Chapter 46. Michael sighed

Michael sighed and hurried forward towards the wall Arthur touched, even though Boss told him not to touch it, Michael decided it’ll be better if he and Arthur were together.

“What the?” Michael felt around the fog only to feel a repelling force pushing him away from entering. “Oh shit! Arthur!” Michael shouted and pushed at the wall that continued to prohibit him from entering.

“I gotta go get Boss!” Michael knew there was no other way through the teleporting walls, only Boss who created everything could get Arthur.

“Michael! Michael!” Arthur pounded on the wall from where he teleported to. He wanted to go back, yet there was no way. Arthur looked around the place, it was a familiar route of the village that he’d taken to the Inn every day. Arthur thought back to the enormous angel that appeared looming over Michael’s back. Was it something he had imagined? Or is something going on?

Arthur put the silver demonic mask on, calming himself down. Knowing the route Arthur took unsteady steps forward, he wanted to make it back to the Inn and meet up with any one of the villagers stationed there.

The chill in the air got colder and colder as Arthur continued to walk. He didn’t know what was going on, this wasn’t what Boss had told them beforehand when they entered. Where was all the people stationed around the entire place? Why was it so empty?

With each passing step Arthur became more nervous, the house he’s walked by before continued to appear ahead as he followed the road. The Inn that he should’ve seen by now was nowhere in sight.

He eventually realized it; he was walking in a loop. Or more specifically he was being teleported back near the beginning. Arthur began to look around for traces of lines marked on the ground. Boss had two ways for the villagers to not get lost in the case of being teleported.

One was the fog that surrounded the invisible walls all around them, the other was luminescent glows marked on the ground towards the inn that can be seen through the mask. His eyes swept everywhere only to see that there was no fog or anything that was glowing marked on the ground.

Fear finally snuck into his body; he was lost in a loop with no way to return in sight. Arthur’s heart race spiked, and he began to panic. Everything that seemed normal looked ominous and eerie.

His entire senses heightened to the max, every small sound clearly rung in his ear. Arthur noticed a faint rumbling shaking below his feet. His mind immediately recalled the Seraphim that appeared behind Michael, he felt a foreboding that the Seraphim was coming.

Arthur’s emerald green eyes darted in every direction until he saw a faint silhouette off into the distance coming up from behind him. It was a towering angel far larger than the seraphim at the Church. Its eyes were glowing white illuminating its menacing face that contained sharp jagged teeth crept into a wicked smile. The only way it resembled an Angel was the pure white wings on its backside.

“What is that thing!?” Arthur was stunned at the sight of the enormous monstrosity towering over 20 meters tall (60 feet). Every thunderous step quaked the ground beneath, empty homes of the villagers destroyed with a single step.

The Angel noticed Arthur the same time Arthur noticed it. It paused its steps and got on all fours. Its head twisted 180 degrees. The forehead and chin of the monstrosity had completely swapped places with it's upside down face as it began to grow another two pairs of arms. The arms continued to elongate morphing into what looked like the legs of spiders. Arthur couldn’t even react during this time as the Angel continued to grow another pair of arms for a total 6 spider-like arms all alongside its sides forming a winged human spider.

The eyes of the monster continued to illuminate its upside-down smile as it took its first steps.

BOOM

The ground broke apart with a single step of its legs sending gravel and dirt flying in all directions.

Arthur finally came to and immediately turned and ran, there was no hesitation in his decision as adrenaline rushed in. The boy in the silver demon mask sprinted for his life down the road.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

The monster picked up its pace and chased after the boy everything within its pathway broke into pieces. It was quickly gaining on the boy who ran away from it.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

The monster reached its arms down to grab at the boy. Arthur increased his speed beyond his limits and narrowly avoided it. “HELP! BOSS! SHELLY!” Arthur shouted for his life, there was no need to keep quiet in front of such a fast creature.

BOOM BOOM

The monster swung its arms down going for another grab, there was no way for Arthur to escape it if it reached him.

Swish

The monster opened its hand and stared at it. It was sure it had reached for the boy this time. It turned its head back to where it grabbed the boy. However, the boy had disappeared.

GRRRRAWWWWWR

The monster let out a roar in anger more beastly than human destroying everything in a cone in front of it.

Arthur looked at the backside of the monster in the distance that just destroyed everything in its pathway. He had teleported at the last second back to the front of the loop. Arthur covered his ears as the soundwave from the roar breached his eardrums.

The monster’s wings started to flutter expanding outwards and slamming onto the ground. It was preparing for flight. Arthur didn’t wait for it to turn around and spot him he swiftly ran towards a broken house and hid underneath the rubble.

Arthur curled up underneath the rubble and tried to hide from the monster. Shelly meditating on his bed came to his mind, he remembered that he didn’t even notice her presence even though she was just sitting there. He couldn’t sit up for proper meditation so he laid there and closed his eyes hoping he can enter a meditative state. “Come on Shelly, please find me...”

Flap flap

The enormous wings of the creature sent dust and debris flying as the monster prepared to fly away. Once it was in the air it scanned the surrounding ground for any traces of the boy it was chasing, a few seconds later it flew into the sky and disappeared. If Arthur had been outside, he would have seen that the monster split into fragments and disappeared instead of flying away.

“Boss!” Michael entered the Inn filled with villagers and participants who are tired from their scares and pull the little boy away. “We’ve got a problem.” He said.

“What’s the problem?” The little kid asked.

Michael pulled out Arthur’s silver mask and looked at Boss. “Arthur teleported without his mask.” Boss raised an eyebrow to Michael answer and responded. “Why didn’t you follow him?”

