Archer Lumen: Earth's Version of Hell (Unfinshed)[Edited Up to Escape]

Chapter 21 | He Had ONE Job

Chapter Twenty-One

He was confused. It had all happened so quickly. Damn, what the hell have I done? Aaric Salian had managed to lose Kira. “Nice one.” He muttered to himself as he paced.

  Of course, he made no real contact with the ground―Aaric was a ghost.

  So the transparent man continued to pace, ignoring the ruins of Bain as he thought about the events that had occurred. He was so consumed in his thoughts, he hadn’t realized that he had switched planes until he passed through a fellow ghost. “Sorry, friend.” Aaric muttered distractedly. He stopped pacing and began to head towards a large hole in the ground.

                                                                                    ☽

  Aaric had managed to keep control of Kira’s body for a couple miles, pushing it to the limit―mildly selfish and cruel, but it had been necessary―until it gave out. He sighed and turned around, looking for Archer. To his surprise, the new Moon Guardian had disappeared. “Damn.” He cursed, his voice sounding feminine.

  Umm, could I have my body back? Kira had asked. It’s kind of boring in here, not being able to move and all…you know, because you’re the one moving?

  He was about to leave her body when a sudden shift in the atmosphere appeared. “Wait, Ms. Kira.” Aaric whispered as he gazed around. They were near mountains. The mountains ringed a bright green valley that held a town named Bain―of course, at that time, Aaric did not know that. The eyes of Kira flashed silver for a brief moment before returning to their dark grey hue.

  Let me get this straight, you’re telling me to wait on getting my body back? Kira replied in his mind, the annoyed tone was not missed. I demand that you give me control! Now! I don’t want this anymore. Father is dead, gone forever because of some guy who controls stupid mist. I hate this, I never really wanted to fight, I only agreed because Father loved to rebel. I just―

  “Yeah, that’s all nice.” Aaric interrupted.

  He had forgotten about Death, the Guardian who was the equal The Natural Guardian in theory. He turned his head 360 degrees, trying to get a sense of what he was dealing with. He had just noticed what a wasteland the mountain side was, littered with rusty pieces of junk. The ground shook, a predictable occurrence by now. He fell down, dirt and clouds of dust rising as he collided with the ground. You’re probably messing up my body. Kira stated bluntly. Aaric ignored her.

  He was too focused on the odd amount of dust. Like a fool, he patted a hand on the dirt covered ground, not really expecting anything to happen. Of course, something did.

  The ground fell, and he with it.

  He clawed at the earth above, managing to wrench something free from the ground before he two disappeared from the surface as they slid down an underground tunnel. He could hear Kira screaming inside his mind, not seeming to run out of breath. To be completely honest, she couldn’t. It took him a moment to realize that the shrill screech resonating off of the tunnel walls wasn’t his voice―or Kira’s body’s either―but rather, that of a cluster of bats as they soared towards the light. It was terrifyingly dark and Aaric found himself fingering the object he had grabbed. “This is kind of―”

  They hit level ground, hard. The force knocked the wind out of Aaric, causing him to grow dizzy. A loud crack! Cut through the silence, pain emitted in his right leg. It was broken. YOU IDIOT! I knew this would happen, I knew it! Why couldn’t you just give me my body BACK? Kira howled in outrage, but Aaric managed to tune her out.

  She was a real bitch, Aaric thought with a sigh as he regained breath. The ground here wasn’t soft dirt, it was pavement. Torches hung on the wall as the corridor stretched far outwards. Luckily, this wasn’t Aaric’s body, so he didn’t feel as much pain as he should have. He glanced up at the tunnel, dismayed at the tiny pinpoint of light that was the surface. “Hey, bitch.” He mumbled as he set off. “I’m really sorry that this happened, but please try to calm down. You’re really annoying.”

  Dark black hair swept in front of his eyes and he had to use the hand not touching the wall to sweep it out. He hated being a female.

  I’m done. Kira whispered, a faint sentence that radiated with power.

  Aaric only had time to remember that Selene had said that Kira was Unknown before he was shoved out of the girl’s body and thrown to the floor.

  Kira had looked around with wild grey eyes, not seeing him for a moment until he made a shocked sound. She glared at him, “Salian, you’ll be pleased to know that I am back.” Aaric frowned, something was odd about those words. That had been when Kira limped away. Aaric sat dumbfounded for a moment before attempting to chase after her. He found that he couldn’t―he had been frozen!

                                                                                    ☽

  Now the spirit was back in the tunnel, his mind plagued by his mistake. There was something else happening here, something that involved his past. The way Kira had said his name…. How’d she even learn it?

  Aaric continued to walk down the dimly lit corridor, pausing at the doors that randomly appeared. There was one door that was open. He almost passed through the doorway when he noticed the splatter of blood on the edge. He had been suspecting that this was an intentional invention, one that was easy and both hard to find.

  The Pure had built these tunnels.

  He thought of Kira as he leaned on the wall opposite of the door. It was half open, so he didn’t quite have a view of what was inside. He could see the firelight from the torches, it cast shadows through the small gap. The shadows danced on the wall behind Aaric, danced through him. Kira hadn’t been Kira when she had overpowered him. I wonder, Aaric closed his silver eyes and opened his mind to the Void, not quite entering it, but observing it too. The first thing he did was reach out to Archer.

  I’m sorry, I lost her. But you need to know that Kira is probably more than an Unknown, I’m not sure what, but she’s extremely powerful.

  Then he viewed the Void as a simple gust of proverbial air. The spirits couldn’t feel a thing, he was sure of it, but they could feel him. They were two different things. Aaric wasn’t surprised when he saw a blond teenager and other kids roaming around the tunnel with shocked faces. He knew this blond boy’s face well, it was imprinted in most of the pure minds that he’d inhabited. Everything in the Void was of a bluish tint, blue―a darker, greyer blue―and white. Like a poorly filmed black and white movie, but eye color never changed. This child’s eyes were a light brown, like deep honey.

  This was Jared, and if Aaric Salian was correct, then Kira-who-was-not-Kira had killed Jared and his team out of cold blood as they were traveling through their tunnels. Nice.

__________

Short chapter, I know. I'll make the next one long, don't worry. Just remember to vote and comment