24.
Dearth of Life
Cliff could feel the last bits of power and strength drain away from his
body. Since he became immobilized, he’d been studying the corpses in the room,
trying to figure out exactly how the strange power worked.
It had taken him a while, but eventually he realized what was going on.
Attached to every corpse were thin, nearly invisible psynergy threads. When the
being touched him earlier, green psynergy had spread out from there and caught
him too. The threads were very small, very fine, and unbelievably firm. It was
obvious that they could somehow control bodies, regardless of whether they were
alive or dead.
Now, Cliff realized how his captain could have gotten trapped. With an ability
like this, it would be a simple task to bait someone using his or her own allies.
Dammit. I was on the verge of saving her, but I screwed up yet again.
At least I still have control over my mind. I just hope Vance and Eden are–
Cliff's thoughts were interrupted by two familiar auras entering the
room. There was no mistaking them: the cold, purple aura of Vance and the radiant
citrus aura of Eden were both on their way, heading straight for their deaths.
I can still save them!
"Vance! Eden!" he shouted as loud as he could. "She can
control your bodies with her psynergy! You have to be careful!" Cliff's strained
voice echoed down the walls. "I'm
*************
trapped!"
Outside of the assembly hall, Vance, Eden, and Averyl froze.
"What the?" Vance glanced around. "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah..." Eden's eyes stared forward. "Can't you feel
his aura, Vance?"
Vance closed his eyes and tried to feel it out, and after a few moments,
he snatched it with his mind. It was Cliff's, alright, but it was barely
tangible.
"There is something wrong with him," Vance replied.
"His is the only aura I can detect, though."
"Come on, let's go!" Eden broke into a run.
"Alright, alright." Vance moved to catch up with her.
"Let me go first."
"Actually..." Averyl briskly stepped up and blocked their
path. "Allow me to go in your place. I think I know what's going on
here."
Vance arched his eyebrows, but he didn't argue. He looked at Eden,
shrugged, and began to fall in line behind
*************
him, Cliff could sense the puppet master watching.
"Now, now...I don’t want any more noise out of you. I didn't
expect you to have such resolve. I suppose I’ll have to silence you before your
friends get here. And while you're sleeping...I'll prepare the perfect toy for
them."
Two velvet fingers passed over his lips, and he could feel phlegmy psynergy
spill out onto his skin. In a matter of seconds, Cliff's consciousness was no
more
*************
did they sense Cliff’s aura as Averyl, Vance, and Eden stepped into the
open graveyard.
"Look at all these bodies." Eden placed her hand over her
mouth in horror. "What happened here?"
Vance was uninterested in the bodies, as was Averyl. They were staring
at the figure between the pillars: a woman in her 20s, holding a long bamboo shinai
sword. Her body brimmed with white, iridescent psynergy, and her face
looked lifeless. Strands of blonde hair fell over dark eyes and peach, freckled
skin. She wore a plain white kimono top with wide sleeves that cut off
at the shoulder. It fell to her waist, connected to a thick, pleated skirt that
spread out from her midsection and continued to her feet – a blood-red hakama.
"Who are you?" Vance ventured.
The woman said nothing and raised her sword.
"What's going on?!" Eden shouted. "Who is that?"
"Out of the way." Averyl shoved Vance aside. He fell into a pile
of bodies, then stood up barely in time to see what happened next.
The woman brought down her weapon, and in a flash, Averyl's hands met it
in mid-air. The two stood frozen as psynergy crackled between them, neither showing
any signs of faltering.
"This woman is not in control of her own actions..." Averyl
explained. "Although, I know why this is the case. Look closely," Averyl
spoke methodically, as the sword vibrated in his grasp. "There are traces of
psynergy connected to her appendages that are not her own."
Vance and Eden focused their minds, trying to find what Averyl was talking
about. Eventually, they saw it: thin, dark green lines of psynergy with sticky
spheres attached to the woman's arms and legs. It was as if someone was using
her as their own private puppet.
Eden let out a gasp, and Vance's eyes shot behind the woman's figure in
search of what had startled his teammate. Then, they saw it: further back, slumped
in a golden chair, was Cliff, eyes staring lifelessly ahead.
"Cliff!" Eden shouted and dashed toward him.
"Eden! Wait!" Vance threw his arm out to grab her just a moment
too late. She continued running toward the chair, and Vance and Averyl both
took note of the bodies rising on either side of her.
"Those guys are different from this woman." Vance watched
them rise from the mountains of flesh in confusion. "I can't sense their
psynergy at all."
"That's because they are dead," Averyl began. "They were
probably weak, unlike this one, so they were disposed of. A living person takes
more effort to control, but on the bright side, all their psynergy is at the
puppet master's disposal..."
"We have to help her," Vance said. As he charged up a psynergy
orb, he noticed a long, silver blade fly past his face, impaling the zombie that
was nearest to Eden.
How the hell did he do that? Vance looked up nervously to Averyl, who was somehow still gripping the
blonde woman's sword with no trace of strain on his face.
