Chapter 9:

Anagnorisis

The air that hundreds of howls had dominated was deafened in an instant as a thunderous, booming noise exploded from the gates. A powerful tremor that shook all the buildings in the village accompanied it. Large chunks of wood from the gates and palisade flew high into the night sky above them. Seconds later, a shockwave hit them, knocking several off their feet.

Everyone stared, horrified at the destruction.

“What’s wrong with all of you?!? Are you going to sit there and watch as everyone you know dies?!?” Marvin yelled at the top of his lungs.

His voice ripped them out of their trance. Archers rushed to vantage points while everyone else readied to intercept Alaya.

With every earthquake, the monster came closer.

“Aidan! Where are you?!? Answer me!” Her voice finally became audible.

Her voice pierced Aidan’s heart like an arrow. Guilt flooded out of the hole like a waterfall.

“Alaya…why?” Aidan’s expression was filled with regret.

Marvin felt a sharp pain across his face upon hearing Alaya’s voice. His external, black veins throbbed and undulated.

“Hey, demon spawn! Your friend’s right here at the top with me! My axe’s right ’round his throat!” Marvin yelled hard enough for his voice to spread throughout the village.

Aidan saw her, lit up by a line of torches. Her long auburn hair made her look like a red streak as she weaved through rows of dogs.

Aidan struggled to breathe, the air around him growing even thinner. It was as if the void was sucking him deeper the closer she came.

The archers let loose volleys of arrows at her. Despite her large frame, Alaya dodged them all. The only times the arrows found their mark was when they hit the dogs, dropping them like flies.

Alaya avoided more arrow fire when her leg suddenly gave in. She tumbled to the ground for several meters before finally stopping.

She got back up quick enough to avoid the rain of arrows coming her way. Some of them still found their mark, however, impaling her arms and shoulders.

Aidan watched, concerned. Was the leg Vaska damaged acting up?

No, the leg that gave in isn’t the one Vaska crushed!

Alaya ran up to the execution grounds, arrows flying viciously toward her. Slowed down by the slope, the archers started to find their mark.

Even as some arrows pierced her torso, Alaya did not slow down. The close-quarter fighters charged downhill at her - only to freeze in fear. Running toward her felt like voluntarily throwing yourself into an erupting volcano.

“Get out of my way!”

Alaya laboriously steppe to the side, avoiding them and nearly toppling over in return. Something had to be wrong.

Alaya arrived at the execution ground. Torches were lined up all around her. Instead of casting their light upon her, her presence killed it all, forming a dark nebula around her that swallowed even the darkness of the night.

The archers on the hill drew their bows, only to find their arms paralyzed. Marvin’s hands were shaking. Even Aidan was frozen by a primordial fear.

They were all going to die, that is, until her eyes fell upon Aidan.

Her eyes fell upon Aidan - the paralyzing fear disappeared. The flames once again lit up the darkness. All of her overwhelming pressure vanished in a flash.

“Aidan... you’re okay.” She spoke even as her shirt was tinted red by the arrows stuck in her.

Seeing her proud figure stand before him, Aidan was reminded of Valerian. Both looked so confident and glorious, standing tall over all adversities.

Only to die at the end.

“You should have stayed away! My life’s not worth sacrificing yours for!”

“Hah! Learn to follow your own advice first before advising me, idiot!” Alaya said cheekily while walking toward Aidan.

Between the two stood Marvin. His face was still as a lake, with all of his rage waiting to rise to the surface.

Alaya didn’t pay him or the archers on the hill with her any attention. Her gaze was drawn away by the dark monument behind Aidan. Alaya’s expression turned grim, the wound on her right palm throbbing with the shadow of the agony she experienced that night.

“You!” Alaya roared at Marvin and everyone else on the hill. “What were you going to do to him?!?”

Marvin was silent. He didn’t understand why she didn’t come to them in her true form. And why was she talking to them instead of attacking?

“The only kind of fate that befits monsters like you!” Yelled Gawan.

Gawan and Melissa attacked Alaya, only for her to repel their weapons with her bare hands.

His friend’s voice snapped Marvin out of his thoughts. There was no reason to hesitate. The monster was in front of him. The time had come to end her.

“All of you, stand aside. Her head is mine.”

Magic visibly flowed through Marvin’s body, lighting up the blood flowing through his veins white. Alaya raised her glance at Marvin, intrigued by the strange change in his body.

