Song for the chapter: Violet Evergarden- Torment
Jason lead me back through the woods, holding my waist gently.
"Now where?" I asked in a whisper, partially scared of what creature we might have to help next.
"Salem." He whispered before the setting changed instantly. My head swayed out of nowhere, dropping into Jason's arms. My vertigo only lasted for a second before my head re-calibrated itself.
We were not in the woods or anywhere near home, by Jason's words I guess we really are in Salem. The streets were quiet, barren, and still. Everyone knows of whats happened here. There's history in this land. A horrific history. The wind blew, making me shiver and hold Jason's hand tighter.
If we're here...
I'm guessing the victims of the witch trials were actual witches...
I couldn't help the frown on my face as I thought of what happened to the victims. I hate to think what fear and ignorance will make a person do...
"There." Jason pulled me into a restaurant. Well, a bar to be more accurate.
The bar was filled, many loud men and women chattering and singing with not a single care in the world. The lights were low, and the music was loud enough to hide the man in the corner with his head down against the table.
Jason looked around, making sure no one noticed as we sat on either side of the man.
"Discreetly." Jason whispered.
I put my hand on the back of his sweat drenched t shirt. His head snapped up, looking at me with wide black eyes.
"Hi." I mumbled, unsure how to explain this.
"'Hi' headass. Who the fuck are you?" He asked, sitting back from both Jason and I. Jason leaned forward on the table, leaning on his hand wanting to see how this played out.
I could tell there was something wrong with the man. His pale white skin was flushed, his eyes were changing size, and coincidentally the lights began to flicker.
"Oh, my head." The man groaned, leaning back onto the table. "Fuck, my body..." He muttered. "Did you drug me?" He asked standing up, only to fall back against the wall.
"No," I stood up with him, grabbing his arm to steady him. I sent Jason a look hoping he'd help but instead he raised a hand, signaling me to continue. "I'm just trying to help you. Have a seat."
" What the fuck did you do to me?" He growled, trying to lift his head. " Get your hands off of me!" He shoved my arm off. The electricity cut off catching everyone's attention. With all the noise gone, the sound of wind howling could clearly be heard.
"That's your cue, Serenity." Jason whispered while everyone was chattering about the lights.
I put both my hands on the mans arm, pulling him down to sit with me. He mumbled something incoherently but didn't move. It's way harder to do this on a grown man than with an animal. The wind began to pick up speed, making the doors rattle.
"Uhm..." I mumbled, not sure what to do. I hugged him softly, chuckling quietly when he fell in to me. He's so tired, his body is completely limp. I held him tightly, hoping his body would relax. His skin was very hot, almost burning.
What comforts someone? hmm...
I eased him down to lay his head against my lap, gently pushing his hair back out of his eyes. This seemed to work since the wind calmed down, although the lights still weren't on but his fever had subsided.
"That's all we have time for." I let the man's head gently rest against the booth cushion, patting his head sweetly before Jason grabbed my hand. The lights still weren't on so I let Jason lead the way. By the time we stepped out, the cheers returned just as the lights appeared.
I ran, trying to keep up with Jason as he looked for a good location, for what? I dunno...
"He'll be okay, right?" I looked up at him, following him into a alley. We left before he regained consciousness, I wanted to make sure he woke up healthy.
"He's fine."
"Mph..." I groaned softly at my body losing energy from the abrupt change of scenery, falling against Jason. He basically dragged me up, keeping me steady with an arm tightly around my waist. I gripped his the fabric of his hoodie, suddenly over heating.
It's so hot here.
It's night here but it's still blazing hot. Almost suffocating. We were in the woods again so I assume we're helping another animal.
"Fond of snakes, Serenity?" Jason asked with amused tone.
"What?!" I jumped up, pulling against Jason's hoodie. "Pick me up, pick me up!" Scared to even put my feet on the ground.
"Relax." He snickered, pushing me off. "This isn't one that you can hide from."
"What are you talking about?" I held onto Jason's hand, painfully tight, trusting him to lead the way as I could barely see, walking on my tippie toes.
The more we walked, the louder a hissing sounded.
Oh fuck, is this going to be like one of those giant anaconda Sci-Fi movies? You know the ones that are painfully bad... Please don't tell me its going to be like that.
Light came into vision...
A temple!
It was a huge temple, abandoned by the look of the vines engulfing the structure. Lit candles surrounding the entrance, illuminating the massive monument.
"Whoa.." I said in awe, looking directly up the sky, trying to see the entire building. "Where are we?"
We're surrounded by woods, why would there be a temple so far away from civilization...in the middle of nowhere? Maybe that's why its abandoned?
"mmm..." Jason hummed, looking closer at the building. " It should be right... here." He pulled my hand, getting me closer to the entrance of double doors.
"What are you loo-Ahh!"
The floor disappeared from underneath us, letting us fall straight down a long dark abyss. Out of instinct, I reached my arms out, trying to find something to hold on to but gripped nothing but air and leaves.
"Jason!" I screamed, hoping he'd save me.
My weight caught up to me, hitting altogether as I fell into a pile of leaves, vines, cotton, and dirt. Catching me gently, and saving me from shattering into a millions pieces.
"Oh God." I gasped dramatically, crawling from underneath.
I registered the lit up castle in front of us but disregarded it as I was still trying to find my breath and my heart as it gave out on me somewhere during the fall.
"Quiet." Jason snapped, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet as if I was weightless. He pushed me against a pillar, unconsciously pressing his body against mine as he looked behind me.
I gulped loudly, panting from the near death experience. I dusted myself off, getting rid of all the debris on me.
