’s open mouth and down his throat, as do the six other handfuls it takes for Ryan to choke to death.
I stand up and walk through the lake of blood to Addie’s body. My knees splash as they hit the floor. I close Addie’s eyes, scoop her up, and cradle her body.
“I’m sorry Addie… I’m so sorry.” I cry as I hold her to my chest. “I promised you that I’d never let anything happen to you… but I failed… Kita was right… I should have done this a long time ago…”
(You cannot rest just yet. There are still those who must answer for this)
“He will pay… when I’m through with him, Horus will be so utterly destroyed that he’ll be wiped from the fucking history books.” I say as my tone drips with malicious intent.
“But first, I need to see Naia… and make arrangements for your body.” I say while I brush the hair out of Addie’s face and a tear splashes on her cheek.
(Return her to the Void)
“Will this affect her going to the Underworld?”
(Beings such as her and Cheza do not go to the Underworld when they die)
“What do you mean?”
(Return her to the Void)
I caress her left cheek and then Addie’s body loses density as she turns into a cloud of smoke. I start frantically grasping at the smoke as it disperses, but my hands just flow through it; my efforts futile as tears return to my cheeks. After sitting there for a while, I slowly stand and trundle past the bodies and up the steps.
It’s time to go see Naia.
Chapter 37: A Truth Revealed
“Cole! Are you alright?” Cheza asks when I port into the living room of the house. Cheza’s face falls, no doubt my expression revealing to her a truth that has yet to be said.
“Whe… Where’s Ada?” Cheza inquires as I see Naia walk into the room.
I flash forward towards the wall, grabbing Naia by the neck as I pass, and proceed to slam her into it.
“Addie’s dead.” I reply to Cheza as everyone in the room starts freaking out, with the exception of Naia.
“And you’re at least partially responsible.” I tell Naia as I hold her against the wall.
“Cole, what are you doing!?” Ryuji frantically asks.
“She works for Horus. She let in half of the forces that the vice president of the fight club had and is partially responsible for the bullet that Ryan put in Addie’s skull.” I say while staring directly into Naia’s eyes.
A tear rolling down Naia’s cheek is the first sign that everything isn’t as it seems. The second sign is the fact that her face isn’t showing confusion and/or fear, but resignation and guilt.
(Hurry up and kill her so we can go find Horus)
“No, not yet… she still has information that I need.”
“Cole, just let her go and we can sit down and talk about this.” Ryuji pleads.
“No… that won’t work.” I reply.
Before Ryuji can respond, I slam Naia into the wall, causing her to gasp, forcing her mouth open. I cover her open mouth with my left hand and pump some of my blood down her throat.
“Airi, you know what to do.”
Naia doesn’t struggle or anything of the sort; she just closes her eyes and accepts her fate. With my eyelids becoming heavier by the moment, I lower Naia’s body to the ground and pass out beside her.
****
I find myself floating in the dark reaches of Naia’s mind. I keep expecting the movie theater screens to popup, but nothing does. I float around for a bit when I start hearing voices, so I head towards them. There’s a bright flash of light and I suddenly see a man with a falcon’s head standing in front of me; this is either Horus or Ra, but my money’s on Horus.
The body that I’m occupying, which is most likely Naia’s, holds out a letter for Horus. Horus takes the envelope and flicks his finger out, which transforms into a talon. He drags the talon through the top of the envelope, removes the letter, and begins reading it aloud.
“I, the Ifrit King, offer this marid/ifrit hybrid as a sign of my and my people’s allegiance to you, our lord Horus. She is eight years old and her name is Anai. Do with her as you wish.” Horus reads.
“Well I suppose I should give you a name… from today onward, you will be known as Naia.” Horus dictates with a creepy smile that quickly turns into a scowl, which perplexes me given his falcon head and thus his lack of lips.
“What are you slow or something? Nod in agreement!” Horus orders and Naia’s head quickly nods.
“Good. Now come here.” Horus commands and Naia’s legs move forward. Horus sets his hand on top of Naia’s head.
“Ecutus-say Irma-fay Acitus-tay
My vision blurs as the body falls over before a forward blur of memories, during which I feel disconnected from the body. I pick up on the unwanted sexual advances by Horus, until a time when Naia is about fourteen or fifteen and Horus takes her virginity. I see images of what must be magic lessons from Isis; I don’t know what else the Egyptian goddess of magic would be doing with Naia that involved circles and incantations. Her admiration for Isis is easily felt in each of her memories of her. The memory stream slows down and finally stops on an event that is from a few months prior.
“I’ve decided that we need The Faction’s former executioner out of the way to further my plans to take over the Underworld. He is currently in the Underworld looking into the enhancements so I’m going to have him captured. This is where you come in: you are going to befriend him in captivity by telling him you have amnesia. He should be able to relate to this because he previously had amnesia, up until yesterday when a liche reported through Ahriman that he regained his memories. He shouldn’t have any problems seeing you, but if he can’t, just observe the situation and report back to me. Now, in all likeliness, he will be broken out of captivity by his friends and/or various gods, and will take you with him. Once you are close to him, I want you to manipulate his dreams.
Right about now, the liche should be controlling a vampire to execute the Executioner’s fox girlfriend right in front of him so this will most likely be a sensitive topic, and a good way to haunt him into killing himself. Don
’t attempt to kill him yourself because you’ll most likely fail and it may leave a trail back to me if you succeed. Head to Duzakh, meet up with Ahriman and don’t tell him anything he doesn’t need to know.” Horus commands.
I figured that I was in the Persian district of the Underworld on that occasion, but I never got confirmation on it.
“Yes, Master.” Naia’s voice replies.
So Horus set the whole thing up while having all intents of sacrificing Apep and Ahriman… he obviously thinks things through and has no problem sacrificing pawns when the need arises. He also seems to be very well informed when it comes to me… Taking him out is going to be tough.
Naia’s memories surge forward again as I see her spend over a day in Ahriman’s cage awaiting my arrival. The memories pass by Naia coming to Arizona before slowing down. I watch as Naia sneaks into my bedroom while I’m sleeping and rests her hands on my head.
“Omnium-say Utavi-may Ortua-may Upressio-say Epetivi-ray.” Naia whispers, her vision blurring slightly on the last word.
Naia stands next to my sleeping form with her hands on my head until I jolt awake. The memories flash forward and stop a day later, on a memory of her laying her hand on my cheek in the master bedroom.
“Anxi-say Epetivi-ray.” Naia whispers and crawls into the master bed, next to a sleeping Katie. I recall having two dreams that I felt were odd after I woke up, and the one I had in the master bedroom was one of them.
(In all of the dreams involving Kita, the setting of the dream is the place of your last memory. Those two dreams you felt were strange should have taken place in the driveway and in the underground clinic, which is where your last memories were; however, they took place in the master bedroom and your bedroom because they were supplemented with Naia’s knowledge of your body’s location. Illusion magic of that nature can’t be done unless you open your mind to your victim’s in kind)
“Wait, I was in Niflheim for one of the dreams; how did Naia set up the spell for that one?”
Feros and the Underworld Prince Page 26
