Die.

No thanks. Onei thought to the ominous voice in her head as she ran behind Kaleb and Drade through foul-stenched sewers.

She saw the horrid creature’s silhouette flicker on the edge of her periphery, a deformed creature that looked like it should have died an age ago, with a mechanical eye built of cable, whose pupil shone an uncomfortable red.

Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die! DIE! It repeated,. Onei could hear the creature’s words echo through her head from no particular location as the voracity and madness of its words grew.

Why should I die?

I...need you.

For what?

To defy fate, only you will truly suffice, Fatebreaker.

You’re crazy.

If you believe that, then only in death could you understand!

How presumptuous of you! I never said I couldn’t be crazy too. Although, now that Onei thought about it, perhaps the creature was just a little rusty when it came to speech.

Die...

Nevermind, though it probably was rusty, it was definitely also crazy.

“Hey, does anyone have headphones?” Onei asked once they had made a significant gap between themselves and a waterlogged Kai’Vra.

“Is now the time to listen to music?!” Luuko responded, shining a flashlight ahead.

Onei turned to look at a ghostly flicker, only to see the glow of a red eye fade in the darkness. “This definitely isn’t scaring me at all.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Onei didn’t actually think headphones would stop the telepathic sci-fi-lookin’ white-robed ghost bitch from annoying her, and she didn’t feel like explaining the joke.

Well, she at least hoped the ghost was only annoying. Her primal instincts told her she’d encountered something truly capable of killing her. She had once tried to die, but when her attempt resulted in waking up the next day like she’d just fallen asleep, she gave up on suicide.

To that end, Death was only a glorified, painful sleep. Short of falling in a volcano once for each day, she would live. There wasn’t any guarantee she aged after she died either. Or even that she could die to old age.

Though, to be honest, she had no idea what it hoped to accomplish by creeping her out. Maybe it could kill people only if they wanted to die? If so, it was pretty incompetent at convincing her that suicide was the only option.

While Onei attempted to ignore her telepathic...companion, Drauko was talking amongst themselves.

Why don’t we use my spiritual eye? Luuko asked Drade. She could use it to see through closed eyes when she possessed people, but otherwise, it had never seemed worth using, especially since it gave her headaches, for some reason. Yet she had seen a ghost with it yesterday, and that made her suspect it had more uses.

What brought that idea on?

Onei’s been complaining about a ghost, right? Maybe we could exorcise it?

Worth a try.

Luuko tried to imagine how it felt to use it, how the spiritual eye overcame her sight and made the world look...different in an imperceptible way. Then, she suddenly grasped at Drade’s chest, a sharp thump of pain in their chest jarring her soul’s nerves.

What was that about? Drade asked.

It hurts when I use it...though I usually feel a headache, not chest pain... She responded, a little off-kilter, almost stumbling off the sewer stone.

Oh, I see. You don’t have much affinity with spiritualist magic. That tends to happen when your soul isn’t well-attuned to a magic.

Drade had explained the day before that she could actually use two types of magic. One, whose name he had made up, polysomnomancy, and the other, spiritualist magic, a well-established magic art used across the globe used to commune with spirits from another plane. He was admittedly quite unfamiliar with it.

As usual, despite spiritualism’s widespread nature, somehow, most normal people agreed that spiritualism, despite being frequently broadcasted for entertainment, was fake. Well, maybe it was with good reason, as Drade could tell there were many frauds. As it turned out, manasense worked through recordings.

As Luuko’s ‘spiritual eye’ opened, it instead morphed with their vision, cloaking both of their eyes in magic. Then, they saw something unexpected. Running backward with her hands behind her back, a little girl looked at them with boredom. Luuko could see her soul with Drade’s manasense, which glowed an eerie black.

It’s that girl from the dentist!

Drauko paused their gait to stare at her, wide-eyed. The girl looked behind herself before realizing that they could see her. She clapped her hands to get their attention but made no sound.

“What are you doing here?” Luuko asked her.

The little girl shrugged then pointed toward Onei.

“Can you not speak anymore?”