Everyone watched with bated breath as the two marched toward each other. The wind at Alaya’s back blew her hair forward towards Marvin. The torchlight gave her an ethereal red glow to match Marvin’s snow-white body.

Marvin was an impressive man, the tallest in the village and adorned with highly trained muscles further enlarged by his magic. And still, his body seemed to shrink in the shadow she cast upon him. For a moment, she did look like a monster, a dragon looking down upon the human who came to slay her.

*Swish*

Marvin swung his axe to sever Alaya’s neck, only for her to sway back and avoid it. Marvin jumped half a step forward and attacked again. His slashes cut through the air with deadly force, leaving behind trails of white magic for a split second. With each step he took, his foot broke apart the ground beneath.

Marvin’s assault accelerated until hundreds of trails were alive in the air at any single moment.

Everyone was stunned by Marvin’s speed. That is, except for Aidan.

Why isn’t she fighting back? If she can avoid all his swings, surely she can find an opening to hit him!

“Are you done blowing wind up my face?” Alaya mocked and caught Marvin’s hands mid-swing.

Marvin struggled in Alaya’s grasp, only for her to overpower him and spread his arms wide.

“I’m here to grab my buddy. Step aside.”

Marvin spat into Alaya’s eyes. Marvin took advantage of one moment Alaya spent involuntarily closing her eyes for him to kick her in the gut.

“Gah!”

Alaya reeled back from the strike, letting go of Marvin’s hands. Marvin immediately let loose a swing at her neck - a strike narrowly avoided as she ducked forward and threw him by his stomach.

In an instant, Alaya disappeared from Marvin’s view, replaced by the sight of the night sky. The tall man landed on his back several dozen meters away from her. One of his axes went flying out of his hands.

Marvin quickly jumped back to his feet. He was not hurt, but it didn’t matter. For a brief moment, he felt like a child being thrown safely onto a mattress by their parent.

He was nothing compared to her.

“Get it now? Beat it.” Threatened Alaya.

Aidan stared flabbergasted.

“Alaya, what are you doing? They are all obsessed with killing you! You can’t afford to take it easy on them!” Aidan yelled.

Upon hearing Aidan’s words, Alaya closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Aidan. I’m not here to hurt anyone.”

“Not hurt anyone?!?” Marvin bellowed. “After what you’ve done to my sister, you dare spout a lie that disgusting?!?”

“Your sister?” Alaya stopped in her tracks. “Do you mean-”

Waves of magic burst out of Marvin’s body. The grass underneath Marvin’s feet was ripped out of the ground as the magic torrent blew the air around him upward. Marvin grunted under the pressure of flooding himself with more power than his body was trained to handle. He had to control it better than last time, lest his body be damaged irreparably.

Aidan’s eyes went wide. He knew exactly what this meant.

“Alaya, get out of here! You don’t stand a chance against him!”

Alaya tilted her head to the side and readied himself to face Marvin again.

“He’s not the mage, right?” She asked.

“No!” Aidan stared at her in disbelief. “He’s stronger than the mage! Please, run! He’ll kill you.”

Alaya scoffed.

“Watch carefully, city boy. Watch how the big bad monster saves the day!”

Marvin charged at Alaya. His swing came much faster than before, and Alaya barely managed to move out of its way. Before she could recover, Marvin gathered magic into his fist and drove it into her stomach. The ground shook as Marvin blasted Alaya off the ground.

The shockwave from the impact threw nearly everyone off their feet and pressed Aidan against the monument. Marvin shook his fist. The pain in it was manageable, and there was no external damage. The amount of power was just right.

The moment Alaya touched the ground, her eyes went wide with pain. Her eyebrows twitched erratically as she fought back the pain. She tried to recover and give Marvin a defiant glare, only for the left side of her body to tilt over.

“What’s the matter, tough guy? Scared?” Alaya taunted as sweat ran down her forehead.

Marvin spat.

“Keep your voice low, monster. I don’t want my sister to hear what I’m about to do to you.”

Marvin struck her across the face with his fist. Her black scarf was tainted with red splattering from her nose. Her legs buckled.

Faced with no other choice, Alaya threw herself at Marvin as he unleashed another swing. She ducked underneath the axe and reached for his arms. Marvin let her grab his axe arm, but in return, he gripped her right hand with his.

Alaya grunted as Marvin squeezed down.

“Do you get so clingy with your girlfriend too?” Alaya mocked, trying to mask her suffering.

