Chapter 21

There was a disk of light shimmering high above my head. It wept tears of scarlet blood that baptized the hellish scene before my eyes under a curtain of crimson rain. Each drop descended upon a vast landscape of death and destruction, with countless corpses littering the ground like sand upon a storm-swept shore.

Chaos swirled within my mind, unsure of who I was or what I was doing here. But even through the hopeless morass of my mind, I was certain of two things. First, I knew the sphere of incandescent fire dominating the sky above was not the sun. There was no mistaking the eldritch glow of iridescent green as anything but what it was: the fires of hell summoned upon earth by unholy magic and forbidden rite.

The second piece of knowledge and what drove all the breath from my lungs and set my heart ablaze was the simple and incontrovertible knowledge that the source of the fire and the harbinger of all the death and desolation visited upon this nightmarish landscape was none other than the love of my life, Alexia Fox.

As though the mere thought of her had summoned her attention, from the very depths of the storm of hellfire raging in the skies, the same sapphire blue eyes I’d woken up next to for nearly my entire life suddenly flared wide open and met my gaze with inscrutable meaning roiling beneath their deceptively tranquil depths. Her glistening lips parted and whispered words soared past all the fire and brimstone, alighting upon my mind while covered in an unexpected drizzle of frost that sent chills into my stuttering heart.

“Kai.. get up..”

I woke up with a start. My eyes felt particularly heavy-lidded, gummed together so tightly that it was almost painful to pry my eyelids apart. The harsh light stabbing into my eyes immediately made me regret that. I tried to raise my hand to shield my face, but for some reason I couldn’t feel my limbs.

Squeezing my eyes shut against the painful glare of what must be heavy-duty reflectors hanging inches above my face, I had to wonder whose inspired idea it had been to place the comatose guy under high beams for when he woke up. The roaring headache that threatened to split my skull in half made me swear an oath right then and there that I’d be sure to return the favor, only I’d be using a very rusty and blunt axe.

My lips felt stale, my tongue wooden, and the inside of my mouth was rough and clammy to the touch. Sullenly, I drew a deep breath and nearly retched at the fetid stench that assaulted my nostrils. It was an insidious combination of old sewage, raw vomit, and decaying flesh that slammed my head back against the cold stone slab where I lay like I’d been smashed in the face by an immaterial sledgehammer. The first sound to emerge from my lips was a deep groan that was burdened with far too much misery and aches to count.

Still, my brain finally got enough of its bearings that it managed to shove all those useless distractions aside and focused on the one thing that really mattered.

“Allie?”

My voice sounded rough and alien to my own ears. It was dry and raspy like a metal grate being dragged across bedrock, its tone heavier and deeper as though rising from the dark depths of a turbulent sea. Its fading echoes skittered past my eardrums like ants crawling across my skin.

“Allie? Are you..”

A fit of coughing interrupted my words, doubling me over as I clutched at the intense pain racking my chest. That’s when memory finally began to leak back into the wet pudding that passed for my brain. The fucking trials, that bastard Charon, Susan the murderous bitch, and inevitably, Pinkie whose brain we’d turned into scrambled pate. Gingerly, my hands slid over to the hideous gash I’d sustained in my chest, but only smooth, unbroken skin met my touch. Before I could stop myself, my eyes flew open in disbelief but the merciless glare of the light suspended above stabbed daggers into my brain and I quickly closed them again with an agonized gasp.

“Allie? Are you there?”

The low moan that escaped my lips sounded nothing like me and it was honestly starting to creep me out. My hands clutched convulsively at my chest, confirming over and over again that yes, the knife wound that had nearly killed me was gone. Allie must have somehow managed to procure a health potion for me at the last moment. That was my girl, nothing if not dependable.

“Allie, where are you? This is not funny anymore,” I protested, still shielding my eyes against the painful glare. “And what’s this hellish smell? Turn off that damn reflector and come..”

I let my words trail off as two startling realizations struck home all at once. First, I finally figured out what that god-awful stench was. It was me. My breath smelled like old sewage and my own flesh reeked of rotting meat. I don’t know how I knew these things because I had never been particular about smells before. That had been Allie’s obsession, all into scented candles and aromatic potpourri.

Well, no longer. Not only could I distinctly smell the stench of offal and refuse drifting up from every pore and opening of my body, but I could also sense the miasma of death and corruption that surrounded me like a worn out, unwanted cloak.

That would have been creepy enough all by itself, but the lightest of drafts blowing across the room had borne with it the tantalizing smell of food, and I only realized how famished I was when I felt the drool sliding down my chin. My stomach was growling and my whole body began shaking as though I were an addict going through severe withdrawal. I needed food, and I needed it now.

It was close, too. So very close, and getting closer by the second.

