My eyes were wide-open but I couldn’t see anything. There was nothing to hear but my own breathing. The only thing I could sense was Vincent’s hands holding mine. There was little comfort in that.
I had only been in Halja for four days but it was like I had already forgotten how it felt like to have more than one soul inside me. It was overwhelming, like I couldn’t contain all of it. And if I wasn’t strong enough, life would spill out from me like water brimming over the edge of a glass. That or I would explode.
Right then, I feared about Vincent’s warning about me going to Point Zero. It didn’t harm me the first time for some reason. But now, I wasn’t so sure.
Fool. A familiar voice cackled inside my head. This time, I was afraid it wasn’t the Bind.
In panic, I clutched Vincent’s hands tighter. My whole body trembled in the realization that my nightmare was back—Alessandra. And to make things worse, I left the Helcium—the only thing that could help me control her—in Sathariel’s hands. The enchantments in Halja might have prevented Alessandra from surfacing, but now that I was free from that place’s Binds, so was she.
“The Link,” Vincent murmured, obviously unaware of my internal struggle. “Now.”
Forcing back the cry that threatened to escape from my mouth, I tried to concentrate on the Transference Link. I closed my eyes and willed my consciousness to search for Vincent’s. But as I did, I caught a glimpse of Alessandra lurking in the corners of my mind. She was smaller and weaker than I had remembered but the hatred in her eyes burned stronger than ever. She wasn’t even trying to do anything and I was terrified.
‘He’s right, you know.’ Her voice was reedy yet, with an unmistakable hint of mockery. ‘You don’t belong in Nirvana. You do not belong on earth. Where do you belong, Aramis Rayne? Where?’
I struggled to keep my focus and ignore her maniacal laughter. Carefully, I let my consciousness drift towards that part of me, that special place where Vincent’s soul and mine connect to become one.
Alessandra sounded mad as she kept yelling, ‘You are mine, Aramis! It would not be long!’
At long last, I reconnected the Transference Link. All of a sudden, I felt the control coming back to me, the panic slowly subsiding. I could feel Alessandra retreating back to her small hiding place as Vincent’s soul connected with mine. It was as if she was afraid of him, of his mere presence that she easily, silently gave up.
With the Link now intact, I was back in command again. I had the gut feeling that as long as I kept the Transference Link with Vincent intact, I wouldn’t be hearing from Alessandra again anytime soon.
As an added safety measure, I made an effort to hide all my thoughts about Alessandra from Vincent. With everything going on, the last thing he would need was to know that his only familiar was on the brink of turning into a monster.
We floated there for what seemed like several minutes. Neither one of us said a word for a while, but then it was Vincent who finally broke the silence.
“How long do you think we’d be stuck in here?” he whispered even though he knew no one else was here to hear us.
“No idea,” I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. There’s no time in Point Zero. We could spend days in here and it could be as if we never left earth… or in this case, Halja.”
I waited for him to speak but he kept his silence as if he was thinking deeply. That was when I began to wonder if he could sense that my soul was going bad. If that happened, I knew it would just leave him with two options—fully-Resurrect me, thus freeing Alessandra’s soul in the process, or destroying Alessandra’s soul while it was still inside me.
Letting Alessandra’s soul on the loose wasn’t an option. Doing that would be as good as handing Pilgrim Reaper his ticket to the Realm of Immortals. And that would mean the end of the world of the Living.
“Vincent?” I murmured, giving his hand a squeeze. “W-what’s wrong?”
It took him a little more time to answer. “It’s just that… it feels like you’ve changed.”
“Changed?” I forced out a fake chuckle. “What? Come on. I’m still me.”
“Yeah… I guess,” he answered, sounding uncertain.
“People change,” I answered.
I could only hope that he didn’t see through my lies. It was pitch-black but I could feel it when his eyes studied me. Carefully, he untangled his fingers from mine. I felt them touch my face and brush my hair over my ear.
“It’s just that…” He hesitated, abruptly withdrawing his hand. “You’ve been through a hell lot of trouble just to get me out of that prison. Now, I’m dragging you again with me. And I don’t even have a single clue how we can save the others. This isn’t your fight, Aramis. You’ve done enough.”
