by T Ariyanna
“I don't know,” he said honestly.
“It's because he’s not bad, Cy.” Kaitlyn paused between words to catch her breath. They shared a glance that seemed to last forever, and Kaitlyn rested her head on Cy's shoulder. “It was…all of us. We got into this…together, and that's how we'll fix it,” she whispered to him, being the first to gain control of her breathing.
“Agreed,” Cy said.
“We're in the Loren Woods now, right? How much further?” Void asked, breaking the awkward silence between them.
“It's going to be hard to navigate in here. We have to find a guide first, but odds are that they'll find us first.”
Void only nodded, though he didn't understand. He didn't have the energy to ask. All he wanted to do was sleep. He closed his eyes and fell onto his side.
“What is that, Void?” Kaitlyn asked, a twinge of fear in her question.
Void opened his eyes slowly. She was pointing at the gun in his hand. “It's a gun. Grite told me about them, that they were made for one purpose…to kill. It worked at intimidation just fine though.”
A strange feeling twisted in his gut as he stared at the gun in the darkness. Everything about this night had made him feel uneasy, but he had no explanation for it. He shut his eyes to the uncertainty, longing for the night to be finished.
The thought of Grite sent chills running down Void’s spine. The demon’s twisted smile was set into the darkness behind his closed eyes. Void could even remember its scent. Damp and musty, like rotting wood and tainted earth. The smell grew stronger and Void threw his hands over his mouth and nose. He sat up slowly, stifling the urge to vomit.
The memory of the demon was so vivid that he could even hear its voice whispered on the wind.
“Aww, I’m touched you still remember me! I thought you would have forgotten all about poor Grite, what with your new friends and all,” Void imagined it saying. He shook the words from his head, and rested against a tree.
Silence. He was sure Kaitlyn and Cyllorian had just been speaking, but they had gone quiet. Only Grite’s voice could be heard, “Don’t tell me you forgot about the promise I made to you. I’m here to make good on that.”
Void’s eyes opened slowly, hoping to end the waking nightmare. He took in the fresh air, the trees clustered close together, and reminded himself that he was safe. He was safe, he was free. He was—
“You’ve always been so boring. At least these two are giving me the response I want. Who should I break first, Void? The oversized lantern, or the puzzle of creature parts?” Grite mocked as it stepped from the shadows. Its voice was deeper than before, more confident, but it still sent chills down Void’s spine. The half of its face that remained was twisted into a triumphant sneer as it gazed hungrily at Void.
Void sat up and pointed the gun, but his hands shook yet again, and he couldn't aim properly. He glanced over at Cy and Kaitlyn, fearful that it had been a trap all along. Cy was in front of Kaitlyn protectively, pressing her to a tree. They looked just as terrified as Void.
“Master misses you,” Grite continued, envy clear in his tone. “He wants you back, no matter the cost. As if you ever cooperate with us.” Grite cackled joyfully as he descended upon Void.
Cy tackled the other demon to the ground, tearing his clothes to shreds with his claws, exposing a large hole in Grite's chest with pitch black, burnt edges. Cy was able to slash through Grite's flesh at the edge of the hole, but it had no effect on the demon.
Though Void had just saved Cy's life, he never would have thought the he would do the same. Cy was still healing, and lacking most of his energy. Grite chuckled at Cy's attempt, and grabbed him by the head. It threw Cy off easily and got back to its feet.
“You're a pathetic excuse for a demon, Cyllorian. Always have been. You would have been so much better off in Master Crestyss' care than with that bitch, Theresa. I have no idea what Master ever saw in her,” Grite said, gaining a curious look from Cy.
“What do you even want with me, Grite? Just tell me what it is, and I'll give it to you. Just leave me alone, please! I'll do anything!” Void begged. In the presence of Grite, seeing his torturer in a new environment, he could do nothing but cower at the thought of the pain that would soon befall him.