“That night, we burned all of our pain and hate into that hand.” Marvin flowed most of his magic into his hand, making it crush Alaya’s hand even harder. “I’ll let you experience it all over again before I kill you.”

Alaya’s strength was enough to stand up to Marvin’s, but it hardly mattered. Her wound hurt far too much. It felt like the stake was being forced into her palm again ever so agonizingly slow.

It took all she had to not scream. Little by little, she lost ground.

“Nova! Come out now! Marvin’s going to kill Alaya!” Aidan yelled at the top of his lungs.

“Marvin turned around out of instinct, giving Alaya just enough time to break off his grip and rush to grab him.

“Argh!” Alaya’s left leg gave in again. She barely managed to stop herself from collapsing.

Before she could recover, Marvin drove his knee into her face, launching her backward. Alaya skidded across the ground for several meters before stopping.

Alaya rose to her feet as fast as possible, but it was obvious she was hurting. She leaned heavily on her right leg and let her left foot hang off the ground.

Marvin marched to her with a cold glare in his eyes. He slowly landed more blows on the defenseless Alaya, sundering the air and cracking the ground underneath.

Alaya bled, but she would not go down.

Marvin grew frustrated. It was not just her tenacity that got under his skin. It was her refusal to fight back. During the entire fight, she had not attacked him once.

“You’re Melvin, right?” Alaya asked all of a sudden.

Marvin’s eyes went wide. He stopped his swing involuntarily. Hearing her voice utter his name triggered something in him.

“...What?”

Alaya chuckled feebly.

“Sorry, it’s been a while. You grew up big and strong like you always said you would.” Alaya said between bouts of heavy breathing and coughing blood.

Marvin responded with a kick across her face. Alaya’s body shook heavily, but she did not budge from the spot. Her face was stained in dirt and blood, but her piercing stare made Marvin hesitate.

“How-How is Nova?” She asked.

Marvin’s entire body was quaking with anger. The look in Alaya’s eyes, the way she spoke, it was all just as he remembered from all those years ago. He convinced himself that all of his old memories of her were fake or imagined, much like how he derided Nova’s recountings.

When Alaya breached the gates, he expected to see the white demon, only to meet with an old childhood friend, with not a hint of bloodlust or violence about her.

A terrible thought crossed his mind.

What if she was innocent? What if Nova was not wrong?

Marvin felt weak in his hands and legs, nearly dropping his axes. The thought was too much. For it to be true meant that he had spent all this time chasing Nova away from her best friend.

It would mean that all the blood on his hands was….

“Alaya’s….” Marvin muttered.

Marvin gripped his axes so tight it hurt. He clenched his teeth.

“How dare you talk like you’re her friend?!? You’re the one who ruined her life!”

He had never been able to forgive himself for choosing to trust Alaya, allowing her and Nova to meet in secret away from their parents. It disgusted him to recall how he slowly joined into their playtime and grew fond of being around this girl that everyone seemed to hate for no reason.

And now he dared to fall for her tricks again?

“Answer me! Why did you betray her?!? She was the only one who believed you! Why, of all people, did you enact your revenge on her?!?”

A powerful headache was splitting Marvin’s head in two. It felt like the corruption within the veins on his face was burning away at the surrounding flesh.

Marvin stared her down. Alaya didn’t shy away from his gaze.

Alaya grasped her head. An all-encompassing fog covered her mind when she tried to recollect the events of that night. Thanks to Aidan, she knew what it meant now.

“It’s my fault, I know. If I didn’t yell at her that night, maybe she wouldn’t have run into the hands of the monster. If I was faster, maybe I could have stopped the demon from hurting her worse.”

The genuine regret behind her words stoked Marvin’s rage even further. The dark veins running across his face burned with searing wrath. Fueled by his hate, the veins started to expand outward across his face like the roots of a tree expand to look for water.

Seeing that Marvin’s attacks stopped, Alaya spoke again.

“Marbin, I know you got no reason to trust me. I ain’t trying to convince you. Just know that it’s all going to end soon. Me’ n Aidan are going to find the bastard who hurt Nova and make him pay for everything he’s done.”

Alaya glanced toward Aidan.

“Hope you don’t mind doing some overtime.”

As Aidan expected, everyone jeered and hurled insults at Alaya for her words.

“Of course not. We’ll give Nova what none of them could,” Aidan intentionally said to oppose everyone present.

Beneath the avalanche of insults, Alaya kept her eyes locked on Aidan’s. She cracked a slight smile at his words.

“Enough,” Marvin growled.