“This is my fight too, Vincent,” I said firmly. “This has been my fight since you brought me back to life. So I risked my life for you once or twice. That’s what familiars do. It’s part of the job description.”
I heard him sigh. “That’s the problem, Aramis. I… I don’t want you to be my familiar.”
It was like being struck by lightning right between my eyes. I could choke out was “Oh… okay.”
“No. No. You don’t understand,” he tripped over his tongue, swearing under his breath as he did. “I meant—“
“It’s okay, Vincent,” I interjected, my words sounding empty. Inside, I didn’t feel anywhere near okay. “I get it. To be honest, I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately and I guess… crossing over to Nirvana isn’t such a bad deal. That way, your dad wouldn’t have a chance to take a hold of Alessandra’s soul.”
He tensed beside me, his hands frantically searching for mine. “Aramis, you got it all wrong. What I really mean is I don’t want you to be my familiar. I want you to—“
“Stop trying to be nice!” I snapped, cutting him off. I didn’t want to hear his reasons.
Swallowing the clog in my throat, I struggled to collect my bearing. With a sad smile, I caught both his hands and stopped them from fumbling about.
That was the third option—crossover. That way, we wouldn’t have to set Alessandra free and I wouldn’t have to be destroyed. I just had to spend the rest of my life… or death in Nirvana. It was a win-win situation. Sort of. I just hoped my soul still wasn’t tainted to such a point that Nirvana would annihilate me.
All of me wanted to hope that he had thought of another way—a fourth option. One where I would get to stay with him—I mean, the whole cabal. But that was just wishful thinking.
“Damn it. Can you just please listen to me?!” He was getting angry again. The usual.
I shook my head. “We made a deal, right? If you still think I’m not fit to be your familiar, I’ll crossover without a fight. That’s what I said and I still go by my word.”
As he began to say something, a sliver of vertical light appeared in the middle of the dark. It grew blindingly bright all of a sudden, engulfing the two of us.
Mechanically, I covered my eyes. The pit of my stomach dropped and I felt myself falling. My back hit something hard and rough. A throbbing pain shot from the back of my head. When I opened my eyes, dark patches obscured my vision. I lay there, trying to feel my legs and my arms by moving them. It appeared like I didn’t break anything. Or maybe I did but it just healed spontaneously without me noticing. I never could tell these days.
Beside me, Vincent got to his knees. He looked okay to me. Although, it was safe to say that he still wasn’t over our argument. He was still pissed off, which was totally unreasonable considering that I was the one who got put down. Not him.
As far as I could tell, it was night time. The moon was round, though not really full. Just like that night I went to Halo.
The smell of something burning filled the air. Smoke rolled upwards from the hole in the road just a few feet away—the same hole that spewed us out.
Quickly, I got to my feet, leaning on an old battered slab of stone sticking out from the ground to keep from falling over. The throbbing in my head was gone but the whole place swayed as I tried to steady my feet. Rows of slabs dotted the ground. A few weather-beaten statues stood tall among the stones, casting shadows on us. Some of them were missing arms, a chunk of the nose or the whole head. Behind us was a big pile of rubble that could only be caused by an explosion of some sort.
I noticed a name engraved on the slab I was leaning on. Only then did I become aware that we were in a graveyard. And not just some graveyard, but the one in Centralia.
“It worked,” I gasped. “I can’t believe we’re here.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Vincent scoffed, looking up. “Don’t celebrate yet. We got ourselves a welcoming committee.”
My heart sank when I noticed the hovering creatures approaching us at unimaginable speeds. Before I could think of the word ‘run’, my feet were already moving. It felt like playing hopscotch, leaping from the top of one statue to another.
In no time, Vincent caught up with me. As soon as we had crossed the graveyard’s threshold, I heard the wraiths screech. More of them joined the swarm in pursuit of us. Some of them flew lower, some hovered above. Wherever I looked, there were just wraiths and more wraiths. Frankly, I had never seen that many before.
