The Pain Inside

Chapter 12

    Even after Kat found firm ground once more beneath her it took her a moment to comprehend that the shift to a new world around her had ended, because the area around her was still rumbling, shaking. It wasn't until someone went running by that she realized that it was something inside this world that was causing it.

    "The Shadow's forces are almost here! Protect the Goddess!" someone shouted from somewhere nearby.

    Kat's head snapped up. Goddess? A quick glance around at the structure of the building she was in, the style of its windows, confirmed her suspicions. She was in the world of Bast, in the Goddess's tower in fact, the one shaped like a cat's tail. Luckily, from what she could see through the windows, she had to be on the first floor. It had to be a nightmare for anyone any further up, because something was applying enough force on the building from the outside to literally rock it on its hinges. Given the shape of the building, she couldn't imagine it had been designed to withstand much punishment. The arc and tip of the tail had to be at heavy risk of collapsing, and there was a decent chance they might take the rest of the building with them.

    But if the shadow was what was causing this, then that meant it had arrived in this world before her. That hadn't been true in the last world, so why the change? And why was it assaulting this place, rather than focusing on her, or on Matt? It was true that Bast looked like her but... No, she was thinking too literally. It wasn't about the similar appearance, but the fact that in some way Bast represented her to Matt. Represented his need for her. Thus... Strike at Bast, and reduce that need for her? Drive them apart somehow? The shadow had failed to convince Matt directly over her, so maybe this was its Plan B.

    There were several of Bast's guards standing near the door, staring into the darkness outside, but even as Kat opened her mouth to shout a question at them, someone asked it before she could. "Where's Matthew?" another guard demanded as he left the elevators and ran past her to the group at the doors.

    "He's in the midst of the fight outside, holding them off until we can get the Goddess to safety!" one of the others shouted back over the constant rumbling.

    In the midst of... Even as she processed the words Kat found herself leaping to her feet and racing forward. One of the guards belatedly reached out a hand to stop her as she charged past them through the open front doors, but he'd seen her too late to get a hold on her, and none of them came after her as she paused for a second in the cold night air beyond.

    A short distance away she could see the tips of shadowy tentacles rhythmically striking out against the base of the building and the ground near it. Then as her eyes followed them towards their origin, she spotted more tentacles lashing in the distance, and amidst them pale figures that could only be Bast's guards clashing against creatures that seemed to be made up entirely of the same shadowy substance, none of their forms resembling anything even remotely human. The heart of it all, where the tentacles met, was obscured from her view, but she was certain that that was where the true shadow must reside. And if she was right, then that would also be where she'd find Matt.

    Taking a deep breath, Kat didn't let herself think about what she was doing as she took off at a sprint, racing in that direction. The two tentacles focused on the building ignored her, but as she was nearing the real fight, one of the shadow creatures emerged from an alleyway behind a building off to one side, and it immediately turned in her direction. She was almost shocked by how blindingly fast it moved as it charged in her direction, so quick it was all she could do just to follow it with her eyes, and just as she threw her hands up to defend herself, certain that her stay in this particular world would be a short one, a flash of white shot out from the side, colliding with the creature in mid-leap and knocking it hard to the ground off to her side. She had just enough time to glimpse the pale flesh of one of Bast's guards, and make sure it wasn't Matthew, before the boy leapt after the creature and the fight carried them away from her.