She nodded.

Drauko followed her finger’s direction absently. “That sucks -OH GOODNESS.”

Behind Onei, there was the white-robed ‘lady’. Her face was old and half-melted, the stab wounds riddled in her chest bled blood that mimicked the starry image of the night sky, black tentacles crept from behind her robe, encircling Onei in a death-grip, a small yellow flower grew from behind her ear, and her mechanical left eye sporadically moved, observing its surroundings.

The creature’s soul shined blue, yellow, grey, black, and...some incomprehensible color, even to Drade. It wrapped around its body with multicolored tendrils, like bulging, grotesque veins. Upon realizing they could see her, the creature’s eye glared at them with disdain. It looked them down with its mechanical eye, then suddenly took a step back, its disfigured face morphing into an expression resembling surprise.

It quickly collected its expression back into one of even greater disdain before hissing out, “Scorned chosen!” at them, then taking a step away from Onei and running into the darkness.

Oh, well, now we know what Onei’s been seeing. Drade thought.

I feel like I recognize it. Luuko responded, not very intimidated by the horror after seeing it scuttle off like a scared animal.

That thing?

Yes.

So do I. Drade thought with a note of curiosity. And it seems to think I’m a ‘chosen’ too...interesting.

Chosen?

Some girl came up to my house yesterday and called me a ‘chosen’. My guess is as good as yours as to what that means. I still have her personal card somewhere...

“You going crazy, bro?” Kaleb asked impatiently, “You’re talking to shadows, and its a little difficult to see ahead when you’re trying to shine your phone away from their eyes.”

“Ghosts, actually,” Drade corrected him. “Also,” Luuko continued, “Don’t you two have your own phones?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess I have one now,” Kaleb said, pulling out a brand-new phone and fiddling with it to turn on its light.

“You can see ghosts now?” Onei said, stretching before doing the same. “Did you exorcize the one telling me to kill myself?”

“K-kinda?” Luuko said with a shrug. “She ran off once we got a good glimpse.

“A ghost was telling you to kill yourself!? Bro, you all need help...Besides that...” Kaleb looked to Drauko. “What are you? Why do you keep changing your voice, talkin’ to ghosts, and calling yourself ‘we’?”

“Hi, I’m Luuko. Our entire goal right now is to get me back to my body. We had a bit of a mishap, and I accidentally got stuck with Drade’s body.”

Kaleb began, “Uhh. Ok-”

“Behind you!” Drade yelled, seeing a flicker of mana.

Kaleb lashed backward with his chain, cutting Kai’Vra’s planty, elongated arm. It writhed as it retracted far back into the darkness, repelled.

Quick reaction time! Luuko said, surprised at Drade’s.

The eldritch have fast reaction times. Well, some of us.

Convenient. Do I get the same benefit since I’m in your body?

Not unless we fused souls like we did earlier. As is, we might be able to work in unison in a simple situation, but not when things get hectic.

Kai’Vra’s voice musically echoed from far behind them, cutting off their thoughts. “Flee or diiiiiie~!”

Drauko saw the ghost girl run down the hall, pointing for them to follow.

“Follow us!” Luuko said, running after her.

“I’ll take your advice!” Onei said hurriedly as she followed.

After a few turns, the group ended up in the old sewers again, then after a few more minutes of running straight, they came across an exit.

“Hey! We can get to the surface now...right?” Onei said, slowing down to catch a breath.

Kaleb just shrugged, looking to Drauko as they stopped beside the exit’s red latter.

When Drauko looked forward again, the child was still pointing elsewhere, insisting they keep running through the sewers.

Like Chaos I’m going to follow her! Luuko thought, agitated from the constant running. Also, I just want to remind you that your body is way fitter than it looks on the outside...I’m a little jealous.

Thanks. I work out, I guess. Also, we’re following her.

You’re kidding. What thought process made that seem like a good idea?

Intuition gets me where I need to be. Drade said like it was common sense.

That’s dumb. Who would follow their gut everywhere?

Me.

So you want me to risk our lives for this?