Alaya turned her attention back to Marvin. His face was twisted by rage. A dark liquid poured out of his right eye, just like the corrupted blood had out of Nova’s left.

Something in his mind snapped.

“Marvin?!? What’s wrong?” Yelled Melissa.

“Shut up! I’ve had enough of the lies! I’ll kill you, kill all of you that hurt my sister!”

Marvin threw himself at Alaya, attacking wildly like a rabid animal. His movements were more vicious, and his strikes stronger. Avoiding a mortal strike from his axe was the best she could manage now.

“Stop! Something’s happening to you-” Alaya tried to speak, only for Marvin to slam her against the ground with his fist.

Aidan watched, horrified as Alaya’s wounds mounted. Whatever pity he felt for Marvin died.

I refuse to watch it happen again! I won’t let another one die!

With everyone distracted by the fight, Aidan mustered up the last of his strength. He crawled on the floor even as every muscle in his body was screaming at him to stop.

He started to lose feeling in his legs and arms, and his eyesight became too cloudy to discern anything ahead of him. Before his body shut down completely, his finger reached his mandolin.

Just a little more, please let me make it!

Aidan arduously wrapped each finger around his mandolin and then dragged his arm back to him like a fisherman pulling back a net filled with fish back to his boat.

Ah….

Aidan finally clutched the mandolin in his arms. He rolled on his back and strummed a single note. Alaya heard it and understood immediately. She covered her ears and dropped to her knees.

Marvin lifted his axe to strike her down, only for a demonic melody to pierce his ears.

Alaya disappeared. The darkness of the night vanished under a wave of blinding, ethereal light. Marvin closed his eyes out of reflex.

When Marvin opened his eyes, the village around him was healthy, with no signs of corruption anywhere.

“What, what’s happening?”

“Behind you, Marv!”

Turning around to Melissa’s voice, Marvin’s eyes went wide with shock.

“I did not recall him getting lost on such flights of fancy before. What’s earned your curiosity, Marvin?”

Tears rolled from Marvin’s eyes, mixing with the corruption staining his right cheek.

Before Marvin stood all of his friends. Melissa’s eyes were fine, and Gawan’s arm looked perfectly normal. All traces of damage left behind by the demon’s corruptions were gone.

Most important than all was Nova. Her wound was gone. Her rested visage shone with a kind, warm smile that Marvin had not seen her give him ever since the night of the attack. Marvin reached out his hand to her slowly. His hand trembled, afraid that it would all vanish when he touched her. When his hand cupped her cheek, he flinched.

“I’m right here, Marvin. I’ll never leave you.”

Marvin reached out and embraced his sister. Tears flowed freely from his eyes as he dropped to his knees with her.

“Nova, Nova, I-”

Marvin’s voice suddenly died out. A shadow started to form above Nova. She gently stroked his cheek as the shadow grew to encompass everyone.

“Why did you hurt my friend?” Nova asked with more pain and suffering in her voice than Marvin had ever heard from her.

Marvin fought to say anything, but his voice was completely gone. He looked down to see the earth at his feet turn into mud. His body alone sunk into the ground while Nova and everyone else stared down at him with cold eyes.

Marvin yelled as loud as he could at his sister to run, but still, no sound came out. The shadow expanded forever.

The dark star.

He watched helplessly as the malevolent star swallowed the sky and burned the earth. From the dark ashes of the world, a single white form emerged, sending ripples across the landscape as a stone would through water.

It was the demon from his paintings.

Nova turned to face the demon and closed her eyes.

“Marvin, did you not promise me that you would save me? Why is Alaya dead, but the beast still haunts me?”

Marvin watched on with horror as the beast unhinged its jaw and swallowed all of his friends one by one until only Nova remained.

Such saw every mind Aidan sang to. He filled their minds with a rosy picture filled with their loved ones. In each one, they succeeded in killing Alaya. They thought themselves free at last.

The song took a sharp dark turn as Aidan sang of the ground tearing open, the skies raining blood, and the world’s end. Alaya was gone, and everyone they loved was still doomed to die in the jaws of the true demon they had ignored.

Marvin’s eyes were the last ones to open fully. He fell to his knees; the image of Nova being swallowed in the monster’s jaws sealed into his mind.

Everyone was knocked out now. Foam ran from their mouths, the violent song having left its mark upon them.