"Fuck..." I muttered under my breath. My heart beat was in my fucking throat. This is all too much for my lazy, nonathletic ass. My heart has never been through this much stress.
"Look." Jason whispered, momentarily looking down at me. I turned my head to the side, trying to see.
A black monstrous serpent circled the salon of this... castle? Temple?
I couldn't even bother noticing anything else not that I could if I wanted to. The serpent was enormous! It filled the entire floor. Its body looked wider than a car, I don't even think that did it justice- a train perhaps. Definitely a train, as wide and probably as tall as one too. But it's length? No clue. It coiled twice around the salon, hiding it's true length. Quite obvious that it wasn't small by any means.
And was I going to stay to find out?
Nope!
Fuck! That!
I sprinted toward the ditch of leaves, looking around for another escape other than the mile climb up.
"Serenity, get over here." Jason hauled me back, pushing me against the wall.
"Are you crazy?!" I shouted in a whisper. "Let go! I gotta get out of here!" I kicked and pushed against him, making no damage whatsoever.
"You have to help-"
Both of our heads snapped to the loud sound of cracking. The serpent, it was shedding... transforming...
I thought that was it!
What could it possibly be shifting into!?
I pushed against Jason, wanting to get away. Like I said before, I am not staying around to find out. His expressions tighten, getting annoyed with me. I can guarantee you, I was way more annoyed with him.
"You have to go-"
"No, I have-"
"-Help him! He's in pain!"
"- homework to do, I need to go. He seems quite unbothered actually."
"He'll hurt thousands, it'll be a massacre."
"Yeah, we'll be apart of those thousands if we don't leave." My jaw tightened, looking down at his chest, knowing I have to help him. For him or others.
The snake seemed to be having a longer transformation than the others. It still seemed to be writhing around trying to adjust to its new...
Limbs?
LIMBS!
I finally realized what the serpent is transforming into and the realization swayed my head. You gotta be kidding me...
I pushed against Jason as hard as I could, thankfully he seemed preoccupied by the creature, letting me get space. The first step I took crumbled, falling onto the floor with Jason on top of me. Falling into the same leaves I just tripped on.
"Stop!" He growled down at me. Gripping my wrist painfully tight and slamming them down against the concrete floor. I winced, biting my lip and looking away from him. Making sure I had no where to go, he straddled my waist, keeping me completely pinned. "You're overreacting." Jason frowned, easing his grip on my wrists.
"Overreacting?!" I yelled in disbelief. "That's a Dragon!"
"Oh, come on. It's a small one." His eyes momentarily shined with amusement.
"Are you kidding me?! I'm terrified!"
Our yelling seemed to attract the half-serpent half-dragon creature. We both looked at the mutated serpent, soul leaving my body as I starred into its slit pupils. Its body still developing under the sheet of dead skin.
"Unless you want to chase after him in the midnight sky, I suggest you take advantage and heal him now." Jason stood, pulling me up with him. I bit my lip, stiff as a board as Jason inched me closer, closer towards its head... right next to its teeth... that kills people... and mutilates them...
"Serenity." Jason called,
"Stay with me." I panicked, interlocking our fingers and gripping his hand as tight as I could. "Stay?" He nodded.
Taking a deep breath, I quickly touched it, whimpering when I felt the dead snakeskin.
"Ew, Ew. I touched it!" I cringed, wiping my hand on Jason's hoodie.
"Serenity." He scolded from being disrespectful to the Snake.
"Sorry." I mumbled.
I tried again. This time, breaking the dead skin to make direct contact with him, placing my hands directly onto the rock hard scales. Oddly enough, I felt pain... his pain...
I don't know how I did but I did. He was in a lot of pain, more than the previous victims. I can imagine why, he had to grow 6 limbs while an annoying teenager ran around freaking out.
Oh... no.
I'm sorry.
I sighed, scolding myself for letting my fear get the best of me.
The creature breathed out, sending my skirt up.
It's weird by how similar and familiar these emotions felt. It felt like me. Like what I would feel, like what my family and friends would feel. Mmmm.... Animals, creatures, they all feel, live, react, just like we do...
It'll take a while for him to heal, way longer than the others...
"Why is it here? Down here, all alone?"
"He guards this temple."
hmmm...
"You said that we have to help these creatures. So they don't wreck havoc when they go back to their true selves."
"Yes?" He answered, wondering what I was going to ask.
The dragon took another deep breath, closing his eyes and dropping his entire body against the floor, closer to Jason and I. Smiling, I petted him sweetly, letting go of Jason's hand to lay against the dragons head.
"So then what about the Sirens at the club?" Jason bit his lip, thinking about his words.
"There's this saying, 'Life always finds a way'." I nodded, hearing this phrase plenty of times. "Well, throughout the Eras, many creatures gained their abilities again. One characteristic or one trait at a time. Eventually, becoming what their ancestors were. There have been werewolves, witches, and sirens for centuries now. It was natures course."
"So why can't he be what he really is?" I pointed to the dragon. "And the others."
"Because these creatures were manipulated. Along with the werewolf and witch. That's why they are in so much pain. Instead of following natures course and slowly mutating over the years, it happened all at once. " My lips fell into a pout. "When you manipulate life like this, it throws nature off balance. Resulting in chaos. To restore balance, you had to sooth them before any irreversible damage could have been done."
"Who did this? Who manipulated them?" Jason's eyes flashed with uncertainty, looking down at my hands.
"We should go." He whispered, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the serpent.
"Wait, what about him?"
"He'll be asleep for a couple of days. Let him rest."