“What do I want? It's about time you asked. I want my body back, you thief!” Grite shouted. “If it wasn't for you, everything would be as it should! Master wouldn't be angry at me all the time, I would still have my proper body, rather than be forced into this shitty human's body. It doesn't heal like that one does, and I have to look like that son of a bitch for the rest of my life! All these damn scars that you gave me, and I can't even get you back for them properly because you have no idea what I'm talking about! But I can't have any of that, so I'll just have to settle for your life, you half breed freak!”
Grite pounced for Void, and he pulled the trigger wildly. Another flash of green exploded between them, throwing off Grite's aim. The blast skimmed Grite's shoulder as it disappeared into the trees.
Grite fell against Void and they tumbled along the ground, Grite coming out on top. Its twisted smile sent a chill throughout Void's body, and its claws raked through Void's face repeatedly. His hot blood covered his face and neck, and the weight of Grite on his chest prevented Void from breathing. But Grite had underestimated Void, and hadn't thought to restrain his arms. With his own claws, Void dug into the side of Grite's face, his claws sinking inches into the flesh, and slammed Grite to the ground. Void climbed on top of him, but Grite bucked him off effortlessly.
Void hit a tree and landed upside down on his head. Grite stepped up to him and proceeded to kick all of Void's ribs in. They punctured his lungs, and he coughed up blood. Kaitlyn's screams could be heard over the ringing in his ears, as well as Grite's sadistic laughter.
Grite picked Void up by the leg, snapping the bone with only the force of its grip. The demon swung Void in an arc over its head and into the ground. Grite knelt on Void's chest again, driving the broken ribs in further. With a knife that Void hadn't seen before, it began to saw through Void's arm just below the elbow.
Void screamed in panic, and flailed wildly underneath Grite. He kicked against the ground, but his strength was nothing compared to the demon's.
“This body isn't even that strong, and you still can't do anything to me. Just like old times, right?” Grite hissed, leaning in to whisper in Void's ear. The knife was taken from his arm and plunged into his chest right beside his heart. He froze as his heart beat rapidly against the metal of the blade.
Grite stood and turned towards Kaitlyn and Cy. There was a high-pitched grinding sound that Void realized was Cy growling. Grite ignored Cy and focused on Kaitlyn. “Long time, no see, sweetheart. Did you miss me?”
Kaitlyn was petrified. She had gone completely still, watching the creature with confusion. Her breath came out in a whoosh, barely any volume in her voice as she spoke, “Kraven?”
“Close, but not quite. This—” Grite gestured to its body, “—hasn’t been his for a while. Crestyss took him apart and put him back together with me inside. Needed to make room in my body for that pathetic thing.”
Grite’s gaze returned to Void. The sneer Void received only fueled his confusion. He wasn’t even given time to think before Grite was kneeling on him again.
Void stared up at Grite, and recognized the pure hatred that was hidden deep within the eyes, the primal snarl plastered on his face. He had seen it before, but not from Grite. On instinct, Void lifted his hand and pressed it to the hole in Grite's chest. It fit perfectly under his palm, and Void dug his claws into the skin around the hole.
Panic swam through Grite's eyes, and it ripped the knife from Void's chest with a yell. The creature threw it away with a sharp movement, and another wave of fear choked Void. Grite leaned forward and sunk its teeth into the boy.
It was the most painful thing Void had ever felt, and the scream that erupted from his throat was inhuman. Behind his closed eyes, th
ere was a bright green flash. Within seconds, the agony was gone, but it had left Void feeling emptier than he ever had before. The weight lifted from Void, and he hoped that the hollowness inside of him meant that he was finally dying.
He opened his eyes and looked around with blurred vision. Grite was curled into a ball beside him, clutching his leg. A large hole had been blown through his thigh, and it refused to heal. It looked as though his leg was barely still in one piece, the bone completely destroyed inside.
Cy was standing over Grite, the gun in his hand. A thin trail of purple smoke drifted from the barrel of the gun, matching the rage in his eyes.
Grite ran from them on all fours, his leg leaving a thick trail of blood.
He's running away, but why is he smiling like that? Void thought in the back of his mind. It flitted from his consciousness as quickly as he had thought it.
