Living Emotion: The World Below

Vision of Calamity

"S- Something that lives at the bottom of an old well..."

His eyes widen and his normally tan skin blanches, turning ghost white in a way that makes my stomach drop. But the shock quickly shifts to urgency as he questions, "You're sure that's what you saw? An old well in the woods?Was the sky dark?! Was there some kind of black fluid pouring out?!"

"Wha- h-how did you know?!"

He shoves himself up and stumbles away, leaning into the wall. "Because that's the exact same vision Emotieon the First- the exact same vision my father had. That was the warning he was given about the Spirit of Calamity, Calseres."

"A- And then he died," I choke out, clutching my sides as that pain I felt comes back in full force. Nick nods grimly.

"Calseres wanted to use his power to turn him into the Instigator of Calamity- an agent of chaos and suffering, robbed of his mind and made into a hollow puppet. If Calseres had succeeded, the world would be plagued by war, horror and ruin. People would be insane because he would be abusing his power over Negative Emotions."

Nick runs a hand through his hair, closing his eyes. "I had to seal him away with the power I inherited from my father, and I thought it would last, but... He did have an accomplice- a human who was working for him. That accomplice must have found some way to break the seal. And now the whole world is in danger again."

"What can we do?" Posilyn asks, sitting by me and clutching onto my arm with her free hand. Nick looks to her, frowning silently before nodding at the key she holds.

"For starters, I'm returning your keys to you. In case anything happens, you two need to be able to protect yourselves." He steps over to the ottoman at the foot of his bed, grabbing something out of the safe inside of it and holding it out to me.

My key. Ebony and simple, it has a denim blue, eye-shaped gemstone set in the bow at the top of the shaft and its teeth form the shape of another eye with a minus mark set in the middle like a goat's pupil.

I take it from his hand and turn it over in mine, asking, "So, if danger arises, we're suppose to use our power of Emotions?"

"Yes. And if that doesn't work, you can turn your keys into weapons just like I can mine."

Posilyn and I exchange nervous glances, neither of us thrilled with the thought at all. If Posilyn's attack taught us anything, it's that I'm too weak to properly protect myself and that she never wants to fight again.

"... Hopefully it won't come down to that," She sighs, looking at her key with a deep frown. I didn't get a good look at it before, but at first glance you can see that's it's absolutely gorgeous. From the plus-shaped teeth to the plus-shaped bow set over the butterfly, they key is white. Then there's the rainbow butterfly, translucent and shimmering, with a pink, heart-shaped gemstone set into the middle of the plus. You can't look at it without thinking that it's perfect for her.

"If it does, then don't worry. Summoning your weapon is easy, and it will appear as the weapon you're most adept fighting with."

Posilyn grimaces prominently at that and Nick's expression softens as he bites his lip, unsure of what he can say to make it better.

"... How do we summon our weapons, then?" She mumbles, looking at her key more like it's an ugly spider now.

"You just have to concentrate on the stone and call for it. It's easier than it sounds, I promise."

She doesn't reply. And for a second nothing happens, but then the key turns into particles of light transforms into a long staff with a cute design. The top of the white staff turns into a feathered plus sign that glows softly, the sheer butterfly now large enough that its wingtips reach the connecting edges of all sides. The gemstone rests at the top of the butterfly's head. At the bottom end of the staff is another plus sign, white and glowing softly, set into the center of a small, pink butterfly.