“Now what?” I turned to him.
“Let’s go to the mansion. And quick,” he answered, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder.
We rushed to the road, avoiding the cracks and the sinkholes that blocked our way and forced us to slow down a bit. The wraiths kept following us, their shrill screams disturbing the quiet of the ghost town. A few of them got too close to the sinkholes and got sucked in. But that didn’t stop the rest from chasing us. By the time we arrived to a demolished neighborhood, the wraiths were already over our heads.
Vincent led the way and bounded off the ground, landing on the roof of what was once a justice hall. I went after him, running up one of the front columns before catching onto the ledge. I swung myself backwards and let go. As I fell, I twisted in midair to land on my feet and break into a sprint.
The wraiths were dispersing in all directions now in pursuit of us. They lunged at us relentlessly.
Talons scraped at my face. I tried to evade them without any success. They came from everywhere, hitting me, trying to knock me down until all I could see ahead were the blurs of black whizzing to and fro.
“Your Cataclyst, Aramis! Summon it now!” Vincent shouted, perching on top of a flagpole.
With a flick of his wrist, red flames burst out of his hand, rapidly spreading to his arm, up to his shoulder. The flames consumed his arm in a flash. Vincent couldn’t help but wince when his skin began to blister and burn up. But instead of burnt flesh, red metallic scales covered his now massive arm. What used to be his fingers were now crooked, razor-sharp talons.
His Cataclyst was still on fire when he snatched one of the wraiths that zipped close to him. The creature started to sizzle, its body easily going up in flames. Then, Vincent hurled the burning wraith towards the swarm. The fire easily disposed dozens of wraiths, smoldering them into ashes in a matter of seconds.
I was about to flick my wrist but instead, I dropped behind, lost in thought.
The last time I summoned my Cataclyst… No. It wasn’t me who summoned it. Alessandra did. And after that she had somehow managed to take control of me.
I didn’t like taking chances. But if I didn’t do anything, I would get mobbed soon.
Left with no choice, I touched the number thirteen on my neck and called for the Bind. It took a little longer to respond than I had hoped but I was relieved when it did.
As I was harnessing the Bind’s energy to my hand, a wraith swooped over me. I dropped to my stomach and rolled out of its way, struggling to keep my concentration.
Vincent started to head back towards me. “Aramis! What’re you doing?!”
His lips were moving and I knew he was muttering some kind of incantation. As he did, the red flames surrounding his Cataclyst died out, replaced with a faint bluish glow. The blue light grew stronger, forming a protective circle around him. Several wraiths got caught in the light. One by one, they seized like they were being electrocuted, dropping on the roof like dead insects afterwards.
I continued to harness the Bind until it finally reached my right hand. Just this was sapping the energy out of me but I didn’t stop. An icy burn made its way to my palm, a chilly mist coming out of it. After a mental count of nine, I watched the staff take shape in my hand.
Once fully-formed, I wedged it under me and pushed myself up. The scythe was still heavier than normal, but I managed to lift it to hit an incoming wraith on the head.
I pivoted on one foot, brandishing the staff over my head. Three of them went down. A wraith circled me and attacked me from behind. Hurriedly, I lowered my head, thrusting my staff backwards. It pierced through the wraith’s neck. After shaking the corpse off my staff, I struck the roof. Broken pieces of tiles and steel flew out of their places, creating a diversion.
While the wraiths were still busy hissing and clawing at each other in confusion, I swung my weapon at them. I aimed at the throat and the stomach. Those parts tended to be the easiest to puncture. I managed to clear out a few from the group that crowded around me, but most kept getting up. At this rate, I would have to do better damage. Permanent damage.
“Aramis, hurry!” Vincent momentarily glanced at me as he grappled two wraiths at the same time.
The bluish glow around him was starting to waver. I could tell he was having a hard time maintaining his protective enchantments. More wraiths started to gather around him, waiting for the barrier to completely die away before they attack.