Something didn’t quite jive right about that. Not only was I smelling my succulent meal drawing steadily closer, but along with it came an unexpected array of information that rattled my brain like a bat to the face and sent shivers down my spine. How big my meal was, whether it was rich in fat or cut close to the bone, its freshness, salinity, and even the complex chemical cocktail of emotions that pumped through its veins as it approached.

Lost within that intoxicating mixture was grim determination and excitement that bordered on ecstasy but most of all, there was a thick layer of fear that sprinkled it all with such decadent exquisiteness, it was all I could do not to rush headlong to sink my teeth into its delectable flesh. It didn’t cross my mind to question the fact that my food was not only moving by itself, but also exhibited complex feelings and emotions. Only ravenous hunger filled my own mind.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, enough feeling had finally bled into my limbs that I could finally try to sit up. Squinting against the glare, saw that I was in some kind of box, so I laid a hand against its rim and pulled myself up to a sitting position. Next, I negotiated the tricky business of climbing out without braining myself against the floor. My own body still felt strangely unfamiliar to me, almost like wearing another man’s clothes that pinched at some spots and left far too much extra room at others.

All the while, my food was drawing closer and closer. It was then that I realized, to my growing delight, that there wasn’t just one item of food. No, it was to be a veritable feast, with several fine specimens to pick and choose from. Just at a passing whiff, I could smell at least 5, possibly 6 delectable dishes making their way to me.

That irritating light suddenly flashed brightly, drawing another gasp from me as I quickly shielded my eyes. When I removed my hand, the light had been dimmed to bearable limits, and I was finally able to take a good look at the room I was in.

It was a drab square with a rusty metal door that was barred from the inside by a thick beam of steel. There were no windows nor any kind of furniture except for the box I’d emerged from. Turning around, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I realized I’d been lying down inside a stone coffin. It looked old and was covered by green moss, but mysterious patterns had been carved all along its border. They resembled the graceful script of a language I couldn’t comprehend, but what was most surprising of all was the radiant green glow that pulsed from each word.

It was the same hue as the light that had been insistently stabbing into my eyes this whole time. My vision seemed to have adjusted to the glare enough that I was finally able to look up. There, scrawled across the ceiling were blazing letters of jade light in an elegant, flowing script that was all too familiar to me.

“Allie..” I whispered, balling my hands into fists while staring at the glowing words and reading the message over again.

“They found you. Run and don’t look for me. This is where we go our separate ways. I release you to seek your own destiny. Times the Abyss befalls us, yet times we leap into the Abyss. We can only remember our choice. May we never meet again, for it will destroy us both.”

- A

Bitter pain stung my eyes but no tears spilled forth as I read the message over and over again, desperately trying to find a hidden meaning or message to the simple words. I just couldn’t believe the words floating above my head. There was no way my Allie could have left such a cold, callous message for me.

Shaking my head, I staggered back on my heels and fell on my ass when the words abruptly scattered like so many motes of light, extinguished in the darkness like errant fireflies taking their final flight. The room was suddenly plunged into pitch black obscurity, but I couldn’t bring myself to really care. Each of Allie’s words kept simmering in my mind, drawing pain and confusion in equal measures and leaving me completely dazed where I lay collapsed upon the floor.

What had happened? I could only recall our desperate last fight against the fanged horror. My consciousness had pattered off right after hearing Charon’s proclamation of Allie’s victory in the trials. I thought I’d died back there in that blood-soaked hallway, but now I was whole once more, trapped inside a room with only a magical note from Allie for company. Only they couldn’t be her words. I clung to my denial even as an insidious voice whispered that I knew better. Lurking deep within the most remote corner of my soul, there was an inescapable conviction that the message was authentic and Allie had meant every last word.

How was I saved? Who was after me? Why did she leave me? Where was she now? What did the final words of her message mean?

More questions kept piling up in my mind, so it was almost a welcome reprieve to hear shuffling footsteps stealthily approaching from the other side of the door. It seemed that my newly enhanced senses also included my hearing because even through the solid metal door and the considerable distance that still separated us, I could hear the scratchy rasp of static along with muffled voices.

“Control, we’re on final approach to target coordinates. Please advise.”

I immediately froze when I heard the words, straining to catch the coming exchange. A wave of relief and eager expectation washed over me at the sound of another human voice. The sudden surge of warmth in my chest at the mere notion of sweeping another human being into my arms caught me by surprise. Had I really been this starved for company? I irritably brushed some more drool off my chin.

“Affirmative. Your team is to neutralize and capture the target specimen with use of minimal force. Confirm.”

There was a slight pause as the footsteps outside ground to a halt. After a moment, the first voice came in a harsh whisper that spoke of barely contained anger and razor-sharp tension.

“Control, our mana spectrum scanners indicate a positive match with the main culprit of the Chinatown incident.”