Hey, the girl’s your friend, not mine. But if you really want to, we can be safe...

“Mmm...not yet,” Luuko breathlessly said to Kaleb, making up her mind. “We still need to do something.”

Kaleb shrugged. “Your funeral. Don’t be surprised if I book it when things get rough, though.”

Onei looked uncharacteristically worried but remained silent.

“You better know where we’re going!” Luuko yelled to the ghost, getting ready to move.

The spirit made a strange face and ran off.

That doesn’t bode well. Luuko thought, betraying her brave face...well...as close as she could get Drade’s face to looking brave. His facial muscles clearly weren’t used too often, and she wasn’t used to how they moved, so her expressions looked a bit strange.

After a breath, they ran after her.

Then, after another few more turns and minutes of running, they hit a dead end wall of brick.

“I really hope you didn’t betray me, knife girl,” Luuko said, observing as the child made a pouty face, insulted. The ghost then poked her head into the wall, keeping her back facing away, as usual, then moved back out and pointed to it.

Drade focused their eyes on their manasense before Luuko could get a thought in. Behind the wall, they could see traces of magic, a wire of mana that traced through the wall from a seemingly random brick lighter than the others, and a mass of cords of mana on the other side of the wall.

Well, let’s try that. Drade thought before pressing on the brick.

It moved inward. Then, where the hall used to end, the wall indented and moved to the side, revealing a secret elevator. The little girl was leaned on the wall and brushed her hair back, waiting for them to follow her in.

Luuko patted the ghost’s head, despite its ethereality. “Never doubted you, kiddo,” she lied.

Onei and Kaleb exchanged glances and shrugs before following Drauko into the elevator.

Drauko pushed the only button on the elevator, and the wall shut behind them. Then, they felt a jump of lightness as it began to descend.

Well, I’m a little anxious about this, but at least it’s a moment of rest. Luuko thought, taking in the sound of everyone’s exhausted breaths.

I guess.

You know...you don’t seem all too perturbed, considering we could all die to a plant.

It will turn out fine.

Why do you seem so assured of that?

Cause I’ve got good luck.

isn’t your luck what got us into this mess?!

I’ve got bad luck too.

Shouldn’t that even out to normal luck?

Luck doesn’t work that way. Drade asserted.

...Time passed thoughtlessly as the three leaned against the elevator wall, each tired from running and fighting.

This is nice. Drade thought.

What is?

This little break.

I’m a little anxious, though...we’re still being chased.

No need to be. It isn’t like being stressed helps.

Maybe it doesn’t stop the man-eating plant monster, but It’s a bit difficult to remain calm when I’m being chased by one!

Luuko realized Drade had begun breathing in and out slowly, methodically. I can feel our heart beating quickly. Does breathing like this help calm you? He thought in a gentle, unusually uncertain inner voice.

Luuko remained silent, alone to her thoughts as she processed Drade’s actions. Mmm, it does. What type of breathing do you use?

Type of breathing? I breathe in and out at equal speed for stress relief. Is that what you were asking?

Yeah. I use 4-8-7. Breathe for four seconds, keep it in for eight, breathe out for seven. Helps me sleep quickly.

Oh, wow. That’s pretty specific. I guess I tend to breathe in for 2.83 seconds, keep in for 2.83, and release for 2.83.

That...that’s much more specific. Did you make those numbers up?

I’m a sucker for precise numbers, to be honest.

How did you track it down to the hundredths place!?

By counting? Drade

That precisely?

Yes. Is that not normal?

No. No, it is not.

Eldritch biology at its finest. Drade figured.

This entire conceptual conversation ended as the elevator’s doors opened, in two-dozen seconds.

Kaleb and Onei quickly dashed into the room, while Drauko agreed with themselves to find the room’s light switch. After all, Drade pieced together, Who has an elevator, but not a light switch? After a few seconds, their phone light illuminated a switch, and they flicked it on.

The lights above turned on, bathing the room in bleach white light.

“Bah! bright!” Onei yelped, jumping in surprise and obscuring the light with a hand.