I was so distracted that I didn’t notice the wraiths going behind my back. One grabbed my hair and wrapped a skeletal arm over my throat. The other two grabbed both my arms before I could try to fight back. Together, they dragged me backwards.
I felt my feet leave the ground. The wraith strangling me made a strange gurgling sound, taking me higher and higher. Its arm tightened around my throat that I couldn’t breathe, much less scream for help. The two other wraiths gurgled, their guttural voices making my scalp prickle. I realized they were laughing.
Taking opportunity of this, Alessandra stepped out from her hiding place. She just stood there, watching me struggle with eyes that didn’t match. One was brown while the other was hazel.
I kicked and twisted. If she found that entertaining, her face gave nothing away.
The Transference Link had been cut off. It must have weakened when I got snagged by the wraiths. While trying to ignore the pain in my throat, I closed my eyes and tried to reestablish the link. I summoned all my energy to find Vincent’s consciousness, but all I could see was her—Alessandra—blocking the path. And I couldn’t move. I couldn’t shove her aside. Put her in her place. They all seemed unreachable now—Vincent, the link.
My eyes flew wide open when my lungs ached for air. In my horror, more wraiths were coming. In fact, the whole swarm was heading towards me. Now that the Transference was gone, I was sure as good as wraith-bait.
I stopped thrashing, conserving what little energy I had left on clearing out my thoughts. I wouldn’t let Alessandra have power over me again. Being killed wasn’t on my list either. Not today, at least.
You are doomed. Her voice was small, honest like a child’s. Still, it terrified me how sure she had sounded. Let me have this body and I shall save us both.
No! I protested, my mind racing faster than I could comprehend. We are doomed, Alessandra. You and I. If I die, you’ll be destroyed too.
A hint of fear touched her brown eyes. Yet, she didn’t move from her spot.
LIES! The panic in her voice was very obvious. You only say this to deceive me. Once you die, I shall be master of this body. If not, I shall roam the world of the Living and search for a suitable body for myself.
As fast as I could, I pictured myself dying. My dead body was falling from the wraiths’ clutches as my soul slowly separated from it. A countless number of Gates was pulling me in so that I could crossover. I went without questioning, flowing with the irresistible force. As I stepped into my Nirvana, all traces of Alessandra perished into black smoke. She was but an impurity being washed away from me. And I, unlike her, would be in paradise.
I showed this vision to her, making sure she would see it my way. She would have to help me, or we would both die.
It is my soul! Not yours! She bickered, the certainty in her voice fading. If you think I would give you the chance to force us to crossover to that place, you are mad.
She was right, of course. My soul was originally hers. It was possible that she would have more control over it when I die. It was a pointless attempt to get her to work with me. I couldn’t even hear myself think with all the shrieks of the thousands of wraiths amassing around me. My ears were ringing. The lack of air had made me lightheaded.
That was when I caught glance of Vincent. He charged into the swarm, bashing and tossing wraiths as he did. But, no matter how many he slew, more just kept coming.
Vincent! I found the answer. Vincent will destroy you. Think about it, Alessandra. I’m the only one that prevents him from destroying your soul. Our soul. But if I die and he discovers your existence; if he realized what you are, he would not even have the slightest hesitation. He’ll do everything to annihilate you.
Conviction had now completely left her. She dropped to his knees, eyes wild with contemplation. Once again, she crept back into her corner, mumbling to herself.
He cannot destroy me. Not if I could help it.
I went on while she was still confused, easily swayed. If not him, his brothers will, Alessandra. They will not stop. Unless Pilgrim Reaper finds you first.
The mention of the name silenced her mumblings. With care, I reached out to her in her little corner. She shrunk back, eyes full of distrust, of dread.
With her eyes glistening, she shook her head.
Again, I tried to reach out for her hand. This time, she didn’t shy away. Hesitantly, her hand moved towards mine. My fingers closed around her fragile ones, our eyes fixed on each other. Then, I saw light.
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1 of 2 of the double update week. It's been a while! So I'll stop blabbing and let you go to the next chapter. But don't forget to click that orange star okay? You already did? Yay! Okay... shutting up now. :)