Aidan stopped his song. He let silence reign for a moment as he looked over everyone who had hurt Alaya. He felt a pang of guilt at hurting so many people, only for the memories of Valerian and his parent’s death to flood his mind once more. Then too, people wronged by a demon chose others as outlets for their vengeance, and Aidan’s world came crashing down.

Never again!

Aidan resumed his play, his song even crueler than before. He would make them understand just how horrid they were in truth. He would make them relive the deaths of their loved ones over and over until their very souls were crushed!

Never again will the world take away my family!

“Mhmm.”

The soft sound of Alaya’s grunts snapped Aidan out of his raged-fueled frenzy.

Aidan desperately wanted to continue his song, but his fingers wouldn’t move anymore. His mind screamed at him to bury them in the soil with the worms where they belonged, but his heart did not allow it, for, after all-

That’s not what she wants.

Aidan took a few breaths to calm himself. He felt a strange feeling in his vocal cords. The demonic essence sealed within stirred and throbbed, demanding to be released into the rest of his body.

I could have…I would have actually turned if I had given in.

Aidan pushed the horrible thoughts to the back of his mind. He had more pressing matters to take care of.

“It’s safe now!” Yelled Aidan as he held up the mandolin for Alaya to see.

Alaya let go of her ears. She looked upon the squads of unconscious archers and fighters and breathed a sigh of relief.

“You know, I’m a little jealous. I still haven’t gotten to hear you sing.”

Alaya was bruised and bleeding, but hearing her voice still full of life made him feel an overwhelming amount of relief. Unlike Valerian, she was still there with him.

See? She’s fine. You don’t have to hurt anyone to keep her safe.

Alaya stumbled her way over to Aidan.

“Did ya find out anything about the mage?”

“There’s too much to go through here. Let’s escape first.”

Alaya propped up Aidan against her shoulder. With his weight pressing down on her, Alaya’s left leg shook terribly.

Aidan’s face turned to horror as he realized what was wrong.

She was limping, dragging her left foot. Behind it was a long trail of blood. Under cover of darkness, she had not been able to avoid all the spikes in the forest and stepped into one of them. Based on the amount of blood she was losing, it must have entered incredibly deep into her leg.

It was that leg that she took all of Marvin’s attacks on.

“Alaya, you’re insane! How could you come to me in your condition?”

Unperturbed by her wound or Aidan’s words, Alaya slowly made her way forward with him.

“Not a word out of ya’. You get to question my decisions when you can walk for yourself.”

Despite her bluster, Alaya’s breathing was laborious.

“How long are they gonna be out for?”

“A couple of minutes at most.”

“Aidan….”

Aidan and Alaya snapped their head back to see Marvin slowly climbing to his feet. The cool midnight air around him climbed in temperature until it was tepidly warm.

“How dare you…do this to me?!?”

The rage in Marvin’s voice sent a chill running down Alaya and Aidan’s spines. Aidan felt the kind of fear he only experienced from demons.

No one can recover that fast! Is-Is he turning?!?

Without hesitation, Alaya grabbed Aidan and lifted him in her arms.

“Hang on tight. I can’t give you a calm ride,” Alaya said and ran as fast as she could.

Alaya could barely keep her eyes open whenever she took a step. Aidan felt her right hand tremble and struggle to keep its grip on him.

The two arrived at the edge of the hill overseeing the valley. The slope was steep and went on for more than thirty meters before stopping.

It was not a height that Alaya could walk down with her injured leg while carrying Aidan.

“What are we going to do now?” Asked Aidan.

Alaya raised an eyebrow.

“Mhmm. Never done this with a boy before.”

“What?!?”

Alaya put Aidan down and turned him around so the mandolin on his back faced away from her. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him tight into her embrace, with only his cloak and her scarf still separating them.

Before Aidan could say anything, Alaya let herself fall on her back, with her head facing the bottom of the hill and her feet toward the top. Alaya kicked the ground with her right leg as hard as she could.

Together the two slid down the hill. The sight of the stars moving across the sky was beautiful and, for Alaya, nostalgic.

“How did you think this up?” Asked Aidan.

Alaya’s scarf slid down somewhat, allowing Aidan to glimpse Alaya’s smile for the very first time. The intoxicating smell of iron coming from her, her blood and dirt-stained clothes all paled before it.

“Nova and I used to do this when we were kids.”

Aidan could tell from her voice that she was happy. It was one of the few memories she treasured.

“You’ll get to do it again, I promise.”

Alaya closed her eyes.

“What, as an adult? That’s silly…but I’d like it.”