Kaitlyn was at his side next, her hands fluttering over his wounds. “Void! Can you hear me? You're going to be alright, I can heal you. I promise, I can heal you,” she stammered, tears in her eyes.
“It's too much for you, Kaitlyn. We have to get him back to Theresa, now! It's the only chance,” Cy said, putting a hand on Kaitlyn's shoulder.
“I have to help him, or he's not going to make it!” she begged, though her hands had dropped into her lap.
“It's alright, Kaitlyn. I'm already starting to heal, look,” Void said dully, holding up his arm where Grite had started to cut through it. He stared in shock as he saw that there was no sign of healing, just occasional spurts of blood spraying from the wound.
“I'm not healing…” he breathed. Hope bloomed in his chest. “I'm dying…”
Panic struck, blacking out his vision. He shook his head back and forth in a daze.
Something snatched up his arm, and Cy's voice cut through the fog. “Your blood is white,” he said pointedly before pausing. He then shook Void's arm, ripping the skin at the wound more and more. “Why is your blood white, Void? Why do you have a demon body? What aren't you telling us?”
“My blood's always been white. What are you talking about? Didn’t you see it before, or was it too dark? Isn’t it supposed to be this color? Because I've always had that blood, and I'm not a demon. What color is your blood?” Void rambled on in his daze. He thought back to Kaitlyn, to when the outcasts had cut her. Her wounds had wept red, and he knew she was normal. But the trail of blood that had been left by Grite, that had been white as well.
“I have a demon body? Hey, Cy, I guess we're just like brothers.” Void laughed once, and the pain grew to excruciating levels. He tried to open his eyes, hoping to see Cy and Kaitlyn before he died, but there was only blackness around him before he lost his grip on consciousness.
“Are you ever going to leave this spot?” Cy whined.
Void lifted his head, but there was nothing to be seen. He was sitting with his arms resting on his knees in pitch blackness. “Cy?” he asked quietly. His voice was rough, and it echoed somewhere far from his body.
“It's been days now. If you don't eat something, you'll die. If that's what you want, I can think of a few ways that will be a lot less painful.”
Void tried to stand, but found that he had no strength in him. His limbs were empty, but free of the pain he had expected. “Where are you, Cy? Where's Kaitlyn?” Void asked the question intently, but it seemed he had no effect on what was going on around him.
“Hey! It's not just you in here, remember? I feel what you feel, and we're dying!” Cy screamed at him.
“But…I'm already dead. Aren't I, Cyllorian?” Void scanned the darkness as best as he could, but there was nothing around him. He could hear Cy, like an echo in his head, but he was nowhere around.
“Is this heaven? No, I don't think I would go to heaven. But this is too nice for hell. Peaceful. Where am I?”
After a moment, Cy spoke up, “What about her?”
An image of Kaitlyn formed in the air in front of Void, but she looked different. She was younger, and wearing a bright blue dress. There was no sign of the pain and worry she had been put through on her face. He cringed away, not wanting to imagine how she would look if she saw him now. “She cares about you.”
“I know. But I want to be here. I want to stay dead. This feels nice, it feels right. Like I'm supposed to be here. Do you understand, Cy?” Void tried again, but his voice couldn't even touch the demon.
Maybe this is my imagination. Or maybe I can hear him from the other side, Void thought. Are they trying to bring me back? What about their friend? They have to worry about him first. I'm not worth saving, anyway.
“Do I have to tell you what you already know? What you did? You told her not to come around anymore because of Kraven. And she doesn't want you to get in anymore fights because of her, so she listened,” Cy scolded.
“No, I didn't. You're not making any sense! What are you even talking about, Cy?” Void yelled, begging for an answer. “Cy! Answer me, please! Don't just leave me alone, what's going on?” he screamed at the top of his lungs. He stood in a panic, though he didn’t remember choosing to. His legs shook beneath him, and his stomach wretched.