After a few more seconds of adjusting to the bright light, Drauko got a good look at the room. It was built in a sort of ‘sanitized’ style, consisting of white walls and shiny, clean marble counters on the perimeter. It looked to be a lunchroom, with several round tables in the middle and chairs put away atop them. There were three doors besides the elevator.

Once she gathered herself, Onei spotted a free vending machine and skipped up to it before clicking two buttons, causing a bag of Tria-chips to fall. She began squeezing the bag as she ran back to Kaleb.

What is this place? Luuko thought.

I dunno, but we don’t have time to figure out. He moved their eyes to focus on the thin layer of dust on the tables.

And why is there a free vending machine?

Maybe it’s magical. Don’t ask me.

Kaleb didn’t waste any time walking to the back door, where the ghost girl happened to be waiting to lead the group. The fifteen-year-old looked to Onei with a look of confusion and disgust. “The heck you doin’? We’re chased by a plant monster, and ya gettin’ a snack-”

POP! Onei popped her bag open and threw a handful of triangle-shaped, orange chips into her mouth. “Breakfast, actually,” she said through a full mouth. Her face gained a sour look of distaste as she kept chewing through. “Tastes sour.” She swallowed. “Never trust a knock-off company to make a good product.”

Kaleb just sighed as he waited for them near the door opposite the elevator, waiting for Drade to pick a direction. The ghost happened to walk that way, so Drauko walked to the far door, and the others followed. The spirit led them through the proceeding hallway. As they walked through, Kaleb suddenly looked behind them. “Did any of you hear a thud?”

“Maybe...?” Onei said with a shrug. “Looks like evil plant lady already figured out where we were and chased us all the way down here. I think its best you two get going.“ She shoved another handful of chips into her mouth, seemingly nonchalant.

“What’s the point of paying me to protect you if you’re going to be suicidal?” Kaleb said, his personality not meshing well with Onei.

He has a point. Luuko thought. We’re awfully carefree for people close to death.

I’d normally let my luck do its job, but it seems wrong to take it easy when you’re inhabiting my body... It sounded like he wanted to say more but cut himself off.

Why would you take a risk like relying on luck? If things go south, we’re...we’re in danger.

Because I’m also assuming my luck will be just as bad. What if I were attacked by superman while I’m exhausted? I’d die on the spot without my magic.

You’d die either way, but I think I get the point. We’ve done plenty together, though...so I think I can trust your experience if you really need me to. No need to make me a burden.

I...thanks, Drade responded sincerely, some part of Luuko’s message particularly impacting him.

“You’re right,” Drade agreed with Kaleb, “Let’s book it.”

Drauko ran past him, following the ghost as she jumped backward with surprising speed, leaving a trail of inconspicuous black particles where her legs had been as she kept to their pace.

As they ran, the group heard the reverberating sound of breaking, bending metal as something powerful blew its way into the underground facility.

“She’s really already figured out where we went?!” Kaleb asked, surprised.

“Like a bloodhound,” Luuko said, running into the next, dark room. She got the urge to stop and yawn, but Drade pushed their body through it to find the light switch.

The white lights flickered on, revealing another large room. On the left side of the room, there were two counters with various scientific equipment: a computer, microscope, syringes, and Petri dishes. There were also beds with acid-warped holes bored through their comforters and frames, and a strange black puddle beneath one. Nearby, three human-sized glass cylinders stood on high-tech-looking devices, with a large array of wires connecting them to the computers and outlets, while liquid tubes at the top of the glass connected to a room beyond the wall.

The other side had a much more complicated setup, with only a single cylinder, filled halfway with green liquid, yet with almost double the wires connecting it to three computers on a crescent desk that surrounded it. On the floor below those desks, puddles of blood had long since dried.

But that wasn’t the shocking part. Inside the fluid tank, a woman with limp tentacles protruding from her back, a robotic eye, and a yellow flower growing from behind her ear rested, a shroud of translucent yet impossibly opaque gas that reflected a starry sky encircling it.