Divine Beast Ordinance

[DBO] ch2.

His heart sank like a brick. A pair of eyes burrowed into his own from the expanse of darkness swallowing the hotel room, unmoving and unblinking. They were gray, open wide but devoid of life. A stark contrast to their usual cheery pink color. Lothelle swallowed as he stared forward, afraid to look away. There he stayed for a few unbearable moments, until he couldn't bear the silence any longer.

"Shortcake? Are you... alright?" Lothelle said, hardly able to choke out the words.

There was no response. Lothelle's ears were ringing.

"I was just coming to check on you," he said. "Has something happened?"

The creature bent its head to the side with a sharp crunch, and Lothelle instinctively took a half step back. There was that wretched sound again—of legs and bugs—as the pair of eyes suddenly rose up through the darkness. They looked down at Lothelle now, despite Shortcake's usually shorter stature. Mingling with the darkness came thin spindles of white, and as they traversed the creature's body they dyed themselves red. Like a heartbeat did the veins pulse with a tender light, yet even their glow couldn't pierce the figure's darkness.

Lothelle felt iller than he'd remembered feeling in years.

"You finally came, Lothelle." The voice was female, light and airy, wrapping over itself a thousand times. The sound filled Lothelle's mind with a sense of heavy unease.

"It really is you, Shortcake..." Lothelle swallowed. "What— What happened to you?"

"Everything is okay now. We are finally one, and all is finding its place."

"We? What do you mean, we? What are you talking about?"

"Fear not, Lothelle. You have been chosen to join Us. Your contributions will bring much success."

Lothelle stared forward in silence. None of this made any sense. At first he'd wanted to doubt this creature was his friend, but there was no denying that voice—so something had happened to her after all, and he didn't hear anything about it? Or maybe this wasn't her and it was some incredibly morbid trick or hallucination? He took a deep breath as he tried to steel his thoughts and silence his fear, but its words echoed about his mind with reckless abandon.

"Shortcake, listen— I-I don't know what's happened to you, but we can figure out a way to fix it, alright?"

"There is no need. Fate has already determined its outcome, and We have found you suitable for the cause."

Memories of their time together flashed through his head as her voice echoed through his skull. He remembered the first time they'd met–at a bar, lost and confused during her first excursion into Acranet. Fate was kinder to him then.

He remembered the time they spent together, the way her cream-based hair glistened beneath the summer sun as she pried flowers dusted with sugar from a well-loved garden. He remembered the way she smiled at Lothelle's eccentricity instead of blaming him for it.
Would he ever see that smile again?

Lothelle wasn't given another chance to speak. A heavy pulse of magic bound from Shortcake's body, and his hands flew to grip his skull. Lothelle's head pounded in rhythm with the pulsing of Shortcake's exposed veins. Tears welled in his eyes, and his knees nearly gave out; he stumbled backwards against the wall for support. Lothelle couldn't speak, nor could he open his eyes.

Julius, who had his back turned from Lothelle, critically staring down the walls coated in peeling paint, couldn't have cared less about what was happening. Sure he heard Lothelle and his confused, distraught words, but what did that matter to him? The interpersonal business of some merchant he talked to every now and again was of no interest to him—the only thing that really mattered was how long this entire interaction was taking. Couldn't they catch up later? Did it have to be now, in this awful hell hole of a hotel?

Growing impatient, Julius looked over his shoulder to see if they could hurry things up—only to stop and stare in confusion when his eyes met Lothelle's limp body, struggling to keep himself standing as he leaned against the wall.

Then the monster struck. It lurched from the darkness of the hotel room into the light of the hall, so fast that Lothelle only had time to gasp.

Julius reacted as fast as he could. From the tip of his quill came a vibrant burst of flames, concentrated into a thin needle and shooting across the hall with incredible speed. Fire met shadow as Shortcake flew backwards on impact, her many arms and legs flailing and twitching. The pain in Lothelle's head vanished almost instantly, but he couldn't recover quite as fast, coughing as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Don't just stand there!" Julius shouted with strength. "Move your damn legs!"

Lothelle's head snapped to Julius who stared at him from down the hall, eyes wide in shock, before sparing a glance down the other way. His eyes met the writhing, disfigured body of his friend as its arms scratched the walls and drenched them in the same shadows that coated her skin.

Bug-like appendages sprouted haphazardly from her back and chest, twitching at their hinges and connected by thin strings of shadow. Shortcake's once human legs were replaced with new ones in the same bug-ish style, movements inhuman in nature. Despite this all, the creature still bore Shortcake's long locks and flowing cape, solidifying the fact that this was Lothelle's friend—or rather what remained.

He'd remained frozen in fear for just a second too long.

Shortcake's spine arched as she pulled itself back off the ground, stood at her full height, and once again lurched forward to attack Lothelle. He moved this time, and Shortcake's pincer missed him by a hairsbreadth. Lothelle didn't wait for another swipe to follow before he ran down the hall to Julius, with Shortcake right behind.

"Do not run from Us, Lothelle. You will make this harder than it has to be," she said, and despite running down the hall, her cadence, volume, and tone remained unaffected.

"Don't stop running until we've lost it!" Julius shouted, sending another spire of flames back to impale the beast.

"I-I don't know what that is!" Lothelle replied, turning the corner. "I don't know what happened to her!"

"We will be one, Lothelle. Embrace the new coming of change."

Lothelle and Julius dashed down the hall, narrowly avoiding silent swipes of her long arms. Julius lurched forward to swing the stairwell's door open, closing it behind Lothelle's body with a resounding slam. They took no time to breathe, rushing down the stairs.

"I knew something else had to be going on with that lab explosion!" Julius shouted, skipping steps.

"But why would it turn her into that!?" Lothelle replied.

As they approached the halfway point of the stairwell, shadows encompassed the exit door in its entirety. It bled out onto the surrounding surfaces, spreading like a creeping plague. When the ground had been covered completely, Shortcake began to emerge from the darkness, and a shiver tore through Julius's spine.

"We go back up," Julius whispered, "and jump from the nearest window."

"Jump!? I'd shatter my limbs!" Lothelle replied.

"Would you rather be here to see what that thing has in store for you?"

"That's still my friend, Julius! We can't just leave her here!"

"Then I'll let you die trying to figure out its issue!"

Lothelle snapped his head to Julius, and they held eye contact for a few short seconds. Julius didn't want to jump from a window, and Lothelle didn't want to leave what remained of his friend in some hotel. But there was no better option, and they both knew it. It was either leap away and let someone else handle the problem, or die as they tried to talk it out. So Julius started back up the stairs, and Lothelle went to follow—before a voice in his head stopped him.

"Don't leave me, Lothelle—please, you have to save me! I'm stuck in here! I don't know what's going on!"

That was Shortcake, clear as day, no odd effects or interference. His head whipped back to the shadows in fear, and he hesitated to run any further.

"Please, Lothelle, don't let me die like this... Not after everything we've been through!"

He couldn't move, even if he wanted to. The shadowy figure fully emerged from the still-creeping darkness, pincers scraping at the walls before dragging out her legs to take slow steps forward. Her eyes never once left Lothelle's.

"Don't go... Save me. You have to save me."

"S-Shortcake–"

Her limbs twitched before they lunged at Lothelle's skull. Lothelle didn't flinch, but neither did the hit connect. Chains of flame had flown from Julius's quill in the last moment, binding Shortcake where she stood. Lothelle stumbled back, broken from his trance.