“We can neither confirm nor deny any such speculation. Your team is strongly advised to focus on fulfilling your current directives.”

“Fuck, that’s practically confirmation,” came the muted hiss from a new voice.

“What? You’re telling me the Angel of Death’s pet creature lies on the other side of that door and they only sent a 6-man team?”

“Are they fucking crazy? Don’t they know what that thing can do? It’s the goddamn Angel of Death we’re talking about!”

“Silence!” spat the original voice, who seemed to be the leader. All the other voices died down, though the stench of fear wafting from the other side of the door was nearly overwhelming.

Just what did they think they would find? Was there a terrible monster being contained within one of the rooms next to me? Though I couldn’t see a thing now that the light was gone, or perhaps because of that very reason, I was coming to rely more and more on my other senses. I inhaled deeply and was unable to detect any other scents besides that of the six men. That’s when my mouth began to water and a scowl scrunched up my face. What had happened to the food I had smelled earlier? Was it something the men were carrying? Meanwhile, the radio chatter continued, oblivious to the fact that I was privy to it all.

“Control, we’re only a six-man sweeper team with minimal gear. Requesting permission to set up a perimeter and await reinforcements before commencing the operation. Over.”

“Negative, team leader. Our adepts have detected aberrant mana fluctuations in the area that indicate the enemy may have been made aware of your team’s presence. The target specimen is a code red priority and must be secured at all costs before it can escape. You are to engage and execute orders immediately. Confirm.”

“Control,” came the team leader’s forced reply, as though biting off each word. “We are a six-man sweeper team with minimal gear. Extreme casualties and mission failure projected if the current orders are carried out.”

“Team casualties and mission failure rate are within acceptable parameters. Your prime directive is to execute any and all orders immediately to the best of your abilities, regardless of personal opinion or extraneous considerations. You will not be reminded again. Confirm.”

I couldn’t help but wince. I could sympathize with that poor man’s plight, I really could. The same kind of helpless frustration had been overflowing from my own heart while I was fighting for my life in Charon’s trials. Wait, could this be some kind of new trial?

“Affirmative Control, directives received. Requesting use of deadly force to subdue the target.”

“That’s a negative. You are to employ minimal force and capture the target without harming it. Confirm.”

“Roger, operation will proceed as ordered. Over and out.”

The radio channel was finally cut off, and that’s when a veritable storm of whispered protests and muffled curses reached my ears.

“Sir, that’s fucking bullshit and you know it,” came a bitter voice almost the instant the radio link was ended. “I didn’t sign up for this kind of suicidal shit.”

“Sir, I hate to say it, but Martinez is right for once. We’re just a recon team sent to investigate a random blip in the mana scanners. Hell, we wouldn’t even be here if Collins wasn’t so obsessive about his damn reports to Control.”

“Fucking Collins and his fucking reports. I should have let that ghoul slurp his brains out in the last mission.”

“Fuck you, Martinez. I was just doing my job as ordered.”

“Yeah, and it’s gonna get us all slaughtered down here. You happy now?”

“For fuck’s sake, they’re throwing us to the wolves just to slow that thing down. You can bet a full company of the Crimson Brigade has already been mobilized. We’re just the bait.”

“Silence, you fools! Control has ears everywhere and you know what happens to traitors and deserters,” came the team leader’s grim words, his voice strung so tightly with tension, he seemed about ready to snap. “We do this by the book and pray that the mana signature readings are wrong.”

After a long moment of silence, a single nervous question rang in the hollow silence.

“What if they’re not, sir?”

“Then we die,” was the leader’s flat reply. “Now, move.”

Just what kind of monster were they stalking? I sure hoped their fight wouldn’t bring it here. I could freely control my body now but still felt as weak as a lamb. I was just so damn hungry, I could happily devour a whole cow, hooves and all. In fact, I’d never felt so famished in my life. I swiped a hand past my chin to wipe away the drool dripping from it in a steady stream.

As I did so, I saw a glittering circle of dim light on my wrist that drew my attention. Right, I’d completely forgotten about the orb tattoo. Maybe the system would offer useful information.

Orb User Tier E

Orb User Level: 4

Mana Orbs: 150

Skill Orbs: 6

Enhancement Orbs: 6

Special Orbs: 2

Alert! Your maximum mana orb capacity has been reached. Would you like to spend [90] mana orbs to upgrade to level five?

Alert! You have 5 skill orbs that have not been equipped. Would you like to equip them now?

Alert! You have 6 enhancement orbs that have not been equipped. Would you like to equip them now?

Alert! You have 1 special orb that has not been equipped. Would you like to equip it now?

Wait, level 4 and a tier E user? When had I gained another two levels and a whole tier? Also, where did I get 150 mana orbs? For that matter, what was with all these unequipped orbs? What the hell was going on?