In a flash, the specter of a man flicked his wrists to the right, popping
the bamboo sword out from the woman's hands. She moved to attack again, but
Averyl was faster, grappling and immobilizing her with his arms before she could
react. Meanwhile, Vance squeezed his psynergy into a decent-sized orb and
tossed it toward a group of three men who were closing in on Eden. The blast
hit one in the head, knocking him into the others.
Eden made her way to the throne and grabbed Cliff. "Wake up!"
"We're wasting time," Vance sighed. "We need to find
whoever's controlling these things, and kick their ass. That's the
quickest way."
"Hmmm." Averyl smiled coyly. "I wonder if it'd be that
easy..."
Vance slanted his eyes up toward Averyl. "Alright, come on, spill
it. What's going on here?"
"Well, for one thing..." Averyl focused his eyes on the far
left corner of the room. "She's right over there."
Vance followed Averyl's finger to a figure who looked much different
from the other torn-up bodies rising from the floor: a fancily dressed figure
wearing a porcelain doll mask.
"Mephistoclessia, my dear." A warm grin spread on Averyl's
face. "What a pleasure it is to see you here."
The figure stepped coldly across the dead as she approached. "Why
are you here?"
"Wait a second..." Vance stared at the enigmatic entity in front
of him. "She’s the one who did all this?!"
Mephistoclessia nodded her porcelain face.
Vance looked at Averyl with angry eyes. "Well, tell her to stop! She’s
trying to kill us!"
"Indeed." Averyl beamed. "She is a Dark Zodiac,
after all."
Vance's eyes shot back to the woman. Embroidered across the back of her
gloves in red thread was the silhouette of a rat.
"The 6th member of the Dark Zodiacs, Mephistoclessia. She
is the Rat, that which lives in the darkest, most abominable places, scurrying
around and feeding upon the dead."
Mephistoclessia palmed her cheek and bent her body backwards in mock
embarrassment. "Oh, Averyl. You beslaver me."
A twisted smile snaked its way onto Averyl's face. "That is
something I cannot help, I am afraid..."
"Enough," Mephistoclessia rasped. "I want to know
exactly what you're doing here."
"Oh, nothing." Averyl showed no signs of faltering. "I
was simply accompanying a friend of mine on an errand he had to perform..."
Averyl gestured to a speechless Vance.
"Your friend?" Mephistoclessia spat out the second
word like a cough. "Since when did we decide that making friends with
Dimensional Knights was a good idea, Monkey?"
Averyl turned to Vance innocently. "You're a Dimensional
Knight?"
Vance shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I became one this morning."
Averyl looked back to Mephistoclessia as a comical look of surprise
covered his face. "How interesting..."
Vance noticed a sticky green aura forming around Mephistoclessia's
gloved hands. "Stop screwing around," she growled. "I asked for
permission to come here and find some new toys for my collection. Not only are
you standing in my way, but you're helping the opposition!"
"Oh, is that so?" Averyl said with wide eyes, "Do you
wish to make me your plaything as well, Mephistoclessia?"
The Rat brought her hands up in a defensive stance, keeping her body
still. "If you mean no harm, then leave now."
"Okay." Averyl nodded. "Well, you heard her, Vance, shall
we be off?"
Vance moved behind Averyl as he began to speak. "Not without Cliff
or Eden."
"Well..." Averyl said, tapping his chin. "This is indeed
a problem..."
Mephistoclessia twitched her fingers, and the zombies began shambling toward
Eden once more.
"I'll tell you what, Mephistoclessia," Averyl said, raising a
finger as if he had thought of a good idea. "Free the man with the shotgun,
and I shall leave with no further disruption. I'll even give you a kiss goodbye..."
"No," she answered quickly. "Get the hell out,
Averyl."
"Come on, you really need that guy?" Vance suddenly spoke
up. "He sucks! I only need to bring him back so that his boss doesn't yell
at me."
Averyl couldn't hide his smile as Vance's negotiation attempts won Mephistoclessia's
attention. But she said nothing, neither accepting nor dismissing what he had
said. The Rat turned and looked back to the throne. Eden stood around Cliff
protectively, furiously kicking and beating the zombies away.
"Hmph," Mephistoclessia scoffed. "You know, on second
thought, you’re right. He doesn’t seem to have his own special ability yet...he
isn’t worth the upkeep."
With the flick of her pinky finger, warmth returned to the Knight’s
body. Desperately, Cliff pulled up his shotgun and immediately fired three spray
blasts, devastating the mob of zombies in front of him. As pieces of the dead
rained to the ground, he stepped off the throne and placed a hand protectively
around Eden's shoulder.
"Alright, let's go!" Vance waved hurriedly to Cliff and Eden.
"We made a deal with that lady. She’s gonna let us leave!"
Deaf to Vance's words, Cliff kept his eyes on the blonde woman in Averyl's
arms, as if he had been thrown into a trance all over again. Then, he dashed
toward her, obliterating everything that stood in his path. Shoving past Vance,
Cliff threw his hands out and grabbed her shoulders. He tried shaking her, but she
remained lifeless.
"Captain Azuka!" he gasped. "I finally...found you..."
Vance looked up nervously at Averyl, who merely shrugged. "Well, I
tried..."
Next: Dirge of the Rat Queen