“I couldn’t! It repelled me!” Michael raised his voice, he was frustrated.

“Relax, relax, it’s fine he’ll be okay.” Boss waved off Michael’s concern.

“Didn’t you say it’s not good for us to remove our mask when we’re out there?” Michael questioned.

“Yep, that’s right.” Boss nodded his head to Michael’s question.

“Then how is he fine? I have his mask!” Michael retorted.

“Without his mask, his senses are heighted, and he’ll start to hallucinate whatever he fears the most because of the surrounding atmosphere.” Boss replied. He continued “That’s why I have you guys go in twos to make sure you can keep each other and the participants safe. Well it’ll effect those who have powers more, so it was mainly for you to keep an eye on him.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this beforehand?” Michael sighed. He continued “What do we do now?”

“Oh nothing, he’ll probably just run around screaming until he tires himself out and falls asleep. He could be knocked out right now.”

“Why couldn’t I go through the wall like Arthur did?” Michael asked.

“It’s obvious right? I told you guys to chase people through and not go through, as a safety measure the moment the participants ran through the energy condenses to prevent anyone else from entering for a short amount of time. I bet if you waited a few more seconds and tried again you could’ve followed Arthur.” Boss words silenced Michael, he regretted he didn’t try a few more attempts to enter and instead left to find Boss.

“It’s fine” Boss waved off Michael’s concern. He continued “He’s fine, in fact this is probably a good opportunity for him.”

“What do you mean?”

Shelly and Julie entered the Inn and made their way over to Boss and Michael who was talking to each other. Shelly immediately noticed Michael’s concern look and the mask in his hands. She removed the mask on her face and ask. “Where’s young master?”

“He’s outside.” Boss replied.

“Where?” Shelly wanted his precise location.

“In the maze.” Boss answered.

Shelly placed the mask back on her face and hurried out of the Inn.

“Michael, you should show her the way. You know where Arthur went.” Boss stated.

Michael nodded his head and hurried after Shelly. Julie who was left alone remained there and gave the little brown-haired kid a curious look. “What did you do?” she asked.

“M-me? Wh-what do you mean?” Boss replied with a shocked look on his face.

“Boss, for the short time that I’ve known you, you’ve given off this vibe of someone who planned for things to go the way you want. Our encounter with Gran, this training of ours, I’d believe it if you said the issue with Roselyn and that Seraphim back at the Church was your doings too.”

Julie paused and stared at the kid hoping to see any signs of nervousness and continued “If it wasn’t for the fact that our Pope said that the Seraphim was training for our Emissaries and the fact that I have no idea why you’d want to do something so cruel to Roselyn. I’d assume everything was your doing.” Julie’s words made Boss inwardly gulp as he maintained his poker face.

“But two out of four doesn’t mean I’m the culprit, alright? Couldn’t Arthur just have some bad luck?” Boss countered.

“Bad luck? I’m a Seer, things like luck isn’t something I necessarily believe in. Everything that happened, happened for a reason, it is our destiny... it is our fate...”

“Please… all you are is just a whiny girl who can see the future based on her emotions. What do you mean you’re a Seer?” Boss rolled his eyes.

“What! I’m not a whiny girl, you’re a whiny girl!” Julie angrily retorted.

“Whiny girl~ whiny girl~” Boss ran away.

“Come back here! Let me smack you once!”

…

“Grrrrfkergkerl”

“?”

“I think Arthur entered through here.” Michael lifted up his mask and pointed at the fog covered wall.

Shelly reached her hand out asking for the silver mask in Michael’s hand.

“I’m going too.” Michael responded and put the mask back his face.

Shelly nodded and continued forward. Michael didn’t want to get repelled again and stood beside her as they entered the fog.

The moment they entered the scenery was disastrous like a giant tornado had passed by destroying everything in sight. The homes and roads were completely wrecked. Handprints bigger than their entire body broke the surface of the ground.

Michael was scared witless by the sight of such a scene. This was only things he’d heard about in stories about natural disasters and fairy tales. A cold chill crept up his spine as he began to shudder. Michael involuntarily looked down at the masked girl beside him, that same cold chill he felt during their first day of training together resurfaced.

Michael wanted to calm her down and tell her that Arthur was fine, but her presence currently made him unable to speak. He completely froze in place as the girl reached her hand out and took the mask in his hand.

The girl continued to walk and scan the surrounding as she went, a short moment later she noticed a small destroyed home and walked towards it. Her pace quickens as she spotted a figure hidden underneath the rubble. Her hand touched the rubble causing everything around her to disintegrate into sand.

Shelly held the boy in her arms and placed the mask back on his face. Her steps were steady as she made her way back to Michael. Michael was able to move again when Shelly returned, that cold domineering presence she had earlier was gone.

Shelly lifted Arthur up and placed him in Michael’s arm. She closed her eyes sensing the energy created by the maze all around her. Shelly took the lead as Michael followed from behind. He looked down at the masked boy covered in dust and the girl before him, there was so many questions Michael wanted to ask.

The scenery and wreckage all around them made Michael shudder, his brain was trying to formulate an answer for everything around him. He recalled Arthur’s last words before they were separated. “Seraphim?”

Another ten minute of walking and the wreckages all around them had disappeared. Shelly opened her eyes and Michael didn’t need to follow her anymore. They had made it back to the Inn.

“Ow ow ow! You said just once!”

“I lied!”

“WHINY GIRL”

“YOU’RE A WHINY GIRL”