Void lurched toward Kaitlyn on unsteady legs, but she faded into shadows as he touched her. With nothing but silence, Void wandered. There was no floor under him, but he walked on solid ground. There were no walls, either. He was trapped inside what he could only think to be his own mind.
He found that he didn't need to breath, and his heart no longer beat in his chest. The complete and utter silence was beginning to drive him mad, and he tried to scream again, but there was no sound. He was all alone, and that was worse than every torture Grite had ever put him through.
“Look at your hand,” Cy said after a few minutes.
“Why?” Void spat, though he didn’t expect an answer.
“Just do it.”
Void stopped in his pacing, and held up his left hand. His jaw dropped, and a cold chill went down his spine. A jagged scar shone brightly in his palm, and a burning feeling engulfed him. Green lightning was crawling over his hand from the edges. Most of the scar looked raw, blood dripping down his wrist.
“That's what happens when you fight it. It's who you are, regardless of what you want. It's either accept it, or let it break you. You pick.”
“I still don't know what you're talking about, Cy. Please, just answer me! I don't know what to do! I need your help.” Void fell to his knees as tears rushed into his eyes. He had never felt sadness before, but the sorrow in his heart felt normal, as though it had always been there.
“Get me out of here, Cy! You have to get me out! I don't want to die, I promise. You have to save me from this place, and from myself! Cyllorian, please!”
Void yelled through his sobs, losing all control of himself. He pulled at his hair, willing the tears to stop, but they were endless. They had been building in him for as long as he could remember, unable to escape simply because of what he was. And now that it was too late, he finally had found how to express what had been locked away inside.
A light broke through the darkness, a sliver in the distance that lit upon his face. He raised his arm to shield his eyes, but the light wasn’t painful. It showed him the way. He sprinted towards it, his left hand outstretched. He touched the light, and the sorrow and pain fled from his body. The wound and magic on his left hand disappeared, and the light filled the space around him.
“Good choice,” Cy's voice said as the light drug Void out of the darkness.
Cyllorian
Cy shifted Void on his back. Though he wasn't very large or heavy, he was moving a lot in his sleep. “Come on, kid, calm down already. How much further, Tuft?”
The wolf leading them through the castle paused for but a second, then continued. “We were told you’d have another with you, but this is unexpected. Theresa has set a room up in the dungeons, where he can be watched. She plans to treat him well until there is reason to distrust him.”
“There won't be
one,” Kaitlyn huffed, standing up for Void.
Cy nodded once, thinking back to how Void had saved him. He still didn't understand the boy, attributing his odd behavior to his origins. There were still so many questions to ask, but Cy doubted they would get any answers.
“Are you alright, Tuft? You've been acting weird since you picked us up in the woods,” Cy pondered aloud. Void twitched and slapped Cy in the face, and he shook the boy. “Watch it, kid! I won't say it again. Stop hitting me already!”
Tuft was silent for a long moment, his feet dragging as he walked. “Arion's death took its toll on all of us,” he said finally, his head drooping.
If Cy hadn't been carrying Void, he would have smacked himself when the realization hit him. Tuft was meant to be Arion's companion, his protector. He feels just as guilty as the rest of us.
As they walked toward the castle, Cy noticed Tuft looking over his shoulder every so often, aiming suspicious glances at Void. Cy tried to meet his gaze, but he would always turn away once he was caught staring.
The open castle gates came into view, and Cy’s impatience won over his logic. He ran as carefully as he could, though Void whimpered in pain. He ran faster than Kaitlyn was able, and Tuft stayed behind to guide her. They had been able to bandage the wounds, and Kaitlyn stopped the bleeding, but he was only getting worse. Like his body was rotting.
“Theresa!” Cy screamed when he kicked the door open. “Theresa, get down here and help me!” His voice echoed in the corridor, unanswered.
“Damnit,” he breathed. He searched the entire ground floor, but it was empty. He couldn’t even be sure they had returned here. He could only hope.
Cy spun on his heels. The library. It was the largest room in the castle, and the easiest place to gather people. He rounded a corner, the grand double doors now in sight, and tripped over something big and heavy.
